Threats

October 6, 2008October 6, 2008

Resistance (to UG99) is futile

The Pakistan Biotechnology Information Centre has good news to share:

LAHORE: The scientists of Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad has successfully developed a new variety of wheat ‘UG99’ which is resistant to stem rust disease of wheat. The disease poses world-wide threat to wheat productivity and productive approach of AARI scientists to solve this problem would prove highly beneficial for the country.

Unfortunately, no more details are forthcoming. Where did they find the resistance? How did they get it into a productive variety? The world needs to know.

October 4, 2008

Nibbles: Meat, Meet

Visayan warty piglet eaten. Python blamed.
Biodiversity and Agricultures: Todayâ€™s Challenges, Tomorrowâ€™s Research for More Sustainable Farmingâ€. Can’t wait for November 5th.

October 2, 2008October 2, 2008

Disappearing wild potatoes mined for drought tolerance

An article in National Geographic looks at possible changes in the climate of the Andes, how they will affect potatoes, and what breeders are doing about it. The wild relatives are very much to the fore:

“The crosses we are developing between wild, drought-tolerant varieties and modern potatoes now are for the future,” said Meredith Bonierbale, senior potato breeder at the International Potato Center in Lima.

The article also quotes our friend, colleague and occasional contributor Andy Jarvis, ((Andy works for CIAT and Bioversity in Cali, Colombia.)) who recently collaborated with others on a paper which concluded that some of those very same wild relatives are themselves threatened:

“Even if we halt habitat loss, in the next 50 years, climate change could undo all of the conservation that we already have,” said Jarvis.

September 30, 2008September 30, 2008

Nibbles: Fungi, Early warming, Food banks, High concept, Russia, Wine, Apples, China, Sustainable ag

Vesicular arbuscular mychorriza help improve fallows.
Google.org has a Predict and Prevent Initiative to catch outbreaks of human diseases before they happen. Would be nice to have something similar for threats of erosion of agrobiodiversity.
Niger’s soudure food banks: could they act as village-level genebanks?
You might call it meta-farmingâ€”the quasi-philosophical approach to raising crops and livestock that proceeds not from necessity or commercial aims but a concept.
Farming in Russia: a slide show with narration.
Army worm wine. WTF? Via. (They’re caterpillars.)
A Kazak apple a day keeps the blue mold away.
Neolithic China: not just rice.
The oldest continuous cotton experiment in the world.

September 12, 2008September 12, 2008

Nibbles: Women, Rats, Figs, Mammoths, Castor oil, Heirlooms, Orchards, Genebanks

“Take into account both womenâ€™s and menâ€™s preferences when developing and introducing new varieties.”
Rats!
Domestication of figs pre-dates that of cereals?
Neanderthals liked barbecue.
Underutilized plant in homegarden a terror threat.
Heirloom bean farmer feted by Washington Post, added to Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog blogroll.
Orchards as hotspots of agrobiodiversity.
“…grass pea is a ‘poster child’…”