- The Guardian has a leader on the potato. Please let this year end soon. And thanks, Danny.
- Lucy Appleby RIP.
- Inner city farming in the UK.
- Gary Nabhan on where apples came from, and where they’re going. And more. Thanks again, Danny!
- Tracking bees’ response to climate change by satellite.
- Mars thinks cacao biodiversity is important. No news from Earth.
- The “keyhole gardens” of Lesotho.
Farming and tourism
You may remember my recent post from Lima bemoaning the lost opportunity of linking agrobiodiversity education with tours of an archaeological site. Here’s an example of such an opportunity emphatically grasped. An historic farmhouse in Rhode Island is offering “visitors, particularly children, a glimpse into the lost world of small-scale farming in New England, when the distance between the chicken coop and the dinner plate was much shorter.” And that includes heirloom varieties, for example of tomatoes, of which the staff grow 30. They also keep some local ((Later: Ok, Jeremy, how about “locally important”?)) livestock breeds, including Red Devon cattle, famous for pulling settlers’ wagon trains West.
“One of the things we’ve worked on since we’ve been here is constantly trying to cultivate in people’s minds and hearts a preservation ethic, not just about preserving an old house,” he said, “but preserving landscapes.”
Nibbles: Ancient grains, ex situ, onions, organic, marine resources
- Lots of new products feature ancient grains; King Tut unavailable for comment.
- How genebanks work. Both Jeremy and Luigi available for comment and editing services.
- Crackdown on onion smuggling.
- Alleged myths about organic farming.
- First Americans ate seaweed.
Talking about neglected crops
AGFAX Radio was at the recent Arusha meeting on neglected crops and has a whole bunch of interviews online (with transcripts):
- National treasures
- International viewpoints
- Nutritional benefits
- Social aspects
- Why Tanzania is ahead
- Mighty baobab
- From weed to cash crop: Amaranth
- Improving the varieties
- The farmer’s view
- The market for underutilized vegetables
Don’t forget the follow-up e-conference is still on.
Nibbles: Indo-Europeans, Ecosystems, Urban ag, Aquaculture, Pigs, Rice
- More on The Horse, the Wheel and Language. Giddyup!
- More species means more productivity. At least in the Patagonian steppe.
- Bogota urban agriculture to embrace native species.
- Ohio farmers to rear Amazonian fish. Amazonian farmers unavailable for comment.
- I wonder if Turkish pigs are genetically interesting.
- Ifugau rice terraces being abandoned by “world’s best rice farmers.” Ok that’s weird, because they’re also supposed to solve the rice shortage problem. Gosh, this is probably worth more than just a nibble.