Nibbles – Page 474 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

Fish prevents malaria

Tilapia is good for you in more ways than one.

Synthetic wheat

Reconstructing bread wheat introduces novel genetic diversity.

A new book to wait for

I can’t wait to read Darwinian Agriculture, to be published in 2009.

August 8, 2007August 8, 2007

Urban oenoculture

Urban oenoculture (in California).

August 7, 2007September 21, 2007

Lactose persistence

More on an agrobiodiversity-related bit of human diversity, for a change.

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