Another activist NGO talks about Svalbard:
The Bottom Line: The Global Seed Vault is a constructive contribution to the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources.
Excuse me? Yep, you heard me. A must read.
Party Poopers: GRAIN on Svalbard
However, this “ultimate safety net” for the biodiversity that world farming depends on is sadly just the latest move in a wider strategy to make ex situ (off site) storage in seed banks the dominant — indeed, only — approach to crop diversity conservation. It gives a false sense of security in a world where the crop diversity present in the farmers’ fields continues to be eroded and destroyed at an ever-increasing rate and contributes to the access problems that plague the international ex situ system.
Now tell me, honestly, how on Earth could anyone have seen that coming. From GRAIN, of all people.
Nibbles: Genebanks, organic, fair, chocolate
- American farming family gets tour of organic research farm and genebank in India, is impressed.
- The International Agricultural Show is on, just outside Paris. Pres. Sarkozy available for comment.
- A rapid run-through the history of chocolate, courtesy of Smithsonian.
Genebanks galore
Great to start the day with genebank stories. First, from Africa, two separate articles about the Ugandan genebank, one focusing on what’s going in and the other what’s coming out. And then, from India, a heart-warming story about saving the jackfruit.
More potato salad
Never rains but it pours, part 37. Local newspaper article on the US potato genebank.