Biotechnology

April 15, 2013

New beer from old hops

Dept. of shameless self-promotion: A little while ago, Luigi nibbled a heart-warming tale of beer and genebanks; to whit, a hop variety that British brewers rejected as too tasty in 1960, and that found new favour as in-your-face American craft brews changed some beer drinkers’ ideas of what their tipple should taste like. And the reason hop OZ97a was still around for brewers to re-evaluate was that it had been maintained in a field genebank for more than 60 years. Meat and drink for the latest Eat This Podcast, where I interviewed Mark Dredge, the beer writer who broke the story.

Who knows what other flavours lurk uncharacterised among the diverse hops?

April 8, 2013April 8, 2013

Nibbles: Botanic gardens & forest foods, Militants against IRRI, Modern ancient farm, Conservation software, Urban mowing sheep, Agro-ecology, Beans, Value of genebanks, Seed savers, Video

Botanic gardens get into the restoration business. So that people can again eat nutritious forest foods. No, really, even the BBC says so.
Militant Filipino NGOs target IRRI. Not for the first time. And probably not the last.
Anyone planning to go to the Beltain at Butser Ancient Farm? Only a month to go…
You are probably already using at least one of these.
Paris looking to go all sheepish.
I don’t know about you, but I immediately turn off when somebody says that X is the only answer to Y. Even when the X is agro-ecology.
Même s’ils le disent en français.
Chinese “board beans” are actually lablab shock.
You going to spend an evening at The Genome Analysis Centre discussing the value of genebanks? Tell us about it!
Dutch seed savers looking to get organized.
New York times goes overboard for Digital Green participatory video.

April 2, 2013April 2, 2013

Brainfood: Farming systems, Connectivity, Neolithic China, Paleolithic China, Wheat genomes, Litter domestication, Arabian relatives, Pepper composition, GMOs vs agrobiodiversity

Using biodiversity to link agricultural productivity with environmental quality: Results from three field experiments in Iowa. Diversify any way you can. Even in Iowa.
Improving conservation planning for semi-natural grasslands: Integrating connectivity into agri-environment schemes. Connect any way you can. Even in Europe.
Early millet use in northern China. Very early. Starch grains push broomcorn millet use in China back 1,000 years, and foxtail millet 2,000.
Paleolithic human exploitation of plant foods during the last glacial maximum in North China. And ten thousand years before millets, there were wild grasses, roots, tubers and gourds.
Draft genome of the wheat A-genome progenitor Triticum urartu. Can be used to find agronomically important genes. But settle down, it’s only one of the 3 wheat genomes, after all.
Aegilops tauschii draft genome sequence reveals a gene repertoire for wheat adaptation. Not so fast, here comes the D genome too…
Side-effects of plant domestication: ecosystem impacts of changes in litter quality. Domestication led to higher quality, more easily decomposed litter.
Crop wild relatives from the Arabian Peninsula. 400 of them.
Compositional Characterization of Native Peruvian Chili Peppers (Capsicum spp.). There’s much variation, but not that much.
Feeding the world: genetically modified crops versus agricultural biodiversity. Guess which one is drinking the other’s milkshake. And a similar blast from the past.

March 27, 2013March 27, 2013

Nibbles: Ag research impact, Old foods, GMOs, Barcoding, Palms (well it is Easter), Medicinal plants, Passion fruits, Markets, Livestock, Chaffey, Wine and CC, Coffee culture

“…for many for many smallholder farmers little has changed over the decades in terms of the methods and tools they use.” Geoff Tansey would seem to agree. Nobody has told ACIAR, though.
Cherfas favourite spread bog butter among oldest food finds.
Why it is silly to say that GMOs are always bad.
The Star Trek tricorder-type DNA widget comes a step closer.
Which will make it easier to do things like working out the evolution of palms. Before it’s too late. Because of all that nasty agriculture. Anyway, read about it on page 3 of Kew Scientist, along with lots of other stuff.
Like the taxonomy of herbal medicine, for instance, which coincidentally also comes up in a newspaper article from Australia today. Maybe some of the plants involved will go into the Kimberly Ark, whatever that is.
Passion fruit is the next big thing in Costa Rica.
Colombian peasant organizations go to market. Including, I bet, with passion fruits.
Even in the struggle between man and steer, the issue is uncertain.
Is it time for Plant Cuttings again? Thank goodness.
I think I’ll read it with some Danish wine at my elbow. Or maybe Vietnamese coffee.

March 15, 2013March 15, 2013

Nibbles: Vigna radiata, Brit foods, Botany power, Niche models, Early ag, Fortification, Chicago plants, De-extinction, Kew aroids, Fish farming fail

WorldVeg fights for the right of Pakistanis to grow mungbean.
Philosopher thinks the English should fight for einkorn. Oh, and stilton.
Botanist fights for botany.
You gotta fight those species distribution models into submission. They don’t come quietly.
Early farmers made love, not war. Or at least made cultic phallic symbols.
Indians avoid Golden Rice fight by fortifying their own.
Chicago fights to save its plants.
You can’t fight extinction. I mean, once it’s happened.
Aroids putting up a good fight with showier plants at Kew.
Aquaculture in a fight for its life as disease looms.