Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

October 13, 2018October 14, 2018

Explaining crops

It looks like the European Seed Association have enlisted Prof. Jonathan Silvertown to do a whole series of videos on the evolution of crops. Pretty good idea.

Compare and contrast Prof. Silvertown’s soliloquy on bread wheat with Jeremy’s recent take on that crop on Eat This Podcast’s month-long tour de force, Our Daily Bread.

October 12, 2018October 22, 2018

A lot of hard work by a lot of people over many years pays off

Including millions of farmers of course.

“Providing permanent funding to the world’s most important crop collections is at the core of the Crop Trust mission,” says @AslaugMarieHaga on the agreement between @CropTrust and @IRRI to fund the genebank in perpetuity. Read more here: https://t.co/PEwQpdmylo #foreverfunding pic.twitter.com/t76INWMwta

— The Crop Trust (@CropTrust) October 12, 2018

And a profile of one of the main people involved.

And my take on the whole thing from the work blog.

Last word to the boss.

The landmark agreement between @irri and @CropTrust was possible thanks to generous contributions from donors that have built the @CropTrust #Endowment fund brick by brick since 2004. Thanks to the US, Germany, Norway, Australia and many others! https://t.co/0RgbRey7jq

— Aaslaug Marie Haga (@AslaugMarieHaga) October 17, 2018

October 11, 2018October 11, 2018

Working to enhance the multilateral system

Working Group Meets to Discuss Enhancement of Multilateral System #PGRFA #FoodCrops @FAO pic.twitter.com/SxyZxjIdQj

— PlantTreaty (@planttreaty) October 10, 2018

Will they come up with something that will work?

Here’s hoping. Follow the proceedings on IISD/ENB. Some background on all this from my work blog.

October 10, 2018October 10, 2018

Agrobiodiversity methods dissected

PAR has developed an online compendium of methods for assessing agrobiodiversity. Drawing on experiences from around the world, the Compendium was created to support the documentation, co-creation and sharing of knowledge about diversity and its management. The Compendium provides guidelines for the collection and analysis of data about the diversity of crops, livestock, pollinators and harvested wild plants.

PAR is the Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research. They’ve been very quiet on its various online channels since July, but clearly they haven’t been idle. Good stuff.

Oh, and since I’m on here, let me link to the latest offerings from Uli Westphal by way of agrobiodiversity illustrations, featuring the maize collections of Native Seeds/SEARCH and CIMMYT.

October 8, 2018October 8, 2018

Brainfood: Forests & diets, Homegardens & diets, Landsparing, NZ megafauna, Broomcorn millet origins, Aflatoxin in peanut, Sorghum nutrients, Sorghum & sugarcane diversity in Ethiopia, Hawaiian seedsaving, English sustainability, Wheat evaluation, Lentil review, Danish apples

Impacts of forests on children’s diet in rural areas across 27 developing countries. Exposure to forests is good for dietary diversity.
The Role of Homegardens for Food and Nutrition Security in Uganda. Homegardens too.
The challenge of feeding the world while conserving half the planet. Sparing biodiversity-rich areas means food production will take a hit.
Human Perceptions of Megafaunal Extinction Events Revealed by Linguistic Analysis of Indigenous Oral Traditions. The Maori were aware of what was happening to the moa.
Perpetuating Agricultural Heritage: Saving Seeds and Stories on Hawai‘i Island. Diverse messaging needed to reflect diverse motivations. Maybe that would have helped the moa.
Genetic evidence for a western Chinese origin of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum). Not northern China, nor eastern Europe.
New tools to screen wild peanut species for aflatoxin accumulation and genetic fingerprinting. Let the screening begin.
Identification of new donors for spot blotch resistance in cultivated wheat germplasm. 7 out of 1483 from the Indian collection. Hard row to hoe
Nutritional variation in sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] accessions from southern Africa revealed by protein and mineral composition. Among 23 accessions, two are good for both Fe and Zn, a different one for protein, Ca and P, and a different one still for Ca and K.
Farmers’ synergistic selection criteria and practices for livelihood security through the sustainable uses of onfarm Sorghum landrace diversity, Ethiopia. Diverse selection criteria reflect diverse uses.
Sugarcane Landraces of Ethiopia: Germplasm Collection and Analysis of Regional Diversity and Distribution. Variation follows altitude. Compare and contrast with above.
To what extent has sustainable intensification in England been achieved? Not much, and only quite recently.
Lentils: Genetic Resources: Collection, Conservation, Characterization and Maintenance. More work on wild relatives needed.
Population structure, relatedness and ploidy levels in an apple gene bank revealed through genotyping-by-sequencing. 78% of 349 apple accessions in the Danish genebank are unique.