- Boffins say wild barley “a treasure trove.” Lay up not your treasures on Earth.
- Boffins say Florida mangoes “unique.” As is the mother, so is her daughter.
- Boffins say rice genetic diversity being eroded in the Philippines. They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.
Bye bye, Miss American (Apple) Pie?
Maybe it was the discussion about apple varieties during the 60 Minutes piece on Svalbard:
…in the 1800s in the United States people were growing 7,100 named varieties of apples. 7,100 different varieties of apples that are catalogued,” Fowler explains.
“And how many are there today?” Pelley asks.
“We’ve lost about 6,800 of those, so the extinction rate for apples varieties in the United States is about 86 percent,” he explains.Â
More likely it was just the general interest in genebanks and crop diversity generated by the Svalbard phenomenon. In any case, it is great to see a mainstream publication like The Alantic Monthly waxing lyrical about apple conservation. Via The Fruit Blog.
Nibbles: Alabama genebank, sunflower, fruit dispersal, IAASTD
- Seed bank saves Alabama heirloom varieties, y’all.
- Retrotransposons go wild in sunflower. Kansas to the rescue.
- Avocados and gomphotheres. Apples and bears. Welcome back, Evil Fruit Lord!
- More about the IAASTD and its paradigm shift thing.
Going down to the market
Markets for agrobiodiversity to the fore today. Two resources highlighted by Eldis look at strategies for agricultural diversification and at the importance of assessing market potential in prioritizing among indigenous fruit trees for promotion and development. And once you get your high-value agricultural product to market you will want to guard against pilferage and counterfeiting, won’t you?
Nibbles: Donkeys, UG99, fruit GI, negected species, Spore
- Cypriot wild donkeys in trouble.
- Gates Foundation tackles wheat rust UG99. Phew!
- Malaysians measure fruit glycemic indices, no mention of varieties.
- English exposed to neglected species.
- Sorry, missed the redesigned Spore.