Here’s a group of people who take it upon themselves to go out and do, in order to promote local and sustainable foods as well as healthy eating. Cynthia, a reader of Bifurcated Carrots, sent me an email telling me about them and that she saw them at The Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello.
Hero or Villain?
Norman E. Borlaug passed away yesterday, the ‘Father of the Green Revolution’.
There’s really quite an extensive Wikipedia page on him and his work.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, as well as numerous other awards. He’s often credited for ‘saving over a billion people from starvation’.
His methods are also responsible for many people killed by cancers or otherwise sickened by agricultural chemicals, and for putting huge numbers of farmers deep in debt.
He’s responsible for an unsustainable system of high input agriculture, that by some accounts is the single largest contributor to global warming. It’s undeniably the source of major environmental contamination in many places, and the reason many places in the world are facing a crisis from the loss of topsoil.
Many influetial people assert the gains seen in agricultural productivity would have happened anyway (see highlighted box in the bottom of this link), without the need of all the energy and chemical inputs, and the current system of agriculture heavily dependent on intensively cultivated monocultures is the cause of many of the world’s most important crop pest and disease problems.
He’s certainly someone who will be remembered!
Q-Fever Outbreak in the Netherlands
It’s not getting nearly the publicity of Swine Flu, but Q-Fever has already killed five people in The Netherlands, compared to the two people killed to date by Swine Flu.
Not very much is known about Q-Fever, but it is contagious and is associated with farm animals, especially those reared intensively in factory farm environments.
Here’s the Dutch newspaper version of the story and the Wikipedia page on Q-fever.
Perennial Grains Project
Traditional grains are annual crops. That is, the land is cleared and plowed, seeds planted, several months later the crops are harvested and the cycle starts again. This is particularly suited for energy and chemical intensive agriculture, because large swaths of land can be planted in the way, with a predictable and heavy yield, then the following year replanted with the same or a different crop.
Public domain plant breeder Tim Peters is working on creating perennial grains. The way he’s doing this is kind of interesting. For each of the cereal grains commonly grown today, he has sought out wild relatives in genebanks and other places and cross pollinated them with modern varieties. The reason is because modern grains were made to be annuals for the convenience of the farmers, so what Tim is doing is reintroducing some of those genes that were lost in that process.
Why are Perennial Grains Interesting?
Perennial grains are interesting because they have a much better carbon footprint than traditional grains, and require fewer chemicals.
Besides the ground not needing to be plowed every year and the energy savings that comes from this, ground that’s disturbed releases carbon. By not plowing the ground, it allows it to act as a carbon store.
Perennial grains develop strong root systems, and compete very well with weeds. This reduces or eliminates the need for herbicide applications.
It’s expected perennial grains will also be more disease resistant than modern grains.
They are also drought resistant and do well in poor soils without the addition of fertilizer.
Potentially, this type of grain will become an important source of food for the world.
A Chance to Participate
Would you like to see first hand what a perennial grain looks like and help in the breeding process?
Tim Peters is looking for people to help him develop localized varieties. The basic idea is to grow it, then select the strongest and most productive plants to save seeds from, then send these seeds back to him. Of course you would be able to keep some too.
The first grain to trial is rye, and this trial is starting right now. Planting is done in July and August, so there isn’t a lot of time. [Correction: Tim tells me that while July and August may be best, in fact the trial can be started any time your weather is warm enough to sprout seeds.]
The cost of participating is US$25. This is because Tim cannot afford all of the postage and other support costs himself.
Next year other grains will be trialled, but it’s expected far fewer seeds will be available for these trials, and priority will be given to those who have successfully participated in the rye trial this year.
You will need some considerable garden space, at least several hundred square feet (30-100m2). Perhaps you can do with a little less now, if you will have more space available in the spring.
If you’re interested, send me an email as soon as possible and I’ll pass your details on to either Tim or the project coordinator. If demand for participating exceeds the available supply of seeds Tim may have to choose people according to the space they have available or if their climate is desirable for his trial.
Today’s Weather Forecast in Amsterdam
Today’s weather forecast is partly cloudy, high temperature of 25C (about 80F), with a chance of scattered heavy showers and hail.
It’s really that last bit that gets to me, ‘hail’. After all shouldn’t there be some point in the summer when the chance of hail is behind us?
