- Our friends at CIAT showcase our friend Colin showcasing crop wild relatives.
- The latest from Olivier De Schutter on agroecology.
- How to identify and nurture those elusive agricultural entrepreneurs.
- So that they can help you with tree domestication, for example?
- Pigs in ancient Egypt.
- Is the whole local food thing being taken too far?
Nibbles: European diversity, Cassava bugs, Livestock funding, Malnutrition
- Genetic diversity in European men and one of the organisms they exploit. And another.
- CIAT cassava entomologist rings warning bell.
- ILRI boffins point out why they don’t have enough money. Yeah, but what’s to be done about it?
- Malnutrition in Kenya and Guatemala. Are school gardens an/the answer? FAO thinks so.
Harvesting the bounty of weedy greens
That’s Violet, my sister-in-law. She’s harvesting weedy indigenous leafy greens from her (and my) mother-in-law’s farm at Gataka, near Limuru in Kenya. And talking to me about these interesting species at the same time. She’s mainly picking “terere” (Amaranthus hybridus), though she mentions “togotia” (Erucastrum arabicum) towards the end. Also “kahorora,” or pumpkin leaves, though of course that’s not a weedy species. Thanks, Violet.
Nibbles: Mongolian pastoralists, Kenya pastoralists, UK meadows, Specialty crops, Adaptation
- And we’re back: Desertification threatening Mongolia. Will Biden talk about that on his 6-hour visit today? No, I don’t think so either. Fortunately some people are trying to do something.
- Life not great for pastoralists in Kenya either. But some people are looking to camel milk to see them through. Alas, the latest effort to boost food security research in E. Africa doesn’t have much for livestock-keepers.
- Kew tries to reform UK native grassland seed business. Hope they are taking latest figures on species migration speeds into account.
- Specialty Crops for Pacific Islands book out. Alas, it includes coffee.
- But don’t worry, adapting to climate change is easy.
Brainfood: Two organic wheats, No-till wheat, Mexican maize, High-value maize, Beer
- Collaborative Plant Breeding for Organic Agricultural Systems in Developed Countries. Neither researcher-led nor farmer-led but truly collaborative.
- Structuring an Efficient Organic Wheat Breeding Program. Don’t use data from conventional breeding to select your lines.
- Adaptability of Wheat Cultivars to a Late-Planted No-Till Fallow Production System. don’t use varieties selected for current regimes.
- Assessing the vulnerability of traditional maize seed systems in Mexico to climate change. Not too bad, except maybe in the highlands.
- High-Value Agricultural Products and Poverty Reduction: Smallholder Farmer Access to Maize Markets. There are obstacles to selling sweetcorn, baby corn and green corn.
- Dietary Diversity and Nutritional Status of Pre-School Children from Musa-Dependent Households in Gitega (Burundi) and Butembo (Democratic Republic of Congo). Status is bad, and diets are not diverse, but there is no statistically significant association between the two.
- Free iron in pale, dark and alcohol-free commercial lager beers. My preferred beer is better for me.