Genebanks

January 13, 2012April 10, 2024

Erna Bennett papers

8 September 1971: Erna Bennett receives the Meyer Medal from Ralph Phillips, watched by FAO DG A.H. Boersma.

Thanks to Helmut Knüpffer of IPK Gatersleben, for his comment pointing to two important papers relating to Erna Bennett.

Erna Bennett: Her Career and Convictions and An Interview with Erna Bennett by IS Cunningham provides an insight into some aspects of her personality and drive. (Diversity 5(2 & 3), 60-63, 1989. As with the Ceres article reprinted by The Ecologist, if you do download and skim through the whole issue, you might, like me, wonder what on Earth we’ve all been doing for the past 40 years.)
Award of Meyer Memorial Medal to Erna Bennett of FAO, including Presentation by Dr. Ralph W. Phillips, Miss Erna Bennett’s Acceptance, and Statement by Dr. A. H. Boerma. 1971. (J. Heredity 62(5), 277-279. That one’s behind a paywall, although I reckon snagging the photo above constitutes fair use.)

Helmut also wrote: “I just went to the Mansfeld Library. There are 2292 reprints in the “Reprint Collection Erna Bennett” sorted alphabetically by author and then numbered 1-2292.” Good to know.

And a couple of other links. Grain, the NGO, published its own tribute. Grain’s archives contain a piercing essay from Erna on The Summit-to-Summit Merry-go-Round, which should be on the reading list of everyone with an interest in agricultural biodiversity and the context surrounding its conservation and use.

January 12, 2012January 17, 2014

Nibbles: Beetle diets, Seed hunters, NUS, Food security, Indian malnutrition, Craft Irish beer, Nordic livestock, Prosecco DOC, Artemisia, CGIAR

Predators hunt for a balanced diet. So it’s not just people?
Seeds of High Asia. Saudi Aramco World gives respect to the seed hunters.
Obscure crops and an obscure book. Dorian Fuller gives respect to the neglected.
“For the time being, I genuinely believe we must maintain yield growth, but we need to ensure that we preserve the natural capital for the future.” UK Food Security Czar speaks.
Indian PM mea culpa on malnutrition. Will he listen to the above? Would it help?
Beer in Ireland. Not Guinness. I may be gone some time.
Nordics discuss AnGR and climate change. Successfully, natch.
Prosecco runs to the IPR ramparts.
Video on growing Artemisia to fight poverty.
Help the CGIAR with its tagline. Beyond irony.

January 10, 2012August 30, 2025

Nibbles: Whiskey, Project design, Australian genebanks, Gender, Books, FAO DG Q&A

Meet my two best friends, Jack and Daniel.
How to design sustainable intensification projects.
All about the Aussie PGR “system.” What’s that you say? They need another genebank?
I just know you want to go to the Global Conference on Women in Agriculture.
If that doesn’t grab you, perhaps Denver Botanic Garden’s series of booktalks will. Tea & sushi, anyone?
New FAO DG pushes all right buttons except for agrobiodiversity. Which is left for others at FAO to push.

January 9, 2012January 9, 2012

Erna Bennett RIP

Erna Bennett has died. She was a pioneer of plant genetic resources conservation. In fact, according to Pat Mooney, “it was this colourful, outspoken Ulster-born Irish revolutionary who first coined the phrase ‘genetic conservation’ and brought substance and strategy to the term for the world community”. You can get some idea of what she meant personally to workers in the field by reading the comments on the announcement of her death, and also on a previous post, on Danny’s blog. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution dedicated an issue to her on the occasion of the 80th birthday. Here’s what Jack Hawkes, another pioneer in the field who recently passed away, thought of her and the other handful of far-sighted people who we have to thank for today’s genebanks, and the treasures they hold.

January 9, 2012January 9, 2012

Nibbles: Sunflower breeding, Indian cows, New varieties and income, Climate change and extinction, Honeybee threat, Figs, Apple history, DIY Luffa, IRRI DDG blog

The Russian sunflowers are coming! The Russian sunflowers are coming!
Holy cow! Can’t do better than The Hindu’s headline. And more.
CIMMYT says groundnut varieties good for income. ICRISAT unavailable for comment.
But are they climate-proof?
Because it could be worse than we thought for many species. And more. And what it means for in situ.
The latest on what’s killing bees.
The fig, in all its recondite glory.
Apples of France, Part Deux.
All you ever wanted to know about growing your own luffa.
IRRI DDG tries his hand at growing a rice crop. And blogs about it to boot. A nice idea, which should be widely emulated in the CG.