- Biodiversity: Concepts, Patterns, Trends, and Perspectives. It may not be the sixth mass extinction, but it’s still bad, and we’re to blame. Interestingly for such a high-level review, genetic diversity of domesticated species is actually mentioned.
- Seeds of knowledge: paving the way to integrated historical and conservation science research. Conserving the genetic diversity of domesticated species needs to combine history and science.
- Maize and precolonial Africa. Maize contributed to slavery. History indeed.
- Agriculture in the Ancient Maya Lowlands (Part 1): Paleoethnobotanical Residues and New Perspectives on Plant Management. There was more diversity than formerly thought, at various levels. So not just history, but archaeology as well?
- Current agricultural diversification strategies are already agroecological. Ancient Maya Lowland agriculture sounds very agroecological.
- Earliest curry in Southeast Asia and the global spice trade 2000 years ago. Yes, definitely archaeology is needed too.
- Co-conserving Indigenous and local knowledge systems with seeds. Conserving the genetic diversity of domesticated species needs to combine traditional knowledge and seeds.
- Culture and agricultural biodiversity conservation. Conserving the genetic diversity of domesticated species needs to combine culture and policy.
- What plant breeding may (and may not) look like in 2050? Using the genetic diversity of domesticated species needs to increase selection intensity. Citizen science to the rescue?
- Conventional breeding of Pacific Island staple crops: A paradox. Using the genetic diversity of domesticated species needs to increase in the Pacific. And fast.
- Unlocking the inherent potential of plant genetic resources: food security and climate adaptation strategy in Fiji and the Pacific. Maybe selection intensity is not the thing in the Pacific.
- What Can Be Learned by a Synoptic Review of Plant Disease Epidemics and Outbreaks Published in 2021? Using the genetic diversity of domesticated species needs to increase. Very fast.
- Apulian Autochthonous Olive Germplasm: A Promising Resource to Restore Cultivation in Xylella fastidiosa-Infected Areas. Using the genetic diversity of domesticated species is increasing.
Nibbles: Heirloom pean, Genebanks, Students, Community seedbanks, Kunming fund, Kenyan sorghum, Italian grapes, Wild tomatoes, Mouflon, Coffee poster, Early modern watermelons, Korean language, Farmers’ rights
- Why heirloom seeds matter.
- Why genebanks full of heirloom seeds matter. Even to kids.
- Why community seedbanks full of heirloom seeds matter.
- Just how much agrobiodiversity matters, according to FAO.
- Why heirloom seeds of neglected crops matter.
- Why heirloom seeds of sorghum matter in Kenya. No, really.
- Why heirloom grapes matter in Italy.
- Why seeds of wild tomatoes matter.
- Even wild sheep matter.
- Why visualizing coffee diversity matters.
- Why watermelons mattered in the 17th century.
- Why bottle gourds mattered to Koreans.
- Why farmers’ rights matter.
Brainfood: Nutrition sensitive ag, nLCA, Organic expansion, Cheese value, Ethiopia anemia, Women empowerment, Homegardens, Ultra-processed food industry, Cassava processing
- Comparing delivery channels to promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture: A cluster-randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh. When it comes to delivering nutrition info jointly to husbands and wives, female nutrition workers and male extension workers are about equally good. But mothers-in-law don’t help in either case.
- Levelling foods for priority micronutrient value can provide more meaningful environmental footprint comparisons. From a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the environmental impact of different foods to a nutritional Life Cycle Assessment (nLCA). Maybe mothers-in-law should calculate it.
- Policy-induced expansion of organic farmland: implications for food prices and welfare. Raising the organic cropland share in rich countries from 3-15% increases food prices in poor countries by about 2% on average for 4 major grains and oilseeds. No word on what the LCA and nLCA looks like.
- Cheese consumption and multiple health outcomes: an umbrella review and updated meta-analysis of prospective studies. Cheese is moderately good for you. I wonder which micronutrients are involved.
- Ownership of small livestock species, but not aggregate livestock, is associated with an increased risk of anemia among children in Ethiopia: A propensity score matching analysis. Poultry was associated with lower anemia risk, sheep and goats with higher risk. No word on whether cheese was involved.
- Women’s empowerment, production choices, and crop diversity in Burkina Faso, India, Malawi, and Tanzania: a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data. Women on more diverse farms had more power. No word on how many of them were mothers-in-law.
- The Role of Home Gardens in Promoting Biodiversity and Food Security. Mothers-in-law and homegardens would be one hell of a study.
- The ultra-processed food industry in Africa. It should be treated like the tobacco or alcohol industry. Maybe put mothers-in-law in charge of regulating it?
- Exploring genetic variability, heritability, and trait correlations in gari and eba quality from diverse cassava varieties in Nigeria. Just a reminder that there may be genetic diversity in all the above nutritional type stuff. Which the ultra-processed food industry is probably ignoring, but mothers-in-law are not.
Trees everywhere
Our friends at World Agroforestry (the centre formerly known as ICRAF) have been very busy with their data wrangling in support of policy recommendations. So much so, in fact, that it may be getting complicated for outsiders to keep all their information products straight, so here’s a quick recap.
Let’s start with the premise that we need more trees. I don’t think anyone disputes that. The problem, as has been repeated many times now, is to have the right trees in the right places. That starts with the right seeds, of course. In a recent paper, World Agroforestry scientists and partners suggest that what we need for that is more transparency (and accountability) about where those seeds will be coming from.
But which species should be sourced? That’s where GlobalUsefulNativeTrees comes in. As described in another recent paper, this has data on “14,014 tree species that can be filtered for ten major use categories, across 242 countries and territories.” So if you want to know what trees can be used as animal food in tropical montane Kenya, say, this will tell you. The answer is Prunus africana, by the way.
Ah, but you may be worried about how the trees you have selected to plant (or indeed have already been planted) will do under climate change. Fear not, World Agroforestry again has you covered with TreeGOER. That has data on the climatic preferences of 48,129 tree species, and their likely vulnerability as the climate changes. The results may well send you back to GlobalUsefulNativeTrees for a rethink.
Hope that clarifies the tree data landscape a bit. Looking forward to other use cases from readers.
LATER: Oh, and there’s also a climate change atlas.
Brainfood: Food security, Genebank risks, Climate-smartness, Improved veggies, Tree database, Potato disease, Seed system resilience treble, Community seedbanks, Varietal replacement, Kenyan maize diversity
- Diversifying agrifood systems to ensure global food security following the Russia–Ukraine crisis. Diversify markets, production, crops and technology to de-risk agrifood systems.
- Genebanks at Risk: Hazard Assessment and Risk Management of National and International Genebanks. De-risk genebanks first though.
- Climate-Smart Agriculture in African Countries: A Review of Strategies and Impacts on Smallholder Farmers. Could have made more of the need for diversity, but improved varieties at least are in there.
- Adoption and impact of improved amaranth cultivars in Tanzania using DNA fingerprinting. Yeah, even improved varieties of traditional local veggies, why not.
- GlobalUsefulNativeTrees, a database documenting 14,014 tree species, supports synergies between biodiversity recovery and local livelihoods in landscape restoration. But don’t forget trees.
- Efforts of researchers and other stakeholders to manage an unfolding epidemic: Lessons from potato purple top in Ecuador. Resilience is hard.
- Seed Systems Resilience—An Overview. Continuous flow of diversity, trustworthy institutions and innovation are needed to de-risk seed systems. Would certainly have helped with the above.
- Navigating toward resilient and inclusive seed systems. Or…: do no harm, think diversity and adopt a seed security perspective. Good to see diversity as the common thread in this discourse.
- Seed systems development to navigate multiple expectations in Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania. The above put into practice.
- Community seed banks: Instruments for food security or unsustainable endeavour? A case study of Mkombezi Community Seed Bank in Malawi. Yes, indeed, community seedbanks can contribute to seed systems resilience and food security.
- Maize varietal replacement in Eastern and Southern Africa: Bottlenecks, drivers and strategies for improvement. Seed companies need to be more proactive…
- Why farmers use so many different maize varieties in West Kenya? …but remember about doing no harm. And we’re back to diversity I see.