Mini cows threaten to oust pocket pigs

We hate to come over all smug, but when the mainstream media pick up on a story almost a year after we first brought it to your attention, it’s hard not to. Such is the case with The Guardian’s recent discovery of the environmental and eating delights of mini cows. Our post more than a year ago featured a discussion on minicows on DAD-Net 1 which, among other things, objected to the word “miniature” because it is misleading. The Guardian has the latest on minicow taxonomy:

Micromini cattle are less than 96.5 cm tall (at the shoulder, presumably, ed.) — those shorter than 92 cm are known as “teacup cattle”.

The major outstanding question now is whether teacup cows will prove to be cuter or more adorable than pocket pigs, our number one search term. Personally, I doubt it.

Nibbles: Grain ID, Garlic ID, Funding, Pest control, Sorghum, Grains, Cowpeas

African Agriculture Science week

“As good as being there.” That’s the very professional blog created by the folks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso for FARA’s General Assembly and 5th African Agriculture Science week. We’ve linked to the programme before now, and invited submissions, but now we — and you — have a direct line to the goings on. 2 Of particular interest so far, the presentation by Bioversity International’s DG Emile Frison on diversity and nutrition, and a wee bit about pollinator diversity.

The Fara week 2010 blog is on our radar, and it raises an interesting question: what happens to the blog and the information in years to come? One-off, purpose-built blogs like this are great, especially when they’re as well put together as this one, but do they have a sustainability plan?

LATER: Oh, and Jules Pretty is pretty good on why everything you think you know about African agriculture is wrong.

Featured: Cassava

Detoxifying cassava prompts Ford to ask interesting questions:

I knew about the value of cyanide to deter theft and pests and have also read that it’s a useful pool of nitrogen for the root, but reducing “the social obligation to share” is interesting. As I recall, “Famine in Peasant Societies” puts part of the blame for famines on the expectation that anyone who gets a little ahead will share with relatives, rather than investing in irrigation equipment or whatever. Bank accounts, even if they don’t pay interest, offer a way to hide resources from relatives so, the book claims, famines became less likely. Still, do the risks of sharing outweigh the benefits? Or is there some optimum level of sharing?

One for the game theorists?