Author: Luigi Guarino

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Agriculture rooted in genebanks, kinda

Diverse Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) are an important aspect of biodiversity and greater investment in both in-situ and ex-situ conservation of genetic material will be important. PGRFA are essential for agriculture to adapt to environmental stresses, climate change, and changing markets. In 2022, 5.7 million accessions were reportedly conserved in 831 gene banks by 114 countries including through the International Treaty Benefit Sharing Fund. Continuing to meet funding commitments is critical. Cooperation between informal farmer seed systems and gene banks to maintain genetic material could be scaled up.

Could not have put it better myself. And the fact that it comes from a World Bank report (Agriculture Rooted in Biodiversity) advocating for more sustainable agriculture makes it all the sweeter. Check out p. 71 for the agrobiodiversity section. Then on p. 114 you’ll find a recommendation to: “Support in-situ and conservation of plant and animal genetic material for food and agriculture (PGRFA).” Which is a bit weirdly phrased but makes ex situ conservation a bit more explicit when you look at its components:

  • Develop partnerships between gene banks and community seed funds to exploit the potential of farmer seed systems to maintain genetic material in-situ and share with gene banks (see case studies in Annex 15).
  • Support local seed companies that create markets for locally adapted varieties saved by farmer seed systems (e.g., matching grants to facilitate access to finance for improved seeds facilities.
  • Conduct an inventory of breeds and assess extinction risks.
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Nibbles: Restoration, Monitoring, CARDI, Margot Forde, Warwick, Slow Beans 2025, Lonicera

  1. Africa needs good forest seeds.
  2. And genetic monitoring of the resulting plantings, probably.
  3. The Caribbean also wants quality seed, and thinks a mobile seed bank is the way to get it.
  4. The only mobile things about New Zealand’s genebank are its collectors.
  5. A very mobile donation to the UK’s vegetable genebank.
  6. Nothing very mobile about Slow Beans 2025, but that’s the point.
  7. The long journey of honeysuckle.
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Frozen 2: This time it’s crop diversity

Speaking of breadfruit… Seeds are the … ahem … bread and butter of traditional genebanks: dry them, chill them, and they’ll keep for decades. But the seeds of many important crops don’t play nice. Some — including breadfruit — are recalcitrant, meaning they die if dried and frozen like well-behaved orthodox seeds. For these species, cryopreservation of the right plant part at really cold temperatures is the way to go. It’s the only realistic way to conserve their diversity safely, cheaply, and long-term. It means not relying on constantly refreshing field or laboratory collections that are vulnerable to pests, disease, climate, or simple human error. It’s a complicated subject technically, but if you need a quick introduction, or indeed a quick revision guide, you could do a lot worse that Dr Bart Panis‘ PowerPoint at the recent CGIAR Annual Genebanks Meeting. It’s 60-odd slides, but you can zip through them in 15 minutes and you’ll have the basics.

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Nibbles: Ukraine duplication, Mexican native maize, Andean agriculture double, Campanian crops double, Pacific cryobank, Moringa promotion

  1. A little more safety for Ukraine’s seeds, thanks to a new genebank.
  2. A little more safety for Mexico’s native maize, thanks to Pres. Sheinbaum.
  3. A little more safety for Andean agriculture, thanks to Ecuadorian Indigenous women and Inside Mater in Peru.
  4. A little more safety for Ischia’s zampognaro bean and Amalfi’s lemons, thanks to local people (and GIAHS).
  5. A little more safety for Pacific crops, thanks to cryopreservation. Breadfruit next?
  6. A little more safety for moringa? At least in Africa with all its “opportunity crops”?