Author: Jeremy Cherfas

Posted on

Amaranth: from pigweed to superweed to superfood

A comprehensive account of the many joys of amaranth from Willem Malten, who has done his fair share of putting the plant to good use. His conclusion:

I propose that we adjust our research, technology and diets and start a more wide-spread processing of the mighty amaranth into food. We potentially have millions of acres of it. Amaranth is a gift and we better learn how to use it.

I’ve done my part in the past, growing amaranths for seed and leaves, and eating both. I see it everywhere in Rome, clogging the gutters and pavements of little-used streets. And that’s the problem; delicious as it is, I’m not ready to rescue it from the deposits of diesel particulates and dog droppings.

Posted on

Nibbles: Bees, Food crises, Book, Drought, Video, Pavlovsk, Community genebank

Posted on

Australia and Russian Federation shoulder to shoulder over genebanks

We pointed out recently that the threat to the Pavlovsk Experiment Station’s field genebanks is not, in fact, as unique as it might seem. From Science magazine comes news that “Australia’s seed banks are tumbling like dominoes”. The report details the gradual loss of Australia’s six genebanks.

[I]n mid-2008 a bank in Adelaide holding Mediterranean forages such as alfalfa closed its doors; of its 45,000 accessions, 95% are held nowhere else in the world.

Where have we heard claims like that before?

Part of the article that I don’t understand concerns Australia’s obligations under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Is there really a mechanism to prevent free-riders, as the article suggests? If Australia cannot supply seeds from its own genebanks, because those seeds are dead, or no longer exist, will they really be blocked access to other genebanks’ accessions?

The article ends by echoing what is really the crucial point for all genebanks:

Seed banks “need long-term support that is outside grant or research support,” says Megan Clarke, chief executive of CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency and the country’s main supporter of agricultural research.

That is clearly as true in Australia as it is in Russia. And the Australians aren’t even planning to build houses where the genebanks were.

Posted on

Who to believe?

RSS feeds can be pretty unforgiving, capturing those momentary lapses that not even the fastest fingers can recover. Take, for example, Exhibit A, pictured below. (Click to embiggen.)

Someone clearly thought better about the “fact” that a genetically modified cowpea (“actually a bean”) could generate US$1 billion for small farmers. So it got downgraded to a claim by scientists 1 that will still deliver US$1 billion … without specifying to whom exactly.

The story? Oh, you don’t want to bother with that.