Ranching in South America tends to get a bad press because it is often associated with Amazonian deforestation, but of course there are vast swathes of the continent where it makes good environmental sense, as well as economic. ((For a discussion of the related question of the bad press that pastoralism gets, see this post in CABI’s blog, which coincidentally came out just a few hours after I posted this.)) The Pampas grasslands of Argentina are a case in point. The home of gaucho culture ((Which, incidentally, is not as homogeneous and predictable as one might think.)), the Pampas are undergoing drastic change. The soybean boom is not just having an effect on the livestock industry, but also, perhaps surprisingly, on honeymaking. Much smaller in value, no doubt, than either soybeans or livestock, but these are not times to pass up on diversification.
Nibbles: Polyploids, Testicular cooking, Genes, Mongoose, Pears
- Parade of Polyploids! I know, but that’s what it says on the site.
- Balls.
- Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant: The Joy of Genes … Illustrated. Teachers, use it!
- How mongooses got to Spain.
- Pears that look like apples.
Nibbles: Fungi, Early warming, Food banks, High concept, Russia, Wine, Apples, China, Sustainable ag
- Vesicular arbuscular mychorriza help improve fallows.
- Google.org has a Predict and Prevent Initiative to catch outbreaks of human diseases before they happen. Would be nice to have something similar for threats of erosion of agrobiodiversity.
- Niger’s soudure food banks: could they act as village-level genebanks?
- You might call it meta-farming—the quasi-philosophical approach to raising crops and livestock that proceeds not from necessity or commercial aims but a concept.
- Farming in Russia: a slide show with narration.
- Army worm wine. WTF? Via. (They’re caterpillars.)
- A Kazak apple a day keeps the blue mold away.
- Neolithic China: not just rice.
- The oldest continuous cotton experiment in the world.
Bottoms up!
PhDiva linked to a couple of fun drink-related articles last week. One purported to tell the true story of the origin of champagne. Or rather, of the methode champenoise. All down to an English cider-maker, apparently. The other story described an attempt to recreate Phrygian beer, based on the analysis of residues found on pots. Sounds delicious.