Valuation

August 20, 2012August 20, 2012

Nibbles: Bees, Honey, Sequipedalis, Website, Conference

“Most people are not aware of the fact that 84% of the European crops are partially or entirely dependent on insect pollination.” Right. I could have sworn it was 82%.
That’s not their main concern in Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve in India, where Honey is Life.
I had no idea yardlong bean was really a cowpea. The genes say so.
Crop Wild Relatives & Climate Change, a new website from the Global Crop Diversity Trust, with just the right number of RSS feeds.
And if it’s conference information you’re after, previews from the ASA, CSSA and SSSA Annual meetings:

As ever, if you’re there and want an outlet, we’re here.

August 6, 2012August 3, 2012

Brainfood: Orange maize, Maize history

Using a discrete choice experiment to elicit the demand for a nutritious food: Willingness-to-pay for orange maize in rural Zambia. Farmers say they’ll pay, if they have information about nutrition, and it doesn’t matter how you serve that information. Gotta love economics.
Historical genomics of North American maize. No orange maize here, but clear evidence of decreasing genetic diversity in parental lines.

July 25, 2012November 28, 2017

Nibbles: Pollinator book, Museums, Quinoa and celiac disease, Plant growth analysis, Mangroves, Plant health

You’ve heard of alternative lifestyles? Now read all about alternative pollinators.
Why should we spend money digitizing natural history collections?
Not all quinoa cultivars may be good for celiacs.
The largest comparative growth experiment ever. Hope some of the 600+ species are crop wild relatives.
Mangroves trap heavy metals. And sequester a lot of carbon. But they are moving. Thank goodness there’s lots of ways to value the services they provide.
CABI’s Plantwise Knowledge Bank is online.
Kew boffins blow up coffee. The genus, settle down.

June 7, 2012June 7, 2012

Nibble: South Sudan seed fair, Seed cinema, Dandelion diversity, Nature’s value graphic, Cocaine synthesis, Livestock farming, Visualizing conservation trade-offs, Vertical farms, Sequence fungi

A seed fair in South Sudan. Good idea, but why only certified seed?
Maybe they should watch Seeds of Freedom. Well, maybe.
Genetic diversity is important! Settle down, we’re talking dandelions.
Nature’s value includes crops. Phew. Dandelion is a crop, isn’t it?
Talking about value… She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie…
And again. Award-winning research on livestock farming’s value to developing countries. And its dark side.
Both of which could of course be usefully visualized by the people involved.
Vizualise this! Nightmare skyscraping vertical farms, for real.
Today’s jetpack request comes from Sophien Kamoun, stimulated by ravishing fungi.

May 28, 2012May 28, 2012

Nibbles: CGIAR, Breeding, Shamba Shape-up, Beach, Plant Cuttings, Cabbage pic, Leaf monitor, European AnGR and PGR, Dutch CWR post-doc, Allium on the Highline, Brazil forest code, Japanese rice in Oz, Indian genebank sell-off, Jersey apple genebank, Hazelnut milk subsitute, SPGRC, Urban veggies roundup, Spicy tales, Agroecological zonation

Frank Rijsberman aims to build a “strong Consortium.”
Teaching tools aim to improve capacity in plant breeding. And no, I didn’t mean anything by the juxtaposition, settle down.
Kenyan reality show aims to enhance rural livelihoods. What, are you trying to be funny? No, I tell you, it’s all a massive coincidence.
You know what, why don’t we just all go to the beach and relax? Nothing like combining work with pleasure…
You could read the new Plant Cuttings there.
Or look at 3D photos of cabbages.
Or fiddle with the latest geeky plant gadget.
PDF of the European dictionary of domesticated and utilised animals. From the folks at the European Regional Focal Point for Animal Genetic Resources (ERFP). Which is news to me. Relationship to the equivalent on the crops side unclear.
Speaking of Europe, someone at the Dutch genebank studying gaps in the conservation of crop wild relatives. Welcome to the club.
Well this sort of thing is not going to help with any gap analysis, is it? Qualifies as assisted migration though, perhaps, which is kinda cool. And may well be needed.
I wonder what the Brazilian forest code means for crop wild relatives.
Traditional Japanese rice variety grown in Queensland to help Fukishima victims. Well, yes, but it’s not exactly charity we’re talking about here. And what’s it going to do to all the wild rice there? Which I’m willing to bet is a gap of some kind.
Speaking of altruistic gestures, the idea to, er, sell the Indian genebank encounters some, er, opposition.
No plans to sell anything from this new Jersey apple genebank. Except maybe the cider? I wonder, any hazlenut genebanks out there? No, don’t write in and tell me.
The genebank of the SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre given a bit of a face-lift on VoA. At least in the trailer, starting at 0:45. Not sure how to get the full thing, but working on it…
Latvian government plants small veggie patch in meaningless gesture. Paparazzi promptly tread all over it. Not that such things can’t be nice, and indeed useful. Oh, and here comes the history. But maybe they should have taken a slightly different tack.
“Orange is the colour of curry.” Why spice is nice. And here comes the science on that.
And speaking of heat, FAO very keen to tell you what zone you’re in. Oh, hell, there go another couple hours down the drain as I try to navigate the thing.