- Goldman Prizewinner Jesús León Santos: “It is time we recognize that traditional agricultural methods can make strong contributions to biodiversity conservation. We should encourage it and value it as a way to produce healthy foods that conserve and care for the environment.” Time indeed.
- British twofer: The Food Climate Research Network aims “to better understand how the food system contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, and to research and promote ways of reducing them.” Then there’s the Foresight Project on Global Food and Farming Futures. Will they talk to each other, I wonder.
- From Bioversity, “European landraces: on-farm conservation, management and use.” I wonder if the Foresight Project will download a copy.
- The “Seed Warriors” trailer. Oscar buzz, I hear.
- Agricultural biodiversity heritage sites in India. Ethnobotanist brings together information on food plants used during drought. Mashup, anyone?
- A book about beer. My two favourite things. Oooh, here’s another couple! And it’s not over: Spiegel weighs in on the old chestnut about beer being the reason for agriculture. My tankard runneth over.
- CIMMYT team monitors teosinte. Teosinte planning to fight back.
- Regional sugarcane genebank is actually being used! Heartwarming. Oh, and, coincidentally, here’s a history of Indian sugarcane breeding.
- “A SAARC Plant Genetic Resource Bank for rice, wheat and maize may be created to facilitate free exchange of germplasm between the member countries. To begin with, the Indian Gene Bank facilities may be utilized, with suitable modalities.” Not so heartwarming.
- The Russian roots of Alaskan rhubarb. Take that, Palin! Note the bit about St Isaac’s Cathedral, which of course sits opposite VIR. How apposite is that?
- Nigel Chaffey rounds up the usual suspects in presenting a potpourri of “plant-based items from the world’s media” for Annals of Botany. May well be one to watch. And not just because genebanks make an appearance.
- Amazing food roundup.
- Cryopreserving Chip, the Tennessee fainting goat.
Cutting down (some of) Kenya’s eucalypts
You may remember I threw a bit of a hissy fit some time back when my mother-in-law was forced to cut down some of her eucalypt plantation as part of a Kenyan government effort to combat the drought that was plaguing the country (it has since broken in a big way, causing much flooding in places). Well, I was there at Christmas and saw the result for myself, and what really got me was not so much what she was forced to do, but the fact that the order is not being not uniformly applied. Have a look.
Now, a year ago I would not have been able to take that picture because of the thick stand of blue gums I would have been standing in. Gone now, of course, though some are beginning to re-sprout. But the question is: why weren’t the big-shot owners of the huge tea farm on the other side of the valley forced to cut down their eucalypts? They’re even closer to the stream than ours were.
Anyway, some good did come out of all this. More on that later.
Nibbles: Indian buffalo, Indian local crops, CBD, AgricultureBridge, Kew, Geo-referencing, Cyprus, China and climate change, CC icons, Chinese AnGR, FAO information, Rose symbolism, Pacific ethnobotany, Grape history and genetics, Taraxacum
Hold on to your hats, this will make up for lost time. Hope you all had a nice break, Happy New Year!
- Video on the “Night Queen of Chilika.” Not what you think: it’s a buffalo breed.
- Indian jury calls for more work on local crops. Wait, a jury?
- Indian NGO says “[n]ational sovereignty over genetic resources could undermine food security.” Wow.
- AgricultureBridge “connect[s] practitioners to each other and to leading universities to help resolve some of the world’s most pressing questions in agriculture and conservation.” We’ll see.
- Big year for Kew: many new species described, including CWRs; many blogs launched; much geo-referencing done.
- Not agrobiodiversity, but speaking of geo-referencing and the like…
- Cypriot no man’s land good for biodiversity. Including crop wild relatives? I think we should be told.
- Chinese farmers struggle to adapt to climate change. Plenty more of this kind of thing out there, no doubt. Like this, for instance?
- And yet list of “climate change icons” only includes one plant. Something should be done.
- Chinese researchers talk about animal genetic resources conservation. If you’re frustrated at missing that, get ready for Europeans talking about the Mediterranean pig. But meanwhile, get to grips with the FAO Animal Genetic Resources Information Bulletin.
- Speaking of FAO info bulletins, feast on the ones on non-wood forest products and plant breeding.
- A rose is a rose is a rose. But for the Romans?
- Carcinogenic bark of endemic Pohnpei cinnamon not bad for you after all. If you boil it.
- “It is ironic that the despised grape Gouais blanc was not just a parent for several of the world’s best-known and most important varieties, such as Chardonnay and Gamay noir, it was the maternal parent, providing additional DNA and potentially determining important characteristics of the offspring.” Oh, so, so ironic.
- Natural rubber from weird dandelion? No, really, all kinds of boffins are working on it.
Chorsu Bazaar in pictures
If you’re interested in Central Asian biodiversity and its products you might enjoy some recent photographs of mine from Tashkent’s central fruit and veg market. And if you recognize something interesting, and know its local name, do please leave a comment.
Turkey making the most of its agrobiodiversity
I’m off for a few weeks’ holiday soon, but I couldn’t go without some reflections on my recent trip to Uzbekistan, via Turkey. I’ll post some photos from the main market in Tashkent later, but in the meantime, here’s a very rapid agrobiodiversity trifecta from a day’s transit in Istanbul.
First, I haven’t been in Turkey for a while, and I don’t remember vişne, or sour cherry, juice been available so readily commercially in cartons a few years back, along with more common staples like orange and apple juice. It’s delicious. Has anyone seen it in Europe?
Secondly, I was intrigued and impressed by the marketing work being done on the hazelnut. Turkish Airlines doesn’t give out peanuts with its drinks. It gives out attractive packets of dry hazelnuts. Again, very tasty, and a nice way of promoting local agrobiodiversity.
And finally, good to see salep, a traditional drink made from ground up orchid bulbs, on sale at the airport, and indeed featured in the in-flight magazine. Great to warm up after a morning wandering around Istanbul in a rainstorm.