- There are some really old breweries out there.
- And some really old grape seeds in Sardinia.
- The beauty of hops. New and old.
- Some very photogenic old sheep breeds in the Lake District.
- Someone has discovered some old salt-tolerant rice landraces. Also medicinal and aromatic rices. Well I never.
- Meanwhile, at the other end of the rainbow, the Chinese dip a toe into gourmet GM rice.
- Brit boffins breed flood-proof barley.
- Botanical gin. Two of my favourite things, combined.
- Saving the Pau Brasil is, well, complicated. But what else was it going to be?
- Yet another roundup of the pros and cons of quinoa.
Nibbles: Food security course, Food foodprint infographic, Ganja genomics, Hop hope, French collections, Forest control, Australian poppies, Paraguayan resistance, Cacao improvement, Hot pepper, Endogenous viruses, Biofortification
- Our Hungry Planet: Agriculture, People and Food Security. Free online course from University of Reading.
- What if people in country X ate the same diet as people in country Y?
- The Man wants to fingerprint your stash.
- Or maybe fragrantly hopped beer is your poison?
- A new one on me: Conservatoire des Collections Végétales Spécialisées (CCVS).
- All politics is local. All control of forestry enterprises ought to be.
- Victoria takes to the poppy. Afghanistan unavailable for comment.
- The small farmers of Paraguay holding back the flood of soy. Or trying to.
- The promise — and curse — of CCN 51. And some context on the whole peak chocolate thing.
- Wait, some people think Bhut Jolokia is a cool name?
- The grapevine has gone viral. Millions of years ago.
- Global Panel of Wise Agricultural People says to biofortify your crops.
Nibbles: Taro recipes, Pawpaw Kickstarter, Pica, Slow seeds, Forest foods, Pork rises, Landscapes, Best friend, Cooking & CC
- Ok, now you have no excuse not to eat taro.
- Do your bit to help pawpaws (Asimina triloba) go viral. No, wait, that didn’t come out right.
- “Pica is an unexplainable food curiosity—the overwhelming desire to eat the inedible.” Or, as we say in my house, German food.
- Tuscan seed journey.
- Living off forest foods can be fun.
- Pork beats beef.
- Picturing the Earth. Some of it ain’t pretty. But even then it’s pretty.
- Picturing working dogs. All of them pretty.
- Kenyan chef Ali L’artiste tucks into Rwandan bananas and beans before it’s too late.
Nibbles: Tilapia pros & cons, Cotton history, Potato diversity, Mars sustainability, Forest conservation, Homegardens, Village forests, 14th century gardening, American chestnut, Soil barcoding, Non-cow milk, Conserving Spanish grapes, Biodiversity & poverty
- The truth about tilapia. Well, according to Fox News, anyway.
- “..the greatest industry that ever had or could by possibility have ever existed in any age or country.” Go on, guess. No, not tilapia aquaculture, though it has time.
- Modern Farmer gives us its hipster take on the potato. And bows out?
- Mars unleashes its sustainability policies.
- The Forest Stewardship Council gives examples of community-based conservation success stories.
- Homegardens for nutrition. (No, no pre-cooked bean products here).
- Ok, put the two previous together and you get this: Sumatran village forests.
- Bet those villagers don’t need a gardening manual, unlike Henry VIII of England.
- The American chestnut continues its comeback. Manual probably available.
- After barcoding: metabarcoding.
- Symposium on non-cow milk. Sounds like fun.
- “With more diversity, the more tools we have to fight against problems like climate change.” Yes, even with wine grapes.
- Biodiversity goods and bads: the role of biodiversity in poverty alleviation.
Nibbles: CGRFA, Kew crop job, CC and PGRFA, MAGIC, SDGs, Bushmeat, Biofortification, Protecting trees, Wild coffee, Money honey, Nutmeg story, Colonial cooking, Armenian food
- The Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research breaks down this week’s Fifteenth Regular Session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture for ya.
- Kew looking for a crop person! I wonder if the successful candidate is in Rome today.
- Mauricio Bellon on why smallholder farmers need crop diversity to adapt to climate change. He’s in Rome.
- Multi-Parent Advanced Generation Inter Cross (MAGIC) deconstructed. Compare and contrast with above.
- The SDGs in one cool interactive infographic. But where’s nutrition?
- Where is overhunting for bushmeat occurring? Gotta get your nutrition where you can…
- Want to invest in a biofortified crop like iron beans? Here’s how to work out where you should do it. Interesting to cross-reference with that bushmeat thing above?
- Ancient Greek tree preservation order.
- Ethiopian forest dwellers protect wild coffee. No preservation orders needed.
- Tracking honey. Follow the money.
- Could say the same about nutmeg.
- Meat stew with garden eggs. Sounds yummie. Not much used in Kenya these days any more, alas.
- Delving into Armenian Ottoman foods. Because we can. No sign of garden eggs.