Category: Featured

Clem has the answer to the question: But do we really want to promote a landrace as a functional food? And it is: Why the hell not. Me, I’m not so sure.

Dirk has the answer to Pea Genebank Database Hell:

A simple solution would be to agree on a set of prefixes that unequivocally identify each collection preserving those already widely accepted and then to clean up the passport data to link up potential duplicates. The 53674 Pisum accessions in Genesys could possibly be compacted to 1/10

Which is hopefully what DOI will do, though whether it will be possible to apply them retroactively, so to speak, is another question.

Jay Bost has an interesting question on American coconuts:

Anyone ever explore possibility of dispersal of coconut to Americas by Polynesians? Given movement of sweet potato and chickens, any chance they brought coconut?

Anyone?

Åsmund Bjørnstad is not at all daunted by the doubters on the need to reform patents:

First, I entirely agree that “global legal harmonization” is a daunting task… [But] [g]iven that four countries has passed breeding exceptions for patents, that Switzerland adds compulsory licensing to this, and the emergence of private licensing consortia, changes need not be dramatic.

Read the whole thing.

Alvaro, who should know, tells us more about the Madrid botanical garden:

As far as I know, the royal botanical garden of Madrid is not part of today’s PGRFA network and programme in Spain. But it did play an important role for research in agricultural crops in the past.

Intrigued? Read more here.