Neglected species

June 16, 2009June 15, 2009

Using local resources to cope with high food prices

The 34th session of the Committee on World Food Security at FAO Headquarters in October 2008 included a side event of the Standing Committee on Nutrition on the Impact of high food prices on nutrition. Pablo Eyzaguirre, Senior Scientist, Bioversity International gave a presentation entitled, Coping with high food prices: making better use of local food sources.

Then he was interviewed. Well worth watching. Thanks, Arwen and Facebook.

June 12, 2009June 12, 2009

Nibbles: Plant bombs, Reindeer and caribou, Livestock wild relatives, Agricultural geography of North Korea, Cyclone rehabilitation, AVRDC, Kew, Organic, Farmers and climate change

Jacob alerts me that our “throw duplicates of all accessions from an airplane flying across Africa” Gedanken experiment may be closer to realization than we thought.
Reindeer in trouble. In other news, there are 7 subspecies of the things.
Indonesia looks to its threatened livestock wild relatives.
Agriculture (among other things) in North Korea.
Buffalo distributed in Myanmar. From where?
Local vegetables promoted in the Philippines.
More inspirational stuff on the Millennium Seed Bank from Jonathan Drori.
Organizations Involved in Organic Plant Breeding Projects and Education. Not as many as you’d think.
“Learning centres” helping farmers identify challenges, adapt to climate change.

June 10, 2009June 10, 2009

Nibbles: Tameness, Grass evolution, Baobab leaves, Cloning, Svalbard

The roots of tameness.
The roots of “grain endosperm texture.”
The roots of drought tolerance in baobab.
The roots of the difference between mitosis and meiosis.
The roots of Svalbard.

June 8, 2009June 10, 2009

Happy Birthday, Prof. Karl Hammer

And sorry for missing it when it actually came, back in February!

He fundamentally contributed to our present knowledge of cultivated plants’ biodiversity in Cuba, Eastern Europe, Italy, Libya, Oman and Korea. As an enthusiastic researcher heading the Gatersleben Genebank and later heading the Agrobiodiversity Department of Kassel University in Witzenhausen, his scientific work covered a tremendously wide field of research in plant genetic resources, ranging from pollination ecology and taxonomy (e.g. of Aegilops, Agrostemma, Brassica, Datura, Secale, Triticum) to questions of plant domestication, genetic erosion and evaluation, maintenance and utilization of the entire spectrum of plant genetic resources, including underutilized and neglected crops.

Many happy returns! Enjoy your retirement!

June 4, 2009June 4, 2009

Nibbles: Byssus, Crops for the Future, African horticulture, Swine, Seeds, Soils, Phosphorus

Jeremy gets all etymological about fibres. I guess he got fed up of experimenting with fermentation. And with questioning the Wisdom of the Sachs.
Did we mention Crops for the Future has a cool new website? Subscribe!
“Inside Africa’s First Global Horticulture Congress“
We missed the 5th World Congress of Dry-cured Hams. Who knew? Time did.
In Hawaii? Got seeds to swap? Go to the Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook.
In Australia? Want better soil? Listen to Maarten Stapper. Via.
Phosphorus redux. You pays your money …