There’s a new, better method for characterizing the proteins in wheat.
Peru’s potato celebration encircles the world
An Associated Press report on a potato harvest in the high Andes of Peru has been picked up by scores of newspapers around the world. That’s salutary, because I often forget that what is old news for those of us in the business, as it were, is fresh and interesting for hordes of other people. There’s often very good mileage to be had from simply showing others the diversity you may be quite familiar with.
Earthworm genetic diversity
Earthworms are agricultural biodiversity too!
Microbial resources
FAO has a paper on agricultural microbial genetic resources.
Pea project, possibly
There’s another attempt to involve schoolchildren in agricultural biodiversity at a site called GeBaPro — Gene Bank Projects. Like one we linked to a while ago, this is also about peas and is also supported by Het Hof van Eden (whose site seems to be undergoing a rebirth). Maybe they are two aspects of but a single project?
The idea is terrific. Get children interested in diversity using a simple subject, of great historical interest, and with all sorts of ramifications that good teachers could use to range widely across almost any curriculum. Link classrooms in Europe with counterparts in Thailand and Bolivia, for example. But — and I hate to be a worry-wart — there just doesn’t seem to be any follow-up. So what’s up? Lack of support? Lack of schools? Lack of something, that’s for sure. If I can help in any way, I’d be happy to, but it is impossible to know what to do for the best.
I suppose they could also try this: “The door is now open for everyone to participate in conservation with this simple activity called e-Conservation. You are invited to participate and to innovate on the content into your area of concern.”