Funding

August 10, 2015August 10, 2015

Amen to that

Help line is not working for funding of genebanks – need our leaders to lead on biodiversity conservation #cf2015conf pic.twitter.com/3mHWyJ2ocm

— The Crawford Fund (@CrawfordFund) August 10, 2015

From Cary Fowler’s lecture at the Crawford Fund earlier today. I think I know what he means…

July 29, 2015July 29, 2015

Nibbles: Malagasy double, Sandwich photos, Middle way, NUS comms, Fishpocalypse, Cali palms, Home on the range, Heirloom rice, Potato genomes, Old watermelons

Madagascar: Vintage photos, not-so-vintage photos.
More photos, this time of state sandwiches. Yes, sandwiches.
“The solutions to the problem of feeding people and protecting the planet are endlessly and irredeemably gray.” Pretty much the same argument I made recently, not quite so rudely.
Training course on communicating the awesomeness of neglected species. How difficult can it be though, right?
Keeping cats happy has a cost.
Nifty vintage photos of California palms. The trees, people, the trees.
Cowboys ain’t what they used to be. But only just.
Gleaning deconstructed.
IRRI opens exhibit on heirloom seeds, no doubt through gritted teeth.
Ten potato genomes in the offing. Wait, doesn’t rice have like 3,000? Get it together, potato people.
Renaissance watermelons looked really crappy. Probably tasted of something, though.

July 22, 2015

Nibbles: Oz vineyard apocalypse, California vineyards redux, Ethiopian genebank, Maya collapse revisionism, SunBlack tomato, Nutritious staples, Citrus endowment, Sheep pix

In Australia, they’re ripping up vineyards.
Whereas in California, they’re going to breed 10,000 new grape varieties and make a new wine. Go figure.
Interview with the director of the Ethiopian national genebank, Dr Gemedo Dalle.
Deforestation et al. not responsible for Maya collapse after all. Jared Diamond unavailable for comment.
Black tomato a hit in Italy. Looks crap on pizza though.
The case for biofortification.
University of Florida sets up endowment to protect its research groves in face of citrus greening.
Googlesheepview. Nuff said.

July 21, 2015

Nibbles: Coffee crop to cup, Pig love/hate, School lunches, Arctic life pix, Rubber sole, Ethiopian genebank

Making a cup of “coffee.” Well, it is for Dunkin’ Donuts.
Pigs: yum or yuch?
FAO wants to know about how to teach healthy living in schools.
You’d have thought it difficult to have a healthy life in the Arctic, but people manage it.
Our rubber supply is in jeopardy. The raw material, not the product.
Ethiopian genebank in the development news.

July 17, 2015

Nibbles: WEMA, AGRA, African universities, Taining breeders, Millets @ICRISAT

CIMMYT pushes its newly-bred water-efficient maize in Africa.
AGRA not mentioned in the above but surely they were involved? If only in the extension part.
African universities also not mentioned, but probably less likely to have been involved. Alas.
Register for the next class of the European Plant Breeding Academy, which starts in October 2015. Not at an African university. At a US university.
ICRISAT pivots towards millets. Will probably involve breeding. And maybe universities.
As for genebanks, I’ve given up expecting namechecks in any of the above.