- Diversification, Yield and a New Agricultural Revolution: Problems and Prospects. It’s not about the yield.
- Spatiotemporal Patterns of Field Crop Diversity in the United States, 1870–2012. It peaked in 1960. Like Elvis.
- Resistance and resilience to changing climate of Tuscany and Valpolicella wine grape growing regions in Italy. Should they ever decide to move those grapes, now they know where to.
- Conservation and Valorization of Heritage Ethnographic Textiles. Like Neolithic beer, only with textiles. Hemp for IPK and VIR genebanks used to conserve and restore old Romanian shirts etc. hed by the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant.
Genebank accessions to restore old Romanian shirts
The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant has a heritage textile collection, and the odd shirt and carpet understandably occasionally needs restoration. So the museum has launched the interdisciplinary MYTHOS project (Development of Advanced Compatible Materials and Techniques and their Application for the Protection, Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage Assets)…
…which…aims to obtain fibres, yarns and fabrics which will serve as reference materials. They will be greatly similar, biologically and technologically, to the fabrics used in the heritage textiles containing bast fibres. In this way, all restoration and conservation work will be safely carried out, while respecting the cultural and historical value of these heritage objects.
Since flax is not much grown any more in Romania, the museum had to go to genebanks in Germany and elsewhere to obtain old varieties.
It is also processing the resulting fibre according to traditional methods, and has come up with an artificial ageing process. But that’s not all. The idea is to also revitalize hemp cultivation.
In Romania, the efforts to revitalize the tradition of flax and hemp cultivation follow two directions: an industrial one, focused mainly on the export of seeds and a traditional one, targeting rural households. At this stage of the project, with a view of developing the second direction, we have involved a small producer of traditional fibres. A unique project, “Manual weaving”, undertaken and coordinated by Mr. Andrei Sas, is involved in the marketing of fabrics made from natural fibres: hemp, cotton, wool. Through this activity, it has become a keeper of local traditional weaving techniques, proving that artisans can contribute through their products to their own welfare and that of the region, thus supplementing their income.
Now here’s a fun use of genebank accessions.
Nibbles: Sweet potato, Horse genetics, Sandy Knapp video, Rumphius, Rice breeding, Banana breeding, Medieval vegetables, Tomatoes & witchcraft, Native American corn
- On a day that we hope will be historic for the right reason…
- The history of the sweet potato.
- The history of the horse.
- The history of the study of plant diversity. And more.
- The history of IR8.
- The banana is not yet history.
- The history of vegetables. And more.
- The continuing history of Iroquois corn.
Nibbles: European bison, Eucalypts and CC, Flood prevention, Svalbard, Cute animals
- What sort of sick bastard decapitates European bison re-introduced to the wild?
- Might have to introduce eucalypts to different places soon. No doubt that will also end in tears.
- Diversity helps with flooding. But it’s probably too late.
- USDA buys some insurance. Because life.
- Animal portraits are guaranteed to make your day better. Even this day.
Nibbles: Oz genebank, Oz breeding, Wheat genomics, Embedding scientists, Seed saving, Svalbard
- The Australian Grains Genebank takes a bow.
- And I guess this is the sort of thing it makes possible, or at least easier.
- Meanwhile, upstream…
- …and downstream.
- But not all genebanks need be so fancy.
- Though they all need a back-up plan.