Abu Ghraib genebank rises from the ashes, thanks to Sanaa

Meet Mrs Sanaa Abdul Wahab Al-Sheikh. She used to work at the old Iraqi national genebank at Abu Ghraib. That genebank was looted and destroyed in the aftermath of the invasion. But Mrs Sanaa says she saved about a thousand accessions by hiding them underground and in her fridge. She now works at the new, rebuilt Iraqi national genebank at Abu Ghraib, under the State Board for Seed Testing and Certification. And the accessions she saved from the old collection have been joined by hundreds of others that she’s been collecting from farmers’ fields since 2004. A remarkable person.

César Gómez Campo RIP

Prof. César Gómez Campo died in Madrid on September 5 last year. I’m sorry we didn’t note this earlier.

In 1966 César established the ‘‘Banco de Semillas de la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Agrónomos de Madrid’’ (Seed Bank of the Higher Technical School of Agronomists of Madrid, in short: UPM Seed Bank), the first example ever of gene bank devoted to the conservation of wild species seeds. In César’s idea the long term ex situ conservation of wild taxa was a form of conservation of species endangered of extinction complementary to botanical gardens. In fact, his mind conceived this idea in a very modern way, that is including concepts of the genetic variation, in times when the concepts of nature conservation were at their very beginning.

That’s from the obituary at Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, which is unfortunately behind a paywall except for the first page; everyone can, however, access Gómez Campo’s “essential” bibliography. He’s been described as a pioneer of the conservation of the Spanish flora, especially crop wild relatives, and that is true. But his work on ex situ conservation had an impact far beyond the Iberian peninsula.

Maize god appears on radio

Jeremy has just contacted me from London saying that today’s artifact on the BBC’s A History of the World in 100 Objects series is none other than a Mayan statue of (one of?) the maize god, Hun Hunahpu. ((We’ve blogged about the female version before, who is called Chicomecoatl.))

In Mayan mythology, the maize god was decapitated at harvest time but reborn again at the beginning of a new growing season.

You can read all about it, and listen to the programme, online. I’m sure this will not be the last agrobiodiversity-themed object to be featured on the programme.

Nibbles: Globalizing locavorism, Pollinator relations, Fisheries, Pea wild relative, Haitian coffee, Niche modeling, Slow Food, Chayote, Grass vs corn, Shade chocolate, American organic

Nibbles: Biofuels, No-till corn, BBTV, Coffee pest, Air potato, Neolithic, Turkish roses, Cowpea conference