How did collards get to remote oases on the edge of the Sahara? That’s what ethnobotanists Bronwen Powell and Abderrahim Ouarghidi have been looking into for like 20 years now, and it’s a fascinating story. Which you can read about in detail in their paper in Economic Botany. They also present an abbreviated form of the argument in The Conversation. Which got Nibbled some months back, though without giving anything away. But actually what I recommend you do is listen to Jeremy interview the intrepid duo in the latest episode of Eat This Podcast.
Happy birthday MSB!!!
It’s the 25th birthday of Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) at Wakehurst in West Sussex.
Understandably, it’s getting a lot of — very well-deserved — coverage. I’ll link to some of the more interesting pieces as they come out over the next few days.
- There’s a podcast hosted by King Charles, no less.
- The Guardian’s podcast is shorter and less cool but ok.
- Cate Blanchett is appearing in that royal podcast, as well as various more plebeian interviews. She’s the MSB’s first ever ambassador. She was recently featured, along with Wakehurst, in House & Garden.
- The Economist has a long piece about seed collecting for the MSB in Madagascar.
- RE:TV has produced a cool video.
- The BBC’s video is shorter and less cool but ok.
- Samara, the International Newsletter of the Millennium Seed Band Partnership, has a very comprehensive anniversary edition.
Here’s to the next 25!
Nibbles: Millennium Seed Bank 25th, NPGS, Maize germplasm, Breadfruit genebank, Banana genebank
- King Charles III talks about seeds with Dr Elinor Breman of Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank and…
- …Cate Blanchett.
- Or read about it in The Economist.
- Or watch a nice video.
- The seed banks of the National Plant Germplasm System in the USA are for farmers, not just researchers.
- How to get stuff out of the NPGS.
- Laurajean Lewis: from an NPGS genebank to CIMMYT’s.
- I’m sure she and Chris Mujjabi will get to know each other soon.
- Diane Ragone: Not all genebanks are seed banks.
- Not a lot of breadfruits in Belgium but, surprisingly, lots of bananas.
Nibbles: China grasslands, Edible lily, Ag data, China potatoes, CIP genebank, Vavilov book, Ghana seeds, Nutrition enterprises, Seed production films, Khoury pod, Relais & Châteaux
- China rehabilitates its grasslands.
- Not content with that, China breeds a new edible lily.
- Not sure what food group lilies are in, but farmers are growing more fruits and vegetables, it seems.
- Still not resting on its lilies, China breeds climate-smart potatoes.
- No doubt CIP and its genebank is helping with that.
- There’s a new book on Vavilov and his genebank. He knew a thing or two about potatoes.
- Ghana is totally on board with the whole genebank thing. And the Dutch are helping.
- Genebanks should hook up with small- and medium-sized enterprises for nutrition. What, not large ones?
- Genebanks also need nice education films on seed production.
- Friend-of-the-blog Colin Khoury interviewed on In Defence of Plants podcast.
- Luxury hotels and restaurants hook up with UNESCO to protect biodiversity. Vavilov would have been so proud.
The olive’s second act?
Is Xylella — cause of the olive plague that has been stalking southern Europe for a decade — a blessing in disguise for the Salento? Jeremy asks the hard questions in his latest Eat This Podcast. Spoiler alert: Silvestro Silvestori thinks it might just be:
…at the heart of Xylella and the Salento is an identity crisis, that we’re all the children of farmers, we’re all farmers ourselves. And for most people, that’s not the case any longer. And there’s not a lot of industry left here as far as farming. So I think first we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and say, what are we?
Fascinating insights throughout, so listen to the whole thing. And wonder whether this “landmark agreement” will help.