Threats

September 16, 2011September 16, 2011

Objections to “development”

Fishermen and rice farmers in Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province don’t want dams, electricity or even compensation … They just want to preserve their way of life.

What are they, weird or something?

The villagers in question are objecting to proposed dams on tributaries of the Mekong. And it isn’t as if they want better compensation or anything like that. They just don’t want the dams. They want to keep fishing and growing rice. Ah, but you can’t stop progress, can you?

September 13, 2011September 13, 2011

Pavlovsk still up in the air

I don’t understand what is happening.

That’s VIR’s Director General Nikolay Dzuybenko commenting on the Pavlovsk situation just a few days ago. I have to say I know how he feels. Anyway, keep up to date with all things VIR, including the Pavlovsk saga, on their website.

September 13, 2011March 23, 2012

Nibbles: Gardens, Food/nutrition jargon, Photos, Pacific livestock, Durian descriptors, Oysters, Thai breeders, Meat-reducing, Gender, Chinese fortification, G20

Community veggie gardens in Cape Town.
BNSP? WTF?
AoB adds botanical picture search. Will nothing stop these guys? And meanwhile… Sheesh, is there something in the air today?
How can Pacific livestock adapt to climate change? And don’t say they should learn to swim.
How NOT to describe a durian.
The continuously imminent demise of the Chesapeake Bay oyster.
Plant breeders go on the rampage in Thailand.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall turns out not to be a made-up name. Pity.
Kenya’s agriculture increasingly depends on women. MIL unavailable for comment.
“…because our idea of “adding more” has shaped the way we treat micronutrient deficiencies through food fortification globally, trying to integrate this in China is turning out to be problematic.” I bet it is.
Montpellier G20 meeting looking for “effective and innovative research partnerships for development and better impact of research from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.” I hope they brought their pyjamas.

September 12, 2011September 13, 2011

Brainfood: Millet diversity, Maize landraces and hybrids, Potato carotenoids, Wheat domestication, Value chains, Population modeling, Rhizobium diversity, Yeast diversity, Core collection, Wild Zea, Cotton geneflow, Forest fires, Forest diseases

Identification of trait-specific germplasm and developing a mini core collection for efficient use of foxtail millet genetic resources in crop improvement. All the goodness of Setaria italica diversity in just 35 accessions.
Farmers’ adoption of maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids and the persistence of landraces in Southwest China: implications for policy and breeding. There are pros and cons to both hybrids and landraces, and participatory plant breeding could bring together the pros and get rid of the cons.
Carotenoid concentrations of native Andean potatoes as affected by cooking. Some carotenoids were decreased by boiling, others not so much.
Domestication evolution, genetics and genomics in wheat. A big summary of what we know so far and what we might learn by sequencing some wild wheat relatives.
Research Principles for Developing Country Food Value Chains. Multidimensional demands by consumers demand multidimensional research by scientists. I think.
Range shift promotes the formation of stable range edges. Species can move for reasons other than climate change.
Genetic diversity of rhizobia associated with indigenous legumes in different regions of Flanders (Belgium). A new genus? In Flanders?
Assessment of yeast diversity in soils under different management regimes. Type of management and vegetation has an effect. Yeah, well, you had to be there.
Efficiency of PowerCore in core set development using amplified fragment length polymorphic markers in mungbean. Software for making core collections seems to work.
Three new teosintes (Zea spp., Poaceae) from México. New entities, apparently. Species? Subspecies? More study needed, natch.
Recent long-distance transgene flow into wild populations conforms to historical patterns of gene flow in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) at its centre of origin. Four out of eight populations have transgenes.
Effectiveness of strict vs. multiple use protected areas in reducing tropical forest fires: A global analysis using matching methods. Indigenous areas and multiple use are best.
The sudden emergence of pathogenicity in insect–fungus symbioses threatens naive forest ecosystems. It can happen anywhere, any time.

September 9, 2011September 9, 2011

Nibbles: Rice biofortification, Wild walnuts, Himalayan agriculture, Eating invasives, Gissen on wine, Medicinal fungus, Soil initiative, Ag development in S Sudan, AVRDC and WorldFish, Value chains

Boffins to rice: Pump it Up!
Saving the nuts of Central Asia.
Nepali women abandon hybrids for landraces and community seedbanks. Weird thing is that it’s a WWF project. But where are the extensionists? If only they had listened in Bhutan. Ok that packed a lot of links in there.
Never saw an invasive I didn’t like.
Architectural theorist tackles wine. Not many people hurt.
Turns out 57 insect species can play host to that famous medicinal fungus that led to war between Tibetan communities a couple of years back. Which helps how?
An envelope is opened at FAO.
Seeds come to South Sudan. One hopes they are of the right kinds. And that somebody is collecting what was there before. Maybe someone should call WWF.
You want vegetables with your fish?
Crops for the Future says not all middlemen bad.