- The role of protected areas in supplying ten critical ecosystem services in drylands: a review. Let the communities take the lead, be inventive about governance.
- Breeding Oil and Table Olives for Mechanical Harvesting in Spain. 19,000 seedlings, 481 preselections in intermediate field trials, 31 advanced selections in a network of field trials, 1 new protected cultivar Sikitita (Chiquitita in USA).
- Phenotypic and molecular characterization of plants regenerated from non-cryopreserved and cryopreserved wild Solanum lycopersicum Mill. seeds. Oops, SSRs pick up some changes.
- Pollen Cryopreservation to Support Maintenance of a Wild Species Collection of the Genus Allium. Variable success. And no word on somaclonal variation.
- Epiphytic bacteria biodiversity in Brazilian Cerrado fruit and their cellulolytic activity potential. No fewer than 29 bacterial genera on 32 native fruits, 30% producing cellulase.
- Fine-scale spatial genetic structure of common and declining bumble bees across an agricultural landscape. Not much structure, due to queen dispersal. Declining species less diverse.
- Genetic Diversity in Remnant Swedish Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) Yards from the 15th to 18th Century. The old varieties are still there, having gone feral in abandoned yards because, unlike for 450 years until 1860, Swedish farmers are, alas, no longer obliged to grow the stuff.
- A comparison of wild and cultivated strawberries for nitrogen uptake and reduction. Some wild accessions might be better at assimilating N.
- Advances in European sea bass genomics and future perspectives. There’s a sequenced genome, but nobody’s using it.
- Genetic effects of forest management practices: Global synthesis and perspectives. There’s no excuse for not doing the right thing now.
- Exploring the variability of a photoperiod-insensitive sorghum genetic panel for stem composition and related traits in temperate environments. You can improve biomass quantity and quality simultaneously. Stem composition variability follows genetic origin.
Nibbles: Restoring forests, Sampling strategies, Breadfruit history, Wheat & CC, Pacific fisheries, Sustainable food experts, CG talkfest, Irish & potatoes, Diet costs, ITPGRFA projects, Poaching & medicine, Coca alternatives, Ethiopian agroforestry, Mutation breeding, Gaza greens
- Genetic considerations in ecosystem restoration using native tree species. No excuse for getting it wrong now.
- “Careful tailoring of seed collections to specific species and situations critical to preserving plant diversity.” No excuse for getting it wrong now.
- Breadfruit makes The Paris Review.
- Got any ideas on protecting wheat from heat and drought?
- Where will Pacific Islanders get their protein from if all the fish go?
- International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems set up. Rejoice. Maybe they’ll be invited to the CGIAR’s Development Dialogues.
- The Irish know a thing or two about sustainable food systems.
- Yeah but how much does a decent diet cost anyway?
- An overview of the Seed Treaty’s projects on climate change adaptation.
- Poaching in Kenya driven by demand for dodgy traditional medicine? And finding an alternative for Peru’s traditional medicine of choice.
- What has agroforestry ever done for us?
- You say conventional I say mutation.
- The leafy greens of Gaza.
Nibbles: Soil map, Dealing with pH, Egypt pix, Samoa taro & breadfruit, Fruit genomics, GM video, Twitter
- Need soil info? There’s an app for that!
- Like pH, for instance?
- Photographing Egypt’s farms.
- Frozen Samoan taro, anyone? Only the beginning…
- Also from Samoa, a landmark breadfruit deal.
- Alas, breadfruit is not one of the tree fruits included in the website Tree Fruit Genome Database Resources (tfGDR). Maybe they should get together with DivSeek? Or the guy growing 40 different fruits on one tree.
- Soybean genetic modification 101, with video goodness.
- While both Jeremy and I are otherwise engaged, blogging in general and Nibbling in particular might be a bit slow, but you can keep up with us on Twitter. If you dare.
Nibbles: BBC series, Pacific breadfruit & yams, Sustainable diets, Cuba atlas, MSB standards, Biofortification on radio, German food scandals, Mexican foods, Non-PC food, CWR interviews, Old Irish sources, ITPGRFA funding, Crop Trust presentations, ISHS, Neural crest and domestication, Wheat genome
- That BBC mega-doc on botany just started.
- PGR News from the Pacific: breadfruit and yams. My former colleagues keeping busy.
- How sustainable is your diet? Here comes the data.
- Cool historical atlas of Cuba has some agricultural stuff.
- The Millennium Seed Bank’s Seed Conservation Standards, final draft.
- Kojo Nnamdi Show on biofortification.
- German sausage and beer industries hit by scandal. What the hell will Luigi survive on?
- Maize beer, maybe. And amaranth.
- Thankfully neither of which have objectionable names.
- Nigel Maxted of University of Birmingham on crop wild relatives.
- His mate and mine Ehsan Dulloo of Bioversity, on the same thing.
- Ancient Irish apples, both wild and cultivated.
- Seed Treaty is short of funds, but they are working on it.
- The Crop Trust is on Slideshare!
- Banana symposium coming up in August.
- A theory of mammal domestication.
- First stab at the bread wheat genome. A tour de force.
Nibbles: Custodian farmers, Farming wild species, Museum of Agriculture, GMO maize in Mexico, Organic metareview, Boron tolerance, Date tomato, Cultivated Plant Taxonomy Newsletter, Barcoding Welsh honey
- First, find your custodian farmers.
- Sure, they can farm wild species too.
- Then, get them to produce something cool, sell it, and use the money to preserve some nearby temples.
- Oh yeah, but better make sure there’s no GMOs around.
- Organic helps. No, really.
- Ok, so maybe you have to help them out by breeding for higher boron tolerance or something.
- Something like tomatoes that don’t rot. And in French, but with photo.
- Make sure the taxonomy is right, though.
- And if in doubt, use barcoding.