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.
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.
A new year dawns for the British apple
The famous British apple collection at Brogdale in Kent, which has been through some vicissitudes this past year, and could do with some good news, is being replanted, and the BBC has a video. Incidentally, I recently learned that the composer Gerald Finzi assembled a selection of heirloom varieties at his country house, Church Farm, Ashmansworth, near Newbury, Berkshire, and that these are included in the national collection at Brogdale, or at least they were. I hope they still are, because Church Farm has been on the market and who knows if the new owner is interested in the likes of Russet, Roxbury Russet, Welford Park Nonsuch, Baxter’s Pearmain, Golden Non Pareil, Mead’s Broading, Norman’s Pippin and Haggerstone Pippin.
Nibbles: Pepper, Indian farming, Indian farming, Rwanda, Radios
- Diverse alternatives to Piper nigrum. Tasty.
- How local indigenous people farmed in the land that became Massachusetts.
- How local indigenous people farm in Orissa: “rice breeds fish breeds rice“. More on that Koraput GIAHS award.
- Should Rwandan farmers grow what they want to, or what the government tells them to?
- Have you heard the news? Transistor radios may be more important to poor farmers than mobile telephones.
Nibbles: Apples, Koraput recognized, Nuts
- Cynthia gives us her personal history with apple diversity, and the history of Tarte Tatin; yum!
- Farmers in Koraput, India, recognized as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS).
- Ugandan farmers who select one of four new groundnut varieties increase incomes. Good to know. What happens to the old varieties?