Funding

January 31, 2018January 31, 2018

Opportunities for seedy people

Two related (sort of) opportunities for you today. First, if you’re a young agricultural economist with an interest in impact assessment, you may want to check out the Crop Trust-CGIAR “Genebank Impacts Fellowship Program.” And second, if you want to study how to tweak seed systems and thus increase those genebank impacts, have a look at the call for proposals from NWO-WOTRO Science for Global Development, CGIAR and the Food & Business Knowledge Platform.

LATER: As you were, here’s a third one: a training course leading to certification in Seed System Security Assessment.

January 31, 2018January 31, 2018

Nibbles: Wild wheat & rice genomes, Lost American crops, Bread Lab, Tea symposium, Burping cows, Australian botanist, Ecuadorian landrace pics, Red listing, Fermentation PhD, Cheese rind microbes, HRH reception

Goat grass genome to the rescue.
No, some other weedy grass genomes to the rescue!
Weeds could actually be lost crops.
Clif Bar endows Bread Lab.
Symposium on the future of tea. Mother-in-law alerted.
You’ll need milk for that tea: breeding cattle for more production and less burping.
Aunty Fran Bodkin: Australian botany hero.
Field Museum field guide to Ecuadorian landraces. Of all things.
Learn about red-listing.
Study the microbial communities of cabbage leaves.
Cheese rind has complex microbial communities too.
So, anyways, this was fun.

January 26, 2018

ITPGRFA Benefit-Sharing Fund sharing funds again

From an FAO press release:

The Call for Proposals under the fourth cycle of projects to be funded through the Benefit-sharing Fund of the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is now open. All developing countries that are Contracting Parties to the International Treaty are eligible to apply for funding under the Benefit-sharing Fund (BSF), which will invest at least USD 5 million in projects over the next four years.

All the details are on the Treaty website. Good luck, everyone!

January 26, 2018January 26, 2018

Nibbles: Sustainable wheat, Bananacoin, Tuscan agrobiodiversity, Fig conservation, Foraging beer, Wizard vs Prophet, SDGs, Harlan Symposium

General Mills goes all sustainable. But the genebanks?
The future of bananas is banana futures. But the genebanks?
Agrobiodiversity in Tuscany: The App. Who needs genebanks.
“Correia, a 59-year-old third-generation Delta resident, has one of the most diverse collections of the common fig, Ficus carica, in the world.” Put that in an app.
The two approaches to feeding 10 billion people. Only two?
“Eradicating hunger and ensuring food security is a bottom-line requirement for achieving sustainable development and well-being.” Problem is, it’s not the top priority.
Otherwise orphan crops wouldn’t be orphans.
Foraged beer is a thing. A very cool thing, and you can probably use orphan crops too.
A place to discuss all of the above? The Third Jack R. Harlan International Symposium.

January 25, 2018January 25, 2018

Nibbles: Sequencing Davos, WPC 2018, German spuds, Martha’s Excellent Adventure, C4F video, Hawaiian varieties, Seed Book

Blockchain for ABS touted at Davos. The Economist is there.
But will it be at the World Potato Congress? I’m betting no.
But for sure some Germans will be.
Martha Stewart will be in Svalbard.
Crops for the Future was On the Menu.
Culinary Breeding Network is in Hawaii. Lucky them. But would it have killed them to provide a link?
I want to be in Lebanon.
There are a lot of pretty seeds in Paul Smith’s new book.