- Video of Robin Allaby on that find of underwater Mesolithic wheat DNA off England. Well, that’s just the intro. Most of the rest is about the movement of flax north through Europe.
- There’s a great Facebook group on the taros (or kalos) of Hawaii.
- Weird coloured potato could be a hit Down Under.
- New yams for Guadeloupe. No news on their colour.
- Nice scenery and wine. Sign me up.
- Also on the UNESCO heritage list: China’s rice terraces.
- The Russian rye is coming! The Russian rye is coming!
- Learn about the Oregon Wolfe Barley population. Thanks to Trust Me, I Am a Seed “Scientist”, another Facebook group worth following.
Nibbles: Blueberry genebank, Reviving millets, Alternative rubber, Agave fuel, Breeding coffee, Poisonous plants
- Gorge on blueberries.
- Lunch on millets.
- Bet on guayule.
- Run on agave.
- Pray for coffee.
- Watch out for Sandy Knapp.
Edible Papal altar
Nice idea.
Nibbles: Seed access, Funding genebanks, Vote for me dammit, Quality AND yield, Floating gardens, Chocography, Wine heritage double, Uzbeki bread
- African Seed Access Index comes out for Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
- New way to fund crop diversity conservation to be unveiled at FFD3 in Addis Ababa next week.
- “When you looked for ‘Ethiopia’ in a dictionary, it would also always mention ‘famine’. Now that time is over.”
- Vote for me!!!! I so want to win this damn Bioversity photo competition.
- Yes, you can have your long-grain rice and yield too!
- Everybody loves floating gardens.
- Mapping chocolate.
- “Why Is there Wine on the UNESCO World Heritage List?” Why the hell not?
- Lost grapes in Shangri-La. UNESCO beckons?
- Flatbreads rule.
Seed libraries take a stand
Seed-sharing initiatives — which allow participants to “borrow” seeds from a library at the beginning of the gardening season and “donate” seeds back to the library after harvest — are cropping up all across the country. They have become a proven way to help build community, support local agriculture, and kickstart the sharing movement.
What’s not to like, right? Well, USDA had some objections, for one, leading to a bit of a crackdown last year.
…library officials received a letter from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture notifying them that their seed library was in violation of the Seed Act of 2004. The Department of Agriculture sent a top official and attorneys to meet with library representatives. They explained that, while the Seed Act’s main focus is the selling of seeds, the department is also tasked with keeping mislabeled seeds, invasive plant species, cross-pollinated varietals, and poisonous plants out of the state. As part of their discussions, the department further informed the library that all seeds had to be tested for purity and germination rates.
Well, it’s a year on now, and things are looking up.
In both Minnesota and Nebraska, bills that specifically exempt non-commercial seed sharing from commercial seed laws were recently signed into law.
And the Feds are on board, so there won’t be midnight knocks on the door from the Seed Police.
…“the Department of Agriculture itself worked with us to create the language that they were happy with. To that extent, it feels that there’s a really positive message that can be brought from Minnesota, that the leader of this organization, that his state supported it.”
But if you think that’s all very well, but not much comfort to seed enthusiasts in the other 48 States, there’s a petition you can sign. I wonder if this will make it to the Supreme Court, and if so how Scalia will vote.