Nibbles: Community seedbanks everywhere, USDA genebanks, Public sector plant breeding, Salinity tolerance, Food systems transformation

Community seedbanks are so big in Zimbabwe that international NGOs are jumping on the bandwagon.
More from the Cherokee Nation Seed Bank, very much a friend of the blog. International NGOs unavailable for comment.
Community seedbanks are also in the news in Mexico.
And in Peru, of course. Oh, here’s a nice video from Peru on Andean roots and tubers, courtesy of CIP, since we’re here.
Indonesia too, you say? Yeah, why not.
How to protect genebank collections from climate change, courtesy of USDA. Community seedbanks please take note.
Who’s going to use all that diversity? Well public sector plant breeders of course.
Yes, even plant breeders working on Salicornia.
But how much of the 6 trillion dollars needed for food systems transformation is going to go to genebanks and plant breeding?

A paean to diverse diets is just what we all need.
And another one, from the MIT Technology Review of all places.
Menawhile, there’s only one reference to dietary diversity in the World Bank’s investment framework for nutrition.
Maybe you have to quantify that diversity before you can save it? Now where have I heard that before?
Meanwhile, Europe reports on biodiversity-friendly farming practices. Does that include the biodiversity of the actual crops? Perhaps surprisingly, yes!
You want biodiversity-friendly farming practices? Talk to Indigenous people. The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) has launched an e-consultation on “Preserving, strengthening and promoting Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems and traditional practices for sustainable food systems.”
There’s diversity in asparagus too.
Genebanks can help with those biodiversity-friendly practices, diverse diets and rops and Indigenous practices.
Even big international genebanks.
Even the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
But some are in trouble.
Though others are coming back.