- Peruvian quinoa leaves Bolivia in the dust – so that’s good for Bolivians who want to eat the stuff, right?
- At the forthcoming conference on Enhanced Genepool Utilization ‒ Capturing Wild Relative And Landrace Diversity For Crop Improvement “[a] book of abstracts will be provided on a flashdrive”. And here’s your jetpack …
- Global Crop Diversity Trust speaks truth to power. Power replies: “Yeah, yeah, we know all that.”
- Kids document traditional foodways of Kenya.
- Do farm subsidies increase or decrease food prices? Yes.
National Geographic launches “Year of Food”
Pretty interesting 20-minute talk from Dennis Dimick, National Geographic Magazine’s Executive Editor for the Environment. NatGeo will be launching a Year of Food in May 2014, and I’m guessing that some family farms will be involved. While I’m not a betting man, I’ll offer two wagers:
- NatGeo will reach, and influence, more people than FAO.
- NatGeo will not explain the difference between oca and potato.
In case you’re wondering, I do believe those are oca at 16’43” in.
Near the end, Dimick says “maybe we just need to grow more farmers”. Now there’s a thought …
Quinoa is dead, long live family farms
Yes indeedy. A new international year has begun, the International Year of Family Farming. Could be fun to keep a vague eye on, especially to see how it includes — or excludes — these family farmers. And do families who farm quinoa now get a second bite at the cherry of global awareness?
Nibbles: Intensive livestock, Genetic erosion, Genetic diversity … in India, NUS, Domestication, Seminars, Nutrition, Prince of Wales
With sincere apologies for the lack of service. It’s just been that kind of week. For both of us.
- “[H]ow a powerful and intransigent agriculture lobby has successfully fought off attempts to reduce the harmful environmental and health impacts of mass livestock production.” Say it isn’t so.
- “[A] planet that has lost 75% of its plant genetic diversity between 1900 and 2000.” Mythbusters? FAO don’t need no stinkin’ mythbusters.
- Here’s a little historical context for ya, on Seed Collection and Plant Genetic Diversity, 1900–1979
- Striving to gain insights into agro-biodiversity through surveys in Bijapur, India will doubtless add, er, something.
- Round up the usual NUSpects:
- And the unusual: Alpine rice, aka Microlaena stiphoides, a newly domesticated grass down under.
- You want more on domestication? AoB blog has you covered, with pointers to wheats and the artichoke cardoon nexus.
- A little learning … Is a wonderful thing?
- Functional agrobiodiversity in North-West Europe: What does the future hold? 11 December, Brussels.
- Improving agriculture’s impact on under-nutrition: What do we know and what do we need to know? 27 November, London.
- EndingHunger Online University. Seriously, everyone’s an expert now.
- Cynical, moi? Not compared to the guy who wrote Implausible results in human nutrition research. Definitely one to cut out, boil lightly, season, and eat.
- Speaking of cynics, “The Prince of Wales writes passionately about the future of farming and the countryside in this week’s Country Life, which he has guest-edited on the occasion of his 65th birthday.”
You really can’t make this stuff up.
Nibbles: Climate change communications, Seedmap, Ancient chili peppers, African AnGR, Buffaloberry, Ancient coconuts, Water-based map
- “Too many journalists overlearned the point that you have to report both sides.”
- Like at scidev.net, which tries to do the even-handed thing for seedmap.org.
- Ancient spicy beverages – oldest use of chili peppers to date?
- Workshop report on conservation and use of African animal genetic resources.
- The new superfood for the next five minutes: Shepherdia argentea, better known (huh?) as buffaloberry.
- Coconut palms are past their prime, it says here.
- Speaking of which, here’s a little something for lovers of old maps: The United Watershed States of America. The site will make your eyes bleed; focus on the maps.