- New Gene Conservation is out. Put out more flags.
- Biofuel from coffee grounds? Right. Hope the stuff was shade-grown, anyway.
- Is a lupin or date palm seed the oldest ever found? Let the controversy rage.
- Bees scare caterpillars as well as pollinating plants. Thankfully, Europe is on the job, colony-collapse-wise.
- Trouble for Scottish farmed salmon. And the wild ones may have their problems too. But aquaculture in general is booming, they say.
- Google Earth discovers forest. Not agrobiodiversity, but fun nonetheless.
- “It doesn’t just take in seeds – it sends them out.”
- Maize pest will love climate change. Well, some of them anyway.
- The latest review of earthworms discussed.
- Jellyfish and chips?
- Eating local pretty much unavoidable in Cuba. Yes, everyone wants to be a locavore these days.
- Japanese amateur botanists get into genebanking.
- “108 dishes based on jackfruit and seed varieties that are facing extinction were also exhibited at the festival.” 108?
- Queensland markets its tropical produce via a new website. No reason why others shouldn’t do the same, is there?
- “People shouldn’t underestimate how important a goat can be for a family in Africa.” Having had to assist in slaughtering one over Christmas, I certainly don’t.
- A rapid run-through the history of chocolate.
- Long-fallow agriculture in Mali leads to more, more diverse and taller trees.
- Global accessibility map published. Also one of fires, and intact forests. Let a thousand agrobiodiversity mash-ups bloom. Thanks, Andy.
- Nepal has lots of medicinal plants. Funny they don’t seem to feature in the Western Terai Landscape Complex Project.
Nibbles: GE, Grazing, Vanilla blight
- Broccoli’s goodies engineered into tobacco. Jeremy comments: “Let them eat broccoli”.
- Australians discover diversity: livestock graze grain (plants)!
- Unidentified blight strikes Malagasy vanilla: lack of diversity to blame.
Nibbles: Cheese, Seeds, Elephants
- Never mind big-auto, bail-out for big cheese.
- Millennium Seed Bank (still) pleading poverty.
- Kimani avoids crops, one day at a time.
Agriculture good for nature after all
Yes indeed, and let me count the ways:
- Betel nut plantations good for birds.
- “Satoyama” good for all kinds of wildlife.
- Traditional cow breed good for plant good for rare moth.
That’s just what’s been in the news in the past few days. I smell a trend…
Nibbles: String, Lake District, Apples, Biochar, Display, Firs, Sweet potato, Rice, Bison
- Lots of agrobiodiversity in one little piece of Neolithic string.
- Traditional cow breed saves plant saves rare moth. The elusive agrobiodiversity win-win-win?
- Centenarian arboreal agrobiodiversity artfully pruned.
- Burning agrobiodiversity. But in a good way. And for a good cause.
- Plant parts create Yuletide fantasy.
- Speaking of Yuletide, Christmas trees need diversity too. And Michigan State is there.
- Sure, it’s impressive, but is it a potato?
- Farming on the edge … of a large reservoir. Life has its ups and downs.
- Aristotle on bison faeces. Yes, that Aristotle.