- Another day, another tree disease threatens the British landscape.
- Some Swedish trees are not doing too well either.
- Seeds of Trade. A virtual book at the NHM. Lots of info on the history of crops.
- What are the pollination needs of a particular crop? FAO will tell you if you ask nicely.
- Purple tea in Kenya. Luigi’s mother-in-law not impressed.
Taro on Facebook
The very Web 2.0 savvy John Cho is at it again. He’s got more great historical pictures of Hawaii and its taro culture on his personal Facebook page. And he’s started to post about his breeding work on a separate Facebook page dedicated to Colocasia esculenta. 1 If you’re into taro in any way, you need to become John’s friend.
Nibbles: Microlivestock, Urban ag, Ag info, School meals in Peru, Agrobiodiversity indicators, Nature special supplement, Extension, Breeding organic, Forgetting fish in China, Deforestation, Russian potatoes, Fijian traditional knowledge, Megaprogrammes
- FAO slideshow on Egyptian rabbits.
- Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development calls for papers on urban agriculture. Will some look at the intersection with art?
- And IAALD re-launches its journal.
- “…students receiving online encouragement from the national soccer star reported going to bed at night looking forward to receiving their iron supplements the following morning.” Great, of course. But why not iron-rich foods?
- Speaking of which, there’s a new FAO publication on “Foods counting for the Nutritional Indicators Biodiversity.” No, I don’t quite understand it myself. Something to do with what foods count towards CBD biodiversity targets. Well, it’s the International Year of Biodiversity, after all.
- Indeed it is. And Nature makes the most of it. See what I did there? No agriculture though, natch.
- Extension gets a forum?
- Biotech can be useful in organic farming? Say it ain’t so!
- More evidence of shifting baselines in people’s perceptions of biodiversity. How quickly they forget.
- Will they forget what forests look like?
- The Vavilov Institute potato collection needs a thorough going over. Taxonomically, that is.
- Making salt in mangrove ponds in Fiji. Nice video. Not agrobiodiversity, but it’s my blog and I like seeing Fiji on it.
- CGIAR abandons agrobiodiversity? Say it ain’t so. Anyone?
- Speaking of megaprogrammes, there’s going to be one on agricultural adaptation to climate change, right?
- “So, how does huitlacoche taste? Does it matter?? LOOK AT IT! I guess it would be fair to say it doesn’t taste as truly horrible as it looks. The flavor is elusive and difficult to describe, but I’ll try: ‘Kinda yucky.'” Don’t believe him! And read the rest.
Carnival Time: Science for the People No. 27
Yes indeedy, the latest edition of Scientia Pro Publica — science for the people — the blog that celebrates good science blogging is up at Melliferax. As usual, there’s a load of interesting stuff there, though not much of it is specifically agricultural. We should note, however, that Melliferax is herself a bee-keeper, and where would we be without bees? That said, two pieces caught my eye. In Always eat fruits before a meal?? the science behind false claims, Akshat Rati dissects the ludicrosity of an email that is apparently doing the rounds but that has so far had the good sense to leave me alone. And in Evolution: watching speciation occur Christie Wilcox gives not one but two examples of evolution in action, one from a neglected and absolutely delicious and beautiful crop, salsify, and one from a crop pest, the apple maggot fly.
Livestock biodiversity and conservation gets a global view
Animal Genetics has a Special Issue on “A Global View of Livestock Biodiversity and Conservation,” coordinated by Paolo Ajmone-Marsan and Licia Colli. It includes a review of genetic diversity in farm animals, and an assessment of what climate change means for the characterization, breeding and conservation of livestock. It’s all because of a 3-year EU project called GLOBALDIV.
It is formed by a core group of partners who participated in past EU or continental scale projects on Farm Animal Genetic Resources characterization and conservation. It also involves a much larger number of experts that are actively contributing to the success of the initiative. The project aims at improving the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture in EU and beyond, complementing and promoting work undertaken in the Member States at the Community level and facilitating co-ordination of international undertakings on genetic resources in agriculture.
As one of the more info-savvy CG Centres, ILRI will no doubt have comments and analysis online very soon.
I got the news via Twitter.