- The long-standing significance of genetic diversity in conservation. I suppose it does need to be repeated.
- Germplasm exchange is critical to conservation of biodiversity and global food security. Yes, indeed it does look like it needs to be repeated.
- From gene banks to farmer’s fields: using genomic selection to identify donors for a breeding program in rice to close the yield gap on smallholder farms. A prime example of why it should not need to be repeated.
- Large potential for crop production adaptation depends on available future varieties. 39% of global cropland could require new crop varieties to avoid yield loss from climate change by the end of the century? You don’t say. Bears repeating.
- More than Maize, Bananas, and Coffee: The Inter– and Intraspecific Diversity of Edible Plants of the Huastec Mayan Landscape Mosaics in Mexico. Looks like we don’t need to repeat it to the Maya.
- Monitoring and Progress in the Implementation of the Global Plan of Action on Animal Genetic Resources. Significant progress, but correlated with per capita GDP. So some people are listening to the endless repetition; but not enough.
- For the sake of resilience and multifunctionality, let’s diversify planted forests! Yes, it needs to be repeated for forests too.
- Motivations for maintaining crop diversity: Evidence from Vermont’s seed systems. Yes, repeat by all means, but with variation.
- How big is the “lemons” problem? Historical evidence from French wines. Quality certification schemes can support the market value of products. And of course they can be good for genetic diversity too.
- Crop resistance and household resilience – The case of cassava and sweetpotato during super-typhoon Ompong in the Philippines. Root and tuber crops are good for household resilience in typhoon-affected areas. Not exactly genetic diversity, but still bears repeating.
- Global historic pandemics caused by the FAM-1 genotype of Phytophthora infestans on six continents. Why genetic diversity is necessary for root and tuber crops too. As if it needed repeating.
- Genetic Diversity in 19th Century Barley (Hordeum vulgare) Reflects Differing Agricultural Practices and Seed Trade in Jämtland, Sweden. What causes all that genetic diversity we’ve been repeating endlessly about.
Finding common ground on the Seed Commons
The perspective of Seed Commons challenges the dominant narrative that the best pathway towards food and nutrition security for the world’s growing population is to foster privately-owned biotechnical innovations, supported by corresponding policy measures (see, for example, OECD 2018). It addresses major political impasses in the present international and national governance of varieties, seed and PGRFA that are based on such narratives and tend to be tailored towards the needs of private sector R&D, large-scale farms and ‘industrial’ food systems, hampering the necessary transition of farming and food systems towards more sustainable outcomes (IPES-Food 2016). By exploring innovative governance models for seed, varieties and PGRFA, Seed Commons could thus provide opportunities to reconsider how innovation could be fostered in a way to better serve current and future needs of farmers and society.
Well that’s exciting. Though I’m a slightly miffed that there was a whole symposium about Seed Commons and nobody told me.
Anyway, check out in particular the paper by Halewood and co-authors, which tries to answer the question: What institutional innovations can enhance farmers’ agency in the evolving global crop commons through use of their specialized knowledge and experience?
Spoiler alert: it’s made-to-measure biocultural community protocols designed to promote farming communities’ access to crop genetic resources from elsewhere ((No doubt the risks involved in obtaining germplasm “from elsewhere” were mitigated using this handy tool.)) for experimentation, improvement and management as part of their local production systems. But not only, so read the whole thing. And the other papers too.
Hasta luego, Tom!
Today we’re wishing Tom Payne a very long and happy retirement after over 30 years at CIMMYT, many of the later ones running the wheat genebank.
There’s a nice conversation with him on the WHEAT website.
What is one way we can ensure long-term conservation of staple crops around the world?
In the past few years, several internationally renowned germplasm collections have been destroyed due to civil conflicts, natural disasters and fires — for example in Aleppo, Cape Town and Sao Paulo. Each time, we hear what a shame it was that the destroyed heritage was lost, that it was irreplaceable and beyond value. When a genebank loses an accession, the ancestral lineage extending hundreds of generations becomes permanently extinct. Genebank managers recognize this threat, and hence duplicate samples of all accessions are now slowly being sent to the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard for long-term preservation.
A fond farewell today to Tom Payne, currently the Head of the Wheat Germplasm Collection as he retires after 33+ years at @CIMMYT. Steadfast commitment to & promotion of the many forms of diversity in crops & people globally. Read his recent reflections: https://t.co/CaAhqGRT2J pic.twitter.com/OmzaqUhkPe
— Alison Bentley (@AlisonRBentley) July 21, 2021
If you wanted a nice summary Tom’s legacy you could do worse than look at the recent paper Germplasm Acquisition and Distribution by CGIAR Genebanks, which is now part of a handsome, freely downloadable volume.
Apple domestication visualized
The chapter on the Origin of the Domesticated Apples in the recent book on The Apple Genome has a really useful diagram which I hope I won’t get into trouble for reproducing here.
That really is worth a thousand words and more. Wish we had similar ones for all crops.
Brainfood: Plant services, Ornamental conservation, Cinnamon, Avocado, Apricot double, Apple, Date palm, Bambara groundnut, Amaranth, On farm research, Fertilizer subsidies
- A global database of plant services for humankind. 13% of over 13,000 plant genera have been recorded as human food. But twice as many are described as “ornamentals.”
- Horticultural plant use as a so-far neglected pillar of ex situ conservation. Something we can do about those ornamentals. But not only ornamentals, surely.
- “Ceylon cinnamon”: Much more than just a spice. But not, alas, an ornamental.
- Exploring genetic diversity of lowland avocado (Persea americana Mill.) as a genetic reservoir for breeding. Plus it’s a handsome tree.
- Population genomics of apricots unravels domestication history and adaptive events. Separate Chinese and European genepools, deriving from independent domestications from distinct populations. No word on which is more ornamental.
- Diversity and Relationships among Neglected Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) Landraces Using Morphological Traits and SSR Markers: Implications for Agro-Biodiversity Conservation. Get farmers to grow varietal mixtures for maximum ornamental value — and conservation.
- Unraveling a genetic roadmap for improved taste in the domesticated apple. No evidence of selection for increased sugar content. And ornamental value?
- Molecular clocks and archaeogenomics of a Late Period Egyptian date palm leaf reveal introgression from wild relatives and add timestamps on the domestication. Ancient hybrid origin for the coincidentally ornamentally and otherwise valuable food crop, followed by introgression from both wild close congeneric relatives.
- Genetic diversity and population structure analysis of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterrenea L) landraces using DArT SNP markers. 3 groups: W Africa, Central Africa, E + S Africa. No word on which would make the most attractive ornamentals.
- A chromosome-level Amaranthus cruentus genome assembly highlights gene family evolution and biosynthetic gene clusters that may underpin the nutritional value of this traditional crop. Yeah, but where are the genes that make it ornamental too?
- How accurate are yield estimates from crop cuts? Evidence from smallholder maize farms in Ethiopia. More accurate than estimates of horticultural attractiveness, I suspect.
- The unintended consequences of the fertilizer subsidy program on crop species diversity in Mali. Spoiler alert: they’re bad. Fortunately, ornamentals don’t attract subsidies.