Nibbles – Page 431 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

February 5, 2008February 5, 2008

New book on globalization

Vermeer’s Hat illuminates the birth of global trade, with agricultural products to the fore. Need to read.

February 4, 2008

Talking Plants

NPR’s Talking Plants blogger is in the Amazon.

February 4, 2008

India slams biopiracy

Indian Council of Agricultural Research wishes to close stable door on “theft” of biological resources: bolted horses unavailable for comment.

February 2, 2008

Reviving a lost agricultural tradition

Armenian silk production tries for a comeback.

February 2, 2008

Farming fish in the open sea

National Geographic video on fish farming and its problems.

- China is building its germplasm collection at the National Frigid Zone Crop and Soybean Germplasm Resources Mid-term Bank in Harbin. Cool.
- Driscoll’s helped build China’s blueberry industry, then discovered that knowledge, infrastructure and genetics have a habit of escaping. Not so cool.
- Meanwhile, the Philippines wants its rice collection to hit 21,000 varieties by the end of the year. IRRI unavailable for comment.
- Italy is establishing a major global olive genebank. Unclear where it fits in with other major global olive genebanks, but some redundancy is good.
- FAO showcases Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems, where crops, landscapes and traditional knowledge have survived together. Like olives in Italy, I guess.
- The mangelwurzel is making a comeback, because apparently forgotten root vegetables just need better publicity, and not a fancy GIAHS.
- Ohio growers are trying to save the pawpaw just as Americans are discovering it, partly because of better publicity.
- BeanGPT is bringing AI to breeding and farming beans. Maybe it can help the mangelwurzel and pawpaw too?
Published on September 23, 2026