Tag Archives: biofortification

Biofortified GM bananas

Posted on June 22, 2014 by argylesock

James Dale is a scientist at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT, Australia). His lab has developed a genetically modified (GM, genetically engineered) banana (Musa × paradisiaca) rich in ‘pro-vitamin A’. Here’s the QUT report. This is the ‘super banana’ … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture, knowledge transfer | Tagged Africa, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, America, Asia, banana, banana Cavendish, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, biodiversity, biofortification, biotechnology, breeding, carotenoid, child, conservation, cotton, crop diversity, crop variety, development, East African cooking banana, food security, food sovereignty, fruit, fruit variety, gene, gene gun, genetic modification, iron, land grab, local variety, marker assisted backcrossing, micronutrient, Monsanto, nutrition, patent, plantain, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, poverty, pro-vitamin A, Provit Banana, research, rice, Scuba rice, seed, soya, staple food, super banana, tissue culture, trade, Vitamin A | 2 Comments

Special bananas: Africa’s answer to Golden Rice?

Posted on June 18, 2014 by argylesock

Oluwabusayo Sotunde (writing as Busayo in Ventures Africa) tells us about a ‘special banana’ (Musa × paradisiaca) rich in alpha-carotene and beta-carotene. After eating those carotenes, the body converts them to Vitamin A. So they’re ‘provitamins’. This new genetically modified … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, horticulture, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged Africa, America, Asia, banana, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, biodiversity, biofortification, biotechnology, child, development, food sovereignty, fruit, fruit variety, genetic modification, Golden Rice, grain, Green Revolution, nutrition, plantain, plant_monocot, Provit Banana, research, rice, staple food, tree, Vitamin A, woman | 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

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

GMO breakthroughs and fakethroughs

Posted on March 19, 2014 by argylesock

It can be difficult to know who to believe about genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The scientific peer review system is no guarantee of truth, nor are the news media, nor are blogs like this one. Jonathan Latham of the US-based … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer | Tagged academia, bacterial rice leaf blight, bacterium, banana, biofortification, biotechnology, cassava, development, disease resistance, genetic modification, Golden Rice, grain, International Rice Research Institute, knowledge, Monsanto, nutrition, oral vaccination, pathogen, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, politics, research, rice, staple food, sustainable, sweet potato, tuber, vaccine, virus | 1 Comment

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

Debunking Golden Rice myths: a geneticist’s perspective

Posted on December 13, 2013 by argylesock

Michael Purugganan at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) explains why he believes in the genetically modified (GM, genetically engineered, GE) rice called Golden Rice. He says that Golden Rice is part of the ‘answers to global malnutrition’. After dismissing … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged Asia, Bayer, biofortification, biotechnology, crop, development, DuPont, genetic modification, Golden Rice, grain, Green Revolution, human, International Rice Research Institute, nutrition, plant_monocot, rice, Syngenta, Vitamin A | 6 Comments

History of Pearl millet

Posted on November 20, 2013 by argylesock

Originally posted on bbzfrankie:
Pearl millet is the most widely grown type of millet. It has been grown in Africa and the Indian subcontinent since prehistoric times. The center of diversity, and suggested area of domestication, for the crop is…

Posted in food, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged biofortification, breeding, child, crop, crop variety, domestication, food, grain, history, human, iron, Iron Rich Pearl Millet, millet, nutrition, pearl millet, plant_monocot, selective breeding, staple food | Leave a comment

Seeking sustainable crops

Posted on October 22, 2013 by argylesock

Elisabeth Braw at the Guardian tells us about the search for sustainable crops. She says that we in the rich world focus too much on a tiny number of staple food species. But ‘at one time during the past 10,000 … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer | Tagged African Biofortified Sorghum, banana, biodiversity, biofortification, bioprospecting, biotechnology, breeding, crop, crop variety, domestication, enset, farmer, food, food security, foraging, genetic modification, Iron Rich Pearl Millet, millet, neglected crop, nutrition, pearl millet, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, selective breeding, smallholder, sorghum, staple food, sustainable, wild food | 5 Comments

Wickedness, Mr Paterson?

Posted on October 15, 2013 by argylesock

Here in Britain our Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, is a big fan of genetically modified (GM, genetically engineered, GE) crops. For example, he’s in favour of Golden Rice (GR). GR is a GM crop being developed and promoted as a … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, human health, knowledge transfer, money and trade | Tagged academia, biofortification, biotechnology, breeding, crop, crop variety, genetic modification, Golden Rice, grain, human, knowledge, marker assisted selection, nutrition, Paterson_Owen, plant_monocot, politics, rice, selective breeding, staple food, Syngenta, trade, Vitamin A | Leave a comment