- “Can corn be taught to fix its own nitrogen?” Probably not.
- Many saffron clones identical shock.
- New Agriculturist on agrobiodiversity conservation and use in the Pacific in general and Pohnpei in particular. Go Local!
- An idiosyncratic take on carrot diversity and history.
- The Indigenous Food Systems Network has a new website. h/t PAR
- Landscape of Quarantine, an exhibition that addresses, among other things, the spread of pests and diseases.
- Semillas Sagradas — Sacred Seeds.
Berry Go Round
The latest edition of Berry go Round, the blog carnival for all things botanical, is up at Foothills Fancy. Of course, not everything botanical is agricultural, but enough is for me to point you to:
- An investigation of pies, from the standpoint of their fillings.
- An investigation of old-time fern books, though it doesn’t say that some are good to eat, in small doses. Probably because she’s already done that.
- An investigation of witches’ brooms, though not the ones that afflict Theobroma cacao.
Nibbles: Climate, Shitstorm, Fish, Food, Biotech, Talk, Drought, Bananas
- Community-based adaptation to climate change. A book from IIED.
- This really is outrageous. Manure is now a pollutant in the world’s most wasteful economy. h/t Ethicurean.
- Where have all the fishes gone, gone to flowers every one.
- Dept. of Uh-huh: Innovation in traditional foodstuffs could harm their image.
- Dept. of Uh-huh Pt 2: An over-dependence on genetically modified organisms to boost agricultural production eclipses other biotechnologies and their potential to benefit poor farmers in developing countries.
- Adam Forbes is giving a talk about his seed-searching travels, March 22, Princeton, NJ. Go! Report!
- Malawi’s miracle laid low by drought?
- IITA leads seven African nations against banana diseases.
Protecting British food
If you were intrigued by our recent nibble about Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb receiving Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status by the European Commission, you’ll no doubt be wondering what other examples of British fare share that honour. Well, Paul Mundy just posted a link to a list over at the ELDev Yahoo group. I have only one comment: 10 types of beer and cider seems too few…
Taiwanese agrobiodiversity juxtapositions
Seen in one small convenience store by the roadside in Shanhua: rice and peanut milk, soy and mung bean drink, and almond and fish snack. All mainstream products in fancy packaging. Maybe it’s just that these are unfamiliar combinations, but it seems to me that we’re not nearly as good in the West at mixing and matching our agricultural biodiversity. By the way, there was asparagus juice too. I tried them all, and they were all pretty good.