Biotechnology

Nibbles: Adaptation, Soil bacteria, AnGR, Edible flowers, Potato chips, Ancient beer

July issue of CSA News, official magazine for members of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America, has article on “Crop Adaptation to Climate Change” based on official CSSA position statement, “Crop Adaptation to Climate Change.”
Factsheet on bacterial diversity and why it’s good for soils.
FAO guidelines for the In Vivo Conservation of Animal Genetic Resources discussed in Europe.
Please eat the daisies. Or other flowers.
Farming chips.
Never thought I’d get bored of reading about ancient beer.

Guess what. Cranberry pests prefer certain varieties.
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. Estimating yield of food crops grown by smallholder farmers from IFPRI.
CIAT first CG centre to publish peer-reviewed video, on resistance selection. In other news, there are peer-reviewed videos?
CFTF draws our attention to Jackfruit – Forgotten Kalpavriksha, “a common trope”.
$3.4 million worth of good news for food security and diversity in the Andes. “Small Andean tuber crops” involved.
Minor millets star in new film shared by Bioversity.
Want the Philippines to be self-sufficient in rice? Eat rootcrops. IRRI unavailable for comment.
Way more than any sensible person will ever want to know about duck and goose semen.

The pros and cons of biofortified cassava rehearsed for the nth time.
Scientists accused of biopiracy for the nth time.
nth genetic study of ancient farmers. Men moved, in a nutshell, women not so much.
Traditional healers: nth example of a group hard hit by climate change.
In all above cases, n is a large positive integer.
Potatoes responsible for about 25% of Old World population increase between 1700 and 1900. Nice maths.
Learn how to conserve pollinators. If you’re in Rhode Island. But there is an online Pollinator Conservation Resource Center with lots of resources.

Qataris work out how to sex date palms.
The National Heirloom Exposition revs its engine.
World Camel Day is coming up. No, really.
Latin Americans planning their next congress on the biodiversity of domestic animals. Cuy, anyone?
The Art of Coconut Craft. Wonderfully kitschy.
So, you want to breed Alocasia, do you?
Sweden stops oppressing its main minority.
High Nature Value farming in Serbia.
Non-wood forest products are all very well, but…
Yes, yes, Feidherbia will solve all the problems of the Sahel, now can I go back to sleep?

ICARDA saves the world.
No, ICRISAT saves the world.
You’re both wrong, it’s CIAT.
No, wait, maybe it’s CIMMYT. Oh I give up.
Actually it’s fungi.
Or maybe tissue culture?
Surely it can’t be five unknown vegetables?
Could it be that it’s the Mediterranean diet? And that UNESCO will screw it up for all of us?