- Kenyans turn to dairy goats.
- Ugandans advised to turn to local chickens.
- Kenyans told: “Change your old farming methods or face starvation.” Jeremy says: “I’m confused.”
- Irish bees — rescue plan. Thanks Danny.
The value of pollination: euros 153 billion in 2005
INRA and CNRS French scientists and a UFZ German scientist found that the worldwide economic value of the pollination service provided by insect pollinators, bees mainly, was €153 billion in 2005 for the main crops that feed the world. This figure amounted to 9.5% of the total value of the world agricultural food production. The study also determined that pollinator disappearance would translate into a consumer surplus loss estimated between €190 to €310 billion.
My jaw dropped. Read the full study here.
Nibbles: Yeast, Weeds, Bioprospecting, Iraq, Pine wilt, Vietnam, GM, GM, Insects, Bees, Sheep, Fowl
- Boffins to brew Jurassic Park beer.
- Boffins fingerprint weeds.
- Boffins scour arctic for antifreeze proteins.
- Boffins to reclaim Garden of Eden.
- Boffins fight to save pines in Europe.
- Boffins improve production of rice and fruits in Mekong Delta.
- Boffins to spend $US3.5billion on GM in China.
- Boffin “disgraces himself”.
- Boffin says insects are agrobiodiversity too.
- Boffin wants you to plant sunflowers and count bees. Other boffins dig up evidence of bliblical beekeeping.
- Boffins find endogenous retroviruses in sheep different to ones in wild relatives. Via.
- Boffins kill beautiful theory about pre-Columbian chickens with ugly fact.
Bosnian bee-fest
Spent the whole week in Sarajevo for a meeting, but did get a chance to explore on Friday morning. Doing so, I stumbled on the Sarajevo Bee-Fest: lots of stalls with people selling all kinds of different local honeys, other bee products, and bee-keeping equipment. No sign of worry about colony collapse disorder.
Nibbles: Seed hunter, Milk, Wine, Pollinators, Cacao, Berries
- Seed hunter hunts cash. Australians can watch on 21 October.
- Is selling milk retail really diversification? Alex thinks so.
- In vino variety. Jeremy sez: “Theft (of headline) is flattery”.
- Pollinator presence plummets. Luigi also sez: “Theft (of headline) is flattery”.
- Cacao Germplasm Evaluation and Characterization Project. Nuff said.
- Ribes redux.