Mainstream – Page 89 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

Nibbles: BSF, GNR2020, AI, IITA, Papa, Volcani, Yu, aDNA

The ITPGRFA’s Benefit Sharing Fund at work.
Remembering the Global Nutrition Report. Yes, I know it was only a few days ago.
Measuring poverty from space.
Interview with IITA’s genebank manager.
Humble-bragging the potato. In Spanish.
The Israeli genebank in the news.
Seed saving in China.
DNA from ancient Egyptian emmer.

Nibbles: Fusarium, Lactobacillus, Lycopersicon, Digitaria, Morus

The latest on TR4 resistant banana varieties in Australia.
Lactobacillus is in fact 25 genera.
Greenhouse tomatoes pretty diverse after all?
Digitaria: from weed to forage.
London’s mulberries.

May 20, 2020August 18, 2020

Nibbles: 4H, Plague medicine, Maize origins, Rice spread, Seed saving

Plant Health, Animal Health, Human Health and Environmental Health. What’s not to like?
It used to be thought that tobacco and sugar could help with the above. Go figure.
La Cuna del Maíz Mexicano.
The same, but for rice in Asia.
Backyard seed saving, and science.

May 19, 2020May 18, 2020

Nibbles: Kenya forests, Australian grasses, Jackfruit processing, Turin fruit museum

Safeguarding Kenya’s forests the local way.
The latest from the Dark Emu guy. Is this how Australian Aborigines farmed?
Adding value to jackfruit in India.
No jackfruit in this astonishing collection of fruit diversity in wax, alas.

May 18, 2020May 21, 2020

Talking genebanks

Watch the recording on Facebook, if you can. And that’s hot on the heels of this discussion hosted by the Global Landscapes Forum.

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