Nibbles

Nibbles: Orissa, Salatin, Economic impact, Olives, Food security, Lettuce, Chayote

Koraput, in Orissa state, India, is about to be recognized as a globally important agriculture heritage system, which is nice.
Chemical-free farmer has enough.
How much is that drought-tolerant maize really worth?
UK now has home-grown olives, seven varieties. Luigi says: “And so it begins …”
Food security for the faint of heart. A book for people, not policy-makers.
What was the cultural significance of the iceberg salad? Answers win a great book.
CIAT touts its chayote success story in Vietnam. Nice film.

A makeover for the potato.
Mali’s farmers want improved landraces, not fancy-shmancy hybrids.
Biofortified does Pollan. And Pollan does Oprah…
The long-term consequences of introducing new genes to populations are not all that bad. Relevance for crop wild relatives? More research needed…
The Dr. Cecilia Koo Botanic Conservation Center (KBCC) in Taiwan described.
Almond tree produces poison in nectar to attract insects? Go figure. In other pollinator news, they’re declining in Central Europe.
What would a world without domesticated livestock look like? ILRI DG questions vegetarians.

“…eleven models of regional food aggregation and distribution that are successful in linking local farmers with regional food chains.” Via.
Hell hath no fury like a fig tree scorned.
Tracking monkfish, saving monkfish.
The history of the wild relative of the pea.
Can coffee help rebuild Haiti?
“Integrating bioclimate with population models to improve forecasts of species extinctions under climate change.”
“The commoditization of products and taste: Slow Food and the conservation of agrobiodiversity.”
CIAT promotes chayote in Vietnam. Why? Well, it’s not about the crop or the country. I suppose it’s about farmers and markets. But is there a diversity angle?
How old is feeding corn (maize) to cows? Older than some people think, apparently.
Shade-grown cacao sows seeds of its own demise.
Waiting for the results of the USDA organic survey…

GIPB revamps its website. Knowledge Resource Centre is ver. 4.0, no less.
US National Plant Germplasm System explained to Canadians. Why? They have their own!
Armadillo sniffing dogs.
More urban farming in Zimbabwe.
Interesting stuff you can make with goat milk.
Who do you like for Equator Prize 2010? Avatar? No, wait, that’s something else. Well, actually…
Nutrition for humanitarian workers.
Large-eared white maize is ‘cultural heritage’ of Peru. So that’s all good then.
Minor cereals and a gluten-free diet.
Wanna talk to Katine? Ask about what the project is doing with/about agrobiodiversity, of course!
Nikolay tweets!
Agricultural and other assorted musings along the Mekong. Can’t help thinking that if you somehow aggregated all similar observations and geo-referenced them you’d come up with a pretty interesting picture of agriculture worldwide.
A blow for Scottish agrobiodiversity and cuisine.
Digitizing Africa’s roads.
Natural dyes 101.
IUCN photos of climate change adaptation. Includes agriculture! Well, sort of.
Nordic agricultural scientists to discuss climate change adaptation. Grow bananas?
Breeding Strategies for Sustainable Management of Animal Genetic Resources from FAO. Via.
ATREE questions Jatropha.

Science: Biodiversity is good even for biofuels.
Science: Lack of annual diversity is bad for no-till maize (corn).
Science: “Dead” bananas can still transmit banana bunchy top virus BBTV.
Science: Potential biological control identified for coffee berry borer. (Eeeyew warning.)
Art: Biological control (Lilioceris near impressa) of air potato (Dioscorea bulbifera). (Gorgeousness warning.)
Science: Farmers brought farming to Britain.
Science and art: A rose is a rose is a rose.
Science: Black-eyed peas in Dakar gig.