Mainstream

December 11, 2008December 11, 2008

Colonial farming brought to life

Slate reporter does stint as historical re-enactor at the living museum that is the Claude Moore Colonial Farm in Virginia — and waxes lyrical about some of her colleagues:

I was particularly entertained by the turkeys. These were not the tasteless, denatured modern grotesques bred to be so short-legged and heavy-breasted that they can no longer mate, but a heritage breed, Black Spanish.

December 11, 2008December 11, 2008

Nibbles: Health, Fungi, Health, Pollan, Organic

Nobellist praises biodiversity, ignores food.
TED video on world-saving mushrooms.
God: “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yieleling seed; to you, it shall be for meat.“
Pollan: “Vote with your fork, for a different kind of food. Go to the farmer’s market. Get out of the supermarket… Plant a garden… Declare your independence from the culture of fast food.”
Rodale Institute: “Yield data just by itself makes the case for a focused and persistent move to organic farming systems.”

December 9, 2008

R&B

A large number of variations on one simple (and very nutritious, being as how one is a cereal and one is a pulse) dish: rice and beans. Everyone who’s anyone (at least in the pressure cooker world of US-based food blogging) is there, with some nifty ideas on that lysine-tryptophan feasteroni.

December 8, 2008December 8, 2008

Nibbles: String, Lake District, Apples, Biochar, Display, Firs, Sweet potato, Rice, Bison

Lots of agrobiodiversity in one little piece of Neolithic string.
Traditional cow breed saves plant saves rare moth. The elusive agrobiodiversity win-win-win?
Centenarian arboreal agrobiodiversity artfully pruned.
Burning agrobiodiversity. But in a good way. And for a good cause.
Plant parts create Yuletide fantasy.
Speaking of Yuletide, Christmas trees need diversity too. And Michigan State is there.
Sure, it’s impressive, but is it a potato?
Farming on the edge … of a large reservoir. Life has its ups and downs.
Aristotle on bison faeces. Yes, that Aristotle.

December 7, 2008December 7, 2008

Aren’t steroids illegal?

Karl, from Inoculated Mind, describes Nature magazine’s selection of plant scientist Richard Sayre (as one of five crop scientists who could change the world) as “a good pick.” Sayre’s pet project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is to build a super cassava; 500 g will contain the daily requirements of protein, vitamin A and E, iron and zinc. Karl describes BioCassava Plus as “like golden rice on steroids.” And I guess whether you think that’s a good thing or not depends on what you think of Golden Rice and what you think of steroids.

We’ve crossed swords on Golden Rice before now; I’m not going to go there. I’ll just repeat that I remain unconvinced that Golden Rice will measurably increase the nutritional health of people outside the mostly urban market economy, and that if they were to increase their vitamin A precursor intake with other foods it would, in my view, deliver greater total good.

I’ve made my thoughts on super cassava known too. And again, I repeat the fundamental question; when you have engineered one variety of cassava and planted it across Africa, how are you going to respond when the entire population falls prey to a newly virulent form of some disease?

The answer to nutritional deficiencies is not a super variety of any staple. It is diversity. People in the cities might be able to afford super-staples, and the farmers supplying it might do OK. But they will not help poor farmers either to earn a living or to improve their own nutrition.