- Native American eating “best museum cafeteria in town”. “Makes up for the museum,” sniffs Jeremy
- Catalog of advanced clones and improved varieties going like hot potatoes.
- The Economic Impact of Bioversity is apparently “a seriously problem-rich, solution-craving topic”. Innovation Investment Journal says so.
- Pharaonic palm not immortal. Medemia argun “critically endangered”.
- Goat lineage diversity delineated. Paywalled.
- Chickpea diversity includes variability in resistance to salinity. Paywalled.
Nibbles: Oranges, Pigs, Roundup, Agave
- The Human Flower Project uses Christmas oranges to teach about diversity and traditional knowledge.
- The New York Times discovered the hairy Hungarian Mangalitsa pig … so it must be real.
- SciDev.net’s highs and lows of 2010.
- “The genetic resources from landraces ignored by the tequila industry may be valuable for both ethanol production and conservation.” Uh-huh. h/t Jacob.
Nibbles: Old fruit, Same fruit, Fruit juice, Dog breeding, Plant Cuttings, Seed storage, Romanian cattle breeds
- REALLY old fruit found in Chinese cellar.
- Marufo the same as Brujidera? Say it ain’t so!
- Rachel Laudan deconstructs a French depiction of cider-making. Well, someone had to.
- Genetic modification dates back to ancient Mexico.
- Rejoice, Plant Cuttings is out!
- Seeds of alpine plants don’t live as long as those of lower altitudes. So how many crop wild relatives are high-altitude species I wonder?
- Get your teeth into the work of the Transylvanian Rare Breeds Association.
The revival of taro biodiversity in Hawaii, in film
This just in from a reader in Hawaii. Thanks, Penny.
The film short “Na Ono o Ka Aina; Delicacies of the Land” featuring Jerry Konanui, a Hawaiian, expert in the identification of traditional Hawaiian taro cultivars, and an inspiration in their recovery. This film is the work of award winning Hawaii-based filmmakers, Na Maka o Ka Aina. The film garnered awards at the Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Hawaii film festivals in 2009 and 2010, and the short was featured on National Geographic’s “All Roads Film Festival” in 2008. One way to protect local crop biodiversity — reinspire everyone — from farmers to researchers to students; especially within the community that once created that diversity. It’s in the numbers; the more old cultivars we recover and grow and the more who grow, the less risk of loss we will have. You can get a taste of the film short — and the ono (delicious) taros of Hawaii below.
Nibbles: EU <3 ABD, Food companies, Maize, Coffee
- EU counts the ways it loves agricultural biodiversity. 17!
- OFEC anyone? Tom (& the FT) thinks food is the new energy.
- The Scientist Gardener explains maize hybrids and hybrid vigour. My question: what if the effort had gone into mass selection instead?
- A 15 minute video on the Ethiopian Coffee story; thanks CAS-IP.