- In situ evaluation of the fruit and oil characteristics of the main Lebanese olive germplasm. Some may have levels of ∆-7-stigmastenol which are on the high side. This is a chemical used in fraud detection, apparently.
- Viability monitoring intervals for genebank samples of Oryza sativa. Wait for fail (<85% germination) in the active collection before testing the corresponding seedlot in the base collection.
- Fair Trade and Free Entry: Can a Disequilibrium Market Serve as a Development Tool? Busted.
- Green Plants in the Red: A Baseline Global Assessment for the IUCN Sampled Red List Index for Plants. 20% of species assessed are threatened with extinction, mainly from tropical rain forest, mainly as a result of conversion to agriculture and harvesting of natural resources.
- Farmer seed networks make a limited contribution to agriculture? Four common misconceptions. They’re not inefficient, they’re not closed and conservative, and they’re not doomed. But they could work better and in a more egalitarian way.
- Understanding local patterns of genetic diversity in dipterocarps using a multi-site, multi-species approach: Implications for forest management and restoration. In most of these species, genetically similar individuals cluster together, resulting in inbreeding, especially after fragmentation due to logging. But you can do something about that through management.
- Morpho-physiolological and qualitative traits of a bread wheat collection spanning a century of breeding in Italy. The ideotype has changed significantly in Italy over the past 100 years.
- Assessing links between crop diversity and food self-sufficiency in three agroecological regions of Nepal. Whether greater crop diversity translates into more stable livelihoods depends on access to markets.
- A Population Genomics Insight into the Mediterranean Origins of Wine Yeast Domestication. Closest wild population to wine yeast comes from Mediterranean oak, and diverged at about the right time.
- Modelling the Geographical Origin of Rice Cultivation in Asia Using the Rice Archaeological Database. Two centres of origin, in Middle Yangtze and Lower Yangtze valleys.
Nibbles: Tomato diversity, Coffee trial, Basque genetics, Water and ag, Heirlooms galore, 3 trillion trees, Agroforestry, Old oats, IP in ag, Food companies and CC, Wheat Initiative, Crop game, Eggplant breeding, E African drought
- One crazy French guy, 1134 tomato varieties.
- The World Coffee Research International Multi Location Variety Trial really gets off the grounds. See what I did there?
- The Basques descend from Neolithic farmers.
- Ancient Sri Lankan irrigation systems. Which Bangladesh doesn’t need.
- National Heirloom Expo is on.
- Did we link to this three-trillion-tree story yet? I don’t think so. How many are edible fruit trees, I wonder?
- …or indeed agroforestry and fertilizer trees. Always worth listening to Jules Pretty.
- So much for the Paleolithic Diet.
- In agricultural innovation, “optimal IPR use depends on the technology itself as well as on market conditions.”
- Multinational food companies found to be short-sighted shock.
- The global impacts of UK food consumption.
- The Wheat Initiative has an agenda.
- Can you recognize these crops? ‘Course you can.
- Eggplant pre-breeding project involving wild relatives makes mainstream media. Faith in humanity restored. Until you see what else is on that page.
- Drought hits Ethiopia. Let them eat sweet potatoes?
Brainfood: Protein in Amazon, Ponies in UK & US, Old wheats, Resistant filberts, Buying local breeds, Chickpea roots, Beet diversity, Italian goats, Mung bean improvement
- From fish and bushmeat to chicken nuggets: the nutrition transition in a continuum from rural to urban settings in the Colombian Amazon region. More fish and bushmeat in rural areas compared to towns, where they are considered luxuries. Industrial chicken reaching rural areas, though, and that’s bad for nutrition.
- Comparative genetic diversity in a sample of pony breeds from the U.K. and North America: a case study in the conservation of global genetic resources. Mother and daughter populations of breeds in the UK and US respectively turned out to be somewhat genetically different.
- Do “ancient” wheat species differ from modern bread wheat in their contents of bioactive components? No.
- Marine reserves help preserve genetic diversity after impacts derived from climate variability: Lessons from the pink abalone in Baja California. More protection, more diversity.
- Sources of resistance to eastern filbert blight in hazelnuts from the Republic of Georgia. 79 plants from 34 seedlots out of 1374 seedlings from 50 seedlots. Hard row to hoe.
- Determinants of the intention to purchase an autochthonous local lamb breed: Spanish case study. People are lazy.
- Assessing Genetic Variability for Root Traits and Identification of Trait-Specific Germplasm in Chickpea Reference Set. 23 out of 300 accessions could be useful in breeding for better roots.
- Breeding patterns and cultivated beets origins by genetic diversity and linkage disequilibrium analyses. Fodder and sugar beets grouped together, separated from garden and sea beets, in worldwide genebank collection but not in elite lines.
- Genetic diversity of Italian goat breeds assessed with a medium-density SNP chip. As with so much else in Italy, goat diversity follows a N-S pattern.
- Genomic resources in mungbean for future breeding programs. A couple of reference genomes will make everything easier.
Brainfood: Citrus colours, Soil biodiversity portal, Bean genome, Food diversity & security, French landscape diversity, US pigs, Alien crops, Thai food retail
- Exploring the diversity in Citrus fruit colouration to decipher the relationship between plastid ultrastructure and carotenoid composition. New, weird plastids mean new, weird colours.
- Towards a global platform for linking soil biodiversity data. A DivSeek for soils?
- A reference genome for common bean and genome-wide analysis of dual domestications. Not sure how we missed this. Two domestications confirmed, with distinct genomic signatures.
- Variability of On-Farm Food Plant Diversity and Its Contribution to Food Security: A Case Study of Smallholder Farming Households in Western Kenya. No relationship between farm diversity and food security. Say what?
- What is the plant biodiversity in a cultural landscape? A comparative, multi-scale and interdisciplinary study in olive groves and vineyards (Mediterranean France). Low intensity management with an eye to heritage is good for diversity. But, given the above, so what?
- Relationships among and variation within rare breeds of swine. American pig breeds are real. Mostly.
- Alien Crop Resources and Underutilized Species for Food and Nutritional Security of India. Bring them on!
- Traditional, modern or mixed? Perspectives on social, economic, and health impacts of evolving food retail in Thailand. It would be a pity of fresh markets were to disappear.
Nibbles: Plant names, Tomato trifecta, Amaranth, Corn wars, Wild lettuce, Dying, Indian ag, Chocographic, Root symbionts, Rehabilitation, Mesquite, Extreme weather, Saviour plants, Pawpaw, Japanese rice, Coffee museum, Caribbean early ag, Amazonian livelihoods, Vislak on corn
- In praise of common names. Meh. You won’t see a Latin name in this whole Nibbles. See how you like it.
- Building a tomato. In Spanish.
- Tracking a tomato.
- The dark side of tomatoes.
- Amaranth to rescue Mexicans from obesity.
- Seeds of contention.
- Finding the lost Least Lettuce.
- Indigo goes back to the future.
- What if the monsoon fails? MS Swaminathan has some answers.
- Nice chocolate infographic from FAO.
- A diverse microbial community in and around roots helps plants thrive. The Science article is behind a paywall, but there’s a helpful infographic on Twitter.
- The US has a National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration. Vision? The right seed in the right place at the right time. Wish I’d thought of that.
- When otherwise useful trees attack. Ah, the irony of this coming right after the previous one.
- UK’s Global Food Security programme says extreme weather events are increasing and we must adapt agriculture. Good to know.
- And today’s Five Plants That Will Save the World are…
- Maybe add pawpaw to that?
- Japanese rice farmers: change gonna come.
- Nice coffee museum in Brazil.
- Early agriculture in the Caribbean: Cuba and Trinidad.
- The babaçu breakers of Maranhão are under threat. What’s babaçu? Yeah, well, look it up.
- “Seed banking began about 30 years ago as an improvement to individual farmers storing and using their own seeds.” Riiiiight.
- That Vilsak is a card.