- Seed saving at IPK handed over.
- Why Bambara groundnut needs saving.
- Kenyan women get together to save seeds.
- Saving seeds in the Atacama Desert.
- Saving wheat and vines in Georgia.
Pecan inside
A peek inside Jeremy’s latest newsletter is always worthwhile…
An extract from a book usually needs a bit of context if it is to make much sense. Alas, How an Enslaved Gardener Transformed the Pecan Into a Cash Crop lacks a bit of context. It explains how “Antoine’s successful inosculation … ultimately supported the production of up to ten million pounds of pecans annually by the early 1920s, resulting in a multimillion dollar pecan industry,” and that’s good. But the extract alone tells us nothing about the enslaved man Antoine or his enslaver Roman. Still, it isn’t hard to find out more without having to read Beronda L. Montgomery’s book in its entirety, if you wish.
This also gives me an opportunity to remind you about an episode from way back in the mists of time: Pecans and history, in which I spoke to Professor James McWilliams about his book The Pecan: A History of America’s Native Nut. Chapter four is all about Antoine’s graft, though I failed to ask about that.
…see what I did there?
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.
Guardian of a (nearly) forgotten staple honoured
The National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) awarded Dr. Diane Ragone, founder and director emerita of NTBG’s Breadfruit Institute 1, the 2024 David Fairchild Medal for Plant Exploration. Dr. Ragone gave this presentation at the award ceremony, sharing her four-decade journey exploring, conserving, and promoting breadfruit.
Nibbles: Ukraine duplication, Mexican native maize, Andean agriculture double, Campanian crops double, Pacific cryobank, Moringa promotion
- A little more safety for Ukraine’s seeds, thanks to a new genebank.
- A little more safety for Mexico’s native maize, thanks to Pres. Sheinbaum.
- A little more safety for Andean agriculture, thanks to Ecuadorian Indigenous women and Inside Mater in Peru.
- A little more safety for Ischia’s zampognaro bean and Amalfi’s lemons, thanks to local people (and GIAHS).
- A little more safety for Pacific crops, thanks to cryopreservation. Breadfruit next?
- A little more safety for moringa? At least in Africa with all its “opportunity crops”?