Neglected species

Brainfood: Crop genomics, Phenotyping, Smallholders and markets, Yacon diversity, Indian rice HYVs, Sustainable landscapes, Climate models, Food prices

Genomics reveals new landscapes for crop improvement. Which are dominated by the looming presence of Mount Phenotyping.
Where Have All the Crop Phenotypes Gone? Someone mention phenotyping?
Smallholder agricultural commercialization for income growth and poverty alleviation in southern Africa: A review. On balance, it’s a good thing.
Genetic diversity of yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius (Poepp. & Endl.) H. Robinson) and its wild relatives as revealed by ISSR markers. Low diversity among the cultivated stuff, which is quite distinct from the wilds. All due to clonal propagation. No concrete recommendations apart from conserving all you can find. Pity.
Molecular Genetic Diversity of Major Indian Rice Cultivars over Decadal Periods. Genetic diversity among high yielding varieties released in India went up between 1970 and 2010.
Ten principles for a landscape approach to reconciling agriculture, conservation, and other competing land uses. Adapt, involve, multitask. And more, much more, from Mongbay.
Uncertainty, ignorance and ambiguity in crop modelling for African agricultural adaptation. Be open about assumptions, communicate with and involve diverse stakeholders in appropriate ways, accept feedback from policy-makers. Could be talking about GMOs. Or the above.
The effect of rising food prices on food consumption: systematic review with meta-regression. Worse for poorer countries, and worse for poorer households in all countries.

The Brazil nut needs its pollinators.
How USDA protects plant varieties.
American dogs are Asian, not European.
~~India~~ Nepal working out how to implement the ITPGRFA.
Kerala’s vegetable terrace gardeners.
Haven’t heard much about Ug99 lately, have we? Doesn’t mean people aren’t keeping a careful eye on it.
Climate change 10,000 times faster than vertebrate evolution.
Why quinoa is not “taking over the world.”
Not even New Zealand. Though not for want of trying.
In the meantime, soybeans taking over Africa?
Aquaculture that’s sustainable and ancient. Includes taro fish ponds, which for some reason seem to me cool beyond measure.

If you’re at all interested in yams, you should really be following the Twitter feed of the 5th International Conference on Comparative Biology of Monocotyledons. Just use #MonocotsV.

The next big livestock thing is swimming pigs.
Or maybe llamas. Not swimming ones, mind, settle down.
Nope, it’s farmed fish. Which do swim, though not very far.
Meanwhile, Cornell re-engineers broccoli.
And HarvestChoice puts out an African atlas. Online resources coming in due course.
Which does not show you sesame cultivation in Ethiopia, alas, at least not yet, let’s wait for the online version.
Speaking of atlases, RTBMaps is in Beta. I’ll have to play with it and get back to you.
New Zealand changes genebank rules to speed up forage breeding. To do with quarantine rather than ABS, though.

Stuff that’s been sitting around while I’ve been lying on a beach:

Speaking of apps for agriculture, here’s one that identifies North American trees.
R. Ford Denison spots the weakness in an afro-forestry get-rich-quick scheme.
Public Radio International has a big series on feeding the 9 billion — and wants photos of your lunch.
I’ve no idea why people are squeamish about smut. Huitlacoche is my personal favourite among Smithsonian MAG’s Four Fungi Fit For Your Plate.
No idea what’s happened lately to Monsanto’s GM wheat fiasco. Is the US National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation off the hook?
And something old yet new: reclaiming the Sinai for agriculture by reviving an ancient river.