Mainstream

April 28, 2009April 29, 2009

Swine flu roundup

As the numbers keep mounting, it is worth recalling where it all started. The epicentre of the swine flu outbreak seems to be the village of La Gloria in Veracruz. The Times has been there, of course: ((And also The Guardian, to be fair.))

Residents of La Gloria have long complained about the clouds of flies that are drawn the so-called â€œmanure lagoonsâ€ created by such mega-farms, known in the agriculture business as Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).

But they may or may not be behind the outbreak. In any case, CAFOs seem to be very different to the more traditional methods of pig rearing to be found in Mexico. The area is one of high density of production:

pig-production

No word on which of the nine or so pig breeds recorded from Mexico are involved.

LATER: GRAIN has its say. And New Scientist.

April 28, 2009April 28, 2009

Brussels hearts vultures

No sooner do we nibble a scientific paper describing how traditional transhumance supports ecosystems, and in particular vulture populations, than the EU parliament passes legislation allowing farmers to leave carcasses on their land. It’s great to be heard in Brussels!

April 28, 2009April 28, 2009

Nibbles: James McWilliams, Flowering plant origins, Moon plant, Satellites

“Should we be working to create local foodsheds in areas that have to import water in order to be fertile?” Dude, you had me at foodsheds.
Endosperm “made human civilization possible.”
First plant on moon a brassica?
Eye in sky finds missing sweet potatoes.
Can you think of a better way to use a rooftop than to grow rice on it and then to brew sake? Didn’t think so.

April 24, 2009April 26, 2009

Ramie ruminations

Not a day passes that I don’t utter an imprecation — as ~~Julian~~ Simon Barnes did in print a few days back — at agrobiodiversity. Take yesterday. There’s a big meeting going on this week at FAO, and they’ve set up a series of stands in the atrium. Most of them are pretty boring, just piles of publications and the odd poster, but the one put up by the people behind the International Year of Natural Fibres is very nice indeed.

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It has examples of handicrafts and other products made from a whole lot of different fibres, from abaca to muskox. Including ramie. And that’s when I cursed the neverending-ness of biodiversity. For what, pray, is ramie? I know abaca and muskox, but I’d never heard of ramie.

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Well, it turns out to be Boehmeria nivea, a shrub in the nettle family widely cultivated in East Asia since antiquity for its bark, which is used to make fabrics. The IYNF website has a page about it. The Korean national costume (the hanbok) is made of ramie cloth, so we’re not talking about a minor, obscure, criminally underused plant here. Bloody agrobiodiversity indeed. I hate you.

April 23, 2009April 23, 2009

Nibbes: Nettles, Rivers, Rare species, Library, Afghanistan protected area, Nordic-Baltic-Russian collaboration, Photos, Disease

George Orwell scythes nettles, then seeks uses.
World’s rivers in trouble. Also other wetlands the world over. CWRs to be affected, along with everything else?
Let’s not get too hung up about rarity.

UNESCO launches World Digital Library. Gotta be some agrobiodiversity in there somewhere, surely. Yes indeedy.
Afghanistan’s first national park has some livestock wild relatives!
Circum-Baltic collaboration on genetic resources conservation.
Mongabay.com publishes lots of cool pictures of biodiversity to celebrate Earth Day yesterday. So does The Big Picture, even some vaguely farming ones. And Adam Forbes has just loaded a bunch of photos too. Luigi comments: Why didn’t we do the same for agrobiodiversity?
Tuberculosis and domestication. Not.