- People of Rapa Nui innovated as they collapsed.
- “Extinct” Bird Seen, Eaten. Sorry, National Geographic, but I can’t better that headline. Worthy of Fark.
- Kimchi madness.
- Coming to a protected are near you: moving species to save them from climate change. CWR, anyone?
- Shrinking the C footprint of traditional peanut processing. Via.
- 15 Evolutionary Gems: alas, nothing from crops, livestock. Surely domestication could have made it in there.
- “Bulgarian wine cellars have already announced that they will plant vines with the mysterious and newly recovered variety of grapes near the Orpheus tomb.”
- And more ancient wine, this time from Malta.
- Bioversity International wises up on dismal science, launches new economics webpages.
- Wild forest foods big hit at FAO booth at Lao and International Food Festival last weekend in Vientiane.
Agrobiodiversity and the food crisis
UNEP has just published The environmental food crisis – The environment’s role in averting future food crises. ((Nellemann, C., MacDevette, M., Manders, T., Eickhout, B., Svihus, B., Prins, A. G., Kaltenborn, B. P. (Eds). February 2009. The environmental food crisis – The environment’s role in averting future food crises. A UNEP rapid response assessment. United Nations Environment Programme, GRID-Arendal. ISBN: 978-82-7701-054-0)) I found out about it because its illustrations are separately available on the GRID-Arendal website and I subscribe to its feed. Which is weird, because I’d have thought UNEP would make more of this. Maybe I just missed the announcement of the launch.
Any agricultural biodiversity in it, I hear you ask. Actually, perhaps surprisingly, yes. There’s a box on “Using crop genetic diversity to combat pests and diseases in agriculture” on page 57. There’s a box on “Enhancing sustainability through the use of crop wild relatives” on page 74. And, though admittedly it doesn’t address agrobiodiversity specifically, there’s a section on increasing research investment in agriculture on page 81. I’ll take that.
Nibbles: Bananas, Sorghum, Agave, Big vs small, Cauliflower, Wine, Chestnut, Farmers’ rights, India, Aquaculture, Medicinals, Tarpan
- How they grow bananas in Fadan Karshi, Nigeria.
- How they grow sorghum in Karamoja, Uganda.
- How tequila is ruining small farms in Mexico. Or is it?
- How small farms cannot feed Africa. Or can they? Join the debate! Via.
- How the Brits plan to rebrand cauliflower. This I gotta see.
- How the ancient Chinese made wine out of rice, honey, and fruit. Pass the bottle.
- How Georgia is mapping where its chestnuts used to be.
- How farmers’ rights are being implemented.
- How Indian agriculture should move beyond wheat and rice. Ok, but what would everybody eat?
- How microsatellites can be used to help catfish breeding.
- How Ni Wayan Lilir is helping people learn about the traditional healing herbs of Bali.
- How the Brits brought back the Konik.
A citrus species in need of research?
It seems that citrus canker, a nasty bacterial disease, has been officially eradicated in Australia. Good news, but there is a bit of a dark lining. Along with 495,000 commercial citrus trees and 4000 residential trees, the eradication programme has included destroying a lot of trees of native Citrus glauca in the affected area. Desert Lime is well-known bush tucker, as well as a potential resource for Citrus breeding. It’s not currently considered endangered, but there’s not really all that much research about it ((That’s a bit of a casual way of introducing the fascinating Australian New Crops Web Site. Thanks to Danny for the tip.)), so that might be optimistic. There are only 8 germplasm accessions worldwide (page 29), apparently. That sounds inadequate to me. Especially given the historic proportions of the current drought, which is affecting the whole of SE Australia, including areas of C. glauca.
LATER: See also a map of the latest spate of bushfires in Australia. A threat to this and other crop wild relatives?
Nibbles: Wolf, Conservation agriculture, ODI, Food policy, Stress, Sustainability
- Evidence of extrogression from dogs. That would be the opposite of introgression, and there are apparently lots of examples from mammals.
- “Conservation agriculture is an essential element of … intensification.†Oh please.
- Simon Maxwell, director of the Overseas Development Institute, on the Millennium Villages etc. Lukewarm, I’d say.
- Louise Fresco makes bread at TED. Fiat Panis, eh?
- India to manage abiotic stresses. I’ve got a few of those I’d like to manage a bit better.
- Arab nations discuss differences of opinion on sustainability. Someone tell me the bottom line.