A monthly 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.

Kenya’s agriculture ministry is pushing for a Sh6 billion budget to eradicate Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), a deadly animal viral disease ravaging 23 arid and semi-arid counties, which is estimated to wipe out Sh1.7 billion annually from the livestock economy.

A new study by Greenpeace says that nearly a fifth of the EU’s budget—or more than £24bn—goes to subsidize livestock farming. They say taxpayers’ money should be redirected away from grain-fed, industrial animal farming.

The annual Bill and Melinda Gates letter is out—and it’s full of surprises, literally. This year’s letter focuses on “nine things that have surprised us along this journey.” First on the list is something that probably won’t surprise many readers of this blog: Africa is the youngest continent.

Kenyan farmers trust tradition over tech to predict the weather. For example, they’ll plan their harvest according to past weather patterns and looked for signs in local wildlife behaviour – such as a shift in the rhythm of the nightly frog-croaking – to tell when rain is coming.

Psychologists Brock Bastian and Steve Loughnan discuss the “meat paradox,” which they define as the “psychological conflict between people’s dietary preference for meat and their moral response to animal suffering”.

Think dating apps are a meat market? Now there’s a Tinder app for cows, called Tudder, that profiles animals from 42,000 UK farms in an effort to help farmers find the perfect breeding partner for their cattle.

Wool farmers are asking animal rights activists to shear off. It’s unfair to lump them in with crocodile hunters and mink farmers, they say, sheepishly.

From climate change denial to widespread rejection of evolution (in the US) to anti-vaccine advocates, science denial seems to be on the rise. But what if everything we know about the nudniks who reject science is wrong?

Is it ever not a good time to reread EB White’s classic account of the death of his pig? It begins, unforgettably: “I spent several days and nights in mid-September with an ailing pig and I feel driven to account for this stretch of time, more particularly since the pig died at last, and I lived, and things might easily have gone the other way round and none left to do the accounting.”

A good analysis of how policymakers use research-based evidence, that comes with a warning: Direct and sustained engagement with policy-makers may be the most effective way to improve policy, but may not be compatible with career advancement in academia. An unrelated but similar typology of policymakers and what they mean for getting your research used can be found here. And here’s an old piece from Research to Action on seven ways to present your research findings to policymakers.

Here’s a video saying that the problem with PETA and vegans is that they’re not extreme enough. Good to acquaint ourselves with. Speaking of which, someone has put up a million dollars asking for Pope Francis to go meatless during lent (in French).

A third of Britons claim to have either stopped eating meat or reduced it, while two thirds of those in the US say they are eating less of at least one meat. But the data tell a different story. A good review from the BBC. Meanwhile, a group of investors is putting their money where their mouth is, and calling on fast food giants like McDonalds to take swift action on climate change.

Global warming is pushing Senegal’s Fulani herders into poverty, says IRIN, in a three-part series on how herders are coping with the worst ‘lean season’ in years. (And here’s a dissent that what’s happening in the Sahel is about climate change.)

Le Monde has a long piece on how land conflicts in Mali are pitting Peul pastoralists against Dogon farmers (in French). And here is an accompanying piece on how those conflicts are causing food insecurity in the region—with predictable consequences for the infants and children.

Here’s a long piece from the Guardian on herder-farmer conflicts in Nigeria.

Here’s a riveting account about how a typical calm Sunday in a small Ugandan town ended in a gunfight and stolen cattle.

We all know it’s not the farts, it’s the burps. But did you know it is also the pee? Well, you probably did—but I didn’t. Here’s a study from CIAT on how urine-based N2O emissions can be significantly curbed by healthy cattle pastures.

Know the perfect candidate for the $100,000 #AfricaFoodPrize? Nominate them here before Tuesday, 14 May 2019, here.

A study of the impact of the millennium development goals (MDGs) suggests we should focus less on targets and more on good governance.

“Big science,” involving teams of hundreds, is becoming more common—and in many cases is essential. But some recent research suggests that small teams of scientists are far more likely to introduce fresh, disruptive ideas that take science and technology in radically new directions.

The vast majority of the 766 million living on less than $1.90/day are rural, young, and working in agriculture. But if what if we consider dimensions of poverty beyond monetary measurements by looking at things like poor schooling, ill health, and malnutrition? Does the global poverty profile change?

One of America’s leading national security think tanks says that the US has a fine history in leading the world in combating major health and food crises – and can do so again in 2018 on nutrition.

In case you missed it, here is Lawrence Haddad’s piece on how the nature of malnutrition has fundamentally changed in one generation—and what we need to do now.

The new wave of #vegan ‘plant-based’ offerings may, at first glance, seem like healthy options. But Joanna Blythman, an investigative journalist and food writer, says that most of them are ultra-processed factory products, the polar opposite of real, wholesome food.

A passionate defense of GMO foods: Two decades of experience show they live up to their promise:  Higher yields, healthier crops, lower pesticide used and better returns for farmers.

Another strong piece from IRIN on how climate change is affecting people in developing countries. TL;DR: It’s hitting them faster and harder than people in the West.

Climate change has shrunk wetlands in the Andes where livestock graze…. But there might be a 1,200 year old fix for that.

Classic review: “Let me tell you I was bitterly disappointed to learn that this book is, in fact, an instructional guide to the profitable husbandry of ducks as a craft. There is not one sliver of insight about holding ducks accountable for their crimes against humanity, Earth or God.”