- Forest biodiversity boosts buckwheat harvest.
- Urban agriculture in Korea. Could it be prettier?
- Richer Zimbabwean drinkers abandon sorghum beer. Because it tastes poor, or because it feels poor?
- Biodiversity on TV. Read this, watch the video, and weep.
Nibbles: Pavlovsk, Pavlovsk, Food security, Photography, Satoyama, Toxins, Aussie genebanks
- Legal niceties may help save Pavlovsk Experiment Station …
- … which says its cherries are doing just fine, thank you. Jeremy hard at work.
- Ecosystem Services and Food Security. One for later.
- Kew’s Garden Photographer competition closes soon. Surprise everyone, submit something edible.
- Satoyama Initiative explained.
- On top of everything else, climate change may lead to higher toxin levels in crops.
- Latest on the restructuring of Australia’s genebanks.
Save the date to watch Agriculture, Health and Nutrition linked
December 7th, just after noon on the east coast of the US, will see a live webcast of a seminar at IFPRI. The teaser lists five big names, and says three of them will speak. Here’s the pitch:
Agricultural policies influence the quantity and quality of foods farmers produce, as well as the portfolio of crops they grow and the production methods they use. Thus, agricultural policies have a clear impact on human health and nutrition. In turn, health and nutrition policies can affect agriculture by influencing whether farmers and their families are healthy and strong enough to do the labor required on their farms. Yet although they may share goals, professionals in agriculture, nutrition, and health rarely have opportunities to discuss areas of mutual interest, exploit synergies and pursue outcomes together that are beneficial to society.
The timing might be a tad awkward, but maybe we’ll try and organize something live of our own around a couple of cold ones. And we’ll be sure to let you know if we have a hashtag. 1 Other upcoming IFPRI seminars are listed here, in case you want to practice.
Featured: Dietary Diversity
Orchidgrowinman asks some interesting questions about dietary diversity. Among them:
If I added a bit of chopped grass (or cactus, or Capsicum leaves or acacia leaves…) to my polished-rice diet, could I reduce vitamin deficiencies? Could I persuade other people to do likewise?
Social engineering certainly helps — people copy people they admire. Essentially, the answer is yes.
Nibbles: Grass roots fruit
- One pathetic nibble today, but it is tasty: Fruit-full schools in the UK.