Genebanks

August 12, 2016

Sailing to Byzantium

Futurefarmers has been collecting, growing and distributing a selection of “ancient grains” in Oslo since 2013. The selection of seeds to be taken on Seed Journey have been “rescued” from various locations in the Northern Hemisphere — from the very formal (seeds saved during the Siege of Leningrad from the Vavilov Institute Seed Bank) to the informal (experimental archaeologists discovering Finnish Rye between two wooden boards in an abandoned Rihii in Hamar, Norway).

And now, they’re going back home, by boat. It all kicks off this Saturday, with a meal, of course.

August 10, 2016

Nibbles: CATIE genebank, Wine microbiome, Olive history, CGIAR breeding, Yerba mate, Breadfruit, Ambling horses

It’s been a while since we linked to CATIE’s genebank.
Boffins take next step in spoiling wine for us all.
The olive is another thing the Romans have done for us.
The international germplasm collections are at the root of the CGIAR’s breeding programs.
Marketing mate.
Let them eat breadfruit.
The amble is down to a single medieval mutation.

August 8, 2016August 9, 2016

Brainfood: Drones, Taxonomy, Nigerian diets, Chinese mung bean & millets, Indian chickpea, Polyploidy, Oca seed system, Agroforestry sequestration

A direct comparison of remote sensing approaches for high-throughput phenotyping in plant breeding. Drones are best.
Intraspecific taxonomy of plant genetic resources — Important for differentiation of medicinal and aromatic plants? It depends.
Effects of development on indigenous dietary pattern: A Nigerian case study. Teenagers are rebellious.
Nutritional composition and antioxidant activity of twenty mung bean cultivars in China. Good news for hipsters everywhere.
Production and genetic improvement of minor cereals in China. And they’re good for you too. But will the rest of the world benefit from them?
Characterization of chickpea germplasm conserved in the Indian National Genebank and development of a core set using qualitative and quantitative trait data. 1,103 are representative of 14,651, if you pick them right.
Whole-genome duplication as a key factor in crop domestication. Comparing within genera, 54% of crops are polyploids on average, versus 40% of the wild species.
Effect of the management of seed flows and mode of propagation on the genetic diversity in an Andean farming system: the case of oca (Oxalis tuberosa Mol.). Richer farmers conserve and exchange more.
Global Tree Cover and Biomass Carbon on Agricultural Land: The contribution of agroforestry to global and national carbon budgets. Almost half of agricultural land has a significant number of trees on it, which sequester a lot of C.

August 1, 2016July 22, 2016

Brainfood: Myrciaria value chains, Finger millet WTP, Italian olive choice, Resilience, Rural livelihoods, Ganja conservation strategy, Sorghum erosion

Building value chains for indigenous fruits: lessons from camu-camu in Peru. It’s the local markets, stupid.
Assessing the potential for niche market development to contribute to farmers’ livelihoods and agrobiodiversity conservation: Insights from the finger millet case study in Nepal. What they said.
Agro-biodiversity of Mediterranean crops: farmers’ preferences in support of a conservation programme for olive landraces. See above.
Is resilience a useful concept in the context of food security and nutrition programmes? Some conceptual and practical considerations. Yes, because it integrates a lot of stuff. But it’s difficult to measure.
The Changing Nature of Agricultural Livelihoods along a Peri-urban to Rural Gradient in Eastern Madagascar. Rural people farm less if they can. Wonder what that means for crop diversity.
A Belated Green Revolution for Cannabis: Virtual Genetic Resources to Fast-track Cultivar Development. Oh my.
On-farm diversity of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] and risks of varietal erosion in four regions of Burkina Faso. 73% of lost varieties were found.

July 30, 2016

New blog on all things genebanks

Did I mention I also have a work blog, focusing on genebanky stuff? The latest post is about Pokémon Go. Yeah, I know, but trust me, it makes sense. Hopefully.