If you clicked on one of the nibbles above, the one on agri-tourism in Crete to be precise, you will already know about connect2earth. So, for the ones who didn’t, this is a place where you can upload your conservation-related stuff (videos, pictures, slogans, whatever) and have a chance for it to get shown to the bigwigs at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona in October. The interesting thing from our point of view here at Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog is that a there is a section on local and sustainable food.
Talking about neglected crops
AGFAX Radio was at the recent Arusha meeting on neglected crops and has a whole bunch of interviews online (with transcripts):
- National treasures
- International viewpoints
- Nutritional benefits
- Social aspects
- Why Tanzania is ahead
- Mighty baobab
- From weed to cash crop: Amaranth
- Improving the varieties
- The farmer’s view
- The market for underutilized vegetables
Don’t forget the follow-up e-conference is still on.
Nibbles: Donkeys, Aquaculture, Protected areas, Vegetables
- Social networking for livestock. Not as silly as it sounds.
- Fish in the Tea. Dr Seuss unavailable for comment. Via.
- Natura 2000 network expands. Good for wild relatives? Does anybody know? Care?
- Brits flocking back to their allotments? I spot an opportunity for seed savers and heirloom varieties.
Recommendations of the Underutilized Plants Symposium
This just in from Hannah Jaenicke, Director of the International Centre for Underutilized Crops (ICUC):
Over 200 delegates from 55 countries gathered in Arusha, Tanzania 3-7 March 2008 for an International Symposium on “Underutilized plant species for food, nutrition, income and sustainable development”. The Symposium was co-convened under the umbrella of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) by the International Centre for Underutilised Crops (ICUC) with the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species, Bioversity International, GlobalHort, Plant Resources of Tropical Africa, and the World Vegetable Center, whose Regional Center for Africa was the local host.
The symposium was a resounding approval of the need for a working group on underutilized plant species to provide a voice to those who are working on these plants. The delegates endorsed the International Society for Horticultural Sciences’ working group on underutilized plants, which is co-chaired by Dr Hannah Jaenicke of the International Centre for Underutilised Crops (ICUC) and Dr Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon of the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species (GFU), and filled it with life and suggestions for future collaboration on research and development projects. A report will be published and circulated in the near future.
Following three days of over 150 scientific presentations, the participants developed a series of recommendations around four pertinent issues.
Continue reading “Recommendations of the Underutilized Plants Symposium”
Nibbles: Meeting, UG99, carnival, autocthonous cattle, nutrition, blackberry, garlic
- Seed Savers Network 20th annual meeting on 28 March near Mudgee, NSW, Australia.
- UG99 wheat rust reaches Iran.
- Tangled Bank 100 ((Congratulations of some sort are surely in order.)) is up. Are all those spelling mistakes ironic?
- Czech red cow in bad shape, no bull.
- USDA tries in different ways to raise the nutrient content of crops. Jeremy unavailable for comment.
- Guess where the world centre of blackberry breeding is. Did you say Arkansas? Didn’t think so.
- Thai garlic is best, say Thais.