Tag Archives: sorghum

What is biodiverse food?

Posted on June 13, 2014 by argylesock

Ann Tutwiler of Bioversity International tells us why in the 21st century, we need biodiverse food. And she tells us what that could mean. Ms Tutwiler doesn’t mince her words, saying that a need for dramatically increased food production is … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture, knowledge transfer | Tagged amaranth, banana, barley, biodiversity, biotechnology, cacao, cassava, climate, commodity, corn, crop, development, fertiliser, food, food security, food sovereignty, fossil fuel, foxtail millet, genetic diversity, grain, grass, Green Revolution, grocery, knowledge, maize, neglected crop, oats, pearl millet, plantain, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, politics, pollution, potato, poverty, prosperity, public_private partnership, quinoa, research, rice, rye, small millet, smallholder, soil, sorghum, staple food, supermarket, sustainable, teff, trade, water, wheat, wild rice | 3 Comments

Rising levels of CO2 could exacerbate malnutrition

Posted on May 16, 2014 by argylesock

argylesock says… Climate change is happening. We humans caused it. Here’s yet another way that climate change threatens people, especially poor people. [Edit] I looked up the original paper (behind a paywall, but my University library has a subscription) and … Continue reading →

Posted in food, human health, weather and climate | Tagged America, Asia, biofortification, carbon dioxide, child, climate, corn, crop variety, field pea, food quality, grain, iron, legume, maize, nutrition, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, poverty, research, rice, selective breeding, sorghum, soya, staple food, vegetable, wheat, zinc | 2 Comments

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

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

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

Solutions for micronutrient deficiency

Posted on September 8, 2013 by argylesock

argylesock says… Here are thoughtful words about malnutrition. My fellow blogger Anastasia Bodnar at Genetic Maize talks a lot of sense here but I’ll clarify some of her remarks about biofortification (the last section in her article). Golden Rice is … Continue reading →

Posted in food, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged African Biofortified Sorghum, biofortification, biotechnology, breeding, cassava, child, corn, crop, crop variety, development, food, garden, genetic modification, Golden Rice, human, International Rice Research Institute, maize, nutrition, Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato, Orange Maize, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, poverty, rice, selective breeding, sorghum, staple food, sweet potato, Syngenta, Vitamin A, woman, Yellow Cassava | 3 Comments

“No seed, no green revolution”

Posted on August 9, 2013 by argylesock

Originally posted on ECO-opia:
Written by Abraham Dereje “We are witnessing a faster pace of public and private investments in agriculture, in part because of improving national policies and regulatory measures. These include significant investment by AGRA and its…

Posted in food, knowledge transfer, money and trade | Tagged Africa, biotechnology, breeding, broad bean, corn, crop, development, faba bean, farmer, fava bean, finance, food, food sovereignty, genetic modification, grain, Green Revolution, knowledge, legume, maize, neglected crop, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, politics, population, seed, selective breeding, smallholder, sorghum, soya, staple food, teff, woman | 2 Comments

Agricultural biotech against poverty and hunger

Posted on July 11, 2013 by argylesock

Too many people are hungry. Many of the hungry people are African. Biotechnology might help. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) tells us how biotech can help to feed people. ‘A successful strategy should have MULTIPLE … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer, money and trade | Tagged Africa, biotechnology, breeding, cassava, corn, crop variety, development, feed, food, fruit, fuel, genetic modification, grain, International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, knowledge, legume, maize, marker assisted selection, melon, millet, pearl millet, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, potato, research, seed, selective breeding, sorghum, soya, staple food, sugar cane, sweet potato, textile, tissue culture, tomato, trade, transport, tuber, wheat | 3 Comments