In April 2019, the American Public Gardens Association, the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and the Soil Science Society of America came together to create a symposium hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation and the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden in Des Moines, Iowa. This symposium intended to celebrate crop diversity and raise awareness of crop wild relatives and to connect agriculture, public gardens, and science on the increasingly important topic of crop diversity (read about the symposium experience here).
An unintended but exciting outcome of the conference was a special issue of the journal Crop Science, which compiled a series of papers inspired by that event.
The special issue was released by Crop Science for November-December 2019. Dr. Tara Moreau, Associate Director at UBC Botanical Garden co-authored three papers in the special issue, including “Cooking up Diverse Diets: Advancing Biodiversity in Food and Agriculture through Collaborations with Chefs” with David Speight, Executive Chef & Culinary Director at UBC Food Services.
Fabulous article, Tara! The ways that UBC Botanical Garden is working to ensure plant diversity are remarkable. The Food Garden’s roles to educate against plant blindness as well as to provide nutritious meals through the UBC Food Bank are exemplary.