- So, how well did that Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa project do, anyway? Meeting to be held to find out. In the meantime, here’s the infographic.
- My friend Bob Reid gets an award for his contribution to forage genetic resources conservation and use.
- Finally doing something about arabica’s lack of diversity.
- Digitizing herbarium collections? There’s a workflow for that.
- Remember the good old days of nutritions veggies? “[A]ny real declines [in nutrient content] are generally most easily explained by changes in cultivated varieties.”
- “…what if hybrids were farmed as carefully & conscientiously as the finest vinifera grapes in a historical vineyard?”
- Wild foods from dry forests are good for you. Wet forest not totally useless either though.
- Bats, earthworms, enough of this biodiversity, we get it already.
- Bittman puts his money where his mouth is.
Nibbles: Kew video, Cannabis taxonomy, Diet change, School beer nazis, Pawnee corn, Salicornia, Oz seed forum, Cuban root forum
- Really stunning video on plant taxonomy through the ages.
- Growers often get cannabis taxonomy wrong. Where’s the video on that?
- Kale or steak? Why not both?
- Enterprising pupils make beer from oats/sorghum breakfast cereal.
- Can always do with more news on Pawnee corn.
- Let them eat Salicornia.
- Australian Seed Bank Partnership organizing a National Seed Science Forum in March 2016.
- The Instituto de Investigaciones de Viandas Tropicales is organizing the Third International Symposium on Roots, Rhizomes, Tubers, Plantains, Bananas and Papayas in Cuba, 20-23 October 2015.
2nd International Biodiversity and Nutrition Conference
‘Nuff said…
Nibbles: Tomato diversity, Coffee trial, Basque genetics, Water and ag, Heirlooms galore, 3 trillion trees, Agroforestry, Old oats, IP in ag, Food companies and CC, Wheat Initiative, Crop game, Eggplant breeding, E African drought
- One crazy French guy, 1134 tomato varieties.
- The World Coffee Research International Multi Location Variety Trial really gets off the grounds. See what I did there?
- The Basques descend from Neolithic farmers.
- Ancient Sri Lankan irrigation systems. Which Bangladesh doesn’t need.
- National Heirloom Expo is on.
- Did we link to this three-trillion-tree story yet? I don’t think so. How many are edible fruit trees, I wonder?
- …or indeed agroforestry and fertilizer trees. Always worth listening to Jules Pretty.
- So much for the Paleolithic Diet.
- In agricultural innovation, “optimal IPR use depends on the technology itself as well as on market conditions.”
- Multinational food companies found to be short-sighted shock.
- The global impacts of UK food consumption.
- The Wheat Initiative has an agenda.
- Can you recognize these crops? ‘Course you can.
- Eggplant pre-breeding project involving wild relatives makes mainstream media. Faith in humanity restored. Until you see what else is on that page.
- Drought hits Ethiopia. Let them eat sweet potatoes?
Colin gets doctored
Our friend and occasional contributor Colin Khoury has successfully defended his PhD thesis at Wageningen University. As spelled out in a nice summary over at CIAT, where he was a visiting researcher, Colin’s work addressed four crucial questions dear to our hearts here at the blog:
(1) What is the status of diversity in our food systems, and where are the greatest vulnerabilities?
(2) Where can genetic diversity be found that can be useful in increasing productivity and mitigating these vulnerabilities?
(3) Is this genetic diversity available in the present and in the long term?, and
(4) What steps are needed to improve the ability for researchers to access genetic resources critical for present and future crop improvement?
Congratulations, Colin, and best wishes for the future.