Forests & trees

Nibbles: Apples, Aussie genebank, Ugandan coffee song, Biodiversity hotspots, CWR inventory, Ancient Amazon, Chestnut recovery, Mainstreaming nutrition

Yet another blog post about heirloom apples. Why not heirloom, I don’t know, grains?
Yet another genebank opens.
On the other hand, can never have too many agrobiodiversity songs.
Banks? someone mention banks? Biodiversity hotspots are like (some) banks. Too big to fail.
Even crop wild relative hotspots?
1491: Amazon.
1493: New England. Hope Charles Mann won’t mind me borrowing his tropes.
Interesting use of technology to deliver interesting presentation on mainstreaming of nutrition in agricultural development. Anyone know how it was done?

The Committee on World Food Security is meeting in Rome. If that’s the kind of thing that whets your appetite, follow #cfs40 on Twitter.
Where, if it’s not too late, you’ll find me offering mouth-watering nutritional advice.
Up a gum tree; ICRAF clones puffpo piece. Whatever happened to added value?
GBIF — the Global Biodiversity Information Facility — has a new portal. But is it a better portal?
And you can watch GBIF’s Science Symposium 2013 live in just under 85 minutes, and counting.

“The Access to Seeds Index measures the performance of the leading companies in the seed industry independently, which will result in the publication of a ranking every two years.” Will need to keep an eye on this. As no doubt also will the CGIAR…
…which met in Lisbon to discuss the Generation Challenge Programme and presented on NUS at Tropentag, having moved on from the Science Forum in Bonn, which had a lot on nutrition. No doubt some of them will be in Lillehammer to discuss plant genetic resources and climate change. How do they keep on top of it all?
And when they are not meeting, they are surveying the use of Gnetum, sampling goats, and making videos about their genebanks among many other worthwhile things…
Speaking of the IRRI genebank, Mike Jackson’s obituary of his friend Dr Joe Smartt, “geneticist and renowned grain legume expert,” is online at GRACE, but behind a paywall. Fortunately, you can get a condensed version on Mike’s blog.
Legumes, I hear you say? “Two big mysteries in soybeans have captured my attention.” And I’m sure that sentence captured yours. Corn+Soybean Digest reveals all.
Time for dessert. I see your 300-variety mango of Malihabad and I raise you a 250-variety apple of Chidham.
But lest we forget why we’re doing all this meeting and goat-sampling and fruit-grafting, here comes FAO’s latest report on food insecurity.

An ODAP detective story.
Ancient maize gets a map.
Diversity is the key to sustainable cacao.
New Bioversity DG answers the tough questions.
Be the first on your block with an unusual fruit tree.
How to grow awesome carrot seed.
The hard life of Nigerian wine tappers.
Bringing back buckwheat in Bhutan.
Annals of Botany to do halophytes.
Come down to earth with the realization that most people have never heard of cowpea and cassava. Would they have heard of black-eyed peas and tapioca, though?
Big report on urban malnutrition. Maybe cassava (see above) can help?
The last orange grove in the San Fernando Valley. No word on what the variety might be.
All about molasses.
Indian tree breeding institute, and accompanying genebank, get a write-up.
Yes, I know that I could have done a better job of pointing out the connections among some of these things, but it’s been a long week.

CIFOR scientist talks about the much-vaunted landscape approach.
The repeated evolution of lemony flavour.
Nice infographic of breadfruit diversity in the Pacific.
Better infographic of chili pepper diversity in Mexico. Both are on Facebook. Hope you guys can see them.
FAO’s Eve Crowley is didactic and inspirational by turns about women, co-operatives and rural development.
Hardin vs Ostrom. Walk-over.
How much does production have to increase, really? Lobell deals the cards.
What are the effects of input subsidies on maize prices in Malawi and Zambia? Small to none.
Plant database to charge for access? Never a good idea.
Ok, here’s a first, a beer I don’t altogether feel like tasting.
Last days of the soybean homecoming show in Hong Kong. Anybody out there seen it?
Video on the intricacies of Kew. Not as long as you’d think.
Weevils in sweet pea jar pinpoint season of Santorini eruption. Has anyone tried to recover DNA from the seeds?
Experts for ensuring quality fish seeds to enhance production. Say what?
How should we mark the extinction of the passenger pigeon next year?