- More insights into that early Amazonian agriculture.
- 24th Congress of the Latin America Association of Potato, Cusco, 23-28 May “will focus on the conservation and usage of potato’s genetic resources”.
- New book on seed trade and agricultural biodiversity. Tanzania not studied.
- Nice slide show on fodder shrubs for dairy farmers in Kenya.
- Wisconsin caviar?
Livestock biodiversity and conservation gets a global view
Animal Genetics has a Special Issue on “A Global View of Livestock Biodiversity and Conservation,” coordinated by Paolo Ajmone-Marsan and Licia Colli. It includes a review of genetic diversity in farm animals, and an assessment of what climate change means for the characterization, breeding and conservation of livestock. It’s all because of a 3-year EU project called GLOBALDIV.
It is formed by a core group of partners who participated in past EU or continental scale projects on Farm Animal Genetic Resources characterization and conservation. It also involves a much larger number of experts that are actively contributing to the success of the initiative. The project aims at improving the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture in EU and beyond, complementing and promoting work undertaken in the Member States at the Community level and facilitating co-ordination of international undertakings on genetic resources in agriculture.
As one of the more info-savvy CG Centres, ILRI will no doubt have comments and analysis online very soon.
I got the news via Twitter.
Hairy pig hits limelight
They don’t say whether it is the famous Lincolnshire Curly Coat, but it looks like it might be. 1 Now, if only they could make them pocket-sized…
Thanks, Cary.
UPDATE (17 Fe. 2016): Well, “they” were the LA Times, and both the story and video to which we linked back in 2010 are no more. But the “sheep pig” in question probably was the Mangalitza, and the story of how it was rescued from oblivion is actually pretty cool.
Nibbles: Consortium?, Sheep diversity, Sustainable biofuels, Agroforestry, Almonds, Chicken breeding, Restoration, More tree management, Vegetable gardening, Wheat domestication
- IRRI tries to raise $300 million for rice in Asia. Including for that genebank of theirs?
- Sheep phylogeographic genetic structure weak, but not completely absent, thank goodness.
- Examples of sustainable biofuels. No snickering at the back there.
- How to manage tree genetic resources under climate change. By some friends.
- Almonds 101.
- “…testing the genetic and immunological limits of poultry.” And then eating the results.
- Grassland restoration needs to take into account functional diversity. And DNA?
- Presentation on community forestry management in Niger. Nice story.
- Senegalese vegetable farming project uses terra preta but modern seed. Go figure.
- Ancient farmers off the hook for loss of key wheat gene. Plant breeders to blame, apparently.
Nibbles: China, Andean roots and tubers, pigs, greenhouse gases, locavores, drought, mapping horticulture, 2010 Growing Green Awards, canker, World Bank, threats, cashmere
- China’s role in food price spikes. Books sounds worth reading.
- Dutch chefs easily fascinated. Just show ’em an Andean root or tuber.
- Much more on that pig domestication story.
- Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases agrees its agenda. In New Zealand. Jeremy avoids snarky remark.
- New York Times debates locavorism. Someone has to.
- Monsanto, DuPont Race to Win $2.7 Billion Drought-Corn Market. Africa says Yay!
- If you have an horticultural development project, Horticultural CRSP and GlobalHort want to hear from you.
- More environmental awards handed out. Recipients asked to blog.
- Chestnuts out of fire?
- Data!
- Really, who’d be a farmer?
- Chinese clone woollier cashmere goats. Why not just clone the wool directly, cut out the middleman?
- Tales of maize and tomato hybrids.