Nibbles – Page 268 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

May 11, 2011May 11, 2011

Nibbles: Beer in Sudan, Tea and pastoralism in Kenya, Iron in beans, Mediterranean diet

Sudanese beer-drinkers in trouble. Let my people go!
The future of tea in Kenya. Mother-in-law alerted.
Meanwhile, Kenyan pastoralists go back to the future.
Slideshow: “Combating hidden hunger through bio-fortification.” Beanz meanz ironz.
May is Mediterranean Diet Month. It is? I mean, who knew?

May 10, 2011May 10, 2011

Nibbles: Nepali wheat, Ugandan coffee, Hybrid rice, Australian peanut, Kenyan fodder grasses

CIMMYT disseminates wheat varieties in Nepal. Not many people hurt.
Coffee wilt disease resistant coffee varieties not being disseminated in Uganda. Many people hurt.
Father of Hybrid Rice asked not to disseminate, er, hybrid rice. Oh I give up.
New Australian peanut variety ready for dissemination in double-quick time.
Alternatives to Napier grass all set for dissemination in Kenya.

Nibbles: Genebanks, PNG Forests, Peruvian potatoes, Haitian extension, Mungbeans

The Santa Barbara Independent does genebanks. You heard me.
Papua New Guinea suspends Special Agricultural and Business Leases. Maybe they’ll now use the land for special agriculture and business?
Native Peruvian potato chips prized in Europe (Spanish).
US opens new centre to train Haitian farmers. Because, y’know, they’ve done such a fine job in the past.
Australia taps World Vegetable Center for mungbean genes.

May 8, 2011May 8, 2011

Nibbles: #Agchat, AGree, Tree genebank, Potato genebank

Straws in the wind or portent of change? Why Farmers Are Embracing Social Media: the #AgChat Story
Straws in the wind or portent of change? AGree (geddit?) Transforming Food and Ag Policy. See also Marion Nestle’s commentary and comments therein.
More on the medicinal trees genebank in Nairobi.
And just look at the new website of the International Potato Center genebank. Part of a complete makeover.

May 6, 2011May 6, 2011

Nibbles: Red rice, Feed the Future, Heat, GM seed mixtures, Sorghum, Millet, Sturgeon, Vaccinium

Anissa makes a meal of red rice from Western China eco-museum.
Want to influence the US Feed the Future “global hunger and food security initiative”? Course you do.
Peak heat and maize yields in the US. Bear it in mind when you read today’s flurry of interest in a new study from David Lobell et al.
Seed mixtures not a good idea? Say it isn’t so!
$4 million to continue development of biofortified sorghum.
Cooking up a storm, millets edition.
They’ve outlasted the dinosaurs, but they still need help.
USDA gets blue in the face about blueberries.

1. Kurdistan inaugurates a new genebank in Sulaymaniyah, which Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani calls one of Kurdistan and Iraq’s most important national projects.
2. Ghana complements its national collection at Bunso. The new facility further north will improve drying, processing and conservation, while giving northern farmers and breeders closer access to crop diversity.
3. Three decades of African bean research partnerships and networking have helped turn a staple crop into a vehicle for improved nutrition, livelihoods and climate resilience.
4. In the Philippines, eight promising purple-yam accessions combine yield, sensory quality and market appeal, with Villasis 2 producing up to 60 tonnes per hectare in trials. Does it need a network next?
5. However, executive director of Seed Savers Exchange Mike Bollinger’s call in Food Tank’s to carry seed diversity forward extends stewardship beyond formal institutions: Indigenous communities, farmers, gardeners and seed libraries all have a role in keeping crop diversity alive and used.
Published on August 27, 2026