- Modern maize varieties going local in the semi-arid zone in Tanzania. OPVs from the 80s are creolizing still, and that’s a good thing.
- Traditional Knowledge Systems, International Law and National Challenges: Marginalization or Emancipation? Well, it looks like it’s the former, but should be the latter. ‘Twas ever thus.
- Valuing insurance services emerging from a gene bank: The case of the Greek Gene Bank. Benefits are greater than costs. Phew.
- Banana genotype composition along the Uganda-Democratic Republic of Congo border: a gene pool mix for plantain and highland bananas. You can still find new stuff. And get funding to look for it, clearly.
- Relationships between the Weedy Amaranthus hybridus (Amaranthaceae) and the Grain Amaranths. Multiple domestications? And why not.
- Genetic Diversity Analysis of Some Ethiopian Specialty Coffee (Coffea arabica L.) Germplasm Accessions Based on Morphological Traits. As ever, useful variation was found. We await its arrival in our morning cup.
- Genetic diversity of Dacryodes buettneri (Engl.) H.J. Lam (Burseraceae), a timber tree in Central Africa. There is some. It could be important, yada yada.
- Malus sieversii: A Diverse Central Asian Apple Species in the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System. The infra-specific taxa may not hold up.
- Exploiting Genomic Resources for Efficient Conservation and Use of Chickpea, Groundnut, and Pigeonpea Collections for Crop Improvement. It’s so close, these guys can taste it. When will we?
- Is genetic information a commons? Maybe it should be.
- Genetic structure and gene flow in Beta vulgaris subspecies maritima along the Atlantic coast of France. The latitudinal cline that wasn’t.
- Restoration of degraded agricultural terraces: Rebuilding landscape structure and process. Restoration is not enough, you need continuous management thereafter. Probably applies to the agricultural biodiversity too, when you think about it.
- Agro-biodiversity in rice–wheat-based agroecosystems of eastern Uttar Pradesh, India: implications for conservation and sustainable management. Resource-poor farmers are better at agrobiodiversity conservation than rich ones. ‘Twas ever thus.
Nibbles: ICRISAT award, CGIAR funding, Chinese medicine, Gut bacteria, Bee research, Sri Lankan law, Wolf Prize, Field Guides, Tapa exhibition, GFFA2014
- Today in dodgy journalism, part 1: ICRISAT gets a new mandate crop? What was the picture editor thinking. And smoking.
- Today in dodgy journalism, part 2: Two typos in the obsolete name of the CGIAR.
- Dissecting Chinese traditional medicine. Or would that be puncturing?
- Hunter gatherers have special gut bacteria.
- Bees: “That’s the beauty of the research. Because we’re still short on info, everything’s worth knowing about.”
- Maple syrup tasting. Nice gig if you can get it.
- Activist objects to proposed new seed law in Sri Lanka.
- UC Davis wheat geneticist Jorge Dubcovsky wins 2014 Wolf Prize in Agriculture. Congrats.
- Sandy Knapp on what she does all day.
- The future of field guides. Yes, they have one.
- Tapa cloth, in Cologne of all places. Don’t think there were any from Palau, though.
- Abschlusskommuniqué of the Global Forum on Food and Agriculture 2014 supports conservation and use of agricultural biodiversity. Phew.
Nibbles: Potato journeys, European collections, European bees, Wheat breeding, Mountains, Forest restoration, Tall trees, Symbioses, Guanaco reintroduction, Plant genomes, Improving GBIF, 2 sides of beef
- The European encounter with the potato. A Google Earth tour by Jorge L. Alonso, and really rather fun. In Spanish.
- The European encounter with virtual germplasm collections. AEGIS takes another step.
- The European encounter with the honeybee. Bad news for the latter.
- The European encounter with wheat. Its promiscuity will save us. Wheat’s, that is, not Europe’s. No, wait…
- Nope, mountains will save us. Including Europe’s?
- We should be doing reforestation in discrete patches, not huge swathes. Even on mountains, I suppose.
- But if you want those trees to grow really tall, your options are limited.
- No harm in adding a few fungi though. On the contrary…
- And maybe a few guanacos?
- Well we must have at least one genome piece in Nibbles, mustn’t we? Turns out plants are good models for everything else, including us.
- And one database hell piece too, natch. Some thoughts on improving GBIF. Could be applied to Genesys too, I fear.
- Meat: One side, and the other.
Brainfood: Chinese heritage sites, Chinese farmer coops, Seasonal foods, Agroforestry markets, Quinoa roadmap, Swedish pseudo-coffee, Barley phylogenetics, Switchgrass diversity, Italian maize composition, European forest vulnerability
- Conserving agricultural heritage systems through tourism: Exploration of two mountainous communities in China. Hopes of benefits are high. And will no doubt be cruelly dashed. What all this means for crop diversity is anyone’s guess.
- Farmer cooperatives in China: diverse pathways to sustainable rural development. Hopes of benefits are high. And will no doubt be cruelly dashed. What all this means for crop diversity is anyone’s guess.
- Seasonality and dietary requirements: will eating seasonal food contribute to health and environmental sustainability? Maybe, but other things are more important.
- Collective action to improve market access for smallholder producers of agroforestry products: key lessons learned with insights from Cameroon’s experience. It can work, and it helps if there is fun to be had.
- Quinoa biodiversity and sustainability for food security under climate change. A review. We’re going to have to move beyond Quinoa Real. Here comes the model.
- Swedish coffee (Astragalus boeticus L.), a neglected coffee substitute with a past and a potential future. It could be revived, and here’s how, but why would anyone want to?
- Phylogeny of ten species of the genus Hordeum L. as revealed by AFLP markers and seed storage protein electrophoresis. Breaks down into Old and New World species.
- Genetic Structure of Remnant Populations and Cultivars of Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) in the Context of Prairie Conservation and Restoration. Have to be careful using cultivars in the restoration of natural populations. Not because they are lower in diversity than natural populations, but because they are different.
- Carotenoids, Phenolic Compounds and Antioxidant Capacity of Five Local Italian Corn (Zea Mays L.). Kernels. Roccacontrada Rosso could be marketed as a functional food. But you lost me at that capital M.
- Vulnerability of dynamic genetic conservation units of forest trees in Europe to climate change. By 2100, about half of the species in the conservation units will be at the edge of or outside their climate niche.
Nibbles: ICRISAT award, SIRGEALC awards, Food etymology, Black carrot, Bolivian potatoes, NASA weirdness, Mexican maize, Rice 2.0, Vaccinium
- Dr Upadhyaya Goes to Tampa.
- SIRGEALC participants get prizes too. Maybe one of them can tell us about it.
- First uses of various food words.
- Punjab Black Beauty set to take the carrot world by storm.
- Bolivia conserves its potato relatives. When will it ratify the ITPGRFA and share the love?
- NASA going to grow plants on the Moon. What could possibly go wrong.
- Free trade apparently threatens maize and Mexican culture. I personally think both can take it. They’ve been going for a while.
- You know, I just have no idea what this silly piece about rice in Africa is trying to tell me. Maybe you can figure it out and let me know.
- Celebrating the cranberry.