Nibbles

Nibbles: UK horticulture funding, AVRDC, Biofortification, SRI debate, Stressed bees, Nutrient decline, Beneficial viruses, DNA for dummies, Chaffey, Cow genebank, Organic network

For UK horticulturalists in need of cash. Wonder if that includes the rosemary collection.
I’m pretty sure it doesn’t include AVRDC.
Who would no doubt agree with Mark Lynas that “No-one disputes that a balanced and nutritionally-adequate diet is the best long-term solution to vitamin A deficiency and malnutrition in general.” And be as puzzled as the rest of us for the relative lack of funding for research on such a diet.
A discussion of why mainstream agricultural science hasn’t got the message across about SRI, courtesy of Facebook. Yeah well, the whole concept of basing interventions on, you know, evidence, is not exactly mainstream. Just ask the balanced and nutritionally-adequate diet guys.
Bees are stressed out, the poor things.
Creative Commons graphs on changes in vegetable nutrient content.
Not all plant viruses are bad.
Pat Heslop-Harrison talks DNA, with his usual extraordinary fluency, from 11 mins in.
Plant Cuttings! Everything from the botany of food to transcription factors for C4 photosynthesis.
Cow genebank proposed.
IFOAM gets a TIPI. Vandana Shiva no doubt ecstatic.

Another view of that organic tomatoes, stress and nutrients study that was all over the place yesterday.
IRRI provides a reality check on Golden Rice. Maybe they should just have stressed it.
Speaking of which, have we already linked to this piece on how beet has got poorer in nutrients?
Thinking of setting up a map portal? Say about the geographic distribution of nutritional problems? Read this first.
From SRI to SFMI. Yeah, but what is happening to nutrient levels?
Did we also link to these pretty photos of apples before? Well, I don’t care, it’s worth seeing them again. And just imagine how much the different varieties differ in nutrients.
How nutritious is sourdough anyway? Anyone?
Yeah, yeah, but is rotation good for nutrient content?
Which will all be very interesting to the new Bioversity DG, no doubt.
Not to mention to some of the potential candidates for the World Food Prize.

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.