Underwater sunflower

Update here.

You may have seen news of the dam that burst in the Grand Canyon National Park, necessitating the evacuation of several dozen people from the native American village of Supai. What you may not know is that Supai is quite famous in agrobiodiversity circles. ((And thanks to Colin for reminding me.))

Here’s an excerpt from a 2004 issue of Seedhead News, the newsletter of Native Seed/SEARCH, which focused on sunflower:

Anthropologist Frank Cushing found sunflowers growing in the gardens of the Havasupai when he visited in 1881. Although a decline in agriculture was noted around the 1940s, there were still sunflowers being grown in Supai when NS/S co-founders Gary Nabhan and Karen Reichhardt collected there in 1978. This was timely as devastating floods later nearly wiped out farming in the Havasupai’s homeland. Those seeds found in the bottom of the Grand Canyon are now being regenerated on our farm.

And here’s the money quote:

Australian sunflower farmers experienced a crisis when a new type of rust (a fungus) infected their plants. Research scientists found that Havasupai varieties of sunflower exhibit a unique gene that is resistant to this rust. Commercial varieties of sunflower seeds to be sold in Australia will now contain this important gene. Native Seeds/SEARCH was also instrumental in returning sunflower and other native crop varieties to the Havasupai to help rebuild their farming tradition.

But here’s the really cool part. The flow of genetic resources has not been in only one direction: USDA researchers are collecting sunflowers in Australia. Interdependence is all.

News from the road

Apologies for the light blogging lately, but both Jeremy and I are on the road and busy with other stuff. When last seen, Jeremy was on vacation in Maine, dealing what will probably be the mortal blow to its lobster population. And I’ve been in and out of meetings all week, but I’ve got a couple of days off now and may have time to catch up on the old feed reader.

This is a good place to do that. I’m visiting the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Turrialba, Costa Rica. They have a very pleasant campus in a spectacular area with a well-developed ecotourism industry:

CATIE has a botanic garden and an active seedbank for forest species. But it also has an interest in agrobiodiversity conservation, with very important field genebanks of cacao, coffee and peach palm, and a crop seed genebank specializing in local vegetables, maize and beans. More later.

Nibbles for the road: Baobab, Breeding, Gardening, Earthworms, Taro, Pollinators, Llama, Trees, Chili peppers

Nibbles: Dog genetics, ITPGRFA, Mapping, Neolithic, Insects, Markers, Soybeans, Milk

Improved varieties in West Africa

This just in from FAO’s Seed and Plant Genetic Resources Service (AGPS).

Please find below links to the West African Catalogue of Plant Species and Varieties (COAFEV). This document was prepared in the framework of the West African Seed Regulation Harmonization, which was supported by AGP. This process involved 17 West and Central African countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and of the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) and has led to the adoption of a harmonized seed regulatory framework by the ECOWAS Council of Ministers on 18 May 2008 in Abuja.

This framework provides for the establishment of the COAFEV, which is the list of varieties whose seeds can be produced and commercialized in the member states without restriction. The objective of such a system is to facilitate West African farmers’ access to a greater diversity of varieties and to foster cross-border seed trade.

English version.

French version.