- CropHarvest: A global dataset for crop-type classification. 90,000 datapoints all over the world, nicely labelled with what’s going on there agriculturally speaking. Let the AI rip.
- Using publicly available data to conduct rapid assessments of extinction risk. Pretty much useless, but at least now we know why. Should have used AI.
- Plot-level impacts of improved lentil varieties in Bangladesh. About 15% higher yields and gross margins, resulting in lots of savings on imports.
- Agro-Morphological Characterization of Lentil Germplasm of Indian National Genebank and Development of a Core Set for Efficient Utilization in Lentil Improvement Programs. And a core subset to boot. Unclear if any were used to breed the above.
- Variation in Germination Traits Inform Conservation Planning of Hawaiʻi’s Foundational ʻŌhiʻa Trees. Germination was lower from some populations than from others, but not because of environmental factors.
- Genomic Resources to Guide Improvement of the Shea Tree. Ok, great, but now what exactly? And no word on germination…
- Current Status of Biodiversity Assessment and Conservation of Wild Olive (Olea europaea L. subsp. europaea var. sylvestris). When can we expect something similar for shea tree?
- Extreme climate refugia: a case study of wild relatives of cacao (Theobroma cacao) in Colombia. The forest areas where wild cacao has survived the longest, and is particularly diverse, will be cut in half in 50 years. I wonder what the figures are for wild olive.
- Soil biomarkers of cacao tree cultivation in the sacred cacao groves of the northern Maya lowlands. Maybe re-introduce it? More here.
- How to save a landrace from extinction: the example of a winter squash landrace (Cucurbita maxima Duchesne) in Northern Italy (Lungavilla-Pavia). It’s great to have ‘Berrettina di Lungavilla’ back, but 7 years for one landrace? No sacred groves involved. Shea harvesters unavailable for comment.
- Collection, characterizaton, product quality evaluation, and conservation of genetic resources of yam (Dioscorea spp.) cultivars from Ekiti State, Nigeria. At least it’s more than one landrace.
- Genetic Diversity and Environmental Influence on Growth and Yield Parameters of Bambara Groundnut. 95 landraces, no less. All safe from extinction. Right?
Nibbles: Wild coffee, Humble potato, Banana seeds video, Citizen Bean, Svalbard, Microlivestock, Transhumance, Exotic tea, BIPOC heirlooms
- The Food Programme does coffee wild relatives.
- Potatoes are not that bad nutritionally.
- Getting banana seeds.
- Want to do citizen science with beans?
- The latest from Svalbard.
- Bugs again?
- Counting sheep.
- Weird tea is the best tea. But any tea will do in a pinch.
- BIPOC communities saving heirloom seeds.
Nibbles: Agroforestry app, Virtual grazing areas, Tunisian herbalists, India agrobiodiversity
- An app to help farmers choose agroforestry species in India.
- An app to keep cows on the straight and narrow in Epping Forest.
- The herbalists of Tunis could maybe do with an app.
- There’s no app to stop agrobiodiversity loss. Even in India.
Nibbles: Food flows, Olive collection, Sweet potato breeding, Global Bean Project, Open Source Plant Breeding, Saladino book
- You can explore food flows among US counties. If you have lots of time.
- Studying a huge olive collection. To fight climate change.
- Improving sweet potatoes in Cambodia. Somehow.
- There’s a meeting of the Global Bean Project. Tomorrow.
- Speaking of sweet potatoes and crowd-sourced breeding (well, sort of). The Open Source Plant Breeding Forum.
- Apparently there’s nobody talking about the food extinction crisis. Nobody.
Nibbles: Banana futures, Strawberry breeding, Maize & climate change
- Latest on the banana going extinct.
- Latest on the UC Davis strawberry breeding saga.
- Latest on how to explain what’s happened to maize yields in the Midwest.