Category: Nibbles

Little bits of link goodness not worth a whole post

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Nibbles: Family farming, Banana diversity, Logotonu Waqainabete, ICARDA genebank women, SOTW3 in Africa

  1. “Our traditional crops are not just food. They are life. They are our ancestors’ legacy and our children’s inheritance.”
  2. “Banana diversity is not only a scientific or agricultural asset — it is the sector’s insurance for the future.”
  3. “Through my parents, I learned that agriculture doesn’t just feed people, it also makes the world more beautiful.”
  4. “Genebank work depends on accumulated knowledge. If that knowledge isn’t transferred, you don’t just lose experience, you introduce risk.”
  5. “Conserving and using Africa’s plant genetic resources is not a luxury. It is a necessity for resilient agrifood systems in a changing climate.”
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Nibbles: Restoration, Monitoring, CARDI, Margot Forde, Warwick, Slow Beans 2025, Lonicera

  1. Africa needs good forest seeds.
  2. And genetic monitoring of the resulting plantings, probably.
  3. The Caribbean also wants quality seed, and thinks a mobile seed bank is the way to get it.
  4. The only mobile things about New Zealand’s genebank are its collectors.
  5. A very mobile donation to the UK’s vegetable genebank.
  6. Nothing very mobile about Slow Beans 2025, but that’s the point.
  7. The long journey of honeysuckle.
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Nibbles: Ukraine duplication, Mexican native maize, Andean agriculture double, Campanian crops double, Pacific cryobank, Moringa promotion

  1. A little more safety for Ukraine’s seeds, thanks to a new genebank.
  2. A little more safety for Mexico’s native maize, thanks to Pres. Sheinbaum.
  3. A little more safety for Andean agriculture, thanks to Ecuadorian Indigenous women and Inside Mater in Peru.
  4. A little more safety for Ischia’s zampognaro bean and Amalfi’s lemons, thanks to local people (and GIAHS).
  5. A little more safety for Pacific crops, thanks to cryopreservation. Breadfruit next?
  6. A little more safety for moringa? At least in Africa with all its “opportunity crops”?
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Nibbles: Millennium Seed Bank 25th, NPGS, Maize germplasm, Breadfruit genebank, Banana genebank

  1. King Charles III talks about seeds with Dr Elinor Breman of Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank and…
  2. …Cate Blanchett.
  3. Or read about it in The Economist.
  4. Or watch a nice video.
  5. The seed banks of the National Plant Germplasm System in the USA are for farmers, not just researchers.
  6. How to get stuff out of the NPGS.
  7. Laurajean Lewis: from an NPGS genebank to CIMMYT’s.
  8. I’m sure she and Chris Mujjabi will get to know each other soon.
  9. Diane Ragone: Not all genebanks are seed banks.
  10. Not a lot of breadfruits in Belgium but, surprisingly, lots of bananas.
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Nibbles: Fiona Hay, Richard Ellis, FAO exhibition, Peasants, Wheat breeding, Svalbard, Søren Ejlersen, Ephraim Bull, Heirloom apples, Caffeine, Collards history

  1. Dr Fiona Hay, seed scientist, on why we need genebanks, including seed banks.
  2. Prof. Richard Ellis retires. A genebank legend, as Fiona would probably agree.
  3. FAO exhibition goes From Seeds to Foods. By way of genebanks, no doubt.
  4. And peasants, of course. No, it’s not a derogatory word, settle down.
  5. Can Green Revolution breeding approaches (and genebanks) help peasants deal with climate change?
  6. Even genebanks need a back-up plan though.
  7. New Mexico genebank helps out Danish chef.
  8. The history of the Concord grape and its foxiness. Chefs intrigued.
  9. The history of Aport and Amasya apples. No foxiness involved, as far as I know. Genebanks? Probably.
  10. The origin of caffeine. Now do foxiness.
  11. Where did collards come from anyway? No, not genebanks. Bloody historians, always re-writing history.