Nibbles: Public breeding, Millet Man, Strampelli museum, Ghana community seedbanks, genebank trifecta, CWR, Illegal Canadian potatoes, Açaí GI, Mayocoba bean, Spartan Actinidia, Bitters

Public sector plant breeders are disappearing.
The Millet Man of India is still there though. And why he’s important.
A museum to public sector breeder Nazareno Strampelli appears in Italy.
Another couple of community genebanks appear in Ghana.
We can never have too many discussions on the importance of genebanks, so here’s another one. Not much on the community sort, though. Here’s another example: Ireland. Even the Arab States of Asia want one!
And a deep dive on crop wild relatives in genebanks to round things off.
A community saves illegal potatoes in Canada. Yeah, I know, there’s a lot to unpack there.
Maybe that humble illegal potato needs a geographic indication, like that superfood, açaí.
The Mayocoba bean as a superfood is a bit of a stretch, but there’s plenty of other pulses out there making waves.
The Michigan State kiwi could probably do with a geographic indication too, come to think of it. Cold-hardy and smooth-skinned? Super!
Ok, this is probably the last Nibbles before Christmas, so let’s celebrate with a drink: with bitters of course.

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.