Brainfood: Agroecology, Bioinformatics, Brazilian cassava, Cypriot wine, Swiss poppies, Pollinators, Groundnut breeding, Sorghum pangenome, Crop origins, Sparing vs sharing, Language diversity, Watermelon origins

Nibbles: Small farms, DivSeek, Wheat gene atlas, Tannin synthesis, Pest/diseases, Food/feed, Korean vault

  1. Small farms are not just beautiful. Yes, the original paper was in Brainfood back in March, but this website seems to be new.
  2. DivSeek has a new strategic plan to “improve the generation and sharing of information about global plant genetic resources”: accelerate, add value, educate. Small farms unavailable for comment.
  3. Speaking of sharing information on global PGR, we need to do that for wheat genes, wheat gene scientists say.
  4. Probably for tannins too, come to think of it.
  5. FAO says climate change will make pests and diseases worse.
  6. FAO also says that livestock are not as bad as many people think.
  7. The sincerest for of flattery on display in South Korea.

Brainfood: Sorghum rescue, Barley mixtures, Agroecology, Tepary genome, DSI x 2, Cryo guac, Seed regulation, Recipe design, White clover diversity, IK wheat, High maize

Tom Payne on a career conserving and using wheat diversity

It’s really transition time at the CIMMYT genebank. Denise Costich retired, and Terry Molnar took over her role running the maize part of the operation. And very soon Tom Payne will also retire, from leading the wheat genebank. Check out this nice Q&A with Tom, and join me in wishing him all the best on the next chapter of his life.

LATER: Oops, I forgot this other Q&A on conservation of agrobiodiversity with a CIMMYT staff member. Courtesy of Simran Sethi.