- The evolution of the GBIF registry. If you need to ask, you don’t need to know. And if you don’t, you do.
- US farmers encouraged to try millets, sorghum — for birds. …
- … while in Kenya, Farmers turn to sorghum to boost their food security. They’re eating their beer.
- The latest Berry go Round blog carnival is up at Foothills Fancies. I liked the Red Filbert.
- The European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources, known to its friends as ecp/gr, has a spiffy new website. But no RSS feed, so it’s unlikely we’ll be bringing you anything else of interest from that site.
- Battery rabbits back on the menu in England? A warren of contradictions, I tell you.
- International Conference on In Situ/On farm conservation and use of agrobiodiversity (fruit crops and wild fruit species) in Central Asia, 23-26 August, in Tashkent. Programme PDF here.
- “Japan should look to satoyama and satoumi for inspiration.” I thought it already had …
Nibbles: Phosphorus, Options, Success, Extension
- Another view of peak phosphorus: there isn’t one.
- Worldwatch Institute offers “15 solutions to … a healthier environment and a more food-secure future”. h/t ILRI.
- From sorghum to maize, not your usual “top lady farmer“.
- Plant clinics thriving in Sierra Leone. Do the plant doctors ever prescribe agricultural biodiversity?
Food Slideshows
Two food slideshows for your delectation today.
One celebrates the orange-fleshed sweet potato and other nu-nutritional delights. Or, as Wired magazine puts it: “a visit to the laboratory of the International Potato Center in Maputo, Mozambique, where biofortification researchers are saving lives with starch”. Gabba gabba hey!
The other is from Foreign Policy magazine, which says: “The food in our mouths defines us in far more fundamental and visceral terms than the gas in our tanks or the lines on a map. So it’s not surprising that the most important questions of global politics often boil down to: What should we eat?”
Alas, time is pressing and so a detailed appreciation is currently out of the question, but both sites accept comments, and we’d be delighted if you would care to share any comments you do have here.
Nibbles: FIGS, Anitmalarials, PhD, Pecans
- Australian magazine overdoses on FIGS (Focused Identification of Germplasm Strategy) h/t Dag.
- World Agroforestry Centre says malaria-cure trees are going extinct. World Malaria Day is on Monday 25th.
- New PhD programme on Biodiversity and Society. h/t CFTF, who say it covers diversification and neglected crops.
- China loves US pecans, giving Tom an opportunity for some strategic analysis.
Conferences want you
Two conferences have put out a call for papers.
First up is the 1st Africa College International Conference on Food security, Health and Impact Knowledge Brokering, to be held in Leeds, England, from 22-24 June 2011. Full details at the conference website. h/t the CAS-IP blog.
And then there’s IFPRI’s conference on Increasing Agricultural Productivity and Enhancing Food Security in Africa, organized in conjunction with the African Union Commission and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. It takes place in Addis Ababa 1-3 November 2011 and details are available via the IFPRI website.