A mania for completeness compels me to take note here of two conferences about which we found out way too late. Various stars of the food security firmament met at the First International Conference on Global Food Security, 29 Sept-2 Oct at Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands. Note for example the presence among keynote speakers of our old pal Jess Fanzo. David Tilman, a diversity guru we have quoted here on occasion, was also in attendance. Meanwhile, over in Oxford, U.K. there was Biosymposium 2013 on 2-3 October, this year with a focus on biodiversity and resilience. Much less of direct interest to us here, apart from the contribution of another old pal, Ehsan Dulloo of Bioversity, tucked away in Session 2. If any of our readers were at either conference, and would like to share their impressions as they relate to agricultural biodiversity, I would hope by now they know what to do.
Featured: Seed rights
Matthew Dillon, of Seed Matters, starts off gently enough on the subject of saving seeds …
It’s very difficult to tell a complex story to a non-professional audience. I think the question is: is it better to tell a story that lacks nuance and deep facts in order to initiate conversation that might lead to a public more informed on ag policy, or is it better to not tell the story at all and let the same group of professional/advocates be the only ones in the conversation?
But then he sticks the boot in, a splendid sight to behold. So behold it.
Featured: Cool potatoes
Isabel, possibly wearing a hat marked Policymaker, has this to say about sacred values:
I love Agata, the potato with French accent. In my view, the potatos represent a pretty accurate picture of a major part of the reality in Europe. Olivia, the farmer, doesn’t.
Facts are not sacred; values are
Scientists, especially young fire-in-the-belly scientists but also many who have grown old making a living at it, are often convinced that if only people understood (or believed?) as they do, those people would come to the “correct” decisions. I know, I was one myself for a long time. Now, Jonathan Swift and Upton Sinclair are my guys. 1 Increasingly, though, it is surely becoming clear that facts alone change few minds. Last week’s New Scientist carried an editorial to that effect, about climate change. Adam Corner wrote:
How did the rational arguments of science and economics fail to win the day? There are many reasons, but an important one concerns human nature.
Through a growing body of psychological research, we know that scaring or shaming people into sustainable behaviour is likely to backfire. We know that it is difficult to overcome the psychological distance between the concept of climate change – not here, not now – and people’s everyday lives. We know that beliefs about the climate are influenced by extreme and even daily weather.
What has that to do with me here? Consider this video (and do, please, watch it through):
To me it is utterly charming; amusing, entertaining, well-executed, high-quality. It pushes all the right buttons. Never mind that a farmer growing spuds for The Man is unlikely to have a Big Red Barn or chickens clucking in the farmyard. It is clearly OUTRAGEOUS that she is not allowed to save her own potato propagating material, or “seeds” as our scientific friends might say. And I’m pretty sure that is how it will be seen, and welcomed, by everybody whose confirmation biases it confirms.
Like me, wearing my hat labelled Communicator.
And hated by everyone wearing a Scientist or Policymaker or Seed Industry hat. And me, wearing my other hats.
There is plenty that I could say about both the content and the assumptions on which that charming film is built, but it would be folly. There is also plenty I could say to the Scientists and Policymakers and Seed Industrialists about making their own case, and that would probably be folly too.
So I’m looking forward to your comments.
Featured: Banana export
Anne Vezina rails at banana taxonomists, and adds:
…the problem with exporting Misi Luki is that its skin bruises easily. While it’s true that local banana landraces are underutilized in general, it’s even truer of the bananas domesticated in the Pacific, which Misi Luki is not. The best known are the Maoli, Popoulu and Iholena bananas but the western Pacific is also host to a diversity of cultivars that have yet to be classified, much less evaluated for their export potential.