Category: Neglected species

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Nibbles: Heirloom pean, Genebanks, Students, Community seedbanks, Kunming fund, Kenyan sorghum, Italian grapes, Wild tomatoes, Mouflon, Coffee poster, Early modern watermelons, Korean language, Farmers’ rights

  1. Why heirloom seeds matter.
  2. Why genebanks full of heirloom seeds matter. Even to kids.
  3. Why community seedbanks full of heirloom seeds matter.
  4. Just how much agrobiodiversity matters, according to FAO.
  5. Why heirloom seeds of neglected crops matter.
  6. Why heirloom seeds of sorghum matter in Kenya. No, really.
  7. Why heirloom grapes matter in Italy.
  8. Why seeds of wild tomatoes matter.
  9. Even wild sheep matter.
  10. Why visualizing coffee diversity matters.
  11. Why watermelons mattered in the 17th century.
  12. Why bottle gourds mattered to Koreans.
  13. Why farmers’ rights matter.
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Nibbles: Kenyan maize, Plant ID, Ames genebank, Eating grass, Californian seeds

  1. The hidden history of ugali in Kenya. Unnecessary spoiler alert: colonialism is involved.
  2. An app for taxonomic identification. Unnecessary spoiler alert: AI is involved.
  3. The not-so-hidden history of the North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station at Ames, Iowa.
  4. Let them eat grass. No, man, species of the Poaceae. Possibly unnecessary spoiler alert: New Zealand is taking the lead.
  5. The silver lining of Californian storm clouds. Spoiler alert: seeds.
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Nibbles: Ukraine genebank, Inequality, Olive breeding, Colorado apples, Indian rice diversity, Edible trees, Australian Grains Genebank

  1. Spanish-language article about the effort to save Ukraine’s genebank.
  2. Report on “Reducing inequalities for food security and nutrition” from the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). They don’t say so explicitly, but genebanks can help with that.
  3. They can certainly help with breeding new olive varieties, which are much needed.
  4. Genebanks come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes an apple orchard is also a genebank.
  5. Sometimes rice farmers are genebanks.
  6. I wonder how many genebanks conserve trees with edible leaves. This book doesn’t say, alas.
  7. The Australian Grains Genebank (AGG) gets a boost. No word on whether it will start conserving edible trees.
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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.