Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog
Agrobiodiversity is crops, livestock, foodways, microbes, pollinators, wild relatives …
Our friend Alex Chepstow-Lusty, not content with the phenomenal exposure his work on llama dung is already receiving, has kindly agreed to write a small piece for us too, ruminating on his findings. Thanks, Alex! For the photos too. BTW, that’s Alex down there with the laptop and the mite. Llamas become important in the …
Two food slideshows for your delectation today. One celebrates the orange-fleshed sweet potato and other nu-nutritional delights. Or, as Wired magazine puts it: “a visit to the laboratory of the International Potato Center in Maputo, Mozambique, where biofortification researchers are saving lives with starch”. Gabba gabba hey! The other is from Foreign Policy magazine, which …
While irrigation and market improvements could help, it would be reduction of processing time from hours to minutes made possible by mechanical hullers that might achieve most, “allowing women to take advantage of both their preferences for reduced labour loads and for the taste of millets in their everyday diets.” I’ve quoted this before. It …
Continue reading “Saving crops through mechanization on three continents”
A first (of many, we hope) guest post from our friend and colleague Colin Khoury. In the field of conservation of plant genetic resources, it is commonly stated that a very limited number of plant species feed the world. A number of publications, especially in the 1970’s and 1980’s, provided different angles on how many …
A rum story from Haiti. And another, though a different sort of rum. Quinoa and buckwheat best for coeliacs. Video of food crisis in Nepal. In other news, there’s a food crisis in Nepal. Forest fruits need markets too.