Networking

May 30, 2012May 30, 2012

Agrobiodiversity education in context

A piece on “Generating the next generation” by Nigel Chaffey in his latest, always indispensable, Plant Cuttings had me trawling around for an hour or so last night amid botanical teaching resources, looking for stuff that might be relevant to agricultural biodiversity. It’s not a great haul, alas.

Teaching Tools in Plant Biology, published by the American Society of Plant Biologists, does have Genetic Improvements in Agriculture, but it’s behind a subscription wall. The American Society of Plant Biologists has pages of resources for K-12 and higher education, but the focus seems to be on biotechnology. Fortunately, the Plant Science TREE (Tool for Research Engaged Education), from the Gatsby Plant Science Summer Schools, does have a useful, freely available section on Plants and People.

I was also momentarily encouraged by seeing an old friend posing in his rice genebank on the homepage of Science & Plants for Schools website:

But the caption he is lumbered with is, weirdly, about the role of plant sciences in “developing cures for diseases.” And anyway nothing happens when you click on him. However, feeding the world is also mentioned (phew), and I was in the end able to find something on genebanks and plant breeding. I wouldn’t call the coverage comprehensive, though. Nor systematically presented.

There is, of course, a place for teaching resources specifically for agrobiodiversity, but one would like to see the subject a little better integrated into the wider plant sciences education universe. Wouldn’t one? Well, not if there are many students like Katie DeGroot.

May 24, 2012November 28, 2017

Nibbles: Banana networking, Belgian flora, On farm breeding course, International collaboration, Wheat pre-breeding, Dog evolution

ProMusa goes all social.
Belgian flora goes online.
Plant breeding goes to the people.
FAO and ICARDA go together.
Brits go all in on wheat pre-breeding.
Modern dog breeds don’t go all the way back to the grey wolf.

May 21, 2012May 21, 2012

Nibbles: Welsh sheep, Indian cows, International centres, NUS in Asia, Purdue workshop, Onions, New Alliance, Community seedbanks, Seed Savers Exchange, Restoration, Shakespeare

“I think you’re going to need different sheep.” In Wales, that is. (And different grasslands?)
And new cattle in India, apparently.
Another bunch of international agricultural research centres get together. Yeah, because the other lot are doing so well.
I wonder if any of either lot will be going to this FAO symposium on NUS in Asia in a couple of weeks’ time. And no, I don’t know why we didn’t know about this earlier.
On the whole, though, I think I’d rather be at the Purdue llama workshop.
Or, at a pinch, this thing on the edible Alliaceae.
Wait, there’s also a New Alliance to Increase Food Security and Nutrition. Not sure who’s invited to this party, but the “Rome-based agencies” seem to be the ones throwing it. (I guess this comes on the heels of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ annual symposium? Where’s a good summary of what happened there? Anyone? Ah, yes, Ian Scoones explains all.)
One of those agencies wants to hear from you if you have experience of community “gene/seed banks.”
Unclear if Seed Savers Exchange would qualify, but they have a bunch of peas out for the “community” to have a look at.
These Indian award-winners would definitely qualify. Which is just as well as it seems the national genebank is up for sale.
Meanwhile, botanic gardens get together to restore degraded ecosystems.
The Bard’s plants. Well, some of them.

May 15, 2012May 15, 2012

Nibbles: Yams, Aroids, Shattering gene, Panicoid genomes

Improving yams at IITA.
Improving aroids the world over.
Parallel evolution in the domestication of cereals. Will it help to improve them?
Foxtail millet helps with switchgrass genome assembly. And, one supposes, improvement.

May 14, 2012May 14, 2012

Brainfood: Bee diversity, Fodder innovation, African agrobiodiversity, Quinoa economy, Fragmentation and diversity, Rice in Madagascar, Rice in Thailand

Management increases genetic diversity of honey bees via admixture. No domestication bottleneck there!
Enhancing innovation in livestock value chains through networks: Lessons from fodder innovation case studies in developing countries. Fodder innovators of the world, organize. If you don’t, you will lose your value chains.
Introduction to special issue on agricultural biodiversity, ecosystems and environment linkages in Africa. Special issues? What special issue?
The construction of an alternative quinoa economy: balancing solidarity, household needs, and profit in San Agustín, Bolivia. Despite the allure of fancy denominations of origin and the like, old-fashioned cooperatives, and the much-maligned intermediary, manage to hang on in there.
Species–genetic diversity correlations in habitat fragmentation can be biased by small sample sizes. Can.
The original features of rice (Oryza sativa L.) genetic diversity and the importance of within-variety diversity in the highlands of Madagascar build a strong case for in situ conservation. Actually the way I read it, the stronger case is for ex situ. But see what you think.
Population structure of the primary gene pool of Oryza sativa in Thailand. In situ Strikes Back.