- Advance notice of the IAALD 13th World Congress in Montpellier, France. Sounds like a blast.
- Likewise for the Society for Economic Botany’s annual bash.
- “Rabid banana consumption in the last 100 years has led to a precipitous increase in natural disasters.” Satire.
- I’ve heard of green wheat to eat, but never green rice.
- Protecting tropical trees from frost at a Florida botanic garden.
- “Collecting germplasm is the first step in helping a nutritious island vegetable set seed.” Indeed it is.
News from the Pacific
Our friend at the Island Food Community of Pohnpei, Dr Lois Englberger, sends us news that her wonderfully agrobiodiversity-friendly NGO is now on Facebook. Go on and become a fan. Lois also points us to a great series of photographs on local foods by Anna Herforth, a PhD student at Cornell University: “Her thesis work examines the nutritional benefits gained through traditional African vegetables in the diets of certain Tanzanians and Kenyans.” Speaking of photographs of agricultural biodiversity…
Nibbles: Vavilov on couscous, Molecular studentships, Goat genetics, Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Sweet potato, New Agriculturist, Vietnam and CC, Liberian ag research, Cuisine
- Couscous deconstructed.
- China and Bioversity collaborate on molecular marker training.
- Neolithic legging helps unravel the history of the goat in Europe.
- Dag’s cool Svalbard pix.
- CIP launches Sweetpotato Action for Security and Health in Africa (SASHA).
- The new New Agriculturist does markets.
- Climate change and rice cultivation in the Mekong Delta.
- The perils of agricultural research in Liberia: one trial up in smoke, another stolen. Bummer.
- Ok, I had no idea there was a Tasting Cultures Foundation. Thanks, Facebook.
Millions Fed
That’s the title of an IFPRI project funded by the Gates Foundation which aims to document success stories in agricultural development. We mentioned it here before, when it was just being launched. There are a couple of agrobiodiversity examples among the case studies, including maize in Africa, mungbean in Asia and diet diversification in Bangladesh.
The orchids that fell through the cracks
My sincere apologies to Ted MacRae, who submitted a blog post about Great Plains ladies-tresses to the Berry Go Round carnival we hosted here a couple of days ago. Stupidity made me leave it off. Sorry Ted.