History

March 26, 2014March 26, 2014

More on TePuke rice in New Zealand

Attentive readers may remember a post from some years back about the return of TePuke rice from IRRI’s genebank to New Zealand. Via our friends at IRRI, here’s photographic proof from Tony Olsen, a local farmer, that he actually planted that variety at what would be a world record southern latitude for the crop (even further S than Rocha, in Uruguay)…

…and that it actually grew, despite a not very sunny summer.

We wait to see whether there’s a decent harvest.

Incidentally, although IRRI was able to send Tony some seeds of TePuke, he says that:

A friend of mine helped me track down some TePuke Gold Rice seeds from the widow of the gentleman who supplied them to the NZ authorities that forwarded them to your institute in the 1970’s.

Which just goes to confirm that people really like holding on to their seeds.

Anyway, what with dire predictions about what will happen to rice yields in its Asian heartland, it might well be that places like New Zealand and Uruguay, now on the edge of the crop’s range, are going to feature much more prominently in the future. Maybe even parts of Japan, which has a young breed of farmers coming through who I’m sure are just itching to take on such upstarts.

March 25, 2014March 25, 2014

Nibbles: CG diversity pix smackdown, ARTs in Bolivia, Fruits in Central Asia, Terra-i, FAO land use data, Agroforestry, Nagoya, Microwaves, Taxonomist Day, Spring!, Right to Food, Pacific food

Some fabulous photos of maize diversity from CIMMYT. (IRRI says, I see your diverse maize, and raise you diverse rice.)
Hope neither goes the way of that of some Andean roots and tubers in Bolivia. Or fruits in Central Asia. Though neither is doing terribly, in truth.
And too bad you can’t monitor that the way you can forests. Or land use in general for that matter.
World Agroforestry Centre calls for more, er, agroforestry. Will Defra listen?
Maybe it’s too busy consulting on the Nagoya Protocol. Wonder how good that will be for agroforestry.
I don’t care what anyone says, I like microwaves.
Wait, we missed Hug a Taxonomist Day?
And Persian New Year?
De Schutter’s final report. Main message not lost on the Pacific island countries.

March 22, 2014March 23, 2014

Nibbles: Peanut history, Capsicum history, Sequencing history, Globalized rice, Sustainable salmon, Women & agriculture, Climate change & yields, Forest conservation, Bumblebee conservation

Lots to catch up on, strap yourselves in.
The South’s original peanut is the Carolina African runner, and it is in need of help.
Saudi Aramco World does its usual class number, this time on chili peppers. And, in a similar vein, more than you probably want to know about Tabasco sauce.
The evolution of DNA sequencing. In 76 slides, no less, but worth it.
Japanese rice grown in Uruguay for U.S. hipsters. Gotta love globalization.
Sustainable salmon at long last?
Mind the gender gap.
Latest modelling suggests 2% crop yield decline per decade, assuming modest 2 degree C rise in temperatures by 2050. The original paper. We are so screwed. (Well, Uruguayan rice growers and U.S. hipsters aren’t, not so much.) No, really. No, wait…
You know, if we need supercomputers to tell us that forest corridors are good for seed dispersal, it’s no wonder we can’t stop global warming. Just kidding, I think it’s great that supercomputers get a break from climate models every once in a while. Oh, and isolated trees not entirely useless either.
Native wild bumblebees also in trouble, not just honeybees.
So did you miss us? Even more tomorrow to clear the decks.

March 9, 2014

Grapes or rootstocks

Grapes

One item of agricultural biodiversity interest from my visit to Bologna last weekend, this rather charming 1926 poster. ((Apologies for the quality. I took it after a rather wonderful lunch at Il Tinello, and alcoholic beverages had been involved.)) It offers, as you can see, American vines. And here’s my question: varieties, or Phylloxera-resistant rootstocks?

February 28, 2014February 28, 2014

Nibbles: Frances Seymour, She don’t lie, PNG coffee, Rony Swennen, Corridors, Eating bugs, Potato breeding

Former CIFOR DG interviewed about Global Forest Watch and more. I would have asked why you can’t import your own data or share a map you make.
A particularly important place to watch the forest is Honduras, because deforestation there is correlated with cocaine trafficking.
Not clear from this World Bank piece if deforestation in PNG associated with cultivation of another drug, i.e. coffee.
Better bananas would be good for forests, wouldn’t they?
Bah, just let them have corridors, they’ll be fine.
And don’t forget to eat the forest bugs.
Ok, I can’t figure out how to fit the history of potato breeding into this narrative. Any of it organic, though?