Information

May 19, 2022

Bean there, done that

I don’t think we’ve mentioned the Global Bean Project, but it sounds like fun.

More than 40 partners across Europe, as well as in Kenya and India, share and showcase inspiring experiences and practical knowledge about legume cultivation and consumption: public gardens and seed exchanges, monthly meetings and lectures, information sheets and promotional media.

Thanks to the always useful Seeds4All Newsletter for the headsup.

May 16, 2022May 13, 2022

Brainfood: Landrace gaps, Musa gaps, Teff use, Wheat evolution, NUS services, Phenotyping, Harappan residues, Food trade

State of ex situ conservation of landrace groups of 25 major crops. Two thirds done, on average, at least by this measure, with these data.
Phylogeography and conservation gaps of Musa balbisiana Colla genetic diversity revealed by microsatellite markers. But of course there are always other ways of doing it.
Value of teff (Eragrostis tef) genetic resources to support breeding for conventional and smallholder farming: a review. An example of why doing the above for all crops is important.
Evolution and origin of bread wheat. Another example. But the B genome remains elusive.
Diversity and Diversification: Ecosystem Services Derived From Underutilized Crops and Their Co-benefits for Sustainable Agricultural Landscapes and Resilient Food Systems in Africa. So many services. And yet…
Crop phenotyping in a context of global change: What to measure and how to do it. So many toys.
Integrating Lipid and Starch Grain Analyses From Pottery Vessels to Explore Prehistoric Foodways in Northern Gujarat, India. And more toys. They made biodiverse stews in the Indus Valley Civilization.
International food trade benefits biodiversity and food security in low-income countries. Low-income, very biodiverse countries are importing more food, which is somehow good for biodiversity. No word on its effect on agrobiodiversity.

May 11, 2022May 12, 2022

How to prevent the next crop pandemic

He suggests creating a global “fire brigade” of 3,000 experts scattered around the world, recruited for skills ranging from epidemiology and genetics, through drug and vaccine development and computer modelling, to diplomacy. This outfit, which would probably work under the auspices of the World Health Organisation, would remain on permanent standby, ready to respond to any detected outbreak.

That’s Bill Gates in his new book on How to Prevent the Next Pandemic, according to a review in The Economist. Which should remind us all that something similar has been mooted for crop diseases. What with the International Day of Plant Health coming up, it would be good to know where we are with that idea now.

LATER: I had something to say about the International Day of Plant Health over at work.

May 5, 2022May 5, 2022

Nibbles: New Indian genebank, Bremji Kul conservation, Ugandan cassava, Chicago heirloom tomato guy, Malawi root & tuber value chains, Wild harvested plants report, Indigenous oyster harvesting, The Recipes Project

Maharashtra to set up a genebank, but definitely NOT the nation’s first.
Meanwhile, in Kashmir…
Let them eat cassava cake.
Minor roots and tubers not so minor in Malawi. Cassava unavailable for comment.
Area man shares heirloom tomatoes. Not many people hurt.
How to make the most, sustainably, of 12 wild-harvested plant species. According to FAO.
Indigenous peoples have been harvesting oysters sustainably for millennia.
The wonderful Plant Humanities Initiative does recipes.

May 2, 2022May 4, 2022

Brainfood: Finger millet diversity, US wheat diversity, Enset diversity, Anglo Saxon diets, Agrobiodiversity index, Rangeland management, Butia groves, Cryotherapy, Bogia Syndrome, Niche models, Merino ancestors

Scientific Selection – A Century of Increasing Crop Varietal Diversity in US Wheat. Whether you take into account the genetic relationship among varieties or not, breeding has been driving up wheat diversity in American fields. But anyone else think this is a bit of a straw man?
Novel GBS-Based SNP Markers for Finger Millet and Their Use in Genetic Diversity Analyses. The Zimbabwean and Ethiopian landraces are different and should be crossed more to inject some diversity into improved varieties. You mean like they did for wheat in the US?
On-Farm Diversity of Enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) Landraces, Use, and the Associated Indigenous Knowledge in Adola Rede District, Guji Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia. No problem with diversity in enset, at least morphologically speaking.
Food and Power in Early Medieval England: a lack of (isotopic) enrichment. Elite “Anglo-Saxon” males did not have a diet that was consistently higher in meat than anyone else at the time, so there. I wonder if any ever ate enset.
Assessment of agrobiodiversity in the intensive agriculture: a case study of the Indo-Gangetic Plains of India. Could do with some more legumes.
Community-based rangeland management in Namibia improves resource governance but not environmental and economic outcomes. Market incentives do not always work the way you think.
The palm trees choose the places – Popular knowledge associated with the use and conservation of butiá (Butia spp.). No word on market incentives.
Shoot tip cryotherapy for plant pathogen eradication. Especially good if combined with thermotherapy or chemotherapy. May even work on enset, for all I know.
The phytoplasma associated with Bogia coconut syndrome in Papua New Guinea is a new phytoplasma in the group of the lethal yellowing syndromes (LYTS) of coconut and other palms. Yeah but will cryotherapy work?
Implementation of species distribution models in Google Earth Engine. Shhh, or everyone will want to do it, and then where will we be.
Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Moroccan Beni Ahsen: Is This Endangered Ovine Breed One of the Ancestors of Merino? Maybe? Partly? Does it matter?