Mainstream

February 1, 2018February 1, 2018

O Canadian genebank, we stand on guard for thee

Art Napoleon is a Canadian “TV producer/songwriter/adventurer/wild game foodie…weekend shape-shifter & extreme berry picker,” which sounds like a pretty cool gig. You can watch him talk about Canadian agriculture, and the role the national genebanks plays in it, on the documentary Food for Thought. He visits the genebank about 16 minutes in, but watch the whole thing. In the screenshot below, one guy is Art, the other is the head of the genebank. I’ll leave you to guess which one is which.

January 31, 2018January 31, 2018

Nibbles: Wild wheat & rice genomes, Lost American crops, Bread Lab, Tea symposium, Burping cows, Australian botanist, Ecuadorian landrace pics, Red listing, Fermentation PhD, Cheese rind microbes, HRH reception

Goat grass genome to the rescue.
No, some other weedy grass genomes to the rescue!
Weeds could actually be lost crops.
Clif Bar endows Bread Lab.
Symposium on the future of tea. Mother-in-law alerted.
You’ll need milk for that tea: breeding cattle for more production and less burping.
Aunty Fran Bodkin: Australian botany hero.
Field Museum field guide to Ecuadorian landraces. Of all things.
Learn about red-listing.
Study the microbial communities of cabbage leaves.
Cheese rind has complex microbial communities too.
So, anyways, this was fun.

January 26, 2018January 26, 2018

Nibbles: Sustainable wheat, Bananacoin, Tuscan agrobiodiversity, Fig conservation, Foraging beer, Wizard vs Prophet, SDGs, Harlan Symposium

General Mills goes all sustainable. But the genebanks?
The future of bananas is banana futures. But the genebanks?
Agrobiodiversity in Tuscany: The App. Who needs genebanks.
“Correia, a 59-year-old third-generation Delta resident, has one of the most diverse collections of the common fig, Ficus carica, in the world.” Put that in an app.
The two approaches to feeding 10 billion people. Only two?
“Eradicating hunger and ensuring food security is a bottom-line requirement for achieving sustainable development and well-being.” Problem is, it’s not the top priority.
Otherwise orphan crops wouldn’t be orphans.
Foraged beer is a thing. A very cool thing, and you can probably use orphan crops too.
A place to discuss all of the above? The Third Jack R. Harlan International Symposium.

January 25, 2018January 25, 2018

Nibbles: Sequencing Davos, WPC 2018, German spuds, Martha’s Excellent Adventure, C4F video, Hawaiian varieties, Seed Book

Blockchain for ABS touted at Davos. The Economist is there.
But will it be at the World Potato Congress? I’m betting no.
But for sure some Germans will be.
Martha Stewart will be in Svalbard.
Crops for the Future was On the Menu.
Culinary Breeding Network is in Hawaii. Lucky them. But would it have killed them to provide a link?
I want to be in Lebanon.
There are a lot of pretty seeds in Paul Smith’s new book.

January 23, 2018January 23, 2018

Nibbles: “Millets”, GLF, Agrobiodiversity & resilience, Nepali earthquake, Seed systems, Super beans in Uganda, Cherokee seeds, Potato Park, Italian cook, Ancient turkeys, Linnaean globalization, Wild rice genomes

I really don’t like the way a bunch of very different cereals are lumped together as “millets,” but anyway.
Mongabay optimistic about climate-smart agriculture after Global Landscape Forum.
I guess it must be the resilience.
Rebuilding Nepali seed systems after the earthquake. See what I mean?
And here’s a primer on innovative seed systems work from ICRISAT.
Beans for refugees. Seeds systems at work.
Cherokee nation knows what to do to get seeds out there.
So does the Parque de la Papa, for that matter.
Morocco has truffles? Yep.
Ancient turkeys were pets, not food.
Linnaeus was a globalist. Not his fault, though.
Australian gene-jockey says that Australian wild rice genome could make it easier to grow rice in Australia. Linnaeus, where are you?