- Disease risk perception and diversity of management strategies by farmers: The case of anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides on water yams (Dioscorea alata) in Guadeloupe. Farmers gauge the disease pretty much the way scientists do, and use a diversity of mitigation measures, including diversity.
- Ghosts of Cultivation Past – Native American Dispersal Legacy Persists in Tree Distribution. “In the southern Appalachian region, honey locust distributions are more a reflection of Native American cultural practices.”
- Good year, bad year: changing strategies, changing networks? A two-year study on seed acquisition in northern Cameroon. In bad years, women call on extended networks.
- Conservation narratives in Peru: envisioning biodiversity in sustainable development. In terms of the relationship between conservation and development, there are biodiversity protectionists, traditionalists, localists, pragmatists, and capitalists.
- Diversity analysis based on agro-morphological traits and microsatellite based markers in global germplasm collections of roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.). Nicely complementary datasets show that fibre type more diverse than calyx type.
- Extinction probabilities of Hassawi cattle from Saudi Arabia using Population Viability Analysis. Fancy maths gives it 20 years.
- Genome to Phenome Mapping in Apple Using Historical Data. Going back to old phenotype data in GRIN allowed identification of SNPs for color, fruit firmness, and harvest time.
- Genomic and archaeological evidence suggest a dual origin of domestic dogs. Independent domestications from different wolf populations in East Asia and in Western Europe, with the latter partially displacing the former.
The man who changed coffee
We talked about the legendary Ethiopian coffee landrace called Geisha a couple of times on the blog, but I don’t think we ever mentioned by name the guy who actually first took it from CATIE’s genebank in Turrialba, Costa Rica to Panama, and thence the world. Well, his name was Pachi Sarracín, and he unfortunately just passed away.
He was responsible for the arrival of the Geisha variety in Panama, in the late seventies, and years later the consecration of Panamanian Geisha as the undisputed star of Latin American coffee plantations.
In his hands, and those of a small group of pioneers, Geisha went from a half-forgotten variety in a research center in Turrialba, Costa Rica, to become the most valued on the market. I’ve never tasted anything more subtle, elegant, delicate and stimulating. It took only two sips of his Don Pachi Estate to captivate me and get me hooked.
Quite a legacy.
Gold lost and found
As an astute researcher, the doctor grew curious about the Carolina Gold he’d read so much about. And he soon discovered that seed for the original plant was still being banked at the USDA’s Rice Research Institute in Texas. After Schulze made an inquiry with the USDA, an agronomist named Richard Bollock, who shared his curiosity regarding the plant, propagated the seed for him, sending him 14 pounds of the stuff, and he planted it. The following spring, the doctor harvested 64 pounds; by 1988, it was 10,000 pounds. Instead of selling the rice commercially, Schulze donated it to the Savannah Association for the Blind, which sold it to support operations.
We knew that, but nice to get an update.
Oh, and incidentally, the legendary Carolina Gold turns out to also be the source of a nifty new mechanism of resistance to a serious bacterial disease (h/t Lindsay Triplett).
Sustainable food security on the Cam
CCF’s ever-popular Summer Symposium series continues with an event co-organised with the Global Food Security Initiative, Cambridge Conservation Initiative, UCCRI and Centre of Development Studies. The day will explore solutions to ensuring the supply and distribution of enough food for all whilst conserving ecosystems and biodiversity in the face of population growth, economic growth and changing climate.
CCF is the Cambridge Conservation Forum, and whether their summer symposia are indeed “ever-popular” or not, this year’s edition, on Food Security, Sustainability and Conservation, does look pretty inviting. It’s on 24 June and you can book now. Worth a punt. 1
With our own award
You remember this book, right? We enthused about it over a year ago when it first came out.
An old friend, Frederik van Oudenhoven, and his friend and colleague Jamila Haider, are deep in the proofs of what looks to be a wonderful book. With Our Own Hands “tells, for the first time, the cultural and agricultural history of the Afghan and Tajik Pamirs, one of the world’s least known and most isolated civilisations”. Should be a great read, with stunning photographs to accompany the local recipes, essays, stories and poetry. Better yet, generous donors are allowing 1800 copies to travel back to the Pamirs to be given to communities, schools, cooks and libraries.
Well, Fred and Jamila have now won the 2016 Gourmand World Cookbook Award, the Oscars of the cookbook world. You can see photos on the book’s Facebook page. And all without mentioning superfoods. Congratulations!
And by the way, you can listen to Fred talk about the book with Jeremy on Eat This Podcast.