- Nourishing the Planet featured in Madison paper. Fame at last.
- Tomato Party!
- What, no more maple syrup? Something Must Be Done!
- Nepal gets a citrus genebank.
- Guyanese women farmers switch to coconuts (and other things) to cope with flooding.
- Indian farmers demand another Green Revolution.
- Uh-oh. “GMO corn falls prey to bugs it was supposed to thwart“.
- First news of apple festivals, in Vancouver, CA.
Nibbles: Gossypium, Helianthus, Cacao, Berries, Heirlooms, Seminars
- Cotton domestication deconstructed.
- Sunflower domestication deconstructed too.
- Chocolate smell deconstructed.
- Exotic (North American) wild berries deconstructed.
- “Heirloom” deconstructed.
- XXIII Regional agrobiodiversity seminar and the X Regional traditional seed market. The region being Contestado, in Brazil. Deconstruction not available.
Nibbles: Kiss apple, Cryptic variation, Brewing yeast history, Sandalwood genebank, Large chile, Red dye, Grassland, Fish eco-labeling, Radiation
- Koreans breed bite-sized apple for breath-freshening. Why can’t I find a picture?
- Climate change bad for genetic diversity too. Tell that to taro in Cameroon.
- Lager yeast came from South America. Thank you, Argentina! And more on long-distance microbe movement.
- Field Gene Bank of Threatened Plants from the Western Ghats threatened.
- Man’s 16-inch chili may be a record. Get your mind out of the gutter.
- The source of Turkish Red.
- “The proper use of native grasslands is to use them as grasslands…”
- Something fishy about eco-labeling.
- Japanese boffins trying to breed radiation-tolerant rice. Maybe they should look at this map in their search for parents for their crossing programme.
Nibbles: Hogwash, Onion, Herbal medicine, Coconuts
- Harry Potter upsets tree expert shock. Here’s the video.
- Botany, salad and Allium cepa.. (NB Satire.)
- Out of the Archives – Researching Herbal Medicine Then and Now. Seminar, 26 October 2011; details here.
- Coconuts: not indigenous, but quite at home nevertheless. Scientific American investigates coconut evolution and dispersal.
Brainfood: Genetic isolation and climate change, Not a Sicilian grape variety, Sicilian oregano, Good wine and climate, Italian landraces, Amazonian isolation, Judging livestock, Endosymbionts and CCD, Herbal barcodes, Finnish barley, Wild pigeonpea, Protected areas, Tree hybrids
- The impact of distance and a shifting temperature gradient on genetic connectivity across a heterogeneous landscape. Climate change bringing formerly genetically isolated populations together, possibly increasing adaptive potential.
- Intra-varietal genetic diversity of the grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) cultivar ‘Nero d’Avola’ as revealed by microsatellite markers. 15 distinct genetic group among 118 plants from 30 Sicilian vineyards seems quite a lot.
- Emerging cultivation of oregano in Sicily: Sensory evaluation of plants and chemical composition of essential oils. More from Sicily. Wild is best.
- Effect of vineyard-scale climate variability on Pinot noir phenolic composition. Its complicated. But at least Pinot noir is not like Nero d’Avola. Or is it? Oh, crap.
- Landraces in Inland areas of the Basilicata region, Italy: monitoring and perspectives for on farm conservation. “Farmer-maintainers” of landraces tend to be old and isolated. Interesting stratified sampling strategy. Basilicata? They grow horseradish there, don’t they? They do indeed.
- Critical distances: Comparing measures of spatial accessibility in the riverine landscapes of Peruvian Amazonia. GIS-calculated time-based accessibility influences rural livelihoods and land use pressure. And agrobiodiversity? Apply to Basilicata next?
- A morphological assessment system for ‘show quality’ bovine livestock based on image analysis. Image of side of animal fed through neural network almost as good as experts in determining how beautiful the animal is. well there’s a triumph for science.
- Endosymbionts and honey bee colony losses? Something else to add to the list of possible causes of colony collapse disorder.
- Commercial teas highlight plant DNA barcode identification successes and obstacles. About a third of products revealed signatures of stuff that was not listed in the ingredients, but that could be due to a number of reasons.
- What would happen to barley production in Finland if global warming exceeded 4°C? A model-based assessment. Nothing good, surprisingly. Better get some new varieties, I guess.
- Cajanus platycarpus (Benth.) Maesen as the donor of new pigeonpea cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) system. Gotta love those CWRs.
- Australia’s Stock Route Network: 1. A review of its values and implications for future management. Established for movement of livestock before trucks and trains, but has lots of endangered species and communities. Great value on many fronts, in fact. Needs proper governance though.
- Should forest restoration with natural hybrids be allowed? Yep.