Brainfood: Micronutrients, Healthy Diet Basket, Meat alternatives, Chickpea polyphenols, African yam bean breeding, CC and nutrition, Biofortification, Mali diet diversity, Myanmar & Malawi agroforestry, African indigenous vegetables, Indian fruits

Nibbles: Genebanks in South Africa, Ethiopia, Cherokee Nation, China, India, The Netherlands…

  1. South Africa ratifies the Plant Treaty. Hope its genebank goes from strength to strength.
  2. Ethiopia ratified a long time ago, and its genebank is going strong.
  3. Wouldn’t it be nice if the Cherokee Nation could ratify the Plant Treaty?
  4. Want to build a community genebank like the Cherokee Nation’s? Here’s a resource.
  5. China hasn’t ratified, but that hasn’t stopped it building genebanks.
  6. And using their contents, presumably.
  7. India has ratified, and is also building genebanks.
  8. The Netherlands ratified long ago, but I’m not sure if it has a water lentil (duckweed) collection, or if it does whether it’s in the Plant Treaty’s Multilateral System. But maybe it will, and it will be, soon. I hope so.
  9. The Dutch also have an animal genebank, BTW.
  10. Watermelons are not in the Plant Treaty’s Multilateral System, but maybe they should be.
  11. Neither is Trigonella, though many other temperate legume forages are, so who knows.

Brainfood: Diversity patterns double, Diversification drivers, Polish genetic erosion, Tibetan naked barley diversity, Indian sorghum diversity, Do novo domestication, Eggplant tree, Banana diversity, Pearl millet diversity, Pigeon pea genome, Grasspea genome, Jersey bull diversity

Nibbles: KC Bansal, Mike Jackson, Spain strawberry genebank, Ho-Chunk maize, Heritage varieties, Roman apples, Hazelnut breeding, Old rye, Serbia grapevine herbarium, Horse domestication, Mt Vernon fruits, Worldwide Day of Botanical Art, Pre-colonial African agriculture

  1. Prof. KC Bansal, who used to run the Indian national genebank, gets a much-deserved UNESCO honour.
  2. Friend-of-the-blog Dr Mike Jackson on running a rice genebank. UNESCO honour for him too?
  3. Spain’s strawberry genebank gets its 15 minutes.
  4. University and Native American nation collaborate on regenerating heritage corn varieties.
  5. The pros and cons of heritage varieties, according to an American farmer.
  6. Did the ancient Romans have heritage apples?
  7. Beautifully written piece on the use of heritage varieties — and much else besides — in breeding hazelnuts in the US. If you only read one of these Nibbles, read this one.
  8. Old shipwrecked rye seeds may end up in whiskey. Best place for them.
  9. Old Serbian grapevine herbarium samples should stay right where they are.
  10. Old horses most certainly did not stay where they were. But where was that exactly?
  11. Not sure where old bottled fruit from Washington’s estate will end up. The DNA lab maybe, like those Serbian grapevines?
  12. There’s going to be a Worldwide Day of Botanical Art on May 18, 2025. Rejoice.
  13. Decolonizing food insecurity in West Africa.

Nibbles: China grasslands, Edible lily, Ag data, China potatoes, CIP genebank, Vavilov book, Ghana seeds, Nutrition enterprises, Seed production films, Khoury pod, Relais & Châteaux

  1. China rehabilitates its grasslands.
  2. Not content with that, China breeds a new edible lily.
  3. Not sure what food group lilies are in, but farmers are growing more fruits and vegetables, it seems.
  4. Still not resting on its lilies, China breeds climate-smart potatoes.
  5. No doubt CIP and its genebank is helping with that.
  6. There’s a new book on Vavilov and his genebank. He knew a thing or two about potatoes.
  7. Ghana is totally on board with the whole genebank thing. And the Dutch are helping.
  8. Genebanks should hook up with small- and medium-sized enterprises for nutrition. What, not large ones?
  9. Genebanks also need nice education films on seed production.
  10. Friend-of-the-blog Colin Khoury interviewed on In Defence of Plants podcast.
  11. Luxury hotels and restaurants hook up with UNESCO to protect biodiversity. Vavilov would have been so proud.