Threats

February 1, 2011February 1, 2011

Egyptian genebank looted

I suppose it’s only a small blip in the great scheme of things, but you know what they say: to a hammer everything is a nail. And to a genebank guy everything that happens affects genebanks. In this case, the Egyptian Deserts Gene Bank at Sheikh Zowaid Station in North Sinai, which we are told has been trashed during the current turmoil in Egypt. ¹ It specializes in desert plants, and has wide international partnerships, including with the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew and the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative. The manager had to abandon the place when its security detail disappeared and an armed gang warned him that they would be coming in the night. Which they indeed did, to devastating effect, getting away with lots of equipment and wrecking the cooling system. The collection is not duplicated in the national genebank in Giza, which apparently has not suffered similar looting. ² The genebank manager called a few people in Cairo before having to abandon the place, including our informant, so the problem is known to the national agricultural research authorities, but there’s nothing anyone can do at the moment, clearly.

LATER: Nourishing the Planet weighs in with a nice article.

January 30, 2011January 30, 2011

Nibbles: Cocoa, Fruit, Leek moth

Would you pay more for a chocolate bar to speed democratic change?
Why are Froot Loops cheaper than fruit? President Obama explains.
Climate change hits Britain’s leek growers.

January 27, 2011January 27, 2011

Nibbles: Indigenous Peoples, Bananas, Ants

Got something to say to the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples? Call for Sessions.
“[B]anana variety diversity contributes positively to reducing yield losses caused by biophysical constraints.” IFPRI paper, so you know you can believe it.
Weaver ants drafted to protect African fruit and nut crops. Again.

January 25, 2011January 25, 2011

Nibbles: Wheat pests, Coconut

Oh no. Hessian flies are becoming resistant to hessian fly-resistant wheats.
Coconuts! An Indian perspective.

January 22, 2011January 22, 2011

Superduper weeds? Couldn’t happen.

I am having a lot of trouble understanding a press release from the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. It trumpets “a way to control superweed”. And it helpfully explains what superweeds are. In essence, they are weeds that are resistant to a parcel of weedkillers. The release quoted an article in The New York Times that “noted that there were 10 resistant species in at least 22 states infesting millions of acres of farmland”.

The solution, says the press release, was to put a new kind of weedkiller resistance into crop plants, so that farmers can use a different weedkiller on their superweed-infested fields and thus eradicate the superweeds.

Using a massive genetic database and a bioinformatic approach, Dow AgroSciences researchers identified two bacterial enzymes that, when transformed into plants, conferred resistance to an herbicide called “2,4-D,” commonly used in controlling dandelions. The enzymes were successfully put into corn and soybean plants, and those new plants showed excellent resistance to 2,4-D, including no negative effects on yield or other agronomic traits. Other advantages of 2,4-D include low cost, short environmental persistence, and low toxicity to humans and wildlife.

Stay with me here.

I wonder what the odds are that among the populations of 10 resistant species that infest millions of acres of farmland across 22 states, there might be some harbouring a bit of tolerance to 2,4-D.

Nah. Couldn’t happen. Not in wild carrots. Nor in wild mustard. Superduperweeds? Couldn’t happen.