It’s only the 10th anniversary of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture? Feels like a lifetime…
Practical Agricultural Development
Not that we have anything against plant breeders, no sir. But it is good to be reminded by MAT Kinase that breeding is not the only option. MAT’s five points:
- Agronomy comes first.
- The right varieties already exist.
- Infrastructure is essential.
- Risk matters as much as payoff.
- Don’t forget the social system!
All this from the tri-societies meeting in San Antonio in October.
Managing the Commons
Ostrom pointed to an authoritative study of 100 protected forests in 14 countries, which shows that the cooperation of local people is more important to preserving these commons than whether a national government, local officials or someone else actually oversees the forests. If the people who live there feel they benefit long-term from how the forests are managed, she notes, they make sure the rules are followed. “When local groups have the right to harvest non-timber resources, they are more likely to monitor and sanction those who break the rules.”
Punjab burning
Our pal Neil Palmer was in India recently to see how the farmers there deal with the debris after the rice harvest. The result is a stunning set of pictures. My question: is anybody doing anything to suggest that maybe some of that organic matter could be retained in the soil?
Champion goat photo bound to go viral
I KNOW you wanted another photo of that prize-winning Pakistani goat.
