- Dr Fiona Hay, seed scientist, on why we need genebanks, including seed banks.
- Prof. Richard Ellis retires. A genebank legend, as Fiona would probably agree.
- FAO exhibition goes From Seeds to Foods. By way of genebanks, no doubt.
- And peasants, of course. No, it’s not a derogatory word, settle down.
- Can Green Revolution breeding approaches (and genebanks) help peasants deal with climate change?
- Even genebanks need a back-up plan though.
- New Mexico genebank helps out Danish chef.
- The history of the Concord grape and its foxiness. Chefs intrigued.
- The history of Aport and Amasya apples. No foxiness involved, as far as I know. Genebanks? Probably.
- The origin of caffeine. Now do foxiness.
- Where did collards come from anyway? No, not genebanks. Bloody historians, always re-writing history.
Those who cannot remember the history of NUS…
The European Commission has waded into the whole opportunity crops thing with its “Neglected and Underutilised Species (NUS): Potential for Food and Nutrition Security – a Knowledge Review.”
Only, as you can see, it’s not calling them opportunity crops, but rather opting to go retro with NUS, though there is a nice round-up of the diversity of the terminology:
There are different names in the literature related to neglected and underutilised species (NUS). Although they have a slightly different focus, they are often used interchangeably: indigenous and traditional food crops, orphan crops, forgotten foods/crops, minor crops, under-used/under-exploited crops, under-developed crops, promising crops, lost crops, alternative crops/food, traditional food crops, niche crops, future smart food, opportunity crops. In the humanitarian context, especially regarding the formulation of Ready to use therapeutic or supplement food (RUTF/RUSF), the term NUS is rarely used, while literature mainly refers to local crops.
There are also useful discussions of the drivers of neglect and underuse, and of the different benefits of NUS cultivation and consumption. The list of international initiatives is not comprehensive, but a good start. And genebanks get a name check…
To conserve and valorise genetic resources it is essential that NUS seeds are conserved in-situ (community seed banks) and ex-situ (gene banks). Additionally, genetic conservation measures should be designed, that also address the risk of over-exploitation when using wild plants. This requires a multifaceted approach, including local taxonomic research to better understand the species in question and a deeper insights on the genomes of ALV1. Further, detailed characterizations and assessments of NUS related to their benefits for resilience to climate change, cultural richness and sustainable livelihoods is needed.
Furthermore, it is important to intensify breeding programmes, develop adequate seed systems and measures for continuous quality seed production and distribution; and strengthen and upgrade smallholder seed systems. To promote sustainable use, it is recommended to engage farmers and grassroots movements in all domestication efforts. Furthermore, research should also focus on resilience to pests and diseases, modernising production methods, and addressing post-harvest inefficiencies.
…so what’s not to like?
Well, what I missed was some sort of indication that this is not exactly the first time we’ve been through this. Everything is thoroughly backed up with references (I’ve removed the citations from the excerpts above for clarity, but they’re there in the PDF). However, none of the publications listed is older than 2019. I hope we don’t repeat history. We had an International Centre for Underutilized Crops there for a while, after all. You all remember that, right?
LATER: There’s a webinar on the knowledge review on 15 October. Assuming they get the sign-up page working…
Nibbles: Supermarkets, Cate Blanchett, ABS, Transformation, Medieval haymaking, Aurochs rewilding, Breed concept
- What’s wrong with supermarkets.
- Cate Blanchett on the Millennium Seed Bank. Attitude to supermarkets unknown.
- Access & Benefit Sharing 101. Cate Blanchett unavailable for comment.
- Experts weigh in on how we should change how we eat. Nobody but Cate Blanchett will listen, but supermarkets and seeds feature, for what it’s worth.
- How they ate in the Middle Ages without supermarkets. Or at least harvested.
- After we’re done with medieval haymaking, let’s bring back the aurochs too. And put it in a supermarket?
- Yeah but what is a breed anyway? Or an aurochs, for that matter.
Brainfood: Agroecology, Afghan wheat, CWR microbes, Chocolate microbes, Liberica coffee, Wild apples, USDA cotton collection, Parmesan cattle, Sweetpotato genome, Vertical tomatoes
- Embracing new practices in plant breeding for agroecological transition: A diversity-driven research agenda. Plant breeding for agroecology will need access to locally-adapted plant diversity, sure, but also the involvement of a diversity of stakeholders and the use of a diversity of co-design strategies.
- Conservation and Utilization of Wheat Genetic Resources in Afghanistan Expanded with the Homecoming Wheat Landraces Collected Half a Century Ago. The above could also be said of wheat breeding in Afghanistan. Fingers crossed.
- Blueprints for sustainable plant production through the utilization of crop wild relatives and their microbiomes. Oh, wait, breeders (agroecological and otherwise) will also need the diversity of microbiomes associated with crop wild relatives.
- A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour chocolate fermentation. Oh, wait, we will also need the diversity of the microbes involved in fermentation, at some point.
- Genomic data define species delimitation in Liberica coffee with implications for crop development and conservation. It might help if we knew how many species made up a crop in the first place. In the case of Liberica coffee, it turns out to be 3. No word on the microbiomes involved.
- Assessment of genetic diversity and population structure of Malus sieversii and Malus niedzwetzkyana from Kazakhstan using high-throughput genotyping. It would also help to know where interesting diversity was concentrated within crop wild relatives. In apples, it’s not necessarily the ancestor.
- The National Plant Germplasm System cotton collection—a review of germplasm resources, phenotypic characterization, and genomic variation. Lots of morphological characterization and agronomic evaluation, not so much molecular data, but increasing. No word on the microbes.
- Establishing a genomic-driven conservation of a cattle genetic resource: the case of the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese iconic breed. In contrast, these guys have genotyped practically a whole breed. But yeah, no microbes.
- Phased chromosome-level assembly provides insight into the genome architecture of hexaploid sweetpotato. The contributions of different wild relatives to the sweetpotato genome are to be found intertwined along chromosomes rather than restricted to subgenomes. Unclear what that will mean to agroecologial breeders.
- Harnessing Green Revolution genes to optimize tomato production efficiency for vertical farming. Agroecological breeders unavailable for comment.
Brainfood: Defining domestication, Pig domestication, Archaeological orphan crops, Levant Neolithic causes, Altiplano agricultural origins, Irish cattle, Islamic Green Revolution, Ancient fish DNA, Ancient Chinese rice
- A universally applicable definition for domestication. Domestication is just evolution in anthropogenic environments.
- Early evidence for pig domestication (8,000 cal. BP) in the Lower Yangtze, South China. Evolution in anthropogenic environments can follow different pathways.
- Orphan crops of archaeology-based crop history research. Some crops are also neglected by archaeologists. Maybe because they weren’t domesticated enough?
- Catastrophic fires and soil degradation: possible association with the Neolithic revolution in the southern Levant. Domestication was caused by lightning.
- Altiplano agricultural origins was a process of economic resilience, not hardship: Isotope chemistry, zooarchaeology, and archaeobotany in the Titicaca Basin, 5.5-3.0 ka. Farming was not caused by anything so traumatic as lightning on the Altiplano.
- Changing human-cattle relationships in Ireland: a 6000-year isotopic perspective. Open land management of cattle in the Iron Age led to their central position in Irish culture. Maybe lightning was involved in clearing the land?
- Re-thinking the ‘Green Revolution’ in the Mediterranean world. The impact of the Islamic Green Revolution was down to more than just new crops and irrigation. Bit like the modern Green Revolution then?
- Roman Atlantic garum: DNA confirms sardine use and population continuity in north-western Iberia. You can characterize and compare old fish remains based on the DNA that survived fermentation at the bottom of ancient salting vats.
- Exploration of crop germplasm resources knowledge mining in Chinese ancient books: a route toward sustainable agriculture. You can characterize and compare old rice varieties based on the descriptions that survived in ancient chronicles. Maybe pig varieties too?