Threats

Nibbles: AVRDC genebank, Grits, Sikhs & parmesan, Congolese gouda, New rice, Poisonous plants, Bush tucker, Co-evolution, Amazonian medicinals, Native American usufruct

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.

A couple of EU DGs discuss farming for diversity, maybe even diversity in farming?
They recently heard about urban farming from FAO, which might help. Oh no, wait, that’s a different DG.
Gates Foundation doubles down on nutrition, nice to see agriculture in the mix too.
Meanwhile, efforts are underway to measure the food security of indigenous people in better ways, so that we can figure out whether things like the above are actually working.
Sourcing high quality coffee. I think we can all get behind that goal.
Deconstructing salt tolerance in chickpea.
Botany has an image problem. No, really?
Fact-checking pollinator decline.
Only local cows for Haryana. Seems extreme? Well, Michigan not above doing the same.
Coca-Cola has plant-based bottles. Now to embed some seeds in them.
Maybe Swedish vegetable seeds. Do they have Coke in Sweden?

Disturbing follow-up to the story of the devastating olive disease in southern Italy: now some of the researchers involved in fighting the epidemic are being blamed for it.