- Bioversity DG “jubilant” at Nagoya Protocol.
- A video plug for the biofortification conference.
- Native potatoes on foodie agenda.
- A date palm festival. In the US.
- The success of species introductions.
- Italian acorn cakes deconstructed. I’m told the people able to recognize these sweet acorns are few and old.
- Calling times on biological names. Whoa!
- Saving heirloom mielies.
- What the heck is happening with phosphorus anyway?
- Panamanian farmers don’t like to grow (some) native trees on their farms because of slow growth rates.
- Eating medieval weeds.
- Latest from Pavlovsk. I have no idea what’s going on anymore.
- Lactase persistence due to cold.
- Genetics says plague came from China.
On Panamanian farmers and native trees:
As a hobby woodworker who lived around the Caribbean for nearly ten years I can understand the ‘slow growth’ bit. These are quality timber trees that are a dream to work with but, as with any heavy, chemical-impregnated wood, they grow slowly. And they need all those natural chemicals because, as native trees, they are swamped with native pests and diseases (and rots).
The rule of thumb for timber trees, ornamental trees, and especially crops, is get a nice big ocean between you and where you evolved. Nearly all street ornamentals are from somewhere else: Jacaranda from the Americas in Nairobi and Queensland; Nandi Flame tree from E. Africa (Spathodea nilotica) in India; Indian almond (Terminalia catappa) all over the Caribbean.
These ‘native species are better’ people need their heads knocking together: farmers and foresters and gardeners know better.
Masefield, G.B. 1972 A History of the Colonial Agricultural Service. Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 184.
p. 63: ‘If there was one thing that had been clearly shown by the experience of the nineteenth century, it was the potential value of crop introductions from one country to another. By 1900 this had become almost an article of faith rather than of policy, and this activity was the main preoccupation of many of the new Departments of Agriculture…’