- Slow Food and FAO join forces “to develop joint actions to improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers and others working in rural areas”. What could possibly go wrong?
- Five ways to enjoy a walnut. But not until next harvest (except for 1 and 2)
- A Pan-Hellenic Seed Exchange Festival took place last weekend. Sorry we missed it.
- A revision of the Dulcamaroid Clade of Solanum L. (Solanaceae). Oh boy! Wild relative heaven.
- If you’re in Suffolk, England, on 25 May you could join a study visit about agroforestry. And tell us about it here.
- Fascinating write-up of Ajay Jha, whose “primary objective is to find profitable models for sustainable, nutritious, local urban and small acreage food production”.
Seed Seminar in Los Angeles
On Friday 17 May, in Los Angeles, a symposium on the Cultural Politics of Seeds will take place. It looks to include the usual hot-button topics and some more out-of-the-way excursions, and some of the names are familiar to us. While the seminar is free and open to the public, there’s no mention of an online presence. Yet.
If you’re going to be there, why not send us a write-up?
Nibbles: Bamboo shoots, Cassava bread, Tomato reefer, Visionary scientists, Price volatility, Potato nutrition, Climate change & biodiversity
- After artichokes and asparagus, bamboo, obviously.
- And after bamboo? Cassava, by any of its many names.
- Botanical confusion: “Good tomatoes are a lot harder to get than good pot.” Not where I come from.
- The Union of Concerned Scientists is concerned about US agriculture.
- Per Pinstrup-Andersen is concerned about food price volatility, not high food prices.
- And Jeremy is concerned that he may not be eating enough potatoes.
- Luigi, for his part, is concerned about the two thirds of common plants that CIAT et al. say could lose 50% of their range by 2080.
Featured: Egyptian genebank
Some very good news from Mohamed Amar, head of the Egyptian Deserts Gene Bank:
I can confirm that we have been rebuilding the Egyptian deserts gene bank in new form during the year and a half.
Here’s hoping we get more information soon.
Nibbles: Lemons, Quinoa, Sago, Onions
Iron Chef edition:
- Preserve Amalfi lemons. (No, not that kind of preserve.)
- Ist International Quinoa Research Symposium comes to Washington. (No, not that Washington.)
- Sago before rice in Ancient China. (A remark about sago being dessert isn’t going to fly, is it?)
- Know your onions and, er, “make love to them”?