Nibbles

Nibbles: Access to Seeds, Bunch of meetings, CGIAR on the job, Smartt obit, Soybean mysteries, Apple grafting, FAO food security report

“The Access to Seeds Index measures the performance of the leading companies in the seed industry independently, which will result in the publication of a ranking every two years.” Will need to keep an eye on this. As no doubt also will the CGIAR…
…which met in Lisbon to discuss the Generation Challenge Programme and presented on NUS at Tropentag, having moved on from the Science Forum in Bonn, which had a lot on nutrition. No doubt some of them will be in Lillehammer to discuss plant genetic resources and climate change. How do they keep on top of it all?
And when they are not meeting, they are surveying the use of Gnetum, sampling goats, and making videos about their genebanks among many other worthwhile things…
Speaking of the IRRI genebank, Mike Jackson’s obituary of his friend Dr Joe Smartt, “geneticist and renowned grain legume expert,” is online at GRACE, but behind a paywall. Fortunately, you can get a condensed version on Mike’s blog.
Legumes, I hear you say? “Two big mysteries in soybeans have captured my attention.” And I’m sure that sentence captured yours. Corn+Soybean Digest reveals all.
Time for dessert. I see your 300-variety mango of Malihabad and I raise you a 250-variety apple of Chidham.
But lest we forget why we’re doing all this meeting and goat-sampling and fruit-grafting, here comes FAO’s latest report on food insecurity.

How to solve world hunger, eat a new report.
Or send them the UK’s surplus oats and wheat.
Our friend Anne Vezina lets the reptiles of the press have it right between the eyes: Crocs and banana plantations: What the media missed.
And Erik Hammar is peeved about a New York Times op-ed pooh poohing the problem of overpopulation.
Glad we’re not too late to point you to the write-up of the 1st day of the NUS 2013 conference. More to come?
There’s a new Berry go Round botany blog carnival up, with nothing of agricultural interest. I guess we missed the call for content. Again.
Farming Matters wants your articles on agricultural biodiversity.
In a cabbage taste test, wild is best.

The Oman Observer on the opening of the 5th meeting of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). Nice rhino horn dagger handle, dude!
For real news, though, you need to be following #itgb5.
You know all that stuff about mobile phones being the future of farming? Manure!
Here’s another thing we missed. The 3rd International Bambara groundnut Workshop, yesterday. ‘Spect someone will write it up, eventually.
Mother Earth News loves it up for Decorah, Iowa, home of Seed Savers Exchange.

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.