- Peruvian quinoa leaves Bolivia in the dust – so that’s good for Bolivians who want to eat the stuff, right?
- At the forthcoming conference on Enhanced Genepool Utilization ‒ Capturing Wild Relative And Landrace Diversity For Crop Improvement “[a] book of abstracts will be provided on a flashdrive”. And here’s your jetpack …
- Global Crop Diversity Trust speaks truth to power. Power replies: “Yeah, yeah, we know all that.”
- Kids document traditional foodways of Kenya.
- Do farm subsidies increase or decrease food prices? Yes.
Brainfood: Cassava erosion, Chinese cereals, New banana, Olive collection, Chicken diversity, Selling nature, Japan sustainable ag & green tourism, Integrated drylands
- Maintenance of Manioc Diversity by Traditional Farmers in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil: A 20-Year Comparison. Overall diversity unchanged, but number of varieties per farmer down. Rare varieties now common, and vice versa.
- On-farm conservation of 12 cereal crops among 15 ethnic groups in Yunnan (PR China). Higher income means fewer crops and fewer varieties. Remoteness and farm fragmentation work the other way.
- Musa arunachalensis: a new species of Musa section Rhodochlamys (Musaceae) from Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India. It never ends.
- Identification of the Worldwide Olive Germplasm Bank of Córdoba (Spain) using SSR and morphological markers. 824 trees, 499 accessions, 332 cultivars, 200 authenticated.
- Genetic characterization and conservation priorities of chicken lines. Lose 4 of 7 chicken lines derived from the Plymouth Rock breed and you only lose a maximum of 4% of total genetic diversity.
- Conservation through Commodification? Well, maybe.
- Review of Sustainable Agriculture: Promotion, Its Challenges and Opportunities in Japan. Gotta involve the farmers. Even in Japan.
- Green Tourism in Japan: Opportunities for a GIAHS Pilot Site. Should probably be mashed up with the above. By someone other than me, though.
- An integrated agro-ecosystem and livelihood systems approach for the poor and vulnerable in dry areas. Must integrate multi-disciplinarily along the entire impact pathway. Funny though how genetic resources, which arguably lie at the source of many of these, get so little mention.
Nibbles: Intensive livestock, Genetic erosion, Genetic diversity … in India, NUS, Domestication, Seminars, Nutrition, Prince of Wales
With sincere apologies for the lack of service. It’s just been that kind of week. For both of us.
- “[H]ow a powerful and intransigent agriculture lobby has successfully fought off attempts to reduce the harmful environmental and health impacts of mass livestock production.” Say it isn’t so.
- “[A] planet that has lost 75% of its plant genetic diversity between 1900 and 2000.” Mythbusters? FAO don’t need no stinkin’ mythbusters.
- Here’s a little historical context for ya, on Seed Collection and Plant Genetic Diversity, 1900–1979
- Striving to gain insights into agro-biodiversity through surveys in Bijapur, India will doubtless add, er, something.
- Round up the usual NUSpects:
- And the unusual: Alpine rice, aka Microlaena stiphoides, a newly domesticated grass down under.
- You want more on domestication? AoB blog has you covered, with pointers to wheats and the artichoke cardoon nexus.
- A little learning … Is a wonderful thing?
- Functional agrobiodiversity in North-West Europe: What does the future hold? 11 December, Brussels.
- Improving agriculture’s impact on under-nutrition: What do we know and what do we need to know? 27 November, London.
- EndingHunger Online University. Seriously, everyone’s an expert now.
- Cynical, moi? Not compared to the guy who wrote Implausible results in human nutrition research. Definitely one to cut out, boil lightly, season, and eat.
- Speaking of cynics, “The Prince of Wales writes passionately about the future of farming and the countryside in this week’s Country Life, which he has guest-edited on the occasion of his 65th birthday.”
You really can’t make this stuff up.
Brainfood: Asian American horticulture, Salt resistant Vigna, Rubber dandelion, Biofortifying wheat, US apple cores, Central European barley, Swedish peas, Alpine dairy, CAP crap, MVP
- Asian Germplasm in American Horticulture: New Thoughts on an Old Theme. The tap has sort of run dry.
- Identification of salt resistant wild relatives of mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek). From 22 accessions of 7 species to 2 accessions of 2 species. Now for the hard part.
- Available germplasm of the potential rubber crop belongs to a poor rubber producer, (Compositae–Crepidinae).
Cultivation of the Russian dandelion (Taraxacum koksaghyz) was no such thing, but taxonomy has the answer. - Biofortification strategies to increase grain zinc and iron concentrations in wheat. Not just about the breeding.
- Diversity Captured in the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System Apple Core Collection. Apple core? Seriously.
- Genes for resistance to powdery mildew in European winter barley cultivars registered in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to 2010. There’s quite a few of them, some of them previously unknown. Oh those jammy breeders. And beer drinkers.
- Genetic diversity in local cultivars of garden pea (Pisum sativum L.) conserved ‘on farm’ and in historical collections. Little connection between historical and current material, and genetic erosion both in genebanks and on farms.
- Dairy systems in mountainous areas: Farm animal biodiversity, milk production and destination, and land use. The traditional, low-input systems are best for sustainability and biodiversity, but have low productivity, but geographic appellations for cheeses can make up for that.
- The contribution of the EU Common Agricultural Policy to protecting biodiversity and global climate in Europe. Is, ahem, limited.
- Can Big Push Interventions Take Small-Scale Farmers out of Poverty? Insights from the Sauri Millennium Village in Kenya. Greater productivity (due to seeds and fertilizers) compared to nearby villages does not translate into higher incomes. Well that’s awkward.
Nibbles: Climate change communications, Seedmap, Ancient chili peppers, African AnGR, Buffaloberry, Ancient coconuts, Water-based map
- “Too many journalists overlearned the point that you have to report both sides.”
- Like at scidev.net, which tries to do the even-handed thing for seedmap.org.
- Ancient spicy beverages – oldest use of chili peppers to date?
- Workshop report on conservation and use of African animal genetic resources.
- The new superfood for the next five minutes: Shepherdia argentea, better known (huh?) as buffaloberry.
- Coconut palms are past their prime, it says here.
- Speaking of which, here’s a little something for lovers of old maps: The United Watershed States of America. The site will make your eyes bleed; focus on the maps.