News

In November, an exhibit curated by doctoral candidate João P. R. Joaquim opened at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK. The exhibit, "From the Potato Virus Research Station to the John Innes Institute, 1920s–1960s" showcased the history of plant virology in Britain with a focus on the role of the John Innes Centre and its predecessor institutions.…

In November, Cambridge University Press published Agricultural Science as International Development: Historical Perspectives on the CGIAR Era, co-edited by project PI Helen Anne Curry and Timothy W. Lorek of the College of St. Scholastica. The Open Access volume presents twelve new research contributions by leading scholars on the history of CGIAR …

The long-awaited special issue of Plants, People, Planet on "The History of Crop Science and the Future of Food" was released in September, featuring fourteen articles including five by Collection to Cultivation researchers. The introductory editorial by project PI Helen Anne Curry and (past) postdoc Ryan Nehring highlights the critical importance …

In a new article, Wellcome funded doctoral student Erinn E. Campbell introduces readers to Pestina, a "bug girl" who served as the USDA's mascot for cross-broder plant pest awareness in the mid 20th century. As Campbell's analysis reveals, Pestina – once described by the agency as "coquettish, hitchhiking bug" – reveals as much about anxieties over…

What does the loss of crop diversity look like on the ground? Project affiliate and HPS doctoral student Daniela Scalvo and her collaborators Lucía Pérez Volkow and Emilio Hernández Martínez describe the case of chile tabiche in a community in Mexico in a new publication, "El chile tabiche: memoria, reencuentro y acción comunitaria en Santo Domingo…

Read our Winter 2023 Project Update to learn about recent activities of the project and its many researchers. To subscribe to our newsletter, email us at hps-cultivation@lists.cam.ac.uk

Associates of the Collection to Cultivation project feature as key contributors to a forthcoming special issue of the journal Plants, People, Planet on the history of crops and the future of food. You can check out a few articles that have been released in Early View over the past few months: Tad Brown on imperial science and peanut research in Mys…

In an article newly published in Enterprise & Society, postdoctoral research fellow Tad Brown offers a lively history of contests over patents, trademarks, and control of the U.S. peanut market. Zooming in on the seemingly humble wrapper, he shows "how intellectual property became indispensable to peanut sales" — and by extension to the modern food…

The August 2023 issue of Agricultural History features new research by two members of the From Collection to Cultivation collective. Doctoral student Leo Chu takes readers on a tour of Taiwanese politics and agriculture through his history of the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center and its relationship to the Green Revolution. Meanwhile…

In a forthcoming special issue of The Journal of Ethnobotany, a contribution by project associate and HPS doctoral student Daniela Sclavo reveals the gendered assumptions built into pioneering ethnobotanical research in Mexico. As she argues, the first generation of Mexican ethnobotanists "placed women as part of the family unit and, therefore, as …

What's in a (crop) name? Tad Brown asks and answers that question with respect to the history of varieties of peppers grown in the southern United States in a new article, just published in History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. Situating the history of crop naming in the larger histories of botany and taxonomy, Brown's analysis is a reminder…

Read our Summer 2023 Newsletter to learn about recent activities of the project and its many researchers. To subscribe to our newsletter, email us at hps-cultivation@lists.cam.ac.uk

Wondering whether and how "precision breeding" serves food security goals in the United Kingdom and beyond? Team member Hitesh Pant puts that question in historical perspective in a new article in the Cambridge Journal of Science and Policy. As his analysis suggests, "... unless the small farmers at the centre of the food system are consulted about…

In an article recently published in the Journal of Peasant Studies, project PI Helen Anne Curry explores the histories of hybrid seeds circulated by scientists and activists and especially the political work these accomplish. As she argues in the paper, the singular history of F1 hybrid corn inflected understandings of crop breeding and seed produc…

Can agricultural historians help develop a holistic vision of sustainable land use planning, based on the history of the intended New Deal? In a new analysis, team member Tad Brown and co-author Levi Van Sant suggest that an ambitious but thwarted New Deal soils programs might offer some hope for more effective government land planning in the prese…