- India finally arrives, gets french fries.
- Sophisticated urbanites tap maples.
- Raise a rare heirloom breed. Then cook it.
- “Some might be hoping he will predict a return to the glory days of the “truly unique” strain of Petitcodiac salmon, which now likely exists only in a gene bank at the Mactaquac Fish Hatchery at this point.”
- Boffins identify world’s first cocktail.
- How people turned from nut collectors into rice farmers in China.
- Hungarians sacrificed dogs.
Virtual visit to VIR
Click on the picture for some impressions from my recent visit to the N.I. Vavilov Institute Research Institute for Plant Industry in St Petersburg, Russia on the occasion of a SEEDNet meeting. A veritable monument to agrobiodiversity. And don’t forget Nikolai Ivanovich has a voice.
More complex, more interesting, more hopeful
There is simply no way to summarize Willie Smits‘ Ted Talk. It is a masterful description of putting the complexity in an agricultural ecosystem to work to solve the problems of humans and orang-utans. Just astonishing. And so much more intellectually satisfying than a simplified system. Luscious.
Nibbles: Cacao, Profits, Biochar, Biochar, Museum, Fish, Cognac
- Take a tour around the world’s most important cacao germplasm collection.
- “[D]iversified systems were more profitable than monocropping,” but read the whole paper. You have 30 days, free.
- Open source science to measure the impact of biochar.
- “Pro-biochar activists can be as silly as these anti-biochar activists.” Well, duh. But thanks for explaining.
- Gehry builds Panama a Museum of Biodiversity, but seems to forget about agriculture.
- Kano’s fish market takes a hit.
- All about rancio.
花見
And while on the subject of spring, what could be more redolent of Nature’s awakening after winter’s torpor than hanami (花見) — flower watching? You can do it in Washington DC, Brooklyn or Skopje. But the best place to follow the sakurazensen — the cherry blossom front — is clearly Japan. You’ve still got a few more weeks if you live in Hokkaido.
