Information

July 21, 2010July 21, 2010

African Agriculture Science week

“As good as being there.” That’s the very professional blog created by the folks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso for FARA’s General Assembly and 5th African Agriculture Science week. We’ve linked to the programme before now, and invited submissions, but now we — and you — have a direct line to the goings on. ¹ Of particular interest so far, the presentation by Bioversity International’s DG Emile Frison on diversity and nutrition, and a wee bit about pollinator diversity.

The Fara week 2010 blog is on our radar, and it raises an interesting question: what happens to the blog and the information in years to come? One-off, purpose-built blogs like this are great, especially when they’re as well put together as this one, but do they have a sustainability plan?

LATER: Oh, and Jules Pretty is pretty good on why everything you think you know about African agriculture is wrong.

July 20, 2010

Potatoes in the limelight

It’s potato season at the US Botanical Garden, it seems. There’s a temporary exhibit on the spud. And a number of talks between now and the end of the month, including one on the USDA Potato Genebank. I know because Smithsonian Magazine posted this video on Facebook.

Needless to say, if any of our readers go, we’d love to hear about it.

July 20, 2010July 20, 2010

Nibbles: Breeding, Art, Bison, Pumpkin seeds, Sweet potato, Bambara groundnut, Carnival

Cary Fowler on the need to breed.
MRIs of fruits and vegetables. Well, why not?
The genetic consequences of bovine inter-specific sex explained. SFW.
How Mrs Joséphine Enoce Bouanga makes milk from squash seeds in Pointe-Noire.
Gates Foundation orange sweet potato project in Mozambique. Still waiting to hear what they’re going to do with all those useless landraces they’ll be replacing.
Nourishing the Future does Lost Crops of Africa 101. Beginners, start there, but don’t expect to be taken anywhere interesting.
Blog carnival Scientia Pro Publica #35 is up, but what’s with the verse alphabetical order? Harummph.

July 19, 2010July 19, 2010

Call for nominations for William L. Brown Award open

The William L. Brown Award recognizes the outstanding contributions of an individual towards the study of useful plants and their conservation. It is administered by the William L. Brown Center at the Missouri Botanical Garden and is made possible through a generous endowment from the Sehgal Family Foundation, in cooperation with the family of Dr. Brown.

If you want to nominate someone for this year’s award, you have until 31 August.

July 19, 2010July 20, 2010

Multimedia cacao

A couple of days ago we Nibbled a set of cacao photos from Sustainable Harvest International. I thought at the time it probably deserved better exposure, and I’m happy to be given the excuse to provide it by the appearance on YouTube of a sweet little cartoon on the cacao tree, courtesy of Kew. And by the start of a series of posts on how chocolate is made, by Rachel Laudan.

And speaking of cacao, this just in: A London hedge fund last week took delivery of contracts for about 7% of the world’s cacao producction, according to a report in The Guardian. (h/t The Tracing Paper). Coincidentally, or not, the price of cacao has increased 150% over the past 18 months.