Nibbles – Page 154 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

March 12, 2014March 12, 2014

Nibbles: Banana, Seed law

“How the global banana industry is killing the world’s favorite fruit.” Eye-popping headline, but I can see what they mean.
“We won! EU parlament [sic] rejects seed regulation!” Hmmmn.

Nibbles: Mango, Money, Holy guacamole

“Top 8 Wonderful Things You Can Do With A Mango.” Kenyan clickbait. I bought it.
“Third Call for Project Proposals under the Treaty’s Benefit-sharing Fund.” Seed Treaty clickbait. I’m not qualified.
“Guacapocalypse” — a headline to reckon with. Here’s the back story to climate change and avocados.

Nibbles: Climate change and Haiti, Climate change and aid, Mushroom farming in Kenya

CIAT examines the climate change options for coffee and mongo in Haiti.
Edward Carr reckons that from an aid donor’s perspective, adapting agriculture to climate change isn’t such a great idea.
Neither has anything to say about this how-to guide to mushroom farming in Kenya.

Nibbles: Seeds for Needs, Agroecology, Costa Rican climate change, Pollinators

IFAD and Bioversity, sitting in a tree …
Don’t mimic nature on the farm.
But don’t ignore it either. Learn from nature.
Costa Rican farmers have done both, to adapt to climate change.
There’s no imitating pollinators though.

Nibbles: Resilience conference, Farmer conservation, Goat smell, grape genes

If you were thinking of registering for Resilience 2014 in Montpellier, you better get your skates on. It closes on 10 March.
UK pays farmers to conserve biodiversity – but not crop biodiversity.
Eau de goat is “citrus-scented” shock.
A web-based resource to understand the 30,000 genes that make grapes.

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