- Is the World Producing Enough Food? The NY Times has the answer(s).
- Aussies trying to get to grips with salinity through breeding. Very cool, but maybe they should just stop growing wheat and think of some other crop?
- Potato Park potatoes to be parked in the Bóveda Global de Semillas de Svalbard.
- You know what those naughty Vikings used to say: “Let there be mirth, mead and fornication!”
- Adding value to peanuts in Bolivia. KIT video.
Effects of looting of Egyptian genebank on film
We’ve heard again from El-Sayed Mohamed El-Azazi, who is Executive Director of the Egyptian Deserts Gene Bank at the North Sinai Research Station. This time it’s a video of the effects of the recent looting, which he sent to our colleagues at Bioversity International. He confirms that the tissue culture and molecular labs have been destroyed, as well as part of the herbarium, and all computers stolen. But also that the seeds are still ok in the cold room, as you can see towards the end of the video. El-Sayed suggests in his commentary, which is for the most part a sad enumeration of equipment destroyed or stolen, that the looters were perhaps afraid to go into the cold room, and that’s why they left it unharmed.
Egyptian Desert Genebank from Crop Trust on Vimeo.
Pavlovsk mainstay passes away
Leonid Burmistrov, Leading Scientist of the Fruit and Berry Crop Genetic Resources Department of the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry (VIR) in St Petersburg, has died. From the recent announcement on the VIR website:
Leonid Burmistrov has made a significant contribution to the preservation of the threatened fruit and berry crop collections located at the Pavlovsk Experiment station of VIR. He gave 60 interviews to the Russian and foreign mass media. Thanks to his efforts, the collection continues to exist.
Herdwick sheep pass viability test
Embryos and sperm collected almost 10 years ago at the height of the Foot and Mouth epidemic in the UK have proved viable, according to a report from the UK’s Channel 4 News. Five ewes are carrying lambs fathered by rams lost to foot and mouth disease, and another three are surrogate mothers to embryos taken from sheep culled during the epidemic.
The threat to Herdwicks, one of several hardy heritage sheep breeds particularly valued for crossbred animals, prompted a rescue mission and resulted in the formation of The Sheep Trust. The report points out that in the end the precautions weren’t necessary — only about a third of the Herdwick flock was culled — but that it was impossible to know that in advance.
The Sheep Trust has taken on 12 heritage breeds, and calculates that 10 of those are geographically very concentrated, with 95% of the animals within 65 km of the centre of the breed’s distribution. This, the Trust warns, makes them vulnerable to future outbreaks of disease.
Nibbles: Egyptian mysteries, Svalbard, Pineapple fabric, Chinese alcohol, Seed Saving
- “Readers, florists, Egyptians, can you help?” Maybe some of them are crops.
- Seeds move from South to North for safety. Australia backs up to Norway.
- Tired of your hair shirt? Try pineapple fibre.
- The history of alcohol in China; Happy Rabbit.
- How to save heirloom seeds (for people near Central Arkansas).
- Food and War (not what you think; a book review)