- Reconsidering domestication from a process archaeology perspective. De-colonising, and de-transitivising, domestication.
- Maize biochemistry in response to root herbivory was mediated by domestication, spread, and breeding. Not archaeology, but an example of the more expansive view of domestication being touted above.
- Tracking the transition to agriculture in Southern Europe through ancient DNA analysis of dental calculus. Agriculture was associated with some changes in oral microbiomes, but not nearly as big as happened relatively recently. One could perhaps argue that some oral commensals were domesticated? No? Too much? More on dental calculus below…
- The Failed Globalization of Psychedelic Drugs in the Early Modern World. Culture and religion affected why tobacco spread around and peyote didn’t. Wait, domestication had nothing to do with it?
- Estimating agronomically relevant symbiotic nitrogen fixation in green manure breeding programs. All the better to domesticate them.
- Assessing Forage Potential of the Global Collection of Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.) Conserved at the ICRISAT Genebank. The top 10 identified, and they’re not bad, considering forage potential was not what the crop was domesticated for. ILRI unavailable for comment :)
- Genetic Diversity of Phenotypic and Biochemical Traits in VIR Radish (Raphanus sativus L.) Germplasm Collection. More variable than was once thought. Ah, domestication, you never disappoint…
- Preliminary evaluation of wild bean (Phaseolus spp.) germplasm for resistance to Fusarium cuneirostrum and Fusarium oxysporum. Wait, domestication can disappoint after all. Deeply. At least we still have the CWR.
- Not so local: the population genetics of convergent adaptation in maize and teosinte. People moved maize about, post-domestication, usefully bringing it into contact with teosinte. But the main author Dr Silas Tittes says it better. Hail the maize taxi!
- Modern Siberian dog ancestry was shaped by several thousand years of Eurasian-wide trade and human dispersal. People moved dogs about, post-domestication. The doggie taxi?
- Dairying enabled Early Bronze Age Yamnaya steppe expansions. People moved around because of milk. But the main author Dr Shevan Wilkin says it better, and links this with other important papers. Dental calculus never disappoints.
Brainfood: Food system, Transformation of, Climate change effects on, Pandemic and, Future of, Effect of Green Revolution on, Mesoamerican CWR, Moroccan crop diversity, USA crop diversity, GM, Environmental behaviours
- Food systems: seven priorities to end hunger and protect the planet. Oh good, includes “Biodiversity and genetic bases need to be protected. Seed varieties must be preserved, and their phenotypes and genotypes explored in the contexts of climate change and nutrition. Traditional food and forest systems, including those of Indigenous peoples, need to be better understood and supported in national agricultural research systems.” Phew.
- Future Changes in Wet and Dry Season Characteristics in CMIP5 and CMIP6 Simulations. The above is just as well because longer hotter and drier spells are coming to the tropics, and crops will suffer.
- Global assessment of the impacts of COVID-19 on food security. Plus there’s this too. Resilience has a cost.
- The future of farming: Who will produce our food? Smallholders…
- When agriculture drives development: Lessons from the Green Revolution. …and that may be bad.
- Ok, the above two entries need unpacking. The second paper shows that the “agricultural engine of growth” was totally a thing during the Green Revolution, but the first that it now appears to be broken.
- Extinction risk of Mesoamerican crop wild relatives. Oh no, on top of everything else, we might lose avocados and vanilla.
- Determinants of Smallholder Maintenance of Crop Diversity in Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains. Markets, land and water. So what would any new Green Revolution do to diversity? Have we learned anything?
- Landscape complexity and US crop production. …are positively correlated. For Morocco too, I wonder?
- Utilize existing genetic diversity before genetic modification in indigenous crops. At least in Ethiopia.
- Compulsion and reactance: Why do some green consumers fail to follow through with planned environmental behaviors? Because some believe in technology, and other is abstinence. Which means they need different messages to encourage them to put their money where their mouths are. Would it work in Ethiopia?
Brainfood: Mapping double, Niche modelling, CGIAR impacts, Pathogen genebank, Data stewardship, Breeding tradeoffs, Organic vs conventional, Agronomic trials, Teff evaluation, Eggplant genetic resources, Quinoa phenotyping
- Conservation needs to break free from global priority mapping. Couldn’t agree more. And less.
- National climate and biodiversity strategies are hamstrung by a lack of maps. Wait, what?
- The evolutionary genomics of species’ responses to climate change. You need to combine niche modelling with genetic adaptation to get the best maps.
- Payoffs to a half century of CGIAR research. A benefit-to-cost ratio (BCR) of 10:1. Not counting the genebanks. And all the maps.
- A case for conserving plant pathogens. But will it be worth it?
- Poor data stewardship will hinder global genetic diversity surveillance. What’s the BCR for decent metadata?
- Mitigating tradeoffs in plant breeding. Cutting out the cross-talk changes tradeoff to payoff.
- Comparing Productivity of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems: A Quantitative Review. Conventional is more productive. But should yield be the only criterion?
- Priority micronutrient density in foods. Right. Micronutrients are also important.
- Reconciling yield gains in agronomic trials with returns under African smallholder conditions. And how was yield measured anyway?
- Data-driven, participatory characterization of traditional farmer varieties discloses teff (Eragrostis tef) adaptive and breeding potential under current and future climates. This might well be an example of applying the lessons of the above.
- Genetic Diversity and Utilization of Cultivated Eggplant Germplasm in Varietal Improvement. The wild relatives will save us.
- Quinoa Phenotyping Methodologies: An International Consensus. But will it work for the wild relatives? Just kidding, this is an important development for another crop (with the above) which doesn’t have something like the CGIAR and its 10:1 BCR behind it…
Brainfood: Extreme events, Hot livestock, Decentralized breeding, Rice evaluation, Maize relatives double, Peanut hybrids, Tanzanian cassava, Microbiome, Brassica pests, Hop terroir, Beer taste
- Extreme climate events increase risk of global food insecurity and adaptation needs. Factoring in climate variability shows that just considering the change in the average climate underestimates the food security hit.
- Increases in extreme heat stress in domesticated livestock species during the twenty-first century. And the hit is already landing.
- Data-driven decentralized breeding increases prediction accuracy in a challenging crop production environment. What we therefore need is 3-D breeding.
- Novel Sources of Pre-Harvest Sprouting Resistance for Japonica Rice Improvement. Including for resistance to pre-harvest sprouting in rice due to unexpected typhoons.
- The genome of stress tolerant crop wild relative Paspalum vaginatum leads to increased biomass productivity in the crop Zea mays. For sure crop wild relatives are going to help.
- Megabase-scale presence-absence variation with Tripsacum origin was under selection during maize domestication and adaptation. If they haven’t helped already.
- Registration of three peanut allotetraploid interspecific hybrids resistant to late leaf spot disease and tomato spotted wilt. Sometimes you need multiple CWR.
- Collection, genotyping and virus elimination of cassava landraces from Tanzania and documentation of farmer knowledge. But landraces too will come in handy, especially if farmers’ knowledge is properly documented.
- Prioritizing host phenotype to understand microbiome heritability in plants. And don’t forget the microbiome.
- Economic analysis of habitat manipulation in Brassica pest management: Wild plant species suppress cabbage webworm. Not to mention the ecosystem as a whole.
- Relevance of hop terroir for beer flavour. Oh hell, I give up, time for a craft beer.
- On the Trail of the German Purity Law: Distinguishing the Metabolic Signatures of Wheat, Corn and Rice in Beer. Maybe even a weissbier.
Brainfood: Pollinators double, C4 grasses, Pre-breeding, Lupins resources, New wild coffees, Refugee deforestation, Tuber niches, Sampling strategy, Infection risk, Levant Bronze & Iron Age
- A global-scale expert assessment of drivers and risks associated with pollinator decline. “Key findings: 1) risks to human well-being from pollinator decline are higher in the Global South; 2) there is a clear lack of knowledge about pollinator decline in Africa; 3) loss of managed pollinators (e.g. honey bees) is only a serious risk to people in North America.” That’s according to the main author Dr Lynn Dicks on Twitter.
- Agrochemicals interact synergistically to increase bee mortality. Stress on pollinators is more than the sum of its parts.
- Evolutionary innovations driving abiotic stress tolerance in C4 grasses and cereals. Major C4 crops need more stress.
- Deep scoping: a breeding strategy to preserve, reintroduce and exploit genetic variation. You may not need a separate pre-breeding programme to introduce new diversity into your breeding programme without wrecking it.
- Genomic resources for lupins are coming of age. Maybe we could have a pre-breeding programme now?
- Six new species of coffee (Coffea) from northern Madagascar. Including 4 really narrow endemics. I wonder what they taste like. Start evaluation and pre-breeding?
- Refugee camps and deforestation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Much, much less of an impact that you’d think.
- Suitability of root, tuber, and banana crops in Central Africa can be favoured under future climates. More than you’d have thought.
- Proportional sampling strategy often captures more genetic diversity when population sizes vary. Sample more than you normally would from bigger populations of rare wild species.
- Plant pathogen infection risk tracks global crop yields under climate change. Where yields go up, fungal/oomycete infection risk goes up; where yields go down, so does infection risk. Assemblages will change especially in temperate regions.
- Developments in Subsistence Practices from the Early Bronze Age through the Iron Age in the Southern Levant. From pigs, wild animals and emmer to zebu, camelids, and free-threshing wheats.