- “In the face of climate change, keeping diverse, resilient ecosystems is one of the strongest tools for adaptation.”
- Getting high in Eden.
- Chinese ate freshwater fish 40,000 years ago.
- British MPs finish cleaning their moats, decide to save the honeybee.
- Worm power!
- LEISA 25:2 is out.
- Przewalski’s horse gets first ever reverse vasectomy.
- Early farmers used camel-drawn carts.
- Using Google Earth to map bunnies in Australia. And then kill them.
- Farming the savannah. What could go wrong?
- Stressed out? Try kava. With audio goodness.
Attack of the Giant Parsley
David Brenner, a curator at the USDA genebank at Ames, Iowa, has just grown what may be the world’s tallest parsley plant.
Brenner says the seeds for the record-breaking parsley plant were first collected from Hungary in 1983. Even though it resembles a large bushy weed, he says it’s a perfect example of parsley. “It also had big tubers,” Brenner says. “The roots are almost four inches across and in Europe, the roots of parsley are another food crop, almost like a potato, so it has a double-barreled purpose.”
The Guinness people have been summoned. The existing record is six feet and this plant is almost eight.
GRIN knows about six Petroselinum accessions collected in Hungary in 1983, from five different villages, and donated in 1987. However, they’re listed as “inactive.” Not for long, I guess. But with the news making it to the media and Guinness on the way, I hope Dr Brenner manages to regenerate a lot of seed. To find out which one of the six the giant is, we’ll have to wait for the characterization data to go online. Look for that “plant height” descriptor…
Nibbles: Earthworms, Artisanal fishing, Urban Ag, Bees, Geeks
- Giant spitting earthworms need love too.
- “…local subsidies to artisanal fisheries have also proved to contribute to the disappearance of species, as in the case of Senegal.” Oh, come on, gimme a break!
- Urban Agriculture Magazine wants your contributions on “Urban Nutrient Management“. via CFtF.
- Inbred bumblebees less successful.
- What do you geek? Interesting campaign. Well, what do you geek?
Mango to get the encyclopedia treatment
I heard about this last week when I was at NBPGR in New Delhi, but it’s quite surprising to see it in the popular press. Just goes to show how important mango is in India. With funding from the Sultanate of Oman, the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) is going to produce a catalogue of all the mango varieties of the world. Sounds like a monumental enterprise. But, given the news lately about loss of varieties, very timely. Hope the wild relatives will be included.
Nibbles: Grains, Cuba, Wine, Raspberries, Film, Bio-char, European market regulations
- Perennial grains need your help.
- “In Cuba no one is helpless or dying of hunger.”
- Biodiversity in wine champion. But what about other cultivated species?
- “It’s called Ukee and it is a very special red raspberry“. Jeremy says “BTDTGTTS.”
- A sceptic evaluates “Food, Inc.”. Jeremy says “we shall see”.
- “I hope that the charcoal fever passes and the zealots and rent seekers move on to the next big fantasy”. May they pyrolize in Hell.
- Welcome, “curly cucumbers, crooked carrots and mottled mushrooms“!