Genebanks

September 24, 2015

Parsnip seeds of success

Whatever the ICRAF genebank can do to get germplasm out there, the Warwick Crop Centre can also do, though admittedly these seem to be improved varieties, developed in collaboration with the private sector:

Seed packs to celebrate @warwickuni50 – and highlights @WarwickLifeSci @WarwickCrop and @Elsomsseeds partnerships pic.twitter.com/Y4mukYZ7RQ

— UKVGB (@WarwickGRU) September 24, 2015

September 21, 2015September 21, 2015

Nibbles: Nepal earthquake, Vavilov visit, Conservation strategies, Insects & markets, Hydrid breeding, Women & agrobiodiversity, Indian minor crops, Wes Jackson, Drought tolerance, Wheat shindig, Industry support

Getting the right seeds to Nepali farmers.
An organic farmer visits the Vavilov Institute.
Conservation: beyond hotspots, beyond markets.
Letting the market deal with insect foods.
Hybrids 101.
Tamil Nadu women millet farmers show us all how it’s done. In Milan.
Climate change? Let them eat rice bean.
End of an era at the Land Institute.
And the biggest environmental footprint goes to…lamb.
Drought tolerance: a geneticist explains.
International wheat meeting in the news.
How does the European seed industry support crop diversity conservation and use? Let me map that for you.

September 21, 2015September 21, 2015

Brainfood: Cowpea evaluation, Varietal mixtures, Eragrostis core, Nigerian cassava diversity, Turkish alfalfa, Italian wild grapes, Cleome veggie, AnGR history

Genotypic difference in salinity tolerance during early vegetative growth of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) from Myanmar. 3 out of 21 seems a pretty good proportion.
Epidemiological and evolutionary management of plant resistance: optimizing the deployment of cultivar mixtures in time and space in agricultural landscapes. Best to combine with rotations.
Barnyard millet global core collection evaluation in the submontane Himalayan region of India using multivariate analysis. Three groups: India, Japan, and everything else.
Determinants of on-farm cassava biodiversity in Ogun State, Nigeria. Experience and size of farm.
Historical Alfalfa Landraces Perform Higher Yield Under Dry Farming in Turkey. At least at these two locations in Kars. One does wonder why breeders bother, though.
Identification and characterization of Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris populations in north-western Italy. Was thought to be lost in Piedmont, but 5 small wild populations found, in danger of contamination from the crop.
Cleome viscosa: a promising underutilized minor crop. Worth a try, though the name is hardly promising.
Changing values of Farm Animal Genomic Resources. From historical breeds to the Nagoya Protocol. Everything is political now. Welcome to my world.

September 18, 2015September 18, 2015

Innovating in the Andes

Transferring the Potato Park’s potato collection to the Svalbard International Seed Vault (collaborative innovation). The transfer to the International Seed Vault in Norway, near the North Pole will protect the varieties in the event of a global crisis. While this is seen as a largely symbolic action, the transfer serves also to strengthen the Potato Park’s membership of the FAO Treaty multilateral system, raise international awareness of the growing concerns of Peru’s potato farmers and promote a balanced relationship between in situ and ex situ conservation strategies. ANDES and CIP have supported the application and the production of botanical seeds by the farmers (as opposed to seed potatoes).

Coudn’t have put it better myself. So I’m glad IIED did, together with lots more on other biocultural innovations coming out of the Parque de la Papa.

September 18, 2015September 18, 2015

Nibbles: Beautiful downtown Burbank, Oz rice weed and nuts, Teff embargo, Kew Gardens, Cherokee seeds, Vegetables semantics, MLN progress, Fishy chart, Inuit fishy diet, Bioversity photo fix, African food security, ICIPE cashes in, Root & tuber congress, Smallholders, EU agroecology, Sackville Hamilton, Kiwifruit history, USDA pathogen collection

Luther Burbank “…was willing to cross just about anything that had leaves…”
No, rice did not originate in northern Australia. Not in the sense those words are usually used.
Aussies to embrace cannabis. But not in the sense those words are usually used.
Australian exporters nuts for more than just macadamia. Ah, interdependence…
Meanwhile, Ethiopian teff exporters licking their lips in anticipation.
Kew is bigger than the sum of its parts.
Cherokee Nation genebanker gets award.
Yes, BBC, vegetables exist, let’s move on.
Maize Lethal Necrosis on its last legs? Well, “progress is being made” at any rate.
The Economist’s daily chart is on declining fish stocks. Why have they gone all warm and fuzzy lately? Something in the zeitgeist?
Inuit are genetically adapted to their fishy diet.
Damn it, I lost! Probably fixed.
Africa sets up a new institution for food security. Which is not the same as hunger, we are told. But is it malnutrition.
ICIPE scales up and out. More impact than any “new institution” is going to achieve.
World Congress on Root & Tuber Crops has a new website.
It’s the smallholders, stupid. Like the ones growing tea in Kenya, frinstance.
The EU to discuss agroecology. Yesterday, alas.
IRRI and Plant Treaty to share an IT-savvy genebank manager.
How kiwifruit became kiwifruit.
Microbes have collections too.