biodiversity
Getting to win-win: Can people and nature flourish on an increasingly cultivated planet?
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Faced with dramatic biodiversity loss and a growing population, should farmers “share” or “spare” land? Agricultural scientists weigh in, yielding a new perspective.
Q&A: Regenerative agriculture for soil health
Environmental health and biodiversity
Farming system harnesses the power of biology to rebuild soil organic matter, diversify crop systems, and improve water retention and nutrient uptake.
Seed banks: the last line of defense against a threatening global food crisis
Environmental health and biodiversity
Source: The Guardian (15 Apr 2022)
As climate breakdown and worldwide conflict continue to place the food system at risk, seed banks from the Arctic to Lebanon try to safeguard biodiversity.
Bringing wild wheat’s untapped diversity into elite lines
Environmental health and biodiversity
Researchers hypothesized that many wild wheat accessions in genebanks feature useful traits that can help diversify breeding programs.
Protecting plants will protect people and the planet
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Understanding the relationship between climate change and plant health is key to conserving biodiversity and boosting food production today and for future generations.
Four questions with CIMMYT’s Maize Genebank Curator
Environmental health and biodiversity
How to preserve and share the genetic biodiversity of maize.
How biodiversity conservation can help manage future pandemics — for plants and for humans
Environmental health and biodiversity
Source: The Counter (21 May 2021)
Dave Hodson discusses why conservation may be the key to our survival.
A conservation conversation
Environmental health and biodiversity
In a Q&A, Thomas Payne reflects on how CIMMYT’s wheat genebank can be a model for maintaining biodiversity in agricultural systems.
Latin America poised to lead the next 50 years in food systems and agrobiodiversity research
Environmental health and biodiversity
CGIAR centers make strong case for Latin America as the best place for investing in solutions to overcome challenges to global agriculture from climate change, pandemics and more.
‘Seeds for Needs’ approach to develop climate resilient crop varieties
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Source: India Science Wire (22 Sep 2020)
Approach combines farmers’ knowledge of resilient crops with ‘elite’ varieties identified by scientists.
Massive-scale genomic study reveals wheat diversity for crop improvement
Environmental health and biodiversity
A team of scientists has completed one of the largest genetic analyses ever done of any agricultural crop to find desirable traits in wheat’s extensive and unexplored diversity.
The many colors of maize, the material of life
Environmental health and biodiversity
The use of corn husk as veneer has helped a town to preserve maize biodiversity, protect the environment and reduce migration.
Plant-based materials catch on with home-goods designers
Capacity development
Source: The Manila Times (26 May 2020)
Mexican designer Fernando Laposse partnered with CIMMYT and works with a village of Mixtec farmers to transform unused maize husks into furniture.
Preserving the legacy of biodiversity
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Maize and wheat seeds from all over the world are preserved at the CIMMYT genebank, used to bring new varieties to farmers, and backed up at the Global Seed Vault.
Coronavirus lockdown diets look the same the world over: Bread, beans, and comfort food
Environmental health and biodiversity
Source: Fortune (18 Apr 2020)
Biodiversity loss poses dangers for the robustness of the environment, the safety of our food supply chain and potential exposure to pandemics.