This was mentioned in a recent comment, but it is worth highlighting more visibly. Andy Waterhouse from the Department of Viticulture and Enology, and Charlie Bamforth, Anheuser-Busch Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences, both at UC Davis, debate wine vs beer. Sounds like a win-win to me.
Malaria pics
I don’t think you need to have had malaria to be profoundly moved by John Stanmeyer’s photographs for National Geographic ((Via BoingBoing)), though no doubt it helps. The New Agriculturist gathered some thoughts on the link between malaria and agriculture some years back. I picked up my dose here:
But I didn’t have to cope with it while also trying to grow enough food for my children. And talking of pictures on watery themes, check out these from the BBC on a Nigerian (cat)fishing festival.
Sorghum to Swaziland; coals to Newcastle?
I’m having a little trouble getting my head round this one. The “Republic of China on Taiwan” funded a successful project to teach Swazi farmers how to grow sorghum in areas with little rainfall. You might have thought that at least a few local farmers would have known how to grow this staple, but apparently all had been forgotten in the rush to cotton and maize. The Swazi Minister of Agriculture also said that education assisted the move away from sorghum:
Sorghum needed someone in the fields to chase away birds and because most children now go to school, maize then became popular.
The farmers who took part in the project were happy enough with the result. I just hope they don’t keep their children away from school to work as scarecrows.
American Gothic, 21st century style
Somewhat related to Jeremy’s post just below, there’s an article in the New York Times about young Americans going back to the farm. Or rather, going to the farm for the first time: we’re talking Upper East Siders clambering onto tractors. Would be interesting to see whether the percentage of organic farmers among them turns out to be above the average, and whether they will tend to eschew biofuels and favour weird niche crops, heirloom varieties, and agricultural biodiversity in general. Via Metafilter.
Tropical beer
You may remember a post a few days ago on how barley is being replaced by sorghum for commercial beer-brewing in West Africa. Coincidentally, Timbuktu Chronicles pointed me to a 2004 paper which evaluated different local replacements for hops. Sorghum-and-cola beer, anyone? Anyone?