Agrobiodiversity is crops, livestock, foodways, microbes, pollinators, wild relatives …
His work showed that long-term seed storage was not only feasible but also relatively inexpensive, and he played a key role in setting up and managing seed banks. In the mid-1970s he chaired the expert group on seed storage of the International Board For Plant Genetic Resources, which was aiming to conserve crop diversity. There are now more than 1,400 seed banks all over the world.
That would be Prof. Eric Roberts. “Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice.”
If you’re into the pests and diseases of wheat, soybean, potato, maize or rice you may want to consider taking the Global Crop Health Survey.
Quantification of the importance of crop diseases and pests is a necessary first step towards better understanding of crop health and its management. However, the information pertaining to the losses caused by plant diseases and pests in agriculture is fragmented, heterogeneous, and is very incomplete. Undertaking this survey is a project that has been considered for a long time. It has first been discussed by the Crop Loss Subject Matter Committee of the International Society of Plant Pathology during its first meeting in August 2013 in Beijing. Documenting the importance of crop diseases and pests is also one goal of several international research networks, such as AgMiP and MacSur.
Very simplified information is being sought, so it shouldn’t take long. You have until 31 January. The results should be useful in setting breeding priorities, among other things.
A very unrandom selection of participants at the latest Annual Genebanks Meeting of the CGIAR, which took place at the Australian Grains Genebank in Horsham and AgriBio, La Trobe University, Melbourne last week, and is the reason for our silence lately. Dr Sally Norton, our host, and the director of the AGG, responsible for over 100,000 accessions, is sitting down, second from left. Thanks, Sally. And thanks to Mellissa Wood on Facebook for the photo.
A quick reminder that the First Agrobiodiversity Congress is on. It’s just been opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. You can follow proceedings on Twitter. And of course post your thoughts here, should you be minded. Just drop us a line.
To the standard hymn-sheet of crop failures associated with genetic erosion we can now add an example from livestock. A mutation in a single Holstein bull — Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief, who happens to father super-productive daughters — also causes spontaneous abortion. The mutation spread through the US dairy industry and caused $420 million in losses.
That’s a crazy number, but here’s an even crazier one: Despite the lethal mutation, using Chief’s sperm instead of an average bull’s still led to $30 billion dollars in increased milk production over the past 35 years.
There’s nothing like that, at least not that I can think of, for crops, but it is just one of the nuggets in a super piece from The Atlantic magazine on selective breeding.