“Where our food comes from. Retracing Nikolay Vavilov’s Quest to End Famine” is the title of Gary Nabhan’s latest tome. Gary Paul Nabhan traces the journeys undertaken by Nikolai Vavilov.

Vavilov was one the first scientists to understand the importance of germplasm conservation and biodiversity. He worked and travelled extensively on collecting missions and he is known for his work on identifying the centers of origins for cultivated crops, and establishing one of the most important seed banks in the world.

Undertaking a similar journey as that taken by Vavilov, Nabhan travels from Mexico and the Colombian Amazon to the glaciers of the Pamirs in Tajikistan, where he draws a portrait of changes that have occurred since Vavilov’s time and he concludes that 1) we urgently need grass roots involvement and investment in the indigenous knowledge of local farmers, and 2) there needs to be a renewed collaboration efforts between scientists and farmers if we are to works towards the goal of sustainable agriculture and food systems.

Click here to learn more about this recently published book.

This book will be available shortly in the Bioversity Library.

Always from the same author: Gary Nabhan also recently contributed to the Eco-Compass Blog where he writes about potato diversity and traditional knowledge. Read more.