The following article was in the latest issue of the Teas A&M Plant Breeding Bulletin July 2011. I asked the editor of the bulletin Wayne Smith and the student featured in the story (Trey Cutts) if I could share it here as I think the information and photos are very compelling. “Rice: Research to Production” is a 3-week intensive course… Read More
Getting Your Word Out Globally Without Global Costs
In my most recent post about “rice world,” I gave a quick view of my visit at the International Rice Research Institute. Since I was going there with a couple of PhDs in plant breeding, I anticipated meeting with scientists (which was exactly what happened in a few other Los Banos institutes)! But I was in for a surprise and… Read More
How many kinds of rice do you know?
It’s amazing to me how many kinds of rice there are. I racked my brain trying to think of the ones I could name last week & came up REALLY SHORT! Long-grain rice is probably what I know best cause it’s what most of the farmers I know grow. Varieties like cypress, some of the new ones that carry the… Read More
Public Plant Breeding in the Philippines
Plant breeding was one of those fields of study & science that I hadn’t given much thought to til I was older than I’d like to admit, especially since some of my closest friends are plant breeders these days! My friend Albert had worked at The Philippines National Institute for Plant Breeding (IPB) in Los Banos previously. And while we weren’t… Read More
My Vacation to The Philippines Included Ag Stuff (Yes, I’m a Farm Geek)
(First in a series of posts about things I got to experience in the Philippine agricultural scene recently I’m not sure how many there will be yet… Guess we will see.) I’m really quite lucky. I’ve had the opportunity to combine vacation travel in a few countries with a short side trip or two to an agricultural venue. Yeah, I… Read More