very interresting discussion about climate, but not in the topic of the thread. Do we have a policy about focusness in this forum ? 
So this is just a kind reminder that Thomas is trying to get feedback on his idea of initiating grexes based on scientific litterature, which I am also curious to read.
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The vikings raiding the topic eh! Typical!
Good you didn’t freeze Jesse!
I’ve gathered quite some useful info in between the happy chatter.
So, the gène banks do not provide that much info at all about soil types and climates.
But should i see it like this then? If they’re based in France, they’re more likely to have mostly seeds that work there… And if not… Will they specify that?
Is it even standardised? Or do they all do their own thing?
Cathy doesn’t care because differing varieties behave differently to 24-7 sunlight and some surprisingly good.
How is it anyway with commercial plantbreeders? Do they make much use of gène banks? Or some do, some never?
I’ve spoken to a French plantbreeder, he told me he was there when biological farming became a thing in France. He said there wasn’t a lot of choice seed wise. They imported a lot. Swiss i think he mentioned. Anyway he created his own melonvariety by mixing thirteen varieties mostly from abroad. He was very pleased to hear about what we did and he taught young people about breeding and basicly said landracing was the future.
I’ve not asked him about genebanks.
I’d love to send him the book when it’s finally available in French.
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It took me a while to get here! but now have fixed it. The current de-facto policy is to let people go off topic if they want to, and many people have the ability to split topics off to create new ones. I just gave you the powers and encouragement to do so when needed 
I think many moderators make better forums.
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Hi everybody and @isabelle, and thank you so much for your great summary and contributions, such studies are (mainly?) called “core collections”,
" The core collection is a small subset that minimizes genetic redundancy while preserving the maximum genetic diversity of the entire population" . This quotation is taken from a 2023 publication summarising their history (starting from 1984) : Forests | Free Full-Text | Developments on Core Collections of Plant Genetic Resources: Do We Know Enough?
(personnally I don’t get much about their methodology and statistical methods but I
believe getting the list of accessions at the end of their work is enough to create very wide modern landraces - genetically-speaking)
Another semantic entry would be “population structure” .One exemple for Cucurbita moschata Plants | Free Full-Text | Population Structure and Genetic Diversity of Cucurbita moschata Based on Genome-Wide High-Quality SNPs .
" 4. Materials and Methods
4.1. Plant Materials and Phenotypic Evaluation
The total of 610 C. moschata accessions, which were originally from 42 countries, were collected from the National Agrobiodiversity Center Rural Development Administration (RDA) in Korea and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)." (…)… At the end of their study they extract 67 accessions (see Table 3 here Population structure and genetic diversity of Cucurbita moschata based on genome-wide high-quality SNPs)
Just to give you an example, but I am no specialist. We could find many others, maybe more practicable.
I listened to this very interesting conference this morning, with many info and some quite comprehensive about the Standard Material Transfer Agreements : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uswT_C3oAzY
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I have mixed feelings too about the overall idea: don’t want to spend too much time over-thinking (my fear) but on the other side I know that if I could access - without putting too much effort in it- the widest possible genetics of watermelon for example, within let’s say 40 varieties, and then share with others at stage f1 or f2 for their own local or regional adaptation I would run for it, and would be so happy. And anyway, I would be enjoying it from seedlings to harvest, looking at so diverse plants, which is what I love : why not a gift from the world to take care of, and then share. Then bye-bye publications, databases, computers, and this thinking effort… I imagine it as some temporary winter work, like I have been used to over the last winters: just scrolling down the overall european Internet looking for crazy squashes, watermelons, etc in order to assemble new grexes, the most diverse possible, as I understood it had to be to undertake the greatest breeding journey possible, towards tasteful, robust, locally adapted modern landraces… And that activity in winter time, on a computer, so far from the garden but at a season were there is not much happening, helped me getting much more diversity than I could have found on all french seed swaps, I must say. And this I can share right now within the community.
…No good on the long run if it was meant to become some kind of permanent work, needing specialised people, specialised networks, specialised understandings, so specialised trainings, specialised blablas of all kinds, and which in return would select specialised people within the community, but great if it is a one time thing, which goes simple and easy, fast and helps the community. That is how I was figuring it, and still… But for now the EU Serendipity Seed Swap is doing great. We have and will have loads to share, and get to know each other a little more…
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Hi, guys! Someone gently pointed out to me that I said something up the thread that could’ve been misunderstood. So let me correct myself.
I think we should ditch anxiety. If you’re doing something because you feel like you “should,” even though it stresses you out, maybe look for another approach that makes you happier.
Some people LOVE record-keeping, hand-crossing, reading scientific literature, and/or other very-hands-on approaches. If you are a person who enjoys something that most people don’t, please do it! Chances are you have something unique and special to contribute that a lot of people need, and will greatly appreciate benefiting from.
Precisely because most people don’t enjoy things like finicky record-keeping, the people who enjoy doing it are capable of creating tremendous value that may be unique.
And, let me add: I am one of those people! I love deep-diving into super, super detailed, teeny little details of everything. I enjoy it so much that I can often get lost in the weeds, and then I need to “zoom out,” look at the big picture, and simplify because I’m getting too anxious and stressed out over details that honestly won’t make all that big a difference. But sometimes my super finicky detail-oriented mindset can be of great value.
I admire Joseph Lofthouse’s “just let things do what they’re going to do” approach precisely because that’s not my natural personality, and I tend to need more of that mindset in my life in order to stay in balance.
I very much admire and appreciate the work of detail-oriented people, and I think that as long as they’re enjoying being detail-oriented, they should keep up the good work.
I think the best way to create things is to find the approach that makes you the happiest. If it’s something most people enjoy, great! If it’s something very few other people enjoy, great! Just do what suits you.
Ditch anxiety and seek joy.
Okay, I hope that’s a little bit clearer.
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