AoB blog linked to the YouTube version of this short film on a year (almost) in the life of a broad bean. Having watched it, I decided it was worth searching out a better quality version, which I duly found. Absolutely lovely. Congrats to the makers. Nah, that’s just a piece of grit in my eye.
Quinoa in Washington State
Kevin Murphy wants to steal their livelihoods from under the noses of poor Bolivian farmers.
No, wait …
Kevin Murphy wants to allow Bolivian farmers to improve their nutrition by enabling them to eat the quinoa they grow instead of selling it.
No, wait …
I give up. Go along to his talk and make your own mind up. Then come back here and tell us about it.
Open source seeds are now for real. Again.
The Open Source Seeds Initiative is actually sending out seed as of this week, according to a press release from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
29 new varieties of broccoli, celery, kale, quinoa and other vegetables and grains … are being publicly released using a novel form of ownership agreement known as the Open Source Seed Pledge.
The pledge is far simpler than many of the alternatives that were being discussed as recently as last summer, when we spoke to Jack Kloppenburg, one of the OSSI’s founders.
“It’s almost like a haiku,” says Irwin Goldman a professor of horticulture at UW-Madison and plant breeder, who has released two of his carrot varieties under the OSSI. “It basically says these seeds are free to use in any way you want. They can’t be legally protected. Enjoy them.”
There’s a longer report at NPR.
Chilli birthplace moved
So there’s this thing in the world of mainstream journalism called the embargo. Journalists receive a press release, but they’re not allowed to publish the news until after the embargo time. This deal gives the journalist time to research and prepare the story, and supposedly levels the playing field for all. Occasionally someone breaks the embargo, and sometimes they even get a slap on the wrist. And the source of the news then usually decides to lift the embargo, resulting in an unseemly scramble of journalists. Or not.
Which has what, exactly, to do with agricultural biodiversity, I hear you ask.
This. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has a big special feature all about “The Modern View of Domestication,” embargoed until Monday afternoon next week. And one of the papers is a fascinating look at the domestication of chilli peppers, bringing all sorts of different evidence to bear and shifting the birthplace of domesticated chillis somewhat to the south. I can tell you this because the naughty Sacramento Bee broke the embargo. Which I knew because I subscribe to Embargo Watch.
What can I tell you? Nothing; it’s under embargo.
Nibbles: Veggies, Livestock, Micronutrients, Scurvy, Hemp
- Grow what the market wants, African veggie growers told.
- Develop the markets for what you grow, Vietnamese farmers told.
- You need diverse animal breeds to graze on diverse landscapes shock.
- Why, then, are pastoralists abandoning pastoralism?
- The Micronutrient Forum is being revived with a gabfest in Addis, 2-6 June. Be still my beating heart.
- They’re obviously not going to be too worried about scurvy.
- It’s cannabis, Jim, but not as we know it. Hemp Is Coming Back As A Farm Crop. Oh yeah it is.
- Whatever, I just hope the seed goes to Svalbard.