Tag Archives: conservation

America’s dwindling diversity

Posted on July 13, 2014 by argylesock

Here’s a graphic picture about the range of crop varieties available to farmers and growers in the United States. A range falling and falling between 1903 and 1983. Of course some of the now-extinct varieties will have been weak, but … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, horticulture, knowledge transfer | Tagged America, biodiversity, biotechnology, conservation, crop diversity, genetic modification, history | 3 Comments

Syngenta withdraws application to use banned pesticide linked to bee harm

Posted on July 7, 2014 by argylesock

argylesock says… I’m not sure which neonic Syngenta wants to bring back here in Europe. Maybe all of the three which are temporarily banned: clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam. [Edit] Soon after this story broke, I’m feeling cynical about it. Maybe … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, ecology, horticulture | Tagged arthropod, Bayer, brassica, bumblebee, canola, clothianidin, commodity crop, conservation, crop, Europe, honeybee, hymenopteran, imidacloprid, insect, insecticide, law, National Farmers Union, neonicotinoid, oilseed, pesticide, plant_dicot, politics, pollination, rapeseed, seed dressing, sowing, Syngenta, thiamethoxam, trade, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, wild bee | Leave a comment

Biofortified GM bananas

Posted on June 22, 2014 by argylesock

James Dale is a scientist at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT, Australia). His lab has developed a genetically modified (GM, genetically engineered) banana (Musa × paradisiaca) rich in ‘pro-vitamin A’. Here’s the QUT report. This is the ‘super banana’ … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture, knowledge transfer | Tagged Africa, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, America, Asia, banana, banana Cavendish, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, biodiversity, biofortification, biotechnology, breeding, carotenoid, child, conservation, cotton, crop diversity, crop variety, development, East African cooking banana, food security, food sovereignty, fruit, fruit variety, gene, gene gun, genetic modification, iron, land grab, local variety, marker assisted backcrossing, micronutrient, Monsanto, nutrition, patent, plantain, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, poverty, pro-vitamin A, Provit Banana, research, rice, Scuba rice, seed, soya, staple food, super banana, tissue culture, trade, Vitamin A | 2 Comments

Call for articles: Nutritional values and family farming

Posted on June 16, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on AGRICULTURE BLOG…..:
Farming Matters | 30.2 | June 2014 We are told of the great advances that have been made in ‘modern’ agriculture in the last 60 years. Yet there are more hungry and malnourished people on…

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged access to food, agroecology, biotechnology, cash crop, conservation, crop, development, family farm, farmer, fertiliser, finance, food, food availability, food loss, food quality, food security, food sovereignty, food waste, forest, genetic modification, Green Revolution, intensive, iron, knowledge, land use, local community, nutrition, obesity, poverty, rural, smallholder, trade, tradition, Vitamin A, woodland, yield, young person | Leave a comment

Seed banks in soil

Posted on June 15, 2014 by argylesock

Chris at woodlands.co.uk tells us about ‘soil seed banks’. Growers and farmers know very well how seeds can live in soil, ready to germinate when conditions change. This can be wonderful, terrible or both. Chris’s article stirs an old seedbank … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, ecology, horticulture, knowledge transfer | Tagged bog, bryophyte, conservation, ecosystem, farmer, gardener, habitat restoration, keystone species, landscape, mining, moss, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, seed, seedbank, soil, wetland | Leave a comment

Gardens for wildlife

Posted on June 1, 2014 by argylesock

Here in Britain the gardening season looks good so far. Here’s an article about gardening for bees and other wildlife. Untidy gardeners like me are good gardeners for wildlife. It’s now a year since hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) bred in my … Continue reading →

Posted in ecology, horticulture, miniculture | Tagged apiculture, arthropod, breeding, bumblebee, clover, conservation, ecosystem, Europe, flower, foraging, fruit, garden, gardener, green manure, hedgehog, herb, hibernation, honeybee, hymenopteran, insect, invertebrate, leaf, mammal, nest, plant_dicot, rat, salad, vegetable, vertebrate, weed, wild bee, wild food, wild pollinator, wildlife | Leave a comment

Out of Sight, Out of Mind? A Visualization of Ocean Trash

Posted on May 18, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on Ocean News:
Project AWARE’s new interactive map is the first to visualize nearly three years of ongoing reporting by an international network of scuba divers who remove marine debris they find underwater through the Dive Against Debris…

Posted in ecology, knowledge transfer | Tagged Africa, America, Asia, conservation, data, Europe, finfish, fishing, glass, habitat loss, invertebrate, mammal, map, marine mammal, metal, paper, plastic, pollution, rubber, sea, shellfish, textile, vertebrate, waste, wildlife, wood | Leave a comment

Cultural traditions, environmental conservation and international development

Posted on May 5, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on Shonil Bhagwat:
Community mosaic, Edgbaston, Birmingham (Source: Jackie Nash Art) This mosaic is an example of living with difference in a multicultural society and forms a good analogy for the co-existence of cultural traditions, environmental conservation and…

Posted in food, knowledge transfer | Tagged art, conservation, development, farmer, gardener, religion, tradition | Leave a comment

The homogenisation and globalisation of diets

Posted on April 25, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on One Billion Hungry: Can We Feed the World?:
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that some 75% of the diversity of cultivated crops was lost during the 20th Century and, by 2050, we could lose…

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture, human health, money and trade | Tagged Africa, America, Asia, cassava, city, climate, conservation, crop, crop diversity, crop variety, development, disease, Europe, Food and Agriculture Organization, food safety, genetic diversity, grain, human, iodine, iron, law, micronutrient, millet, neglected crop, nutrition, pest, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, population, potato, prosperity, research, rice, rye, seedbank, staple food, sugar beet, sugar cane, sweet potato, trade, tuber, Vitamin A, wheat | 6 Comments

The Value of Soil

Posted on April 23, 2014 by argylesock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=403sT9CGRl0 A clever little film from the ELD Initiative (http://eld-initiative.org/) on the value of soil and the reasons why we should be pursuing sustainable land management systems.

Posted in agriculture, ecology, food, horticulture, knowledge transfer, money and trade | Tagged conservation, land grab, land use, soil, sustainable | Leave a comment