- Crops for the Future finds a nice ricebean project.
- The wheats of Afghanistan.
- A former ICRISAT intern speaks. The world listens.
- Collecting the Happy Tree of China.
- Global water stress maps. Does CCAFS know? Or care?
- Rodale hearts organic.
Can one ever have too many factsheets on the baobab?
Fresh on the heels of Bioversity’s ‘African Priority Food Tree Species’ factsheet on the baobab, which was itself fresh on the heels of the Agroforestree database factsheet on the baobab, we now have, again from Bioversity, another, ahem, factsheet on the baobab. Well, this is different. I think. It’s part of a series on neglected and underutilized species. Or maybe nutritious and underutilized, as they are also described on the website. Maybe because it’s becoming difficult to call the baobab neglected. In fact, with the recent update of a review of the use of the species, perhaps the time has come for a meta-factsheet on the baobab.
Nibbles: Graphic agriculture, Nutrition, Climate change, Giant pumpkins, Economic development, Roman millet, Fairtrade, Jojoba and guayule
- Agriculture 101: A graphic novel. Am I the only one who thinks novels aren’t necessarily true? First installment.
- Bioversity has a bunch of factsheets on Nutritious Underutilized Species.
- Why is a cacao tree not like an ATM? Because the ATM still pays out when its hot.
- Speaking of which, big long thought piece on Food Security and Climate Change.
- Giant pumpkins; not much diversity here, except in the agronomic approaches.
- Better access to markets may threaten specialist smallholder farmers. The case of Namibia.
- Ancient Roman ate lots of C4 photosynthesiser: millet!
- Wake up and smell the lack of green coffee.
- A couple of wannabe Mexican industrial crops get some exposure.
Nibbles: Rice straw, Rain makers, Sorghum beer, Gary Nabhan
- Egyptian tech turns rice straw into paper, insecticide. Don’t suppose anyone thought of turning it into the soil?
- Changing Kenyan climate threatens traditional rainmakers. Pouring cold water on my desire to make a witty comment.
- Diana learns how to hold her pombe straw, and much else besides.
- Gary Nabhan profile. He “gives life to nearly extinct grains, veggies.”
Nibbles: Swaziland, Traditional Knowledge, Climate change, Apples, Winged beans, Ambakkadan Cassava
- Queen Mother Ntombi Indlovukazi of Swaziland receives the FANRPAN 2011 Food Security Policy Leadership Award. Her son’s a caution too.
- Summaries of presentations at Informing International Policy on Traditional Knowledge, Mexico 2011.
- CGIAR book on “climate-proofing” crops critical to food security in the developing world.
- Happy Birthday to the McIntosh apple.
- Rhizowen’s winged beans fail to take flight.
- Sharefair hears how women farmers in India resurrected a favoured cassava.
- Sharefair hears dream-team pitch on frike, or as we prefer to say, freekeh.