- Remember that lupin coffee? Mike H provides an update.
- Complex and scary: Resources Research picks over the USDA’s supply and demand figures after the heat and drought.
- USD1 million for ICT in East Africa. Hope they’ll be visiting us.
- USDA finds ancient cacao variety at altitude in Peru; chocolatiers delighted.
- “We’ve got a gap between evidence and policy.” Guess the field. No, really, I dare you. Venture a guess as to what he’s talking about here. Yep, could be anything.
An Indian Svalbard in the Himalayas
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) signed Memorandum of Agreement for conservation of plant genetic resources in the National Permafrost Repository at Chang-La, Leh, Ladakh (J&K).
So India now has its very own seed vault in the permafrost. The above is from an ICAR press release from a couple of days ago. But The Hindu reported on the Permafrost Repository as long ago as early last year. This photograph is from that article, so things may have changed since then.
It’s not altogether clear to me why India would wish to do this, when it can send safety duplicates of its material to Svalbard for free and under black box conditions, but anyway.
Nibbles: European diversity, Cassava bugs, Livestock funding, Malnutrition
- Genetic diversity in European men and one of the organisms they exploit. And another.
- CIAT cassava entomologist rings warning bell.
- ILRI boffins point out why they don’t have enough money. Yeah, but what’s to be done about it?
- Malnutrition in Kenya and Guatemala. Are school gardens an/the answer? FAO thinks so.
Nibbles: Nutrition, Famine, Incentives, Pests & Diseases, Employment, Genebank support, Commercialisation, Hay & Straw, Nitrogen fixing
- Jess dissects nutrition mystification. So hey, Jess, what field do you work in?
- Can agricultural research help eradicate famine? CGIAR boss asks the tough ones.
- Giant FAO document on Payments for Ecosystem Services and Food Security.
- Crop diversity and disease pressure, The case of maize in China.
- Wanna job? Crops for the Future Research Centre is hiring.
- Our chums at the Global Crop Diversity Trust get a Dutch treat.
- Nagoya Protocol threatens to conserve Mexican biodiversity.
- The Scientist Gardener distinguishes hay from straw.
- Ford Denison scrutinizes nitrogen-fixing cereals paper.
Nibbles: AnGR, Sustainable diets, MDG, Plantwise, Maize in Africa, Lead farmers, Micro-livestock (again), Cows and climate change
- Money for AnGR conservation up for grabs.
- 8th International Food Data Conference: Biodiversity and Sustainable Diets is taking place September 14-17, 2011 at NBI Conference Centre, Norwich, UK.
- So how are we doing with that MDG1?
- More on CABI’s Plantwise. I just hope most of it will be free. They have a blog, natch.
- CIMMYT drought-tolerant maize varieties featured in blog post. I’ll alert the media. No, wait. Seems like only 60% of farmers in Kenya are willing to pay for these varieties anyway.
- No extension workers? No problem.
- A tasty dish of Ugandan grasshoppers. Always a good subject for a subtly xenophobic CNN phtoto feature.
- Cows not so bad after all?