Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

August 25, 2021

The baobab infographic we’ve been waiting for

The International Year of Fruits and Vegetables is as good an excuse as any for another baobab factsheet, and infographic.

Not that an excuse has ever been needed. Anyway, this particular latest example of the genre is courtesy of From Tree to Fork, and the first of many, it seems. No mention of using the fruit to make booze, though.

August 23, 2021August 18, 2021

Brainfood: Diversification, Diverse diet, Urban forests, Local seed systems, Heterosis, Oil palm core, Black Sigatoka resistance, Pearl millet diversity, Alfalfa diversity, Barley evaluation x2, Ganja origins, Apple origins, Millet diversity, Pepper diversity, Grapevine domestication, Vanilla diversity

A global database of diversified farming effects on biodiversity and yield. Always good to have the data.
Dietary agrobiodiversity for improved nutrition and health outcomes within a transitioning indigenous Solomon Island food system. Maybe we should have a database of diversified farming effects on health and nutrition too?
Exploring ‘beyond-food’ opportunities for biocultural conservation in urban forest gardens. Always good to have more trees.
Community seed network in an era of climate change: dynamics of maize diversity in Yucatán, Mexico. Always good to have landraces. And neighbours.
Microbe-dependent heterosis in maize. Maize hybrids need microbes.
Assessment of genetic diversity and population structure of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) field genebank: A step towards molecular-assisted germplasm conservation. 30% seems a lot for a core collection. But it’s good to have the data.
Sources of resistance to Pseudocercospora fijiensis, the cause of black Sigatoka in banana. 11 resistant accessions out of 95 seems pretty good, on the other hand.
GWAS unveils features between early- and late-flowering pearl millets. Based on a national-level core collection in Senegal. Presumably this will scale?
Germplasm Collection, Genetic Resources, and Gene Pools in Alfalfa. Lots of work has been done. More work is needed on the wild relatives though.
Assessment and modeling using machine learning of resistance to scald (Rhynchosporium commune) in two specific barley genetic resources subsets. Fancy maths helps to identify the barley genebank accessions you really need.
Strategic malting barley improvement for craft brewers through consumer sensory evaluation of malt and beer. More fancy maths, this time applied to a hedonic data in the service of beer. Germplasm evaluation we can all get behind. No FIGS, alas.
Large-scale whole-genome resequencing unravels the domestication history of Cannabis sativa. 4 genetic groups: primordial (located in China, not Central Asia, and going back 12,000 years), 2 medicinal, 1 fibre. Now for the hedonic evaluation.
The Origins of the Apple in Central Asia. Probably domesticated to cope with the munchies.
Genetic Divergence and Population Structure in Weedy and Cultivated Broomcorn Millets (Panicum miliaceum L.) Revealed by Specific-Locus Amplified Fragment Sequencing (SLAF-Seq). There are interesting genetic differences between wild and feral forms, and between eastern and central-western cultivated forms. The Silk Road trifecta.
Global range expansion history of pepper (Capsicum spp.) revealed by over 10,000 genebank accessions. Spoke too soon. The Silk Road had a role in pepper movement too. Among other trade routes. Interesting, and unsurprising, that genes for pungency show distinct geographic patterns.
Genomic evidence supports an independent history of Levantine and Eurasian grapevines. First domestication in the Caucasus, and then in the Levant, but not clear if from local sources. No word on hedonic evaluation.
Genotyping-By-Sequencing diversity analysis of international Vanilla collections uncovers hidden diversity and enables plant improvement. Belize seems to be a real hotspot. The Silk Road not involved.

August 20, 2021

Better seed systems through SeedSystems

I don’t think I’ve been sufficiently explicit in my occasional shout-outs for SeedSystem.org, a collaboration involving CIAT, PABRA, CRS and USAID.

SeedSystem.org provides practical (‘how-to’) guidance and strategic thinking to help professionals design seed-related assistance.

We aim to foster productive, resilient, and market-oriented seed systems, even in times of emergency and chronic stress.

Well worthwhile subscribing to their newsletter. The latest edition brings together a bunch of useful recent papers. Not terribly active on social media, though, what’s up with that?

August 17, 2021

How to really make seed systems sustainable

Attentive readers may remember a reference here to Crops to End Hunger’s white paper on economically sustainable seed systems. This provides…

…recommendations for how One CGIAR may want to adjust its approaches and collaboration with National Breeding Programs and private sector entities to (i) be more successful in developing and deploying newly developed varieties, and (ii) support the evolution towards a more effective, sustainable local seed sector, with appropriate public and regulatory capacities and a vibrant entrepreneurial sector.

There’s since been a nice interview with one of the authors. But the reason for bringing it up now is that Oxfam Novib has published a reaction.

While recognizing some important positives (e.g., the aim to diversify the range of public-bred crop varieties available to smallholder farmers), Oxfam Novib also expresses some serious concerns. These are perhaps best encapsulated in the following observation:

The paper’s recommendation that the One CG develop a centralized system for germplasm licensing and revenue management between the CG centers and national breeding programs implies that seed revenues will be derived from smallholder farmers – but farmers and farmer groups will be excluded from involvement in creating new varieties and generating income from them.

It will be interesting to see One CGIAR’s response.

August 17, 2021August 18, 2021

Small (farms) continue to be beautiful

Susan MacMillan of ILRI contributed a long comment to my short post “Smallholders still produce a lot of food” from a few days back. As she clarifies some of the definitions, adds a reference or two, and points out that livestock are usually neglected in this discussion, I think it’s worth raising its profile here. Do read the whole thing.

So, my take is that ‘it’s complicated’. But as you say, whatever the definitions of terms, people farming relatively small plots of land still produce a whole lot of food for a whole lot of people besides themselves—and they need our support more than ever to continue to do so under ever-more challenging conditions.