- FAO on climate change and aquaculture.
- Cornish sardines sigh huge sigh of relief at attaining EU protection.
- “Planned activities include supporting small businesses, improving access to local and regional markets and reintroducing abandoned traditions such as felt-making for clothing and yurts.” Sounds like a barrel of laughs.
- “…patronizing our local fruit wines also means helping small farmers and communities that are collecting the fruits used for making these wines.” Anybody try this?
What’s wrong with this picture?
Snapped on a bus this morning. See the animal there on the left? Does it look like a sheep to you? Does cashmere come from sheep? Would you buy “cashmere” from a manufacturer that doesn’t know what animal produces cashmere? Not even at a 50% discount?
Nibbles: Two fish
- Thai village brings back mangroves, fish.
- Elsewhere, aquaculture is forced further and further offshore.
The cattle of the Yakuts have their day in the sun at last
Juha Kantanen, a research scientist at MTT Agrifood Research Finland, had an announcement out on the DAD-Net discussion forum a couple of days ago which reproduced an MTT press release on what sounds like a fascinating book, Sakha Ynaga — Cattle of the Yakuts.
Siberia’s last remaining indigenous breed of domestic cattle, the Sakha Ynaga, or Yakutian cattle, inhabit the lands surrounding the Lena River in Russia’s remote Sakha Republic (Yakutia). During the soviet era, the Yakutian cattle were driven to virtual extinction, but thanks to dogged preservation efforts this remarkable, hardy breed has endured to the present day.
A multidisciplinary team of researchers from MTT Agrifood Research Finland and the University of Helsinki’s Aleksanteri Institute explored the genetic uniqueness of the Yakutian cattle and the effect of social and cultural factors on the survival of the breed through periods of major upheaval in Russia’s history. The findings of this insightful study have now been published in the book Sakha Ynaga — Cattle of the Yakuts. The book champions the call for preservation of biodiversity, at a time when countless indigenous breeds around the world are facing the brink of extinction.
The book can be ordered from Bookstore Tiedekirja.
Nibbles: Camelids, Vineyards, Fermentation, Herb, Aquaculture, Bolivian interview, Sponges
- 5th European Symposium on South American Camelids.
- Wine makers count on biodiversity to help them out against pests.
- Sandor Katz, fermentation guru.
- Uttarkhand farmers turn to “herb.” Maybe they went to college here. Luigi comments: I’m on next flight.
- Kenyan governments counts on fish. Wont be holding my breath.
- Moises Jimenez, Bolivian farmer.
- Farming sponges. Not Luffa, the stuff in the sea!