The McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics (MCCHE) and the India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) are proud to announce the opening of a national food innovation competition for pulses. The objective of this competition is to create an innovative pulse-containing snack or convenience food (‘ready to eat’ or ‘ready to cook’), that showcases at least one pulse, and helps build awareness of the UN-declared International Year of Pulses (IYP) in 2016.
The deadline for submissions is December 15, 2015.
For more information on the submission requirements, deadlines, and themes, visit the Mcgill and IPGA websites.
Safeguarding seed varieties is essential for protecting our biodiversity and agricultural resources. Seeds are commonly stored in seed banks at research centers. Some seed storage facilities, like the Svalbard Global Seed Vault set 1300 kilometers beyond the Arctic Circle, are built to withstand extreme weather. The main seek bank for the Middle East has been for years hosted at the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Aleppo, Syria. Because of the war, ICARDA, its personnel and its seeds have had to be relocated.
Dr. Mahmoud Solh, is the Director General of the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), recounts the story of the move from Aleppo to Lebanon and the transportation of the seeds to secure locations.
This interview was carried out by Michael Condon of ABC Rural. Below is a transcript:
Syria was unfortunately occupied by armed forces. At the beginning, we managed to keep reasonable working relations because they had put somebody with a PhD in Agriculture in charge. So, he understood the value of ICARDA. Another interesting issue was that some of these armed groups are farmers who used to deal with ICARDA before. They had received seeds from us in the past with improved wheat, barely, chickpea, lentils, and faba beans. They value the center and know that the center is a-political. We have nothing to do with the government, however being an international center. We managed to keep working for the first 2 years.
ICARDA kept planting 630 hectares, and our gene bank continued to be operational. Even now, our gene bank is operational. However the armed groups have been changing, so now the two groups who are there are growing the land and are harvesting the crops for their own good. They are allowing us to keep the gene bank operational. In spite of everything we still have the long-term storage well kept at minus 20 to minus 18 degrees, as well as having the active collection at five degrees centigrade.
Didn’t you need to move part of the Gene Bank out?
Yes. When the problem started in Syria, the first question I asked our gene bank manager was; how much of our gene bank is already duplicated? To which the answer was 87%. We usually duplicated germplasm thinking about earth quakes, fire and so forth. At this point, I felt our top priority as a research center was to move the remaining 13%. 13% out of hundred and forty three thousand excisions is a lot of germplasm. With that, we moved 14,000 excisions within 3 months to Turkey. I have to commend the Turkish government for accepting this germplasm on such short notice. Our board member, Professor Masum Burak,who is the director of Agriculture and Research, came himself to the boarder to let the seed in. The other 14% was sent to the American University of Beirut and Lebanon.
We really moved out 99% of the germplasm. We have a remaining 1% of very little seed yet to move out. But still, we consider the seed bank to be well saved. This collection is considered to be one of the most unique collections representing dry areas. It’s important to many parts of the world including Australia, and we do have big programs with Australia on germplasm. Both the Grains Research & Development Corporation (GRDC) and SCR support ICARDA in many projects on germplasm improvement and germplasm exchange and collection.
The news has just been released recently that the US and Australia are going to be involved in bombing raids in Syria. What’s the facility like now, is it still under Kea taker ship, or what’s happening?
Fortunately, the buildings are intact, and we are in contact with the government to make sure that the Syrian army does not bombard the facility. Rumors came to us that the armed groups are going use the labs for storing ammunition and so forth. It was then that we really made contact with influential people in Aleppo, who put pressure on them not to use it for that. We know that if this is really true, then I am sure that there is justification to bombard the facility. So, we were lucky this way so far, but as you know Civil war can change every hour.
Do you think there must have been setbacks for having moving out the time wasted and things lost?
Oh yes, let me tell you – in terms of equipment; we lost some old cars, certainly some implements, and all of the tractors. What we did before leaving Syria was move all of our sophisticated equipment to Aleppo, and to apartments that were rented by the ex-patriots who left. So now, they are really safe in Aleppo. We also moved tractors we used have to a school in Aleppo, so they are now in the school yard. In terms of a loss of germplasm, we have been fortunate. Very fortunate, frankly. Why? Because we knew the value. We made top priority to keep every seed that we have safe.
For more information:
http://phys.org/news/2015-10-syrian-seeds-withdrawn-arctic-doomsday.html
Roma, 10 nov (EFE)- La ONU presentó hoy el Año Internacional de las Legumbres, que se desarrollará a lo largo de 2016, en un intento de concienciar sobre la importancia nutricional de alimentos como los fríjoles, las lentejas o los garbanzos, y de sus beneficios para la salud.
Pulses are a key ingredient for a healthy diet. On November 10th, a technical side event at the FAO focused on the importance of pulses globally and for your personal health. The side event emphasized pulses in human nutrition, the food supply of pulses, their nutrient profile, as well as world production.
View Ruth Charrondiere's presentation from the side event here:
Pulses for Nutrition and Health - Ruth Charrondiere
On 18 November 2015 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, several members of IYP-GPC thematic committees presented their research at a symposium on “Improving Pulse Crops for Nutrition and Health” at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Agronomy/Crop Science Society of America/Soil Science Society of America.
Tom Warkentin (University of Saskatchewan) showcased his word on biofortification of pea and chickpea. BB Singh (G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology and Texas A&M University) shared research on breeding high-yielding, high-quality cowpea varieties. Michael Grusak (Archer Daniels Midland Company) outlined key opportunities for breeding research to increase nutritional quality of beans. In 2016, with support from the Global Pulse Confederation, proceedings from this symposium will be published as an open access resource on current efforts to enhance the nutritional value and health benefits for various markets of pulse crops.
This article was written by Robynne Anderson and originally appeared on Huffington Post Green.
With the world's leaders gathering in Paris to discuss how collective efforts can ensure that global warming does not rise above two degrees, farmers face the double challenge of how to feed a booming global population set to reach 9bn, while delivering a more sustainable agricultural system.
Though it may not always be prominent in the COP21 discussions, the critical role played by agriculture in many economies -- in terms of food security, economic opportunity and poverty reduction -- means agriculture is a key component of many national strategies for adaptation and mitigation.
The importance of COP21 to sustainable agriculture will be huge. Not least, because in developing countries, it will be small-scale farmers and farming families, who will be on the frontline battling rising temperatures, frequent droughts and food supply shortages across the globe triggered by climate change.
Faced with the complexities of climate change, science and politics, it is all too easy to turn away and carry on regardless -- especially, if you are lucky enough to live in the richer, developed world.
So, how can each of us tackle climate change?
My suggestion is review your diet. It's time to eat for the planet. What we eat sends a signal to the supply chain and helps create a more sustainable and healthier future for the world's people and the planet.
One food source which bridges being both healthy for people and the planet are pulses. These are likely to come to the fore with Government, policy makers and consumers next year.
The UN has declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses (IYP) because 'Pulses are a vital source of plant-based proteins and amino acids for people around the globe and should be eaten as part of a healthy diet to address obesity, as well as to prevent and help manage chronic diseases such as diabetes, coronary conditions and cancer'.
The UN also notes pulses, such as chickpeas, peas, beans and lentils, have nitrogen-fixing properties which can contribute to increasing soil fertility and have a positive impact on the environment'.
Pulses have a number of other environmental positives: they use less water than other protein sources, less fertilizer and have a low carbon footprint. New more resilient strains of pulse seed, like the white gold bean, which has been so successful in Ethiopia, have been developed to help farmers fight the impact of climate change.
Strategically, they are important to food security and nutrition agenda. Professor Mywish Maredia of Michigan State University has argued that pulses are "uniquely positioned" as a commodity group to tackle the many competing challenges facing the developing world, including adequate nutrition and health and also addressing environmental resource constraints and access issues.
In a world where 800m people are malnourished, pulses are nutrition dense and affordable foods, which are already part of many governments' food nutrition and security policies.
Unfortunately, despite their many widely acknowledged nutritional and environmental benefits of pulses, global consumption and production is not as high as it might be. Solving one of these things part is in the gift of each of us. So, if you want to play a (small) part in the Paris Convention, try eating your pulses, starting perhaps with the typically French Puy lentils in solidarity with France.
More recipes: http://www.pulses.org/recipes/