- More US drought data and some insights into the drought’s impact: it’s affecting the Black Sea region too.
- Another reason to improve childhood nutrition – it improves Olympic medal prospects.
- Grist gets stuck into the GMO potatoes debate. It’s about diversity, Dummie. Not that anyone cares.
- Brewing stone age beer. “The minor details make beer brewing exciting.” I’ll bet.
- The long, straight dope on a food industrialist’s approach to better fast food.
- Diversifying inputs increases Rwandan coffee farmers’ profits.
“Am I going to have to fight my Audi for lunch?”
The Colbert Report
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Watch this for two reasons:
- It explains briefly and in an easy-to-understand way just some of the ramifications of the drought in the US. Note that the downside is almost all the result of using corn as feed for intensive livestock production.
- It is a masterclass on how to communicate simply and directly.
Major kudos to Bruce Babcock.
P.S. What would happen to prices if Colbert’s Audi was not a competitor for corn?
Brainfood: Cacao, Yak genome, Quinoa production
- The Search for Value and Meaning in the Cocoa Supply Chain in Costa Rica. Organic and Fairtrade are all very well, but watch out for “integration of the story of producers’ commitment and dedication; shared producer and consumer values of social and environmental responsibility; and personal relationships between producers and consumers”.
- The yak genome and adaptation to life at high altitude. Guess what. They’re genetically adapted to high altitude!
- What is Wrong With the Sustainability of Quinoa Production in Southern Bolivia – A Reply to Winkel et al. (2012). One thing that’s wrong is that the link to Winkel et al. is broken. So here it is …
- The Sustainability of Quinoa Production in Southern Bolivia: from Misrepresentations to Questionable Solutions. Comments on Jacobsen (2011, J. Agron. Crop Sci. 197: 390–399). You can make your own way further down the rabbit hole.
Normal service will be resumed sooner or later
It’s summer. It’s hot. I’m off on hols and Luigi is elsewhere, so blogging may be a little thin over the next couple of weeks. See you soon, restored and refreshed.
Featured: Institutions and policy
Jacob riffs on the (pointless) opposition of policy and agriculture, with suggestions about the kind of agricultural research that is needed.
The point for agricultural research is that it is not enough to focus only on boosting output. Research choices have implications for access to food. For instance, in many cases breeding for small-scale producers (who consume most of what they grow) may be more effective for food security than breeding for commercial agriculture, even though the latter may be more effective in terms of productivity gains.