Author: Luigi Guarino

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Commission embraces agricultural biodiversity?

This news item out of the European Commission seems to be very important, so I think I’m justified in reproducing it in full below, especially as the specific item does not yet have a url all to itself (though there is a fairly general one):

The Commission adopted on Friday June 20 a proposal that will help preserve biodiversity. Member States had already endorsed the proposal in mid April. The proposal to protect seed varieties of agricultural crops, which may be threatened by genetic erosion, will also enable small plant breeding companies to supply local markets with naturally adapted seed varieties. These seed varieties are mostly old locally used varieties threatened by extinction.

The proposal foresees derogations from the EU seed marketing legislation for seed varieties that are naturally adapted to local conditions, but which currently cannot be marketed because they do not fulfil certain criteria. Under EU legislation, seed varieties must undergo an approval process and get listed on the national and common seed catalogues before they can be marketed within the territory of the EU. These rules ensure that EU farmers have access to high quality seed. Certain varieties, which are not found on these catalogues, are still important to ensure that plant genetic diversity is not diminished. The Commission has therefore proposed that these varieties could be placed on the catalogues without official examination, once they meet some minimum standards.

Jeremy has blogged several times about this. I guess the devil will be in the detail, but it does look encouraging. Anyone have more information?

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A tale of two fruits

The news a few days back that climate change is affecting the quantity and quality of the mango harvest in India was followed today by similar worries about cherries in Italy. I wonder. There’s no real evidence presented that these difficulties are part of a long-term trend. But it would also be interesting to know if different varieties are reacting in different ways. For example, how are the last four remaining trees of the Noor Jahan mango variety coping?

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Sorghum endures

How much crop genetic diversity have we lost? At one level, the question is easy to answer: three quarters over the last century. That’s certainly the number that’s most often quoted.

But that doesn’t make it right. In particular, I have it on very good authority that the figure may in fact be traceable back — a la Chinese whispers — to a statement in Fowler & Mooney’s 1990 book Shattering: “As the mid-1970s were reached, three-quarters of Europe’s traditional vegetable seed stood on the verge of extinction.”

Not quite the same thing. Anyway, be that as it may, the existence of a dominant narrative hasn’t stopped people going out into the field and — the horror! — actually collecting data.

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