Nibbles: Genebanks in South Africa, Ethiopia, Cherokee Nation, China, India, The Netherlands…

  1. South Africa ratifies the Plant Treaty. Hope its genebank goes from strength to strength.
  2. Ethiopia ratified a long time ago, and its genebank is going strong.
  3. Wouldn’t it be nice if the Cherokee Nation could ratify the Plant Treaty?
  4. Want to build a community genebank like the Cherokee Nation’s? Here’s a resource.
  5. China hasn’t ratified, but that hasn’t stopped it building genebanks.
  6. And using their contents, presumably.
  7. India has ratified, and is also building genebanks.
  8. The Netherlands ratified long ago, but I’m not sure if it has a water lentil (duckweed) collection, or if it does whether it’s in the Plant Treaty’s Multilateral System. But maybe it will, and it will be, soon. I hope so.
  9. The Dutch also have an animal genebank, BTW.
  10. Watermelons are not in the Plant Treaty’s Multilateral System, but maybe they should be.
  11. Neither is Trigonella, though many other temperate legume forages are, so who knows.

Brainfood: Maroon rice, Dutch aroids, Sicilian saffron, Inca agriculture, Native American agriculture, Mexican peppers, Afro-Mexican agriculture, Sahelian landraces, Small-scale fisheries, Coconut remote sensing

Brainfood: Diversity patterns double, Diversification drivers, Polish genetic erosion, Tibetan naked barley diversity, Indian sorghum diversity, Do novo domestication, Eggplant tree, Banana diversity, Pearl millet diversity, Pigeon pea genome, Grasspea genome, Jersey bull diversity

Nibbles: KC Bansal, Mike Jackson, Spain strawberry genebank, Ho-Chunk maize, Heritage varieties, Roman apples, Hazelnut breeding, Old rye, Serbia grapevine herbarium, Horse domestication, Mt Vernon fruits, Worldwide Day of Botanical Art, Pre-colonial African agriculture

  1. Prof. KC Bansal, who used to run the Indian national genebank, gets a much-deserved UNESCO honour.
  2. Friend-of-the-blog Dr Mike Jackson on running a rice genebank. UNESCO honour for him too?
  3. Spain’s strawberry genebank gets its 15 minutes.
  4. University and Native American nation collaborate on regenerating heritage corn varieties.
  5. The pros and cons of heritage varieties, according to an American farmer.
  6. Did the ancient Romans have heritage apples?
  7. Beautifully written piece on the use of heritage varieties — and much else besides — in breeding hazelnuts in the US. If you only read one of these Nibbles, read this one.
  8. Old shipwrecked rye seeds may end up in whiskey. Best place for them.
  9. Old Serbian grapevine herbarium samples should stay right where they are.
  10. Old horses most certainly did not stay where they were. But where was that exactly?
  11. Not sure where old bottled fruit from Washington’s estate will end up. The DNA lab maybe, like those Serbian grapevines?
  12. There’s going to be a Worldwide Day of Botanical Art on May 18, 2025. Rejoice.
  13. Decolonizing food insecurity in West Africa.

Nibbles: Tree seeds, Tepary beans, USDA trials, Seed Savers Exchange, China genebank, Nepal indigenous crops, Giant yams, Brogdale, Old apples, AI taxonomy, FEED database, IPBES Nexus report, Business & biodiversity

  1. Collecting tree seeds properly and respectfully is not easy.
  2. No word on how easy it is to collect tepary beans respectfully.
  3. Helping the USDA with their germplasm evaluations, on the other hand, is a breeze. Any tepary beans?
  4. Seed Savers Exchange makes conserving seeds look easy. Spoiler alert: it isn’t.
  5. It seems to be very easy to open new national genebanks in China.
  6. Farming is easier in Nepal with indigenous crops.
  7. Giant yams don’t look very easy to grow, but that’s not stopping some dedicated Indian women.
  8. It’s pretty easy — and fun — to visit the United Kingdom’s National Fruit Collection.
  9. Someone mention apples? Loammi Baldwin knew a thing or two about them.
  10. It’s going to get easier to identify plants. It says here.
  11. If you’re looking for interventions or policies to shift diets towards being healthier and more sustainable, your job just got a little easier.
  12. Likewise if you think the crises of biodiversity loss, water and food insecurity, health risks and climate change should be tackled together.
  13. Yes, even if you’re a business trying to manage your biodiversity risk you have a right to have it easier. Start by being respectful when climbing trees?