Nibbles

Nibbles: Plant names, Tomato trifecta, Amaranth, Corn wars, Wild lettuce, Dying, Indian ag, Chocographic, Root symbionts, Rehabilitation, Mesquite, Extreme weather, Saviour plants, Pawpaw, Japanese rice, Coffee museum, Caribbean early ag, Amazonian livelihoods, Vislak on corn

In praise of common names. Meh. You won’t see a Latin name in this whole Nibbles. See how you like it.
Building a tomato. In Spanish.
Tracking a tomato.
The dark side of tomatoes.
Amaranth to rescue Mexicans from obesity.
Seeds of contention.
Finding the lost Least Lettuce.
Indigo goes back to the future.
What if the monsoon fails? MS Swaminathan has some answers.
Nice chocolate infographic from FAO.
A diverse microbial community in and around roots helps plants thrive. The Science article is behind a paywall, but there’s a helpful infographic on Twitter.
The US has a National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration. Vision? The right seed in the right place at the right time. Wish I’d thought of that.
When otherwise useful trees attack. Ah, the irony of this coming right after the previous one.
UK’s Global Food Security programme says extreme weather events are increasing and we must adapt agriculture. Good to know.
And today’s Five Plants That Will Save the World are…
Maybe add pawpaw to that?
Japanese rice farmers: change gonna come.
Nice coffee museum in Brazil.
Early agriculture in the Caribbean: Cuba and Trinidad.
The babaçu breakers of Maranhão are under threat. What’s babaçu? Yeah, well, look it up.
“Seed banking began about 30 years ago as an improvement to individual farmers storing and using their own seeds.” Riiiiight.
That Vilsak is a card.

Why aren’t there more crops among the orchids?
This pepper is not so much a crop as a weapon of mass destruction.
Now here’s a crop. New tomato has taste, storability, looks. But I think it’s dating.
Maize with cool amino acids reaches Ethiopia. Must have walked there.
Really old squash seeds.
Cary Fowler on the Weather Channel. You heard me.
Quakers have an opinion on the right to food and climate change. Well, why shouldn’t they? They also have a UN office, but that’s another story. No word on whether they made the Weather Channel.
Ok, so apparently the answer is data. Says a data company. And open data at that. Quakers nonplussed.
Botanizing in N or S America? There’s an app for that.
The rise and rise of gin. And I certainly need one.

Conservation genetics papers from Latin America, courtesy of special issue of the Journal of Heredity. No ag, but no problem.
African aquaculture takes off. Or perhaps rises to the surface would be more appropriate.
Expert parses what experts said “sustainable intensification” means.
Leafy greens and wine good for oldies. Good to know.
Student Organic Seed Symposium to discuss “Growing the Organic Seed Spectrum: A Community Approach” in a few days’ time.
How to tweet. At scientific conferences, that is.
Maguey genebank in the offing. Well worth tweeting about.
Arusha Protocol on the Protection of New Plant Varieties (Plant Breeders’ Rights) adopted. Basically UPOV 1999 for Africa. But I suspect the polemics are only just starting.

Ah, summer and its funny medieval holidays.
Making bread in Tajikistan.
Making pizza in Sussex.
Making cheese in (one village in) Sweden.
Diversifying bananas in Queensland.
Diversifying banana products in Kenya.
Diversifying with trees in China.
Better diversify coffee.
I see your responsible soy and raise you responsible oil palm.
Cocks of the walk.
I’m so annoyed the New Scientist article on breeding less bitter veggies is behind a paywall that I won’t even link to it. Google it, if you must.