- The Human Flower Project uses Christmas oranges to teach about diversity and traditional knowledge.
- The New York Times discovered the hairy Hungarian Mangalitsa pig … so it must be real.
- SciDev.net’s highs and lows of 2010.
- “The genetic resources from landraces ignored by the tequila industry may be valuable for both ethanol production and conservation.” Uh-huh. h/t Jacob.
2010’s big hits
The Guardian lists “Conservation stories of 2010“. There are a few plants in there, but not much you can get your teeth into. Well, some endangered bushmeat, obviously, but who can afford that?
Cosmos, on the other hand, prefers Ten Biodiversity Hotspots to mark the end of this International Year of Biodiversity. Same old same old: Agriculture features only as the enemy.
This could get tedious …
Nibbles: Carnival, Strawberries, Wheat, Malawi, Books
- Berry-go-Round No. 35 is up (and has been for weeks) with Christmas tree goodness and The Vegetable Orchestra.
- Today’s overinflated genome claim is for strawberries.
- Wheat (breeders) can weather climate change, say scientists.
- “Is Malawi’s ‘green revolution’ a model for Africa?” asks BBC News. “Maybe, maybe not,” answers Luigi.
- Grist’s millers recommend books about food and agriculture.
Nibbles: Yemen, Seed moisture, Irish fruits, Indian genetic erosion, Goji, Sustainable Ag, Green Revolution,
- Probably way more than you want to know about food security in Yemen, but stunning nonetheless.
- NordGen tells us how to measure seed moisture content. In Russian.
- The Irish have benefited from at least one bank. Alas, that bank is Pavlovsk.
- Indian farmers turning their back on traditional crops because of climate change. Hope NBPGR is on the case.
- Goji berries only as good as other fruit and veg, with “significant placebo effect”.
- [W]e are in the midst of shaping a new perspective on sustainable agriculture, it says here. Right.
- All you ever wanted to know about Green Revolution 2.0, thanks to Anastasia.
- Speaking of which .. sustainable ag under discussion.
TLB resistant varieties kicking their heels, twiddling their thumbs
Readers with a long memory will remember that it was back in the summer that we first pointed to worrying signs that Taro Leaf Blight might be in West Africa. By October TLB was pretty much confirmed in Cameroon and the Pacific had offered its resistant varieties. The offer has not yet been taken up. Now there’s another flurry of activity at Pestnet, triggered by news of devastating losses in Nigeria. And John Cho from Hawaii informs us that there has been success in breeding for the disease in the Dominican Republic too. What will it take to get the TLB resistant varieties that we know exist in a few places around the world to where they are clearly urgently needed? This from the blurb on a new, and very timely, book on taro just out from Bioversity:
While new market opportunities and taro’s versatility are responsible for its growing popularity in markets, diseases and climate change also pose ever greater threats to its production and distribution. The current outbreak and spread of the devastating taro leaf blight in West Africa clearly highlights this vulnerability. By taking a global approach to the crop, the authors highlight ways to address new outbreaks of pathogens such as taro leaf blight.