For most of us, agricultural biodiversity is a topic of unknowns. It is about the crops and foods that we don’t know; foods that we have never seen or tasted.

In this episode, we talk with Emigdio Ballon, who is an expert on the production of highland Andean crops like quinoa, amaranth, and maca. I asked Emigdio about the historical and cultural importance of these crops, and what can be done to preserve these important resources. We also discuss their economic potential, and prospects for achieving a greater market share.

As we continue this month’s theme of agricultural biodiversity, I interview Rex Dufour, entomologist and organic pest control expert with ATTRA, the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service.

Rex describes the role of insects in the agroecosystem, and emphasizes the importance of preserving biodiversity to control insect pests. As he explains it, beneficial insects can act as “little hammers”, keeping harmful insect populations under control through predation and parasitizing. The key question is how we design our managed ecosystems to maximize these interactions and reduce our reliance on costly agrochemicals.

Please have a listen, and thanks for stopping by.

Welcome to the agroinnovations podcast. This month our focus is on agricultural biodiversity, and we will be interviewing a number of professionals to get a broad perspective on the importance of and the risks facing our agricultural biodiversity.

For our very first epidsode of the agroinnovations podcast, we’ll be interviewing Dr. Walter Kaiser. In this interview, Dr. Kaiser talks about his experiences as a plant pathologist on four continents spanning a period of four decades. Dr. Kaiser gives us insight on germplasm collection, biodiversity, and the cultivation of edible mushrooms. Have a listen, and thanks for stopping by.