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From Collection to Cultivation

Read more at: Researcher Tad Brown on crop names, vegetable marketing, and the pimento pepper
Pile of reddish green pimento-like peppers

Researcher Tad Brown on crop names, vegetable marketing, and the pimento pepper

20 August 2023

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...


Read more at: Summer 2023 Project Update

Summer 2023 Project Update

3 July 2023

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


Read more at: A Historical Perspective on the UK's Precision Breeding Bill by doctoral student Hitesh Pant
Rows of potatoes growing in a field, with exposed brown soil between the bushy green plants.

A Historical Perspective on the UK's Precision Breeding Bill by doctoral student Hitesh Pant

9 May 2023

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...


Read more at: Project PI Helen Curry explores the politics of hybrid seed histories
Rows of corn growing in an open field, with green leaves and golden tassels. Photo by Fishhawk, courtesy of Oregon State University

Project PI Helen Curry explores the politics of hybrid seed histories

5 April 2023

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...


Read more at: Postdoc Tad Brown discusses the history and future of soil conservation on The Short Rows
1935 Map showing the ‘Distribution of the Great Soil Groups’

Postdoc Tad Brown discusses the history and future of soil conservation on The Short Rows

20 January 2023

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...


Read more at: Winter 2022 Project Update

Winter 2022 Project Update

29 December 2022

Read our Winter 2022 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


Read more at: Living Biocultural Archives project led by team member Daniela Sclavo wins commission from Imagining Futures
Mole Tamal made by Doña Inés (© Daniela Sclavo). An opened tamale sits on a floral-patterned plate next to a cup of coffee. These and several pieces of cutlery are photographed from above, with a colorful tablecloth underneath.

Living Biocultural Archives project led by team member Daniela Sclavo wins commission from Imagining Futures

27 November 2022

In summer 2022, the Imagining Futures network selected the project Living Biocultural Archives: “Collective Archivism” as one of its commissioned projects. This is exciting news for the work of Collection to Cultivation, as this ambitious community archiving initiative is part of the work of Cambridge HPS doctoral student...


Read more at: The Rise and Fall of Processed Tomato in Taiwan by Leo Chu
Cardboard box used to pack cherry tomatoes produced in Minxiong, Southern Taiwan

The Rise and Fall of Processed Tomato in Taiwan by Leo Chu

26 October 2022

The Rise and Fall of Processed Tomato in Taiwan The sixth instalment in our project blog, where From Collection to Cultivation members share research insights, snippets, and ideas. When mentioning my research on the tomato breeding program of the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC, today known as the...


Read more at: Ryan Nehring and colleagues on "Soy Without Borders"
European Space Agency Sentinel 2A image of Brazilian farms from space. From ESA: "Here we can see a large, flat plateau blanked with fields benefiting from rich soils and an apparent abundance of water, before falling off into a green, hilly valley (left)

Ryan Nehring and colleagues on "Soy Without Borders"

1 October 2022

The October 2022 issue of leading environmental history journal Global Environment features an article by Collection to Cultivation postdoc Ryan Nehring and his colleagues Cassandio Brito Rocha and Sandro Dutra e Silvo, ' Soy Without Borders: The Transnational Dynamics of Commodity Frontiers In South America (1971–2019...


Read more at: Summer 2022 Project Update

Summer 2022 Project Update

14 July 2022

Read our Summer 2022 Project Update from our Newsletter, archived here: Summer Newsletter, 2022. To subscribe to our newsletter, email us at hps-cultivation@lists.cam.ac.uk