- Freekeh, the New Quinoa? Mebbe. Meh.
- Biodiversity loss matters, and communication is crucial. Uh’huh.
- “We’re all gardeners in some way or another, so we can play a role.” Convention on Biological Diversity gets it?
- Got konjac? The Toad’s has flowered.
Vote for innovative nutrition solutions
We had an email from Yvonna Tan alerting us to the Ashoka Changemakers competition for innovative solutions to improve nutrition. Yvonna wanted us to recommend her project to our readers, but we’re uncomfortable doing that. There are lots of great-sounding projects in the list, from fake goats to vegetable gardens. So while we’re greatful to Yvonna for poking us, we’ll leave you to choose the projects you want to support. You have to register, and that requires responding to an email, so it is a bit time-consuming. But the winning project gets $5000 so you might consider it time well spent. You have till 8 February.
Nibbles: Seed saving, Hard graft, Urban Ag, Sandwiches, Chickens
- Psst, wanna save some seeds? Maybe do a little breeding on the side. USDA has some sites for you. NSFW.
- Patrick grafts citrus — after, er, sidestepping genebank authorization hell.
- Got an article on Best Practices in Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Development? JAFSCD wants it.
- Scanwiches. Really. Diversity in bread. h/t Cleek. (Hey, it’s a slowish day.)
- Backyard chickens: an art, a science, a social movement. An exhibition. At cornell.
Nibbles: Orissa, Salatin, Economic impact, Olives, Food security, Lettuce, Chayote
- Koraput, in Orissa state, India, is about to be recognized as a globally important agriculture heritage system, which is nice.
- Chemical-free farmer has enough.
- How much is that drought-tolerant maize really worth?
- UK now has home-grown olives, seven varieties. Luigi says: “And so it begins …”
- Food security for the faint of heart. A book for people, not policy-makers.
- What was the cultural significance of the iceberg salad? Answers win a great book.
- CIAT touts its chayote success story in Vietnam. Nice film.
Vote for your favourite nutrition innovation
The finalists of the Improved Nutrition Solutions Through Innovation competition are up on Ashoka’s Changemakers site. One project promises that a “native rainforest food for school lunches improves child health while motivating reforestation.” And another wants to produce nutritional supplements from Moringa. It may not be enormously innovative, but I personally like Gardens for Health best, because it has the least of the silver bullet about it, and the most agrobiodiversity.
Gardens for Health enables people living with HIV/AIDS to improve their nutrition, health, and treatment adherence through sustainable agriculture. GHI provides access to land and patient capital for community gardens, seeds and tree seedlings for family home gardens, technical assistance in sustainable agriculture and nutrition, and market linkages
Go vote. You have until 8 February.