Podcasts

September 29, 2015September 29, 2015

Colin on genebanks, and more

Our friend Colin Khoury was interviewed live by Radio New Zealand about genebanks the other day. Apparently, you’ll be able to hear the results on their website for only a couple of weeks, though. So we’ve downloaded the mp3 for your long-term listening pleasure.

You’re welcome.

September 25, 2015

Nibbles: Oyster wars, Bitter veggies, Saffron, Ag & development, Cannabis taxonomy, Mold evolution, Svalbard & ICARDA, Blueberry taste

The land sparing vs sharing debate encapsulated in a controversy over San Francisco oyster farming.
Bitter is good.
BBC’s Farming Today on saffron in England, among other things.
Want sustainable development? Invest in agriculture.
Growing weed: here comes the science.
“When you chew on a Camembert rind, you’re eating a solid mat of mold.” And probably GM to boot.
Why do I sound so totally unprepared?
Breeding better blueberries.

August 3, 2015August 3, 2015

Prize for plants programme

It’s not clear whether it was due to her magisterial BBC programme Plants: From Roots to Riches, but Prof. Kathy Willis has won the Royal Society’s prestigious Michael Faraday Prize for excellence in communicating science to UK audiences. You’ll remember the programme features genebanks quite prominently. Well worth listening to. Congratulations to Prof. Willis, who is Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

July 26, 2015July 26, 2015

Talking about Talking Biotech

Frankly, something called Talking Biotech would not normally get a second look from me. Too narrow. Too nerdy. Probably too preachy. But I’d be wrong in the case of Dr Kevin Folta’s podcast. It is nerdy, but in a good way; and it isn’t preachy (well, mostly not too preachy). And, despite it’s title, it’s not just about biotech. There tends to be a section in each hour-long weekly episode, usually towards the end, where an expert talks to Dr Folta about how a crop evolved, and how it is being improved: recent episodes include Dr David Spooner on the potato, Prof. Pat Heslop-Harrison on the banana, and Drs Shelby Ellison and Philipp Simon on the carrot. You can subscribe in iTunes, where you can also leave a review.

June 23, 2015June 23, 2015

Nibbles: Pope, CGIAR, Agroecology, ABS, Food shortage, World flora, Nutella, Bees, GMOs, CC & wheat, CC & legumes, EU satellite, Seed saving, Wheat breeding, Strawberry breeding, Adopt-a-crop, Organic tea, Malagasy yams, Seed app, Ebola seeds, Sorghum spoons

And we’re back! While we were away…

…the Pope pontificated on climate change and GMOs, among other things.
And so did the CGIAR.
Boffins in the UK suggested that agroecology might be important to sustainable intensification. No word on whether the CGIAR is listening.
Bioversity asked for contributions on whether ABS can support farmers. No word on whether anyone is listening.
And The Economist asked: who cares, anyway?
Google said it would help botanists catalogue all plants.
Nutella was bad, and then ok again.
Bees were again found to be important to agriculture, but not all bees.
The pros and cons of GMOs were trotted out again. And again.
Climate change was blamed for smaller loaves of bread. Which as far as I can tell might not be a totally bad thing.
And for the need to grow drought-resistant legumes.
The EU launched a satellite to monitor crops.
Meanwhile, people just got on with it, in their own, sometimes weird, way…
…breeding wheat. Even organic wheat. Even perennial. Even in Scotland.
…breeding strawberries. Even with wild relatives.
…or just adopting the raw materials of breeding.
Growing organic tea in China.
Conserving yams in Madagascar.
Trying to find the appropriate seeds to grow in Kenya.
And giving probably inappropriate seeds to Ebola-hit farmers.
Which they can now eat using sorghum spoons.