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A survey on genebank learning materials

A request from Gayle Volk (USDA-ARS) and Pat Byrne (Colorado State University). Please respond by 15 March.

The plant genetic resources conserved by genebanks around the world are the essential raw materials for increasing crop genetic diversity and improving the global supply of food and other agricultural products. Colorado State University and USDA-ARS have developed a short survey (5-10 minutes) to assess the needs for various types of learning materials to educate the next generation of plant genebank managers, as well as to inform students about the value and use of plant genetic resources in breeding and research programs. The survey link can be found here.

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Featured: Herbemont

It seems I may have inadvertently walked into a little bit of a controversy with that post on Herbemont. Dr Jerry Rodrigues of the University of Cape Town hopes for a resolution in a comment on the post:

Let’s hope that sooner rather than later, researchers in the Department of Viticulture and Enology or at the National Clonal Germplasm Repository (University of California, Davis) or the Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU) at Geneva, New York will not be afraid to make public the microsatellite DNA markers for the true Herbemont.

Whereas Erika Maul from the Julius Kühn-Institut, which maintains the Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC), has this to say in an email:

Herbemont and Jacquez are maintained in European collections and seem not to be endangered. These photos from VIVC could assist to confirm identification.

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Crowdsourcing variety evaluation data

Jacob van Etten has a new paper out which uses information on variety performance crowdsourced from farmers to support climate change adaptation. He’s been tweeting about it. A lot. Here’s a taste:

The threads are unrolled here, here and here if you prefer to stay away from Twitter.

We’re hoping Jacob will answer any questions you might have on the paper right here on the blog in the near future. If you do have any questions, tweet them at him, or leave them here.

And let me take this opportunity of linking to this “field guide” to methods for making new crop diversity available to farmers which sort of sets Jacob’s paper in context.

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Sad news from the coconut world

This came in recently from the Google group on the coconut:

It is with great sadness that I write to tell you of the death of my father, Hugh Harries, moderator of the Coconut Time Line. Many of you will have known Dad personally and others will have come across his work in the field. Some of you may have known he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2006. He passed away peacefully on 7 February 2019 with his family around him. His funeral will take place in Weymouth, England, this Friday 22 February.

I know Dad would want the Coconut Time Line and Knowledge Network to continue after him. Please contact me directly if you think you might be able to help in this regard.

Richard Harries r.harries[at]gmail.com

Hugh was well know to this blog. Sad news.