Genebanks

April 14, 2009

Bush wild tomatoes

Someone called James Sultana emailed us to ask: “Where can get some bush wild tomatoes”.

I was forced to reply in pedant mode:

Could you be a little bit more specific? What do you mean by a “bush
wild tomato”? A wild relative of the tomato? Or some other species
(maybe Australian?) that goes by that name?

Alas, Jim hadn’t entered his email correctly in our contact form, so my reply bounced right back. So, if you’re reading this, Jim, answer the question and we’ll do our best to help. And the rest of you, what might a “bush wild tomato” be?

April 9, 2009April 14, 2009

Nibbles: French fries, Maple syrup, Cooking heirlooms, Salmon, Ancient booze, Rice domestication

India finally arrives, gets french fries.
Sophisticated urbanites tap maples.
Raise a rare heirloom breed. Then cook it.
“Some might be hoping he will predict a return to the glory days of the “truly unique” strain of Petitcodiac salmon, which now likely exists only in a gene bank at the Mactaquac Fish Hatchery at this point.”
Boffins identify world’s first cocktail.
How people turned from nut collectors into rice farmers in China.
Hungarians sacrificed dogs.

April 8, 2009November 20, 2009

Virtual visit to VIR

Click on the picture for some impressions from my recent visit to the N.I. Vavilov Institute Research Institute for Plant Industry in St Petersburg, Russia on the occasion of a SEEDNet meeting. A veritable monument to agrobiodiversity. And don’t forget Nikolai Ivanovich has a voice.

April 7, 2009April 7, 2009

Nibbles: Cacao, Profits, Biochar, Biochar, Museum, Fish, Cognac

Take a tour around the world’s most important cacao germplasm collection.
“[D]iversified systems were more profitable than monocropping,” but read the whole paper. You have 30 days, free.
Open source science to measure the impact of biochar.
“Pro-biochar activists can be as silly as these anti-biochar activists.” Well, duh. But thanks for explaining.
Gehry builds Panama a Museum of Biodiversity, but seems to forget about agriculture.
Kano’s fish market takes a hit.
All about rancio.

April 7, 2009April 7, 2009

Mexico City protects maize landraces

In an almighty panic about GM maize, the government of Mexico City has sprung energetically into action. The result is a “Declaration of Protection of the Maize Breeds of the Mexico Altiplano.” There are said to be “more than 60” maize landraces in the part of the Altiplano that falls within the confines of the Distrito Federal, which I assume is the area over which the Declaration will be applicable.

The Declaration includes provision for:

establishing a research programme to improve local maize breeds
supporting farmers who sow only native seeds
promoting the use of organic fertilizer and pesticides
banning of the purchase and distribution of transgenic maize in Mexico City
establishing a germplasm bank for the Altiplano’s maize seeds

I have a few questions about all this, but I’ll just pose one here. Has anyone asked the CIMMYT genebank, just outside Mexico City, whether by any chance it already has the Altiplano’s maize landraces?