Nibbles: Rio, Livestock & crops, Rice restored, Asparagus trials, Pigeonpea DNA, Tomato taste, Liquorice, Palm pest

The UK is fully on board for Rio+20 to “prioritize sustainable agriculture”.
Maybe they saw ILRI’s number on mixed crops and livestock?
The Japanese say that restoring the surrounding ecosystem is what restored rice production after last year’s tsunami. So they will support the UK?
Amateur trials genebank’s asparagus varieties. I got a great bean that way.
AoBblog catches up with the pigeonpea priority problem.
“‘We now know exactly what we need to do to fix the broken tomato,’ said Harry Klee of the University of Florida.” You couldn’t make this science knows how stuff up.
A new use for liquorice: treating type 2 diabetes.
Something is eating the palms of Antigua, including the coconut palms. I’m no expert, but the symptoms look a lot like the work of the red palm weevil, our Roman palm disaster.