Mainstream – Page 65 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

Nibbles: Western grapes, Mapping pastoralists, Difficult species

Grafting the Grape Virtual Lecture Series: Missouri Vines and Wines: Then and Now. Wait, that’s today!
Mapping for Pastoralists, On-line Seminar. Phew, it’s next week.
APPS Special Issue Call for Papers: “Meeting the Challenge of Exceptional Plant Conservation: Technologies and Approaches.” Relax, you have until June. Wait…

Nibbles: Social science, Berry call, Oz bank, Prior art

5 suggestions for scientists on social: see & be seen, select & specialize, serve, socialize, strategize.
Open call to berry breeders.
Another genebank for Australia makes a splash.
How to avoid a repeat of the whole Enola bean story.

May 11, 2021May 10, 2021

Nibbles: Dates, Patagonian berries, Wild edibles, Barley breeding, African grains, Tea & CC, Grapes

Dates!
Berries!
Goosefoot!
Malting barley!
Ancient grains!
Tea!
American grapes!

Nibbles: Emissions, Anthromes, S Asian farming origins, Old seeds, Chestnut, Canadian heirlooms, ABS newsletter

Food contributes 1/3 of greenhouse gas emissions.
How we got to the above.
And a focus on how farming started in South Asia in particular.
A long-term seed experiment carries on.
Another chapter in the story of the comeback of the American chestnut?
Want to help a heirloom make a comeback?
There’s a newsletter on the law and policy behind all this stuff.

Nibbles: Evidence, Agroecology, Iconography, Cryo

Educational materials for conservation.
Seminar on agroecology next week by Professor of Agroecology Steve Gliessman.
Why is there a citron in Van Eyck’s Ghent altarpiece?
APPS Special Issue Call for Papers: “Meeting the Challenge of Exceptional Plant Conservation: Technologies and Approaches.”

1. Ancient farmers didn’t have to wait for the genetic diversity that made domestication possible. They selected from variation already present in wild plants, including the ancestors of rice and maize. Domestication was as much about spotting (or happening upon) useful differences as creating new ones.
2. English colonists in America called Indigenous dogs “wolves,” revealing as much about colonial perceptions as about the animals themselves. This history of Indigenous dogs shows how unfamiliar animals were classified through peculiarly European ideas about wildness.
3. Austria is bringing forgotten apple varieties back to life. Saving old varieties in genebanks is one thing: getting people to grow, sell and eat them is another, but it can be done. Or at least tried.
4. Jordan’s olive-oil heritage centres on traditional varieties such as Nabali and ancient Rumi trees, but most production is consumed locally, leaving exports limited and making provenance, cultivar and harvest date important indicators for buyers. Compare and contrast with Austrian apples.
5. Small island developing states have distinctive food cultures and ingredients, but face particular challenges in building sustainable and resilient food systems. FAO’s A Taste of SIDS explores the connections between island food, biodiversity and culinary heritage. Nice to see diversity within crops considered, though a few local variety names would have been nice.
Published on October 21, 2026