- EU parliament, and others, urged “to improve conditions for pollinators in Europe”.
- Weeds. A book from Richard Mabey, now published and reviewed in the US.
- Ismail Serageldin will present the 2nd annual Malthus Lecture on 14 July at IFPRI. I’ll be staying late to follow the webcast.
- The Romanian genebank at Suceava seems to have a kind of progress report.
- They’re making a film about the organic farmers of Fukushima.
- Mango diversity picture goodness.
- Turns out making ginger beer doesn’t involve ginger. What it does involve is a weird agrobiodiversity symbiosis, but you had me at beer.
- Ancient Chacoans bred macaws. And why not.
- Biodiversity offsets are a huge market. What I want to know is if any of than money could go to genebanks.
- Ethiopian donkey power.
Nibbles: Qat, Neolithic, Indian nutrition, Indian fish resources, San Diego zoo genebank, Oats, food Security
- Tax qat? Rather you than me, dude.
- ” …non-domesticated animals and plants may give hints on the direction and timing of early human expansion routes.”
- ” The question is why hunger is prevalent when the nature has blessed India with 20 agro-ecological regions and 60 sub-regions to produce the widest variety of food grains, fruits and vegetables in the world?” And it’s a good question.
- “We have sent a report regarding the occurrence of exotic fishes in such a huge quantity to the National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR), Lucknow.” In other news, India has a National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources.
- San Diego Zoo works to conserve Africa apes. Fine. But did you know it has a Native Seed Gene Bank?
- Swedes and oats; recipe for cold-tolerant varieties.
- Empowering Farmers to Achieve Food Security. The Head of Food Security at Syngenta International explains how.
Commission headsup
Oh gosh, is that the Thirteenth Session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture coming over the horizon? Yep, sure looks like it. Only a couple of weeks away. Check out the various Background Study Papers on climate change. Lots of stuff on animal genetic resources. And, among the Working Documents, the Draft Revised Genebank Standards for the Conservation of Orthodox Seeds. Something for everyone indeed.
Nibbles: Impact, Descriptors, Oca, Sacred groves,
- Does the pressure for impact compromise research? Thought-provoking post from CIFOR’s Director General.
- FAO wants your opinion on the FAO/IPGRI List of Multi-crop passport descriptors. They probably don’t need you to tell them that IPGRI has changed its name. Or do they?
- Ocapoppin’ at Rhizowen acres; 100 varieties! I’ll alert the National Geographic.
- Sacred groves sustain bio-cultural richness in Yunnan forest. Still.
Plant breeding considered sexy at long last
Plant breeding is one of science’s 10 hottest fields!
With the population set to pass 7 billion this year and rising to 9 billion in mid-century, the world faces a formidable challenge. If everyone is to be fed without appalling environmental consequences, the yield of staple crops must increase enormously. Some plant scientists are still licking their wounds from the onslaught against genetically modified crops. But there is an intensified effort, among public-sector laboratories and industry companies, to breed better plants for farmers. This involves both direct genetic modification to make plants more resistant to stress and disease and the use of genomic information to accelerate improvement through conventional breeding.