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Landscape-agro-ecology

The February issue of BioScience has an article about the connectivity of the agricultural landscape in the USA. Margaret Margosian and colleagues used a graph-theoretical approach to characterize the ‘resistance’ of the American landscape against the spread of crop pests and diseases 1. The idea is that the resistance of the landscape to, say the spread of a maize disease, is higher if there is less maize planted in a region. The authors show that wheat, grown in distinct and poorly connected regions, is less vulnerable than soybean, which is grown in a single contiguous region. They suggest that this approach should be helpful for risk assessment and responding to newly introduced diseases. So far, the results are at the level of a general characterization. It would be great if they could validate their predictions with observed disease data. That will be hard, as there are many other factors, like local weather, that come into play.

But it should be possible. Landscape effects on pest abundance were recently quantified by Douglas Landis and coworkers 2. They found that:

Recent biofuel-driven growth in corn planting results in lower landscape diversity, altering the supply of aphid natural enemies to soybean fields and reducing biocontrol services by 24%. This loss of biocontrol services cost soybean producers in these states an estimated $58 million per year in reduced yield and increased pesticide use.

Now think of the work by Claire Kremen and co-workers showing how landscape pattern influences the ‘pollination ecosystem service’ by wild bees 3.

And the call for ecological engineering of landscapes to avoid outbreaks of rice pest. And conservationists that work on shade trees in coffee fields, to help birds and other wild organisms — and get high quality coffee.

I think we are witnessing the coming of age of landscape-agro-ecology. The study of agriculture and its biodiversity beyond the field scale.

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Indigenous pasta sauces

I don’t think we nibbled it here, but I did post on Facebook a news story about how Italy is thinking of banning ethnic restaurants. This elicited more comments than I usually get. One friend said he’d send me a kebab in the mail. I politely declined, citing health concerns. Another suggested such a ban would be a good idea, as most ethnic restaurants in Italy are terrible, even when — or is it because — they absorb local ingredients and ways of doing things. 4 My wife wondered whether the move might set off tit-for-tat bans on Italian restaurants — including pizzerias 5 — around the world. And another commenter wondered what Italian cuisine would be like if pasta sauces featured only indigenous agrobiodiversity. That means no tomatoes. One sauce that I could think of that is composed solely of ingredients that could be said to be native to Italy — whatever that might mean — is pesto. Anyway, one thing is for certain, such a cuisine would probably drive me to kebabs.

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Grappa family awards prizes

You may have read that the Premio Nonino, a prestigious international literary prize, has just been awarded. I myself knew nothing of it, and only heard about it for the first time on the news a couple of days ago. The prize has an interesting, agrobiodiversity-themed history. Nonino is the name of the family-owned distillery that has revolutionized the making of grappa in the past few decades. Grappa is an Italian spirit concocted from pomace, the grape seeds, stalks and stems discarded by wine makers.

The character of Grappa changed in the 1960s, thanks, largely to the efforts of one woman РGiannola Nonino. Her Nonino distillery, in Percoto Italy, has been producing Grappa since 1897. In the early 1970s, she began making Grappa from a single grape, as opposed to the customary m̩lange of grape leftovers. She sought to make a quality drink, one to rival the great eaux-de-vie of France. It was an uphill battle. She sold very little of her first, 1973, production. Undaunted, she offered her Grappa free to journalists, restaurateurs, and asked that it be served at important commercial and government dinners. She poured the drink herself and told her story as she filled the glasses. Slowly, in this way, the charismatic Ms. Nonino created a following.

The Nonino Distillery’s first single grape Grappa was crafted from the Picolit grape. Today, over a dozen different grapes are used for single grape Grappas, called “monovitigno” Grappas, a term Ms. Nonino coined herself. In 1984, the same Nonino distillery gained government approval and began producing a higher quality Grappa made from whole fruit. They began with grapes and in the following years, produced products using cherries, pear, apricot, peach, and raspberry, among other fruits. Seeking a way to show off their new products, Nonino is also responsible for the stylish glass bottles in which Grappa today is sold, a dramatic change from the old medicinal-style bottles.

The Noninos first instituted a prize in 1975 with the aim of supporting efforts to save the ancient indigenous vines of the Friuli region of Italy. A literary prize came into being some years later “per sottolineare la permanente attualità della civiltà contadina” (to highlight the continuing relevance of rural culture). And finally an international literary prize was added. This last was won this year by, among others, the sociologist and documentary-maker Silvia Perez-Vitoria for her contribution to the “defence of farmers and spreading the values of ancestral knowledge.” One of the daughters of the redoubtable Giannola said, making the awards:

“We are proud that what started out as a project to promote the roots and traditions of Friuli has grown into a prize which honours those who cherish the roots and traditions of humanity as a whole.”

Nice thought.