- “I think that in 20 years chocolate will be like caviar.”
- “Why should Africa be the only region in the world that is begging for food?” Hans Herren stiffs it to Jeffrey Sachs.
- Mapping, and then protecting, places where wildlife and pastoralists can survive climate change together.
- Jessica hearts Moringa. ((How do I get a picture of a heart here?))
- Green Wall of Trees to halt Sahara. Will any of them also be directly useful?
Biodiversity of farms
Let’s apply the concept of biodiversity to the economics of farming. Just as we now recognize that a range of species must inhabit a given habitat for a healthy environment, a variety of farms make for a healthy farm economy. With Ventura County’s diversity of crops, there is not a day in the year that something isn’t being harvested and sent to market. Our large operations are essential to maintain a healthy population of equipment dealers and service providers. Mid-size family farmers often provide much of the leadership in local co-ops and associations. Smaller farms help sustain the agricultural service economy, and often pioneer specialty crops while feeding local markets. There is room for them all. We need them all. Our vision should embrace them all.
Nibbles: Policy, Brazil nuts, Kenyan sugarcane
- Food security, or food capacity?
- “Brazil announces plan to become world’s granary.” We don’t make this stuff up, you know.
- Might Kenya turn against Tana delta biofuel boondoggle?
Cold comfort for rice growers
Cold water can depress rice yields.
At high elevations in Nepal, farmers re-route cold water from the main valley rivers to raise the water temperature before irrigation so as to induce earlier flowering and timely maturation of their rice cultivars (Rana et al. 2000).
From Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Policy Responses: Findings of the Responses Working Group (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment) page 148.
In California, after a dam cooled down their irrigation water and a lengthy negotiation, a handful of rice growers will get:
anywhere from $1 million to $3 million a year, depending on the price of rice
From Department of Water Resources warms up to rice growers’ needs.
You figure it out; I can’t. Via.
European Commission directive on landraces
And here’s the text of the Directive announced in an earlier post. As it starts being interpreted and implemented (or not) in different ways in different member countries, it will be interesting to monitor what actually happens to genetic diversity. I hope someone’s gathering the baseline data for this natural experiment, or “randomized evaluation” as I believe economists call them. The floor is open for discussion!
LATER: Perhaps the Farm Seed Opportunities project will set that baseline?