- “By fitting gold wires to the back of individual whitefly and measuring the electro-chemical signals as they fed on the plant sap, the team found the insects spent more time ‘roaming’ and less time feeding on the wild varieties than those which settled on the commercial plants.”
- New Iraqi plants includes onion wild relative.
- Early farmers couldn’t stop fiddling with the bones of their dead.
- “That message has come through clearly. Flavor is a priority because if people don’t want to eat carrots, they’re not going to buy them.”
It’s already happening
It seems the majority of species examined are already affected by #climatechange Camille Parmesan #SpeciesOnTheMove pic.twitter.com/XzH7vZje8c
— Clare Hawkins (@Ottercivet) February 9, 2016
That’s from a summary of 5 meta-analyses, covering 4000 species. Follow at #SpeciesOnTheMove.
Nibbles: Poleward migration, Pulse infographic, Vodka, Ancient horse DNA, Old fish, Certified cacao, On farm book, Coarse millets, Banana diversity, Pearl millet demo
- Species flying poleward.
- FAO unveils pulse infographic. No word on whether any are harvestable by machine.
- Potato farmer adds value the old-fashioned way.
- Talking of old, here’s a really old horse.
- And the oldest evidence of fermentation for food preservation. But you’ll need a strong stomach.
- KitKat is certified crap.
- How (and Why) Farmers Maintain Crop Diversity: The Book. Some reviews.
- And here’s a specific example from India.
- And here, courtesy of Bioversity’s Ann Tutwiler, is why farmers need some help sometimes.
- Oh and here’s another one. People visit ICRISAT genebank in Niger, see stuff they like.
Nibbles: Meta-organic, Wild ginseng, Ancient Australia, Insect nutrition, King Corn, Early nutrition, Funny olives, CWR control, Damn dams
- The latest meta-analysis of organic agriculture says it can feed the world.
- The latest update on saving the wild ginseng adds pretty much nothing to previous updates.
- The latest look at Aboriginal land burning says it did no damage.
- The latest study of insects as feed says they’re good for you. Still no word on whether they’re good.
- Not sure whether I’ve ever seen a study linking biotech corn for biofuels with the abandonment of rotation, but it makes sense. And more.
- The latest investigation of early childhood nutrition still says it’s important.
- The latest Italian food scam involves painting olives.
- The latest pean to crop wild relatives says it’s still about control, man.
- The latest report on dams again says you have to be careful.
A valentine for a crop wild relative
Kudos to Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) for nominating a crop wild relative as their favourite unloved species. I’m sure we can think of a few more…
