- Archaeogenomic Evidence of Punctuated Genome Evolution in Gossypium. Egyption cotton is not very stable.
- On-farm dynamic management of genetic diversity: the impact of seed diffusions and seed saving practices on a population-variety of bread wheat. More studies of Rouge de Bordeaux show that population diversity mirrors seed-exchange systems.
Nibbles: Baby ginger, Livestock, Teaching, Organic seeds, Pawpaw, Citrus, Ethiopia
- Baby ginger, if you can offer tropical conditions and want to make money.
- ILRI beefs about the lack of interest in livestock in the run-up to Rio+20.
- Teachers! A resource! What Are Seed Gene Banks and How Do They Work?
- Farmer unthreatened by GMOs grows organic seed for others.
- Botanist documents flowers of (one kind of) pawpaw.
- Woman takes a trip down memory lane during visit to citrus field genebank.
- Ethiopians improve their food security with roots and tubers. Wot, no bananas?
Nibbles: Tree Cotton, Organic labelling, Kosher marijuana, African Ag R&D
- Is tree cotton (Gossypium arboretum) about to enjoy a renaissance?
- What on earth is “gay” about organic labelling being equivalent in the USA and the EU?
- Is marijuana kosher for Passover? h/t DannyChamowitz.
- What does Denis Kyetere, executive director of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation, foresee for the continent’s farmers?
Nibbles: Domesticating fruit trees, Plains Indians, Weedy rice, Prize, Maize festivals, Ifugao, Bangladeshi diets, Pacific hopes, Plant patents
- Domesticating fruit trees for food and profit. But why the “scare quotes” around clone?
- Indians 101: Northern Plains Agriculture.
- A different kind of weedy wild relative; feral rice.
- Great, innovative agricultural scientist? Prizes await you.
- Mexico’s corn festivals celebrate diversity – but why bring opposition to GMOs into it?
- Project to help the people who created and manage the Ifugao rice terraces to cope with climate change. Stay tuned.
- Project to “diversify … diets to improve nutrition and incomes in Bangladesh”. Stay tuned.
- And countries of the Pacific look to crop diversity to manage climate variability. Stay tuned.
- Can a farmer commit patent infringement just by planting soybeans he bought on the open market? Good question; stay tuned.
Two things about agricultural biodiversity
If the point of a good blog post is to get you thinking, Alan Cann’s over at the Annals of Botany blog certainly worked on me. What are the two things you need to know about a subject? I’ve been pondering that since 18 March, when Alan’s post appeared. I had my answer almost immediately, but I haven’t been able to refine it as I thought I might.
A bit of background. Alan was riffing on an article in The Guardian, which in turn was building on a site kept (and now more or less abandoned) by economist turned screenwriter Glen Whitman. The basic idea is that
For every subject, there are only two things you need to know. Everything else is the application of those two things, or just not important.
So what are my two things?
- All intrinsic improvements in agriculture are founded on existing agricultural biodiversity.
- Improvements in agriculture intrinsically destroy existing agricultural biodiversity.
But I’m sure you can do better …