A biweekly round-up of recent articles, blog postings and tweets about livestock, aid and other topics that may be of interest to ILRI staff, compiled by David Aronson.

These bubble maps of Europe’s livestock populations, The Herds of Europe, show how elegant good design can be, no matter the subject. The creator is Marten Lambrechts, a Belgian data journalist, data designer and visualization consultant. Perhaps at some point he’ll do global versions of the same topics.

A new study from the World Bank and IFPRI finds that agricultural growth is 2-3 times more effective at reducing poverty than equivalent amount of growth in other sectors.

Radio Française Internationale (RFI) reports that conflicts in northern Kenya between farmers and pastoralists are the result of climate change.

Global population is expected to peak at 12 billion people around the year 2100. When global population peaks depends largely on the demographic transition of Africa. This graphic provides a striking illustration of Africa’s growing demographic importance.

How to regulate crops created with gene-editing technologies is an issue that continues to befuddle governments. This New York Times article focuses on a recent decision out of the European Community’s top court.

Kenya has taken the lead in addressing antimicrobial resistance due to livestock supplementation. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports.

Every few months the American press decides that insects are the future of protein and dispatch one of their more adventurous staff to investigate. Science writer Jennifer Ouellette writes for Wired: “If we’re willing to sink our teeth into lab-grown meat and plant-based burgers that magically bleed, maybe old-­fashioned bugs aren’t such a stretch.”

IFPRI held a journalism training class in Benue State, Nigeria, to encourage vibrant and healthy coverage of Nigeria’s agricultural sector.

National Public Radio (NPR) reports on how researchers at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), are developing faster-growing, more nutritious grasses to increase cattle productivity and decrease greenhouse emissions.

Pastoralism is a vitally important part of  Sardinia’s economy, particularly through the export of Pecorino cheese. Yet pastoralism is changing rapidly, as new economic, social and environmental uncertainties impinge. This video takes an historical view at the uncertainties facing this ancient tradition.

How will climate change affect small-scale women farmers? The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) discusses with BBC World Service radio.

No longer a matter of basic sustenance, meat to many Americans has become ethically fraught and deeply personal. This is a thoughtful profile of how Americans today think about meat and poses the question, ‘Can you be a ‘conscious carnivore?’

The world’s biggest farms pollute more than any oil company, says Quartz, which reports on a new study from the nonprofit Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), which shows that the ‘top five animal agriculture companies emit more greenhouse gases than Exxon-Mobil, Shell, or BP.’

A goaten Harriet Tubman? A “rogue goat” in New Jersey may have helped dozens of goats and sheep brought for slaughter escape from the auction house last week. The animal is believed to have bolted to freedom more than a year ago.

The Gereja Ayam (photo credit Matt Smith, Public Domain).

Finally, should you be trekking through the thick forests of Magelang, Indonesia, you may come across a titanic building shaped like a chicken. This behemoth, bird-like building, left uncompleted at the builder’s death in 2000, is known locally as Gereja Ayam (unsurprisingly, “Chicken Church”).