Nibbles – Page 468 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

September 13, 2007

Dogs behaving well

Dogs are not dumbed-down wolves.

September 13, 2007

New Agriculturist

Latest New Agriculturist: focus on non-wood forest products.

September 13, 2007September 13, 2007

COGENT has a new web site

New web site for International Coconut Genetic Resources Network (COGENT).

September 12, 2007

Studying wild sunflowers

Rare wild sunflower gets the treatment.

September 12, 2007

The bottom billion

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

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