Agrobiodiverse

Nibbles: Agricultural expansion maps, Brassica diversity, Not against the grain, South African seedbanks, Safer peanuts, Diné seedbank

Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

agro.biodiver.se/2026/03/nibb...

#genebanks #conservation #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity

Cambridge University Botanic Garden Certificate in Botany This month-long residential course at Cambridge University Botanic Garden provides an intensive introduction to plant diversity, morphology and systematics. Teaching combines lectures with practical ....

🌿 Applications are open for this month-long residential course exploring plant form and diversity at Cambridge University Botanic Garden.

Combining theory and practice, you'll receive in-depth botanical training and access to world-class collections 🌻

🗓️ 6 July – 1 August 2026

These seeds are from the government, and they’re here to help you – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/03/thes...

#genebanks #conservation #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity #plantbreeding #seeds

A home for genebank training at last? Long-time readers will know that I regularly try to roundup training opportunities in crop diversity conservation, basically because nobody else does it. Well, maybe I can stop doing that now. Yes, it...

A home for genebank training at last? – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/03/a-ho...

Nibbles: Online #seeds, Yam breeding, Rice #genebanks, Indian commmunity seed banks, Sikkim banana, Cassava disease, ICARDA genebank, Tajikistan women – Agricultural #Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/03/nibb...

#agrobiodiversity

Christopher Hale standing in front of a large building with lots of foliage and looking to the left, next to a mockup of his book ‘The Great Groundnut Fiasco’. The cover has a sand-coloured background and green detailing of grass, trees, and a tractor, and there is an image of peanuts in the middle. There is black and cream lettering for the title, subtitle and author name.

OUT JAN 2027 🗓️

In 'The Great Groundnut Fiasco', Christopher Hale reveals the fascinating story of Labour's efforts to feed post-war Britain by leveraging its African colonies—and the enduring political consequences of the Scheme’s failure.

Pre-order ➡️ tinyurl.com/2zd42p2w

Brainfood: Restoration edition – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/03/brai...

#genebanks #conservation #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity

International Women's Day 2026: Hidden histories Discover the stories of three women curators, collectors, and designers at The Museum of English Rural Life in the 20th century.

Women curators, designers, and collectors have played a huge part throughout our history at The Museum of English Rural Life.

For #InternationalWomensDay 2026, read about the stories of three women from our earlier years in our new blogpost.

merl.reading.ac.uk/news-and-vie...

Increasing synchronicity of global extreme fire weather
Yin+
doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adx8813
synchronous fire weather increased during 1979 to 2024
>2X increase in most regions

"over 1/2 of the observed increase is attributable to anthropogenic climate change."

A home for genebank training at last? Long-time readers will know that I regularly try to roundup training opportunities in crop diversity conservation, basically because nobody else does it. Well, maybe I can stop doing that now. Yes, it...

A home for genebank training at last? – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/03/a-ho...

#genebanks #training #conservation #agrobiodiversity

Crowdsourcing crop diversity, and information – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/03/crow...

#genebanks #conservation #agrobiodiversity #biodiversity

Museum caption - “Spencer shows Mr Lambert and Kathleen harvesting vegetables in their garden (he enjoyed their hearty cooking). The painting also displays his fascination with the texture and pattern of fabrics, and the straw plaiting of their hats and basket.”

“Gardening” - c.1945
Stanley Spencer (1891-1959)

Mr Lambert & daughter Kathleen digging vegetables in the garden in Wangford, Suffolk. Spencer was lodging with them.

In the “Love & Landscape: Stanley Spencer in Suffolk exhibition”.
Gainsborough House Museum, Sudbury, Suffolk.

#Art #StanleySpencer

How cockfighting imperils Peru’s critically endangered sawfish MANCORA, Peru — The largetooth sawfish is a critically endangered fish distinguished by its long, blade-like snout edged with tooth-like projections. In the waters off Peru, it’s become an unlikely…

Mongabay’s new film investigates how Peru’s legal cockfighting industry is driving demand for spurs made from the critically endangered largetooth sawfish.

With each fish yielding dozens of spurs worth up to $250, the film asks whether reform can outpace the illegal trade.

The 15 foods destroying rainforests, in one simple chart New research reveals which food crops are razing the rainforest. One comes out way ahead — and it’s an American favorite.

The same week our study about non-forest ecosystem loss came out, here's another new study looking at what foods are being grown or produced in areas deforested between 2001-2022 with a good article by @benjij.bsky.social:

Brainfood: Genetic erosion edition – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/03/brai...
#genebanks #conservation #biodiversity #agrobiodiversity

WorldVeg secures over 90% of its global vegetable collections in the Arctic - World Vegetable Center Conservation milestone: WorldVeg secures over 90% of its global vegetable collections in the Arctic - 26 February 2026 - WorldVeg has deposited its latest shipment of vegetable seeds in the ...

WorldVeg secures over 90% of its global vegetable collections in the Arctic - World Vegetable Center avrdc.org/worldveg-gen...

Another chance for Bambara groundnut Yesterday's Nibble on the always-on-the-verge-of-breaking-out Bambara groundnut had me rummaging through the archives. Among dozens of references, I came across a post from almost 15 years ago that in...

Another chance for Bambara groundnut – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/02/the-...

Brainfood: Genebanks edition – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/02/brai...

An infographic from Our World in Data titled "Global land use for food production" uses a series of stacked horizontal bar charts to visualize the distribution of Earth's surface and the disproportionate land requirements of livestock. The first bar shows Earth's surface is 71% ocean and 29% land (141 million km²); the land surface is then broken down into 76% habitable land, 10% glaciers, and 14% barren land. Of the habitable land, 45% (48 million km²) is used for agriculture, while 38% is forests and 13% is shrubland. The agricultural land bar reveals a major disparity: 80% (38 million km²) is dedicated to livestock (meat, dairy, and textiles) including grazing land and cropland for feed, while only 16% is used for crops for direct human consumption and 4% for non-food crops. Finally, two smaller bars at the bottom contrast this land use with nutritional output, showing that while livestock uses 80% of agricultural land, it only provides 17% of global calories and 38% of global protein, whereas plant-based foods provide 83% of calories and 62% of protein.

80% of agricultural land is used for livestock (and textiles), yet this huge land use provides only 17% of our calories and 38% of our protein.

16% of the land used for crops provides 83% of our calories and 62% of our protein. It's past time we rethink what we eat.

Excellent talk, thanks

Aerial view of farmland surrounded by forested mountains. An excavated area of paddy fields in outlined and annotated 'Shiao'. A nearby site (Tianluoshan) is also annotated.

Rice is the staple of over half of the world's population 🍚
Research at one of the earliest & largest paddy fields in China sheds light on how the development of rice agriculture underpinned the formation of complex societies in Asia #FarmingFriday

(£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology

Agro-tour de force – Agricultural #Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/02/agro...

#conservation #agrobiodiversity #genebanks #tourism

How to register an agroecological initiative on the #Agroecology Map YouTube video by Agroecology Map

💡How to register an agroecological initiative on the Agroecology Map in less than two minutes 🌳

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gC0...

#agroecology #agroecologia #agroécologie #permaculture #permacultura #agroforestry #agrofloresta #agroforesterie #ecology #citizenscience #opendata #opensource

Brainfood: Diversity of Sugarcane, Rice, Lentils, Olives, Sweetpotato, Cassava, Beans, Buckwheat, Pigeon pea, Landscapes – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/02/brai...

#agrobiodiversity #conservation #genebanks #biodiversity #seeds

I know, hard to believe.

Deploying species diversity in fields & landscapes is not merely an ecological virtue, but a nutritional strategy, that translates more diverse seeds in the soil to more nutrients on plates to fewer people in hospitals.

Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/02/join...

Nibbles: Family farming, Banana diversity, Logotonu Waqainabete, ICARDA genebank women, SOTW3 in Africa – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/02/nibb...

#agrobiodiversity #biodiversity #WomenInScience #conservation #genebanks

Joining up the crop diversity impact dots a bit better – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog agro.biodiver.se/2026/02/join...

#agrobiodiversity #conservation #biodiversity

Genomic approaches to accelerate American chestnut restoration More than a century after two introduced pathogens killed billions of American chestnut trees, introgression of resistance alleles from Chinese chestnuts has contributed to the recovery of self-sustai...

Out in @science.org this week, multifaceted genomics approaches to accelerate American chestnut restoration www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

And an accompanying Perspective article here:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#genomics
#plantscience
#forestry

Thanks. Corn could be wheat I guess. Certainly not maize, of course.