Policy

October 1, 2015October 1, 2015

A global crops-go-round

A bunch of the usual suspects have just come up with an updating of an oldish study of global interdependence for crop diversity. I could describe the details here, but, frankly, Neil Palmer does it better than I ever could over at CIAT’s blog. And under a much better title than I can come up with. But to whet your appetite, here’s the money infographic, showing where different crop originated, and where they are now grown and consumed.

Regional-interdependence-calories

It’s all for the meeting of the Governing Body of the Plant Treaty, which is on next week.

LATER: Compare and contrast.

September 29, 2015September 29, 2015

Nibbles: Pumpkin beer, Food security, SDGs, Wild rice, Grape, Wild Helianthus

Pumpkin beer is an abomination, early, late or right on time.
The best thing about India’s National Food Security Act is that it now includes millets and other “coarse” grains, which gets barely a mention in How secure is India’s National Food Security Act?.
Calling BS on the SDGs.
If they’re planting it, can it be truly “wild” rice? Cultivation vs domestication: discuss.
AoB blog investigates a popular but little-known grape variety.
What is it about crop wild relatives all of a sudden. Now it’s sunflowers.

September 28, 2015September 28, 2015

Brainfood: Intensification, Diversity double, Mexican homegardens, Coffee certification, US crop diversity, Fig identification, Wild rice origins, Domestication & trophic interactions

Population and Environmental Correlates of Maize Yields in Mesoamerica: a Test of Boserup’s Hypothesis in the Milpa. Fallows don’t really reduce much with increasing population density. Yields, on the other hand, do.
If They Grow It, Will They Eat and Grow? Evidence from Zambia on Agricultural Diversity and Child Undernutrition. Unlike other recent studies, this one finds positive correlations among production diversity, dietary diversity and nutritional outcomes.
Community agro biodiversity conservation continuum: an integrated approach to achieve food and nutrition security. Provides the theoretical underpinning of the finding in the previous paper: conservation, cultivation, consumption and commerce.
Home Garden Agrobiodiversity Differentiates Along a Rural—Peri–Urban Gradient in Campeche, México. Different species in urban homegardens compared to rural, but same overall diversity levels.
Does certification improve biodiversity conservation in Brazilian coffee farms? Meh.
Crop Species Diversity Changes in the United States: 1978–2012. It’s gone down.
Mediterranean basin Ficus carica L.: from genetic diversity and structure to authentication of a Protected Designation of Origin cultivar using microsatellite markers. Microsatellites can recognize the protected ‘Kymis’ cultivar. Rejoice.
Population genetic structure of Oryza rufipogon and O. nivara: implications for the origin of O. nivara. Multiple origins of nivara from rufipogon, and climatic differentiation.
Complex tritrophic interactions in response to crop domestication: predictions from the wild. What’s good for humans is (generally) good for herbivores.

September 25, 2015

Nibbles: Oyster wars, Bitter veggies, Saffron, Ag & development, Cannabis taxonomy, Mold evolution, Svalbard & ICARDA, Blueberry taste

The land sparing vs sharing debate encapsulated in a controversy over San Francisco oyster farming.
Bitter is good.
BBC’s Farming Today on saffron in England, among other things.
Want sustainable development? Invest in agriculture.
Growing weed: here comes the science.
“When you chew on a Camembert rind, you’re eating a solid mat of mold.” And probably GM to boot.
Why do I sound so totally unprepared?
Breeding better blueberries.

September 22, 2015September 22, 2015

Nibbles: Pig landrace, Campbell’s Soup tomato, HarvestPlus, CG & SDGs, Georgian wine, American vegetables, Kenya & nutrition, Equator Prize, Wheat breeding

So there’s a “celebrity pork expert.” No, not David Cameron, Carl Blake.
Nevermind about resurrecting pig breeds, how about resurrecting “America’s best tomato“?
Mapping biofortification outreach.
CG writes letter to heads of state on SDGs. But will they listen?
How they store wine in Georgia.
US needs more veggies. Don’t we all.
Kenya is a nutrition star.
The Equator Prize 2015 winners are in.
Article on wheat illustrated with picture of millet labelled sorghum