- Global seed searcher Adam Forbes check in.
- Filipinos greet new squashes.
- Smithsonian special feature on the American Indian. Not much agrobiodiversity, but still.
- Reviews of a couple of interesting gardening books.
- Asian Buffalo Congress 2009.
- Policies that work for pastoral environments.
- “Farmers are being encouraged to graze fewer, rarer animals, and that means the fields can sustain traditional wild flowers. It is a sweet-smelling plant and cattle and sheep love to eat it.” It is the cowslip.
- Case studies on intellectual property in agriculture and forestry.
Fungus flavours fermented food
Did you know that…
[t]he edible fungus Monascus purpureus imparts a distinct flavor and red color when added to fermented rice dishes such as those served in Asia.
Neither did I. But the boffins at USDA do.
Nibbles: Taxonomy, Herbs, Animal domestication, Bio-char, Videos, French fries, Barcoding
- Plea from taxonomist to nutritionists and food people: use scientific names and get them right.
- Cooking writer doesn’t get the hint.
- New Scientist rounds up bunch of recent animal domestication studies.
- DIY bio-char; Muck & Mystery has some ideas.
- Diverseeds has videos of diverse seeds.
- “For one week, 2500 people from Noirmoutier use all their might to harvest this precious La Bonnotte potato by hand.”
- Barcoding bananas: useful for field genebanks?
Nibbles: Asparagus, Eels, ICT, Dingoes, Phoenix dactylifera, Apples, Bear-pit
- Liguria’s asparago violetto gets Slow Food treatment.
- “The bottom line is we just don’t know why they are struggling so badly.”
- Using mobile phones to treat plant pests and diseases in Uganda.
- Dingoes have positive effect on biodiversity.
- Date palm genome mapped.
- Boffins see the light, explain negative effect of fertilizers on biodiversity.
- Brogdale situation “better,” but for how long?
- Wait, Bern has a bear-pit?
Nibbles: James McWilliams, Flowering plant origins, Moon plant, Satellites
- “Should we be working to create local foodsheds in areas that have to import water in order to be fertile?” Dude, you had me at foodsheds.
- Endosperm “made human civilization possible.”
- First plant on moon a brassica?
- Eye in sky finds missing sweet potatoes.
- Can you think of a better way to use a rooftop than to grow rice on it and then to brew sake? Didn’t think so.