Don’t forget to check out IISD for highlights of the “High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy.” So you can find out what’s being achieved, besides bringing Rome to a standstill, that is. Jeremy is there, earning his keep, hence his silence. No doubt he’ll blog all about it when the dust settles.
It’s all interconnected
I like trying to see the world through other people’s eyes. That’s why I’ve been skimming the blog of Thomas P.M. Barnett, ever since he gave one of the greatest TedTalks I have ever watched. He looks at food as a military strategist, but one who is a leading thinker of new approaches to conflict. I wonder what you’ll think of this headline from his blog:
Urbanization yields globalization yields rising income yields more food demand yields bigger farms yields more migration to cities yields …
A really interesting and really stimulating take on one future of food production. And while we’re on the subject, how about this:
Consumption preferences for genetically heterogeneous varieties, supported by the market either directly or indirectly, are what seems to be key in biodiversity preservation.
That’s the conclusion of a post from the blog at RMAP (Resource Management in Asia-Pacific). Maylee Thavat discusses local seed systems and subsistence farmers, and how the two interact. I think there’s a fundamental issue here, and that’s the distinction between growing food that you and those you interact directly with may eat, and growing something that you sell (in order to buy food). Nor do I think it is limited to subsistence farmers. I’ve talked to industrialized farmers growing hundreds of hectares of potato varieties for the supermarkets who wouldn’t dream of eating the food they sell. They have a couple of rows of a decent variety out the back for their own use.
Maybe you’ve had similar experiences?
Nibbles: Biofuels, Prices, Biofuels again, Wolf, Mushrooms
- Wanna laff? Ag Leaders Challenge Ethanol Myths.
- Whisper it; the market works. Rice futures tumble, again.
- “Some biofuels might do more harm than good to the environment, study finds”. Alert the media! Oh, they already did.
- “Graphing Jane Austen” approach suggests wolf taught man to hunt. Little Red Riding Hood unavailable for comment.
- India’s Mushroom City.
Nibbles: Sprouts, Mice, Prices, Prices, Prices, Prices, Gooseberry, Fruits, Fruits, Subsidies, Climate change, Fruits again, Culture, Irrigation
- Brussels sprout variety lost and found in Wales. Alas, it’s an F1. Start breeding now.
- Mice destroying Australian sorghum. Pied Piper unavailable for comment.
- Impact of prices in Ethiopia.
- Impact of prices in Kenya.
- Impact of prices in Latin America.
- Biofuels not to blame for food price rises. Fatuous, Jeremy comments.
- Uttar Pradesh State Biodiversity Board steps in to save rare Indian gooseberry. Is this it? Doesn’t seem rare.
- Pitaya explained. Check out the links too.
- “Picture it, an orange grape!” No thanks.
- The Economist on the CAP. Money quote: …if Europeans want to produce food in a special region or way, “let them label it, and see if the market will pay for it.â€
- Speaking of which. British wine industry in trouble. You heard me.
- Other fruits not doing well either. Via.
- Royal Ploughing Ceremony goes well in Cambodia. That’s all right then.
- On the other hand, there may be something to this traditional knowledge stuff after all.
International Biodiversity Day: Biodiversity and Agriculture
A partial round-up of some of the many buckets of bits that have flowed across our desktops these past couple of days:
Ghana: “Mr Darko therefore implored the youth to use their exuberance to restore and enhance the environment and appealed to traditional rulers to support the enforcement on bye-laws against unfriendly environmental practices.”
Germany (via India): “He [German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel] noted that Indian farmers had cultivated 30,000 species of rice a century ago and that there were now just 30 left.”
Germany: “I’ll tell them that food and water are at risk. I’ll tell them that the 6 to 8 percent of GDP just on forests that we’re talking about is actually the total livelihood of 2 billion of the world’s poor. I’ll tell them that the fisheries that are basically going to die out in 40 years time don’t just mean $80 to 100 billion worth of lost fishing income, but also lost protein for the world’s billion poorest people. How are you going to cure the problem of health for these people? How are you going to provide income and a livelihood to the 2 billion poorest who depend on this?”
Germany — Klaus Töpfer, Man of the People: “[W]e need less paper and more concrete political decisions. The protection of species is not some luxury item by Gucci or Hermès, for people who have no problems.”
Cameroon: “[E]xperts drawn from the administration, university institutions and the civil society, discussed with diligence things to consider when carrying out agricultural activities in order to better preserve biodiversity.”
Zimbabwe: “Zimbabwe should conserve landscape (landrace? Ed.) varieties of its major food crops and also integrate biodiversity conservation in the agricultural sector to realise the benefits of dietary diversity and promote food security, the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Cde Francis Nhema, has said.”
Kenya: “From the perspective of facing the food crisis, developing agriculture biodiversity means understanding the diversity of highly nutritious traditional food system,†said Dr. Joseph Jojo Baidu-Forson, regional director of sub-Saharan Africa, Biodiversity International (Bioversity? Ed.).”
UN secretary General (via who knows where): “About a fifth of domestic animal breeds are at risk of extinction, with an average of one lost each month. Of the 7,000 species of plants that have been domesticated over the 10,000-year history of agriculture, only 30 account for the vast majority of the food we eat every day. Relying on so few species for sustenance is a losing strategy.”