Tourism

April 8, 2017April 10, 2017

Faux wild rice in peril

I’m not saying it’s the most important thing about it, but that oil pipeline that is planned for Minnesota will go straight through lakes which are sacred to the local Native American peoples, and which generate about 50% of the world’s annual harvest of handpicked wild rice (which is Zizania, not Oryza, but still).

April 7, 2017April 7, 2017

Nibbles: Viking dope, Garden survey, Ancient olive press, Proposal writing, Nice figures, Old garden books, Chestnuts, Cannibalism, Saving coffee, Vanilla history, Seed book, Spanish brassica

Vikings got high.
“How can you and your garden help us find out more about the global biodiversity associated with the plants in gardens?” Here’s how.
The oldest olive press in Anatolia.
“The Mistake: Writing a proposal that showcased knowledge rather than addressing the audience’s needs.” Indeed.
The Solution: cool downloads from Gapminder.
The only surviving illustrated Old English herbal. And, from several centuries later, a medieval book on how gardens will save you.
AramcoWorld on my favourite nut.
Cannibalism is a choice.
One kick-ass botanist.
Saving Ethiopia’s coffee forests. Nah, let’s just map the genome.
Vanilla has dark side.
The Profit of the Earth: cool new book on seeds, dark side and all.
Remember my little trip to the Spanish genebank? What they’re doing on brassica.

March 31, 2017March 31, 2017

Nibbles: Mango genebank, Japanese elite fruit, Mother Hass, African cattle diversity, New wild ginger, Seed saving, False ivory, ABS, Deforestation, Blight causes, Desert ag, Conserving potatoes, Imperial botany

Goa to set up a mango genebank. Where do I donate?
The murky world of really expensive Japanese fruit.
What is this one avocado tree worth?
The importance of indigenous African cattle breeds.
You can never have too many wild ginger species.
Saving seeds in South Carolina.
Seeds save elephants.
IFPRI meeting discusses the increasing complexity of germplasm access and benefit sharing.
Food giants look to their greenify their value chains. Will they finally decide to secure their genetic base too?
Irish potato famine: don’t blame the near-fungus.
Chinese oasis is engineering wonder: and the crops?
Pachamama and the ever-so-humble potato.
Review of book on the imperial origins of botany.

March 17, 2017

Nibbles: Chocolate & deforestation, Sweet potato breeding, Diversification, Aurochs redux, Flower viewing, Saharan history, CeCaCT

Chocolate makers decide to go green. How about conserving the genetic resources of the crop, though?
“Being a crop breeder in the modern world sometimes feels like being a fire fighter equipped with a very slow truck.”
UNDP supports agricultural diversification.
Reconstructing the aurochs.
We could all do with some hanami. And a hug.
Livestock keeping caused the Sahara?
President of Fiji visits regional genebank. Cue photo of people peering at test tubes.

March 15, 2017

Nibbles: Give a man a chicken, Pollinator selection, Bananapocalypse redux, Red kiwi, ICARDA genebank, Dark comms, Food design, Traditional diets, Revitalizing villages, Peruvian diversity, Moving botany

Which should come first, the chicken or the cash? MIL unavailable for comment.
Pollinators are mini plant breeders.
Save the Cavendish! No, wait…
There’s a red kiwi coming. Eventually. No, not left-wing New Zealanders.
ICARDA decentralizes its genebank. But we knew that.
GFAR webinars on communicating research.
Designing food. What could possibly go wrong?
Decolonize it instead.
Ecotourism in Portugal. No word on whether decolonized food involved.
Kickstarter on documenting food crops in Peru, decolonized or not.
Tracing the colonization and (hopefully) decolonization of economic botany products. Fascinating idea.