Markets

September 27, 2017September 27, 2017

Agricultural biodiversity wades into the mainstream at long last

I really haven’t done sufficient justice to the new book from Bioversity, Mainstreaming Agrobiodiversity in Sustainable Food Systems: Scientific Foundations for an Agrobiodiversity Index, whose moving dedication I reproduce above. It’s a great review of the diverse reasons why agricultural diversity is important to us. But also of the complexities involved in translating diversity in farmers’ fields, let alone in genebanks, into development outcomes like better nutrition, as clearly shown by the diagram below.

September 26, 2017September 26, 2017

Nibbles: Agrobiodiversity Index, PPB, Heirloom rice, CATIE genebank, Faberge potato, Val @CePaCT, Nigerian food, Ethnobotanical book, Hope Jahren quote

Bioversity DG lobbies for the Agrobiodiversity Index.
One of her staff lobbies for participatory plant breeding. And he’s not the only one.
Maybe they could tackle Indian rice next?
Protecting cacao at CATIE.
Faberge had a potato, of all things, and it’s a beaut.
Celebrating Valerie Tuia, until recently genebank manager at SPC. Faberge taro, anyone?
The Nigeria food database includes taro, but only leaves.
The Digital atlas of traditional agricultural practices and food processing weighs 10kg, but seems a stone-cold Faberge-level masterpiece. Not sure if it has much on taro, though.
“Every replete tree was first a seed that waited.”

September 19, 2017September 19, 2017

Nibbles: Millets galore, Human diversity & ag, Super farmers, Extinction is forever, Indian nutrition maps, Future Food competition, Banana viruses, Cassava in Brazil & Africa, Sugar book, Fairchild & Irma, Vegetable ROI, Embrapa beans, Certified coffee, Legal pot, Native American foods

Today’s new genome is pearl millet. The most climate-smart of crops? Now, to process it more easily.
Finger millet is not too bad either.
Agriculture was good for human diversity, at least in Papua New Guinea. Elsewhere, maybe not so much.
Julio Hancco Mamani grows 400 potato varieties up in the Andes (but how did it all start?). And Rahibai Soma Popere “15 varieties of rice, nine varieties of pigeon pea and sixty varieties of vegetables, besides many oil seeds” in Maharashtra.
“West Bengal government encourages cultivation of extinct rice varieties.” Wait, what?
Presumably not extinct like silphium.
India’s first nutrition atlas will maybe tells us where more Rahibai Soma Poperes are most needed.
Future Food includes seeds.
Cleaning up bananas.
Would love to have been on the “Brazilian Cassava Learning Journey.” Tanzania next?
The bitter side of sugar.
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden damaged by Irma.
Research on vegetables really pays off, vegetable researchers say.
Brazilian bean catalog launched.
Certifying coffee seeds.
Pot next?
Closely followed by Navajo tea.

September 8, 2017September 8, 2017

Nibbles: Community seed bank, Weird chocolate, Rice breeding, “Super” plants, Quinoa, Bush tucker

Mr Chetri’s genebank.
Ruby chocolate. You heard me.
The next Green Revolution won’t be like the first one. Phew.
Ideas that will change the world include “super plants” like enset. Right.
But not, surprisingly, quinoa.
Or bush tucker.

September 4, 2017

Nibbles: Cyprus seeds, Vietnamese rice, Policy briefs, English breakfast tea, Magic mushrooms, Peanut ontology Moccasin Boots, GeoAgro, Zea archaeology, Oenoarchaology, Old ham, ICRISAT genebank, Coffee podcast, ITPGRFA, Amphicarpaea bracteata

“It is like archaeology to me. When you save an ancient seed it is like saving a sculpture. It represents the culture, tradition and history. Different types have different traits and intense flavours, like tomatoes years ago for example.”
Vietnamese specialty rices direct from the genebank. Totally unrelated to this NY Times video-essay on Hmong rice farming.
Time for tea.
Making coffee good again. Jeremy explores fair trade and Fair Trade. Do tea now, please, Cherfas.
‘Shrooms got magic horizontally, man.
Why do circus peanuts taste of bananas?
Bringing back the mouse bean. Which may or may not taste of bananas.
Cool maize book to round off the Native American crops trifecta.
Oh no, here’s another one. Pinning down maize domestication.
Funky ICARDA agroclimatological app.
REALLY old Italian wine. And something to go with it.
ICRISAT has a genebank in Zimbabwe too.
Plant Treaty transfers hit a milestone.
Policy brief on policy briefs. Homework: do a killer policy brief on any of the above.