History

Nibbles: Tilapia pros & cons, Cotton history, Potato diversity, Mars sustainability, Forest conservation, Homegardens, Village forests, 14th century gardening, American chestnut, Soil barcoding, Non-cow milk, Conserving Spanish grapes, Biodiversity & poverty

The truth about tilapia. Well, according to Fox News, anyway.
“..the greatest industry that ever had or could by possibility have ever existed in any age or country.” Go on, guess. No, not tilapia aquaculture, though it has time.
Modern Farmer gives us its hipster take on the potato. And bows out?
Mars unleashes its sustainability policies.
The Forest Stewardship Council gives examples of community-based conservation success stories.
Homegardens for nutrition. (No, no pre-cooked bean products here).
Ok, put the two previous together and you get this: Sumatran village forests.
Bet those villagers don’t need a gardening manual, unlike Henry VIII of England.
The American chestnut continues its comeback. Manual probably available.
After barcoding: metabarcoding.
Symposium on non-cow milk. Sounds like fun.
“With more diversity, the more tools we have to fight against problems like climate change.” Yes, even with wine grapes.
Biodiversity goods and bads: the role of biodiversity in poverty alleviation.

Very sad to hear of the passing a few days ago of Dr Daniel F. Austin. Among other things, he was one of the world’s top experts on the biodiversity of the sweet potato and its wild relatives.

The Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research breaks down this week’s Fifteenth Regular Session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture for ya.
Kew looking for a crop person! I wonder if the successful candidate is in Rome today.
Mauricio Bellon on why smallholder farmers need crop diversity to adapt to climate change. He’s in Rome.
Multi-Parent Advanced Generation Inter Cross (MAGIC) deconstructed. Compare and contrast with above.
The SDGs in one cool interactive infographic. But where’s nutrition?
Where is overhunting for bushmeat occurring? Gotta get your nutrition where you can…
Want to invest in a biofortified crop like iron beans? Here’s how to work out where you should do it. Interesting to cross-reference with that bushmeat thing above?
Ancient Greek tree preservation order.
Ethiopian forest dwellers protect wild coffee. No preservation orders needed.
Tracking honey. Follow the money.
Could say the same about nutmeg.
Meat stew with garden eggs. Sounds yummie. Not much used in Kenya these days any more, alas.
Delving into Armenian Ottoman foods. Because we can. No sign of garden eggs.

South Sudan crisis affecting its livestock too.
Sugar, spice, and everything nice in Zanzibar.
The secret to sustainable fisheries: recycling waste.
Wheat going to be hit by heat.
The history of growing food in Cape Town.
More from the University of Reading’s cacao quarantine facility. With video goodness.
You can get Austrian camel cheese at the Jaipur Literary Festival.
Khan Academy does biodiversity.

Jeremy is at the Amsterdam Symposium on the History of Food. If we’re all very good, he may tweet it live(ish) for us. And we may even get some podcasts out of it, who knows…