- “Always rotating, regardless of prices, is close to optimal.” Not what you think. Or maybe it is. Robust economic reasons for not planting the same annual crop two years running.
- Got any data about nutrition and biodiversity? FAO wants them.
- Fuller and McCouch on the origins of rice. Audio goodness only.
- The first of many video updates on #COP19. Gonna be a long couple of weeks.
- And no, I don’t think a UN Nutrition and Sustainability Seminar will help much in that respect, but you can follow that too at #sustfoodsystems. Or is it #sustdiets?
A very special day
Today is Ada Lovelace Day, an annual celebration of women in science, technology, engineering and maths. It is also, I am reliably informed, Cake Decorating Day. No room, then, for sentimentality, but I must note that today is also the 7th anniversary of this website.
As we reported in 2006, Typhoon Xangsane had damaged the National Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory in the Philippines, but left IRRI’s genebank unscathed.
Seven years on, genebanks are still at risk, although there are also safety duplicates in the frozen wastes. And we’re still trying to keep up with agricultural biodiversity in all its many manifestations.
A few things have changed, too. Behind the scenes, we’ve had our ups and downs with our web host, who unilaterally terminated what we thought was a lifetime contract. And, as you might expect, we’ve both moved on in one sense or another from where we were back in 2006.
Let me, though, ask one favour of you, dear reader: is there anything you either like or dislike, that you would like to see more or less of? Leave a comment. We can’t promise, but we can try.
And thanks for reading.
Annnnd … we’re back
Thanks everybody for your patience. We’re back, and I really hope that all those little niggly things that I never could get to the bottom of will no longer be niggly. So go ahead, poke around, and if you see anything that’s broken, yell.
Also, if you were dying to comment on something and couldn’t over the weekend, now’s your chance. C’mon, somebody defend the Gates Foundation.
Nibbles: Industrial diversity, Forget feed the world, Vegetable evolution, Housekeeping
Slightly extended, slightly fewer edition
- Corn (maize) and soybeans are the bogeymen of industrialised, monocropping agriculture, striking fear into the heart of biodiversity lovers everywhere. But, surprisingly, in the US, more than half the production comes from farms that grow at least two other crops. For real specialisation, you need to look at hay and rice. Big tip of the hat to Big Picture Agriculture for that one.
- And yet, corn and soybeans power the rhetoric of “US farmers feed the world,” despite more than 40% of US corn ending up as ethanol. (See what I did there?) Anyway, Margaret Mellon at the Union of Concerned Scientists thinks its time to move beyond that unhelpful phrase. “It is time,” she says, “to separate the issues of hunger alleviation and crop production.” It is way beyond time, I say.
- And then there’s this: “More Vegetables Evolving Chocolate-Sauce-Filled Centers As Evolutionary Imperative.”
- And we’re feeling an evolutionary imperative to shift this particular parasite to a new host. We’ll be attempting to do so over the weekend. With luck, you won’t notice a think when we resume on Monday. See you then.
Blogging hiatus beckons
We’re leaving Rome this week. For good. It’s been fun, but time to move on. I may be off the air for a while, what with the packing, and the unpacking; but don’t worry, I’ll be back real soon. Couple of weeks at the most. You have been warned.