Medicinal plants

Nibbles: Biofuels, Edible soybeans, Food policy, Nutrition rules, Seed course, TEK index, Doubled haploids, Pigeon fanciers, Gum arabic, Livestock goods & bads, Spanish genebank, SADC seed law, Heirloom tomatoes

Big Oil vs Big Corn. The Economist says End the ethanol tax.
Grow edamame, young farmer.
Agri experts call for a comprehensive food policy in Pakistan. Not gonna happen. There or anywhere else.
But is this where it would start?
Utterly confused by second-hand sources, I’m sending you straight to the horse’s mouth for information on Plant genetic resources and seeds: Community resilience in the face of change, a three week course in November 2013.
Yeah, but will they teach you about Terralingua’s Vitality Index of Traditional Environmental Knowledge?
CIMMYT doubles its haploids centrally now, at least in Africa.
He coulda been a contender, but instead he breeds pigeons. Which is just as good, in my estimation.
Photo essay on Sudan’s gum arabic industry.
ILRI spell out the pros and cons of livestock. Always good to have the data.
Who needs a national seed bank when you can have local ones like this one in Spain?
Remember that draft SADC seed law RAFI didn’t like yesterday? Well, they’re not alone.
Remember that Syngenta tomato that won that award yesterday? Well, now try these.

All nice and rested, we are resolutely back. With the peaceful gardens of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
With the very different lifeways of the Gwich’in.
With Cassandra Quave and her quest for medicinal plants. Not among the Gwich’in, alas.
With Jacob van Etten and his quest for crowdsourcing. Also not among the Gwich’in, who can’t buy a break, it seems.
With Eve Emshwiller (and others) on the joys of genomics.
With Mary Ndila and her efforts to get to the bottom of the good cow/bad cow dichotomy. Using genomics, natch.
With ICARDA’s exhortation to be smart and systematic.
With CTA’s instructions on how to plant better plantains. Presumably by being smart and systematic? Kinda. Not, apparently, by varietal mixing, though.
With ICRISAT’s pean to fonio. And now I need another holiday.
Or a piece of chocolate.

It’s Easter. A bigger than usual haul to see you safely through the lean times ahead.

Simons says, plant a tree. And here’s how.
FAO had an e-conference on “Impacts of genomics and other ‘omics’ for the crop, forestry, livestock, fishery and agro-industry sectors in developing countries” and all I got was this pdf.
I personally think The Dude would prefer seeds.
That potato day-length gene paper deconstructed. A bit.
Owen’s ~~Potato bean~~ hopniss seeds have sprouted. Can a new variety be far away?
No doubt he’ll be contributing to a list of US seed suppliers for perennial veg.
There are perennial peppers, you know. A new weapon as the pepper breeding wars heat up?
And enthusiasm for Kerala Agricultural University cools down.
“Attention responsible gene stewards!” You had me at Attention. (But you lost me at responsible gene stewards.) On the other hand, if you are “diligent about developing or releasing durable varieties that will ensure long-term global wheat security” stick with it.
Arroz, trigo, maíz y patata. The usual story: Casi todos los esfuerzos de la Revolución Verde se han enfocado hacia la mejora de los denominados cultivos principales.
Farming in the Sinai is 5000 years older than it used to be.
How to get genuine maple syrup.
Raw milk is fine. No it’s not.
Nestle and Mars commit to equality for women cocoa farmers. Mondelēz has not yet responded to Oxfam-inspired consumer pressure. Perhaps because few people know they’re Cadbury and Suchard and Toberlone and … what’s with that stupid ē anyway?

Enjoy that Creme Egg!

“…for many for many smallholder farmers little has changed over the decades in terms of the methods and tools they use.” Geoff Tansey would seem to agree. Nobody has told ACIAR, though.
Cherfas favourite spread bog butter among oldest food finds.
Why it is silly to say that GMOs are always bad.
The Star Trek tricorder-type DNA widget comes a step closer.
Which will make it easier to do things like working out the evolution of palms. Before it’s too late. Because of all that nasty agriculture. Anyway, read about it on page 3 of Kew Scientist, along with lots of other stuff.
Like the taxonomy of herbal medicine, for instance, which coincidentally also comes up in a newspaper article from Australia today. Maybe some of the plants involved will go into the Kimberly Ark, whatever that is.
Passion fruit is the next big thing in Costa Rica.
Colombian peasant organizations go to market. Including, I bet, with passion fruits.
Even in the struggle between man and steer, the issue is uncertain.
Is it time for Plant Cuttings again? Thank goodness.
I think I’ll read it with some Danish wine at my elbow. Or maybe Vietnamese coffee.

This quinoa thing is getting tedious.
Clinton brings a seed bank to Haiti, “which will support efforts to increase agricultural production.” Will be interesting to see how exactly it does that.
Whereas this seed bank in Guatemala “is empowering the local community to preserve and grow the seeds.” So there you go.
Of course, those seed banks are going to need seed systems. And vice versa.
And the next milestone in the continuing disempowering of the farmer is…
Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes go aquatic. Where they’ll find fish that need to be compared.
A Tongan vanilla tour.