Tag Archives: selective breeding

Green light for GM?

Posted on June 21, 2014 by argylesock

Steve Connor at the Independent told us, three months ago, of advice to our UK Government about genetically modified (GM, genetically engineered) crops. Our Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Prof Sir Mark Walport, led a team advising that Britain, and the … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer | Tagged Africa, biotechnology, breeding, crop, development, Europe, farmer, food security, genetic modification, law, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, population, research, selective breeding, smallholder, sustainable, trade, Walport_Mark | 3 Comments

Revisiting the “eat local” Idea

Posted on June 15, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on Thought + Food:
I just came across this review of a book called “The Locavore’s Delusion”, and yes, it is a nod to that other book, in case you were wondering! The authors of the book tried to…

Posted in food, knowledge transfer | Tagged access to food, biotechnology, climate-ready crop, flood, food, food availability, food quality, food safety, food security, food sovereignty, genetic modification, grain, grocery, local breed, local community, local variety, marker assisted selection, plant_monocot, Scuba rice, selective breeding, staple food, sustainable, trade, transport | 3 Comments

Scuba rice: biotech crop on a fast track towards release

Posted on May 25, 2014 by argylesock

A new biotech rice variety called Scuba or Swarna-Sub1 is going through field trials in India. It’s a long-grained rice (Oryza sativa L. ssp. indica) designed to be ‘climate-ready’ or ‘climate-smart’. That is, it’s designed to grow well as climates … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer, weather and climate | Tagged Africa, Asia, backcrossing, biotechnology, breeding, climate, climate-ready crop, crop diversity, crop variety, Department for International Development, development, farmer, field trial, flood, gene, grain, International Rice Research Institute, marker assisted backcrossing, marker assisted selection, paddy field, plant_monocot, research, rice, rice Swarna, Scuba rice, seed, selective breeding, staple food, trade, weather | 6 Comments

Rising levels of CO2 could exacerbate malnutrition

Posted on May 16, 2014 by argylesock

argylesock says… Climate change is happening. We humans caused it. Here’s yet another way that climate change threatens people, especially poor people. [Edit] I looked up the original paper (behind a paywall, but my University library has a subscription) and … Continue reading →

Posted in food, human health, weather and climate | Tagged America, Asia, biofortification, carbon dioxide, child, climate, corn, crop variety, field pea, food quality, grain, iron, legume, maize, nutrition, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, poverty, research, rice, selective breeding, sorghum, soya, staple food, vegetable, wheat, zinc | 2 Comments

Genetic engineering in agriculture

Posted on April 10, 2014 by argylesock

As the European Union and the United States approach agreement on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), now’s a good time for us Europeans to approach understanding of USian farming. And vice versa. Today I’m looking at the Union … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, money and trade | Tagged agroecology, America, biodiversity, biotechnology, crop, crop diversity, ecosystem, Europe, genetic modification, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, politics, seed, selective breeding, sustainable, trade, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership | 9 Comments

Paterson’s curse: rival for a GM crop?

Posted on March 27, 2014 by argylesock

Scientists asked human volunteers to take oil from the purple viper’s bugloss (Paterson’s curse, Echium plantagineum). The team, led by Katrin Kuhnt at Friedrich Schiller University, hoped that this plant oil would be a good substitute for fish oil in … Continue reading →

Posted in human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged Atlantic salmon, biotechnology, brassica, crop, Europe, fatty acid, finfish, fish oil, genetic modification, human, nutrition, oilseed Omega Camelina, Paterson_Owen, plant_dicot, purple viper's bugloss, research, selective breeding | Leave a comment

Monsanto Admits: 1. We Don’t Need Genetic Engineering, 2. We Don’t Need Monsanto

Posted on March 26, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on Volatility:
> Recently Wired magazine ran a Monsanto infomercial touting its alleged change of strategic course on vegetables. Monsanto, through its subsidiaries Seminis and others, is selling a line of high-end conventional vegetables dolled up as some kind of high-tech breakthrough. Contrary…

Posted in agriculture, horticulture, human health, knowledge transfer, money and trade | Tagged allergy, America, Asia, biofortification, biotechnology, brassica, breeding, broccoli, Bt crop, commodity crop, corn, cotton, crop, crop variety, DNA, drought, Europe, evolution, farmer, feed, fruit, fruit variety, genetic modification, germplasm, glucoraphanin, glyphosate, Golden Rice, grain, grocery, herbicide, herbicide resistance, history, human, insecticide, knowledge, label, lettuce, maize, marker assisted selection, melon, Monsanto, nitrogen, nutrition, onion, organic, pepper, pesticide, pesticide resistance, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, potato, research, rice, Roundup, Roundup Ready crop, salt, seed, selective breeding, Seminis, soya, tomato, trade, transport, vegetable, vegetable variety, watermelon, weed, wild vegetable | Leave a comment

Non-GM success stories

Posted on December 30, 2013 by argylesock

Our world is in crisis! Only genetic modification (GM, genetic engineering, GE) can save us! Yeah, right. Want examples? I do. GM Freeze is a Scottish website proudly against GM crops and foods. Here’s what it says about non-GM success … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer, money and trade, weather and climate | Tagged biotechnology, climate, crop, food, food security, genetic modification, marker assisted selection, politics, selective breeding, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, weather | 2 Comments

Remember the forgotten crops

Posted on December 24, 2013 by argylesock

This is my 1000th post on this blog. My 500th is here. I use my 1000th post to honour Monkombu Swaminathan, the scientist known as Father of the Green Revolution in India. Here’s an interview with Fred Pearce at Bioversity … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture, knowledge transfer | Tagged access to food, biofortification, biotechnology, breadfruit, conservation, corn, crop, crop diversity, crop variety, farmer, food, food sovereignty, genetic diversity, genetic modification, grain, Green Revolution, history, iron, Iron Rich Pearl Millet, maize, millet, neglected crop, nutrition, Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, population, poverty, research, rice, scientist, selective breeding, sorghum, staple food, sustainable, Vitamin A, wheat, zinc | 6 Comments

Millet

Posted on December 6, 2013 by argylesock

Millets are grasses with smaller seeds than the grains that people like me, in the rich world, know as our staple foods. We should notice other grains too, including millets. Millions of people appreciate millets as staple food and as … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer, money and trade | Tagged barley, cash crop, climate, corn, crop, crop variety, development, dryland, farmer, feed, food, foxtail millet, grain, knowledge, livestock, maize, millet, neglected crop, nutrition, oats, pearl millet, plant_monocot, poverty, rice, rye, selective breeding, sorghum, staple food, trade, value-added, wheat, wild rice, woman | 4 Comments