Dear handpicked readers, thanks for sticking with us
We've been blogging at handpicked for over 2 years now. We've enjoyed the experience so far and we hope you have as well. We'd like to know a little bit more about you, so we can make handpicked even better. So while stocks last, we'd like to offer you a copy of our 2009 fungi…
GRO-Cocoa
The latest edition of GRO-Cocoa is available. GRO-Cocoa is a twice-yearly cocoa newsletter, funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The newsletter allows readers to access the latest global research on Cocoa and is a forum for sharing ideas. More information and previous editions of the newsletter are available on the CABI project page. …
Obama’s Rural Agenda
President Barack Obama unveiled his Rural Agenda last week. Three core areas were identified: to ensure economic opportunity for family farmers; to support rural economic development; to improve rural quality of life
Review of 2008
On behalf of all the authors of the blog, and CABI, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and thank all of our readers for the comments supplied throughout the year. I hope these will continue and flourish onwards during 2009. Sorry for the delay in this post, but its finally…
Euro MPs back pesticide bill
My last blog of 2008 commented on a deal being struck in the European Parliament that would pave the way towards new EU pesticide legislation. Another step towards adoption of the legislation has now been taken, with MEPs voting today to approve a new Regulation on the Placing on the Market of Plant Protection Products…
2009 β the year of hunger?
Around 963 million people worldwide are now undernourished, according to the most recent survey of the crisis by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). In an interview to the Independent Newspaper the UN body expects the situation to worsen with the financial recession. The number is expected to rise steadily this year and might reach…
I predict more breakthroughs than ever in 2009!
Itβs customary in the New Year to look into a metaphorical crystal ball (as any rational scientists would have obviously dispensed with the real thing). In doing that, I can confidently predict that the number of scientific breakthroughs will reach an unprecedented level this year. How can I be so sure? A study of the…
What, no sprouts?
I hate Brussels sprouts. There, I've said it. The vegetable that has become synonymous with the British Christmas dinner (presumably because in the days before global trade and improved storage made every type of food available throughout the year, it was one of the few vegetables in season in December) is to me one maliciously…
Nothing funny in CAB Abstracts β or is there?
The CAB Abstracts database might not be the most obvious choice for finding out about humour, but as with most subjects, a few well-chosen search terms will pull out some surprises. Readers should be aware that laughing could be a symptom of manganese or carbon monoxide poisoning, nitrogen narcosis or viral-relatic spastic paraparesis, or consumption…
People still eat sugar in a recession
Last week I went for my annual trip to the London Docklands for the International Sugar Organization seminar about the economics of the sugar industry. Despite the world’s economic problems, the sugar industry doesn’t seem too gloomy. Although Michael Whitehead of Rabobank said that the capital-intensive nature of the sugar industry would cause problems —…