Nibbles

Nibbles: Bees, Okra, Horsemeat, Monoculture, CWRs mapped, Barley, PB&J

Colony collapse disorder. It’s still complicated.
The Botanist in the Kitchen is at it again, with an in-depth treatment of okra, slime and chocolate.
But seriously, why don’t Anglo-Saxons eat equids? It’s all down to religion.
Nigeria embraces UNCTAD report that warns against monoculture.
An interactive map of crop wild relatives. If it showed barley too, I know someone who would be in heaven.
As so often in these matter, Kew comes to the rescue.
A history of the peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. My kind of dietary diversity.

Flickr shows off its best photos of the rice terraces of China. No idea how to embed these on our site. You’ll just have to go see for yourself.
UK diplomats embrace street food giveaways.
A book: Cultivate Diversity! That’s an order, obviously. Order it from here.

Backyard chickens too much hassle? We have the solution for you.
Supplies go up, prices go down. Those pesky speculators had nothing to do with it.
Prices go up … The story for India’s agrciultural labourers.
Colombia’s loss will Ecuador’s gain. Predictions for bananas in the 2060s.
Conventional farmer loves cover crops. Shurely shome mishtake.
Building the pyramids. It’s a tough job, but at least you eat well.
Beans with benefits. On the road with a breeder in Rwanda.
Chinese maize diversity explored, a bit.
Massive diversity of all sorts of thing, in German.
Rhizowen has another favourite underutilised legume crop: Amphicarpaea bracteata subsp edgeworthii.
It’s vino, but is it natural?
How is a fig like a mulberry? The Botanist in the Kitchen explains.
Capturing wild relative and landrace diversity for crop improvement. A conference, in June 2014.
Agricultural Biodiversity Community @ Work. A conference, in June 2013. PENHA was there.
Preparations are underway for Kew’s Great Seed Swap. Call me dumb, but I cannot see a date anywhere there.
Purple sweet potatoes to dye for.
Oh boy! A regional genebank for bamboo. A bambusetum, no less.

An ODAP detective story.
Ancient maize gets a map.
Diversity is the key to sustainable cacao.
New Bioversity DG answers the tough questions.
Be the first on your block with an unusual fruit tree.
How to grow awesome carrot seed.
The hard life of Nigerian wine tappers.
Bringing back buckwheat in Bhutan.
Annals of Botany to do halophytes.
Come down to earth with the realization that most people have never heard of cowpea and cassava. Would they have heard of black-eyed peas and tapioca, though?
Big report on urban malnutrition. Maybe cassava (see above) can help?
The last orange grove in the San Fernando Valley. No word on what the variety might be.
All about molasses.
Indian tree breeding institute, and accompanying genebank, get a write-up.
Yes, I know that I could have done a better job of pointing out the connections among some of these things, but it’s been a long week.

ICRAF are having their Science Week. Follow it on Twitter. And let us know if you’re there and want to write about anything agrobiodiversity related that comes up.
Plant Genome Evolution 2013 has been and gone, alas, but Chris Pires has storified the whole thing, pretty much. Lots of crops in there. But it’s disappeared now, of course.
Bioversity and FAO redesign their websites. Tell them what you think.
Diane Ragone talks breadfruit. With video goodness.
Aussie researcher talks about landing Gates grant to improve African livestock. Hopefully some conservation in there somewhere.
Decentralizing data: to empower communities; and to empower geeks.
Data, you said? Here’s data on why Kansas needs wheat breeders.
The world’s chief agriculture scientists want to share genetic resources. Good of them.
Europe used to have more melons.
Enough with the Peruvian superfoods meme, please.
I may have said this before, but it’s still valid: I need a drink.