Mainstream

May 19, 2022

Bean there, done that

I don’t think we’ve mentioned the Global Bean Project, but it sounds like fun.

More than 40 partners across Europe, as well as in Kenya and India, share and showcase inspiring experiences and practical knowledge about legume cultivation and consumption: public gardens and seed exchanges, monthly meetings and lectures, information sheets and promotional media.

Thanks to the always useful Seeds4All Newsletter for the headsup.

May 14, 2022May 13, 2022

Nibbles: Seeds in Lebanon, Seeds in space, Seeds in Ghana, Seeds in Kenya, Cassava, Jamaican vodka

The latest news of the ICARDA genebank in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, China has put seeds in space.
Back on Earth, though, Ghana still needs investment in its seed systems…
…Kenya looks to its sorghum and finger millet…
…and Nigeria to its cassava.
Jamaica, on the other hand, is having a breadfruit vodka.

May 9, 2022May 9, 2022

Brainfood: Insect biodiversity, Pollinator conservation, Sustaining protected areas, Tea gardens, Sustainable meat hunting, Eating weeds in Crete, Organic ag in Sweden, New wine grape varieties, Genomic crop improvement, Anthocyanins in crops, Amaranthus core collection, Bere barley

Agriculture and climate change are reshaping insect biodiversity worldwide. Does that mean there won’t be enough of them for us to eat? Well, and to pollinate stuff I guess.
From science to society: implementing effective strategies to improve wild pollinator health. It’s the indirect drivers that will get them in the end.
Sustainable protected areas: Synergies between biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development. Empower communities and management, you fools!
Tea–vegetable gardens in Longsheng Nationalities Autonomous County: temporal and spatial distribution, agrobiodiversity and social–ecological values. Communities and management were presumably fully empowered.
WILDMEAT interventions database: A new database of interventions addressing unsustainable wild meat hunting, consumption and trade. Very empowering, I’m sure. Unclear whether edible insects are included though.
Chorta (Wild Greens) in Central Crete: The Bio-Cultural Heritage of a Hidden and Resilient Ingredient of the Mediterranean Diet. Well, frankly, who needs insects when you have weeds?
Relative yield of food and efficiency of land-use in organic agriculture – A regional study. If the best bits of Sweden went fully organic, 130% more land would be needed. Unclear whether eating either weeds or insects was factored into the calculations.
Advancing designer crops for climate resilience through an integrated genomics approach. Forget eating weeds, protecting pollinators and empowering this or that, thrown everything at crop improvement.
Developing Germplasm and Promoting Consumption of Anthocyanin-Rich Grains for Health Benefits. Especially crops with coloured grains.
The World Vegetable Center Amaranthus germplasm collection: Core collection development and evaluation of agronomic and nutritional traits. Well, and vegetables, presumably.
Consumer acceptance of fungus-resistant grape wines: Evidence from Italy, the UK, and the USA. Ah yes, but whether consumers like the idea of grape vines improved through interspecific hybridization depends on what exactly you tell them. So much for empowerment.
The evolutionary relationship between bere barley and other types of cultivated barley. Unfortunately this paper did not come out in time for the inclusion of a subplot on the introduction of Viking barley to the Orkneys in the current blockbuster The Northman. But I hear there’s stuff in there about empowerment.

May 5, 2022May 5, 2022

Nibbles: New Indian genebank, Bremji Kul conservation, Ugandan cassava, Chicago heirloom tomato guy, Malawi root & tuber value chains, Wild harvested plants report, Indigenous oyster harvesting, The Recipes Project

Maharashtra to set up a genebank, but definitely NOT the nation’s first.
Meanwhile, in Kashmir…
Let them eat cassava cake.
Minor roots and tubers not so minor in Malawi. Cassava unavailable for comment.
Area man shares heirloom tomatoes. Not many people hurt.
How to make the most, sustainably, of 12 wild-harvested plant species. According to FAO.
Indigenous peoples have been harvesting oysters sustainably for millennia.
The wonderful Plant Humanities Initiative does recipes.

April 29, 2022April 29, 2022

Nibbles: Jordanian seeds, Indian tubers, Himalayan fungi, American bees

Jordan’s genebank in the news.
Tuber Man of Kerala’s genebank in the news.
Pricy Himalayan mushroom in the news, should probably be in a genebank.
Bee breeders in the news. Probably a first.