Livestock

Nibbles: Maize, Millets, Pollinators, Ungulates, Drugs, Orchids

Long article on the politics (and more) of maize in Mexico.
Yet more on the slow comeback of millets in (parts of) India.
International Conference on Pollinator Biology, Health and Policy on July 24-28, 2010 at Penn State.
Hunted ungulates are semi-domesticated.
“…psychoactive plant toxins were a mundane occurrence in the environments of hominid evolution, and our ancestors may have been exploiting plant drugs for very long periods of time.”
“I was confronted with centrefolds showing downy, smooth petals and moistened, hot-pink lips that pouted in the direction of tautly curved shafts and heavily veined pouches.”

Bird people say: Critical migratory waterbird sites need urgent protection. Tomato and potato crop wild relative people say: What, only the critical ones? You’re lucky, mate!
Toffs everywhere start stocking up on caviar.
Tequila and cheese geographically indicated. Foie gras says: Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
Uganda Government minister says yams cause cancer. Oh, come now, steady on.
Are Tomatoes Fruits or Vegetables? Asks mental_floss. Oh no, I’m not going there, says me.
“…where there is a market, the Maya will work to develop supply capability; where there is no market, traditional subsistence methods are better than the introductions.”
Building a better slash-and-burn agriculture.
Nice Asian greens. I’m hungry already.
Crop Composition Database gets facelift.

Neleshi Grasscutter and Farmers Association (NAGRAFA). Grasscutters are not members.
The value of geographical indicators. So, where is that grasscutter from?
Capsicum genes engineered into banana might protect against Xanthomonas wilt in the future, if safe. No need for management then, which works now.
Interesting arguments for keeping Britain GM-free: profits and aesthetics of biodiverse agriculture.

Botany Photo of the Day is an onion wild relative! Pretty.
More on that livestock-can-help-reduce-desertification thing, this time from Scientific American.
Breeding Striga-resistant sorghum. Whatever it takes to protect local beer, boffin-dudes!
Emmer wheat reviewed to bits.
No passport data for your barley? Fear not.
Rachel Laudan ably defends Hawaiian food.
Origins of almond traced to Iran. Not for the first time.
Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture: A Commons Perspective. Presentation from our friends at FAO.
Presentation on the untapped potential of cassava in the Great Lakes region of Africa. One of many from CIAT lately. Check out their stuff on beans too.
The Seed Cathedral of Shanghai. Thanks to those public awareness wizards at Kew.
Big shindig on biofortification. Be there, or be malnourished.
Times of India bangs the drum for nutritious millets.
Yet more loveliness from serious amateur pea breeder Rebsie Fairholm.