Indigenous knowledge systems – Page 347 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

September 29, 2008September 29, 2008

Nibbles: Tamarind, Fire, Aquaculture

A single tree that is also a genebank? Holy tamarind.
Looking to kangaroo bones for evidence of Aboriginal terraforming.
African fish farming links. Via.

September 23, 2008September 23, 2008

Nibbles: New Agriculturist, Sheep, Jatropha, Carrots

All about potatoes.
Mutant sheep to attack Australia.
An Indian Jatropha genebank in the news. And a study to tell us where to collect more using some really cool software.
The ‘Purple Dragon’ carrots are coming up in a variety of colours but mostly not purple.

September 20, 2008

Nibbles: Moringa, Gardening

September 19, 2008

Virtue rewarded

“I have not done anything extraordinary; merely taken care of my land.”

September 18, 2008September 18, 2008

Nibbles: Tangled Bank, Uganda, Swaziland, Agroforestry, Aquaculture, Potato

Tangled Bank 114 is up at Science made Cool.
More young people should be involved in agriculture.
More rich people should be involved in agriculture.
More trees should be involved in agriculture.
Carp have been involved in agriculture for a long time. At least in Japan.
In depth look at potato numbers.

1. Sir Nathaniel Bacon’s painting records the arrival of American crops in early modern England. And the cookmaid gets equal billing.
2. North America’s bison survived near-extinction, but how much of its genetic diversity is left? Past and present DNA is helping reconstruct what was lost, with implications for how what remains is conserved and managed.
3. China’s wild rice collection in Hainan now holds more than 15,000 samples. A genetic treasure trove, but its value ultimately depends on what breeders can make of it. Much like what’s left of bison diversity.
4. Mycorrhizal fungi form vast underground networks that support plant life and store carbon. A new global map begins to show their extent, and just how much of this biodiversity remains overlooked.
5. Africa’s herbaria hold centuries of botanical history, much of it still effectively invisible. Specimens can reveal shifting plant distributions and overlooked species. First, though, someone has to do the painstaking work of getting the data online.
6. Africa has done painstaking work on seed laws, but getting good seed to farmers remains hard in practice. The gap between policy and delivery is stark, and commercial companies need to work alongside farmer-managed seed systems, not pretend they don’t exist.
Published on October 14, 2026