Category: Policy

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Nibbes: Nettles, Rivers, Rare species, Library, Afghanistan protected area, Nordic-Baltic-Russian collaboration, Photos, Disease

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“Food prices: What goes up must come down”

Oh yeah? I’ve taken our headline directly from Mariann Fischer Boel in full rhetorical flight.

When the price on wheat went up last year, I wondered quite publicly why bread prices skyrocketed when the share of wheat in the cost of producing bread was relatively low. Back then, I was told by industry that the share of agricultural raw material was in fact much higher and that rising energy prices also had an impact. Now with wheat and energy prices having dropped dramatically during the last year, I think it is legitimate to wonder again and ask: why aren’t bread prices following suit?

Good question? Or naive political drivel? You be the judge.

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Mexico City protects maize landraces

In an almighty panic about GM maize, the government of Mexico City has sprung energetically into action. The result is a “Declaration of Protection of the Maize Breeds of the Mexico Altiplano.” There are said to be “more than 60” maize landraces in the part of the Altiplano that falls within the confines of the Distrito Federal, which I assume is the area over which the Declaration will be applicable.

The Declaration includes provision for:

  • establishing a research programme to improve local maize breeds
  • supporting farmers who sow only native seeds
  • promoting the use of organic fertilizer and pesticides
  • banning of the purchase and distribution of transgenic maize in Mexico City
  • establishing a germplasm bank for the Altiplano’s maize seeds

I have a few questions about all this, but I’ll just pose one here. Has anyone asked the CIMMYT genebank, just outside Mexico City, whether by any chance it already has the Altiplano’s maize landraces?

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Asking the tough questions

  • If, 10,000 years ago, Neolithic plant breeders had domesticated another plant that would have today produced a highly desirable crop, what would that be, and is it too late to start now?
  • How can we combine traditional plant breeding techniques, biotechnology and GMOs to prepare the world’s crop plants for oncoming climate change?
  • How can we retain biodiversity in crop resources?
  • Will every farmer in the world be able to get a crop genotype specifically produced to get the best from his/her field?
  • Given the medium to long term unsustainability of oil-based high input industrial agriculture, should we be developing high yielding perennials to replace existing annuals?

Some of the questions submitted to the Journal of Experimental Botany from which will be selected the 100 most important questions facing plant science. And they’re pretty good questions. I found them by searching for “crop” and “agriculture.” The tag line for the survey — and title of the CABI blog entry which pointed me to it — is: How can plant scientists change the world? Go on and submit your own ideas. Conservation of agrobiodiversity does not seem to be particularly well served thus far. You’ve got until the end of March.

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Research Into Use policy briefs online

DFID’s Research Into Use Programme has just come up with a crop of policy briefs on agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Several of them have agrobiodiversity relevance, if not themes.

Browsing RIU’s publications list, I was also struck by its Lessons from Pro-Poor Seed Systems in East Africa and Lessons from Plant Breeder and Farmer Partnerships.