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FAO water boffins forget breeding

FAO has a very slick slide show on the relationship between water, agriculture, food security and poverty. I guess it’s because of World Water Day. But why no mention of crop improvement through breeding? More efficient irrigation is not going to solve this problem on its own, surely.

The microbe commons in the spotlight

The International Journal of the Commons, a new one on me, has a special issue on microbes. Actually, not just microbes. The idea seems to be to compare and contrast what is happening in microbial genetic resources with the access and benefit sharing and IPR regimes which are in force for other bits of biodiversity. There’s even an interesting paper entitled “Crop improvement in the CGIAR as a global success story of open access and international collaboration,” by Byerlee and Dubin. Elinor Ostrom, winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Economics, is a member of the editorial board of the journal.