Category: Featured

When is a genebank not a genebank? When it is a collection dedicated to genetic study? Isabel Lapeña has some additional information and links on the avocado, cherimoya, lúcuma and mango at La Molina in Peru, which may or may not be genebanks and may or may not be threatened by office development.

A day after the TV program the Ministry of Agriculture declared that the project to construct the Ministry offices would not affect any “genebanks”. The issue here is that they may try to “des-clasify” the area as a genebank to avoid opposition. To my point of view the declarations are quite “pitiful”

Matthew Dillon, of Seed Matters, starts off gently enough on the subject of saving seeds …

It’s very difficult to tell a complex story to a non-professional audience. I think the question is: is it better to tell a story that lacks nuance and deep facts in order to initiate conversation that might lead to a public more informed on ag policy, or is it better to not tell the story at all and let the same group of professional/advocates be the only ones in the conversation?

But then he sticks the boot in, a splendid sight to behold. So behold it.

Isabel, possibly wearing a hat marked Policymaker, has this to say about sacred values:

I love Agata, the potato with French accent. In my view, the potatos represent a pretty accurate picture of a major part of the reality in Europe. Olivia, the farmer, doesn’t.

Anne Vezina rails at banana taxonomists, and adds:

…the problem with exporting Misi Luki is that its skin bruises easily. While it’s true that local banana landraces are underutilized in general, it’s even truer of the bananas domesticated in the Pacific, which Misi Luki is not. The best known are the Maoli, Popoulu and Iholena bananas but the western Pacific is also host to a diversity of cultivars that have yet to be classified, much less evaluated for their export potential.

Dirk sets us straight on those Santorini sweet peas:

The charred sweet peas from Santorini are actually Lathyrus clymenum, the Santorini Fava bean. The crop is still cultivated on the island. Prepared as a pulse, Santorini fava is eaten by tourists and locals. No worries about seed toxins which are identical and at higher levels than those in grasspea.