Taro News Watch
Annotated links on taro in the news, New Zealand and abroad (reader's - please make contact if you see something in the news that is relevant for this column - thanks - Peter).
New Zealand Herald (June 2004): Agency's $2000 taro handout. Article reports opinion that visit to Auckland (where taro research has been carried out with cool-adapted taros from Japan) was unwarranted because local gardeners in Porirua (Wellington) could have given advice. Does not consider possibility that both outside and local experience are useful for developing horticultural projects. Reports the opinion of one scientist that Wellington region is generally too cold for taro (this may be true), but does not consider the specific climate of Porirua (some hot coastal valleys in summer growing season?), or ask what the latitudinal limits of the crop might be outside New Zealand (41 degrees North in Japan, in heavy snow country with warm summers). This article is almost an example of knee-jerk journalism - the author's investigation results appear to have been interpreted to fit a preconceived critical view of the taro project of the Community Employment Group (CEG) (PJM 7.7.04).
New Zealand Herald (May 2004): Cold taro a feast fit for a Queen (The College Herald, p. F4, NZH 18.May2004). Samoan student in Auckland recounts eating cold taro for lunch [definitely good food] while other kids eat pies, chips and chocolate bars (definitely bad food) [PJM, my opinion in brackets, 7.7.04].
Pacific Magazine (April 2003): Mites intercepted in New Zealand could jeopardise taro imports; at least two strains of Rhizoglyphus minutus are being studied by staff of Landcare Research in Auckland. See www.pacficislands.cc