- Consistent global dataset on biodiversity intactness footprint of agricultural production from 2000 to 2020. Spatial dataset shows how global consumption drives ecological degradation.
- Rapid monitoring of global land change. Spatial dataset shows how in 2023 direct human action and fires caused land use conversion globally over an area the size of California.
- Remote monitoring of plant drought stress with the apparent heat capacity. Spatial dataset can provide early warning of drought. Early warning system for genetic erosion, anyone?
- CropSuite v1.0 – a comprehensive open-source crop suitability model considering climate variability for climate impact assessment. Spatial dataset shows where 48 crops will have the best yields.
- Climate change increases the interannual variance of summer crop yields globally through changes in temperature and water supply. Spatial dataset shows that climate change impacts not just yields but variation in yield from year to year for maize, soybean and sorghum.
- Reassessing data management in increasingly complex phenotypic datasets. Datasets need to be properly managed to be widely used.
Nibbles: Fiona Hay, Richard Ellis, FAO exhibition, Peasants, Wheat breeding, Svalbard, Søren Ejlersen, Ephraim Bull, Heirloom apples, Caffeine, Collards history
- 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.
Nibbles: Ancient Mexican seedbank, Indian millets, Foraged foods, Soybean breeding, Apple breeding, Albanian heirlooms, Bangladesh fish genebank
- People in the Nejapan Sierra Sur in Oaxaca, Mexico had a seed bank 400-700 years ago so they could re-create their complex cuisine after disruptions.
- How MSSRF revived millets in Odisha, India. You think a seed bank was involved?
- Meanwhile, in Meghalaya (also India), foraged foods are helping to diversify state-provided school lunches and address chronic malnutrition. Talk about complex cuisine. Are all these species in a seed bank somewhere, though? Do they need to be?
- How the National Soybean Germplasm Collection at the Agricultural Research Service lab in Urbana, Illinois helped save soybeans in Iowa.
- University breeding programmes are keeping the apple afloat in the USA. That and genebanks.
- Farmers and agrotourism are bringing back some cool flavors in Albania. Well, that and the Albanian Gene Bank.
- Fish need genebanks too, and Bangladesh is on it. Did ancient Bangladeshis have them, I wonder?
Nibbles: Corn diseases, German potato collection, Vietnam rice trials, Endophyte strain, Fish nutrition, Himalayan pea, Subversive seeds
- The US needs better maize.
- German genebank looks for the best potatoes.
- Vietnam looks for better rice in IRRI’s genebank.
- New Zealand markets an endophyte for better grass performance.
- Some Timor-Leste fish are better than others.
- The Himalayas have a better pea. Of some kind.
- How’s that for subversive cataloguing?
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.