Nibbles – Page 396 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

November 3, 2008November 3, 2008

Nibbles: Orwell, Vaccines, Turkey

Orwell summarizes; ownership, ploughing, crop diversity, livestock.
Broad spectrum immunisation for plants.
Turkish agriculture blog.

November 1, 2008November 1, 2008

Nibbles: Anthrax, Sheep

The perils of working with agrobiodiversity products.
“The Nejdi sheep of today are much more beautiful than those of 10 years ago.”

October 31, 2008October 31, 2008

Nibbles: Toms, Virus, Svalbard, CIRAD

More on those purple tomatoes. And there’s lots more where that came from.
Virus weakens the response of genes that normally boost defense against pest.
“Superman had it right.”
Yeah, but France has genebanks too.
Dispatches from Terra Madre: “How are you fighting racism in your food community?”

October 30, 2008October 30, 2008

Nibbles: Wild food, Sisal, Cucurbits, Carnival, Rice blight

Zimbabwean take to wild foods, and not in a good way.
“It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see my sisal flooring.”
Gourds+Halloween=Jawdropping Creativity.
Tangled Bank 117.
“Terror agent” listing for Xanthomanas oryzae blights US rice research.

October 29, 2008October 30, 2008

Nibbles: Big tent, Certification, Macadamia, Wild harvest, Last meals

Biodiversity and ecosystems experts to enter big tent: any room for agriculture?
Japan to recognize sustainable practices that value biological diversity in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries via cute logo.
Saving drought-resistant macadamia.
Free food!
Endangered food.

1. Ancient farmers didn’t have to wait for the genetic diversity that made domestication possible. They selected from variation already present in wild plants, including the ancestors of rice and maize. Domestication was as much about spotting (or happening upon) useful differences as creating new ones.
2. English colonists in America called Indigenous dogs “wolves,” revealing as much about colonial perceptions as about the animals themselves. This history of Indigenous dogs shows how unfamiliar animals were classified through peculiarly European ideas about wildness.
3. Austria is bringing forgotten apple varieties back to life. Saving old varieties in genebanks is one thing: getting people to grow, sell and eat them is another, but it can be done. Or at least tried.
4. Jordan’s olive-oil heritage centres on traditional varieties such as Nabali and ancient Rumi trees, but most production is consumed locally, leaving exports limited and making provenance, cultivar and harvest date important indicators for buyers. Compare and contrast with Austrian apples.
5. Small island developing states have distinctive food cultures and ingredients, but face particular challenges in building sustainable and resilient food systems. FAO’s A Taste of SIDS explores the connections between island food, biodiversity and culinary heritage. Nice to see diversity within crops considered, though a few local variety names would have been nice.
Published on October 21, 2026