Breeding

June 23, 2010June 23, 2010

What US Congress now knows

As we mentioned 10 days ago, the US Congress had a briefing on Climate Change and Agriculture on 16 June 2010. The AAAS, which co-sponsored the briefing, uploaded some of the presentations, but the one that interested us most didn’t work. Fortunately the speaker, Professor Paul Gepts of UC Davis, is a good friend of this blog, and he let us have a proper copy of his presentation on Agricultural Biodiversity and Plant Breeding: Adapting to Global Climate Change.

Professor Gepts told us, “Please keep in mind the fact that this presentation had to be around 10 min long (and no more!) and that it had to address a general public of congressional staffers.” We think he did a pretty good job.

June 22, 2010June 23, 2010

Nibbles: Vavilov, GOSPs, Robot rice, Carrots, Crisis, Shade cacao, Churro sheep of the Navajo, Sorghum beer, Papal diet, chocolate, Carnival

World Genepool at the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry and Its Utilization in Agriculture. Anyone got a copy?
Gloucester Old Spot pigs get protection. Not that they really need it.
BASF takes hi-tech breeding to the next level: 40,000 individual rice plants on a robotic ride to the future.
Rebsie does carrots.
The perfect storm is one element of the triple crisis.
Nitrogen-fixing shade trees really do feed young cacao trees.
“Sheep is your backbone.”
Bringing gluten-free sorghum beer to the huddled masses … of Colorado.
Eat like a pope. (Not much diversity.)
Cadbury heiress fancies starting a new chocolate company? Maybe she’ll go all varietal.
Scientia pro Publica. Carnival time again.

June 21, 2010June 22, 2010

Nibbles: Haitian mangoes, Dog bones, Vitis in Georgia, Lavandula in Tunisia, Pistacia in Chios, Rice wine in Korea, Nutella, Mozzarella, Gloucester Old Spot, Cowpea

Buy Haiti’s Francis mangoes!
The Muge dog was, in fact, a dog.
Looking at the grapevine in its center of origin.
Need to fence lavender populations in Tunisia to protect them.
More Mediterranean stuff. History of the mastic trade in an Aegean island.
Making “drunken rice” in Korea. Sign me up.
Nutella to come with warning label? Jeremy says: We don’t need no nanny state!
Bluish mozzarella balls confiscated. Jeremy says: Ok, maybe we do after all.
EU makes itself useful and protects bacon pig of choice, with built-in apple sauce to boot.
“…finding how the physical and chemical composition of different cowpea varieties influence human health, reduce obesity and prevent diseases like cancer, hypertension and heart related ailments.”

June 16, 2010June 17, 2010

Nibbles: Food prices, Exotica, Mint, Walnuts

“Global agricultural production … on track to satisfy estimated long term demand.” That’s the good news. Food prices to rise by around 40%.
“Israel plows new ground in exotic crops.” Ho hum.
US regains global dominance in mint … but at what price?
Greek walnut trees way out on a limb.

June 14, 2010June 15, 2010

Nibbles: Allium, Desertification and livestock, Striga, Emmer, Hawaii, Almond, Seeds at FAO, Cassava in central Africa, Seed sculpture, Biofortification, Millets, Lunatrick pea

Botany Photo of the Day is an onion wild relative! Pretty.
More on that livestock-can-help-reduce-desertification thing, this time from Scientific American.
Breeding Striga-resistant sorghum. Whatever it takes to protect local beer, boffin-dudes!
Emmer wheat reviewed to bits.
No passport data for your barley? Fear not.
Rachel Laudan ably defends Hawaiian food.
Origins of almond traced to Iran. Not for the first time.
Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture: A Commons Perspective. Presentation from our friends at FAO.
Presentation on the untapped potential of cassava in the Great Lakes region of Africa. One of many from CIAT lately. Check out their stuff on beans too.
The Seed Cathedral of Shanghai. Thanks to those public awareness wizards at Kew.
Big shindig on biofortification. Be there, or be malnourished.
Times of India bangs the drum for nutritious millets.
Yet more loveliness from serious amateur pea breeder Rebsie Fairholm.