- The CATIE coffee collection gets a really close look.
- Pigeonpeas for Australia.
- Coloured wheat for India.
- Also in India, a rice institute opens its doors.
- A livestock genebank for Uganda.
- The coconut for the Caribbean.
- Why crop-based businesses should pay for crop conservation. Holding my breath…
- Hawaiians reclaim taro. Breathing again…
- How to use wild species sustainably.
- Diversity Assessment Tool for Agrobiodiversity and Resilience. Yeah, what we need is more software.
- 16th century beer. From Quito, the first city to brew beer in South America.
- Egyptians: I see that and raise you about 6 thousand years.
- You too can drink Leonardo’s wine. Wonder if he liked beer.
- Exploring for wild tomatoes.
- Liberating diversity.
- Agricultural R&D is in the top 3 value-for-money development interventions. Just saying…
- Seconded: “Multiplying the budget of CGIAR, the world’s largest global agricultural innovation network, would be a good start. And, in a time of great disruptions, we ought to prioritize Sustainable Development Goal 2.4, implementing resilient agricultural practices, with a greater focus on smallholder farmers in developing countries.” And 2.5!!!
Brainfood: Wild oats, Beet diversity, Durum breeding, Barley variants, Sustainable seafood, Maize systems, Pigeonpea CWR, Development & biodiversity, Local breed improvement, PA effectiveness, Root exudates, Cranberry CWR
- Developing Chloroplast Genomic Resources from 25 Avena Species for the Characterization of Oat Wild Relative Germplasm. Not many people hurt.
- Genetic diversity among cultivated beets (Beta vulgaris) assessed via population-based whole genome sequences. Genetic groups follow crop type, but with added complexity.
- Phenotypic Parent Selection within a Khorasan Wheat Collection and Genetic Variation in Advanced Breeding Lines Derived by Hybridization with Durum Wheat. That would be Triticum turgidum subsp. turanicum (Jakubz.) Á. Löve & D. Löve. These Italian researchers like the cut of its jib.
- The Fate of Deleterious Variants in a Barley Genomic Prediction Population. Avoiding the cost of domestication.
- Reframing the sustainable seafood narrative. Sustainability is about more than just ocean health, and more than just producers.
- Maize agro-food systems to ensure food and nutrition security in reference to the Sustainable Development Goals. Focus on nutritional value.
- Net Gain: Seeking Better Outcomes for Local People when Mitigating Biodiversity Loss from Development. Participation is the key.
- Determinants of breeders’ participation to an indigenous cattle breeding program. Social, family and institutional relationships are as important as distance or production systems.
- A global-level assessment of the effectiveness of protected areas at resisting anthropogenic pressures. Not very effective on average, but somewhat more effective in rich countries, and in forests.
- A Return to the Wild: Root Exudates and Food Security. The next frontier?
- Exploring the Genetic Diversity of Wild Cranberry Populations in the Upper Midwestern United States. Still work to do on the old frontier.
- Evaluation and Identification of Promising Introgression Lines Derived From Wild Cajanus Species for Broadening the Genetic Base of Cultivated Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.]. Some made it into the all-India initial varietal trials, no less. Take that, root exudates!
Nibbles: ISF & SDGs, Nutrition report, Plant blindness, Cowpea, Chefs, Ancient baking, Rotations, Blue maize, Forests & poverty, Food miles
- International Seed Federation secretary-general in podcast on seeds and the SDGs.
- Country nutrition profiles. Sobering.
- Share your plant stories on Herbaria 3.0.
- The secret history of the cowpea, from a chef: “Our peas were tiny little texts, and we didn’t even know it.”
- Speaking of chefs…
- More on that 4000-year-old baking yeast story.
- The economics of rotations.
- The economics of blue maize.
- Mapping the evidence base for the link between forests and poverty alleviation.
- Speaking of maps, here’s how food moves around the USA.
Nibbles: Forages, Zimbabwe policy, Kyrgyz nuts, Warwick vegetables, Asparagus breeder
- Brachiaria is the new Napier grass.
- Zimbabwe has a new seed conservation strategy.
- Agroforestry in Kyrgyzstan.
- Podcast on the Warwick University veggies genebank.
- Award for asparagus breeding. Somebody has to do it…
Nibbles: Colombian seeds, Seed diversity, Local crops & nutrition, Seed saving, Apple origins, Microbial collections, Dairy cows in USA, Bean sculptures, IPCC report, Potato linguistics, Piña cloth
- Climate-smartness and seeds in Colombia.
- Why do we need 158 varieties of cauliflower?
- Maybe it’s the nutrition? Gotta get those value chains working though: here’s how.
- Also, it will save the world.
- Biting hard into apple origins.
- Microbes need collections too.
- And cows.
- Inflatable beans. The jokes write themselves.
- Did I already link to my work blog post on the IPCC report?
- Papas or patatas? It’s…complicated.
- I want me a pineapple shirt.