Commodity

Nibbles: Poleward migration, Pulse infographic, Vodka, Ancient horse DNA, Old fish, Certified cacao, On farm book, Coarse millets, Banana diversity, Pearl millet demo

Species flying poleward.
FAO unveils pulse infographic. No word on whether any are harvestable by machine.
Potato farmer adds value the old-fashioned way.
Talking of old, here’s a really old horse.
And the oldest evidence of fermentation for food preservation. But you’ll need a strong stomach.
KitKat is certified crap.
How (and Why) Farmers Maintain Crop Diversity: The Book. Some reviews.
And here’s a specific example from India.
And here, courtesy of Bioversity’s Ann Tutwiler, is why farmers need some help sometimes.
Oh and here’s another one. People visit ICRISAT genebank in Niger, see stuff they like.

The latest meta-analysis of organic agriculture says it can feed the world.
The latest update on saving the wild ginseng adds pretty much nothing to previous updates.
The latest look at Aboriginal land burning says it did no damage.
The latest study of insects as feed says they’re good for you. Still no word on whether they’re good.
Not sure whether I’ve ever seen a study linking biotech corn for biofuels with the abandonment of rotation, but it makes sense. And more.
The latest investigation of early childhood nutrition still says it’s important.
The latest Italian food scam involves painting olives.
The latest pean to crop wild relatives says it’s still about control, man.
The latest report on dams again says you have to be careful.

No, I don’t think the history of potatoes is at an end, but I know what they mean.
The history of rubber in pics.
The history of the wheat dwarfing gene.
Svalbard makes history.
Sicily goes back into its history for its daily bread.
Another foothold in history for Gary Nabhan.
History, shmistory, we need to look forward. Biohacking is the future of food. Say twelve year olds.

Peru to give value to its biodiversity.
Germany already has, 500 years ago.
Cavendish bananas have a lot of value, but that won’t save them.
The UK’s vegetables genebank is very valuable.
But you can always add more value to genebank collections if you evaluate them, like IRRI’s going to do in an expensive new building.
I’m not sure what the value of Gold Rush-era heritage trees might be, but I think it’s really cool that someone’s looking for them.
The value of genetic engineering for drought tolerance is just around the corner.