Nibbles: Bees, Honey, Sequipedalis, Website, Conference

“Most people are not aware of the fact that 84% of the European crops are partially or entirely dependent on insect pollination.” Right. I could have sworn it was 82%.
That’s not their main concern in Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve in India, where Honey is Life.
I had no idea yardlong bean was really a cowpea. The genes say so.
Crop Wild Relatives & Climate Change, a new website from the Global Crop Diversity Trust, with just the right number of RSS feeds.
And if it’s conference information you’re after, previews from the ASA, CSSA and SSSA Annual meetings:

As ever, if you’re there and want an outlet, we’re here.

A paean to diverse diets is just what we all need.
And another one, from the MIT Technology Review of all places.
Menawhile, there’s only one reference to dietary diversity in the World Bank’s investment framework for nutrition.
Maybe you have to quantify that diversity before you can save it? Now where have I heard that before?
Meanwhile, Europe reports on biodiversity-friendly farming practices. Does that include the biodiversity of the actual crops? Perhaps surprisingly, yes!
You want biodiversity-friendly farming practices? Talk to Indigenous people. The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) has launched an e-consultation on “Preserving, strengthening and promoting Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems and traditional practices for sustainable food systems.”
There’s diversity in asparagus too.
Genebanks can help with those biodiversity-friendly practices, diverse diets and rops and Indigenous practices.
Even big international genebanks.
Even the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
But some are in trouble.
Though others are coming back.