Nibbles – Page 466 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

September 12, 2007

The bottom billion

Fair trade: charity to keep the poor producing the crops that made them so?

September 12, 2007September 12, 2007

Agriculture policy in Kerala

Kerala proposes traditional agriculture to promote food security.

September 11, 2007

Animal genetic resources

Final report on the Interlaken conference on animal genetic resources.

September 11, 2007

Apple genebank in trouble

Will the UK’s National Fruit Collection survive?

September 10, 2007July 3, 2019

Traditional rice cultivation at risk

Saving the Ifugao rice terraces, and their agrobiodiversity.

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