Nibbles – Page 439 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

November 27, 2007

Sacred cows

India has lost half its 27 cattle breeds?

November 26, 2007

Pacific crops project

Specialty Crops for the Pacific Islands. Via PAPGREN.

November 24, 2007

Edible biodiversity, sort of

Street food, glorious street food.

November 23, 2007

Everybody loves quinoa

CABI on Bioversity on quinoa.

November 22, 2007November 22, 2007

Potato taxonomy

Quick quiz: How many species of cultivated potatoes are there?

1. A North Macedonian professor’s 15-year rescue mission for landraces and crops surviving only in remote villages. Why bother? Stay tuned…
2. Ancient grapevines in Tigray represent a unique genetic lineage with potential value for breeding varieties adapted to dryland conditions.
3. Hawai’i Public Radio checks in on Maui’s coconut genebank. Useful to breed varieties adapted to really wet conditions, presumably.
4. The Cayman Islands are also hoarding coconuts, along with lots of tasty fruits.
5. A USD 400,000 boost from Taiwan for the Eswatini national genebank. Indigenous vegetables get much-needed love.
6. A regional survey of 25 orphan crops across 13 Latin American countries finds quinoa and amaranth well-catalogued, but characterization budgets are the real bottleneck. Collecting and conserving in genebanks is great, but not enough.
7. South Korea puts 330,000 seed accessions under “double lock”, hedging against both climate change and war. Conserving in one place is not enough.
8. FAO warns that nearly a third of the world can’t afford the USD 4.28 a day that a healthy diet costs — nearly three billion people, and rising. That’s why we need al the above, I guess.
Published on July 28, 2026