Nibbles

Nibbles: Elm disease, Kew genebank, Maize domestication, Wildlife vs livestock, Medieval figs, Alternative food security, Spineless lulo, Mangos for Haiti, Aubergine breeding, Urban ag in Japan, West African research

“Beginning in the late 1990s, Kock travelled throughout Ontario collecting twigs of seemingly healthy mature elms, in what amounted to an elm dating service.”
“…a curated inventory of miscellaneous interestingness” lands on the Millennium Seed Bank. Hilarity ensues.
What do hopscotch, architecture and maize have in common?
Zebras good for cattle.
The fig deconstructed.
“Improve yields through crop diversity…” ??? Who are these people?
Crops for the Future bemoans the loss of “a spineless variety of Solanum quitoense.” Someone, somewhere must still have it, surely.
Mangos: Haiti’s new best friend?
Home-bred eggplants. Or aubergines.
“Urban agriculture in Japan, cultivating sustainability and well being.” Again? Still?
West Africa to get bunch of specialist biotechnology centres for crop improvement. No word on where the existing national genebanks fit in. Nor, ahem, what role IITA, ICRISAT and the other CGIAR Centres are going to play in all this.

NSF re-invents the genebank wheel. No, that’s unfair, they’ve given much-needed money to evolutionary scientists to go out and collect seeds of 34 species in a really pernickety way.
Heirlooms being lost (maybe) and being re-found in the US. Thanks to Eve (on FB) for both.
A Cape tomato by any other name…
Gates Foundation has a new nutrition strategy. Gotta admire the chutzpah of summarizing the thing in basically half a side of A4. Compare and contrast, both as to content and presentation, with the CGIAR. Unfair again, I know, but that’s the kind of mood I’m in. Jess unavailable for comment.
Very complicated, very pretty maps about potatoes and climate change.
“I failed to notice substantial contributions to discussions or presentations from breeders or seed organizations, the end users of so much of the research discussed.” Pat Heslop Harrison calls ’em like he seems ’em.

Baobab: your favourite nutritious neglected species for the next 10 seconds.
Nigel Chaffey’s fresh selection of Plant Cuttings is up.
Which reminds me; don’t forget to submit to Berry go Round.
Searching for lost apples in the Scottish Highlands. A job for mountain rescue?
Why feed my cow? A more interesting question than it seems.
Rangeland scientists take photos of their study sites shock. Applications for crop wild relatives? Bound to be.
Glad to give my friend Seniorl Anzu at NARI in PNG a plug for his new(ish) blog, PNG-Agrinews.
Wageningen solves that cow burping problem.
Cambridge says I see your cow burps and raise you food security.

Do polycultures have a role in modern agriculture? Well, do they? h/t The Scientist Gardener.
Texas breeders go for better melons.
“Children from the city who try this yogurt don’t like it, but they’re not healthy like my children!”
Hotspots for Aboriginal traditional medicinal plants mapped to within an inch of their lives, thanks to GBIF.

Why one Nigerian agriculture student will not become a farmer.
Meeting in Kenya on agricultural biodiversity, and other stuff, in October.
Ecuador and access to genetic resources (in Spanish).
“Scientists on the verge of releasing new striga-resistant sorghum.” Drought-resistant too! No need for push-pull then?
One wacky plant breeder’s story.
Attractive local bunny in trouble. Not what you’re thinking, get your mind out of the gutter.
Forest bonds in the offing. Genebank bonds, anyone?
Climate change adaptation in Africa: examples of genetic and agronomic fixes. Need both, I guess.