Luigi Guarino

October 18, 2012

Biotechnological success stories sought

Do you have examples of

…high impact and/or teachable instances where non-GMO agricultural biotechnologies are, and have been, used to serve the needs of smallholder farmers in developing countries in the crop, forestry, livestock and fisheries sectors.

If so, you might like to know that

FAO is opening a competition to identify … five case studies and the writers that will document them. The selected authors will each receive a small honorarium and will have their authorship reflected on the publication.

The publication being “Case Studies of use of Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries”, which is intended as a follow-up to FAO’s 2010 International Conference on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries. The target audience is non-technical, and the term biotechnology covers a multitude of sins.

Read all the details. Good luck!

October 18, 2012October 18, 2012

Nibbles: Vigna & Hordeum genome, Sorghum cold tolerance, Food atlas, Okra festival, Rice origins paper smackdown

Today’s genome is cowpea, yesterday’s was barley.
Maybe tomorrow’s will be sorghum?
More on that guerrilla food atlas thing.
So there’s an annual okra festival, and there’s a podcast about it.
Archaeobotanist says recent big rice genomics study changes nothing, is misleading. Why don’t you tell us what you really think, Dorian?

October 17, 2012

Nibbles: Wasabi, Plant name checker, Finding birds, GFAR videos, Sweet potato pap, Taro genebank

Up to their knees in wasabi. And, loving it.
iPlant Collaborative’s Taxonomic Name Resolution Service (TNRS) ver. 3.0 expands its coverage.
Marine bird e-Atlas goes live. Meah.
GFAR tweets about old videos. Must be a reason for it.
Podcast on using sweet potatoes in baby food. Might well come in useful more generally.
My friend Valerie and former employer SPC get a namecheck in story about world’s largest taro genebank.

October 16, 2012October 16, 2012

If I had a $ for every key to feeding the world…

…I’d have about enough for a pizza in Rome.

Theme of World Food Day is agricultural cooperatives. Today's "key to feeding the world." If I had a $ for every key… http://t.co/F58eEs9z

— AgroBioDiverse (@AgroBioDiverse) October 16, 2012

Having presented a hostage to fortune with this recent tweet, I thought I’d better check how many things have actually been put forward as keys to feeding the world. Unsurprisingly on this particular World Food Day, the most common answer is indeed agricultural cooperatives, but ranging into the nether regions of a Google search throws up the following eclectic, but alas short, list:

Crop quality
Integrated Pest Management
Biotechnology
Diets and nutrition
Russia’s small-scale organic agriculture model (sic)
Modern agriculture
Peasants

Trying variants such as “key to agricultural development”, “agricultural production” and “agricultural sustainability” broadens the range to include some old favourites, such as perennial crops, little-known crops, ICTs, research/extension and policy; even biodiversity finally makes an appearance. But perhaps the most interesting result is that only a very few items appear on more than one of these lists: farmers’ organizations, biotechnology and girls/women.

Anyway, it’s World Food Day, and you can get involved!

October 16, 2012October 16, 2012

Nibbles: Animal abolitionism and not, Patents and not, Early agriculture, Brogdale, Soybean genes, Fancy phenotyping, Nexus principles, ICRAF databases, Transformation, Pest posters

Animal domestication is murder. Will someone tell ILRI? And the Maasai.
Indian home remedies at risk from nasty patents. I guess someone has been reading the Washington Post.
Agriculture started as a response to the need for large amounts of beer for feasts. Can’t think of a better reason. All the more weird that it seemed to go pear-shaped in Britain, then, after a good start. Maybe everybody was drunk?
The UK’s National Fruit Collection in the spotlight. So after that dodgy period, British agriculture did manage to get a grip, thank goodness. Probably for the cider.
Multiple copies of a gene needed for nematode resistance in soybeans.
PETting plants.
“Ten principles to apply at the nexus of agriculture, conservation, and other land uses.” And almost anything else for that matter.
Those ICRAF spatial databases explained.
Bhoo Chetana in India and, admittedly under another name, in Peru. Transformation often means reviving old ways.
Free posters of Top 10 plant-attacking nasties.