Gary Nabhan, Phd., Awardee of the Vavilov Medal

As an Ethnobiologist and conservationist, US Ecologist Gary Paul Nabhan, PhD is best known for his work in biodiversity and has received numerous notable awards over the years, among them:

The MacArthur Fellowship

The Pew Scholarship for Conservation and the Environment

The John Burroughs Medal for Nature Writing

Saveur Magazine Best 100 Food Initiatives

As a lecturer, food and farming advocate Nabhan believes in getting seeds into the hands of traditional farmers in their specific areas of origin. In his conversation with About Harvest he discussed the current International furor over the possible loss of the Pavlosk Russia collection of 5500 sample plants of fruits, berries and ornamentals:

AH: In your highly acclaimed 2008 book titled: Where our Food Comes From – Retracing Nikolay Vavilov’s Quest to End Famine, you tell the story of Vavilov’s lifework in safeguarding agricultural biodiversity. In brief, how did he accomplish this?

GN: Vavilov is best known for creating the world’s largest seed bank, but the story is much richer than that. As a young man, this visionary set out to discern the regions of the world richest in food biodiversity, to collect not only seed samples, tubers and tree cuttings, but also farmer’s knowledge about their adaptations, and then to evaluate these plant resources in hundreds of agricultural field stations placed in different landscapes. In short, he had a vision: to increase regional food security by increasing the diversity of climatically adapted stocks available to farmers.

L to R, Yuri Vavilov, Gary Nabhan. Yuri Vavilov is Nikolai Vavilov's only living son.

AH: How important are the remaining seed, fruit and root varieties still remaining in farmers fields and government collections?

GN: They are more important than ever but will not necessarily be able to be grown in the future in the very same places that they thrived in the past. Because conventional plant breeding and even biotech can not possibly keep up with the rate of climate change, we need to have as many varieties in farmers’ fields and orchards adapting to change, rather than merely being frozen away in a gene bank.

AH: Recently, there has been international furor over the possible loss of the Pavlosk Russia collection of 5500 sample plants of fruits, berries and ornamentals that may be plowed under on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg by the Russian Housing Development Authority to build more suburban houses. On August 11th, the Russian courts ruled that this so-called development project may move forward, despite the impending loss of Vavilov’s own plant materials and that of others. What is the current situation, as you know it?

GN: The court decision is being appealed, and now under global pressure, Russia’s highest leaders have been quoted in the press as saying they would look into the matter.

All of our readers should go online at www.croptrust.org or at www.change.org to sign electronic petitions being sent to the Russian government, in order to stop the largest avoidable loss of genetic resources that may happen in our lifetimes. But we need not chastise the Russians for their wobbly commitment to conserving genetic resources once Vavilov died; the United States once had an enormous collection of apples on the grounds of what has become the Pentagon, and it is largely gone. We need all governments across the planet to recognize such collections are irreplaceable treasures of our common world heritage that should be too important for any single bureaucracy to let destroy.

AH: From your perspective, what can people do now to keep/save/maintain agricultural biodiversity in the world?

GN: We need to make all children aware of how much they depend on plant and animal diversity to live, to be nourished. Otherwise, they too may grow into bureaucrats who don’t care to save what they don’t understand or love. Then we need to support farmers’ own efforts to grow a diversity of foods in their fields and orchards by buying their diverse produce and by supporting policies that favor such diversity. Finally we need to support back-up seed banks and botanical gardens for long-term maintenance of these treasures in case climatic catastrophes such as floods or droughts hit farms and gardens. Vote with your fork and in the polling booth for truly sustainable food and agricultural practices and policies.

In their own words, the AgChat Foundation defines it’s purpose to:

“Empower farmers & ranchers to connect communities

through social media platforms”

About Harvest recently spoke with the treasurer of the AgChat Foundation about the great work they are doing connecting farmers to consumers via the twittersphere. In this podcast Darin Grimm tells us all about the organization and their current and future plans to continue connecting farmers to consumers in meaningful and lasting ways.

Screenshot of AgChat home page

Listen here: AGCHAT

Chef Robin Burnside

After years of success there, Robin and her family opened Café Amphora in the rugged natural beauty of Big Sur.

This was followed up with work as a private chef and caterer. I could go on, but the point is that Robin Burnside knows how to make really good food. Lucky for us, she has shared some of her recipes in the recently published cookbook titled:

THE HOMESTEADERS KITCHEN – RECIPES FROM FARM TO TABLE

Among my favorites in the book are the following recipes:

• Bali Toast - Robin says it’s a “tropical twist on French toast” with additions like banana, yogurt and cinnamon cooked in coconut oil.
• Gado-Gado – A traditional Indonesian peanut sauce. Beauty of this sauce is that it “blooms” with age and is very easy to prepare.
• Big Batch Pizza – Got kids? This wholesome recipe makes up to 6 large pizza’s for pennies a serving.
• Cranberry-Tangerine Relish – Made with whole fresh cranberries this sweet and tart relish is competently versatile.
• Handmade Whole Grain Crackers - What a concept!
• Apple-Raspberry Crisp – Beauty of this recipe is that it can be substituted with nearly every seasonal fruit, making this a classic, go to recipe.

The Homesteaders Kitchen

Listen here: The Homesteaders Kitchen

This Friday, August, 6, 2010 at 9 p.m., come to Howell Living History Farm in Lambertville to watch the premiere of “The Farmer and the Horse,” a film that documents a new generation of farmers inspired by sustainability and the using draft horses for power, by freelance journalist Jared Flesher.

As I started getting more interested in stories about where our food comes from, I began meeting interesting young farmers who spoke with passion about completely rethinking our agricultural system to make it healthier and more sustainable,” said Flesher.  “My film focuses on a few particular farmers who are exploring something really different – using draft horses instead of tractors – but their reasons for doing so are very mainstream: They want to be part of a movement that starts to fix the problems created by the industrial agriculture system we have today.

Where: Howell Living History Farm, 70 Woodens Lane, Lambertville, NJ 08530

How Much: Admission is free. Donations to the Friends of Howell Farm will be accepted.

What to Bring: The screening is outdoors, so bring lawns chairs, blankets, and perhaps some bug spray.

What If It Rains: Check www.thefarmerandthehorse.com for updates if the weather looks bad. We have a raindate set for August 20.

About Harvest speaks with Robert Dubois of a movement called Bikeloc. Averaging about 70 miles per day, Robert and Aaron are traveling across America by bicycle and with a purpose to collect and share stories about Local Food Movement across the country.

Listen here: BikeLocJuly2010

To learn more about this movement, visit BikeLoc.org

Intermediate Wheatgrass field

The Genuine Potential of Perennial Grains – Part One

With a career shaped by his interest in environmental soil science, Washington State University researcher Dr. John Reganold and his colleagues have been working on a perennial wheat variety that will sprout year after year instead of dying after producing seed. These scientists are looking to maximize the potential of these perennial grains they are developing as viable and realistic means to address and help alleviate global hunger. A few weeks ago they published their findings in Science in an article titled: “Increased Food and Ecosystem Security via Perennial Grains” Washington State University produced a video which explains the benefits of perennial wheat, and last week we posted it here at About Harvest.

Glover etal Fig1 Science

In Part One of this two-part podcast, Washington State University researcher Dr. John Reganold speaks with us about his important work on these perennial grains in the department of crop and soil sciences at Washington State University.

John Reganold

Listen here: WashingtonPART1 1

Temra Costa cooks, gardens and serves as an advocate for farming and food. She is also is the author of the new book and movement known as FARMER JANE.

In her new book, readers learn that women are one of the fastest-growing demographics to own and operate farms in the United States and that they are tending towards diversified, direct-marketed foods that create relationships with the people that Temra indentifies simpy as, eaters.

Press material that accompanied my review copy of Farmer Jane describes Temra and her work as follows:

Costa was intrigued by the number of women engaged in food and farming through her professional career as a sustainable food and farming advocate with the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), in California. With a thirty percent increase in women farm operators from 2002 – 2007, along with increases in women-owned businesses and involvement in government, the feminine voice in food and farming is starting to be heard. Farmer Jane is a compelling and empowering look at how communities, businesses and homes can be enriched by the sustainable food movement. Enlightened by the lessons and trials of women farmers, chefs, advocates and educators, Farmer Jane gives information and support to anyone wishing to become involved.

Listen here:FarmerJane

Last week, he and the WSU breeding team published their findings in Science in an article titled:

“Increased Food and Ecosystem Security via Perennial Grains”

WSU has produced this video, which explains the benefits of perennial wheat:

Untitled from Nancy O’Mallon on Vimeo.

Coming soon: About Harvest has talked with WSU researcher Dr. John Reganold about what he calls:

“Addressing the Sustainability of Agriculture”

Part one of this three part podcast series begins here at About Harvest next week.

World Wine Tour 2010: New Zealand! from Nancy O'Mallon on Vimeo.

2 young travelers
15+ countries
300+ wineries
150,000 for charity

NJ State Apiarist Tim Schuler

Tim is the State Apiarist with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture and also teaches the Bee-ginner’s Beekeeping Course at Rutgers University.

Got Honey?

Would you like to keep bees yourself but need to know more about Bee Keeping?

Tim Schuler tells us some of the best places to find information can be found here:

http://www.state.nj.us/agriculture/divisions/pi/prog/beeinspection.html

http://njbeekeepers.org/

http://maarec.psu.edu/

Tim Schuler and his BEE-Bearded son

Listen here for our interview with Tim Schuler: Apiary