- On a day that we hope will be historic for the right reason…
- The history of the sweet potato.
- The history of the horse.
- The history of the study of plant diversity. And more.
- The history of IR8.
- The banana is not yet history.
- The history of vegetables. And more.
- The continuing history of Iroquois corn.
I’m with them
A very unrandom selection of participants at the latest Annual Genebanks Meeting of the CGIAR, which took place at the Australian Grains Genebank in Horsham and AgriBio, La Trobe University, Melbourne last week, and is the reason for our silence lately. Dr Sally Norton, our host, and the director of the AGG, responsible for over 100,000 accessions, is sitting down, second from left. Thanks, Sally. And thanks to Mellissa Wood on Facebook for the photo.
Nibbles: Illicit ag, Illicit stats, Irish folk meds, Medieval farming, Zoo methods, Date collection, Apple breeding, Ancient cannabis, Old yeast
- Sorry about slow blogging lately. Life caught up with us. Slowly getting back in the saddle…
- ISIS benefitting from agricultural production as much as oil.
- Why we should drop “statistically significant.”
- Irish folk medicine being used. Again. Or still.
- Back to the future of farms, medieval edition: it’s the faldage, stupid.
- Botanical art in history.
- Applying zoo methods to plant conservation. Maybe should be the other way too?
- The future of dates is in the US?
- History of the Honeycrisp apple, for all you Red Delicious haters out there.
- Ancient stash found. Down to seeds and stems.
- Keep warm with some nice Latin American drinks.
- Or beer made from old yeast from a shipwreck.
Brainfood: Genomic data edition
- When more is better: how data sharing would accelerate genomic selection of crop plants. It’s the data sharing, stupid.
- Genomic prediction contributing to a promising global strategy to turbocharge gene banks. See what I mean?
- Conservation of Animal Genetic Resources – A New Tact. Yeah, for animals too.
- Indigenous stocks as treasure troves for sustainable livestock production in the 21st century: Insights from small ruminant genomics. See what I mean?
A new dawn in Lebanon, and ICARDA
If you’re one of the lucky few who follow me on social media, you’ll know I was in Lebanon last week for the opening of the new ICARDA genebank. It was great to meet the dedicated team of Lebanese and Syrian staff who are re-establishing the active collection at Terbol in the Bekaa Valley, with material obtained from Svalbard late last year. And it was also great to be back in Lebanon after almost 25 years. Some things are still the same. But many have changed, and there’s hope in that.
