Fruits and nuts

Nibbles: Tree diversity, Cacao strategy, IFPRI strategy, Caribbean strategy, Mango conservation strategy, Olive migrations, African cassava, African Striga, Ecosystem services, Model plant

Oh gosh, it was Tree Diversity Day and nobody told us.
Bioversity catch up with their own cacao strategy.
And IFPRI has a new one for you to comment on.
Caribbean agriculture gets another signed document to help it along. No word on whether agrobiodiversity featured.
Mango conservation gets organized. But not to the extent of an RSS feed, alas.
California owes Morocco for its olives.
Virus-resistant cassava imminent. Haven’t they been saying this for a while now? And is anyone thinking about what will happen to the virus-susceptible varieties?
Push-pull in the news.
The cost of everything, and the value of nothing, nature edition.
What’s the value of Arabidopsis, then?

Animal domestication is murder. Will someone tell ILRI? And the Maasai.
Indian home remedies at risk from nasty patents. I guess someone has been reading the Washington Post.
Agriculture started as a response to the need for large amounts of beer for feasts. Can’t think of a better reason. All the more weird that it seemed to go pear-shaped in Britain, then, after a good start. Maybe everybody was drunk?
The UK’s National Fruit Collection in the spotlight. So after that dodgy period, British agriculture did manage to get a grip, thank goodness. Probably for the cider.
Multiple copies of a gene needed for nematode resistance in soybeans.
PETting plants.
“Ten principles to apply at the nexus of agriculture, conservation, and other land uses.” And almost anything else for that matter.
Those ICRAF spatial databases explained.
Bhoo Chetana in India and, admittedly under another name, in Peru. Transformation often means reviving old ways.
Free posters of Top 10 plant-attacking nasties.

Drought threatens rare rice varieties. What d’you mean they’re not in genebanks?
Has video dimmed the radio’s star?
Wanna get a PhD in “climate services for development“? Course you do.
Apple harvest fails. Turns out you need a diversity of agricultural labourers too.
Medlars. I love it when people treat my familiar stuff as highly exotic.

If you liked our piece of a couple years back on a remarkable Indian mango tree, you’ll love Bhuwon’s latest, fuller write-up.
Open-source seeds? Isn’t that what the ITPGRFA was supposed to be ensuring?
How fisherfolk in Indonesia protect the reef.
Going wild turkey.
Mapping Cameroon’s forests. Interactively, of course.
A perennial roundup.
Old Fritz and the potato. Maybe genebanks should take a leaf (or tuber) out of his book?
“What constituted beauty, she wondered, in the scientist’s eye?”

Do you really need that portal?
Brits say local hops are best. And who am I to argue?
Weird statement on genetic resources from EU Commission. Clarifications gladly received.
Even turfgrass has its heroes.
Want to rent some seeds?
A reminder from someone who should know that crops have biodiversity too.
CGIAR Consortium talks up its crown jewels.