Valuation

June 27, 2015

Genebanks are valuable, even without climate change

national-plant-germplasm

As agriculture adapts to climate change, crop genetic resources can be used to develop new plant varieties that are more tolerant of changing environmental conditions. Crop genetic resources (or germplasm) consist of seeds, plants, or plant parts that can be used in crop breeding, research, or conservation. The public sector plays an important role in collecting, conserving, and distributing crop genetic resources because private-sector incentives for crucial parts of these activities are limited. The U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) is the primary network that manages publicly held crop germplasm in the United States. Since 2003, demand for crop genetic resources from the NPGS has increased rapidly even as the NPGS budget has declined in real dollars. By way of comparison, the NPGS budget of approximately $47 million in 2012 was well under one-half of 1 percent of the U.S. seed market (measured as the value of farmers’ purchased seed) which exceeded $20 billion for the same year.

Couldn’t have put it better myself, though admittedly I’m more likely to have done it for the CGIAR genebanks than for the NPGS. The diagram, and the sentiment, derive from a USDA publication that came out back in April: Using Crop Genetic Resources to Help Agriculture Adapt to Climate Change: Economics and Policy. We did blog about it at the time, but USDA seem to be plugging it again, and I see no reason why we shouldn’t too.

May 13, 2015May 13, 2015

Nibbles: Youthful ideas, IK, Variety testing, GMO philosophy, Organic GMOs, Oline disease, Cacao doctors, US wheat, Cary Fowler, Bison renaissance, UCDavis, Andean grains, Alaskan ag, Lettuce latex, Collecting strategies, Pulses racing, Huitlacoche, Ecoagriculture, Bowel movement

Australian yoofs make suggestions for a better agriculture. Not as bad as you might think.
Emulate, don’t imitate, desert dwellers.
Webinar on variety trialing.
A philosopher tackles GMO labelling. Not many people hurt.
Meanwhile, Pamela Ronald is trying to find a middle way.
This Italian olive disease thing is getting worrying.
Indonesians have their own problems with cacao, but at least they seem to be fixing them.
And the US is gonna have trouble with wheat. The solution: plant maize? No, wait…
The European bison is back!
A decade of Plant Sciences at UCDavis.
Call for more breeding of Andean grains. By an Andean grain breeder.
“It might not be the Fertile Crescent when it comes to corn and potatoes, but south-central Alaska just might be the cradle of the coming Rhodiola renaissance.”
Rubbery lettuce? Shhh, or everybody will want some.
Can’t collect seed at random throughtout a population? Collect more!
Yeah, yeah, it’s the International Year of Pulses, we get it.
The Mexican truffle?
Ecofarming pays. In Kenya. In 2014.
Sometimes crop wild relatives are a real pain in the ass.

April 28, 2015April 28, 2015

The rough value of genebanks

In 2012, The NPGS [the US National Plant Germplasm System] budget was approximately $47 million. Funding for the NPGS has been relatively stagnant over time. In real terms, agency funding peaked in 2003, at approximately $53 million in 2012 dollars (fig. 1). While direct comparisons between costs of a genebank and its benefits are not possible, ((Emphasis added.)) for context, we note that U.S. farmers paid $20.3 billion for seed in 2012 (USDA\National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2013). Thus, the costs of public ex situ plant conservation in the United States are a small fraction—under half of 1 percent—of the value of the eventual seed market. At the same time that budgets have decreased, demand for NPGS germplasm has reached historic highs (fig. 2).

Gotta love it when economists give up on quantitative data, and settle for qualitative comparisons.

When compared to the rather large benefits of genetic enhancement, the costs of genebank operation appear relatively small.

But do read the whole of USDA’s Using Crop Genetic Resources To Help Agriculture Adapt to Climate Change: Economics and Policy by Paul W. Heisey and Kelly Day Rubenstein. There is some data in there, and that perennial fall-back of economists, a model. The main findings, if you just want to just skip to the bottom line, were that genebanks are worth it, but that better data and some pre-breeding would help.

March 30, 2015March 31, 2015

Brainfood: IBPGR collecting, Persimmon diversity, ABS, On farm economics, Wild Colombian potatoes, Indian rice cores, Tibetan chickens, Ligonberry antioxidants, Tanzanian veggie IK, Melon sugar genes, Moroccan lentil diversity, Grasspea diversity, Quinoa ABS

Plant genetic resources collections and associated information as a baseline resource for genetic diversity studies: an assessment of the IBPGR-supported collections. 35% of 200,000 accessions collected by IBPGR from 1975-95 still in a genebank somewhere.
Genetic diversity among germplasms of Diospyros kaki based on SSR markers. Chinese non-astringent types closer to Chinese astringent types than to Japanese non-astringent types.
Ex Post Use Restriction and Benefit-sharing Provisions for Access to Non-plant Genetic Materials for Public Research. Up-front payments can be ok.
On Farm Conservation of Crop Genetic Resource: Declining De Facto Diversity and Optimal Funding Strategy. Fancy maths tells us to identify the landraces most likely to go extinct, and the farmers who can conserve them most cheaply.
Current situation of wild Solanum spp. L. sect. Petota (Solanum, Solanaceae) in some Colombian regions. Not great.
Identification of a diverse mini-core panel of Indian rice germplasm based on genotyping using micro satellite markers. Mini-core of 98 accessions based on molecular data recovers 94% of alleles in geographically-selected core of 6912 accessions from Indian collection. No word on how good the 6912 are in the first place.
Genomic analyses reveal potential independent adaptation to high altitude in Tibetan chickens. Tibetan chickens fall into 2 groups, both with signs of selection in several genes involved in the calcium-signalling pathway implicated in adaptation to the hypoxia experienced at high altitudes.
Antioxidant properties of lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) leaves within a set of wild clones and cultivars. The wilds are better for you.
Knowledge Sharing Strategies on Traditional vegetables for Supporting Food Security in Kilosa District, Tanzania. Farmers talk about vegetables. Well there’s a shocker.
Variability of candidate genes, genetic structure and association with sugar accumulation and climacteric behavior in a broad germplasm collection of melon (Cucumis melo L.). 175 melons from 50 countries fall into 7 groups, fitting well with morphology and taxonomy. Ripening genes associated with diversification.
Genetic diversity analysis of Moroccan lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) landraces using Simple Sequence Repeat and Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms reveals functional adaptation towards agro-environmental origins. Evidence of combination of functional and geographic groupings.
Genetic Diversity of Grasspea and Its Relative Species Revealed by SSR Markers. Asian landraces different to those from Africa/Europe. And all different from the wilds.
Quinoa and the exchange of genetic resources: improving the regulation system. Quinoa for Annex 1?

March 16, 2015March 5, 2015

Brainfood: Camelina improvement, School garden impact, Biodiversity rice, Seed networks, Indian wheat geography, Protected areas, Late blight resistance, Peanut biotech

Camelina as a sustainable oilseed crop: Contributions of plant breeding and genetic engineering. It will help that it’s close to Arabidopsis.
Sustenance and sustainability: maximizing the impact of school gardens on health outcomes. You need proper experimental design if you’re going to say that such an impact exists. But such an impact probably exists, sometimes.
Consumer preferences for agricultural products considering the value of biodiversity conservation in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Consumers are willing to pay extra for crane-friendly rice. Or at least they say they are.
An Analysis of Social Seed Network and Its Contribution to On-Farm Conservation of Crop Genetic Diversity in Nepal. Fancy software shows farmers exchange seeds, and it’s important.
Spatial Distribution of Trait-specific Diversity in Indian Wheat Collections. From 5930, 3973 are geo-referenced, showing where more collections need to be made. Unless of course they are among those 1957 and nobody can tell.
Walk on the Wild Side: Estimating the Global Magnitude of Visits to Protected Areas. 8 billion visits per year (80% in Europe and North America), generating $600 billion per year in direct in-country expenditure and $250 billion in consumer surplus. Remember that we spent $10 billion per year worldwide in safeguarding protected areas.
Allele Mining in Solanum Germplasm: Cloning and Characterization of RB-Homologous Gene Fragments from Late Blight Resistant Wild Potato Species. 17 gene fragments from 11 wild potato species could be useful in breeding for late blight resistance.
Genetic diversity of the world’s largest oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) field genebank accessions using microsatellite markers. Extreme West Africa group, West-Central-East Africa group and Madagascar group, with the last quite distinct.
Progress in genetic engineering of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) — A review. Our jetpacks are in the mail.