Tag Archives: fruit variety

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

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

What happens to European seeds now?

Posted on March 11, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on Passion in Food and Field:
Today (11th of March) the European Parliament voted for the rejection of the Commission proposal for a Regulation the production and marketing of Plant Reproductive Material. The Commission published the draft of…

Posted in agriculture, horticulture, money and trade | Tagged crop, crop diversity, crop variety, Europe, farmer, fruit, fruit variety, gardener, genetic diversity, grain, law, local variety, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, politics, rare variety, seed, trade, vegetable, vegetable variety | Leave a comment

FAO launches new standards for plant genebanks

Posted on February 2, 2014 by argylesock

Plant diversity is essential in so many ways. So it’s good to learn that the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has announced ‘voluntary, international standards for the many repositories – or genebanks – around the world that store … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture | Tagged biodiversity, conservation, crop, crop diversity, crop variety, food, food security, fruit variety, gene, genebank, genetic diversity, local variety, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, rare variety, seed, seedbank | Leave a comment

GM apples

Posted on January 18, 2014 by argylesock

When apple (Malus domestica) fruits are cut or bitten, we all know that the cut surfaces turn brown. To stop this happening, here’s a range of genetically modified (GM, genetically engineered, GE) apples called Arctic apples. Ordinary apples turn brown … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, horticulture, knowledge transfer | Tagged Agrobacterium tumefaciens, apple, apple Arctic, arthropod, bacterium, biotechnology, breeding, food processing, fruit, fruit variety, gene silencing, genetic modification, grocery, insect, law, pest, pH, plant_dicot, tree | 7 Comments

Exposing the Lie: How Monsanto Does Not Represent Sustainable Agriculture

Posted on January 10, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on Paper to Use:
A web search for Monsanto brings up their homepage along with the phrase “A Sustainable Agriculture Company.” They have a heart-warming mission statement about “helping farmers” meet the needs of a growing population. There…

Posted in agriculture | Tagged biodiversity, biotechnology, conservation, crop diversity, crop variety, fruit variety, genetic diversity, genetic modification, herbicide, Monsanto, pesticide, seed, sustainable, vegetable variety | 3 Comments

Seeds on seeds on seeds: Why more biodiversity means more food security

Posted on November 2, 2013 by argylesock

argylesock says… The United States is home to Monsanto, the biotechnology giant that develops and sells the world’s most popular genetically modified (GM, genetically engineered, GE) crops. I blog about GM often, including reviews of a series of articles by … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer, money and trade | Tagged biodiversity, biotechnology, climate, climate-ready crop, crop diversity, crop variety, food, food security, fruit variety, genetic diversity, genetic modification, local variety, Monsanto, rare variety, seed, trade, vegetable variety | Leave a comment

AFSA meets in Ethiopia to oppose GM products

Posted on August 23, 2013 by argylesock

Originally posted on ECO-opia:
The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) will next week meet in Ethiopia to discuss strategies for resistance against genetically modified (GM) seeds. AFSA is a Pan African platform comprising networks and farmer organisations…

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer | Tagged Africa, agroecology, biodiversity, biotechnology, crop variety, development, farmer, food sovereignty, fruit variety, genetic modification, Green Revolution, knowledge, local variety, pastoral, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, politics, seed, selective breeding, smallholder, vegetable variety | 2 Comments

New EU Seed Law Would Ban All Non-Registered Varieties

Posted on May 6, 2013 by argylesock

Originally posted on Earth First! Newswire:
Cross Posted from Real Seeds On Monday May 6th a draconian new law will be put before the European Commission, which creates new powers to classify and regulate all plant life anywhere in Europe.…

Posted in agriculture, horticulture, knowledge transfer | Tagged crop, crop diversity, crop variety, Europe, farmer, food sovereignty, fruit, fruit variety, gardener, knowledge, law, local variety, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, rare variety, seed, vegetable, vegetable variety | 5 Comments