- The myth of honeybee extinction in the wild.
- Myths about farro.
- The myth of agricultural determinism.
- The myth of landrace uselessness.
- The greatest myth of all?
Nibbles: Real farming, Ancient farming, Organic farming, Open farming, Innovative farming, African maize farming
- Colin Tudge and Jeremy rethink agriculture.
- Wait, so it’s not about producing an energy surplus?
- Maybe the rethink can include Seed Ambassadors?
- Seeds4All is quite the thought.
- Who needs a rethink when there’s a whole book on how plant breeding can contribute to sustainable agriculture?
- Well, it can certainly pay off, at least money-wise. But does that need a rethink?
Plants and humans under the microscope
I may have already blogged about the Plant Humanities Lab, but almost certainly not enough. It really is very cool.
Easiest way to learn about it is to read this Twitter thread from Alex Humphreys.
These two modes of behavior drove the design of the site.
Guided tours became the site's Plant Narratives. Unguided exploration became the Plant Search. Let's take each in turn. Plant Narratives first. 6/x pic.twitter.com/qqQZWJrV1y— Alex Humphreys (@abhumphreys) April 1, 2021
Here’s the ThreadReader version if you don’t want to sully yourself on Twitter.
Brainfood: Chinese pig breeds, Benin wild fruit, Wild lettuce, Sugarbeet breeding, Teosinte introgression, Peach genome, Wild chickpea, Garlic metabolites, CWR seeds, Macadamia genotyping, Banana database, Indigenous foodways
- Identifying the unique characteristics of the Chinese indigenous pig breeds in the Yangtze River Delta region for precise conservation. Genotyping shows which pig breeds are best.
- Diversity in tree and fruit traits of Strychnos spinosa Lam. along a climatic gradient in Benin: a step towards domestication. Phenotyping shows which fruit populations are best.
- Lactuca georgica, a new wild source of resistance to downy mildew: comparative study to other wild lettuce relatives. Phenotyping shows which lettuce species are best.
- Genetic diversity is enhanced in Wild × Cultivated hybrids of sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris L.) despite multiple selection cycles for cultivated traits. Genotyping shows cultivated x wild sugarbeet hybrids are best.
- Selective sorting of ancestral introgression in maize and teosinte along an elevational cline. Genotyping shows where cultivated x wild maize hybrids do best.
- Genomic analyses provide insights into peach local adaptation and responses to climate change. Genotyping shows which peach genes are best.
- Identification of Novel Sources of Resistance to Ascochyta Blight in a Collection of Wild Cicer Accessions. Genotyping and phenotyping shows which wild chickpea populations are best.
- Comprehensive Metabolite Profiling in Genetic Resources of Garlic (Allium sativum L.) Collected from Different Geographical Regions. Metabotyping shows which geographic regions are best for garlic.
- Fertile Crescent crop progenitors gained a competitive advantage from large seedlings. Seed phenotyping shows which grasses were best for domestication.
- Comparison of long-read methods for sequencing and assembly of a plant genome. Genotyping shows which genotyping is the best.
- A digital catalog of high‐density markers for banana germplasm collections. Genotyping shows which banana genebank accessions are best.
- “The Old Foods Are the New Foods!”: Erosion and Revitalization of Indigenous Food Systems in Northwestern North America. Who needs genotyping and phenotyping anyway?
Nibbles: Superfoods, Value chains book, North American ag origins, Origins of beer, Community seed banks, Seed diversity
- What’s the next global “superfood”? Most likely it’s the next local “superfood”. Jeremy interviews economist Trent Blare.
- And here’s a book that expands on that podcast.
- Speaking of podcasts, here’s one that dissects the Eastern Agricultural Complex, at least in the last 20 mins. The rest is informative and fun too, though. Spoiler alert: it’s the food storage. Any superfoods in there though?
- Always fun to read about the history of beer.
- Project on community genebanks launched by government genebank.
- Seeds of all sizes and shapes in genebanks.