What's cooking in our kitchens?

  So what have we been up to lately? Plenty! Here's but a selection of some of our exciting events... Right now as we 'speak', the Integrated Breeding Multiyear Course (IB–MYC, launched in 2012) is at full sail, running its 2013 session for the South and Southeast Asia group all this week...

July 1, 2013 11:23am

Stepping in from the cold with scientific touchstone – Sorghum reference set ‘reloaded’

  A CIRAD-led team has just completed a huge genetic study covering more than 3,000 sorghum ‘candidates’ to encompass sorghum’s broad diversity. Such studies ensure that genetic collections do not just sit on shelves and in the lab, but come out of cold storage, moving from purely conservation goals into...

May 27, 2013 12:14pm

A LEAP forward for agriculture in Africa

  The Norman E Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program (LEAP) invites applications from students in sub-Saharan Africa (focus region). Borlaug LEAP offers fellowships to enhance the quality of thesis research by postgraduate students from developing countries who show strong promise as leaders in the field of agriculture and related...

May 21, 2013 2:52pm

Legumes-to-Legumes: TLI and TLII twinning in the tropics

A May merger meeting, with a healthy dose of capacity building The Tropical Legumes I (TLI) and Tropical Legumes II (TLII) integration meeting opens today, 20th May, in Uganda. TLI is led by GCP and covers research for drought- and disease-tolerant beans, chickpeas, cowpeas and groundnuts in Africa and...

May 20, 2013 10:16am

A threat from the East: Deadly cassava disease stalking pristine West Africa

The deadly cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) is rapidly marching westwards in Africa, leaving massive losses in its wake. Fresh outbreaks and increased spread have been reported in DR Congo and Angola.CBSD could halve production of a crop that means food and income for 300 million Africans. Its potential arrival...

May 8, 2013 3:46pm

Colorado calling on cyberspace: Course in Plant breeding for drought tolerance

  Once again, Colorado State University (USA) is offering a postgraduate-level online course in Plant breeding for drought tolerance. Dates: 26 August–13 December 2013 Target: postgraduate students in plant science, and professionals in the public and private sectors interested in increasing their knowledge in this area Course content includes: Analysing...

April 30, 2013 1:19pm

Join a new, lively and interactive network on agricultural genomics, breeders welcome!

  Calling genomics professionals and crop breeders As part of GCP's community-building efforts and implemented through our Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP), GCP's Theme 1 (Comparative and Applied Genomics) has established the Agricultural Genomics Network (AGN). AGN's principal objectives are: to develop a community to discuss advances in genomics and provide...

April 19, 2013 1:11pm

Sweet news on a sour subject: A triplicate for making maize tolerant to toxic soils

  More than half of the world’s potentially arable lands consist of acid soils, where aluminium (Al) toxicity is the primary factor limiting maize yield, one of the world’s most important food crops. This problem is particularly acute in low-input agricultural systems, which encompasses a large portion of the farmers...

March 26, 2013 10:10am

Big on beans, blogs, videos and all

We've been big on beans lately, featuring ongoing work in our Legumes Research Initiative, and more specifically, the Tropical Legumes I project (TLI), wihich GCP leads. You can zoom in on our bean research here. Our latest offering is a blogpost on breedings beans that beat the heat in...

March 20, 2013 10:57am

InterDrought-IV Conference: A meeting of the minds on mutual matters and money

A great deal on drought and developing countries GCP is one of the sponsors of the InterDrought–IV conference to be held in September 2013. But this is not a new deal: GCP has consistently supported InterDrought since the very first conference. “Since its inception, GCP’s key trait of focus in...

March 9, 2013 6:20pm

GCP workshop at the Plant and Animal Genome Conference 2013 (PAG XXI)

  As always, at this global event last month, GCP hosted a side event, graced by a panel of eminent scientists and excellent speakers. This workshop on January 14 2013 highlighted selected key GCP projects, with some of our research partners in attendance. Altogether, there were about 150 participants. “It...

February 20, 2013 1:53pm

Orphan no more: Chickpeas join exclusive 'closed club' in the crop world

Just as this time last year, the genomics crack-team has done it again! In an auspicious start to 2013, scientists have successfully completed the draft genome sequence of chickpeas. This good news is revealed in an open-access article published today in Nature Biotechnology, entitled Draft genome sequence of chickpea (Cicer arietinum)...

January 27, 2013 6:32pm

Meet 'The Godfather I': Rice plus a dash of salt-and-P with Abdel Ismail

You already met 'The Godfather II' of the 'rocking R' blopost here, and we'd now like for you to meet the original godfather of not only PSTOL1, but also SALTOL. Don't worry: we'll decipher those two cryptic terms in just a moment... This week, our blogpost profiles Abdelbagi Ismail...

January 24, 2013 2:20pm

And now, 'GCP TV' for you – view our videos

Our latest video features Andrew Bennett, Chair of our Executive Board – a fitting start to the year. Andrew traces an eventful timeline from GCP's founding to the present day, the formation of the Transition Taskforce, and why this group was constituted. {youtube}http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1UX77SWlZM{/youtube} We have more videos for you on...

January 24, 2013 12:50am

Tune in to our podcasts − 'Radio GCP' for you!

Our newest production on 'Radio GCP' is a conversation with Matthias Wissuwa, where he tells us about his work on PSTOL1 – the gene on the Pup1 locus that does wonders for enhancing phosphorus (P) intake by rice plants (hence the moniker, Pup1 for 'phosphorus uptake'). Please tune in to hear...

December 20, 2012 5:31pm