Nibbles – Page 486 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

Eat your veggies

Second AJFAND volume dedicated to African leafy veggies is out.

July 6, 2007July 7, 2007

Millet beer froths up

A technological innovation revives traditional home brew in Uganda.

Absinthe explained

One of the more interesting uses of agricultural biodiversity.

July 5, 2007July 5, 2007

Pig tusk money

Livestock body parts =Â moneyÂ in Vanuatu.

July 5, 2007July 5, 2007

Arecanut troubles

Indian betel nut farmers beaten down.

- China is building its germplasm collection at the National Frigid Zone Crop and Soybean Germplasm Resources Mid-term Bank in Harbin. Cool.
- Driscoll’s helped build China’s blueberry industry, then discovered that knowledge, infrastructure and genetics have a habit of escaping. Not so cool.
- Meanwhile, the Philippines wants its rice collection to hit 21,000 varieties by the end of the year. IRRI unavailable for comment.
- Italy is establishing a major global olive genebank. Unclear where it fits in with other major global olive genebanks, but some redundancy is good.
- FAO showcases Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems, where crops, landscapes and traditional knowledge have survived together. Like olives in Italy, I guess.
- The mangelwurzel is making a comeback, because apparently forgotten root vegetables just need better publicity, and not a fancy GIAHS.
- Ohio growers are trying to save the pawpaw just as Americans are discovering it, partly because of better publicity.
- BeanGPT is bringing AI to breeding and farming beans. Maybe it can help the mangelwurzel and pawpaw too?
Published on September 23, 2026