- Did you know the Encyclopedia of Life does crop wild relatives?
- Smallholders with mixed crop and livestock systems are the key to it all. My mother-in-law says: I agree.
- Deforestation is bad for the health.
- 2010 Biodiversity Indicator Partnership launches National Biodiversity Indicators Portal.
- Aussies trial a new, secret orange spud. Yeah I can really see that being a huge success.
- The McItaly kerfuffle rumbles on. Much like your stomach after you’ve eaten one.
- The “rewilding” kerfuffle rumbles on. Much like those herds of wildebeest roaming majestically across the Great Plains.
- Rewilding an ancient pre-Hispanic drink. Ooops, I guess that should be reviving.
Nibbles: Rum, Gluten, Nepal, Fruit
- A rum story from Haiti. And another, though a different sort of rum.
- Quinoa and buckwheat best for coeliacs.
- Video of food crisis in Nepal. In other news, there’s a food crisis in Nepal.
- Forest fruits need markets too.
Nibbles: Vet, Pastoralists, Eggplant, US food map, Mexican food, Poultry, Maize, GMOs
- What’s it like being the only vet in a country? The BBC tells us.
- The CBD on how to be a good pastoralist.
- James does a mini-roundup of the India GM brinjal to-do.
- Mapping the fast food culture.
- Mexico wants Unesco to recognize culinary traditions. As if tamales were in danger of extinction. Didn’t France ask for the same last year?
- Heirloom chickens don’t taste like chicken.
- Deconstructing the cultural significance of the colour of corn.
- “GM crops: still not a panacea for poor farmers.” In other news, still no cure for cancer.
Nibbles: Artichoke, Barley, Aquaculture, Organic farms, Pig conservation, Involuntary parks, Chokeberries, Grass evolution, sustainability
- Jeremy says: Put an artichoke in your tank!
- American boffins say: I know what, instead of making beer with it, let’s feed barley to fish.
- Ugandan fishermen say: Want a “boutique” fish?
- USDA says: “The nation’s organic farms and ranches have higher average sales and higher average production expenses than U.S. farms overall…”
- South African animal genetic resources experts say: Save our pigs!
- The Economist says (we paraphrase) war is good for biodiversity conservation … but where are the wild relatives?
- Right here, in the boreal north, and we need to conserve it, and the knowledge to use it, say Canadian conservationists.
- Rainfall, not temperature, was the trigger for C4 grasses say other American boffins.
- “It’s a sloppy use of language to equate vegetables and food,” says Rachel. We agree.
Nibbles: Sequencing, Agricultural origins, Mating systems, Tomato shelf-life, Beer vs Tea, Soy, Carrot, Seed processing, Screw-pine, Yams, Salicornia, Pollinators
- Second generation sequencing on the one hand. First generation methylation mapping on the other. What’s a poor bitechnologist to do?
- Site of the birth of MesoAmerican agriculture pinpointed.
- Meta-analysis says mating system does not affect magnitude of local adaptation. Ok, I really need to understand this one, because it’s kinda counter-intuitive..
- Boffins produce longer-lasting tomato. Which, however, still tastes like water. Those pesky biotechnologists are all over this.
- A tale of two brews. And here’s why I prefer beer. Well, one reason. Meanwhile, a hero probes how the amber nectar comes to be.
- Another slightly dubious use for soy. Aren’t you glad its genome has been sequenced? Thanks, Jacob.
- Evidence for cultivated carrot from medieval Poland. I’m sure this is REALLY important.
- CIMMYT video of seed processing.
- Pandanus photo for all my Pacific friends.
- Yams to have their day? I hope so, but we have been here before. Repeatedly.
- Salicornia the new hope for saline regions? I hope so, but we have been here before. Repeatedly.
- FAO manages wild biodiversity to manage pollinators.