- Microbiologist makes Guardians of Microbial Diversity award. Agromicrobes awaited.
- Fabulous giant new superinteresting megablog scheduled to launch today.
NoRSS.Yet? - Who likes which yams (by which they mean Dioscorea) in Madagascar? Kew will have answers.
- Genetic diversity invades the zeitgeist, or something.
- Or would you prefer something a little more down to earth?
- Oldest ploughed fields in Czech lands.
- Crazy mixed up report on this weeks new genebank, in
OmanQatar. “Up to 10,000 genes”? Be still my beating heart. - Ich bin ein coco-de-mer-nut.
- Heat speeds up wheat aging. I know how it feels.
- A “Starbucks Of Tortillas”? Sounds worse than it is.
- Welcome news of fundamental work on a “minor” millet.
- IITA goes to jail.
- Genetically modifying cannabis to make it safe to eat. Such a bad idea. On so many levels.
Nibbles: Blogs, Geographical Indicators, India, Benefits, Forest regeneration, Flypaper
- My favorite agriculture blogs. Can you say “parochial”?
- Want to track Geographical Indicators? Look no further.
- India’s agriculture magazine tackles Agro-Biodiversity For Food Security.
- And GFAR promotes a new initiative to realise the benefits of agrobiodiversity. Love is all around.
- National Plant Genetics Resources Laboratory (NPGRL) at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños checks in to rehab.
- Bioversity scientist plays with fire, for better and more diverse forest regeneration.
- Mutation breeding; Matt explains the lack of breakthroughs in a bit more detail.
- Fabulous, complex story of spiders, flies and microbes. Add ’em together for green flypaper.
Nibbles: Canis then and now, Training roundup, Soybean genome, Top 10 viruses, PNG drought, Food archaeology, Sturgeon Bay, Moringa
- Dogs were first domesticated animal. But the love affair is cooling off, at least for some breeds.
- Building capacity for animal genetic resources use, and for conservation and sustainable use under the ITPGRFA. And tree domestication. Is someone keeping track?
- BGI continues to take over DNA world.
- And the Worst Plant Virus Oscar goes to…
- How PNG farmers cope with drought. From what is developing into a really useful blog.
- I wish I had time to read 200 pages on ancient Athenian food. But maybe you do?
- Learn about the USDA potato collection, including lots of wild relatives.
- The tree that thinks it’s a supermarket: Moringa in the limelight again.
Contract farming is good for you — official
Many people say that giving smallholder farmers a stronger position in market chains is one of the best methods of helping them out of poverty, and that applies particularly to the neglected, orphaned, underused etc crops that are our bread and butter. Is it true? A new study in World Development says it is. 1 The article is behind a paywall, and even if it weren’t I am pretty confident that I wouldn’t understand the details. So how do I know that “participation in agricultural value chains make[s] smallholders better off”?
Because the author says so.
Which of course he would, although in this case he does so with a blog post explaining just why his study is so much more conclusive than anything that has gone before. And that I could understand. Not the details of how he got there, which is still a long way outside my expertise. But where he got to, which was here:
At the end of the day, I find that contract farming significantly increases the income of participants. Perhaps more importantly, I find that contract farming increases the income net of contract farming revenue of participants. In other words, there are positive spillovers on other sources of income (here, income from from sales of livestock and income from other agricultural sources such as the sales of non-contracted crops and animal byproducts).
More broadly, I’m seeing, and liking, more of these blog posts from scientists about their science. And while not all scientists are capable, not by a long shot, those who can are, I am sure, adding to their reach and impact. Just sayin’
EU seed law in turmoil?
Good reasons to take the weekend off include the fact that by not being too keen, one avoids certain errors. So I’m glad I didn’t see Patrick’s original post on an opinion delivered by an EU Advocate General in the matter of Association Kokopelli vs Graines Baumaux SAS. 2 At least, not until after he had got things straighter. Here is Patrick’s view of the Advocate General’s views:
First of all the Advocate-General said it is not legal to interpret EU or French Seed Laws as meaning you cannot sell unlisted varieties. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO SELL UNLISTED VARIETIES.
Secondly, the provisions of EU Seed Law that refer to the DUS standard are NOT VALID.
Don’t get your hopes too high for a legal seed supply revolution in Europe. As Patrick explains, there’s a lot more that still needs to happen. But the possibility is that it just might happen, and then Europeans will be in the happy state enjoyed by the entire rest of world, able to buy, sell and grow whatsoever varieties they choose.