- EU parliament, and others, urged “to improve conditions for pollinators in Europe”.
- Weeds. A book from Richard Mabey, now published and reviewed in the US.
- Ismail Serageldin will present the 2nd annual Malthus Lecture on 14 July at IFPRI. I’ll be staying late to follow the webcast.
- The Romanian genebank at Suceava seems to have a kind of progress report.
- They’re making a film about the organic farmers of Fukushima.
- Mango diversity picture goodness.
- Turns out making ginger beer doesn’t involve ginger. What it does involve is a weird agrobiodiversity symbiosis, but you had me at beer.
- Ancient Chacoans bred macaws. And why not.
- Biodiversity offsets are a huge market. What I want to know is if any of than money could go to genebanks.
- Ethiopian donkey power.
Nibbles: Beautiful models, Beautiful bank, Organic FAO, Eskimo diet, Indian medicinals, Maya nut studentship, Fishy infographics
- Official confirmation of the need for better crop growth models.
- More on CIP’s high-tech spud bank. In other news, CIP also has banks of other Andean roots/tubers, but don’t get me started on that one.
- “FAO has relegated organic agriculture to a footnote in the discussion of food security in the long run.” Fighting talk. Wonder if that will change with the new DG.
- Cook like an Inuit.
- Cultivating medicinal plants in India. Let’s see how that goes.
- Wanna study the Maya nut?
- More great Guardian infographics, aquatic edition.
- “This one tastes like cotton candy.” Breeding strawberries the hard way.
Ecoagriculture reviewed, again
It was over two years ago that we mentioned a meta-meta analysis of ecoagriculture. Since then we’ve had Prof. Olivier de Schutter, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to food, weighing in, among other celebrities. Now David Suzuki, no less, tells us about yet another review, with much the same bottom line:
…our review supports the claim that the solutions to the problems of widespread food insecurity and biodiversity loss need not be mutually exclusive, and that it may be possible to address both using appropriate alternative agricultural practices.
Here I just want to throw something else into the mix. We know from yet another recent meta-analysis that there are recognizable socioeconomic patterns to the distribution of infraspecific crop diversity on farm. A study has just been published which suggests that the number of species cultivated by a traditional society can be predicted by latitude, environmental heterogeneity (mainly altitude), and the commitment of the society to agriculture (as opposed to herding, foraging and exchange). Does this mean there are some intrinsic limits to the level of intra- and inter-specific agrobiodiversity a given agricultural system will support? And if so, what does that mean for ecoagriculture in that region?
Nibbles: Median strips, Vitamin A, Mapping in Kenya, Chaffey, Small farms, Rennell Island coconuts, Sweet potato breeding, Acacia nomenclature, Crop models, Pulque, Fruits
- Planting roadsides with natives, including crop wild relatives. And here comes the database.
- Orange Maize: The Movies.
- VirtualKenya really here. Mother-in-law beside herself.
- Plant Cuttings is out. And all of a sudden I’m in a much better place.
- Small is beautiful, farm edition. And as chance would have it, coffee farm edition. And urban edition.
- Dispute at iconic coconut plantation resolved. Apparently there are some really unique varieties there.
- I say boniato. For the first and last time.
- Acacia on the brink. Easy, tiger. The name, not the genus.
- We’re going to need a better model.
- Pulque comes back. Never knew it had gone away.
- Domesticating fruit trees in Kenya. Something for VirtualKenya?
Brainfood: Soil, Seed aging, Organic sustainability, Yaquis, Garlic, Rice bean, Ethiopian livestock, Sweet potato intercropping, PES
- 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.”