- How should journalists report biodiversity loss?
- Ireland maps its threatened species, including a crop wild relative or two.
- Eat like a nomad.
- Why agriculture was such a bad idea.
- “The heightened voyaging from A.D. 1000 to 1450 in eastern Polynesia was likely prompted by ciguatera fish poisoning.”
- Is Floyd Zaiger the most prolific fruit breeder in the world? Read about his “designer fruits.”
- “It is truly the apricots that have kept me interested and focused at this job for the past 22 years.”
- Jordan’s Bedouins struggling to cope.
- Donkeys running for their lives in Ghana.
- Chile’s winemakers move south.
- The continuing success story that is Cuban urban agriculture.
Ampelographical errors good and bad
It has recently emerged that some Australian vine growers have been growing Savagnin Blanc (Traminer), an obscure French variety from the Jura, rather than what they thought they had planted, the considerably sexier Spanish grape Albarino. Apparently, CSIRO was sent mis-labelled cuttings by the National Germplasm Collection of Spain, a mistake that was spotted only after DNA work. It’s all explained, with what I suspect is relish, in an article in the New Zealand Herald. ((The problem seems to have surfaced in the press back in April, but we missed it at the time.)) Just the latest in a long line of trans-Tasman wine spats.
For the Australian winegrowers that have planted the 150ha currently in production in the country, this discovery is a blow as while there’s demand for albarino, the profile of savagnin – which they must now label wines made from these vines – is considerably lower.
As the article points out, not all such errors in identification are bad news.
Over a decade ago in Chile, another case of confusion proved more fruitful when what the Chileans had previously considered merlot actually turned out to be carmenere. This “lost grape of Bordeaux” was virtually extinct until it was found alive and growing very well among the merlot in Chile. It was a situation that inadvertently preserved the variety and led to the New World wine-producing nation to embrace it as a real point of difference and claim it as its flagship variety.
DNA fingerprinting should put a stop to this, of course. But as there are “5000 wine grape varieties with over 20,000 different monikers,” at least according to the article, it may be a while until cases of vine mistaken identity are things of the past.
Visualizing agrobiodiversity in markets
I’ve just come across two Flickr groups which are intensely interesting from an agrobiodiversity perspective. Flickr is a photo sharing site, and I have in fact blogged about it before here, for example on how it could be used to map crop diversity. The two groups bring together photos taken in markets, with a lot of fruits and vegetables featured. As with my previous post on tomatoes, have a look at the mapping option in particular. A great time-waster, but I bet it could be used to look at geographic patterns in vegetable diversity in markets.
“Edible Expeditions” exhibition excites exceedingly
The Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco, “North America’s oldest existing public conservatory,” has an exhibition on until November called “Edible Expeditions.”
It’s a chance to see food in the wild as visitors take a discovery journey of edible plants from around the world. Arranged in lush demonstration gardens, Edible Expeditions highlights the many delicious products that we enjoy from tropical countries like chocolate, vanilla, coffee, rice and spices galore. Interactive demonstrations help visitors understand how their food goes from vine to dine. And families will enjoy the many hands on Edibilicious activities that allow children to explore tropical roots, fruits, leaves and seeds with their senses.
Sounds great, but we’d like to hear about it firsthand. If anybody out there goes, let us know what you thought of it. Via.
Nibbles: Savannah
- “Experimental botany, murderous pirates, secret tunnels and an all you can eat buffet; there are very few places where these things can all be found together.”