Not much change to our list of seed savers and suppliers lately, but today I spotted that Rhizowen had liked a Facebook page for New World Seeds and Tubers. So I did too, and they’re now in the list.
Agricultural research for the Horn of Africa
The CGIAR Consortium is holding a briefing on “Famine in the Horn of Africa: Challenges and Opportunities for Mitigating Drought-Induced Food Crises.” There’s a live video link. And a Twitter feed. So far, some interesting talk about the increasing importance of sorghum (and the role of beer in its commercialization) and camels. KARI’s Mwangi asked: “What type of seed are they going out there with?” Good questions. No answer yet.
Knowing your onions
Occasionally — just occasionally — Genebank Database Hell doesn’t live up to its fearsome reputation. Or maybe it’s just diminished expectations on my part, I’m not sure. Anyway, Eurisco confirms that the Irish onion called Buan Jeremy blogged about yesterday is found in the genebanks at Warwick and VIR. Interestingly, a grand total of 7 onions of Irish origin are in existence in the world’s genebanks, most of them at VIR. Thank goodness for Europe’s amateur heirloom gardeners, eh?
Nibbles: Turkish trade, Coffee, Drought resistant crops, Diversification, Leafy veg, Taxonomy
- Shipwreck offers insights into agricultural trade in Turkey 1500 years ago.
- Coffee from alpha to omega.
- Drought-resistant crops for East Africa. Well, yes. And more specifically…
- “African” crops in America.
- Program to focus on making better use of vegetables. And that “program” has been going since 1986! Who knew?
- Why we should all be taxonomists.
Harvest time at Berry go Round
Dave at Osage + Orange has got the early harvest in with a round-up of the best botanical blogging around in this month’s Berry go Round. There are trees, hedges, haystacks and much, much more. Go, read, link (and consider submitting to A DC Birding Blog for Sep[tember.