- “Priortizing restoration across agricultural landscapes.” Nothing to do with agriculture, though.
- “Gene banks to rescue local crops.” Nothing to do with genebanks, though.
- “‘Psychedelic’ maize may help increase crop and biofuel yields.” Nothing to do with LSD, though.
- Scotland gets a national genebank. Well, not really, but anyway.
- Malawi schoolchildren sing about food diversity. No, really.
- Homo erectus ate fish as part of a pretty diverse diet. Had to wait about 2 million years for chips.
- Report for 10-Year Strategy for Reduction of Vitamin & Mineral Deficiencies. “…activities to enhance dietary diversification are an attractive option for improving micronutrient status, but these have proved difficult to evaluate.” Ouch.
- “Integrating Genetic Resource Conservation and Sustainable Development into Strategies to Increase the Robustness of Seed Systems.” You’ll need to pay to find out how, though. I’ll try to get a pdf, some of the authors are friends.
- The role of Punjab Agricultural University in the Green Revolution. And in genetic erosion?
- Enough arable land to feed world, says new French study. But not here, say Indians.
- Reviving the elm in Britain one sapling at a time. How long till the next disaster, though, with such a narrow genetic base?
Society for Economic Botany discussing agrobiodiversity as we speak
Coming across this write-up of a year-old symposium on Mexico’s wild and cultivated greens reminded me that this year’s congress of the Society for Economic Botany is going on right now in Xalapa, Mexico. The theme is “Agrobiodiversity, lessons for conservation and local development.” If you’re there (and we know you are) and would like to report on the meeting for us (and we know you do), just drop us a line.
Nibbles: Wheat, Mississippi, Blogs, Greenwash, Livestock
- CIMMYT live blogs the wheat meet in St Pete. Riiiiiiight.
- Got the no veg blues? More ag on the airwaves. h/t Agricultural Law
- Guardian collects science blogs, almost no botany. h/t Anastasia.
- Coke-fuelled excitement at Green Week.
- Lights! Camera! ILRI! Films on livestock goods and bads.
Agrobiodiversity and food on the airwaves
Our follower and occasional contributor André kindly alerted us to what he calls a European Union mega-conference on biodiversity, going on all this week in Brussels. There may be some agricultural biodiversity in there somewhere. The whole thing is being streamed. And next week Michael Pollan is at the RSA, and you can listen to a feed of that too. I know which one I’ll be following.
Nibbles: Agrobiodiversity, Mexican food, Benin chickens, Tylosema chemistry, Wild coffee
- Do my eyes deceive me? Exhortation not to forget farms during biodiversity festivities.
- Edible Geography does Mexico City. Oh to be in DF on the 9th.
- What do Benin farmers want out of their chickens? Clue: it wont be easy.
- Is marama bean the next big thing? Probably not, but check it out anyway.
- New Biosphere Reserve protects wild coffee.
- Uber-blogger Tom Barnett tackles sweet potato breeding. Sweet potato wins.