Tag Archives: wheat

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

Monsanto’s “Roundup” Herbicide is Destroying Our Bodies

Posted on May 26, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on Illuminate:
Photo by http://greenupgrader.com ? From CredoAction.com: In case you weren’t sure yet if the massive use of the herbicide glyphosate – also known as Monsanto’s Roundup – was cause for concern, here’s the sobering takeaway from…

Posted in agriculture, food, human health | Tagged Altzheimer's disease, America, antibiotic, autism, biotechnology, cancer, chelator, child, coeliac disease, diabetes, disease, Europe, food safety, genetic modification, glyphosate, herbicide, hormone, human, law, liver, milk, Monsanto, obesity, Parkinson's disease, pesticide, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, research, Roundup, Roundup Ready crop, soya, staple food, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, wheat, woman | 6 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

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

James C. Scott on Food sovereignty: a critical dialogue

Posted on April 4, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on the anthropo.scene:
argylesock says… I like the way James C. Scott explains food sovereignty and food security in this lecture. He remarks on how we humans rely, mostly, on only three food sources: maize (corn, Zea mays), rice (Oryza sativa) and wheat … Continue reading →

Posted in food, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged corn, crop, crop diversity, food, food security, food sovereignty, grain, invasive species, maize, neglected crop, plant_monocot, politics, population, rice, staple food, wheat | 8 Comments

Where the quinoa went

Posted on January 7, 2014 by argylesock

Charlie Haynes at the Annals of Botany blog discusses the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s Year of Quinoa. That year was all about rediscovering the neglected crop called quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa). Quinoa is a pseudocereal. The Year of Quinoa … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, human health, money and trade | Tagged aid, cash crop, crop, crop diversity, food, food security, food sovereignty, fruit, grain, neglected crop, nutrition, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, poverty, protein, pseudocereal, quinoa, smallholder, staple food, trade, vegetable, wheat | 4 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

Green Rush to carve up Africa

Posted on December 19, 2013 by argylesock

‘There is a gold rush happening in Ethiopia, but it’s not a hunt for the yellow metal. It’s a quest for the green gold of fertile farmland.’ So says Richard Schiffman at Farmland Grab. ‘A nation more associated with periodic … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, knowledge transfer, money and trade | Tagged access to food, access to land, agroecology, banana, biofuel, cacao, coffee, crop, development, export, farmer, food security, fruit, grain, history, knowledge, land grab, legume, palm, palm oil, pastoral, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, politics, rice, smallholder, soya, staple food, sustainable, trade, wheat | 2 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