Wine, Mirzayev and Shreder

Shortly after reading Gary Nabhan's new book, Where our Food Comes From, I had the good fortune to visit Uzbekistan and learn a little bit more about the time that Vavilov spent there, including his laying of the foundation stone for the original building and institute that are now part of the Uzbekistan Research Institute of Plant Industry (UzRIPI), which currently houses the Central Asian Caucus (CAC) genebank home to over 23,000 accessions of which about 50% are cereals (and about 5% of the total are crop wild relatives). To the present day over 200 cultivars have been developed on the basis of materials held in this collection, including contributions from crop wild relatives. But it was the opportunity to learn about other lesser-known pioneers of agrobiodiversity such as R.R. Shreder and M.M. Mirzayev that was of greatest interest. From 1903 to 1944, R.R. Shreder was the first director of the Uzbekistan Research Institute of Horticulture, Viticulture and Wine Making. An institute which spawned many of the present day agricultural-related institutes in Uzbekistan. Having been sent in 1911 as a delegate to the 6th International Congress on Dryland Farming in the U.S. he returned with considerable germplasm to test under Uzbek conditions. M.M. Mirzayev continued on much of the work of Shreder when he took over as director. It was an absolute pleasure to be able to spend an afternoon in the company of Dr Mirmaksud Mirzayev (the now director and son of M.M.) and his staff and enjoy an extended lunch while washed down with some excellent muscat wines produced and bottled at the institute. If anything it was a welcome respite from the vodka and cognac! The institute also has an excellent museum that is well worth a visit. During the most recent winter Tashkent experienced temperatures as low as -20oC and such temperatures are impacting severely on many of the grape varieties. Pictured is a massively overgrown wild grape vine located just outside the door of the museum. No one seems to know where it came from but they do know that it thrives in such low temperatures. They just need to work out how to transfer such a trait to its cultivated relatives!

Laughing all the way to the bank

At last a decent news article on how readily rich countries are to rescue the international banking system in the current financial crisis with contributions in the hundreds of billions of dollars yet continue to renege on their commitments to the much smaller required amounts of GDP for overseas aid or the UN Comprehensive Framework for Action to deal with the global food crisis. And all the while international agribusiness and seed companies are laughing all the way to bank (the ones that were rescued!). You can read John Vidal's article, 'West rescues banks but fails the world's hungry', in the October 24th edition of the Guardian Weekly.

One banana, two banana, three banana, four...

I think I have missed World Food Day but I wanted to highlight these great banana stamps that have been together with some old friends and colleagues from the Federated States of Micronesia. Certainly something that you won't see too often in an Irish greengrocers. Click here.

Where our Food Comes From

I have just finished reading Gary Nabhan's new book, Where our Food Comes From and what a delightful journey it was too! After all it is a book about a journey where Nabhan travels in the footsteps of Nikolay Vavilov but as a literary journey it is a joy from the opening foreword by Ken Wilson to the sober closing epilogue. It is full of great stories about Vavilov and the many scientists and farmers he met on his many travels. Great stories about how farmers are using crop diversity for selection and adaptation to changing climate and the not so great about how he met his sad end. Well worth reading. More details here.

Shout it from the rooftops - urban food is good

I just had to steal this heartwarming story from the new look Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog. And just think of the education and awareness that they are most likely doing with local schools and community-based organisations. Inspirational stuff!

Irish Forum on Genetic Resources

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food are holding a Genetic Resources Forum on Wednesday 19th November 2008 at the Heritage Hotel Portlaoise. The forum will bring together key stakeholders in plant and animal genetic resources conservation to network and discuss topics of mutual interest and concern, including the creation of a crop wild relative inventory and even possibly the development of a national strategy. Hurray! Contact Helen.McCann@agriculture.gov.ie for further details.

Terra Madre Ireland

Chips with curry sauce nowhere to be seen! But plenty of smoked goat cheese, Waterford blaa, and more: a weekend with the stars of Ireland’s artisanal-food movement. More here.

The international Terra Madre gets underway next week in Italy.