Breeding

Nibbles: Biochemistry, Tree rings, Soil, Lettuce

Supersizing crops.
Using tree rings to study past Asian droughts. I guess it’s just me, but I find this much more intersting than the thought of tinkering with the Calvin-Benson cycle.
The mother of all soil data sites.
That ancient Egyptian aphrodisiac: brassica or lettuce?
The Sheep is Life Celebration is coming. Wish I was going.

IRRI tries to raise $300 million for rice in Asia. Including for that genebank of theirs?
Sheep phylogeographic genetic structure weak, but not completely absent, thank goodness.
Examples of sustainable biofuels. No snickering at the back there.
How to manage tree genetic resources under climate change. By some friends.
Almonds 101.
“…testing the genetic and immunological limits of poultry.” And then eating the results.
Grassland restoration needs to take into account functional diversity. And DNA?
Presentation on community forestry management in Niger. Nice story.
Senegalese vegetable farming project uses terra preta but modern seed. Go figure.
Ancient farmers off the hook for loss of key wheat gene. Plant breeders to blame, apparently.

China’s role in food price spikes. Books sounds worth reading.
Dutch chefs easily fascinated. Just show ’em an Andean root or tuber.
Much more on that pig domestication story.
Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases agrees its agenda. In New Zealand. Jeremy avoids snarky remark.
New York Times debates locavorism. Someone has to.
Monsanto, DuPont Race to Win $2.7 Billion Drought-Corn Market. Africa says Yay!
If you have an horticultural development project, Horticultural CRSP and GlobalHort want to hear from you.
More environmental awards handed out. Recipients asked to blog.
Chestnuts out of fire?
Data!
Really, who’d be a farmer?
Chinese clone woollier cashmere goats. Why not just clone the wool directly, cut out the middleman?
Tales of maize and tomato hybrids.

ILRI annual programme meeting thing gets Twitter treatment. Web 2.0 seizes up.
Via EcoagriculturePartners newsletter, news that agroBiodiversity has a new website. Web 1.0 surrenders.
And the prize for the weirdest name for a tree-planting initiative goes to…
The water footprint of pasta is greater than that of pizza. Still no cure for cancer.
Microbes good for soil. I see that, and I raise you termites. Take that, Dirt Diva.
Fish farming in dryland Kenya. Must get out to see one of these next time I’m there, maybe set one up on mother-in-law’s farm. And get her one of these funky backpacks while I’m at it. Wouldn’t want her to laze about.
Farmer Brown (sic) from Ghana talks about his grasscutters.
Ever wonder how one cultivates truffles? Wonder no more.
FAO librarian answers agroclimatological query. Lots of databases for you to explore is the result.
And also from FAO, the latest on the state of the world’s forests. More databases no doubt involved.
Damn, you mean diversity can be good for disease?
Study says that to “be effective plant breeders, … should also be equipped with strong critical thinking and time management skills, and a well-founded work ethic.” Still no cure for cancer.
Climate change to affect beer? Now it’s personal!
Wonder how Ugandans feel about that? Guide to Ugandan Beer, Part 1.
Pollinators do the Harlem Flutter.

Ah, but only confusingly, and to downplay their current usefulness:

Wild relatives of crops could be better suited to harsher climes, but efforts to collect and breed such crops are just beginning.

The rest of the article tells you why Africa needs GMOs.