Forests & trees

Nibbles: Pope, CGIAR, Agroecology, ABS, Food shortage, World flora, Nutella, Bees, GMOs, CC & wheat, CC & legumes, EU satellite, Seed saving, Wheat breeding, Strawberry breeding, Adopt-a-crop, Organic tea, Malagasy yams, Seed app, Ebola seeds, Sorghum spoons

And we’re back! While we were away…

…the Pope pontificated on climate change and GMOs, among other things.
And so did the CGIAR.
Boffins in the UK suggested that agroecology might be important to sustainable intensification. No word on whether the CGIAR is listening.
Bioversity asked for contributions on whether ABS can support farmers. No word on whether anyone is listening.
And The Economist asked: who cares, anyway?
Google said it would help botanists catalogue all plants.
Nutella was bad, and then ok again.
Bees were again found to be important to agriculture, but not all bees.
The pros and cons of GMOs were trotted out again. And again.
Climate change was blamed for smaller loaves of bread. Which as far as I can tell might not be a totally bad thing.
And for the need to grow drought-resistant legumes.
The EU launched a satellite to monitor crops.
Meanwhile, people just got on with it, in their own, sometimes weird, way…
…breeding wheat. Even organic wheat. Even perennial. Even in Scotland.
…breeding strawberries. Even with wild relatives.
…or just adopting the raw materials of breeding.
Growing organic tea in China.
Conserving yams in Madagascar.
Trying to find the appropriate seeds to grow in Kenya.
And giving probably inappropriate seeds to Ebola-hit farmers.
Which they can now eat using sorghum spoons.

Metabarcoding of poop reveals secret of large herbivore diversity in African savannahs.
Unique Omani banana fights pests.
Truffle dogs: “Il cane, le corna non te le mette mai…”
Traditional taro cultivation protects Hawaiian reef.
Organic farming pays.
Climate change favouring offspring of interspecies hybridization. Also in crops? Like brassicas maybe?
Domestication of silk worm probed molecularly. Is that even a word?
Video explains Baranaja. Spoiler alert: it’s the diversity, stupid.
And along the same lines: rare seeds go home.
Brazil wants to be among the top 5 fish producers in the world. What could possibly go wrong.
Extracts from Jules Pretty’s book on what we can all learn from more nature-loving societies.
The key to Inga conservation. Is keys.
Community-based forest management in the Yucatan: “Future generations have the right to know them.” And not just the trees, bees too.
Since we’re in Mexico: a visit to the genebank.
The women of beer. None of them using cassava, though, alas.
“El mercado tiene sus normas y los científicos no las conocemos”.
Agro-commodity traders can be good for you. Somebody mention the market?

Hard times for tea in Kenya. Believe me, I know, the mother-in-law never stops going on about it.
Agroecology, HuffPost piece and video.
Lessons on sustainable forest food harvesting from India.
Fixing Prunus africana harvesting: saying it is easier than doing it. Should have asked the Indians.
Studying weed.
Young people don’t like tequila. Farming its raw material, that is. Should maybe switch to weed? No, wait…
Weird Biblical food.
Did we miss this thing on perennial cereals when it first came out?
Nutritional composition of wheat hasn’t changed in 150 years. Not sure if that good or bad. What will happen when it goes perennial?

CIAT 2014 annual report highlights role of genebank in its impact pathways.
Kew post for International Day for Biological Diversity does something similar.
Zambian poachers beat swords into ploughshares, plant peanuts.
Turns out meat is not murder.
Higher carbon dioxide can’t make up for other stuff.
Great BBC Radio 4 series on The Meaning of Trees.
Saving the Jesuit pear tree. Maybe they should put this on the radio.
I’m not sure it would be so bad if prosecco ran out.
Because the genomes of all of the components of beer have now been sequenced, so we’re safe.
Have a a nice cup of chamomile instead.