Nibbles – Page 475 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

August 15, 2007

Hazelnut spread

Hybrid filberts are the next big thing in biofuels. Move over jatropha!

August 14, 2007

Baobab products galore

There’s a Baobab Fruit Company in Senegal. Via Timbuktu Chronicles.

August 13, 2007

Chewing the khat

A traditional narcotic shrub is taking over Yemeni agriculture.

August 13, 2007

Exterminating the American bison

Advanced European tanning technology did for the buffalo. Not all the men with guns.

August 13, 2007

Ancient Irish beer recreated

Archaeologists interpret fulacht fiadh, brew ancient Irish beer, then go for curry.

1. Haga Hideo’s 1950s photos of Fukushima farming rituals are now being used to revive them: ex situ conservation, but for culture.
2. Long before photography, or “pre‑breeding” was a buzzword, Belgian pomologist Jean‑Baptiste Van Mons was running massive pear selection trials and gifting us Beurré Bosc and Doyenné Boussock.
3. As Southern Africa’s miombo woodlands shrinks, scientists are cloning wild trees so the fruit — and food security — outlive the forest. Now for the pre-breeding.
4. Greenpeace Africa’s Seed Project makes the case for indigenous seeds as a route to farmer independence. And you can help.
5. And oh so coincidentally, a network of community seed banks in Kenya is rescuing indigenous seeds so the diversity is still around when opportunity (or crisis) knocks.
6. Also in Kenya, the national genebank’s collectors are racing to secure opportunity crops.
7. Nepal’s indigenous crops and landraces are at the same time more needed than ever, and under threat. So, much like in Kenya.
8. The Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT says women are at the center of sustainable food systems; the fine print adds: “as they have always been.”
Published on September 30, 2026