Nibbles: Kerala, Marker-assisted selection, Plant breeding for fun, Plant breeding for money, Benefit-sharing, Drought resistance

If you’re interested in the history, traditions and cuisine of Kerala, this is the website for you.
How about some whizz-bang technology to improve neglected and orphan crops?
A blogger Tedtalks about participatory plant breeding in Wageningen.
And get this: There’s big money in quasi-public sector plant breeding.
“In the Coella and Combeima watersheds (Tolima, Colombia) the narrative of managing the commons is taking … a participatory shape.”
The Scientist Gardener explores engineered drought-resistant maize and meets with Darwinian approval.

2 Replies to “Nibbles: Kerala, Marker-assisted selection, Plant breeding for fun, Plant breeding for money, Benefit-sharing, Drought resistance”

Not impressed at all by the TED blogger on participatory plant breeding. Needs to get some facts correct about rice for a start!

I make no judgements about things I make no judgements about. Why not tell him on his blog? Or yours.

A paean to diverse diets is just what we all need.
And another one, from the MIT Technology Review of all places.
Menawhile, there’s only one reference to dietary diversity in the World Bank’s investment framework for nutrition.
Maybe you have to quantify that diversity before you can save it? Now where have I heard that before?
Meanwhile, Europe reports on biodiversity-friendly farming practices. Does that include the biodiversity of the actual crops? Perhaps surprisingly, yes!
You want biodiversity-friendly farming practices? Talk to Indigenous people. The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) has launched an e-consultation on “Preserving, strengthening and promoting Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems and traditional practices for sustainable food systems.”
There’s diversity in asparagus too.
Genebanks can help with those biodiversity-friendly practices, diverse diets and rops and Indigenous practices.
Even big international genebanks.
Even the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
But some are in trouble.
Though others are coming back.