- Transforming agricultural land use through marginal gains in the food system. A nudge here, a nudge there, pretty soon you’re talking about a revolution.
- Exploitation of diversity within farmers’ durum wheat varieties enhanced the chance of selecting productive, stable and adaptable new varieties to the local climatic conditions. Some landraces are pretty good.
- Enset in Ethiopia: a poorly characterized but resilient starch staple. Some local crops are pretty good.
- Market‐led options to scale up legume seeds in developing countries: Experiences from the Tropical Legumes Project. Ah yes, PPPs.
- Global mapping of soil salinity change. A billion hectares and increasing. We’re going to need all the above.
- Integrating a newly developed BAC-based physical mapping resource for Lolium perenne with a genome-wide association study across a L. perenne European ecotype collection identifies genomic contexts associated with agriculturally important traits. “Clearly this is not an end-point for L. perenne genomics…” Ok, call me when you get there.
- A high-quality genome of Eragrostis curvula grass provides insights into Poaceae evolution and supports new strategies to enhance forage quality. “Understanding and subsequently manipulating the genetic drivers underlying apomixis could revolutionize agriculture.” Ok, call me when you get there.
- Many unreported crop pests and pathogens are probably already present. Especially in China, India, southern Brazil and some countries of the former USSR.
- Compositional Analysis of Genetically Engineered GR2E “Golden Rice” in Comparison to That of Conventional Rice. Only difference is beta-carotene. But that was never the issue.
- Ancient cattle genomics, origins, and rapid turnover in the Fertile Crescent. aDNA shows origin from multiple populations, and separate introgressions from aurochs, then an influx of zebu bulls from the Indus Valley in the Bronze Age. Basically a Zeus-and-Europa scenario.
- Global agricultural productivity is threatened by increasing pollinator dependence without a parallel increase in crop diversification. Agricultural diversification going up weakly, possibly undermining pollinators, while proportion of pollinator-dependent crops increasing strongly.
- Food production shocks across land and sea. There are shock hotspots, and overall the frequency of shocks is going up. Whatever can be done?
- National food production stabilized by crop diversity. I wonder.
- The SDG of zero hunger 75 years on: Turning full circle on agriculture and nutrition. No longer just calories.
Nibbles: Dog & bone, Giant maize, Edible Archive, Myanmar diversification, Colombian community seedbank, Sorghum grande, Coconut exhibit, Chinese ag history, African domestication, Japanese citrus, RivieraLigure DOP, Cactus candy, Hazelnut resistance, American crop rethinks, Public sector engagement
- Nice synthesis of dog (and chicken) domestication.
- Saving the Jala maize landrace in Mexico.
- Saving lots of rice landraces in India by eating them.
- Myanmar does not live by rice alone. And neither does India.
- Saving a whole bunch of stuff in Colombia.
- Saving a sorghum wild relative in Australia.
- How coconuts can help museums decolonize.
- Maybe agricultural development needs to decolonize too. Discuss.
- Africa’s Fertile Crescent is the Niger River Basin. Nice, but we saw that coming first.
- Citrus is big in Japan.
- Olive oil is big in Liguria.
- The visnaga cactus was big in the US Southwest once. As an ingredient in candy, of all things.
- Breeding filberts in the US.
- Tomato 2.0.
- And a bunch of other crops American farmers and breeders are having to adapt to climate change.
- And not just that, they have to deliver better nutrition too.
- Eat what you want, sure. But think what that means for climate change.
- Principles for GAIN engaging with the private sector (in all its diversity) on nutrition. Could be applied to engagement on climate change, I suppose, and crop diversity conservation for that matter. My question, though, is: runaway train, or Titanic?
Brainfood: Grazing behaviour, XW, Swedish Neolithic, Apple genome impact, Mango diversity, Blueberry quality, Durum genome, Ancient sorghum, Nordic rye, Tomato flavour, Diets & health, CGIAR & ITPGRFA
- An inexpensive and open‐source method to study large terrestrial animal diet and behaviour using time‐lapse video and GPS. GoPro used to figure out what species grazing cows eat throughout the year. Could be useful to gauge forage value of different plants.
- The risk posed by Xanthomonas wilt disease of banana: Mapping of disease hotspots, fronts and vulnerable landscapes. Northern Mozambique and central lowland DR Congo are the gateways. Extension is the key.
- Maritime Hunter-Gatherers Adopt Cultivation at the Farming Extreme of Northern Europe 5000 Years Ago. Migrating farmers drew the line at Sweden.
- Apple whole genome sequences: recent advances and new prospects. Great insights into domestication and diversity of collections. Next step: genomic prediction.
- Estimation of genetic diversity and relatedness in a mango germplasm collection using SNP markers and a simplified visual analysis method. The collection at the USDA Subtropical Horticulture Research Station could be half the size.
- Haplotype-phased genome and evolution of phytonutrient pathways of tetraploid blueberry. Including candidate genes for fruit quality.
- Durum wheat genome highlights past domestication signatures and future improvement targets. Mutation for high cadmium accumulation common in domesticated material, but a variant allowing better growth in zinc-deficient soils and less accumulation available in wild populations.
- A domestication history of dynamic adaptation and genomic deterioration in Sorghum. Genomes from archaeological specimens suggest that decrease in diversity over time in sorghum was not due to an initial one-off domestication bottleneck, but rather to repeated sequential founding episodes. Doesn’t seem like much of a difference to me.
- Population genetic structure in Fennoscandian landrace rye (Secale cereale L.) spanning 350 years. Just one big happy, old family.
- Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies provides insights into genetic control of tomato flavor. Breeders could breed for flavour. But will they?
- Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. People should eat more of the above grains and fruits.
- CGIAR Operations under the Plant Treaty Framework. Non-monetary benefits are not to be sneezed at, but all too often are.
Brainfood: GI, Collection representativeness, Miracle tree, Brave new world, Wheat roots, Dry beans, Seedling roots, Ecotourism, Citrus evolution, Mango evolution, Aboriginal translocation, Carrot cores, Potato breeding
- Impact of Geographical Indication schemes on traditional knowledge in changing agricultural landscapes: An empirical analysis from Japan. GI encouraged sharing of traditional knowledge.
- Genetic diversity in British populations of Taxus baccata L.: Is the seedbank collection representative of the genetic variation in the wild? Yes, though marginal populations could be collected more.
- The miracle mix of Moringa: Status of Moringa research and development in Malawi. Needs breeding.
- New plant breeding technologies for food security. Genome editing, basically. Meet the new boss…
- Evolutionary agroecology: Trends in root architecture during wheat breeding. In China, wheat breeding has involved unconscious group selection for simpler, less branched, deeper roots in higher-yielding modern varieties.
- Root and shoot variation in relation to potential intermittent drought adaptation of Mesoamerican wild common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Deeper-rooted, and more drought-tolerant, wild beans are found in dry regions.
- Seedling traits predict drought-induced mortality linked to diversity loss. Species with longer seedling roots survive drought better.
- Is ecotourism a panacea? Political ecology perspectives from the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, India. Well, what do you think?
- Genotyping by sequencing can reveal the complex mosaic genomes in gene pools resulting from reticulate evolution: a case study in diploid and polyploid citrus. Citrus evolution in one beautiful diagram. I just wish I could remember the details from one day to the next.
- Population genomic analysis of mango (Mangifera indica) suggests a complex history of domestication. Two genepools, and no bottleneck. No cool diagram though.
- Aboriginal Translocations: The Intentional Propagation and Dispersal of Plants in Aboriginal Australia. More than just replanting tubers after harvest, although plenty of that.
- Comparison of Representative and Custom Methods of Generating Core Subsets of a Carrot Germplasm Collection. It’s a numbers game.
- Potato Breeding by Many Hands? Measuring the Germplasm Exchange Based on a Cultivated Potatoes Database. Most use of varieties in breeding is within countries.
Nibbles: Grape breeding, Vanilla breeding, DSI policy, ITPGRFA, Maori taro, Dhofar memories
- Marker-assisted breeding in grapes: like skimming through a book looking for key words.
- Vanilla genome: going from no-frills vehicle to luxury sportscar.
- CGN on what to do to ensure continued access to that book — or car.
- A topic which is all the rage right now in the ITPGRFA, on which this is a one-page primer.
- 14th century Māori grew taro as well as sweet potato.
- Great infographics on the fascinating region of Dhofar in southern Oman, in which I collected germplasm many years ago. Great opportunity to reminisce.