Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

May 23, 2011May 23, 2011

Vegetable seed kits for Thailand; more details

We are very pleased that the World Vegetable Center has responded to our concerns about the vegetable seed kits that the Center has been distributing in the wake of the floods in Thailand. Thanks to Maureen Mecozzi for this contribution.

We appreciate and share your concern regarding seed distribution in the wake of disasters. To clarify the role of AVRDC–The World Vegetable Center in providing seed to Thailand:

The floods in Thailand affected agricultural areas, and the military is facilitating the relief operations on behalf of the Royal Project. The Project’s patron, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, requested seed from the Ministry of Agriculture, which was unable to supply as much as was needed. Kasetsart University will launch an overall development program that will include home gardens, but it also lacked seed in sufficient quantities for distribution.

KU and the ministry approached AVRDC–The World Vegetable Center to help supply seed for these initiatives.

AVRDC’s disaster relief seed kits include hardy, fast-growing vegetable varieties with low input requirements that can provide much-needed nutrition to disaster survivors. Crops in AVRDC’s disaster relief kits are carefully selected to suit local agroecologies and food preferences. The kits include cultivation and food preparation instructions in local languages.

Each kit provides enough seed for one household to grow vegetables on 100 m2 of land to provide a balanced supply of protein and micronutrients during the initial months after a disaster.

Please note:

Seed for the disaster relief kits was produced in Thailand.
Crops selected for the kits are locally adapted, open-pollinated varieties (farmers can save their own seed to plant in following seasons).
The crops are well-known in Thailand and palatable to Thai tastes and preferences.
The crops are nutritious and quick-growing.
Seed was properly pre-treated and stored to ensure high germination rates.

The Center’s disaster seed kits are not designed to supplant the local seed supply system. Food production systems can be severely disrupted or destroyed altogether in the wake of a disaster; supplying seed kits helps survivors in agricultural areas bridge the gap until local seed systems recover.

May 23, 2011May 23, 2011

Brainfood: Introgression, Sorghum and drought, Rice and drought, Carrot evaluation, Wheat breeding, Legume conservation, Wild Tibet soybean, Gezira, Biochar, CA, Grass ecotypes and climate, Organic ag and nutrients

Alien introgressions represent a rich source of genes for crop improvement. Polyploids such as wheat do it best.
Characterization of sorghum genotypes for traits related to drought tolerance. There is diversity within the “association panel” of diverse germplasm used. What I want to know is how that is different from a core or mini-core collection.
Rice near-isogenic-lines (NILs) contrasting for grain yield under lowland drought stress. Small genetic differences can lead to big differences in yield under drought stress. What I want to know is whether doing this on NILs is better value for money than doing it on association panels of germplasm (see above), whatever they may be.
Towards better tasting and more nutritious carrots: Carotenoid and sugar content variation in carrot genetic resources. European accessions sweeter and more orange than Asian.
Changes in duration of developmental phases of durum wheat caused by breeding in Spain and Italy during the 20th century and its impact on yield. Fascinating unpicking of just where the genetic changes have their impact.
Legume genetic resources: management, diversity assessment, and utilization in crop improvement. A lot of characterization, not enough evaluation. Core collections useful, but not useful enough. Crop wild relatives being used, but not enough. Good plug for the importance of geo-referencing.
Genetic diversity and geographical peculiarity of Tibetan wild soybean (Glycine soja). Low and high, respectively.
Analysis of agricultural production instability in the Gezira Scheme. Went up for wheat, cotton and sorghum, down for groundnuts, on liberalization.
Biochar effects on soil biota – A review. It’s complicated but, on the whole, not unpositive.
A research agenda to explore the role of conservation agriculture in African smallholder farming systems. Basically, it is likely to work least well in marginal conditions. Which is kinda surprising, and not, at the same time.
Ecotypes of European grass species respond differently to warming and extreme drought. Yeah, but, alas, not in the way one might have wished.
Comparison of nutritional quality of the crops grown in an organic and conventional fertilized soil. Maybe lower nitrate and N, higher P in organic crops. But really too much variation to be sure.

May 22, 2011May 22, 2011

Organic breeding conferences

The European Consortium for Organic Plant Breeding (ECO-PB) has announced two up-coming meetings. One is dedicated to the European organic seed regime and the other one is a celebration of ECO-PB’s 10 year anniversary.

The Workshop on Organic Seed Regulation will take place at The Organic Research Centre near Newbury in England on 21-22 September 2011.

The 10-year shindig is scheduled for 3-4 November 2011 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. That one has a call for papers, due by 15 June 2011.

ECO-PB is having a little trouble making the documents available at its website. As a service, here they are.

If you go, consider blogging for us.

May 22, 2011May 22, 2011

Investment in agriculture; thousands of words worth.

Farming First has compiled a bunch of infographics about “Agriculure and the Green Economy”. Some of the sources are less than obvious, but it is good to have the headline figures. Here’s part of the one for investment. Click it for the whole thing.

May 22, 2011May 22, 2011

Featured: Seed suppliers

Back40 has this to say about farmers who encounter seed shortages:

All farmers, everywhere, have these issues and so they make plans ahead of time. If you show up at the last minute expecting to be able to buy whatever seed that you want you may be out of luck. This is called bad farming. The solution is not for a government or other org to enable bad farmers, it is to help them become good farmers.

Hard to disagree with that.