Agrobiodiversity is crops, livestock, foodways, microbes, pollinators, wild relatives …
Also in The Economist, news that a little patch of prairie has turned up in the middle of urban St Louis, Missouri. It’s in a graveyard in the north of the city.
There could be some crop wild relatives in this 25-acre remnant, I suppose: wild sunflowers, maybe? No word on whether there are any bison there, or whether they will be re-introduced as part of the management plan, which at the moment involves controlled burning and weeding.
How did an obscure Chinese concoction made by fermenting soybeans become one of the world’s favourite all-purpose seasonings? Read about it in The Economist, it’s fascinating. Or listen. I had no idea there were so many different types of the stuff.
Our friend and occasional contributor Andy Jarvis was interviewed recently in Nairobi on the occasion of the first Africa Agriculture Geospatial Week. Read all about why he is so “promiscuous.”
Sandor Katz has even had a poem written about his singular obsession:
Come on friends and lend me an ear,
I’ll explain the connection between wine and beer,
And sourdough and yogurt and miso and kraut,
What they have in common is what it’s all about.
Oh the microorganisms, Oh the microorganisms. . .
But don’t let that put you off. Katz is the author of Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods. You can read the introduction, and various other excerpts online, as well as order the book, of course. Microbes are agricultural biodiversity too!
This is a new one on me. Cropwatch “is an independent watchdog for Endangered & Vulnerable Natural Aromatic Products used in the Aroma (Perfumes, Flavours, Aromatherapy, Cosmetics), Herbal, Traditional Medicine & Phytochemical Industries.” All those capitals give a bit of the flavour of the site. Let’s just say it’s not really beautiful. But it is informative.