This is a new one on me. Cropwatch “is an independent watchdog for Endangered & Vulnerable Natural Aromatic Products used in the Aroma (Perfumes, Flavours, Aromatherapy, Cosmetics), Herbal, Traditional Medicine & Phytochemical Industries.” All those capitals give a bit of the flavour of the site. Let’s just say it’s not really beautiful. But it is informative.
Bees for Development
A new web site — beesfordevelopment.org — is your one-stop-shop for information about beekeeping anywhere in the world. The site recently announced new funding from the Wales for Africa Fund of the Welsh Assembly Government and the Rowse Family Trust that is allowing it to offer a specific African Beekeeping Information Portal. You need to register, which is a minor inconvenience, but I’ll bet there are lots of goodies once you are in.
Nibbles: Taro, NTFP, Maca, Perils of new crops, Nabhan, Cockfighting, Old wine, Maya nut, Cassava Brown Streak Virus
- University of Hawaii’s work on taro summarized.
- Watch out for FAO’s new NWFP-Digest. Non-timber, non-wood; what’s the difference?
- The transition of maca from neglect to market prominence. Free download.
- Maize and malaria in Ethiopia.
- Gary Nabhan interviewed. Again.
- NPR on the limits of the Green Revolution.
- Cocks still fighting in India.
- The early Egyptians “…were very aware of the benefits that natural additives can have—especially if dissolved into an alcoholic medium, like wine or beer.”
- Brosimum alicastrum to the rescue.
- Uganda’s biofuel hopes dashed by virus? Say it aint so.
The Future of Plant Genetic Resources
The Future of Plant Genetic Resources is a one-day meeting to be held on 14 May 2009 at the Linnean Society in the heart of London’s fashionable West End. The meeting honours Jack Hawkes, Past President of the LinnSoc, who
devoted his long and illustrious career to the study of plant genetic resources. His meeting with the Russian plant geneticist Nicolai Vavilov in St. Petersburg in 1938 was in his own words “an experience that changed my life”; working with Jack was an experience that changed the lives of many of today’s plant breeders. Jack’s work on potatoes and their wild relatives was at the centre of a broad interest in the conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources, and his vision and legacy are widely celebrated – he has been called “the father of germplasm banks”. In this day meeting we will honour Jack and his many contributions by examining the future of plant genetic resources in today’s scientific setting.
There’s a pretty stellar line-up of speakers, and of course we’d be interested in a report, if you go.
Nibbles: Drugs, Horticulture, Nutritional composition, Health, Rice, Coconut
- “Coffee and cocoa yes, coca no.”
- 1st All Africa Horticulture Congress.
- Carotenoid and vitamin content of Micronesian atoll foods: Pandanus (Pandanus tectorius) and garlic pear (Crataeva speciosa) fruit.
- A Family Year: a 5-part television series focusing on the health and environmental threats facing families in Russia and Central Europe.
- Natbar Sarangi: one man Indian rice genebank.
- Climate change “might hinder coconut production“.