Luigi Guarino

July 23, 2026July 23, 2026

Indigenous people ask for genebanks

Great to see a new Conservation International study, led by Sushma Shrestha (an Indigenous Newar researcher from Nepal), on how Indigenous knowledge protects Earth’s ecosystems. Researchers interviewed 49 Indigenous leaders from six continents about how they steward their land, spanning territory from the Amazon rainforest to East African savannahs and Pacific Islands.

The study pushes back on an all-to-common assumption: that Indigenous lands are ecologically rich simply because they’re isolated or lightly populated. In fact, the health of Indigenous lands, the richness of their biodiversity, and their capacity to store carbon, come directly from active stewardship by the people living there. They’re the product of specific cultural practices, not a mere accident of remoteness.

What cultural practices? Things like avoiding overfishing, maintaining sacred spaces, watching for fires and other threats, and directly resisting extractive industries all contribute to the health of Indigenous territory.

Anything on agricultural biodiversity? Alas, that’s not a framing the paper uses explicitly. However, adaptation strategies that do get mentioned include sowing seeds that can be harvested in a short period to escape flooding, and planting crops in the shadow of trees to cope with rising temperatures. On support needs, there was a specific request for help with the conservation of Indigenous varieties. This is taken up again in the discussion section, which recommends, among other resourcing priorities, the establishment of community seed banks. With the appropriate links to national genebanks, it goes without saying.

July 20, 2026July 20, 2026

Brainfood: Collaboration edition

Dietary diversity, food security, and development projects in low- and middle-income contexts: Findings from 24 countries. Development projects are most effective at improving dietary diversity and food security when they bring together agriculture, nutrition and local communities.
Enhancing farmers’ access to neglected crop seeds for healthy diets in a changing climate: six recommendations for policy action. Improving farmers’ access to opportunity crop seeds requires coordinated action across seed systems, with researchers, policymakers, seed producers and farming communities all playing complementary roles.
The effects of seed policies, laws and regulations on farmers’ ability to access and use diverse, locally adapted farmers’ varieties and landraces. Seed policies shape collaboration between farmers, communities and formal seed systems, and regulations can either enable or constrain the exchange of locally adapted varieties that keeps agricultural diversity alive.
Studying vanishing dietary diversity before it is lost: the World Diet Initiative. The World Diet Initiative brings together nutrition science, ecology and cultural knowledge to understand disappearing food traditions, showing that protecting dietary diversity requires collaboration across disciplines and communities.
The Spanish Network of Genetic Conservation Units: a cooperative tool for the conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources under a changing environment. The Spanish Network of Genetic Conservation Units show how sharing expertise and responsibilities can strengthen forest conservation.
Strengthening national genebanks through genomics and regional collaboration: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean. A regional community of practice is helping national genebanks overcome technical and institutional barriers through shared genomic approaches, turning isolated collections into connected systems for conserving and using crop diversity.

July 14, 2026July 14, 2026

Nibbles: Apple-banana paradox, Genebanks, Indian wheat, Indian wild rice, Kenya community seed banks, Wild coffee, Macadamia history, Taro research, Cacti

Why the modern food system prizes uniformity even though resilience depends on diversity. Spoiler alert: follow the money.
Historic crop varieties are finding renewed relevance as farmers contend with more volatile weather, emerging pests and changing markets. Let’s hope there’s money to conserve them.
India’s traditional wheat varieties contain diversity that could help breeders develop crops better able to withstand heat and drought. Let’s hope there’s money to conserve them.
India announces significant progress in conserving its wild rice genetic resources. Great that there was money to conserve them.
Community seed banks across Kenya are calling for formal recognition and sustained support, arguing that locally managed collections strengthen seed sovereignty, preserve traditional varieties and help farming communities adapt to climate change. Yes, but are they enough without national genebanks?
Researchers are racing to conserve wild coffee species whose genetic diversity may provide the resistance and resilience needed to secure tomorrow’s morning cup. Is the industry contributing, though ?
New history of the macadamia traces its remarkable journey from Australia’s native forests to a global crop, while underscoring why conserving the remaining wild populations is essential for the crop’s long-term future.
Researchers at the University of the South Pacific investigate how taro can withstand climate change, combining research with conservation to help protect one of the region’s most culturally and nutritionally important staple crops.
Chester Zoo collects seeds from highly threatened cacti, because why not?

July 13, 2026

Brainfood: Wild chickpea, Feral brassica, Peruvian cacao, Panamanian cacao, Tree diversity, Healthy diets in PNG

Genome-wide molecular diversity analyses identify wild Cicer as reservoirs of variations for chickpea improvement. Wild relatives of chickpea harbour a wealth of genetic variation that has yet to be exploited by breeders. But it’s mainly within species.
Genetic and Morphological Diversity in Spontaneous Populations of Brassica rapa: How Do Feral Populations Differ From Wild Ones? When a crop escapes cultivation, does it become wild again? Apparently not. Pity.
Genetic structure of traditional cacao reveals four new genetic lineages in indigenous Amazonian sites in Peru. Genetic analysis of traditional cacao maintained by Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon uncovers four previously undescribed genetic lineages.
Contrasting germplasm composition and propagation practices in the two major cacao-growing areas in Panama. Two of Panama’s principal cacao-growing regions have developed markedly different genetic profiles, reflecting both the varieties farmers cultivate and how they propagate them. I think they have been previously described though.
Ecological multifunctionality of watersheds increases with tree species richness. Watersheds planted with a greater diversity of tree species perform better across multiple ecological functions simultaneously, including nutrient cycling, soil protection and water regulation.
Nutrition sensitive poverty and its correlates in Papua New Guinea: incorporating healthy diet targets into poverty measurement. Conventional poverty measures ask whether people can afford basic necessities. Why not ask a more demanding question: can they afford a healthy diet? Hopefully meaning a diverse one.

July 7, 2026July 8, 2026

The proof is in the breeding

It’s a great pleasure to help Jeremy’s latest newsletter amplify the work of the Culinary Breeding Network. There’s other interesting stuff in there, so check it out.

A very different approach to adding value to plant varieties can be found at the Culinary Breeding Network. They unite plant breeders, farmers, chefs and eaters to select varieties that fulfill everyone’s expectations while also creating marketing campaigns for new crops and varieties. (I spoke to Lane Selman, founder of the CBN, in 2016 and am looking forward to doing so again for the next season.)

The CBN shares information freely in many different ways, including a series of zines, small publications intended to “make crop science accessible, practical, and enjoyable for everyone”. Joining the series are three new zines, on tomatoes, naked barley 2.0, and breaking vegetable boundaries. All of them are packed with fascinating insights about the open, transparent pipeline that results in improved varieties and whole new crops being available. Highly recommended.