- Farming from space.
- (Part of) the history of nutmeg.
- “Eat Like a Pilgrim.”
- Biggest fungal collection in the world created.
- Loss of indigenous grape varieties not holding Moroccan winemakers back.
Nibbles: Edible terricolous insects, Interdependence, Spanish livestock, Milk for pastoralists, African Crop Science Society, Ethiopia CBD report, New Agriculturalist, Geo-referencing
- Cicadas are good, and good for you.
- Genes from “foreign” wheat played significant role in improving Chinese wheat.
- Spain publishes plan for the conservation, improvement and promotion of livestock breeds.
- Milk Matters. To Somali children in Ethiopia, in this case.
- Winners of ACSS awards for 2009 announced.
- “Conserving Ethiopia’s biodiversity far from adequate.” Or so says Ethiopia’s report to CBD. Some agrobiodiversity included.
- New Agriculturalist is out. Rejoice.
- Andy Jarvis on the value of geo-referencing.
Nibbles: Glomus, Erosion, Horticulture, Sweet potato, Drought
- Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus spread by human activity related to agriculture.
- UN food security expert says “75 per cent of agro-biodiversity has been lost”. Naughty.
- UC Davis to lead big USAID-funded international horticulture development project.
- Botany Photo of the Day: Vitis labrusca.
- “The connection between a convolvulaceous tuber bearing crop, a folk-blues artist and a cetacean…”
- IWMI maps drought. Globally.
Techuitlatl and dihé
What is the lacustrine agrobiodiversity eaten both by the Aztecs and the Kanembu people of Lake Chad? Fascinating case of parallel cultural evolution.
Nibbles: Teaching vegetables, Truffles, Freakonomics of farmer markets, Crops used for art, Seed storage, Organic farming in Spain, 2050
- Pamela Akinyi Nyagilo wins prize for teaching Kenyan kids to grow indigenous greens. In 2007, but better late with the news than never.
- The Great War did for truffles?
- “Does a local food system truly enhance the integrity of a community, much less make the peasant the equal of a prince and eliminate greed?” And more. And more. And more. And…
- Crop art, and more. And more.
- Brassica seeds survive 40 years in a genebank with no loss of viability. Phew.
- “It seems that, while discount and low-end retailers face more difficulties selling organic products, specialised organic shops and high-end retailers continue to develop beyond expectations.”
- “As Andy Jarvis, an award-winning crop scientist, puts it: ‘When you look at the graph, under even small average heat rises, the line for maize just goes straight down.’ “