- Genebank saves beer!
- Not so fast…
- So, lets get back to basics shall we, and the dawn of brewing, recreated (again).
An appreciation of Mark Bohning
More bad news, I’m afraid, this time from the USDA’s National Plant Germplasm System. Gary Kinard, Research Leader at the National Germplasm Resources Laboratory in Beltsville has informed us of the passing of Mark Bohning. I first met Mark quite some time ago, and interacted with him on a number of occasions over the years. He was very knowledgeable about the US germplasm system, its genebanks, documentation system and users, and always incredibly helpful in dealing with enquiries. This is very sad news for everyone working in plant genetic resources. Below is the announcement Gary sent round a couple of days ago.
I am enormously saddened to share the news with you that Mark Bohning, a Plant Germplasm Program Specialist with the USDA-ARS National Germplasm Resources Laboratory in Beltsville died this morning at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore from multiple organ failure. Mark had been having some ongoing medical problems for awhile, although his sudden passing at age 53 is tragic and shocking to his many friends and colleagues.
Mark was a Plant Germplasm Program Specialist with NGRL where he worked on a variety of projects to support the US National Plant Germplasm System. He was the primary liaison between ARS and our 42 Crop Germplasm Committees (CGC) and travelled to many CGC meetings over the years. He participated in the apple CGC teleconference on Friday May 3. I think it is somehow appropriate this was his last CGC meeting as it was one his favorite committees with which to interact. He also helped assign Plant Introduction numbers for the NPGS and was always willing to help sites load data into GRIN (Germplasm Resources Information Network), generate reports for ARS, and generally help users understand the system. He would toil quietly and without complaint to help enter many germplasm requests that were received as emails into GRIN. I could always count on Mark for his wealth of knowledge and willingness to help out in any way he could, without fanfare or need for recognition.
Few ARS employees knew the history, and had breadth of knowledge, of the NPGS and GRIN as well as Mark; he literally grew up with the system. He began working for ARS in 1980 while he was still an undergraduate student at the University of Maryland. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Horticulture from the University of Maryland in 1982 and 1985, respectively. He spent his entire career at BARC, almost all of it in NGRL.
Mark knew so many people associated with our genetic resource collections- from the curators and genebank staff, to stakeholders and colleagues in other USDA agencies, to the CGC Chairs, to a great many of the public and private sector members of the 42 CGCs.
Brainfood: Forest restoration, Vegetable diversity, Intensification costs, Community forests, Baja oases, Nigerian foods, European wetlands, Landscape diversity & resilience, European conservation prioritization
- Can Ficus Sp. Forests Be Restored Through Vegetative Propagation? Yes. But with the reduced genetic diversity and all, for how long?
- A qualitative assessment of diversity and factors leading to genetic erosion of vegetables: a case study of Varamin (Iran). Species richness only, settle down. But, pace the title, quantitative.
- Agricultural intensification escalates future conservation costs. Because of higher land rents. Just can’t win.
- Common property protected areas: Community control in forest conservation. They can work.
- Baja California peninsula oases: An agro-biodiversity of isolation and integration. Both too much and too little isolation are bad.
- Cultivated, caught, and collected: defining culturally appropriate foods in Tallé, Niger. …and integrating them into development.
- Wetlands in Europe: Perspectives for restoration of a lost paradise. Down to 20% and counting. Someone should count the crop wild relatives in them.
- Economic Resilience and Land use: The Cocoa Crisis in the Rio Cachoeira Catchment, Brazil. Diverse land use means more resilience.
- Priorities for biodiversity monitoring in Europe: A review of supranational policies and a novel scheme for integrative prioritization. Yeah, but doesn’t integrate crop wild relatives, does it?
Survey of the role of next generation sequencing in PGR management
Matt Bennett of the Wellesbourne Seedbank at the University of Warwick is working on a dissertation on the impact of advances in DNA sequencing on the management of plant genetic resources. He is investigating how next generation sequencing technology can be used to improve the use of genetic diversity and the cost efficiency of seed management. If you know about this stuff, you can help him by doing a quick survey.
Do your efforts engage and impact local custodians of agrobiodiversity?
We are happy to pass on this request from Simran Sethi. Do get in touch with her, you wont regret it.
I am an environmental journalist focusing on the loss of biodiversity in our food system. This erosion of agrobiodiversity echoes through every part of our food system. It strips soil, seed, pollinators, crops, livestock and aquatic life of their ability to adapt to changes in the environment—and puts our entire food supply at risk.
This extinction of food is a process, not a singular event. It is buried in the soil, hidden within feedlots and immersed in the ocean. I addressed some of this in my recent TEDx talk on seeds as the buried foundations of food, but seek to highlight this issue more broadly in my upcoming book “Endangered Food: The Erosion of What and How We Eat.” Because eating is both an agricultural and cultural act, my narrative is focused on conservation through consumption; specifically, on efforts to save foods by eating them.
And this is where I seek your assistance. I recognize this issue is complex and that consumption presents its own set of challenges. As those intimately involved in biodiversity preservation, you have firsthand knowledge of the ways in which your efforts engage and impact custodian farmers and local communities. Food is the embodied history and cultural identity through which the public can understand and address the global challenge of genetic erosion. To that end, I welcome any case studies on the expansion of underutilized species (both on farms and in markets) and/or examples of eating as a compelling and delicious way to support biodiversity and reshape the future of food through lived experience.
I can be reached for any questions or comments on simran “at” simransethi.com. Thank you for your consideration.