Robert E. Rhoades is dead. He was a pioneer of agricultural anthropology and wrote extensively on conservation of agrobiodiversity, especially how local people do it. His 1991 National Geographic piece The World’s Food Supply at Risk is a classic.
Nibbles: Sheep genotypes, Farming Matters, African Rice Congress, Malawi food, Quinoa et al.
- Better sheep through information. From Australia, natch. Thanks, Dirk.
- New Farming Matters out. When did this ILEIA magazine change its name? Remains essential reading anyway.
- Some participants voice their expectations of the African Rice Congress.
- A traditional Malawi meal.
- Whole grain recipes.
Mining the internet for threats to agrobiodiversity
Late last year I blogged about what an early warning system for erosion of agricultural diversity might look like. I was thinking of an active reporting system, but today Conservation Maven reminds me of a paper published a few months ago that suggests that a more passive approach might also be possible. The authors ask the question: Can researchers who are interested in ecological monitoring tap into … increased flows of information by “mining” the internet to detect “early-warning” signs that may signal abrupt ecological changes? The paper is behind a paywall, but I’ve ordered it. Once I read it, I’ll report back whether web crawlers have a future in genetic erosion monitoring.
Greenpeace 1, Nestlé 0
Have you been following the Web 2.0 Greenpeace vs Nestlé brouhaha over unsustainable oil palm plantations? The whole thing is lucidly and attractively laid out below. Now that the social web has Nestlé on the ropes, can we get them to support cacao genebanks around the world? Forever.
Nibbles: Health, China, Sustainable coffee, Citrus
- Food Systems and Public Health: Linkages to Achieve Healthier Diets and Healthier Communities. Quite a mouthful…
- Podcast: A Snapshot of Chinese Agriculture with Mike Mulvaney. Mouthwatering.
- “…how can agricultural landscapes produce more with less impact?” The BBC tells us.
- Florida’s citrus in trouble. Genomics to the rescue?