- Community veggie gardens in Cape Town.
- BNSP? WTF?
- AoB adds botanical picture search. Will nothing stop these guys? And meanwhile… Sheesh, is there something in the air today?
- How can Pacific livestock adapt to climate change? And don’t say they should learn to swim.
- How NOT to describe a durian.
- The continuously imminent demise of the Chesapeake Bay oyster.
- Plant breeders go on the rampage in Thailand.
- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall turns out not to be a made-up name. Pity.
- Kenya’s agriculture increasingly depends on women. MIL unavailable for comment.
- “…because our idea of “adding more” has shaped the way we treat micronutrient deficiencies through food fortification globally, trying to integrate this in China is turning out to be problematic.” I bet it is.
- Montpellier G20 meeting looking for “effective and innovative research partnerships for development and better impact of research from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.” I hope they brought their pyjamas.
Nibbles: Mexican avocado prices, Marijuana in Central Asia, CWR in USA, Royal garden, Iraqi dates
- Mexicans can’t afford avocados.
- “Vostok — delo tonkoe, Petrukha!“
- New blog on crop wild relatives in the US, courtesy of our friend Colin.
- Royal villa has nice garden shock.
- “Three-quarters of date palm trees in Iraq right now … are of just one variety.”
Nibbles: Blé tendre, Colloquium, Kenyan veg, Sharing vs Sparing, Rice, Tomatillos, Walnuts
- Attention, francophones! Quels indicateurs pour suivre la diversité génétique des plantes cultivées? Le cas du blé tendre cultivé en France depuis un siècle.
- Et un colloque on how genetic resources respond to new environmental, economic and societal issues.
- Award for Kenyan vegetable enthusiast Prof. Mary Abukutsa.
- An in-depth look at land-sharing versus land sparing.
- “The age of the ‘mega-varieties’ [of rice] may be over.” Say it isn’t so, Joe!
- What to do with tomatillos, apart from salsa, that is.
- What to do with ancient walnuts, or rather, walnut tree forests. Save them, obviously.
Home of the potato
Home of the potato, a set by PRI’s The World on Flickr.
Today’s PRI piece on how an old potato is helping Andean farmers cope with climate change also points to some fun spud photos (see above) which are in fact all of potatoes, unlike in the recent NatGeo disaster. And to a great video of CIP Director General Pamela Anderson eating chips (crisps), which she really shouldn’t do because they’re not very healthy (the chips, not the potatoes), but what the hell.
Nibbles: Ethnobotany talks, Cannabis taxonomy, Ag blogging, Breadfruit in Hawaii, Heirloom auction, Iron Age boozer, Andean potatoes, Minor crops conference, Insects as food
- And if you can’t get to Kew, how about an ethnobotany talk in Denver, Colorado? Or maybe one on GPS and plants, same venue? Can’t make either? Watch a lecture on Schultes in the Amazon. He’s the Father of Ethnobotany, after all.
- Misclassification of Hemp Holds Back Industrial Applications. Duuuuuuuuuude.
- Write a blog on youth and agriculture, win big money. Yeah, right, I’ve heard that one before… I’m still here, Sergey.
- Hawaii’s Breadfruit Festival is coming! So get in the mood.
- Sotheby’s auctions heirloom. No, really. Alas, probably no breadfruits.
- Now, what can I say about Scotsmen and pubs that won’t be construed as a racist slur? Probably nothing.
- Old potatoes helping Andean farmers cope with climate change. And, no doubt, obesity too.
- Conference on pesticide use on minor crops. Oh, to live-tweet that one.
- Micro-livestock makes it into the New Yorker. Can the backlash be far behind?