- Seed Hunter “undaunted.” So that’s all right then.
- Smithsonian puts old seed catalogs online. Very cool.
- By all means plant trees, especially on farms, but a plantation is not a rainforest.
Nibbles: Tree planting, Farm photos, Dandelion rubber, Ash trees, Qatar garden, Cairo cull
- India tree planter tells BBC his story. But what species?
- Photoessay on Irish farm, begorrah!
- The next rubber boom?
- A “modern-day Johnny Appleseed for ash trees.”
- Qur’anic Botanical Garden established in Qatar.
- Egyptians regret pig cull.
Heartwarming story of ICT use in rural Kenya
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.