b'INTERNATIONAL NEWSGLOBAL SEED WATCHA NEW BEE SPECIES DISCOVERED IN BRAZIL, FARMERS IN BURKINA FASO ARE USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO SPREAD THE WORD, AND A CANADIAN PROVINCE ANNOUNCE A COLLABORATION TO HONOUR VETERANS.STATUS BRAZIL Malis most popular sorghum varieties. It has since been trialed in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria and Togo. Certified seed A new solitary bee species, known as the Ceratina (Ceratinula)production started in 2019 in Niger and Burkina Faso.fioreseana, has been discovered on a Bayer ForwardFarm inSource: ICRISATgua Fria de Gois, Brazil.The new bee species was first identified by Favizia Freitas de Oliveira, a research scientist with the Institute of Biology atSTATUS CANADABrazils Federal University of Bahia and Hebert Luiz Pereira, a Bayer consultant whose firm, HP Agroconsultoria focuses onFP Genetics Inc. and The Royal Canadian Legion, Saskatchewan bee production and conservation. In 2017, both began workingCommand, announce a new collaboration that will seek to with Henrique Fiorese, whose family owns the Nossa Senhorahonour veterans and highlight the sacrifices they have made in Aparecida Farm, where the discovery was made. Details sur- service of community and country.rounding the discovery were featured in the December 23, 2020The legislation that applies to naming plant varieties oper-edition of ZooKeys Journal, an international science publication. ates on the principle of One VarietyOne Name. This affords us Through Bayers ForwardFarm initiative, the companya unique, timeless and global opportunity to recognize veterans collaborates with independent farmers like Fiorese in locationsfor their contributions to Canada by naming new crop varieties in throughout the world to share knowledge about modern andtheir honour. Symbolically, these variety namesakes will further sustainable agriculture through first-hand experiences. Pereiracontribute to the global community through high quality food and Freitas de Oliveira noticed the new species, which is a sol- production, which Canadian farmers are known for, says Chris itary bee that does not live in colonies, while studying otherChurko, CEO of FP Genetics.bees that were building their nests inside insect hotels that hadAs part of this collaboration, The Legions Saskatchewan been installed on the property by Bayer, as well as living in nestsCommand will accept and review applications from military and located in thick wooded areas within the farms nature preserveRCMP veterans and their families, and make recommendations to and its vegetable gardens. FP Genetics for variety names. As part of the submission, appli-We collected some (female and male) specimens in thecants will submit biographies and the stories they wish FP Genetics field survey, says Freitas de Oliveira. In addition to these,and Saskatchewan Command to share with the community.we identified 72 other species of native Brazilian bees duringOnce a variety bearing a veterans name is officially regis-a rapid assessment to monitor pollinator diversity around soy- tered, the public will be able to access variety information via bean crops. FP Genetics communications and follow links to the Legions website to learn more about the person behind the name, their contributions to community and country, and the great services STATUS BURKINA FASO the Royal Canadian LegionSaskatchewan Command offers in support of veterans and first responders.A small number of farmers pioneering seed production of a novel sorghum variety in Burkina Faso are also breaking new ground on social media. Turning the spotlight on Soubatimi, the newSTATUS JAPANsorghum variety, they have shown a way around one of the big-gest roadblocks to Africas uptake of game-changing improvedTomatoes are one of the most popular types of fresh produce crops unawareness. consumed worldwide, as well as being an important ingredient Right from our first cropping year of Soubatimi, I tookin many manufactured foods.photos of the plants every 15 days and posted them on FacebookAs with other cultivated crops, some potentially useful and WhatsApp, said Sana Pascal Ouedraogo, a research techni- genes that were present in its South American ancestors were cian who took up farming after retirement. People were happylost during domestication and breeding of the modern tomato, to see how well the variety performed and were curious to learnSolanum lycopersicum var. lycopersicum.about it. Because of its importance as a crop, the tomato genome Most people were impressed by the fodder and leaves thatsequence was completed and published as long ago as 2012, with remained green up to maturity, adds Henri Zoungrana, wholater additions and improvements. Now, the team at University teamed up with Mr Ouedraogo in 2019 to produce Soubatimiof Tsukuba, in collaboration with TOKITA Seed Co. Ltd, have seed on 6 ha in Zoundweogo province, about 102 km fromproduced high-quality genome sequences of two wild ancestors Ouagadougou, Burkina Fasos capital city. of tomato from Peru, Solanum pimpinellifolium and Solanum Soubatimi was developed as a dual purpose crop for foodlycopersicum var. cerasiforme. They recently published the work and animal feed. It was developed by ICRISAT Mali, IER (Institutin DNA Research.dconomie rurale), Malis agricultural research institute, and the French research center CIRAD (Centre de coopration inter-nationale en recherche agronomique pour le dveloppement). Not long after its release in 2016, the variety became one of 36IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'