Agrobiodiversity is crops, livestock, foodways, microbes, pollinators, wild relatives …
Traits deemed ideal in a bio-energy crop are also commonly found among invasive species
From a fascinating post at Invasive Notes, listing the species tagged as prospective biofuels, many of which are indeed already classified as invasive weeds. This is a monumental labour, and a great resource for which I am sure researchers will be grateful.
Glenn says fruit should be cheaper. How about free?
“Conserving Biodiversity – The UK Approach” has just been launched, and very worthy it is too. There are many sensible suggestions, including about what individuals can do. And there’s much talk of “joined up working across the public, voluntary and business sectors,” and of “a more holistic or ecosystems approach” which recognizes “the interconnections between living things, their environment, and the services they provide.” In fact, the press release kinda reminded me of a recent article about buzzwords whose whole first paragraph consisted of one buzzword after another.
The one buzzword that’s missing, of course, is agrobiodiversity. But you knew that.
Despite all the hand-waving about joined-up holistic interconnected strategic partnerships, in 24 pages there is one — oblique — reference to traditional farming, and one sentence on the desirability of something called “agri-environment schemes.” There’s also a weird table on the implementation of the strategy in the four countries that make up the UK, which is supposed to outline the biodiversity duty of public bodies as determined by legislation (p. 10). The word “agriculture” appears in the sections on England and Northern Ireland, but it really is very difficult to understand what that actually means. And that’s it.
Maybe somebody who knows more about this document — and the process which gave rise to it — can help us out here. Was the exclusion of agricultural biodiversity from the national strategic framework for biodiversity conservation in the UK a matter of conscious choice? Or did it just fall through the cracks, as usual?
A guy from the city is taking a Sunday drive in the country. As he passes an orchard, he sees a farmer standing under an apple tree near the road, holding up a small pig who is eating apples off the tree. Amazed, he pulls over, gets out, and asks the farmer what in the world he’s doing.
The farmer says “Well, Petunia here can’t reach the apples by herself, so I’m giving her a little help.”
The city slicker can’t believe what he’s hearing. “Isn’t that an amazing waste of time?”
The farmer responds, puzzled: “What’s time to a pig?”
With appreciative thanks to Language Log.
The latest issue of Oekologie, a blog carnival, is up at Laelaps. ((And thanks, Brian, for accepting a late entry.)) Some choice gems there in our line of work. 21st Century Citizen has a list of “six classic books on organic growing” that is (seeks delicate word) idiosyncratic. There are a couple in there that I would definitely agree with. A couple that I personally would ditch in favour of others. And a couple that I haven’t read. But hey! It’s her list. Maybe some day I’ll do my own. Then there’s a good post from Living the Scientific Life about a research paper suggesting that African farmers use African bees to manage African elephants. The idea is full of holes, as the authors ((One of them an old colleague. Hey Fritz, how’s things?)) are the first to admit, but nevertheless an interesting approach to a difficult problem.