- “See how beautiful you can make with small water!”
- IRRI redux.
- The problems of vegetable production in Africa, in microcosm.
- “This is a local production, storage and distribution system, a huge exhibit of biodiversity.’’
- PNAS special issue on ecosystem services.
- Bee books.
- Switch to switchgrass.
- More than you probably want to know about earthworms.
- Evil Fruit Lord questions Scotland-China raspberry deal.
- Ancient crop DNA recovered from underwater amphorae. Totally amazing.
- Nutritionist introduces soybeans to Afghanistan.
- Early PNG agricultural site added to UNESCO World Heritage list.
Nibbles: Coffee, EU, Homegardens, Cooking, Pollination, Agricultural origins
- “How did the scientists at the National Zoo get involved in the coffee business?“
- Water! The EU Agriculture Commissioner has a blog. Who knew?
- Refugees in Jamaica “eat what they grow.” Thanks, Mary.
- Culinary conservatism. Next up: culinary neo-conservatism. Saints preserve us.
- Texas wild rice bad at sex.
- The hydrological roots of agriculture in Yemen.
Leaf-green beads
Greg Laden recently posted on Green stone beads at the dawn of agriculture, an archaeological study of coloured beads, how the colours change over time, and what all that might actually mean for people interested in the evolution of people (which may well be all of us). There’s a nice chain of reasoning there, from the frequency of different colours to the times at which those frequencies change, to connections with fertility. Money quote, from the paper, via Greg:
We propose that the green color mimics the green of young leaf blades, which signify germination and embody the wish for successful crops and for success in fertility.
But go and read the thing in full.
Milk in the Neolithic diet
Fancy chemistry on potsherds from a 6000-year-old Neolithic settlement on Lake Constance has revealed traces of “fat residues of pre-industrial ruminant milk, and young suckling calf/lamb adipose.” So, people drank milk and ate calf meat in Central Europe in 4000 BC. (Via.) That’s a follow-up to a paper a couple of years back giving evidence for cheese and yoghurt making in the late Neolithic.
Nibbles: Maize squared, Urban Ag, Traditional farming, Rice, Extension, Training, Pine nuts, Beer, Markets
- More on ancient maize. Old popcorn contains interesting DNA diversity.
- How teosinte became maize.
- Urban Harvest has a new web site. Via.
- Khadin cultivation system contributes to sustainability in Rajasthan.
- Vietnamese farmers helping their African brethren grow rice.
- Agricultural development officer delivers training on village-level seed management, then hands out improved seed.
- Former student waxes lyrical about UP Los Baños.
- Pine nuts.
- Brewing medieval and modern juxtaposed.
- Working out fair trade.