Nibbles

Nibbles: Historical coffee, Conservation agriculture, Ecosystem services, Good weeds

Kew’s data manglers are breathing life into the archives, but I need more narrative on coffee rust.
Singing the praises of conservation agriculture in Tanzania.
IFPRI discovers ecology, and it’s complicated.
Not to be outdone, CIAT discovers weeds are important food.

Nature “celebrates” 30 years of GMOs.
African pastoralists know how not to destroy their livelihoods shock.
African urban dwellers keep livestock shock.
Vegetables can be perennial too. Oh yes indeedy. Not bitter gourd though, alas. Nor cucumber. And in other news, there’s a Bitter Melon Council. And also a campaign to promote zucchini in Iowa.
Climate change reaches farmers in the Pacific NW. Can their Sri Lankan colleagues be far behind?
Always good to have a beer story. Well, maybe not.
Speaking of fermentation, this WSJ piece looks interesting, from the two sentences of it I can read. No, wait. Oh crap, try this.
A hummus dip goes really nicely with beer. Is this the quinoa story again?
A yam conference for the ages. Will they discuss the new trait ontology?
Botanic gardens reach out. Genebanks next? Maybe not.
You mean like the European ones, perhaps?
That US CWR paper from the horse’s mouth. And a similar thing from Benin. But where does all that data come from?
Baobab notes to go with all those factsheets.
The Saharan olive needs a factsheet too. IRD obliges.
Cool set of agriculture photos.
A couple of different views of Indian food. Thanks to Cara de Silva and Diana Buja.

Chickpea harvest more than doubled last year – in the US. Whatever happened to garbanzos?
Introduction to cassava and cyanide.
Conserving maize diversity in Guatemala.
And potato diversity in Peru.
Historical insights into Kew’s museum display of an economically important palm.
Mainstream media still confused about Svalbard and all that.
Asparagus is topologically artichoke. The Botanist in the Kitchen continues her exploration of bracts.
Linguist ramps up his knowledge of the Alliums. (See what I did there? Nothing remarkable, almost everyone else succumbs too.)
It takes real research to grow food locally, ask the scientists in Arkansas. And their supporters.