Indigenous knowledge systems

Nibbles: Chinese agriculture, Domesticating trees, Greening economies, Genebanks, Millets

Modern Chinese agronomist praises ancient Chinese agriculture, possibly gets in trouble.
Domesticating trees is still the next big thing.
Transform agriculture for a greener economy, says SciDev.net.
VoA on genebanks, including Svalbard.
Gerbil enthusiasts tackle millets. Yes, gerbils.

1.24 kg of book about Biodiversity in Agriculture.
Everybody’s already linked to The Economist on The Nutrition Puzzle but we’re not proud.
And lots of people have linked to the biblical garden story; we’re proud to point out that one of the plants was a culturally important cultivated citrus.
And while we’re in biblical mood, here’s a culturally important animal to go with that citrus.
Biopirates plundering the oceans’ genetic resources must be stopped with international agreements, ‘cos that’ll work.
Big session on Food security, climate change and climate variability at big scientific meeting. Eventually we’ll hear more.
As when UK Chief Scientist tells Voice of America about agriculture and climate change.
Small farmers in Mexico are making a difference to agrobiodiversity and politics.
Fruitipedia! 433 fruits and counting.
16th Triennial Symposium of International Society for Tropical Root Crops in the works.
Bayer CropScience buys into the Texas A&M University wheat genebank?
Seeds survive in the permafrost. Good news for Svalbard.
Seeds don’t survive in the permafrost. Bad news for Vikings?
The connection between the the engravings found on ancient graves and current cattle brands in the same general area. Turkana, that is. Not much is the answer. Pity.
And how did they make all that meat and milk safe for use, I hear you ask.

Modelling chestnut biogeography for American chestnut restoration. As all 7 species have very similar climatic niches, if you could get a blight-resistant hybrid, it would probably be adapted to North American conditions.
Ex situ conservation programmes in European zoological gardens: Can we afford to lose them? No, and therefore the EU needs to step in. Whoa, talk about a non sequitur.
The Fine Scale Ethnotaxa Classification of Millets in Southern India. Malayali farmers can consistently recognize more phenotypes than DNA analysis, and some of the cryptic landraces might be really useful.
Diversity of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) cultivars and its management in the department of Bouenza in the Republic of Congo. High, but decreasing, at least in some villages. But overall? Any collections made?
Indigenous agroforestry in a changing context: The case of the Erumanen ne Menuvu in Southern Philippines. Despite being divinely-sanctioned, the pengegnewiran swidden system is changing, in response to socio-economic changes. It needs to, and blaming the people because you don’t like the result is not very helpful.
Variation in biochemical composition of baobab (Adansonia digitata) pulp, leaves and seeds in relation to soil types and tree provenances. Soil has a big effect. At least in Benin.
Comparing silvopastoral systems and prospects in eight regions of the world. They’re all going to need more active management.

GardenSearch just got way more complicated.
Today’s silver bullet is an Australian grasspea variety. Actually the first Australian grasspea variety.
Our friend Nik goes to town on IRRI’s wild relatives.
How to breed sweet potatoes. The saga continues.
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
ILRI uses the particular to make points about the general. Clever.
Californian fine-foraging. I wonder if any of the diners will also read the following piece and be inspired to do their foraging further afield.
Angelenos learn about Vavilov’s Principle.
A forester argues for forests in the Rio+20 process. Mandy Rice-Davies applies.
Tanzanian Regional Commissioner urges farmers to sow sorghum and millet. If necessary, they can learn from …
Farmers in Tamil Nadu, who helped scientists learn lots more about local millets, and got a publication into the bargain.
Who’s doing what in Kenya in climate change adaptation and mitigation. Genebank scrapes in, though not by name, under KARI.

The Tatar Information Agency announces a conference to celebrate NI Vavilov’s 125th birthday, neglects to include date: 25 November 2012?
Rice and ritual expresses the “intangible cultural heritage of agriculture and food”.
Canadian scores four new old tomatoes from their genebank.
The agave fight goes on.