- More on the one-two fungus-virus bee-killer combo.
- “In the end, all the brave talk about food self-sufficiency in Asia is just nonsense; ain’t never gonna happen.” Very strategic analysis.
- The Resilient Gardener, by Carol Deppe. Can’t wait to get hold of this, from one of the best ever.
- “African governments urged to increase uptake of drought tolerant maize.” Because that’s easier than drought-tolerant agriculture?
- The need for Agricultural Bioversity/Documentary Video. I guess I’ll have to find time to watch this. Unless you do first and tell us what you think.
- Belated: someone else finds coverage of Pavlovsk puzzling.
- Kenyan community sets up its own genebank to protect itself from evil hybrids and GMOs.
Eating Your Environment lectures kick off
Quite a lineup for this lecture series on Food: Eating Your Environment at U Washington. Every Thursday from 5 October to 30 November. Anyone going to any of them and would like to tell us about it?
Nibbles: Musa wild relative, Soil biodiversity, Wild sorghum hybrids, Millet diversity, Bees, Garlic core collection, Heirloom seed saving, Nutrition, Fungal conservation, Sacred places
- New(ish) banana wild relative found in Mekong. Photo by Markku Hakkinen.
- Conserving soil biodiversity.
- Ecological fitness of wild-cultivated sorghum hybrids equal to wild parent.
- Pattern of genetic diversity in pearl millet determined by artificial, not natural, selection.
- The latest on the troubles of bees.
- Garlic gets cored. Totally SFW.
- Seed saving in the Hudson Valley.
- West African leaders say agriculture should be about nutrition. As opposed to?
- International Society for Fungal Conservation established. And that’s about it for now, but there are some ideas about what it will do.
Nibbles: CBD, Agroforestry, Rice, Soil interactions, Bumblebees, Chaco, Geoparks
- Executive Director of CBD perpetuates myth that we have lost 75% of crop diversity, at high-level meeting, no less.
- 670 agroforestry trees in a database, courtesy of ICRAF.
- Last Rice Today of this year, the 50th anniversary of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), summarized.
- Soil community helps maintain species and genetic diversity.
- Good news for some UK bumblebees.
- On the agricultural frontier in South America. Any crop wild relatives there?
- Global Network of National Geoparks expands. Any crop wild relatives there?
Who to believe?
RSS feeds can be pretty unforgiving, capturing those momentary lapses that not even the fastest fingers can recover. Take, for example, Exhibit A, pictured below. (Click to embiggen.)
Someone clearly thought better about the “fact” that a genetically modified cowpea (“actually a bean”) could generate US$1 billion for small farmers. So it got downgraded to a claim by scientists 1 that will still deliver US$1 billion … without specifying to whom exactly.
The story? Oh, you don’t want to bother with that.