Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog
Agrobiodiversity is crops, livestock, foodways, microbes, pollinators, wild relatives …
The New York Botanical Garden hosted a World Science Festival panel discussion about Nikolai Vavilov on 31 May. The moderator, Carl Zimmer, has a video of a conversation with co-panelist Peter Pringle on his blog. 1 Pringle is the author of The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov.
Later stiil: Check out the comment from Cary Fowler on Svalbard, though.
UNEP and UN-Habitat announced today the publication of “case studies from around the world on cities, ecosystems and biodiversity.” I’ve had a quick look at a number of the summaries of studies on individual cities, including that on Rome, but unfortunately could find little evidence that agricultural biodiversity was even considered. That is a pity. Lots of agriculture goes on in cities, even cities in industrialized countries, in small homegardens and on terraces, in allotments and along roadside verges. 2 The people involved are dedicated and knowledgeable. Often, they grow old, rare varieties and otherwise unusual species. Why not enlist them into the more general biodiversity conservation effort?
Old cookbooks are a great way of documenting changes in taste, eating habits and diets, but I wonder if they’ve ever been used in a systematic way to track changes in biodiversity in a country’s landscape, or agricultural biodiversity — either at species or genetic level — on its farms. Such thoughts are prompted by news of an exhibition of historic Australian cookbooks, with their recipes for things like parrots and kangaroo brains. Beer is a crucial complement to much Aussie grub, of course, and I hope the hop procurement problems being encountered by the brewing industry in the US are not being experienced Down Under.