- Wiki for African forest information. Go, make it multilingual, fill in the gaps, use it.
- Canola (rape) desalinates, gives fuel and enriched fodder. Jeremy comments: “I’m a tad skeptical.”
- Diversity of intestinal flora good for your figure. Or the other way around.
- Edamame bean comes to Britain. Why, one wonders.
- Golf courses good for salamanders. I wonder if anyone’s looked at how many CWRs they support.
- Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
- Rice domestication unpacked.
- More extreme beer. Oh, and the phylogeny of yeast.
Cocoa from tree to cup
News from both ends of the cacao value chain today. At the upstream end, new molecular marker work on over a thousand genebank accessions reveals that the species is divided into no less than 10 genetic clusters, rather than the conventionally recognized two. These show a clear geographic pattern: they are strung out along an east-west axis in the Amazon, probably reflecting, according to the authors, the location of ancient ridges (“palaeoarches”), which were barriers to dispersal not only for Theobroma but also for various fish groups. Meanwhile, at the downstream end, there’s an account of a visit to a “chocoholic mecca” in Santa Fe.
LATER. And, for the trifecta, news from somewhere around the middle of the value chain.
LATER STILL. What comes after trifecta?
Nibbles: Info-fest, Medicinals, Wiliwili, Fish, Salinity
- 10,000,000 pages of biodiversity: among them 84 articles on agriculture.
- The road to scientific expertise for Maryam Imbumi began with a stomach ache.
- It’s wasp versus wasp to save native wiliwili.
- Domesticating big fish in the Amazon. Really big.
- Indian institute churning out salt-tolerant varieties.
Jean-Christophe Glaszmann awarded prize
Jean-Christophe Glaszmann, an agronomist and expert in genetics, has just been awarded the prix Jean Dufrenoy, the French Academy of Agriculture’s highest distinction. The award was made in recognition of his work on the genetics and genomics of plant species of interest for the tropics.
2nd World Congress of Agroforestry – 3rd Announcement
This just in.
Theme: “Agroforestry – The Future of Global Land Useâ€
The Congress will assess opportunities to leverage scientific agroforestry in promoting sustainable land use worldwide. It will also serve as a forum for agroforestry researchers, educators, practitioners and policy makers from around the world to:
- share new research findings, lessons, experiences, and ideas that will help influence decisions that impact on livelihoods and the global environment
- explore new opportunities and strengthen existing partnerships in agroforestry research, education, training, and development
- form new networks and communities of practice, and nurture old ones