Nibbles: Asses, Mapping pathogens, Oysters, Tea, Turkish biodiversity hotspot, Dolmades and sage, Yams festival, Pollen video, Agriculture and mitigation, Rarity, School feeding, Sheep

Nibbles: Rice conservation and use, Tunisian genebank, Buno, Popcorn, Sustainability, Brazilian social networking, Strawberry breeding, Sunflower genomics, Climate change and fisheries

Assisted migration: all there is to know (at the moment)

We’ve written before about assisted migration — giving plants (and animals) a helping hand to ensure that they can keep up with shifts in the areas in which they can thrive. “Managed relocation” is becoming a hot topic, which may be why the Chicago Botanic Garden is holding a one-day seminar on 11 June 2010. Details are currently sparse, but if you go, and especially if anyone says anything about crops or wild relatives, please share a report.

Diverse points of view on feeding Africa

We like to embrace different points of view here ourselves, though we also like to think there’s a certain consistency to most of what we say and do. Maybe that’s why I find it strange that a single blog, on a single day ((Admittedly 1 April.)) can feature two such divergent posts. One — Homegrown Solutions to Alleviating Hunger and Poverty — is a thorough look at the role of indigenous fruit and vegetable crops in delivering a healthy and nutritious diet. The other — Breeding for Climate Change — links, almost without comment, to a report on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s project to deliver just two (one conventionally bred, one genetically engineered) drought-resistant maize varieties to sub Saharan Africa.

I have no doubt that genetic engineering, precision farming and other high-tech tools of modern intensive farming can supply all the calories the world will need even when it hosts 9 billion people. I do doubt that the 9 billion will actually get those calories. And I know that calories alone are not enough. People need nourishment, not merely calories.

Shortage of olive oil threatened

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Disturbing news from The Economist:

It is becoming clear that reserves of olive oil will peak in the coming decade, as climate change wipes out most of the groves in the Mediterranean, the main production zone. The likes of Turkey will struggle to make up supply. Russia, however, expects to profit handsomely: its steppes, freed of permafrost, will soon host vast olive groves; a series of pipelines will send extra-virgin supplies westwards.

Somewhat disappointingly, The Economist seems to have taken no account of the benefits for the south of england. As we reported here earlier, home-grown olives are now on sale in the UK; can oil exports be far behind?