Indigenous knowledge systems

Nibbles: Heirloom apples, Cowpeas, Lettuces, Livestock, Taste, Soil, Nutrition, Meat, Malaria tea, SIRGEALC, ABS

Is “heritage” just “heirloom” for “birds and animals”? I for one don’t think so. These apples are heritage, for example.
Saving the Sea Island Red Pea. Which is a heritage cowpea, I think.
43 different types of heritage lettuce illustrated.
Eat those heirloom pigs or lose them.
Taste and nutrition go hand in hand.
Soils are part of traditional agricultural heirloom systems.
Heirloom shmeirloom, those food systems need some work if they are to deliver nutrition.
The case for meat, heirloom or otherwise. And a whole series of posts on how to best feed all those cows.
A herbal tea against malaria.
The 10th SIRGEALC is on the horizon.
A lot of people going to that will probably need these resources on implementing both the International Treaty and the Nagoya Protocol at the same time.

Grazing is good for grassland.
Saving British food. And that of Ghana too, why not?
Amaranth the next superfood? Maybe, but I vote we ban that silly term.
The case for fortification: diverse diets are just too hard.
And the latest fruit that’s in trouble is…the avocado.
Wanna “[s]pend your summer in lovely Kew Gardens interacting with the public and opening people’s eyes and noses to the delightful world of spices”?
Photographing the soul of coffee.
Atlas of Living Australia adds nifty phylogenetic thingie.
World Bank says “agriculture has a unique and critical role in improving nutritional status” so it must be true.
Protecting forests from the air.

Where should we collect sweet potato wild relatives?
Cheese made from toe bacteria. Because we can.
The sainted M.S. Swaminathan on millets.
FAO brings together dietary guidelines from around the world.
An infographic on kale origins.
Diversity down, productivity down. At least in Alaska.
Cotton’s got a genome.
McDonalds commits to ending deforestation in its supply chain.
IUCN report says commercial agriculture and forestry could could actually be good for biodiversity. Hope McDonalds read it.

Agriculture and the SDGs in one nice infographic thingy.
Seeds: The Book.
Seeds like millets?
Those medievals really knew how to eat.
An obsessive botanist? Whatever next.
Deconstructing chocolate, one gene at a time.
Sake 101. And for a more in-depth look…
Joseph Simcox, self-described “Internationally Renowned World Food Plant Resource Authority” takes you “on a World Adventure to learn about little known edible plants!” On Facebook.
A journey into the heart of CIMMYT. They’ll even screen your maize for you.
The people’s breeder.
Tracing wine to its source: Georgia.
Harvesting cinnamon. With video goodness.
FAO unleashes its mighty comms machine on another poor neglected crop: yam bean. Not many people hurt.
Watch out jackfruit, you’re probably next.
Or maybe saskatoon berries (Amelanchier alnifolia).

More of a proper catch-up Nibbles later, but these should hold you for a while.

Le Figaro goes to Svalbard.
But Wired goes into much more depth on the tragic situation in Syria.
Many AgAtlas pages now include interactive mapping and data download, eg AEZ. About time :)
Looking for information on varieties of ornamental plants? Look no further.
Diversity in wild European apples: past, present and future.
Genetic garden opens in Bangalore.
The perils of sandalwood smuggling.
Dam the Amazon, full speed ahead! What will happen to all that human body bacteria diversity?
ICRISAT’s new DG has a blog. Looking forward to his first foray into the genebank.
Lots of stuff on African traditional veggies in AVRDS’s latest newsletter.
The swimming camels of Gujarat get protection. I’d pay money to see them, I really would.
Patagonian women farmers are doing it for themselves, at last.