Genebanks – Page 503 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

June 1, 2008June 3, 2008

Talking about Vavilov

The New York Botanical Garden hosted a World Science Festival panel discussion about Nikolai Vavilov on 31 May. The moderator, Carl Zimmer, has a video of a conversation with co-panelist Peter Pringle on his blog. ¹ Pringle is the author of The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov.

Later stiil: Check out the comment from Cary Fowler on Svalbard, though.

May 30, 2008May 30, 2008

Nibbles: Oils, Mango, Agro-tourism

Oils unpacked.
Indian mango aficionado grafts 300 varieties on a single tree.
Agro-tourism parks a great hit in Maharashtra.

May 12, 2008May 12, 2008

Nibbles: NUS, Value-added, Values, Genebank, IPR

New Agriculturist focuses on neglected species.
Chocolate, wine… Fellow could have himself a pretty good weekend in Vegas with that lot.
Irish evaluate biodiversity, apparently ignore agriculture.
Sasa schemes to save Scottish landraces.
The Indian Seed and Patent Acts dissected.

May 8, 2008May 9, 2008

Nibbles: Ancient grains, ex situ, onions, organic, marine resources

Lots of new products feature ancient grains; King Tut unavailable for comment.
How genebanks work. Both Jeremy and Luigi available for comment and editing services.
Crackdown on onion smuggling.
Alleged myths about organic farming.
First Americans ate seaweed.

May 6, 2008May 6, 2008

Nibbles: Insects, EMBRAPA, Prices, Cuba, Supermarkets

Climate change threatens tropical insects and their pollination services.
Brazil rises in world genebank rankings.
Food price crisis advice summarized.
Cuba “sustainable” agriculture at crossroads.
Supermarkets bad for small farmers?

1. Swapping maize for indigenous crops won’t fix African food systems designed around markets and policies that still favour a narrow range of crops.
2. Cassava is both a food security fallback and a commercial crop in Uganda, but disease, climate change and declining diversity make its conservation an increasingly urgent form of insurance. But what about the markets and policies?
3. When livestock and crops fail, Ugandan pastoralists draw on wild plants for food, underlining how much food-system resilience still sits outside the formal agricultural system, with its markets and policies.
4. The Morton Arboretum is using living collections and genetic research to help the threatened butternut tree cope with changing conditions.
5. Webinar discusses global approaches to seed provenancing and transfer zones, useful for anyone who wants to move native plants without moving the wrong genes. Butternut very interested.
6. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Frozen Zoo preserves genetic material of plant and animal species that may disappear, from DNA to cells to organisms. Butternut volunteers.
7. New Indian facility combines ex situ fish conservation with community aquaculture. Good model for much of the above?
Published on October 6, 2026