Posts

Posted on

Ghaddafi pits genebanks against “satanic” multinationals

Muammar El-Gheddafi’s reference to genebanks at the Hunger Summit on Monday may not be entirely what we thought. His speech is on the FAO webcast website, starting at about the 20 minute mark. I asked an Arabic simultaneous translator friend of mine 1 to parse the relevant passage and this is what he had to say:

He is talking about the need to break the monopoly on seeds by “satanic multinational companies.” He urges the FAO to encourage the creation of regional and natnioal banks for “enhanced” or “improved” seeds, but not the genetically modified seeds, which he is against. So, he is definitely talking about genebanks, not grain stores.

But not your usual sort of genebank, clearly.

Posted on

“It is silly to think of one solution”

Johan Schut pulled a folding knife from his hip pocket, inserted the tip into the base of a bright, crispy head of romaine lettuce and severed it in two.

“See there, the little brown specks with black legs?” He lifted one of the busy beasts onto the tip of his blade. “It’s a family of aphids. This is a non-resistant lettuce.”

Gotta love the New York Times ledes (as we ex-reptiles call them). This one certainly got me reading, and probably would have done even if I weren’t interested in “entrepreneurs and scientists [who] are trying to use all available techniques, including genetic modification, to improve agriculture around the world.”

It’s all there; cisgenesis, AFLP and MAS, arms races, private-public partnerships, options up the wazoo. Go Wageningen!

Posted on

Silk Road on show in New York

The American Museum of Natural History has an exhibition on the Silk Road. It looks pretty good, and there even seems to be a bit on agrobiodiversity. I mean apart from the obvious, the silkworm and the camel. In particular, you get a look at the night markets of Turfan.

Surprisingly, visitors to markets along the ancient Silk Road—long before overnight shipping and refrigeration—could also choose from an array of foreign delicacies. As travelers moved along trade routes, they introduced their own ingredients and recipes to foreign lands. Over time, such exotic edibles became familiar features on local menus.

Check the video at the 2:18 mark. Not bad, I guess. But was it too much to ask for — having come so far — to include something about the role of this trade route in the spread of at least crops like the apple and wheat?

Posted on

World Food Summit calls for crop diversity conservation

The World Food Summit adopted a resolution yesterday. Some immediately called it “toothless,” but it does contain this welcome call for the conservation and use of agrobiodiversity.

Any recipe for confronting the challenges of climate change must allow for mitigation options and a firm commitment to the adaptation of agriculture, including through conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources for food and agriculture.

I wonder to what extent the delegates were swayed by Libya’s Muammar El-Gheddafi and his call on “FAO to set up improved seed banks to address food security.”