- PhD student from East Africa wanted to study greenhouse gases, biochar and other cool stuff.
- Weevils eat half the cowpea harvest. Solution in the bag.
- Ecuadorian chocolate experts visit the World Bank. Did they bring samples?
- Lots of ecdysteroids in quinoa. Not clear to me if this is good or bad.
- Yes, Malagasy rice is different.
- Evaluating a Dang Rasimi jackfruit. Looks pretty good to me.
- Crop wild relatives in genebanks help with drought tolerance in wheat.
- Meta-paper on livelihoods diversity in rice-wheat-livestock systems Indo-Gangetic Plains has no room for varietal diversity in rice-wheat.
Nibbles: Amazon agriculture, Livestock conservation, Chestnut redux, COP 10, Stone Age flour
- More on that thing about how the Amazon was once pullulating with people. And why.
- Why conserve livestock genetic resources. And one possible way to do it.
- The American people are bringing back the American chestnut.
- COP-watchers, something to amuse yourselves with if things get dull.
- Even Neanderthals understood the benefits of a diverse diet. Though not, perhaps, of jewellery.
Coconut conservation dilemma de-horned
Remember the Polymotu Project, that intriguing new approach to conserving coconut genetic resources? Well, it is making progress, at least with the so-called “horned coconut.” Read all about it on Roland Bourdeix’s blog.
Nibbles: Abalone, Yak, Forests, Mountain plants, Yams, Ulmus, Apple, Banana
- We now know how to harvest abalone sustainably. Is there anything we cannot do?
- Wild yaks get assessed. Wait, there are wild yaks?
- “…forests played a central role in the rise of the modern state.” Not as flaky as it sounds.
- Andean plants at risk from, well, everything.
- Yams in Nigeria, from festivals to in vitro.
- London’s elms.
- “[L]ike biting into a perfume bottle, but without shards of glass piercing your tongue.” A knobbed russet.
- Banana evolution just got more complicated.
Nibbles: Grapes, Pakistan, Passiflora, Coconut, Assisted migration, Small is beautiful
- Illinois grape breeders turn to wild relatives. Wait, what?
- “Floods wash away Pakistan’s crop research efforts.” And everything else.
- Passion fruits run riot in Lessos, Kenya.
- CIAT experts aim to ease Colombia’s coconut disease squeeze.
- Botanists agonize over assisted migration.
- Gates Foundation puts stop to debate on smallholder productivity.