- Cassava gets a makeover in Brazil. And another, of a different kind, in East Africa.
- Revolution turns into Terror. Where’s our Napoleon?
- Designating Costa Rican cheese.
- Conserving poverty?
- No poverty for bean breeders in the US.
- The uses of Oregon Grape. Which is of course not a grape.
- Chaffey Style.
- Coconut water is a major conservation issue for 2013. It says here.
- Fewer farmers, more fires. In the Amazon. It says here.
- Yeah, what is balsam anyway?
- So the Next Big Thing in African ag development is agricultural growth corridors. What could possibly go wrong? Will they learn from wildlife corridors? Will they be using these four apparently key technologies? Or bolstering extension? And will it all mean a decrease in bush meat consumption?
- Heritage foods book. Yummie.
- Like potatoes in Peru, I guess. And various street foods in West Africa.
- Conference on native seed use in the US. Probably even some crop wild relatives in there.
Nibbles: Xmas trees, Xmas parasites, Resilience, Pitogo bananas, Crowdsourcing, Writing, Chickpea bread, Seed laws, Futures, Cassava genomics
- Fir trees holding their value. It must be Christmas.
- Mistletoe is good for trees. Is it still Christmas?
- An indicator framework for assessing agroecosystem resilience. Santa is being good to us this year.
- “Banana-shaped” takes on a whole new meaning.
- How to do crowdsourcing, right? Right!
- How to write good about agricultural research.
- Testing other kinds of grain and other kinds of bread.
- The East African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation comes in for some stick over draft policy on plant variety protection laws. This deserves way more than a Nibble. Perhaps some well-informed policy wonks will chime in.
- Blame 18th century Japanese rice traders for the futures markets.
- Who do I blame for Cassavabase?
Nibbles: Frankincense, Slow Food, Food Justice, Ancient pips, Photosynthesis, Food security
- Boswellia back in the news. Must be Christmas.
- Yesterday was Terra Madre Day; there’s something satisfyingly meta about being a day late with that news.
- The Germans want justice for food from far away.
- Bioversity larges up its Heuristic Framework to boost the conservation and use of crop biodiversity.
- Archaeologist finds ancient Roman grape seeds, prepares to rewrite history of Chianti.
- Oh Boy! Another $25 million to remake photosynthesis. We’re still waiting …
- More please! Another giant talkfest to end hunger. Don’t miss the comments.
Given to us this day
It will be a challenge and far more than a technical task to translate the book from Neo-Norwegian into English language, but we can hope that this will be done soon so many more readers can be inspired by the cultural dimensions of cereals and their diversity.
Axel Diederichsen’s wish at the end of his review last summer of Prof. Åsmund Bjørnstad’s magisterial Vårt Daglege Brød — Kornets Kulturhistorie has come true. Our Daily Bread — A History of the Cereals is out in English. And many more readers will indeed now be inspired.
LATER: And it’s on Amazon!
Nibbles: Survival seeds, Turkish agrobiodiversity, Mainstreaming nutrition, Hot times for conservation, Ethiopian sesame, Conserved DNA
- Survival seed bank in the news again. Must be Christmas.
- Turkish nibbles: wine, pictachios. That wine one will no doubt run and run.
- How to make sure nutrition gets a seat at the agricultural development table. And Danny breaks it down for ya.
- What leads to spurts in conservation effort? In situ only, but instructive.
- Sesame is big business in Ethiopia.
- Boffins find yet another bit of DNA that will save the world.