Nibbles

Nibbles: Agricultural landscapes, Seed banks, Maize genetics, Food diversity, Ancient food, Micronutrients status report, Seed systems, Punjab Agricultural University, Arable land, Dutch elm disease

“Priortizing restoration across agricultural landscapes.” Nothing to do with agriculture, though.
“Gene banks to rescue local crops.” Nothing to do with genebanks, though.
“‘Psychedelic’ maize may help increase crop and biofuel yields.” Nothing to do with LSD, though.
Scotland gets a national genebank. Well, not really, but anyway.
Malawi schoolchildren sing about food diversity. No, really.
Homo erectus ate fish as part of a pretty diverse diet. Had to wait about 2 million years for chips.
Report for 10-Year Strategy for Reduction of Vitamin & Mineral Deficiencies. “…activities to enhance dietary diversification are an attractive option for improving micronutrient status, but these have proved difficult to evaluate.” Ouch.
“Integrating Genetic Resource Conservation and Sustainable Development into Strategies to Increase the Robustness of Seed Systems.” You’ll need to pay to find out how, though. I’ll try to get a pdf, some of the authors are friends.
The role of Punjab Agricultural University in the Green Revolution. And in genetic erosion?
Enough arable land to feed world, says new French study. But not here, say Indians.
Reviving the elm in Britain one sapling at a time. How long till the next disaster, though, with such a narrow genetic base?

Monsanto’s seeds in Haiti. “Let the farmers decide,” says Anastasia
Indian stamps celebrate biodiversity. No pictures, so we can’t comment.
Is maize becoming more tolerant to heat and drought? Maybe not.
Olivier de Schutter says investment in agriculture is destroying the world’s peasantry. Responsibly.

Climate change affecting ecosystems. Well I never. Mashup with crop wild relative distributions needed!
Hershey scientist studies ancient chocolate.
Natural dyes in Indonesia. Temptation to pun successfully resisted for once.
Agrobiodiversity in art: The Old Plum.