While at ICARDA I paid a visit to Dr Ken Street, he's better known to Aussies as the
“Seed Hunter”. Ken showed me through the massive seed bank they have at ICARDA which Ken busies himself trying to fill. He collects wild species of wheat and legumes and from this it is hoped to discover useful genes like salt tolerance. These new genes can then be used by crop breeders to enhance the performance of crops we grow today. It was cool to see the parent seeds of wheat; they looked nothing like what we grow today.
After a few days at ICARDA, Ken was kind enough to take me out and see some of the local ruins just north of Aleppo on the Turkish border. Amazing to see buildings, even small villages still standing after hundreds of years. The locals plant crops of olive trees and cereals right in amongst them. On the way out we stopped to look at cumin being planted. To get the tiny seeds to run out evenly it is mixed with urea. Cumin is commonly use in curry mixes and the smell wafting out of their seeders was great.
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