- Will a plant germplasm accession conserved in a genebank change genetically over time? Sure, change is inevitable, but it can be minimized, and some can be accepted.
- Cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott) genetic resources and breeding: a review of 50 years of research efforts. Conventional breeding, based on inducing flowering, is possible, but will require more international exchange of germplasm. I hope someone is saving the seeds.
- Pollen banking is a critical need for conserving plant diversity. Even if it changes genetically over time.
- Applications of dry chain technology to maintain high seed viability in tropical climates. You’ve got to dry your seeds fast and hard. Probably your pollen too, come to that.
- Harmonize rules for digital sequence information benefit-sharing across UN frameworks. The big question is, should there be a single trigger point for monetary benefits, or separate ones for each treaty? At least the sequences do not change over time. But what about if the accessions from which they are derived do?
- Involving citizens in monitoring the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Yes, let’s get citizens to help us monitor all that change.
The latest on the Carolina African Runner Peanut
Jeremy’s latest newsletter discusses the (partial) revival of the Carolina African Runner Peanut by chefs. We have blogged about that here on before, but this is a useful update.
Believe it or not, there are other food podcasts worth listening to. One of them is Gravy, produced by the Southern Foodways Alliance. Recently I listened to the episode America’s Lost Peanut and the Price of Bringing it Back and I have no hesitation in recommending you do the same. It explores both the delight chefs have found in that Lost Peanut and the difficulties in making the peanut available at a price that non-chefs can afford.
The Carolina Runner peanut first hit modern headlines at the tail end of 2016, when it was exciting enough for me to record a little rumination casting doubt on some of the wilder claims that surrounded its resurrection. I also wrote at some length about the history of the peanut and world affairs. I did not, however, foresee how hard it would be for the Carolina Runner to compete with Virginia peanuts (which have more than a drop of African peanut in their bloodlines). The episode of Gravy explains that the nuts currently have to be shelled by hand, unlike Virginia peanuts that can be fed into huge and expensive machines. A quick look around the internet showed a few hand-operated shellers; is it really that difficult to adapt one to work with Carolina Runners?
Nibbles: IUCN report, Land Institute, Climate smart beer, BioLeft seeds, Cryo coral
- Big IUCN report says that biodiversity and agriculture are in conflict, they don’t really need to be, but it’s really complicated for them not to be. So that’s us all told.
- If only annual crops were perennial, for example, eh?
- If only we incorporated more sustainable agriculture in education, for example, eh? Apart from anything else we could still have beer. No word on the role of perennial barley though.
- If only improved seeds were open source, for example, eh?
- If only we could cryopreserve coral, for example, eh? Wait, what?
Brainfood: Beverage edition
- Crop-to-wild gene flow in wild coffee species: the case of Coffea canephora in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. DNA bits diagnostic of domesticated coffee are finding their way into wild rainforest populations, but not all that much.
- The genome and population genomics of allopolyploid Coffea arabica reveal the diversification history of modern coffee cultivars. Diversity was already pretty low in pre-domestication wild arabica, and continued going downhill after that. Time to re-synthesize the crop, I say.
- Beyond the Orthodoxy: An Overview of the Potential of ‘Other’ Coffee Species for Crop Use and their Associated Challenges. All well and good, but don’t forget there’s more to coffee than just arabica and robusta.
- Advancing Coffee Genetic Resource Conservation and Exchange: Global Perspectives and Strategies from the ICC 2024 Satellite Workshop. Time to properly secure all coffee diversity in genebanks, and that includes sorting out ABS.
- Expanding the cacao group: three new species of Theobroma sect. Herrania (Malvaceae: Byttnerioideae) from the Western Amazon Basin. Plenty of “other” cacao species too, and more coming.
- Seed morphometrics unravels the evolutionary history of grapevine in France. There was wild-domesticate geneflow in early grapevines in France as well as in robusta coffee in the DRC, and you don’t need to trace bits of DNA to prove it.
- Characterization and analysis of a Commiphora species germinated from an ancient seed suggests a possible connection to a species mentioned in the Bible. Thousand-year-old seed is a distinct and possibly long-lost species of myrrh. Which ok is not a beverage but still vaguely liquid, at least initially.
- Sesame, an Underutilized Oil Seed Crop: Breeding Achievements and Future Challenges. Ok, since we’re doing liquid-producing crops, let’s include this review of sesame improvement. Lots of wild species to use. No word on wild-domesticate geneflow though.
Nibbles: China genebanks, African genebanks, PNG genebank, Opportunity crops, Bananocalypse, IRRI genebank, African Runner Peanut, Australian genebank, Agrobiodiversity, Navajo agriculture, Wayuu agriculture, COPs
- With remarkable regularity, China announces some impressive genebank thing. Like a catalog for 105 tropical crop genebanks. But where is it?
- On the other hand, we probably don’t hear enough about African genebanks, so this piece is very welcome.
- Or about genebanks in Papua New Guinea, for that matter.
- Have we heard enough about “opportunity crops” yet? No, probably not.
- We will never stop hearing about the “bananocalypse,” I suspect.
- Or about the IRRI genebank from Mike Jackson. Not that I mind.
- The latest on the African Runner Peanut, about which we have blogged before. Several times. Not that I mind.
- I will never tire of hearing about genebanks getting loads of money.
- I will also never tire of hearing about win-win outcomes for biodiversity and food production.
- The Navajo know all about that. And the Wayuu people in Guajira, Colombia for that matter.
- We will soon all be tired of hearing about all the various COPs, but for now let’s see what the Dutch genebank and, let’s see who else we have, ok, sure, why not, ESG investors — what do they have to say?