Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog » Cooking

Nibbles: Musa taxonomy kerfuffle, Vouchers, Foodies, Aroid roundup, MAS is ok, Sierra Leone conservation

Luigi — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:55:11 +0000

Banana boffins at each others’ throats over alleged new species. Great spectator sport.
What does a Musa voucher specimen look like, I wonder.
Fancy shmanzy Bangkok restaurant links up with heirloom seedbank.
Aroid network working really hard.
Marker-assisted selection: a biotechnology we can all get behind. Can’t we?
Conservation in Sierra Leone. No agrobiodiversity, natch.

Jeremy — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:51:06 +0000

Jeremy — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:37:50 +0000

Want to teach about agrobiodiversity? Help is at hand.
Want to learn about agrobiodiversity? Stay here.
Want to know what’s going on in biodiversity conservation at Cambridge? Here’s how. Tell us if agriculture gets a look-in. If it doesn’t, come back here. But I bet there’ll be something about landscapes.
What is a landscape? “The answer … differs tremendously depending on the respondent,” it says here. Wow, those Cambridge boffins will be so shocked.
Want to know about the plants in that landscape whose definition is so much in the hands of respondents? Most were discovered by just a few botanical superstars. But how many women?
And if that landscape is Turkish and there are (is?) livestock in it, this is what you’ll see.
Want to tour the world’s top evolution sites? Here’s the first stop. Now, how about crop evolution (and domestication, natch) sites. Like some livestock- and crop-wild-relative-discovered-by-a-botanical-superstar-filled Turkish landscape, perhaps.
Or what about sites connected with food production and marketing more generally, for that matter. No, that list would be too long. Interesting, but too long. Would need to prioritize ruthlessly.
One thing for certain, though, it should include a couple of community genebanks.
Where it is not inconceivable that seeds would be protected following age-old practices. Which may or may not be taught in fancy courses.
Oh, and beer.

Jeremy — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:35:46 +0000

Another use for chillies: keeping errant apes away.
Catfish are the new tilapia.
New fungicide-resistant strain of potato late blight found in UK. (How do they name these things?)
The chickenization of the US beef industry, on NPR. Salutary.
The Seed Warrior of Svalbard gets over-exposed.
What HarvestPlus is doing on each of its crops, in a handy brochure. And more on the same subject but a different crop from Bill Gates himself.
But that’s just one aspect of the relationship between agriculture and nutrition/health. Right? Right.
You also need dietary diversification, right? Right.
What’s that you say? Biodiversity databasing need not be hellish?
Danny waxes nostalgic about Wallis and Futuna grapes. He and I also met a few nuts in the Pacific in our time. Grape-nuts. Geddit?
Latest Plant Cuttings includes big piece on cassava.
And you can put that in an ecological context.
Do you have a forgotten germplasm collection?
Vietnam gets its first EU Geographic Indication. Can’t help thinking it need not have bothered.
Greek yoghurt, on the other hand…

Jeremy — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:19:04 +0000

Microbiologist makes Guardians of Microbial Diversity award. Agromicrobes awaited.
Fabulous giant new superinteresting megablog scheduled to launch today. No RSS. ~~Yet?~~
Who likes which yams (by which they mean Dioscorea) in Madagascar? Kew will have answers.
Genetic diversity invades the zeitgeist, or something.
Or would you prefer something a little more down to earth?
Oldest ploughed fields in Czech lands.
Crazy mixed up report on this weeks new genebank, in ~~Oman~~ Qatar. “Up to 10,000 genes”? Be still my beating heart.
Ich bin ein coco-de-mer-nut.
Heat speeds up wheat aging. I know how it feels.
A “Starbucks Of Tortillas”? Sounds worse than it is.
Welcome news of fundamental work on a “minor” millet.
IITA goes to jail.
Genetically modifying cannabis to make it safe to eat. Such a bad idea. On so many levels.

Jeremy — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:34:36 +0000

My favorite agriculture blogs. Can you say “parochial”?
Want to track Geographical Indicators? Look no further.
India’s agriculture magazine tackles Agro-Biodiversity For Food Security.
And GFAR promotes a new initiative to realise the benefits of agrobiodiversity. Love is all around.
National Plant Genetics Resources Laboratory (NPGRL) at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños checks in to rehab.
Bioversity scientist plays with fire, for better and more diverse forest regeneration.
Mutation breeding; Matt explains the lack of breakthroughs in a bit more detail.
Fabulous, complex story of spiders, flies and microbes. Add ‘em together for green flypaper.

Jeremy — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:24:10 +0000

Predators hunt for a balanced diet. So it’s not just people?
Seeds of High Asia. Saudi Aramco World gives respect to the seed hunters.
Obscure crops and an obscure book. Dorian Fuller gives respect to the neglected.
“For the time being, I genuinely believe we must maintain yield growth, but we need to ensure that we preserve the natural capital for the future.” UK Food Security Czar speaks.
Indian PM mea culpa on malnutrition. Will he listen to the above? Would it help?
Beer in Ireland. Not Guinness. I may be gone some time.
Nordics discuss AnGR and climate change. Successfully, natch.
Prosecco runs to the IPR ramparts.
Video on growing Artemisia to fight poverty.
Help the CGIAR with its tagline. Beyond irony.

Luigi — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:32:09 +0000

Meet my two best friends, Jack and Daniel.
How to design sustainable intensification projects.
All about the Aussie PGR “system.” What’s that you say? They need another genebank?
I just know you want to go to the Global Conference on Women in Agriculture.
If that doesn’t grab you, perhaps Denver Botanic Garden’s series of booktalks will. Tea & sushi, anyone?
New FAO DG pushes all right buttons except for agrobiodiversity. Which is left for others at FAO to push.

Jeremy — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:05:59 +0000

Diverse alternatives to Piper nigrum. Tasty.
How local indigenous people farmed in the land that became Massachusetts.
How local indigenous people farm in Orissa: “rice breeds fish breeds rice“. More on that Koraput GIAHS award.
Should Rwandan farmers grow what they want to, or what the government tells them to?
Have you heard the news? Transistor radios may be more important to poor farmers than mobile telephones.

Jeremy — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:44:06 +0000

Cynthia gives us her personal history with apple diversity, and the history of Tarte Tatin; yum!
Farmers in Koraput, India, recognized as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS).
Ugandan farmers who select one of four new groundnut varieties increase incomes. Good to know. What happens to the old varieties?