- Colony collapse disorder. It’s still complicated.
- The Botanist in the Kitchen is at it again, with an in-depth treatment of okra, slime and chocolate.
- But seriously, why don’t Anglo-Saxons eat equids? It’s all down to religion.
- Nigeria embraces UNCTAD report that warns against monoculture.
- An interactive map of crop wild relatives. If it showed barley too, I know someone who would be in heaven.
- As so often in these matter, Kew comes to the rescue.
- A history of the peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. My kind of dietary diversity.
Nibbles: Chickens, Markets x 2, Bananas, Cover crops, Pyramid foods, Beans, Maize, Austrian diversity, Tuberous legume, Natural wine, Figs and mulberries, Meetings x 3, Purple sweet potatoes, Bambusetum
- Backyard chickens too much hassle? We have the solution for you.
- Supplies go up, prices go down. Those pesky speculators had nothing to do with it.
- Prices go up … The story for India’s agrciultural labourers.
- Colombia’s loss will Ecuador’s gain. Predictions for bananas in the 2060s.
- Conventional farmer loves cover crops. Shurely shome mishtake.
- Building the pyramids. It’s a tough job, but at least you eat well.
- Beans with benefits. On the road with a breeder in Rwanda.
- Chinese maize diversity explored, a bit.
- Massive diversity of all sorts of thing, in German.
- Rhizowen has another favourite underutilised legume crop: Amphicarpaea bracteata subsp edgeworthii.
- It’s vino, but is it natural?
- How is a fig like a mulberry? The Botanist in the Kitchen explains.
- Capturing wild relative and landrace diversity for crop improvement. A conference, in June 2014.
- Agricultural Biodiversity Community @ Work. A conference, in June 2013. PENHA was there.
- Preparations are underway for Kew’s Great Seed Swap. Call me dumb, but I cannot see a date anywhere there.
- Purple sweet potatoes to dye for.
- Oh boy! A regional genebank for bamboo. A bambusetum, no less.
Brainfood: Identifying GMOs, European beans, Palm distribution, Croatian cattle, Beta biodiversity, Apple pollination, Chinese foxtail millet, New Brassica, Pennisetum & latitude, Egusi oil
- Next-Generation Sequencing as a Tool for Detailed Molecular Characterisation of Genomic Insertions and Flanking Regions in Genetically Modified Plants: a Pilot Study Using a Rice Event Unauthorised in the EU. A rice event? They mean GMOs.
- Genetic Diversity and Dissemination Pathways of Common Bean in Central Europe. Slovenia is mainly Andean, Austria a mixture of Andean and Mesoamerican.
- Spatial distribution and environmental preferences of 10 economically important forest palms in western South America. It’s the water, stupid.
- Genetic variability of microsatellites in autochthonous Podolian cattle breeds in Croatia. Istrian cattle and Slavonian Syrmian Podolians are similar, but not identical. I dunno, I just hope someone is keeping track of all this stuff.
- Biodiversity Assessment of Sugar Beet Species and Its Wild Relatives: Linking Ecological Data with New Genetic Approaches. Where to find them, and how to use them. EcoTILLING is the way to go, apparently.
- Biodiversity ensures plant–pollinator phenological synchrony against climate change. The more pollinators, the better.
- Molecular diversity and population structure of Chinese green foxtail [Setaria viridis (L.) Beauv.] revealed by microsatellite analysis. Domesticated has geographical structure, wild does not. Origin in N China.
- A new species of Brassica sect. Brassica (Brassicaceae) from Sicily. It never ends.
- Latitudinal patterns of diversity in the world collection of pearl millet landraces at the ICRISAT genebank. Aim for 15°–20°.
- Genetic Mapping of Seed Traits Correlated with Seed Oil Percentage in Watermelon. Egusi, to be precise. Aim for bigger seeds.
Nibbles: ICRAF meet, Genome meet, Websites redux, Breadfruit video, Livestock project, Data, Kansas wheat, Chief scientists pontificate, Medieval melons, Peruvian foodiness, Whiskey
- ICRAF are having their Science Week. Follow it on Twitter. And let us know if you’re there and want to write about anything agrobiodiversity related that comes up.
- Plant Genome Evolution 2013 has been and gone, alas, but Chris Pires has storified the whole thing, pretty much. Lots of crops in there. But it’s disappeared now, of course.
- Bioversity and FAO redesign their websites. Tell them what you think.
- Diane Ragone talks breadfruit. With video goodness.
- Aussie researcher talks about landing Gates grant to improve African livestock. Hopefully some conservation in there somewhere.
- Decentralizing data: to empower communities; and to empower geeks.
- Data, you said? Here’s data on why Kansas needs wheat breeders.
- The world’s chief agriculture scientists want to share genetic resources. Good of them.
- Europe used to have more melons.
- Enough with the Peruvian superfoods meme, please.
- I may have said this before, but it’s still valid: I need a drink.
Nibbles: Coca, Rice breeding, Artisanal cheese, Win win, Microbes, Potato dyes, Beans, Agroforestry & conservation, Sweet potato marketing
- Bolivia ramps up coca production. Sniff.
- Tamil Nadu ramps up rice breeding.
- Bulgaria ramps up artisanal cheese production.
- Collaboration between organic and biotech ramped up. In other news, pigs fly.
- Ramp up use of microbes, microbiologist says. Nobody surprised.
- Americans ramp up production of purple potatoes.
- Everyone ramps up bean production. To save the planet, no less.
- Can agroforestry be used to ramp up tree conservation? Well, maybe?
- Need to ramp up sweet potato marketing.