- Long-term evidence for ecological intensification as a pathway to sustainable agriculture. Meta-analysis of 30 long-term experiments from Europe and Africa comprising 25,565 data points shows that increasing crop diversity and adding fertility crops and organic matter are as good for the yield of staple crops as N fertilization, but don’t add much if you already have the latter, and vice versa.
- Revisiting the adequacy of the economic policy narrative underpinning the Green Revolution. If only the Green Revolutionaries had know the above, eh? Anyway, remember institutions, people.
- Agroecological practices increase farmers’ well-being in an agricultural growth corridor in Tanzania. Higher awareness of the benefits of nature plus more engagement with extension services mean more adoption of agroecological practices means farmers are better off. Green Revolutionaries unavailable for comment. Institutions rejoice.
- Intangible links between household livelihoods and food security in Solomon Islands: implications for rural development. Diversifying livelihoods isn’t always associated with better food security.
- Access to and Utilization of Wild Species for Food and Nutrition Security in Teso and Acholi Sub-regions of Uganda. Wait, does the above mean that decreasing access to wild foods may not necessarily matter? Why does this stuff have to be so hard?
- Climate Change and Seed System Interventions Impact on Food Security and Incomes in East Africa. More crop diversity on farms “helps farmers cope with climate change and increases productivity, food availability, incomes and food security.” Not so hard after all.
- Welfare impacts of improved groundnut varieties adoption and food security implications in the semi-arid areas of West Africa. Adopting new peanut varieties is good for farmers. Wait, so the opposite of more crop diversity? Why does this stuff have to be so hard?
- Situating Plant Genetic Resource in the K-12 Curriculum: A Critical Review. Maybe we should all go back to school.
I see your podcasts, and raise you a clutch of videos
Brainfood: Russian PGRFA, Afghanistan wheat, Nepal wheat, Food miles & emissions, Agroecology and nutrition, European ag transition, Agrobiodiversity index, Sicilian durum, Indian fruits, Wild apples, Cider,
- Genetic resources in Russia: from collections to bioresource centers. Ok, but why can’t they be both?
- Sowing the wheat seeds of Afghanistan’s future. Breed, fortify, irrigate, rebuild the knowledge base, invest in seed systems, engage farmers, include women, have the right policies. And hope for the best. No sign of bioresource centers, alas.
- Variation in Grain Zinc and Iron Concentrations, Grain Yield and Associated Traits of Biofortified Bread Wheat Genotypes in Nepal. Maybe Nepal can help Afghanistan, wheat-wise?
- Global food-miles account for nearly 20% of total food-systems emissions. Not a worry for Afghanistan or Russia, I suspect.
- Can agroecology improve food security and nutrition? A review. Yes. Afghanistan and Russia to be alerted.
- The geography of megatrends affecting European agriculture. Climate change, demographic change, (post-) productivism, and increasingly stringent environmental regulations mainly work together to destabilize the current system. Russia unavailable for comment.
- Agrobiodiversity Index Report 2021: Assessing Mediterranean food systems. Conservation of agricultural biodiversity doesn’t automatically translate into diversity in diets. I’d like to see the data for Russia and Afghanistan.
- Intra- and Inter-Population Genetic Diversity of “Russello” and “Timilia” Landraces from Sicily: A Proxy towards the Identification of Favorable Alleles in Durum Wheat. Lots of interesting variation in Sicilian wheat landraces. Now to get Sicilians to eat more diverse pasta.
- Global interdependence for fruit genetic resources: status and challenges in India. Maybe India could help Afghanistan. And vice versa. Wouldn’t that be a thing. Meanwhile, no word on the diversity of Indian fruit consumption.
- Wild Apples Are Not That Wild: Conservation Status and Potential Threats of Malus sieversii in the Mountains of Central Asia Biodiversity Hotspot. Climate change is coming for wild apples, and there’s only so much that protected areas can do. I believe Russia knows a thing or two about apple genebanks.
- Cider and dessert apples: What is the difference? Not much, as it turns out. But all I can think of now is wild apple cider.
US CWR website ready for prime time
The data behind the recent paper Crop wild relatives of the United States require urgent conservation action, led by friend-of-the-blog Colin Khoury, is online in beta.
Do check it out, and fill out the user survey. Kudos to the first person to identify the crop wild relative in the map reproduced above. Orange shows the ex situ conservation gap. Genesys records just 3 accessions for this species.
The trouble with buffel grass
Cenchrus ciliaris (buffel grass) is a valued forage and fodder species both in Africa and the regions of Asia where it is native, and in the other parts of the sub-humid and semi-arid tropics and subtropics where it has become naturalized or is cultivated.
“The buffel grass has been there from the days of my father, grandparents to my great grandparents,” says [Geoffrey] Letakaan [of Baringo County, Kenya]. “This grass has a lot of value. If fed to cows, they fatten within three months. There is also hay for baling, and it is also used for thatching. In the past, the elders used to say ‘nangrongong’, meaning ‘it (the buffel grass) is on the hills’ such as Arabal and Mukutani hills… People should plant this grass – everyone.”
There are almost 4000 accessions in genebanks around the world, which are being genotyped, phenotyped and improved.
And yet, not all is well, as a tweet from GRAIN recently alerted me.
In Australia, where the grass is introduced, it is becoming a serious threat to native wildlife and habitats, with calls for its extirpation in some areas.
It’s … important to note controlling buffel doesn’t require its eradication from pastoral regions where it’s valued. It does, however, require a national commitment and dedicated research, with strategic, coordinated and committed action.
And even back in its native African range, specifically in the Baringo region of Kenya, there are problems. According to GRAIN:
Over the past few decades, a man named Murray Roberts, known to locals as “Omari” has led an effort to try and transform the local management of buffel grass – from a system based on communal land ownership and pastoralism to one based on private landholdings and intensive farming.
The issue is Roberts’ application for plant breeders’ rights over a number of buffel grass varieties, starting about 10 years back.
For many local pastoralists, Roberts is trying to claim ownership over their biodiversity. Eresia Erige, a Baringo community member, says that as soon as the community became aware of Roberts’ application for a breeders’ right, local elders went up the hills and collected samples to compare with the varieties grown by RAE. They found that it was the same grass. For Erige, “The grass belongs to the hills and therefore, its seeds and farming in general should be for all and not be privatised.”
The tug-of-war between Roberts and the Baringo pastoralists continues.
In both Australia and Kenya, buffel grass is affecting the welfare of Indigenous communities, in one case by threatening cultural sites, in the other by what is seen as an attempt to control access to its diversity. In neither case have the local communities had much of a say.