Commodity

Nibbles: Cornish pasties, Rice and fish, Wheat breeding, Diatribe, Hops, Bean-To-Bar, Geographic indications

Yes, because the world desperately needs a map of “handheld, filled snacks from around the world.”
Paddies and aquaculture go well together. But didn’t we know that already? And wait, synergise is a verb?
Article with interesting-sounding title about the use of IT to monitor wheat diseases has nothing to do with using IT to monitor wheat diseases.
Oh that’s enough for today, I’m just not in the mood. As you might have noticed.
No, wait, I feel better now. Ah, the restorative power of beer and genebanks.
And of chocolate.
Which does not feature among the first three African PGIs.

Today’s new national genebank for food security? Step proudly forward, Rwanda!
Bolivians are eating three times more quinoa. Or maybe three times more Bolivians are eating quinoa.
Growing history in a pre-Columbian English cottage garden.
Bland tomatoes all down to the lack of volatiles.
Daily Kos spreads the Guardian’s gospel of SRI rice; so is aerobic rice a step down that path?
Speaking of which, those Bihari farmers have snagged a world record potato harvest, using organic methods, and a relatively new variety from Indian breeders.

Plantwise says you can manage banana xanthomonas wilt; so no need for GMOs?
DG of Bioversity says “adopt transgenic crops carefully and on a case to case basis”.
“You can contribute to the revision of quinoa descriptors”. Is there one for level of threat to indigenous people?
Poor US farmers. “Despite last year’s drought, net farm income in US … will be highest since 1973.” h/t Tom.
“WIPO Instrument on genetic resources and traditional knowledge should reflect developments in international law and policy relating to indigenous peoples.” Course it should.
“[N]otable gains in dietary diversity and increased child health in hundreds of farm communities of Northern Malawi.” Any causal link?
Roger Leakey talks agroforestry.
Rwanda saves seeds.

Bigshots visit CIMMYT, miss opportunity to mention genebank. No, wait…
Bigshot visits IRRI, including genebank.
Yeah but who needs those anyway, you can make your own!
Now the French want their say on quinoa.
Speaking of the French, you think there is any horsemeat in Cornish pasties?
“I grew up with zucchini, but I prefer the flavor and texture of angled luffa.”
Gotta love the fact that there’s a thing called the Rogue Creamery.
Missed the fact that Leafsnap had been named one of the top 10 science apps of 2012.
Germans report on Italians helping Ethiopians. To keep bees. One suspects Ethiopians could teach Italians and Germans a thing or two about keeping bees, but that’s another story.

If you love water, here are 35 ways to save it. Part 1 and Part 2, 3 & 4 to come.
I love the idea of tattooed apples.
How can you not love low-arsenic rice varieties from Bangladesh? Maybe because they might be opening a hornets’ nest.
The video camera loves farmers, and the feeling’s mutual. Extension is ready for its close-up.
It’s a short step from over-exploitation to domestication. Lovely news for …
… Malagasy farmers, who could love their wild yams to death. Good thing they’re nuts for cultivated yams.
Darwinian Agriculture embraces a well-argued contrary view, even though Ford doesn’t necessarily agree.
I like the idea of an online almanac for local climate change observations, but I’d love it even more if it went global.
The ever-contrary Matt Ridley is happy to reaffirm his love for intensive agriculture because “with cheap light, an urban, multi-story hydroponic warehouse the size of Delaware could feed the world, leaving the rest for wilderness”.
Gene Logsdon would love to see this headline: “Monsanto retreating before invading pigweed hordes.” Dream on, Gene.
And what would today be without chocolate? I love that things are never as simple as they seem, even in the realm of Theobroma cacao.