Nibbles – Page 437 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

January 11, 2008

New book on bananas

Banana book sees light of day-o; Harry Belafonte unavailable for comment.

January 9, 2008January 9, 2008

Malawi’s windmill entrepreneur

Blow me. From the Lubin Files, a feel(very)good story of the Malawian who built a windmill.

January 7, 2008January 7, 2008

Engineered sorghum more nutritious

Pioneer Hi-Bred engineers more nutritious sorghum: Africa unavailable for comment.

January 5, 2008January 5, 2008

Most beehives in a single tree

Bee tree boasts 575 hives, seeks World Heritage Site status.

December 19, 2007

Defining basmati

So what is basmati anyway? Indian boffins all too available for comment.

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