Jeremy Cherfas

September 18, 2014September 18, 2014

Featured: Tef lunacy

Bill W. thinks that Ethiopian farmers should derive some benefit from taking care of tef for all these millennia:

I must admit that I don’t know anything about the quinoa trade, but it seems counter-intuitive that I am supposed to be relieved that the farmers who grew tef until the rest of the world noticed it will not benefit economically from their stewardship. It’s a crazy world.

And if you’re into plant breeding, do visit his site.

September 17, 2014September 17, 2014

Move over quinoa, it’s tef time.

Not much to look at, but if you squint hard you can read the label: teff. ((Snapped in the Amsterdam Botanic Gardens back in April 2005.)) The Food Programme from BBC Radio 4 devoted an entire programme to this ancient Ethiopian grain, new darling of “the health-conscious Western world”. And if quinoa had you worried about the impact you might have on poor farmers who grow the stuff, fear not. This is one bandwagon you can climb aboard with clear eyes and full hearts, because back in 2006 the government of Ethiopia presciently banned its export in order to keep supplies available and affordable for the domestic market. So, as The Food Programme explains, all the tef you eat outside Ethiopia was grown elsewhere (or is very stale). There are some suggestions that Ethiopian farmers would actually like to follow their Bolivian brethren onto the global market, but for now, feel free to dive into tef knowing that you are not taking it from the mouths of the Ethiopian farmers who nurtured it for all those millennia.

August 27, 2014

Nibbles: Palms, Walnuts, Gardening game, Measuring biodiversity, Promoting biodiversity, Restoring land, Honeybee evolutions, Amaranth recipes, Cider communication

Someone you know might need to know the difference between a coconut palm and an oil palm.
Or between English walnuts and French walnuts (and much more besides).
Is an interactive game really the best way for children to learn about organic gardening?
Canadian Cattlemen magazine shares a woman scientist’s deep insights into measuring biodiversity.
And Indian priests used Konnsanchem fest to urge the revival of agrobiodiversity.
Other Indians are restoring their land by getting rid of an interloper crop.
DNA suggests a new ancestral home for the honeybee.
Now I know what to do with the amaranth blocking every pavement in Rome: how to cook this prolific leafy green.
Nominally about cider and apples, Pete Brown downs Strongbow’s communications in a few quick drafts.

August 22, 2014

Nibbles: Frankincense, Stevia, Market forces

Busy? I should say so. And major kudos to Luigi for shouldering the burden. In the process of declaring RSS bankruptcy this morning, just four items seemed both timely and worthwhile. So here goes nothing:

Harvesting frankincense robs the trees, so at least do it right.
If Coke with Stevia is Coke Life, Alun Salt points out, then regular Coke must be, er, … better tasting?
Folk keep telling developing-country farmers to hook up with local markets, now English allotmenteers are doing the same. H/t CRF.
And if it’s market apostasy you’re after, how about Raising food prices to end hunger?

June 18, 2014June 18, 2014

Nibbles: GM bananas, Passenger pigeons, Conference, Diet, Perennial grains, Ugandan mushrooms, Adopting diversity, Indian history

“Genetically modified bananas grown in far north Queensland and bound for Africa are about to undergo human trials in the United States.” Because … GM!
More on those passenger pigeons.
A big old conference on Agriculture and climate change, February 2015.
Then again, we could all change what we eat to combat climate change.
Or change what we grow. Report on some perennial grain experiments.
Mushrooms for Uganda, a new project sees the light of day.
“The determinants and extent of crop diversification among smallholder farmers” in Zambia. It’s IFPRI, Jake.
I really just wanted a reason to link to this site, so I searched for millet. I’ll bet there’s more there of more direct interest.