Tag Archives: millet

Real impact of neonicotinoid seed dressings stays buried

Posted on May 14, 2014 by argylesock

A temporary European ban on three insect-killing chemicals called neonicotinoids has been in force since December 2013. These neonics are called clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam. They’re used as seed dressings and soil treatments, among other things. Just after this ban … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, ecology | Tagged arthropod, barley, clothianidin, crop, Europe, flower, grain, honeybee, hymenopteran, imidacloprid, insect, insecticide, law, millet, neonicotinoid, oats, plant_monocot, pollination, pollution, rice, rye, seed, seed dressing, soil, sorghum, sowing, staple food, thiamethoxam, triticale, waterway, wheat, wild bee | 8 Comments

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

Remember the forgotten crops

Posted on December 24, 2013 by argylesock

This is my 1000th post on this blog. My 500th is here. I use my 1000th post to honour Monkombu Swaminathan, the scientist known as Father of the Green Revolution in India. Here’s an interview with Fred Pearce at Bioversity … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture, knowledge transfer | Tagged access to food, biofortification, biotechnology, breadfruit, conservation, corn, crop, crop diversity, crop variety, farmer, food, food sovereignty, genetic diversity, genetic modification, grain, Green Revolution, history, iron, Iron Rich Pearl Millet, maize, millet, neglected crop, nutrition, Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, population, poverty, research, rice, scientist, selective breeding, sorghum, staple food, sustainable, Vitamin A, wheat, zinc | 6 Comments

Millet

Posted on December 6, 2013 by argylesock

Millets are grasses with smaller seeds than the grains that people like me, in the rich world, know as our staple foods. We should notice other grains too, including millets. Millions of people appreciate millets as staple food and as … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer, money and trade | Tagged barley, cash crop, climate, corn, crop, crop variety, development, dryland, farmer, feed, food, foxtail millet, grain, knowledge, livestock, maize, millet, neglected crop, nutrition, oats, pearl millet, plant_monocot, poverty, rice, rye, selective breeding, sorghum, staple food, trade, value-added, wheat, wild rice, woman | 4 Comments

Agricultural biodiversity and climate change

Posted on November 22, 2013 by argylesock

Smallholders around the world favour diversity as they face changing, unpredictable climates. Bioversity International tells us how smallholders use biodiversity to adapt. ‘Given the prevalence and effectiveness of planting new crops and varieties as a coping mechanism, ensuring access to … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer, weather and climate | Tagged agroforestry, America, Asia, barley, biodiversity, biotechnology, breeding, cañahua, climate, climate-ready crop, conservation, crop, crop diversity, crop variety, disease, drought, farmer, finger millet, food, fruit, genetic modification, grain, isaño, kodo millet, late blight, legume, local variety, lychee, millet, neglected crop, nut, oca, papalisa, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, potato, potato Double H, potato Luki, pseudocereal, quinoa, rice, rice 1442, selective breeding, small millet, smallholder, spice, staple food, temperature, tradition, tuber, vegetable, water, weather, wheat, wheat NL297 | 9 Comments

History of Pearl millet

Posted on November 20, 2013 by argylesock

Originally posted on bbzfrankie:
Pearl millet is the most widely grown type of millet. It has been grown in Africa and the Indian subcontinent since prehistoric times. The center of diversity, and suggested area of domestication, for the crop is…

Posted in food, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged biofortification, breeding, child, crop, crop variety, domestication, food, grain, history, human, iron, Iron Rich Pearl Millet, millet, nutrition, pearl millet, plant_monocot, selective breeding, staple food | Leave a comment

Seeking sustainable crops

Posted on October 22, 2013 by argylesock

Elisabeth Braw at the Guardian tells us about the search for sustainable crops. She says that we in the rich world focus too much on a tiny number of staple food species. But ‘at one time during the past 10,000 … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer | Tagged African Biofortified Sorghum, banana, biodiversity, biofortification, bioprospecting, biotechnology, breeding, crop, crop variety, domestication, enset, farmer, food, food security, foraging, genetic modification, Iron Rich Pearl Millet, millet, neglected crop, nutrition, pearl millet, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, selective breeding, smallholder, sorghum, staple food, sustainable, wild food | 5 Comments

Pest evolves better resistance to insecticidal GM crops

Posted on September 21, 2013 by argylesock

A few days ago I reblogged a post about genetically modified (GM, also called genetically engineered, GE) crops. I said that in my opinion, my fellow blogger Nasir Butt at Agriculture Information Bank sounds a little bit naïve in that … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, knowledge transfer | Tagged arthropod, biotechnology, Bt crop, Bt toxin, corn, DNA, evolution, gene, genetic modification, grain, insect, insecticide, insecticide resistance, knowledge, lepidopteran, maize, millet, Monsanto, moth, pearl millet, pest, pesticide, pesticide resistance, plant_monocot, research, sorghum, stalk borer, staple food | 3 Comments

Iron-Rich Pearl Millet against malnutrition

Posted on September 9, 2013 by argylesock

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is a staple food in resource-poor parts of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Many kids raised on pearl millet, or whose mothers ate mostly pearl millet, don’t get enough iron to grow up healthy. Now here’s pearl … Continue reading →

Posted in food, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged biofortification, child, development, food, grain, iron, Iron Rich Pearl Millet, knowledge, millet, nutrition, pearl millet, plant_monocot, research, selective breeding, staple food, woman | 4 Comments

The importance of seed diversity

Posted on August 15, 2013 by argylesock

Originally posted on One Billion Hungry: Can We Feed the World?:
Seeds might be small, inconspicuous things but they hold a great deal of power. For some, seeds mean survival, ritual, life. They are the basis of much of the…

Posted in food, knowledge transfer | Tagged breeding, conservation, corn, crop, crop diversity, crop variety, development, food, food sovereignty, genebank, genetic diversity, grain, Green Revolution, history, intensive, knowledge, local variety, maize, millet, neglected crop, pearl millet, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, rice, seed, seedbank, selective breeding, staple food, sustainable | Leave a comment