- Where do spices come from, mummy?
- Even “good” tequila can be bad for you. Well I never.
- Sparkling tea? Call it a microwine. Via.
- More potatoes. …
- … but the kicker is the historical archive she links to.
- AGRA and Earth Institute to collaborate. Africa not available for comment.
- More Pacific food crop nutrition goodness from Lois et al.
- Children may not like their veggies because of the Ca content.
- Canada down to 95% Holsteins. Oh dear.
- “The large crop genetic diversity that already exists in Ethiopia will make adapting agricultural systems to the locally changing conditions relatively easy.” Well, maybe…
- Screening Kansas wheat varieties for resistance to wheat blast.
Cacao goes sustainable, yes, but how?
The World Cocoa Foundation is offering a guide to the cocoa industry on sustainability principles that focus on equitable profit, labour standards and environmental issues.
That’s from a press release. There’s something similar on the World Cocoa Foundations’s blog. But I can’t find anywhere on the WCF website the teach-yourself-sustainable-cacao-farming document that I was foolishly expecting.
I guess we’ll have to make do with some general aims:
The sustainability initiative commits the foundation and its members to working toward three categories; profit, people and planet.
For the people category, the aim is for healthy and thriving cocoa-farming communities, where international labour standards are followed and farming practices are safe.
The planet category refers to responsible, sound environmental stewardship in cocoa-farming communities where soil and water are conserved and Integrated Pest Management to limit the use of agricultural chemicals, protecting the fragile tropical ecosystem.
And in terms of profit, the aim is to improve equitable economic returns for farmers built upon expanding entrepreneurial skills, stronger and more effective farmer associations, and more productive, profitable farming practices.
and a bunch of example projects. Not much about the importance of genetic diversity, alas.
Nibbles: Kenya, Idioms, Seed, Potatoes, Nerica, Farm Albebo, Fish
- Kenya to bioprospect?
- Plant idioms explored.
- Be evil. Save seeds and spread them around.
- Get ready for the London Potato Fair 25th January. Via.
- GRAIN positive that Nerica is bad for Africa.
- Shinier cropland to cool the planet? More from the author.
- Profiting from fish by not fishing is illegal?
A sorghum field trial in Mali
I acquired four new varieties of sorghum seed in Bamako at a research station and divvied them up between five farmers. Each farmer was to plant five small plots, one of each new variety and then the local variety as a control. From five farmers, four planted. From four planted, three sprouted (one got eaten by termites). From three sprouted, two survived to maturity (one got eaten by cows). From two mature stands, one got measured (one got damaged by birds). And this was Yaya’s. Yaya, my shining light in M’Pedougou.
A Peace Corps volunteer shares a family visit and some thoughts on conducting agricultural research in a different culture..
Another competition
News just in of a film competition. Trouble is, entries close on 31 January 2009. So, you’ve either already made the film, or you are a seasoned professional who can crank out finished product in 10 days or so. Either way, we say: “Go for it”.
Film-makers and new media artists across the Asia Pacific region are invited to enter their audio-visual creations for this award recognising excellence in films on rice-related issues. Presented by Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP), TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP), and Public Media Agency (PMA) of Malaysia, the competition is open to both fictional and factual films on the theme of Asia’s rice heritage and the threats it faces in this era of globalisation.
The films may have been produced using professional video, home video, mobile phones or cinematic equipment. They may be in any of these formats or genres: 2D animation, 3D animation, songs, short drama, satire, adaptations of folk culture, or documentary. They need to have been made after January 1 2008. The winner will receive US$2,000, a plaque, and a certificate.
Blurb from Communications Initiative. Full details from PAN AP’s web site. Can’t think why they didn’t think to publicise the competition through us.