Nibbles

Nibbles: Maya nut, ARTCs, Pedal power, Cacao, Conservation, Dietary diversity, Ecosystem services, Climate change, Open access, Training, Drought resistance is futile, Organic farmers speak

Maya nut blogs.
And then there are the ARTCs. What do you mean, you don’t need another acronym?
Pedal powered grain cleaning – with a link to a video of the thing in action. Could it be adapted for poorer places?
A new research project on cacao in the Dominican Republic, and how it could support more biodiversity.
Because we all know that crops compete with conservation, right?
Cash, food or vouchers? In one study, vouchers result in greater dietary diversity.
Speaking of which, maybe you can use varietal diversification to manage climate risk in East Africa.
Or perhaps you can leave it all to ecosystem services.
Speaking of which, someone actually asked Kenyan farmers how they perceive and respond to climate change.
Speaking of which, the University of Nairobi has embraced open access.
Speaking of which, in March there’ll be International Training Course Plant Conservation Biology: Science and Practice, which you can find here, with a little effort.
The executive summary of a Union of Concerned Scientists report on drought-resistant crops.
At a loose end? Listen to an hour of economics podcast on organic farming from that link.

The latest genomic whiz-bangery.
CIFOR’s Congo slideshow makes The Guardian. About as far from genomic whiz-bangery as you can get.
Speaking of which… Very long talk by David Tilman. Almost certainly worth watching in its entirety. Eventually. It all depends on trade-offs. See what I did there?
Agriculture stops expanding. Is it all that genomic whiz-bangery?
U. of Delaware gets big Lima bean grant. Yes, Delaware. They got whiz-bangery in Delaware too.
Meanwhile, Texan cotton breeder gets award. For a certain amount of whiz-bangery.
Translocation and restoration: cool, but a last resort, whiz-bangery says.
Support for the seed sector in S. Sudan. Any landraces? No whiz-bangery in sight.
And likewise for the yam bean in Africa.
Wonder whether that’ll be on the agenda at the First Food Security Futures Conference in April. Probably not.
Nor, probably, will anyone be thinking too hard about agro-ecology; but you could be, with this handy-dandy introduction to holistic management.
SEAVEG; no, not nori etc, but veg in SE Asia.
Different animals need different kinds of fodder, ILRI shows how.
Wishing success to the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative launched at the University of Arkansas today.

The latest bit of CGIAR navel-gazing is about whether research should be for or in development.
The Futures of Agriculture: Brief No. 42. No, really, 42. Love that plural, though
And of course UNEP needs to have its say too.
Oh, wow, someone actually doing something.
How about a visionary use for tree seeds? Burn ’em!
Then there are visions of potato diversity.
And a vision of a world covered in soybeans.
And DNA sequences as far as the eye can see. So, can we get all those wild relatives done now, just for the heck of it?
Can you take one more vision? Here’s one of rewilded Europe.

If you have diverse potatoes, you need diverse potato recipes.
In 2013, knock ‘em dead with your profound knowledge of quinoa.
Biofuel news 1: they may exacerbate global warming.
Biofuel news 2: “Powerful enzymes create ethanol from agricultural harvest waste”. Could I just remind everyone, this isn’t “waste”.
Raisins from Kandahar prompt diplomatic dreams of developing Afghan agriculture.
Does heirloom corn prompt similar dreams for the Cherokee Nation?

Sweet potato cuttings to the rescue in Fiji. Hope there’s a nice mix of varieties.
Quinoa: and so it begins.
Filipinos not eating their fruits. Bad for Filipino health, no doubt bad for Filipino agrobiodiversity too.
Maybe they should look to Cape Verde?
ICARDA waxes poetic about lentils.
Ecosystem services mapping projects go online. Or they will do, eventually. Just a survey for now. Should that include in situ CWR conservation projects? Now’s your chance to have your say.