Forests & trees

March 4, 2026March 5, 2026

A home for genebank training at last?

Long-time readers will know that I regularly try to roundup training opportunities in crop diversity conservation, basically because nobody else does it. Well, maybe I can stop doing that now.

Yes, it’s true, the Crop Trust has launched a Genebank Academy, which aggregates information on online training courses. Have they missed some? Let me know.

And completeness compels me to add that there is also a Landscape Academy. Though unfortunately none of the courses seem to feature genebanks. But then, I’m not sure that any of the genebank courses featured landscapes.

January 20, 2026January 21, 2026

Nibbles: Restoration, Monitoring, CARDI, Margot Forde, Warwick, Slow Beans 2025, Lonicera

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

October 21, 2025October 21, 2025

Nibbles: Millennium Seed Bank 25th, NPGS, Maize germplasm, Breadfruit genebank, Banana genebank

King Charles III talks about seeds with Dr Elinor Breman of Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank and…
…Cate Blanchett.
Or read about it in The Economist.
Or watch a nice video.
The seed banks of the National Plant Germplasm System in the USA are for farmers, not just researchers.
How to get stuff out of the NPGS.
Laurajean Lewis: from an NPGS genebank to CIMMYT’s.
I’m sure she and Chris Mujjabi will get to know each other soon.
Diane Ragone: Not all genebanks are seed banks.
Not a lot of breadfruits in Belgium but, surprisingly, lots of bananas.

August 18, 2025August 18, 2025

Brainfood: Agroforestry, Afro-descendant conservation, Opportunity crops, Off-farm income, Phureja conservation, European taro, Argania products, Honeybee intensification, Mycorrhizal hotspots

Effects of tree cover and crop diversity on biodiversity and food security in tropical agricultural landscapes. In tropical agricultural landscapes, modest tree cover in diverse cropping systems supports higher biodiversity and higher crop yields, demonstrating that agroforestry can deliver win-win synergy between conservation and food production.
Afro-descendant lands in South America contribute to biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. I guess biodiverse landscapes managed according to traditional knowledge deliver superior environmental outcomes not just in farms with trees but also in forested territories under community management.
Science for Africa’s future food security: reimagining the histories and futures of underutilised crops. Reviving indigenous, underutilised crops in sub-Saharan Africa by restoring their historical and cultural significance can enhance nutritional diversity, climate resilience and food security, paralleling the evidence above that culturally rooted, biodiversity-rich systems are good for both the environment and communities.
Off-farm income and dietary diversity in subsistence farming in Burundi. Across rural and urban settings, from farms to forests to cities, culture-informed, biodiversity-rich food systems offer interlocking benefits: ecological resilience, climate mitigation, improved nutrition, and community empowerment. Or am I stretching a point here?
Cultivar loss and conservation of genetic resources of the phureja potato (Solanum phureja L., Phureja Group) in Peru. Traditional Andean farming communities are witnessing the disappearance of this culturally significant diploid potato group, which has rich genetic diversity and interesting adaptations, highlighting an urgent need for in situ conservation to preserve it. Oh wow, look, locally rooted, biodiversity-rich farming systems, anchored in cultural heritage, are key to sustaining ecosystem services, safeguarding genetic diversity, and building climate-resilient, equitable food futures. Again.
Taro (Colocasia esculenta) in Europe: a journey through fields, botanical gardens, ditches and city markets. This culturally important root crop was introduced in Europe in antiquity and now survives in fields, markets, and even city waterways as both ornament and food, but despite its genetic and cultural richness, it remains under-researched and requires both ex situ and in situ conservation to safeguard its long-term use. So yep, even this one says that conserving crop diversity through culturally embedded, multi-dimensional stewardship is essential for strengthening food security and preserving heritage in a changing climate.
Innovation of argan (Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels) products and byproducts for sustainable development of rural communities in Morocco. A systematic literature review. Innovative uses of argan tree products and by-products in Morocco, from bioplastics and biochar to livestock feed and natural repellents, offer promising pathways for conservation, cultural preservation, and rural economic development, provided local communities are actively engaged in participatory management. Where have I heard that before?
Negative ecological impacts of honeybees begin at densities below recommended levels for crop pollination. Too many honeybee hives can reduce wild bee abundance, species richness, and fruit yield on farms, even when wildflower strips are present, suggesting that ecological balance is disrupted when managed pollinators outcompete native species. Which can probably be cleverly connected with all of the above with a little more time than I have at the moment.
Global hotspots of mycorrhizal fungal richness are poorly protected. What can I tell you, we need in situ conservation for mycorrhiza too. And machine learning can help us figure out where best to do it. For all of the above, and more, naturally.

August 12, 2025August 15, 2025

Nibbles: SOTW report, Food prices, Rex Bernardo, Odisha landraces, Cyprus community seedbank, Haiti seed producers, Trees for the Future, Iraq genebank, Sudan genebank, Climate-Conflict-Vulnerability Index, India SDG2,

FAO explains why crop diversity matters.
Well, for one thing, there’s food prices, that’s why.
Ah, yes, crop diversity: “You gotta have it. You gotta use it. You gotta talk about it.”
Odisha mainstreams landrace diversity in its seed system.
Meanwhile, the Farmers Union of Cyprus is stashing seeds away in Community Bank of Cypriot Traditional Seeds.
Looks a bit like the Groupements de Production Artisanale de Semences in Haiti. If you squint.
If only there were some guidelines for managing such community seed banks.
Iraqi Kurdistan gets in on the genebank act.
Iraq used to have a genebank, but what happened to it has just happened in Sudan.
Ah, to have a Climate—Conflict—Vulnerability Index so that such things could be predicted and steps taken.
And a monitoring system and some targets would be good too.