Breeding

September 6, 2013September 6, 2013

Nibbles: Industrial diversity, Forget feed the world, Vegetable evolution, Housekeeping

Slightly extended, slightly fewer edition

Corn (maize) and soybeans are the bogeymen of industrialised, monocropping agriculture, striking fear into the heart of biodiversity lovers everywhere. But, surprisingly, in the US, more than half the production comes from farms that grow at least two other crops. For real specialisation, you need to look at hay and rice. Big tip of the hat to Big Picture Agriculture for that one.
And yet, corn and soybeans power the rhetoric of “US farmers feed the world,” despite more than 40% of US corn ending up as ethanol. (See what I did there?) Anyway, Margaret Mellon at the Union of Concerned Scientists thinks its time to move beyond that unhelpful phrase. “It is time,” she says, “to separate the issues of hunger alleviation and crop production.” It is way beyond time, I say.
And then there’s this: “More Vegetables Evolving Chocolate-Sauce-Filled Centers As Evolutionary Imperative.”
And we’re feeling an evolutionary imperative to shift this particular parasite to a new host. We’ll be attempting to do so over the weekend. With luck, you won’t notice a think when we resume on Monday. See you then.

September 5, 2013September 5, 2013

Nibbles: Weeds, Poverty, Mycorrhizae, Gluten-free wheat, Vanilla, Different apples, Pashmina wool

Oh dear, someone else has fallen for the “weeds are better for you” line, cautious question-mark notwithstanding.
And guess what? The poor don’t buy nutritious foods. How silly of them.
Great post explaining the great unseen: mycorrhizal fungi as drivers of plant diversity.
Gluten-free wheat? Really (even if the links still don’t work).
What would you video on honeymoon in Mexico? A visit to a vanilla plantation. What else?
Conserving apples and earth apples at opposite ends of the world.
Oh, no, pashmina’s in trouble!

September 4, 2013

Nibbles: CIAT strategy & genebank, Baked beans, Bambara groundnut meet, Malnutrition debate, Bee farming, Pineapple genomics, Sustainable intensification debate

CIAT wants your help with its strategic planning. Read page 4 of the document: “…CIAT proposes to create a new genebank…”
Breeding a better British baked bean. What, again? Or still.
Talkin’ Bambara groundnut blues.
Solutions for micronutrients deficiency, in general and in particular.
Bees and yields take off in Kenya.
Pineapple taste gene identified, spliced into sugarcane, to produce GMO piña colada. Made you look!
Proponents of sustainable intensification are lickspittle lackeys tied to the apron-strings of the military-industrial complex.

August 30, 2013August 30, 2013

One more cup of coffee

For some reason, there’s been a sackful of coffee stories lately. Here’s a quick summary:

“Pistols for two, and coffee for one.”

“[Coffee] is of excellent Use in the time of Pestilence, and contributes greatly to prevent the spreading of Infection.”

“We just had to try at least a cup in every village we stopped at, and as they were small cups, sometimes more than one… The irony is that I am a ‘tea-only girl’.”

“Yes, Starbucks has announced it’s taking up shop in Bogota, Colombia. It says it wants to celebrate Colombian coffee.”

“Here, we do not work hard for survival, but we work hard to live a better life; that is what I’ve learned from working on this plantation.”

“In order to create these pre-breeding populations with enough genetic diversity for these economically important traits, WCR ¹ will utilize genetic material from the current germplasm collections as well as new material coming from wild populations from the WCR GERMPLASM Project.”

August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

Nibbles: Golden Rizzzzzz, Agronomy meet, Pricey poultry, Pricey Indian food, Target environments, NUS galore, G&T

The Golden Rice thing rumbles endlessly on.
I wonder whether it was discussed at the First International Agronomy Day. I bet that fertilizer thing in Malawi was.
The world’s most expensive cock. Made you look!
I wonder whether you can select sex in chickens like you can in cattle.
Anyway, speaking of expensive agrobiodiversity, a celebrity economist rounds up links on Indian food price inflation. Must have seen our recent stuff on onions. But can you grow them on the roof?
The secret of breeding? Location, location, location.
List of “indigenous” fruits and vegetables of allegedly potential global importance without a damn scientific name anywhere. Annoying on many levels.
Mind you, this piece on the threats faced by the wild herbs of Crete also doesn’t have any names.
See, you can include a scientific name of an underutilized plant and not look unbearable geeky. Well, kinda. Although this press release on burgeoning collaboration on NUS manages to avoid mentioning even common names.
Oh I so need a drink.
And some cheese.