Biotechnology

Nibbles: Tomato rhythm, Pumpkin poop, Domestic olive, Papaya deforestation, Orphan crops, Perennial wheat, Apple grafting, Australian genebanks, CIMMYT seeds, French genebank, Ethnic markets, Rice breeding impact, Biodiversity & services

Domestication made the tomato run slower.
Domestication saved the pumpkin from climate change, which had messed up its cozy relationship with megafaunal poop.
Domestication may (or may not) have happened twice in the olive. No word on role of poop.
Papaya trashing the Amazon.
Orphan crops: their day is coming. But not yet?
You mean like kernza?
Grafting 101.
Tasmanian forage collection joins the club.
CIMMYT’s seed distribution operation in pix.
How the French cereals genebank maintains quality.
Medicinal plants in NYC.
Yes, donors, rice improvement makes a difference.
Biodiversity especially important when times are tough. Well, in microbial communities anyway.

Seed Hunter visits genebank. Not many people hurt.
I’d like to visit this Corn Palace.
Rice domestication: not once, not twice, three times. Well, really, who’s to say maybe even more than that? Maybe even in Australia?
Solomon Islands cacao wins award. Looking forward to tasting it one day. But is it certified?
Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Giveaway.
Researchers hoping to science the shit out of threat to Thanksgiving.
Genetic resources and gastronomy in Brazil.
Pineapple gets a genome.
Sunflower saves soybean? What wizardry is this?

In praise of common names. Meh. You won’t see a Latin name in this whole Nibbles. See how you like it.
Building a tomato. In Spanish.
Tracking a tomato.
The dark side of tomatoes.
Amaranth to rescue Mexicans from obesity.
Seeds of contention.
Finding the lost Least Lettuce.
Indigo goes back to the future.
What if the monsoon fails? MS Swaminathan has some answers.
Nice chocolate infographic from FAO.
A diverse microbial community in and around roots helps plants thrive. The Science article is behind a paywall, but there’s a helpful infographic on Twitter.
The US has a National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration. Vision? The right seed in the right place at the right time. Wish I’d thought of that.
When otherwise useful trees attack. Ah, the irony of this coming right after the previous one.
UK’s Global Food Security programme says extreme weather events are increasing and we must adapt agriculture. Good to know.
And today’s Five Plants That Will Save the World are…
Maybe add pawpaw to that?
Japanese rice farmers: change gonna come.
Nice coffee museum in Brazil.
Early agriculture in the Caribbean: Cuba and Trinidad.
The babaçu breakers of Maranhão are under threat. What’s babaçu? Yeah, well, look it up.
“Seed banking began about 30 years ago as an improvement to individual farmers storing and using their own seeds.” Riiiiight.
That Vilsak is a card.

High-level agricultural scientists thinks high agricultural science will feed the world. Oh, and smart policies.
This new rice would qualify, I suspect.
Participatory varietal selection manual revised to take women into account. Someone mention high science?
No such manual needed in India, it seems.
The banana-is-doomed story sure has legs. Or hands.
What did the Inkas ever do for us?
Is agriculture diverse enough? That is the question.
Yerba mate gets sequenced. Because it can be.
Following an Indian cucumber down the value chain.
Thank your lucky stars for this weedy-looking tomato wild relative.
“We’re interested in the color, shape and sizes of the vegetables from 400 years ago, compared to modern cultivars of the same vegetables: the deep sutures on cantaloupe in Italian art of the Renaissance or the lack of pigmentation in pictures of watermelon compared to today.”
Quite a bit of agrobiodiversity featured in Day of Archaeology. Nice idea.