Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

October 23, 2024October 23, 2024

Mind the gap between crop diversity and nutrition

With all eyes on Cali for the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP16), it is timely to have a close look at National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) from different perspectives. Do they properly address plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, for example? And if they do, do they make the link to nutrition?

That latter question is investigated in a new report from the Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition (I-CAN), entitled “Biodiversity and Nutrition Synergies: Evaluating National Biodiversity Strategies and Actions Plans for Integration.”

Spoiler alert:

The majority of NBSAPs mention food security (74%), indigenous knowledge (73%), and genetic diversity of crops (65%) yet did not link these concepts to nutrition. This presents a foundation and opportunity for future NBSAPs to develop these linkages…

So, out of all NBSAPs analysed, 168 (65%) mention genetic diversity. But of those, 99 show “no intentional connection between biodiversity and nutrition.”

Here’s an example from the report of an NBSAP that does show a connection, to show that it’s not difficult, really:

In describing the status and trends of biodiversity in Malawi, the NBSAP covers flora species diversity. Here, the NBSAP lists 14 species (e.g., Dioscorea bulbifera or yam, Curcubita maxima or squash, and others) that have a high nutritive value but are declining in production due to being out competed by major crops. The NBSAP also considers the contribution of different sectors to the country’s total protein supply.

So, overall, lots of missed opportunities to make an even stronger case for the conservation of biodiversity, in Cali and indeed elsewhere.

October 22, 2024October 22, 2024

The latest on the Carolina African Runner Peanut

Jeremy’s latest newsletter discusses the (partial) revival of the Carolina African Runner Peanut by chefs. We have blogged about that here on before, but this is a useful update.

Believe it or not, there are other food podcasts worth listening to. One of them is Gravy, produced by the Southern Foodways Alliance. Recently I listened to the episode America’s Lost Peanut and the Price of Bringing it Back and I have no hesitation in recommending you do the same. It explores both the delight chefs have found in that Lost Peanut and the difficulties in making the peanut available at a price that non-chefs can afford.

The Carolina Runner peanut first hit modern headlines at the tail end of 2016, when it was exciting enough for me to record a little rumination casting doubt on some of the wilder claims that surrounded its resurrection. I also wrote at some length about the history of the peanut and world affairs. I did not, however, foresee how hard it would be for the Carolina Runner to compete with Virginia peanuts (which have more than a drop of African peanut in their bloodlines). The episode of Gravy explains that the nuts currently have to be shelled by hand, unlike Virginia peanuts that can be fed into huge and expensive machines. A quick look around the internet showed a few hand-operated shellers; is it really that difficult to adapt one to work with Carolina Runners?

October 21, 2024October 18, 2024

Brainfood: Food systems, Micronutrients, Animal-source foods, Dietary diversity, Opportunity crops, Traditional landscapes, Gastronomic landscapes, Opportunity crops, Biofortification, Fermentation

Global and local perspectives on food security and food systems. Six experts have their say on how to transform food systems, and dietary diversity seems to be a common (though not a universal) theme. Let’s dig a little deeper into that.
Global estimation of dietary micronutrient inadequacies: a modelling analysis. A lot of people could probably do with eating more fruits and vegetables, for example.
Plant-based diets–impacts of consumption of little or no animal-source foods on human health. Some people could probably do with eating more animal-source foods, though. Well, that’s diversity too.
The association between crop diversity and children’s dietary diversity: multi-scalar and cross-national comparisons. In some places, growing more diverse crops is associated with eating more diverse diets; in other places, not so much. Damn you, nuance!
Revive and Thrive: Forgotten Crops for Resilient Food Systems. Fortunately, there are more advantages to growing more diverse crops than its possible positive effect on diet diversity…
Why traditional rural landscapes are still important to our future. …yes indeed there are, especially if they are grown in diverse landscapes.
Nurturing gastronomic landscapes for biosphere stewardship. The hallowed craft of cooking can help realize those advantages.
NUS so fast: the social and ecological implications of a rapidly developing indigenous food economy in the Cape Town area. However, growing more diverse crops can have downsides, celebrity chefs etc. notwithstanding.
Assessing realized genetic gains in biofortified cassava breeding for over a decade: Enhanced nutritional value and agronomic performance. Breeding crops for higher nutritional value comes at a yield price. Which presumably, in some places, for some people, may be worth paying, give all the uncertainties above?
The future is fermented: Microbial biodiversity of fermented foods is a critical resource for food innovation and human health. Or, we could all ferment more. And maybe get drunk.

October 16, 2024October 16, 2024

The biofortification debate continues to continue

Sorry everyone, but I totally forgot to remind you all that Jeremy would be presenting a GROW webinar on biofortification yesterday. But fear not, the recording will be up soon, and of course Jeremy interviewed one of the authors of the Global Food Security paper behind the whole thing last year. Yes, he interviewed himself, take it up with him. Anyway, there was a reply to the paper. To which there was reply… No word yet on whether there will be a reply to the webinar.

October 14, 2024October 14, 2024

Brainfood: Beverage edition

Crop-to-wild gene flow in wild coffee species: the case of Coffea canephora in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. DNA bits diagnostic of domesticated coffee are finding their way into wild rainforest populations, but not all that much.
The genome and population genomics of allopolyploid Coffea arabica reveal the diversification history of modern coffee cultivars. Diversity was already pretty low in pre-domestication wild arabica, and continued going downhill after that. Time to re-synthesize the crop, I say.
Beyond the Orthodoxy: An Overview of the Potential of ‘Other’ Coffee Species for Crop Use and their Associated Challenges. All well and good, but don’t forget there’s more to coffee than just arabica and robusta.
Advancing Coffee Genetic Resource Conservation and Exchange: Global Perspectives and Strategies from the ICC 2024 Satellite Workshop. Time to properly secure all coffee diversity in genebanks, and that includes sorting out ABS.
Expanding the cacao group: three new species of Theobroma sect. Herrania (Malvaceae: Byttnerioideae) from the Western Amazon Basin. Plenty of “other” cacao species too, and more coming.
Seed morphometrics unravels the evolutionary history of grapevine in France. There was wild-domesticate geneflow in early grapevines in France as well as in robusta coffee in the DRC, and you don’t need to trace bits of DNA to prove it.
Characterization and analysis of a Commiphora species germinated from an ancient seed suggests a possible connection to a species mentioned in the Bible. Thousand-year-old seed is a distinct and possibly long-lost species of myrrh. Which ok is not a beverage but still vaguely liquid, at least initially.
Sesame, an Underutilized Oil Seed Crop: Breeding Achievements and Future Challenges. Ok, since we’re doing liquid-producing crops, let’s include this review of sesame improvement. Lots of wild species to use. No word on wild-domesticate geneflow though.