- Cassava gets a makeover in Brazil. And another, of a different kind, in East Africa.
- Revolution turns into Terror. Where’s our Napoleon?
- Designating Costa Rican cheese.
- Conserving poverty?
- No poverty for bean breeders in the US.
- The uses of Oregon Grape. Which is of course not a grape.
- Chaffey Style.
- Coconut water is a major conservation issue for 2013. It says here.
- Fewer farmers, more fires. In the Amazon. It says here.
- Yeah, what is balsam anyway?
- So the Next Big Thing in African ag development is agricultural growth corridors. What could possibly go wrong? Will they learn from wildlife corridors? Will they be using these four apparently key technologies? Or bolstering extension? And will it all mean a decrease in bush meat consumption?
- Heritage foods book. Yummie.
- Like potatoes in Peru, I guess. And various street foods in West Africa.
- Conference on native seed use in the US. Probably even some crop wild relatives in there.
Nibbles: Xmas trees, Xmas parasites, Resilience, Pitogo bananas, Crowdsourcing, Writing, Chickpea bread, Seed laws, Futures, Cassava genomics
- Fir trees holding their value. It must be Christmas.
- Mistletoe is good for trees. Is it still Christmas?
- An indicator framework for assessing agroecosystem resilience. Santa is being good to us this year.
- “Banana-shaped” takes on a whole new meaning.
- How to do crowdsourcing, right? Right!
- How to write good about agricultural research.
- Testing other kinds of grain and other kinds of bread.
- The East African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation comes in for some stick over draft policy on plant variety protection laws. This deserves way more than a Nibble. Perhaps some well-informed policy wonks will chime in.
- Blame 18th century Japanese rice traders for the futures markets.
- Who do I blame for Cassavabase?
Help researchers get their priorities right
Would you like to influence the future direction of research on roots, tubers and bananas? Course you would. And now you can, thanks to a priority setting exercise being carried out by the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas. The ProMusa website has the full details: researchers
are … looking beyond yields to estimate the impact on poverty, health, gender equity and environmental sustainability.
It starts with mapping to locate the places where “research has the greatest potential to alleviate poverty and increase food security”.
The top constraints in these target areas will then be matched with research options. The impact, over the next 20 years, of these research options will be assessed using different methods, depending on the indicator, and the findings will be used to guide research investment decisions.
So now you know, and you have no excuse.
If your interest is bananas and plantains, then head on over to the ProMusa page that will guide you to a survey in English, French and Spanish. For other crops – but inexplicably not bananas nor the “minor” roots and tubers – the RTB website is the place to go.
Anyone for taro?
Nibbles: Cheese, Gluten, Food security, Agrobiodiverse fields
- BBC makes a meal of very old cheese.
- Botanist in the kitchen dishes the whole history of gluten.
- Food boffin reflects on UK Women’s Institute test recipes for Global Food Security.
- Dewy-eyed farmer says you can’t eat agrobiodiversity, but so what.
Nibbles: Frankincense, Slow Food, Food Justice, Ancient pips, Photosynthesis, Food security
- Boswellia back in the news. Must be Christmas.
- Yesterday was Terra Madre Day; there’s something satisfyingly meta about being a day late with that news.
- The Germans want justice for food from far away.
- Bioversity larges up its Heuristic Framework to boost the conservation and use of crop biodiversity.
- Archaeologist finds ancient Roman grape seeds, prepares to rewrite history of Chianti.
- Oh Boy! Another $25 million to remake photosynthesis. We’re still waiting …
- More please! Another giant talkfest to end hunger. Don’t miss the comments.