Nibbles

Nibbles: Allanblackia domestication, Rampion census, Mali reforestation, Indian sacred groves, Oysters, Seaweeds, Breeding organics, EMBRAPA, Fisheries bycatch, Writing NUS proposals, Nutrition mag, Biofortification

Boffins trying to domesticate Allanblackia for its oil.
Phyteuma spicatum must be saved, British folklore depends on it. How about domesticating it?
Farmers replanting forest in inland Niger delta. Sort of domesticating the forest, you mean?
And here’s another domesticated forest, this time in Kerala.
Are oysters domesticated? And seaweeds? Lots of uses for seaweeds, after all.
Why plant breeding is incompatible with organic agriculture. Eh? First of a trilogy.
Management of plant genetic resources in Brazil deconstructed.
Oh dear, now boffins say avoiding bycatch may not be good after all.
CTA calls for research notes in preparation for proposal writing workshop on neglected and underutilized plants.
New Sight and Life magazine is out, with interesting discussions of Vitamin A supplementation in newborns and HIV patients.
While at Scidev.net HarvestPlus defends biofortified crops against charge of medicalizing micronutrient deficiency.

At last, sustainable clarinets!
Hummus war gets serious. All that seratonin not helping?
“Hearts of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men.” Simon Schama on Quercus robur. Note to BBC: learn how to write species names.
Pop quiz: Some 20,000 tons of this seed were delivered by Aztec farmers in annual tribute to their emperor, Montezuma. Now big in the US, according to NYTimes piece. From 1984.

Academics say conservation of biodiversity does not benefit the poor. Maybe they’re talking about the wrong kind of biodiversity?
Innovation of the Week: Feeding Communities by Focusing on Women. I think my irony detector may be on the fritz.
All you ever wanted to know about farm subsidies in the US. h/t Food Politics.
The Bittersweet Dreams of Uruguay’s Beekeepers. Sad.
State microbes! Really fun, and informative. Any better ideas?
More microbes: The evolution of nitrogen fixation. Absolutely fascinating.
Slideshow on genebanks in southern Africa.
Pre-Columbian, Polynesian chickens in Chile not Polynesian and probably not pre-Columbian. Blast! Why must fun theories always run up against the brick wall of facts?
NordGen’s annual report: crops, forests, livestock.

All the cool crops are doing it. Sorghum has a Facebook page. Any others?
Soil microbes showing “increasing antibiotic resistance“.
Big, expensive, new Seed Tech Institute for East Africa. I’m suspending judgement. h/t CAS-IP
New Agriculturalist does the AgroSalud thing: biofortified staples.
Speaking of which, you can biofortify chapatis with distillers grains. But what will the livestock eat?
More fermentation goodness.
Cobia is the new cod.
Nutrition in the Millennium Villages.
NW USA seafood recipes have moved up the foodchain in last 100 years, because rarer and more expensive.