And here’s another nice agrobiodiversity video, though not part of the contest Jeremy refers to in the previous post. It’s about the guarango (Prosopis pallida) tree of the Peruvian coast. Once central to pre-Columbian culture for its pods, wood and ecosystem services, it is now “near extinction in the Ica-Nasca region.” But it’s not going down without a fight, and it is getting some help, for example from a Kew reforestation project. Thanks, Charlotte.
Nibble: Wild apples, Genetic erosion, Bananas, Cow DNA, Honeybee virus survey, Women and traditional agriculture
- BBC slideshow on the wild apples of Khazakhstan.
- Malawi breeder decries genetic erosion.
- Bananas good for food security in central Africa. Well, yes.
- The ruminant family tree deconstructed.
- Public to help researchers locate wild honeybee colonies in Hawaii.
- “No Pesticides No Foreign Drinks.”
Nibbles: Apples, Rangeland degradation
- Woman discovers marketable new apple. Good news.
- Mongolian blogger thinks rangeland sustainability “projects should do more work in people’s mind than on the rangeland.”
Get ready for National Apple Day
Wednesday 21st October is National Apple Day in Britain. We are reminded of the auspicious occasion by The Ecologist and the Eden Project. What will Kew do?
Nibbles: Sheep, Syrup, Antioxidants, Urban flora, Politics, Erosion, Prince, India and climate change
- British hill sheep in trouble.
- Canadian maple syrup in trouble.
- Fruits good for you.
- Native urban plants in trouble. How many crop wild relatives among them?
- “If the world learned to feed itself half a century ago, why are there now more hungry people than ever before?” Er … I dunno. Either-orism?
- “Almost all of the 300 experts at a two-day food forum in Rome this week agreed that between them they had all the answers to how to feed the world in 2050, but doubted they would have the political support to do it.” Alert the media!
- “Erosion of Crop Diversity Worrying“. Malawian plant breeder speaks.
- British wildflowers in trouble, prince says? How many crop wild relatives among them? Does prince know? Care?
- Indian crops in trouble.