- Beautiful Images of Strange Fruits. Botanical not culinary, mostly
- Hawaiians paid to plant natives.
- Dismal science tells boffins which cattle breeds to save. Yeah, because we all so trust economists these days, right?
- “Cynara 2009, the 7th International Symposium on Artichoke, Cardoon And Their Wild Relatives, will be held in Saint Pol de Léon, Brittany, France, the ‘home town’ of the famous artichoke variety Camus de Bretagne.” Via.
- Pinoy allotment manual.
Nibbles: Aquaculture, Philippines organic, Risk mapping, Jatropha, Plum
- FAO’s Regional Aquaculture Information System (RAIS) website launched. Covers the Gulf states.
- Pinoy farmers urged to go organic.
- Climate change risk mapped in SE Asia. Cambodia surrenders.
- Local weed makes good in Mexico.
- The Prunus mume collection at the Beijing Botanic Garden.
Fighting and using insects in agriculture
Most of the continent’s food is lost to insects, either on farm, or in storage post-harvest. By saving just a fraction of this produce, millions of people in Africa would be saved from hunger.
That’s from Prof Christian Borgemeister, DG of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe) in Nairobi. But there’s a useful side to insects too, of course. Read the full interview in Business Daily Africa.
Nibbles: Aquaculture squared, Food policy, School, Beer
- More audio aquaponics goodness.
- “The road from growing rice to raising shrimp to misery.”
- Angola’s national strategy on food, nutritional security includes seeds. Anyone know more?
- Handbook for School Gardens.
- Oh no, climate change to screw up Czech hops! Now I’m really mad.
Lamb and veg
Some of the best eating I’ve done in recent years was in Portland, Maine, so it was not surprise to read of an effort to bring chefs and farmers together to preserve heirloom vegetable varieties. This was an early report in what all parties hope will be a long collaboration, and I wish them well.
“Our goals are to raise awareness of the issues surrounding heirloom vegetables, build markets, and with this pilot project, build a template to do similar things throughout the country.”
I hope they’ll check the names of all the varieties they’re growing; I spotted at least one mistake in the few varieties named in the article. And while it doesn’t talk about the island-reared lamb that Portland is so famous for, Danny at Rurality posted a link to a campaign to save rare breeds of sheep, by eating them.
Use it or lose it applies to Westerners with fat wallets as much as to the rest of the world.