History

April 20, 2014April 18, 2014

A little something to consider for Easter

This picture, by Giotto, is a small part of the sumptuous Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. It shows the Wedding at Cana.

Giotto Scrovegni 24 Marriage at Cana

And as a rather charming article by Jeremy Parzen reminds us, transforming water into wine goes well beyond a mere demonstration of awesome skillz.

According to Jewish tradition, a marriage cannot be performed without a blessing over the wine. Had Jesus not transformed the water into wine, there would have been no marriage that day.

Go read the whole thing.

Which reminded me that I really need to get back to Padua, not only to revisit the Scrovegni Chapel, but also to see the refurbished botanic gardens, the type specimen of the genus.

April 19, 2014March 5, 2026

Nibbles: Mainstream MAS, ICRISAT breeding, History of hunger, Specialty crops, Biofortification, Collectivizing smallholders, Fake seeds, Good seeds, Maize diversity, Making palm oil, Space ag, Cacao and CC, Cassava and CC, Cherry phenology, CC adaptation, Flavour gene, Indian apples, GBIF data, EU force feeding petition, BRITE, Sir Hans Sloane, Silk Road, Banana realism

Round-up of stuff that’s been accumulating over past few days because we were busy putting food on the table.
Marker assisted selection of tomatoes makes it to Washington Post. When will African crops do the same?
“The history of humanity is a history of hunger.” Maybe MAS of African crops will help.
USDA money for minor crops. Including African crops?
Nigerian minister of agriculture on biofortification. Of African crops.
African smallholders need to get together. They have nothing to lose but their chains. And their fake seeds. Which is not a problem for their Central American brethren.
Someone mention Central America? Listen to a talk on maize diversity therein. And at the other end of the region’s diversity spectrum: oil palm.
NASA wants to grown stuff in space. Organically, of course. African smallholders nonplussed.
In space, nobody can hear you riot over food prices.
Saving cacao from climate change: The colloquium. We’ve had cassava. Cherries next?
Hold everything: there’s a framework for this business of crop diversity and climate change.
Deconstructing strawberry flavour. Apples next? Not sure Indian farmers will care much.
GBIF wants you to tell them how your data should be licensed. And some background.
You can lobby the EU on fois gras. If that’s your thing.
If you’re in Vancouver on May 6, you can celebrate five years of the Biodiversity Research: Integrative Training and Education (BRITE) Internship Program.
You can also intern at Globefish, which links global fish-trade information networks comprising 85 countries.
Great Great Lives podcast on Sir Hans Sloane, whose connections with agricultural biodiversity are multiple.
Something else whose connections with agrobiodiversity are many, though this could have been highlighted more in the article in question: the Silk Road.
What’s the late Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s connection to crop diversity?

April 9, 2014

Nibbles: Borlaug, Wheat history, Plant breeding, Nepali tomato

The Borlaug 100 conference programme now has links to many of the presentations.
Including a link to Rachel Laudan’s history of Wheat: the grain at the center of civilization.
Oh boy. A new edition of FAO’s Plant Breeding & Genetics Newdsletter.
Video on “Reviving Nepal with hybrid tomatoes“. So many questions, so few answers.

April 6, 2014May 2, 2018

Nibbles: Citrus in Italy, Banana genebank, Post-2015, Wheat Yield Partnership, Kenyan seed company, UC Davis symposium, Dingo genetics

The history of citrus in Italy.
The Independent visits the global banana genebank and still doesn’t figure out that there are no seeds there.
Rome-based UN food agencies come up with post-2015 food security and nutrition targets. Not many people hurt.
The wheat people have the answer.
Going where no seed company has gone before.
UC Davis Plant Breeding symposium to feature CIP genebank stalwart.
The dingo is different.

April 5, 2014April 5, 2014

A food historian at CIMMYT

Noted food historian Rachel Laudan was at the recent Borlaug Summit on Wheat for Food Security in Obregón, Mexico, organized by CIMMYT to celebrate 100 years of Norman Borlaug, and what an inspired decision it was to invite her. She spoke at the conference about the foundational role of wheat in the development of civilization, and I hope her slides and perhaps even a video of her presentation, along with those of the other distinguished speakers, will be made available. In the meantime, her blog post on the experience provides a refreshingly different perspective than is usually provided by participants at this sort of conference. ¹ Too bad she didn’t get to see the CIMMYT genebank…