Nibbles

Nibbles: Joanne Labate, Gebisa Ejeta, David Spooner, Strawberry 101, Mad honey, First figs, Agrobiodiversity maps, School project, Takesgiving, Private investment

USDA vegetable crop curator tells it like it is.
$5 million to find more Striga resistance genes in sorghum.
Wild potato herbarium specimens find good home.
How two New World strawberries got together in the Old World and then spread all over the world.
Hallucinogenic honey: what could possibly go wrong?
First farmers gave a fig.
The other of all agrobiodiversity map mashups.
Cool school project on crop diversity in Europe.
In other news, “Columbusing” is a thing.
Private sector investment in conservation: Turning “small and new” into “big and familiar.”

FoodTank does crop wild relatives.
“The inveterate collector who understand the poetics of diversity had left behind a new plant unknown to science.”
That “inveterate collector” would probably approve of this.
A VERY tasty grass.
Chew on that spinifex while burning this stuff for the full botanical multi-sensory experience..
Pacific people told to cultivate their gardens for health and nutrition. And climate change adaptation.
Progress on Farmers’ Rights. Incremental, but still.
The unsung heroes of germplasm distribution get together.
Reviving the fortunes of NY hops through fancy breeding.
Too much plant protein is going to animals, so let’s give them insects instead.
Because animals are bad for equality anyway.

Breeding maize for high yields limits its plasticity.
“The rich ate fine, floured wheat bread. But if you were poor you cut your teeth on rye and black bread.”
USA, MLS and ITPGRFA.
Rethinking conservation. Again.
Content-free article on growing rice in slightly salty water.
BBC catches up with coffee rust.
Making animal feed sustainable. Easier said than done.

A new-to-science sweet-and-sour banana. The crop wild relative wallahs better get on it.
Tasty report on chocolate diversity.
It says here that “Agricultural diversity the key to food security”. Why weren’t we told before?
Big push for “radical new thinking on biodiversity conservation”. No sign of agriculture.

Halloween is an agricultural thing. Basically.
Frederick the Great had a thing for potatoes. Among other things.
CIP genebank manager on TV. He has a thing for potatoes too. As you can tell from his new website.
Pop quiz: Can you find this N American potato in the CIP genebank?
The extraordinary story of the ancient Native American crookneck watermelon. Bet it goes well with S. jamesii.
Paul Gepts gets award. No word on his thoughts on potatoes, but he does like beans.
Transhumance lives in the Caucasus.
What in tarnation is a zubron?
Making the case for climate action on agriculture at COP23. And vice versa.