- It’s jujube season. Who knew? Anissa Helou, that’s who.
- Big video interview with Diane Ragone, breadfruit suprema.
- Today’s ho-hum genome sequence to promise improved agricultural crops: Brassica rapa.
- Genebank saves (and restores) a rare strawberry. I’m not registering here, but I read about it here. Cool approach.
- ICRISAT jumps on the small-seed-packets-are-beautiful bandwagon.
Nibbles: European diversity, Cassava bugs, Livestock funding, Malnutrition
- Genetic diversity in European men and one of the organisms they exploit. And another.
- CIAT cassava entomologist rings warning bell.
- ILRI boffins point out why they don’t have enough money. Yeah, but what’s to be done about it?
- Malnutrition in Kenya and Guatemala. Are school gardens an/the answer? FAO thinks so.
Nibbles: Nutrition, Famine, Incentives, Pests & Diseases, Employment, Genebank support, Commercialisation, Hay & Straw, Nitrogen fixing
- Jess dissects nutrition mystification. So hey, Jess, what field do you work in?
- Can agricultural research help eradicate famine? CGIAR boss asks the tough ones.
- Giant FAO document on Payments for Ecosystem Services and Food Security.
- Crop diversity and disease pressure, The case of maize in China.
- Wanna job? Crops for the Future Research Centre is hiring.
- Our chums at the Global Crop Diversity Trust get a Dutch treat.
- Nagoya Protocol threatens to conserve Mexican biodiversity.
- The Scientist Gardener distinguishes hay from straw.
- Ford Denison scrutinizes nitrogen-fixing cereals paper.
Nibbles: Pastoralism, Carnival, Mustangs, Cassava, Tea, Biofuels
- Pastoral mobiity “a trump card to be strengthened”.
- Latest Berry go Round is up, although I can’t actually read it myself.
- Wild horses in the US southwest.
- Cassava notes: GMO cassava lower in cyanogens, higher in protein.
- Climate change threatens Ugandan tea. Luigi’s MIL secretly pleased.
- How to guarantee a food-insecure future in Kenya.
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.