Farming First has compiled a bunch of infographics about “Agriculure and the Green Economy”. Some of the sources are less than obvious, but it is good to have the headline figures. Here’s part of the one for investment. Click it for the whole thing.
Yes! We do have bananas
Almost a week ago we reported on the fabulous news that bananas, and especially the threat posed by a virulent new race of Fusarium wilt (better known as Panama disease) 1 had featured on BBC’s The One Show. That show, alas, is not available outside the UK without some very fancy jiggery pokery, which hoops everyone who wanted to see it would have had to jump through for themselves. 2 So, in a spirit of sharing and collective action for agrobiodiversity, we assembled a crack team of hoop-jumpers and did the jiggery pokery for you.
Here you go: Restaurant critic and all around good guy Jay Rayner comes to grips with the threat to bananas, aided and abetted by Pat Heslop Harrison, whose blog post on the subject we refer you to once again, just in case you want more on the topic than The One Show offered.
Was it worth it? Of course it was.
Nibbles, Menu edition: Garlic, Potatoes, Meat, Tomatoes, Ramps, Bananas, Chocolate, Coffee, Pepper breeding, Local cattle in RSA
- Chicago, Chicago, it’s an edible town. Major urban centre named for edible wild species shock.
- Drought-resistant potatoes! At least 1000 genes involved.
- Test-tube burgers? 3
- Wild tomatoes and climate change. A meeting round-up from our chums at CIAT.
- The appeal of fair trade bananas. A good read.
- Technical Guidelines on the Safe Movement of Cacao Germplasm updated.
- Coffee, please. A cup of your finest specialty variety.
- Caribbean pepper breeders getting hot under the collar.
- Gotta love the way Farm Radio Weekly not only has great stories about agrobiodiversity, but also handy background notes.
Well, that was fun.
Discovering lost breeds in the US
I can’t help reproducing this fun piece from the latest e-newsletter of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.
One of the most important parts of ALBC’s work is the “discovery” element. “Discovery” means that ALBC uses its networks and resources to find rare breeds – out there, in the fields, woods, and barns where they have quietly survived for generations. Often, these are unique strains or in some cases, unique breeds with unique genetics.
Most recently, ALBC was contacted by the state of North Carolina about populations of goats on several islands off its southern coast. State officials were considering removing the goats from the island, but they wanted more information about the goats before they did.
ALBC’s technical staff traveled out to sea and visited a few of the islands. The goats have been feral on the island for over 25 years. The goats were skittish, but ALBC staff was able to capture images that were later evaluated for breed type and characteristics. Further explorations are planned for the coastal NC goat population, but evidence suggests several herds of these goats may have Spanish influence or be a unique strain of Spanish goats. In the meantime, the state has called off the removal of the goats from the island until more information is obtained. Discovery of America’s hidden breeds is an exciting and essential piece of ALBC’s work.
I bet it is!
Geographical Indications in the spotlight
Our friends at Crops for the Future do a nice job of summarizing the paper “The protection of Geographical Indications (GI): Generating Empirical Evidence at Country and Product Level to Support African ACP Country Engagement in the Doha Round Negotiations.” So I don’t need to, beyond referring to the bottom line: “GIs may entail trade-offs rather than the elusive “win-win” situation.” But I will say that I think it’s strange for the “Organization for an International Geographical Indications Network, … a Swiss-based NGO that represents 200 organizations and over two-million GI producers, from some 40 countries” to have a (fairly active) Twitter account but no RRS RSS feed from its website.