Mike Jackson's account of the early molecular work at IRRI's International Rice Genebank is a nice reminder that the idea of the "genomic genebank" (as he calls it) is not as new as it may sounds. In ...

When we think about crops moving around the world -- and we often do around here -- the Columbian Exchange is the canonical example, and why not? The transatlantic movement of maize, potatoes, ...

There is nothing particularly new about the idea that the stuff genebanks conserve should be used. For decades, plant genetic resources specialists have pointed out that conserving crop diversity is ...

Two pieces of work on maize I recently came across are unconnected as to aim and place, but nevertheless make for an interesting combined story. One asks how far maize yield can actually be pushed by ...

Terere (amaranth) is mainly a traditional leafy green vegetable in Kenya of course... ...and readily available these days in ...

Is it me, or are there more cassava products... ...in Kenyan supermarkets these days? Production has been up and down, though ...

FAO has just put out new guidance on capturing wild foods and neglected and underutilized species (NUS) in dietary surveys. It's very much worth a look, even if your interest runs more to grain ...

Two new studies of very different crops – banana and chrysanthemum, of all things – end up telling surprisingly similar, deliciously complicated stories. For these crops, domestication was not once ...

…to foster the growth of the organic sector and transition towards more sustainable local food systems by delivering high quality organic seed of diverse cultivars adjusted to organic farming for a ...

I think we may have already pointed to Conservation gap analysis for wild grapevines (Vitis L.) of the Americas, the latest in a series of papers by our friend Colin Khoury and a rotating assortment ...

In the latest Eat This Newsletter I shared this item, which may be relevant here too. There’s no shortage of advice that we should all eat more vegetables. They are undoubtedly good for long-term ...

As chance would have it, following my recent speculative foray into the possible connection between language and crop diversity, an essay by the great Andrea Wulf 1 has just appeared that tells the ...