The BBC has a story about how google saved Kenyan farmer Zack Matere’s potato crop, and helped him find customers. Must be lots more similar experiences out there involving different aspects of agrobiodiversity. And, with the high-speed undersea cable poised to go live, no doubt there will now be many more from East Africa. Thinking of getting the mother-in-law on the tubes. She needs to sell her tea, potatoes, cabbages, what have you. Not sure, however, if the tubes will be able to take it. And she does have her mobile…
Nibbles: IUCN book, Ancient DNA, Durian, Bees, Enola
- IUCN book Conservation for a New Era is out. Agriculture on page 160.
- Ancient DNA, from the general to the particular, courtesy of pigs.
- Durian and alcohol don’t mix. Damn.
- New Internationalist does a number on bees. Thanks, Lubin.
- The last word on the Enola bean case. At last.
e-Knowledge about Biodiversity and Agriculture
The annual conference of Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), this year entitled “e-Knowledge about Biodiversity and Agriculture,” will be on in Montpellier, France from November 9–13, 2009. This is the first time, apparently, that a TDWG conference will deal with agricultural biodiversity informatics as one of its major themes. As ever, if you’re going, we’d love to hear from you.
Nibbles: Indian potatoes, IUCN report, Climate change and disease
- The history of the potato at Shimla.
- Lots of Mediterranean mammals in trouble, including wild relatives of domesticated species.
- SciDev rounds up the science on climate change and diseases. Human diseases, that is, but much also applies to those of crops and livestock.
Nibbles: Goats in Europe, Horse domestication, Food map, IITA training, Asian collaboration, Tom Wagner, Tomatoes
- First Law of Geography valid after all.
- Multiple domestication of the horse in China.
- The Atlantic has a weird food map. What does it mean? Answers on a postcard, please.
- IITA tells farmers about its core collections, among other things.
- Bhutan and Thailand collaborate on agrobiodiversity conservation.
- Details of Tom Wagner’s European Tour. He’s the amateur breeders’ breeder.
- Tomatoes thrive on urine diet. Not a piss-take.