- Blogging machine Tom Barnett worried about effect of climate change on his favourite tipple.
- BGCI shell out for cool animation on social role of botanic gardens, and it’s totally worth it.
- As also, but differently, are IUCN’s videos on forest restoration.
- All the world’s forests, online, any day now, to monitor the opposite of their restoration.
- Europe tries to stimulate innovation in plant breeding. By holding a meeting. Ah, but there’s a hashtag.
- Development economists illustrate interesting point about gender and yam cultivation with photo of sweet potatoes.
- The organic attitude to inorganic nitrogen.
- Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers ate fish. Well I never.
- Reviews of couple books on agricultural origins.
- Need bioinformatics training? Who doesn’t.
- ICRAF reviews efforts to monitor sustainable intensification. Somewhere. I can’t for the life of me find the actual document.
Nibbles: Botanic gardens & forest foods, Militants against IRRI, Modern ancient farm, Conservation software, Urban mowing sheep, Agro-ecology, Beans, Value of genebanks, Seed savers, Video
- Botanic gardens get into the restoration business. So that people can again eat nutritious forest foods. No, really, even the BBC says so.
- Militant Filipino NGOs target IRRI. Not for the first time. And probably not the last.
- Anyone planning to go to the Beltain at Butser Ancient Farm? Only a month to go…
- You are probably already using at least one of these.
- Paris looking to go all sheepish.
- I don’t know about you, but I immediately turn off when somebody says that X is the only answer to Y. Even when the X is agro-ecology.
- Même s’ils le disent en français.
- Chinese “board beans” are actually lablab shock.
- You going to spend an evening at The Genome Analysis Centre discussing the value of genebanks? Tell us about it!
- Dutch seed savers looking to get organized.
- New York times goes overboard for Digital Green participatory video.
Nibbles: Biofuels, Edible soybeans, Food policy, Nutrition rules, Seed course, TEK index, Doubled haploids, Pigeon fanciers, Gum arabic, Livestock goods & bads, Spanish genebank, SADC seed law, Heirloom tomatoes
- Big Oil vs Big Corn. The Economist says End the ethanol tax.
- Grow edamame, young farmer.
- Agri experts call for a comprehensive food policy in Pakistan. Not gonna happen. There or anywhere else.
- But is this where it would start?
- Utterly confused by second-hand sources, I’m sending you straight to the horse’s mouth for information on Plant genetic resources and seeds: Community resilience in the face of change, a three week course in November 2013.
- Yeah, but will they teach you about Terralingua’s Vitality Index of Traditional Environmental Knowledge?
- CIMMYT doubles its haploids centrally now, at least in Africa.
- He coulda been a contender, but instead he breeds pigeons. Which is just as good, in my estimation.
- Photo essay on Sudan’s gum arabic industry.
- ILRI spell out the pros and cons of livestock. Always good to have the data.
- Who needs a national seed bank when you can have local ones like this one in Spain?
- Remember that draft SADC seed law RAFI didn’t like yesterday? Well, they’re not alone.
- Remember that Syngenta tomato that won that award yesterday? Well, now try these.
Nibbles: Roman gardens, Gwich’in video, Medicinals, Crowdsourcing, Genomics in general, Genomics in particular, ICARDA strategy, Growing plantains, Fonio, Fancy chocolate
- All nice and rested, we are resolutely back. With the peaceful gardens of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
- With the very different lifeways of the Gwich’in.
- With Cassandra Quave and her quest for medicinal plants. Not among the Gwich’in, alas.
- With Jacob van Etten and his quest for crowdsourcing. Also not among the Gwich’in, who can’t buy a break, it seems.
- With Eve Emshwiller (and others) on the joys of genomics.
- With Mary Ndila and her efforts to get to the bottom of the good cow/bad cow dichotomy. Using genomics, natch.
- With ICARDA’s exhortation to be smart and systematic.
- With CTA’s instructions on how to plant better plantains. Presumably by being smart and systematic? Kinda. Not, apparently, by varietal mixing, though.
- With ICRISAT’s pean to fonio. And now I need another holiday.
- Or a piece of chocolate.
Nibbles: Agroforestry, Genomics conference, Weed propagation, Potato gene, Potato Bean, Seeds, Chilli breeding, University, Prize, Arroz etc, Sinai, Maple syrup, Raw milk, Cacao
It’s Easter. A bigger than usual haul to see you safely through the lean times ahead.
- Simons says, plant a tree. And here’s how.
- FAO had an e-conference on “Impacts of genomics and other ‘omics’ for the crop, forestry, livestock, fishery and agro-industry sectors in developing countries” and all I got was this pdf.
- I personally think The Dude would prefer seeds.
- That potato day-length gene paper deconstructed. A bit.
- Owen’s
Potato beanhopniss seeds have sprouted. Can a new variety be far away? - No doubt he’ll be contributing to a list of US seed suppliers for perennial veg.
- There are perennial peppers, you know. A new weapon as the pepper breeding wars heat up?
- And enthusiasm for Kerala Agricultural University cools down.
- “Attention responsible gene stewards!” You had me at Attention. (But you lost me at responsible gene stewards.) On the other hand, if you are “diligent about developing or releasing durable varieties that will ensure long-term global wheat security” stick with it.
- Arroz, trigo, maíz y patata. The usual story: Casi todos los esfuerzos de la Revolución Verde se han enfocado hacia la mejora de los denominados cultivos principales.
- Farming in the Sinai is 5000 years older than it used to be.
- How to get genuine maple syrup.
- Raw milk is fine. No it’s not.
- Nestle and Mars commit to equality for women cocoa farmers. Mondelēz has not yet responded to Oxfam-inspired consumer pressure. Perhaps because few people know they’re Cadbury and Suchard and Toberlone and … what’s with that stupid ē anyway?
Enjoy that Creme Egg!