History

April 21, 2011April 21, 2011

Access to Arabic farming handbooks

The question of how farming originally spread across Europe continues to exercise scholars, although I reckon a fair conclusion today is that the farmers (and their crops and livestock) moved, rather than just their technology (and crops and livestock). At least, that’s true for pre-history. For more recent times, it is clear that knowledge travelled, and one way it did so was in a series of texts in Arabic known collectively as the Kutub al-Filāḥa or ‘Books of Husbandry’. This fantastic historical resource is now available online at the The Filāḥa Texts Project. Alas, there doesn’t seem to be a feed of any kind to tell me when new material is posted, but it is possible to join the project network. I have nothing to offer but my interest; I hope that’s enough.

And thanks to Rachel Laudan, where I learned of the project. She has already raised the fascinating possibility that light will in future be shed on how Arabic influences travelled from Spain to Mexico.

Stop Press: Razib Khan at Gene Expression explains how farmers conquered Eurasia between 10,000 and 5,000 years ago.

April 18, 2011April 19, 2011

Nibbles: Wheat rust, Mill, Cassava

A big-deal wheat rust conference started today at ICARDA in Aleppo, and there are various webby ways to keep in touch, like RSS (pointless?) and Twitter.
Stop Press: Wheat rust presentations now on SlideShare.
A windmill in south London. Jeremy says, “I hope it grinds slow, but exceeding fine.”
Cassava!

April 14, 2011

The making of an American institution, of sorts

…produced from a hybrid…, mixing European and native stock; popularized by immigrants, Americanizing an ancient ritual; imbued with nostalgia, as their children assimilated; and then embraced by the general public, as ethnic foodways fused. It may not be sophisticated or refined, but it’s difficult to imagine a beverage better suited to the White House.

You’re intrigued, admit it! Well, it is a great story.

April 13, 2011April 13, 2011

Nibbles: Natural history collections, Vancouver’s Old Apple Tree, Conserving local crops, Biofuels, Quinoa, Climate change

Why don’t genebanks count as natural history collections?
Saving The Old Apple Tree. That would be as opposed to any old apple tree.
“If the indigenous seeds are important enough for scientists to fight to preserve in a seed vault deep in the belly of a mountain in Norway, would it not make sense to ensure these seeds survive within their own environments?” Good question from Uganda.
Council on Bioethics says “Biofuel policies are unethical”. Here’s the Press Release.
Local women’s quinoa cookbook (in Spanish) wins prize (in France). We’re calling it quinoa, not quinua, because we want people to find us.
CARE cares about climate change and food security.

April 11, 2011April 11, 2011

Brainfood: Brazil nut, Cassava relatives, Botanic gardens, Pollinators, OECD, IPM, Community genetics, Insect resistance, Marco Polo sheep, Abiotic stresses, Better climate change modelling

Made in Brazil? Brazil Nut, yes. The genus Manihot, not so much.
The role of botanic gardens as resource and introduction centres in the face of global change. They have one. But they need to be more like genebanks.
Global growth and stability of agricultural yield decrease with pollinator dependence. Analysis of time-series FAO production data shows that more pollinator-dependent crops have lower yield growth and lower yield stability. So both should benefit from more active management of wild pollinators and their habitats. Results can be extended to other ecosystem services but that was a bridge too far for this reader.
Draft Policy Framework for Investment in Agriculture. “The purpose of this document is … to initiate discussion.” Off you go.
Deterrent and insecticidal properties of bean seed (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) whole meal or protein extract incorporated into the diet of Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae). To protect chickpeas from bruchid beetles, add bean proteins.
Community genetics: at the crossroads of ecology and evolutionary genetics, a special issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, which includes …
… Insect-resistant biotech crops and their impacts on beneficial arthropods. The abstract gives nothing away: “The findings … are discussed.”
High connectivity among argali sheep from Afghanistan and adjacent countries means you need international collaboration for conservation. Good luck with that.
Better phenomics and genomics means you can do really cool Genetic analysis of abiotic stress tolerance in crops, and their wild relatives of course. But we knew that.
Five ways of Improving assessment and modelling of climate change impacts on global terrestrial biodiversity: more data, process-based modelling, better understanding of role of community interactions and of the effect of genetic variation, and better functional groupings of species for improved simulations of vegetation distribution.