- Long-term effect of tillage, nitrogen fertilization and cover crops on soil organic carbon and total nitrogen content. No till is better than conservation tillage.
- Catalase is a key enzyme in seed recovery from ageing during priming. It sure is. Good to know.
- Sustainable agriculture: A case study of a small Lopez Island farm. The authors conclude: “the need for future targeted nutrient inputs cannot be ruled out for sustainable long-term production”.
- Evolution of the knowledge system for agricultural development in the Yaqui Valley, Sonora, Mexico. They’re innovative, and diversity promotes agility.
- Changes in phenolic compounds in garlic (Allium sativum L.) owing to the cultivar and location of growth. Don’t hold your breath; only 10 varieties.
- Morpho-physiological and nutritional characterization of rice bean (Vigna umbellata). Now that’s what I call science; 30 varieties.
- Rural livestock asset portfolio in northern Ethiopia: a microeconomic analysis of choice and accumulation. Many, many factors come into play.
- Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.)-based strip intercropping: I. Interspecific interactions and yield advantage. Almost every intercrop improves yield and bottom line.
- Should payments for biodiversity conservation be based on action or results? A model says: “It depends.”
Nibbles: SusAg WWF-style, Obesity, Innovation, African farmers, Cyanobacteria, Climate change experiment
- See what WWF thinks will make agriculture sustainable.
- Americans are dying younger. Obesity partly to blame.
- Study shows how scientists can get farmers to innovate. And vice versa?
- Iron-age beer in France. “Beer … might have resembled modern home brews.” Which might have created a nation of wine-drinkers.
- Voice of America ♥ Nourishing the Planet. (African farmers also important.)
- Bacteria in mosses on tree branches fertilize forest soils. How long before the whole thing is available in a packet?
- Bioengineering the prairie. Together with, presumably, its crop wild relatives.
Nibbles: Bramleys, FAO vs Big AG, Biofuels, Honduras, Indigenous food
- Awesome apple tree awes impressionable TV reporter shock.
- Food fight!
- Food fight referee?
- Recent developments in the world of biofuels; CABI sorts the good, the bad and the indifferent.
- A blogger asks: “What is the appropriate mix of policies regarding agriculture in Honduras?“
- Watch a video on an indigenous food festival in Thailand by following instructions here. Note to film-makers: there are simpler ways to share a video.
What’s cooking Uncle Sam?
I just listened this morning to a fascinating report from What’s cooking Uncle Sam? — a new exhibit at the National Archives in Washington DC. Broadcast on National Public radio, it gave a series of glimpses into what I guess would be a very worthwhile visit. My plan was to Nibble the story, make a fatuous comment wondering why the US never took to the jujube, and why the exhibit curator hadn’t done a little more work on that specific topic, and leave it at that. Fortunately, The Scientist Gardener, keen as ever, was able to visit the National Archive and report in detail. So I don’t have to.
No mention in the exhibit of the plate that ate the pyramid, though The Scientist Gardener’s gf gets it.
And a throwaway “almost ” in the broadcast made me revisit a cherished story. And no, best beloved, the Reagan administration did not reclassify ketchup as a vegetable. Damn.
Nibbles: Wheat disease, Dried vegetables, Gates spending in Africa, Canadian spending in India, Ethiopian wheat
- Wheat disease understood; sequence of leaf blotch fungus.
- Wheat disease conquered? “Super varieties” resistant to UG99 and yield 15% more. What could go wrong?
- Zambian farmers urged to dry vegetables for fun and profit (and better nutrition).
- Gates Foundations has spent US$1.7 billion on agriculture in Africa, so far.
- Swaminathan Foundation scores Canadian support for research on agriculture, poverty and nutrition. h/t PAR.
- Bioversity Seeds for Needs distributes preselected genebank wheat varieties to Ethiopian women farmers to adapt to climate change.