- Oh gosh, it was Tree Diversity Day and nobody told us.
- Bioversity catch up with their own cacao strategy.
- And IFPRI has a new one for you to comment on.
- Caribbean agriculture gets another signed document to help it along. No word on whether agrobiodiversity featured.
- Mango conservation gets organized. But not to the extent of an RSS feed, alas.
- California owes Morocco for its olives.
- Virus-resistant cassava imminent. Haven’t they been saying this for a while now? And is anyone thinking about what will happen to the virus-susceptible varieties?
- Push-pull in the news.
- The cost of everything, and the value of nothing, nature edition.
- What’s the value of Arabidopsis, then?
Nibbles: Animal abolitionism and not, Patents and not, Early agriculture, Brogdale, Soybean genes, Fancy phenotyping, Nexus principles, ICRAF databases, Transformation, Pest posters
- Animal domestication is murder. Will someone tell ILRI? And the Maasai.
- Indian home remedies at risk from nasty patents. I guess someone has been reading the Washington Post.
- Agriculture started as a response to the need for large amounts of beer for feasts. Can’t think of a better reason. All the more weird that it seemed to go pear-shaped in Britain, then, after a good start. Maybe everybody was drunk?
- The UK’s National Fruit Collection in the spotlight. So after that dodgy period, British agriculture did manage to get a grip, thank goodness. Probably for the cider.
- Multiple copies of a gene needed for nematode resistance in soybeans.
- PETting plants.
- “Ten principles to apply at the nexus of agriculture, conservation, and other land uses.” And almost anything else for that matter.
- Those ICRAF spatial databases explained.
- Bhoo Chetana in India and, admittedly under another name, in Peru. Transformation often means reviving old ways.
- Free posters of Top 10 plant-attacking nasties.
Saving rice from a truant monsoon
Forsaken by the rain gods, the tribal farmers in the district are now mounting a desperate attempt to salvage their wilting crop. What is at stake is not only their livelihood, but also the preservation of over a dozen rare and invaluable indigenous varieties of rice. If the attempt by these farmers doesn’t succeed, the state could lose many rice varieties for ever…
“These tribal farmers have been the sole saviours of the seeds of many indigenous and rare varieties of rice. They have been cultivating and saving them religiously despite suffering losses as these varieties have only half the yield when compared to hybrid ones…”
Well, maybe. But Jeerakashala, Navara, Adukkan, Thondi and Chomala are in fact in IRRI’s genebank, according to Genesys.
Brainfood: Resistances, Seed networks, Medicinal plant protection, Pollinator knowledge gaps
- Indirect Effect of a Transgenic Wheat on Aphids through Enhanced Powdery Mildew Resistance. Plants resistant to fungus have more aphids. Oh dear.
- A case study of seed exchange networks and gene flow for barley (Hordeum vulgare subsp. vulgare) in Morocco. There is more movement of material among villages than interviews suggest.
- Evaluation of plant-derived products against pests and diseases of medicinal plants: A review. Extracts from some medicinal plants used to protect other medicinal plants.
- Identifying key knowledge needs for evidence-based conservation of wild insect pollinators: a collaborative cross-sectoral exercise. Top one: How important is the diversity of pollinator species to the resilience and reliability of the pollination service? Seems a pretty good start.
Nibbles: GRISP, Wheat for Africa, African ag, Future genebanks, GCARD, Zoonoses, Urban ag, Goat feed, ICRISAT breeding, Old corn & apples, Millets, Chocolate, Medlars, Yam beans, Black Sigatoka, CBD and ITPGRFA, Fish policy, Dog miscegenation
- Global rice and wheat in Africa tweetfests going on. And speaking of Africa, IFPRI has a big report.
- Speaking of rice, read about how our friends at IRRI are rethinking the genebank.
- Speaking of tweetfests, GCARD promises to be one too. More than a conference!
- From ILRI, who will no doubt be at GCARD, the downside of urban farming. And more doom and gloom.
- Speaking of urban agriculture, RAFI has a big report. (Oh, and agriculture is not the only thing that can be peri-urban.)
- Speaking of ILRI, this time in better mood, they’re feeding improved sweetpotato and cassava varieties to improved goat breeds.
- Speaking of improved varieties, ICRISAT has them too, of millets and the like. And they came from the genebank. And they were made by breeders, who have a newsletter, did you know? This is coming up because of the CBD meeting in Hyderabad, on which more later…
- Speaking of genebanks (the USDA ones in this case), it’s not only breeders who use them. (And speaking of USDA genebanks, here’s a story about the apple one.)
- And speaking of millets, they’re magic!
- Speaking of magic, that’s the only word for chocolate, isn’t it?
- Speaking of painting yourself into a corner, do yam beans go with chocolate? No? Well, maybe medlars do.
- Speaking of fruits (good catch!), Ecuadorians find disease resistance gene in Indian banana. Or at least banana named after Indian city.
- And that, I suppose, is why you need multiple ABS regimes, despite the confusion that may cause in Hyderabad and elsewhere.
- Speaking of ABS, interesting how that doesn’t really figure in fish policy discussions.
- And finally, a propos of nothing in particular, news of an unusual wolf-dog hybrid.