- The Brazil nut needs its pollinators.
- How USDA protects plant varieties.
- American dogs are Asian, not European.
IndiaNepal working out how to implement the ITPGRFA.- Kerala’s vegetable terrace gardeners.
- Haven’t heard much about Ug99 lately, have we? Doesn’t mean people aren’t keeping a careful eye on it.
- Climate change 10,000 times faster than vertebrate evolution.
- Why quinoa is not “taking over the world.”
- Not even New Zealand. Though not for want of trying.
- In the meantime, soybeans taking over Africa?
- Aquaculture that’s sustainable and ancient. Includes taro fish ponds, which for some reason seem to me cool beyond measure.
Nibbles: Bahamian pigs, Llamas far from home, Ugandan aquaponics, Better broccoli, African atlas, Chinese sesame imports, Root & tuber maps, NZ genebank access
- The next big livestock thing is swimming pigs.
- Or maybe llamas. Not swimming ones, mind, settle down.
- Nope, it’s farmed fish. Which do swim, though not very far.
- Meanwhile, Cornell re-engineers broccoli.
- And HarvestChoice puts out an African atlas. Online resources coming in due course.
- Which does not show you sesame cultivation in Ethiopia, alas, at least not yet, let’s wait for the online version.
- Speaking of atlases, RTBMaps is in Beta. I’ll have to play with it and get back to you.
- New Zealand changes genebank rules to speed up forage breeding. To do with quarantine rather than ABS, though.
Some reaction to ILRI call for global livestock genebank
A recent Q&A with Jimmy Smith, Director General of the International Livestock Research Center (ILRI), included this exchange:
Q. ILRI is calling for the creation of a livestock gene bank. What would it look like and how could it benefit people?
A. There are many gene banks for crops around the world, but we have no such facility for livestock breeds native to developing countries, even though animal diversity in those countries is being eroded in the same way as plant diversity…
That’s only the beginning of a longish answer, which you can read in full on SciDevNet. It elicited the following response on the DAD-Net (Domestic Animal Diversity Network) mailing list from Michèle Tixier-Boichard, chair of the French cryobank at INRA, which we quote here in full with her permission.
The advertisement for the ‘first world gene bank’ at ILRI deserves some remarks.
It is generally an excellent idea to set up genebanks for livestock, both for research and for the management of animal genetic diversity in complementarity with in situ management of populations.
Fortunately, it is not the first time that some countries think of that. For instance in Europe, several countries have a cryobank coupled with DNA samples. ((Ed.: Same in the US also, for that matter.))
In France, a national infrastructure project called ‘CRB-Anim’ has been funded from 2012 to 2019 to set up a network of biological resources centers for 22 species of livestock and companion animals. The aim is to collect, characterize, secure and distribute semen, embryos, DNA, RNA, tissues, for research as well as for the management of genetic diversity of livestock species.
In order to go beyond the national scale, a bottom-up approach is generally preferable to set up a regional network between national gene banks, with harmonisation and standardisation of procedures, sharing of technologies, distribution of samples… The system of automatic delivery which has been set up for some plant genetic resources by CGIAR international centers does not meet the current requirements of the livestock community. Ownership and principles for access and benefit sharing are not considered by the livestock community in the same terms as they are by the plant community, animal breeds are generally considered as club goods rather than public goods, particularly local breeds. So, there is a need for coordination and exchange of knowledge and practise between livestock gene banks, including the possibility of duplication for safety, rather than for systematic globalisation.
Centralisation of resources in a unique gene bank raises a number of major issues that may trigger opposition from many stakeholders, that must consider the Nagoya protocol, and, in any case, will require thorough discussions that should take place under the leadership of FAO.
Some interesting points there, in particular highlighting the differences that exist at the policy level between crop and livestock genetic resources conservation. I suspect that what is meant by the “automatic delivery which has been set up for some plant genetic resources by CGIAR international centers” is the “facilitated access” allowed for under the Multilateral System of the International Treaty, and I confess I had no idea that the livestock conservation community had such reservations about that approach. Dr Smith did not mention the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources process being led by FAO in his answers, but one of the key people involved, Irene Hoffmann, chief of Animal Genetic Resources at FAO, is quoted in an accompanying SciDevNet piece on the technical challenges involved in setting up a global livestock bank. However, it’s not quite clear whether the following statement on the possible policy hurdles, which comes right after that quote, reflects Dr Hoffman’s views or is an impression gathered by the writer of the article from other sources.
There is also the issue of ownership, as some countries do not want to deposit what they consider their national heritage into a global genebank.
Either way, ILRI will have its work cut out.
When urban agriculture goes wrong
Bits of the interwebs are all aflutter over a report claiming that “Hundreds of unwanted backyard chickens are ending up at animal shelters“.
One commentator, whom I respect, said:
The headline is wrong. It isn’t hundreds, it’s thousands of chickens.
This is one of the things that irritates me about these so-called ‘urban farmers’. A lot of them have no idea what they’re getting into, and aren’t prepared to deal with the consequences. They don’t know how to properly care for them, don’t understand their health needs, don’t understand what chickens eat, and as soon as the chicken becomes inconvenient, get rid of it.
That’s a bit sweeping for my taste, but I do know where he’s coming from. I also smell the enticing aroma of a slow-simmered business opportunity.
I am quite sure the urban “farmers” would pay — maybe only 50 cents, but still — for someone to remove those birds. You could show up in a chickenshit neighbourhood once a month or so in a big old van to collect the birds and a small “handling fee”. Take the birds back to base, slaughter them and use them to prepare fine chicken stock, then sell the stock back to the people who sold you the chickens.
What could possibly go wrong?
Nibbles: CePaCT aroids, Chinese pigs, Vanuatu banana processing, Yam meeting, AAB meeting, Araucaria, Aquaculture, Malting barley, CIRAD baobab videos, US wine, Ancient grains, Barcode centre
- The Pacific pushes out its taros.
- China holds on to its pigs.
- Vanuatu preserves its bananas.
- The world talks about yams in particular. And crop breeding in general.
- How Britain got its monkey puzzles.
- Bangladesh goes for mola culture. But not only.
- Australia puts money into beer.
- France gets into the whole baobab factsheet thing, but with a video twist.
- Virginia makes wine. With infographic goodness.
- UK tries to slow down its food.
- Canada barcodes everything.