- And today’s 500 genomes are … h/t OpenHelix.
- FAO uses sorghum to deliver food security in Matabeleland North.
- Meanwhile … science alert: sorghum’s family tree delineated, scope for breeding from wild relatives.
- Small family farms can provide lots of food and preserve tropical forest biodiversity, say researchers. Actual paper not yet available.
- Wired magazine does UG99 wheat rust. Read it and weep.
- And in other fungus news, Fusarium hits vanilla in Kerala.
- “Ladakh’s youth … are increasingly switching from backbreaking agriculture in the harsh terrain to more profitable jobs in the booming tourism industry.” Twas ever thus.
Nibbles: Irrigation squared, Saffron, Chickpeas, Coastal trees, Cucurbits
- Wanna grow plants in the Jordanian desert? Invest $250,000.
- Wanna grow plants in the Maharashtra summer? Invest $20.
- There’s a world saffron crocus collection. Who knew? A review is coming.
- Coloured chickpeas contain more antioxidants. Well, yeah.
- SciDev.net says scientists say coastal trees not much good against tsunamis, and may be bad news generally.
- Rhizowen crosses species barriers, develops ficifoliaphilia, poor chap.
Kyrgyzstan’s fruits and nuts in peril
Fauna and Flora International and its partner in Kyrgystan, the Kyrgyzstan Ecological Public Foundation (TAZA), are trying to take the pressure off the country’s rich fruit and nut forests by introducing alternative energy sources.
TAZA is helping to trial solar energy in fruit drying, stoves, and water heaters in several villages. The reaction from local people is already positive, though the scheme is in its early stages.
There must be a lot of places around the world where something similar has been tried. Any meta-analyses of such interventions?
Nibbles: Globalizing locavorism, Pollinator relations, Fisheries, Pea wild relative, Haitian coffee, Niche modeling, Slow Food, Chayote, Grass vs corn, Shade chocolate, American organic
- “…eleven models of regional food aggregation and distribution that are successful in linking local farmers with regional food chains.” Via.
- Hell hath no fury like a fig tree scorned.
- Tracking monkfish, saving monkfish.
- The history of the wild relative of the pea.
- Can coffee help rebuild Haiti?
- “Integrating bioclimate with population models to improve forecasts of species extinctions under climate change.”
- “The commoditization of products and taste: Slow Food and the conservation of agrobiodiversity.”
- CIAT promotes chayote in Vietnam. Why? Well, it’s not about the crop or the country. I suppose it’s about farmers and markets. But is there a diversity angle?
- How old is feeding corn (maize) to cows? Older than some people think, apparently.
- Shade-grown cacao sows seeds of its own demise.
- Waiting for the results of the USDA organic survey…
Nibbles: Aquaculture, Non-wood forest products, Crosne
- Sustainable salmon farming.
- New NWFP up.
- Weird root crop. h/t Sam.