Pb-Sr-He isotope and trace element geochemistry of the Cape Verde Archipelago

International audienc

Multi-scale modelling as a tool for sharing the perspectives of researchers, practitioners and farmers on beneficial management practices to be adopted in an intensive agricultural watershed

International audienceCanadian agricultural production systems are facing issues related to maintaining high crop yields and profitability while adopting beneficial management practices (BMPs) that mitigate their impact on the health of the environment. Since 2014, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) has been collaborating on the development of an open innovation platform, namely the “L'Acadie-Lab” living laboratory, initiated by an interactive community of farmers, practitioners and researchers to increase the adoption of BMPs in the L'Acadie River watershed, in southern Quebec' Canada. So far, workshops were held featuring farmers, practitioners, scientists and other stakeholders. These workshops have revealed a disconnect between farmers’ expectations and research organisations' ability to provide a consistent array of practices and knowledge. To get new knowledge and technology adopted, consistent choices between various practices that interact on a range of spatial and temporal scales have to be proposed to the users and the economic and ecosystem benefits have to be demonstrated. In response to these issues, the authors propose the development and use of a participatory modelling approach as a tool for sharing the perspectives of researchers, practitioners and farmers on innovative practices to be adopted. The approach links the knowledge of researchers and certain modelling tools at the plot level or the farm level with ecosystem services simulation models at the landscape level to produce quantitative or semi-quantitative results. Farmers and advisors will play a special role in defining the scenarios to be simulated to ensure that their situations and concerns are reflected and to increase the commitment to innovation

Historical Indigenous Food Preparation Using Produce of the Three Sisters Intercropping System

For centuries, some Indigenous Peoples of the Americas have planted corn, beans and squash or pumpkins together in mounds, in an intercropping complex known as the Three Sisters. Agriculturally, nutritionally and culturally, these three crops are complementary. This literature review aims to compile historical foods prepared from the products of the Three Sisters planting system used in Indigenous communities in the region encompassing southern Quebec and Ontario in Canada, and northeastern USA. The review does not discuss cultural aspects of the Three Sisters cropping system or describe foods specific to any one Indigenous group, but rather, gives an overview of the historical foods stemming from this intercropping system, many foods of which are common or similar from one group to another. Some of the methods of food preparation used have continued over generations, some of the historical foods prepared are the foundation for foods we eat today, and some of both the methods and foods are finding revival