- IRRI working to adapt rice to climate change, thanks to genebank.
- Palestine gets a genebank. And genebankers, thanks to ICARDA.
- Lupin ice-cream. Sounds yummie.
- Ethio Organic Seed Action “trains farmers in the use of traditional seeds.” I doubt it, but the stuff on community genebanks is nice.
- Goat racing in Uganda. Where are the photos?
- IFPRI publishes companion volume to Millions Fed.
- Vouching for seed vouchers.
- Breeding anti-GMO maize. Well, kinda.
- “Beer could provide lifeline for South Sudan’s small farmers.” I know how they feel.
Brainfood: Community forestry, Chinese Paleolithic, Peanut wild relatives, Pepper taxonomy, Fruit tree domestication, Allelopathy, Olive evaluation
- Back to basics: Considerations in evaluating the outcomes of community forestry. You don’t need fancy indicators.
- Plant exploitation of the last foragers at Shizitan in the Middle Yellow River Valley China: Evidence from grinding stones. Remains of starch and patterns of wear on grinding stones show that Paleolithic people in China used a lot of plants, in a lot of ways.
- Phenotypic diversity and identification of wild Arachis accessions with useful agronomic and nutritional traits. Our friends at ICRISAT identify the top 20 wild peanut accessions.
- Taxonomy and genetic diversity of domesticated Capsicum species in the Andean region. AFLPs and SSRs clarify some taxonomic issues, but show high diversity not just in Bolivia, the putative centre of origin. No top 20 though.
- From forest to field: Perennial fruit crop domestication. They’re like annuals in some respects, different in others. Perhaps most interestingly, their domestication bottleneck wasn’t so much of one.
- Allelopathic potential of Triticum spp., Secale spp. and Triticosecale spp. and use of chromosome substitutions and translocations to improve weed suppression ability in winter wheat. Low in wheat, but high in some rye accessions, and transferrable.
- Genotyping and evaluation of local olive varieties of a climatically disfavoured region through molecular, morphological and oil quality parameters. Eight minor varieties could be less so.
Nibbles: Refugia, Mann, Tree pix, Sparing v sharing, Lethal yellowing, Value chains, Coral sun-blocking, GlobalHort, Gravenstein, Pirate agrobiodiversity
- How species survive climate change.
- Charles C. Mann, author of great books on pre-Columbian America and the consequences of the Columbian Exchange, interviewed.
- Dreamy pictures of old British trees.
- “Protecting wild species may require growing more food on less land.” Great press release headlines of our times. Fortunately Mongabay has a discussion.
- Coconut lethal yellowing wreaking havoc in Mozambique.
- What makes a good food value chain?
- Boffins want to re-activate coral genes in temperate plants to stop them getting sunstroke. Or something.
- Old friend engaged by GlobalHort to work on position paper on “Promoting Agrobiodiversity for International Development: A Rationale and Roadmap for Collective Action”. Go, Hannah.
- Grapes vs apples in Sonoma County.
- Aaargh, pirates smoked like chimneys and drank like fish. Well I never. Anyway, nice to see them making full use of the local agrobiodiversity products.
Nibbles: Jujubes, Breadfruit, Brassica DNA, Strawberry, Seed packets
- It’s jujube season. Who knew? Anissa Helou, that’s who.
- Big video interview with Diane Ragone, breadfruit suprema.
- Today’s ho-hum genome sequence to promise improved agricultural crops: Brassica rapa.
- Genebank saves (and restores) a rare strawberry. I’m not registering here, but I read about it here. Cool approach.
- ICRISAT jumps on the small-seed-packets-are-beautiful bandwagon.
Nibbles: CWR, Agroecology, Innovation, Tree domestication, Ancient pigs, La vida locavore
- Our friends at CIAT showcase our friend Colin showcasing crop wild relatives.
- The latest from Olivier De Schutter on agroecology.
- How to identify and nurture those elusive agricultural entrepreneurs.
- So that they can help you with tree domestication, for example?
- Pigs in ancient Egypt.
- Is the whole local food thing being taken too far?