Category: Mainstream

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In Memoriam

Sad to report that two giants of our field have passed on.

Dr Melaku Worede helped establish the national genebank of Ethiopia in 1976 and led it for 14 years. He was a champion for the equal participation of farmers and local communities in the conservation and management of crop diversity.

Dr Miguel Holle was a teacher and plant explorer, a world expert on wild tomato genetic resources.

Both made indelible contributions to the conservation and use of plant genetic resources, on both the technical and policy side, over many years. They will be missed.

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Nibbles: Crop failure, Transformation, Malta genebank, Virginia fruits, Nigeria genebank, Bean breeding, Peasants’ rights

  1. Multiple simultaneous crop failures are going to get more common.
  2. All the more reason to transform food system, right?
  3. Which means funding genebanks properly, even on Malta.
  4. And saving what can still be saved. Like fruit trees in the US, yes, why not?
  5. But you have to know what to do with all that stuff in genebanks. Nigeria is showing a way to do that.
  6. One thing you can do is breed beans which take less time to cook. Win-win.
  7. While doing all that, let’s not forget peasants’ rights.
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Brainfood: Private finance, Public finance, Land sparing, Land sharing, Trade-offs, Ecological intensification, Metaverse, Crop failure

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Nibbles: Agroecology, Wheat breeding, NUS in LA, Fonio beer, Herbarium seeds, Ukraine herbarium, Grasspea breeding, Plant Treaty

  1. You want agroecology? Don’t neglect labour issues.
  2. You can’t neglect hot dry winds if you want the breed wheat for Kansas these days.
  3. IFPRI continues to ride the latest neglected crops bandwagon, this time in Latin America.
  4. In Africa, beer may rescue fonio from neglect.
  5. Rescuing plants from herbarium sheets.
  6. Rescuing herbarium sheets in Ukraine.
  7. Breeding a safe grasspea will definitely save it from neglect.
  8. Meanwhile, in Rome, negotiations to enhance the Plant Treaty’s multilateral system of access and benefit sharing re-start. I bet a whole bunch of neglected crops are on the agenda.
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Nibbles: Milpa revival, Cretan olive, Lost apples, Moche meals, African agroecology, Global Tree Knowledge Platform, Issues in Agricultural Biodiversity

  1. Marketing the milpa.
  2. Marketing a traditional Cretan olive variety.
  3. Finding lost apples in New England. Now to market them.
  4. Taking new passion fruit varieties to market in Australia.
  5. Deconstructing Moche history, society and culture through compost and struggle meals. No sign of markets.
  6. Reviewing the state of agroecology in Africa. Does “economic diversification” count as marketing?
  7. The Global Tree Knowledge Platform must have stuff on marketing somewhere.
  8. The books series ISSUES IN AGRICULTURAL BIODIVERSITY, now free to download, has lots on marketing.