- How species survive climate change.
- Charles C. Mann, author of great books on pre-Columbian America and the consequences of the Columbian Exchange, interviewed.
- Dreamy pictures of old British trees.
- “Protecting wild species may require growing more food on less land.” Great press release headlines of our times. Fortunately Mongabay has a discussion.
- Coconut lethal yellowing wreaking havoc in Mozambique.
- What makes a good food value chain?
- Boffins want to re-activate coral genes in temperate plants to stop them getting sunstroke. Or something.
- Old friend engaged by GlobalHort to work on position paper on “Promoting Agrobiodiversity for International Development: A Rationale and Roadmap for Collective Action”. Go, Hannah.
- Grapes vs apples in Sonoma County.
- Aaargh, pirates smoked like chimneys and drank like fish. Well I never. Anyway, nice to see them making full use of the local agrobiodiversity products.
Chile Pepper Fiesta 2011
Chile Pepper Fiesta 2011, a set by Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Flickr.
Looks like fun…
Nibbles: Turkish trade, Coffee, Drought resistant crops, Diversification, Leafy veg, Taxonomy
- Shipwreck offers insights into agricultural trade in Turkey 1500 years ago.
- Coffee from alpha to omega.
- Drought-resistant crops for East Africa. Well, yes. And more specifically…
- “African” crops in America.
- Program to focus on making better use of vegetables. And that “program” has been going since 1986! Who knew?
- Why we should all be taxonomists.
Nibbles: Gossypium, Helianthus, Cacao, Berries, Heirlooms, Seminars
- Cotton domestication deconstructed.
- Sunflower domestication deconstructed too.
- Chocolate smell deconstructed.
- Exotic (North American) wild berries deconstructed.
- “Heirloom” deconstructed.
- XXIII Regional agrobiodiversity seminar and the X Regional traditional seed market. The region being Contestado, in Brazil. Deconstruction not available.
Taking tomato improvement to the masses
It’s basically your standard I-found-redemption-in-a-tomato-heirloom story:
Another life somewhere in the pastoral wilds of Co Kilkenny, in a summer long ago, the wife of a Finnish jewellerymaker brought slices of tomato to the lunch table: slices a centimetre thick, a hand’s breadth across, jewel-bright with olive oil and scattered with chopped green basil. This simple revelation of what tomatoes should be, enfolded in mouthfuls of sweetness and scent, set my early hankering for the good life.
But this piece in the Irish Times did teach me something for a change. It taught me there’s something called the EU-Sol project “to improve the quality of the tomatoes and potatoes we eat.” But there’s more to it than that: check out the bits of its website aimed at the general public and schools.























