- Big new project on farm animal genomics. Gene-jockeys lick lips.
- Big new push to raise money for the Moringa Fund. Agroforesters lick lips.
- Big new hardiness zone map unleashed by USDA on unsuspecting world. American GIS people and gardeners lick lips.
- Bill Gates mentions cassava. CIAT licks lips.
Nibbles: Indian livestock, Borlaug book, iFOn, Brassica meet, Pat, Agave, Penguins
- More evidence of India’s fascination with little-known indigenous
cattle breeds. - Forbes reviews Borlaug bio.
- FAO Forestry has a nifty new mobile app. No idea why.
- VI International Symposium on Brassicas and XVIII Crucifer Genetics Workshop looking for sponsors. Any ideas?
- Prof Pat Heslop-Harrison is today’s “Face of Plant Cell Biology“.
- Of course it is a daft idea to claim rights over the word “agave”. But will anyone listen?
- Blimey! A penguin is like a lime juice.
Nibbles: Rice breeding, West African agriculture, Asian AnGR, Wheat breeding, Chinese semiotics, Neglected plant at NordGen, Fledermaus, PPB
- Norwich boffins save the world. To get the real story, you need to deconstruct the piece using this.
- “Results indicate that the greatest agriculture-led growth opportunities in West Africa reside in staple crops (cereals and roots and tubers) and livestock production.” Minor crops get the shaft again?
- Project tackles conservation of Asian farm animal diversity. I’ve always wondered whether there might be a role for ecotourism. I’d pay to see weird cocks. And hens.
- Pakistani boffins return home with skills to improve wheat P efficiency. And the resources? We shall see.
- Chinese food and plant semiotics. Can’t wait for LanguageLog to get to grips with this.
- NordGen characterizes a weirdly-named exotic Cinderella crop. Can you guess which?
- And can you guess what the “best kept secret of agricultural success” might be? Clue: nothing to do with those East Anglian boffins of the first item.
- Participatory plant breeding and gender analysis. They’re not giving much away at the source site.
Nibbles: Doggy-style diversity, Livestock diversity, Pomato, Non timber, Non beer, Popcorn, Drying rice, Svalbard
- “[D]iversity in domestic dogs derives from a small genetic tool kit.” Really, really small. Like, 50 genes.
- ILRI says we need to maintain indigenous farm animal diversity in Asia. They eat dogs, don’t they?
- You say pomato, I say totato: “Tomato-potato cross benefits farmers.” Fine, but it’s a graft. So why call it a cross?
- Non timber forest products important “in times of crisis” shock.
- Sumerian beer non-alcoholic? Not even beer, but “fermented cereal beverage“.
- Then again, ancient Peruvians discovered popcorn. But not movies.
- IRRI wants a student to re-examine optimal drying conditions for rice.
- The Svalbard Global Seed Vault– is it important for plant genetic resources? Answers here, next week.
Celebrating the donkey
It looks like the biennial Donkey and Mule Conference, usually held on the Greek island of Hydra, will take place in London this year, appropriately enough during International Donkey Week in May. So Prof. William Gervase Clarence-Smith of the School of Oriental and African Studies and Ed Emery, the conference organizer, inform DAD-Net anyway. I coudn’t find a website, but the last livestock-themed SOSA conference even had a Facebook page, so there must be one in the offing.