Nibbles

Nibbles: Svalbard, Wayne Smith, Salinity, Tasty sorghum, NUS conference, Med collecting, Income and diversity, Agricultural packages

Canadian genebank sends seeds to Svalbard.
And Plant Breeder of the Year goes to… Bet you he used the genebank a lot.
Dubai told to grow local plants to save water. There’s a genebank for that.
More digestible sorghum down to one gene. Probably came from a genebank.
A conference on neglected and underutilized species. And the genebanks that conserve them?
Collecting on Mediterranean islands for Kew’s genebank. Nice gig if you can get it.
Richer farmers more likely to adopt improved varieties. To him that has… So I guess genebanks should go to the poorer farmers to collect landraces? Always wondered about that.
Can I help it if everything came up genebanks today?
Well, almost everything. Agricultural packages unwrapped by the Archaeobotanist.

Fine words from Cordoba: Promising Crops for the XXI Century. Get ’em here.
Got a horticultural problem facing local farmers? Need a US graduate student? Let the Horticulture CRSP Trellis Fund be your matchmaker.
Why conserve grasslands when you could be chasing quick profits in corn and soy?
Texas A&M gets $1M to study organic rice. Would $1million fund side-by-side trials of SRI, organic and paddy?

Today’s new national genebank for food security? Step proudly forward, Rwanda!
Bolivians are eating three times more quinoa. Or maybe three times more Bolivians are eating quinoa.
Growing history in a pre-Columbian English cottage garden.
Bland tomatoes all down to the lack of volatiles.
Daily Kos spreads the Guardian’s gospel of SRI rice; so is aerobic rice a step down that path?
Speaking of which, those Bihari farmers have snagged a world record potato harvest, using organic methods, and a relatively new variety from Indian breeders.

Plantwise says you can manage banana xanthomonas wilt; so no need for GMOs?
DG of Bioversity says “adopt transgenic crops carefully and on a case to case basis”.
“You can contribute to the revision of quinoa descriptors”. Is there one for level of threat to indigenous people?
Poor US farmers. “Despite last year’s drought, net farm income in US … will be highest since 1973.” h/t Tom.
“WIPO Instrument on genetic resources and traditional knowledge should reflect developments in international law and policy relating to indigenous peoples.” Course it should.
“[N]otable gains in dietary diversity and increased child health in hundreds of farm communities of Northern Malawi.” Any causal link?
Roger Leakey talks agroforestry.
Rwanda saves seeds.

Bigshots visit CIMMYT, miss opportunity to mention genebank. No, wait…
Bigshot visits IRRI, including genebank.
Yeah but who needs those anyway, you can make your own!
Now the French want their say on quinoa.
Speaking of the French, you think there is any horsemeat in Cornish pasties?
“I grew up with zucchini, but I prefer the flavor and texture of angled luffa.”
Gotta love the fact that there’s a thing called the Rogue Creamery.
Missed the fact that Leafsnap had been named one of the top 10 science apps of 2012.
Germans report on Italians helping Ethiopians. To keep bees. One suspects Ethiopians could teach Italians and Germans a thing or two about keeping bees, but that’s another story.