- Growing a new agriculture in Poland.
- After açai? Aguaje!
- Hector Mongi is heading to a CTA seminar on Implications of Climate Change for Sustainable Agriculture. Hope he blogs it.
- “Anti-farmer” seed law in Pakistan.
- “Look,” he says. “This was an orchard.”
- Wonderful photos of autumn; agricultural biodiversity prominent.
- Afghanistan’s National Seed Secretariat opens, re-opens hornets’ nest?
Nibbles: Bank, Pest, Urban Ag, Ireland, Beans
- Tangled Bank 116. Where I discovered that Differential Grasshoppers prefer damaged sunflowers.
- Urban Farmer wins MacArthur “Genius Grant”.
- Irish Forum on Genetic Resources, 19 November. Who will report for us?
- New bean varieties boost incomes and food supply in Uganda.
Nibbles: Link, Mango, Chickens, Apples, Urban, Aquaculture, More chickens
- Our latest link. Mas du Diable in France.
- The history of mango in Florida discussed.
- Historic poultry publication.
- Did I hear somebody say English apples are not very interesting? Via.
- A wheat crop grows in Manhattan.
- Hands-on aquaculture.
- Animal farm.
Nibbles: Worms, Cowpeas, Vavilov, Asian carp, Genebanks, Cassava
- DNA splits earthworms. Not many people hurt.
- Cookin’ up a mess of field peas. Not many people hurt.
- Talking about N.I. Vavilov at the NAL. I know, I know. He embodies a discredited and outmoded paradigm. But still.
- “I got hit in the back once,†said Mr. O’Hara. “It left an imprint of a fish.â€
- How Stuff Works: new one on genebanks; old one on seed banks.
- Cuba promotes hurricane-resistant cassava variety.
Compare and contrast
Sure, we live in a globalized world, a global village. Recent events in the financial markets are somewhat painful reminders of that. But that doesn’t mean things are the same everywhere, or even going in the same direction. High(er) altitude farming is alive and well in Nepal, as Jeremy just noted. But on its way to extinction in England. Better irrigation is boosting rice yields in Cambodia. While karez wells are being abandoned in Afghanistan. That’s one reason why I don’t believe the genetic erosion meta-narrative. There is always an exception. And although you can sometimes see the world in a grain of sand, it’s better to look at the beach.