- Dr Costich’s Odyssey.
- CGIAR Germplasm Health Units: Between the Scylla of spreading pests and diseases and the Charybdis of getting stuff out to genebank users too slowly.
- Turning insects into food
- Feeding cattle under the Congolese sun.
- Plenty of intoxicating fruits out there besides lotus.
- Weaving a web of data for food security.
- Europe heeds the siren song of agroecology.
Brainfood: GBIF, CWR hotspots, Feralization, Gene editing, Japanese seeds, Campesino maize, Tunisian wheat, Dietary diversity, Seed storage, GHUs
- Data integration enables global biodiversity synthesis. Biodiversity data is not enough.
- Review of congruence between global crop wild relative hotspots and centres of crop origin/diversity. Vavilov is enough.
- Feralization: Confronting the Complexity of Domestication and Evolution. Centres of diversity are not enough.
- De novo domestication of wild species to create crops with increased resilience and nutritional value. Conservation is not enough.
- Evaluating plant genetic diversity maintained by local farmers and residents: A comphrehensive assessment of continuous vegetable cultivation and seed-saving activities on a regional scale in Japan. Economic incentives are not enough.
- Beyond subsistence: the aggregate contribution of campesinos to the supply and conservation of native maize across Mexico. Small farmers could be enough.
- Unlocking the Patterns of the Tunisian Durum Wheat Landraces Genetic Structure Based on Phenotypic Characterization in Relation to Farmer’s Vernacular Name. Small farmers could be enough.
- Linkages between dietary diversity and indicators of agricultural biodiversity in Burkina Faso. Production of diverse crops could be enough.
- Seed longevity of two nutrient-dense vegetables (Amaranthus spp.). 5°C and aluminium packets are enough.
- Phytosanitary Interventions for Safe Global Germplasm Exchange and the Prevention of Transboundary Pest Spread: The Role of CGIAR Germplasm Health Units. Genebanks are not enough.
Nibbles: Bangladeshi gardens, Rambo root, Invasive hybrids, Pomologia, CWR, Genebanks, Deforestation, Agroecology, Post-2020, Intergenerational justice
- Floating gardens are a solution.
- Cassava is a solution.
- Eco-fusion is a solution.
- Art is a solution.
- Crop wild relatives are a solution.
- Genebanks are a solution.
- Understanding the effect of agricultural commodities on forests is a solution.
- My agroecology is a solution, but not your agroecology.
- 2021 will be a solution.
- Long-term thinking is the solution.
Watch and learn
The annual courses organized by Wageningen University on Plant Genetic Resources and Resilient Seed Systems for Sustainable Food Security and on Contemporary Approaches to Genetic Resources Conservation and Use will be online this year. Find out more and apply.
Oh, wait, so will EUCARPIA’s international conference on Breeding and Seed Sector Innovations for Organic Food Systems.
Anybody zoomed out yet?
Toolbox tuber released
The Toolbox offers a collection of 11 tools that help diagnose, evaluate and improve seed systems of banana, cassava, potato, sweet potato, and yam. These tools can be used by researchers, policy makers, and practitioners working on seed systems of these crops.
Interested? The launch is on 2 March and you can register for the online event.
They’ll help with that pesky adoption gap, hopefully.