The distinguished agricultural journalist Tom Hargrove died a few days ago. A contributor to a closed mailing list noted that he had made “a stellar scientific contribution to the CGIAR” in particular, though his renown went far beyond that. Very true. All the more so as he was one of the first to question the wisdom “of growing genetically uniform varieties over millions of hectares…from within the ‘lions den’ where the dogma was gospel.” Perhaps his greatest legacy is that the dogma is not as entrenched as it was.
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.
Nibbles: Cocoa, Fruit, Leek moth
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- Why are Froot Loops cheaper than fruit? President Obama explains.
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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.
Nibbles: Wheat pests, Coconut
- Oh no. Hessian flies are becoming resistant to hessian fly-resistant wheats.
- Coconuts! An Indian perspective.