Neglected species

Nibbles: Microbial diversity, Blog, Yams, Benefits of diversity, Ancient ploughing, Oman’s genebank, Lodoicea, Wheat senescence, Maize landrace marketing, Setaria flowering, Prisoner yams, Eating weed

Microbiologist makes Guardians of Microbial Diversity award. Agromicrobes awaited.
Fabulous giant new superinteresting megablog scheduled to launch today. No RSS. ~~Yet?~~
Who likes which yams (by which they mean Dioscorea) in Madagascar? Kew will have answers.
Genetic diversity invades the zeitgeist, or something.
Or would you prefer something a little more down to earth?
Oldest ploughed fields in Czech lands.
Crazy mixed up report on this weeks new genebank, in ~~Oman~~ Qatar. “Up to 10,000 genes”? Be still my beating heart.
Ich bin ein coco-de-mer-nut.
Heat speeds up wheat aging. I know how it feels.
A “Starbucks Of Tortillas”? Sounds worse than it is.
Welcome news of fundamental work on a “minor” millet.
IITA goes to jail.
Genetically modifying cannabis to make it safe to eat. Such a bad idea. On so many levels.

Big new project on farm animal genomics. Gene-jockeys lick lips.
Big new push to raise money for the Moringa Fund. Agroforesters lick lips.
Big new hardiness zone map unleashed by USDA on unsuspecting world. American GIS people and gardeners lick lips.
Bill Gates mentions cassava. CIAT licks lips.

Dogs were first domesticated animal. But the love affair is cooling off, at least for some breeds.
Building capacity for animal genetic resources use, and for conservation and sustainable use under the ITPGRFA. And tree domestication. Is someone keeping track?
BGI continues to take over DNA world.
And the Worst Plant Virus Oscar goes to…
How PNG farmers cope with drought. From what is developing into a really useful blog.
I wish I had time to read 200 pages on ancient Athenian food. But maybe you do?
Learn about the USDA potato collection, including lots of wild relatives.
The tree that thinks it’s a supermarket: Moringa in the limelight again.

Norwich boffins save the world. To get the real story, you need to deconstruct the piece using this.
“Results indicate that the greatest agriculture-led growth opportunities in West Africa reside in staple crops (cereals and roots and tubers) and livestock production.” Minor crops get the shaft again?
Project tackles conservation of Asian farm animal diversity. I’ve always wondered whether there might be a role for ecotourism. I’d pay to see weird cocks. And hens.
Pakistani boffins return home with skills to improve wheat P efficiency. And the resources? We shall see.
Chinese food and plant semiotics. Can’t wait for LanguageLog to get to grips with this.
NordGen characterizes a weirdly-named exotic Cinderella crop. Can you guess which?
And can you guess what the “best kept secret of agricultural success” might be? Clue: nothing to do with those East Anglian boffins of the first item.
Participatory plant breeding and gender analysis. They’re not giving much away at the source site.