- Probably way more than you want to know about food security in Yemen, but stunning nonetheless.
- NordGen tells us how to measure seed moisture content. In Russian.
- The Irish have benefited from at least one bank. Alas, that bank is Pavlovsk.
- Indian farmers turning their back on traditional crops because of climate change. Hope NBPGR is on the case.
- Goji berries only as good as other fruit and veg, with “significant placebo effect”.
- [W]e are in the midst of shaping a new perspective on sustainable agriculture, it says here. Right.
- All you ever wanted to know about Green Revolution 2.0, thanks to Anastasia.
- Speaking of which .. sustainable ag under discussion.
Nibbles: FAO newsletters, Spanish fowl, Jamaican cattle, Food composition database
- New Plant Breeding News and Non-Wood Forest Products.
- Nice pix of Spanish chicks.
- Jamaican cattle in trouble, man.
- FAO/INFOODS Food Composition Database on Biodiversity will be published on 15 December 2010. Put out more flags.
Nibbles: Advice, Advice, Advice, IR8
- Americans advised to eat diversity, by USDA and others. Wot, no fortified staples?
- Webcast on Food Systems and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa. h/t The Agrobiodiversity Grapevine.
- French vegetables disappearing? Je ne le crois pas.
- The Scientist Gardener tackles declining yields of miracle rice, but what has he done to his colour scheme?
The State of the World’s PGRFA
I’ve spent much of the day wondering what on Earth can usefully be said about the 2nd report on the State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, published today by FAO. Not a lot, I suspect, without wading through the entire tome. So what does FAO think is important?
Jacques Diouf, Director General of FAO, had this to say:
Increasing the sustainable use of plant diversity could be the main key for addressing risks to genetic resources for agriculture.
Sorry Jacques, old chum, but I just can’t quite seem to parse that one.
The report “does not attempt to quantify biodiversity loss,” for which we must be grateful, although the press release reminds us of FAO’s estimate that “75 percent of crop diversity was lost between 1900 and 2000” and “predicts that as much as 22 percent of the wild relatives of important food crops of peanut, potato and beans will disappear by 2055 because of a changing climate.” Right.
Genebank numbers and accessions are up, so those entries in the long-term memory have to be scrubbed and updated. 1750 genebanks, 130 have more than 100,000 accessions, 7.4 million samples, 6.6 million in national genebanks, 45 percent in just 7 countries, down from 12 in 1996. But hey, that’s probably rationalisation at work, because “in 2008, the ultimate back-up of global crop diversity, the Svalbald [sic] Global Seed Vault, opened in Norway”.
Carping aside, the report is a useful compendium of country reports (each downloadable as a separate PDF) and specially-commissioned thematic background studies (ditto) all served from an easy-to-use website (although the Picture Gallery doesn’t work for me yet).
Definitely an A for effort, then.
Nibbles: Apple Diversity, Sorghum, Ugandan organics, Cows, CABI, Giant pumpkin, Nutrigenomics, SOTW2
- Apple diversity on display at Terra Madre.
- A drought-resistant sorghum for Karamoja. Read the script of a radio programme.
- CIAT advises Ugandan farmers: produce what you can sell, don’t sell what you can produce. Hmmmn.
- Local cow breeds and Protected Designation of Origin cheeses. There’s a conclusion here struggling to emerge, but I can’t recognize it. Help me.
- CABI pushes for crop diversification. Get in line!
- Where giant pumpkins come from.
- Nutritionists should get to grips with human diversity.
- 2nd State of the World’s PGRFA launched by FAO to much fanfare. And usual incorrect figures on genetic erosion. Oh I give up.