Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog
Agrobiodiversity is crops, livestock, foodways, microbes, pollinators, wild relatives …
SLNRao regrets the mistakes of the past, but sees a bright future ahead for grasspea, and its relatives:
Looking at the likely benefits of Homoarginine on the cardiovasculature and emerging concepts on ODAP itself I am of the firm belief that grass pea in coming years will turn into a rich man’s pulse.
This just in from Alex Lyon, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He She and some friends are planning a symposium for graduate students interested in plant breeding and seed systems for organic agriculture, and he she asked us to help get the word out. Happy to do so.
We are inviting applications from graduate students in plant breeding and related programs for the first Student Organic Seed Symposium. The event will be held at the Lakeview Inn in Greensboro, Vermont, from August 5 – August 8, 2012. Hosted by High Mowing Organic Seeds and organized by students from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, the Student Organic Seed Symposium aspires to build a community of graduate students interested in plant breeding and seed systems for organic agriculture.
For more information, please visit here.
Space is limited — Funding is available — Applications are due February 15, 2012!
We hope to see you in Vermont!
There’s a USDA media blitz on about the new Plant Hardiness Zone Map for the United States.
The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree F zones.
You can read the paper. You can read the press coverage. And you can watch the video.
The good news for America’s 80 million gardeners is that for the first time the map is available in an online interactive version, and is a lot more accurate. The bad news is that things are getting hotter, and many of those gardeners are going to have to rethink their choices:
The new PHZM is generally one half-zone warmer than the previous PHZM throughout much of the United States, as a result of a more recent averaging period (1974–1986 vs. 1976–2005).
But then we knew that. As far as I can see, you can’t compare the new version with the old online, side by side kind of thing. That would be one powerful climate change advocacy tool, wouldn’t it. Gardeners don’t like to be messed with, in my experience.
Clare Trivedi reassures Dave Wood on Kew’s ABS policy:
I know it may be a little buried in the Kew website but we have a very well-established Policy on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing which covers all aspects of acquisition, use and supply of plant material.
And to avoid you digging around for it, Dave, here it is.
Selected collections from the Biodiversity Heritage Library are now online and available through iTunesU. There’s some wonderful stuff. One thing of agrobiodiversity interest is “Wild Oxen, Sheep & Goats of All Lands, Living and Extinct”, by R. Ward, published in 1898. Below is one of the illustrations to whet your appetite.
And yes, we have blogged about Marco Polo sheep here, of course we have.