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2017-17/1154/en_head.json.gz/13384 | Nigerian Government Unveils $300 million Agriculture Project For Young Graduates
Nigerian Government Unveils $300 million Agriculture Project
Kajuju Murori
A total of US $300 million would be accessed to cover the three-year project which would bring young graduates together and train them for 18 months as entrepreneur farmers
The federal government of Nigeria has unveiled a $300 million-project targeting young graduates interested in farming across the country.
The Enable Youth Empowerment Agribusiness Programme’ is a partnership between the African Development Bank (AfDB), Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and is a long-term solution to unemployment among the youth in the West African Country. It will be implemented within 18 months.
According to the Nation, national, newspaper AfDB’s Director of Agriculture and Agroindustry, Chiji Ojukwu disclosed this information, recently in a top level meeting with Nigeria’s agricultural authorities, in Abuja.
“A total of US $300 million would be accessed to cover the three-year project which would bring young graduates together and train them for 18 months as entrepreneur farmers,” Ojukwu said
Once implemented, the project will create 250, 000 jobs with beneficiaries accessing training at various incubation centers on all aspects of value chains, with each beneficiary of the project supported with about US $75,000.
The Agriculture Minister, Chief Audu Ogbeh revealed that the project would commence from the three Federal Universities of Agriculture in, Umudike, Makurdi and Abeokuta, in a statement by the ministry’s Director of Information, Tony Ohaeri.
Chief Ogbeh said that the “project would cover the 36 states including the FCT, while the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) would be expanded through the processing zones.”
The rate of unemployment in Nigeria, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), as of the second quarter of 2015 had risen to 8.2% from 7.5% which was recorded in the preceding quarter.
Commenting on the importance of youth in a country, the minister said that, “we need to take care of them before they take care of us,” emphasizing that that the strength of a nation lies in the population of the youth.
For this reason, there is need to create more platforms for young people to access employment opportunities. He further urged the government to re-invent its own economic strategy to revive the economy.
During the presentation of the concept note on the youth agriculture scheme by AfDB and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Mr Ogbeh said the ministry was ready to collaborate with the representatives. However, the Minister directed IITA to intensify efforts towards researching into the conversion of cassava leaves into animal feeds, while some components of the Labour Intensive Family Enterprise (LIFE) of the ministry could be built into the youth empowerment initiative
IITA Director-General, Nterayana Saginga, called for a change in the mindset of the young graduates, saying that the IITA’s experiment in the past on young unemployed graduates revealed that they could make good turn over on their investments. He pledged the readiness of IITA to provide necessary support to the ministry.
Moreover, the Agriculture Minister reminded the three universities of agriculture to revert back to the provisions of the Act that established them.
Efforts to revive agriculture and in particular among the youth have been adopted by many governmental and non-governmental agencies. In two days-time (16th January) QM Farms Limited has organized a forum between 1-3 pm to discuss on a range of topics including: investors perspective and value chain in Nigeria Agriculture, technology in Nigeria Agriculture and youth involvement in Agriculture. This will be held at Bar Enclave, no 1 Adeola Adeleye Street, Lagos.
Kajuju Murori is an enthusiastic writer with a bias towards development stories that ignite positive change among individuals in the society.
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2017-17/1154/en_head.json.gz/13836 | Upcoming Seminar
"How accurate must forecasts be to generate value for users? Reflections from a framed field experiment"
1151 McCarty A
Guest Speaker: Dr. Yoko Kusunose
Seminar Abstract:
We believe that better forecasts provide more value to end users. However, economic theory suggests that, while high-quality information is of high value to users, low-quality information may be of zero value. In terms of forecasts and their accuracy, this implies the existence of threshold level of accuracy, below which forecasts may be useless. We search for such a threshold using the context of the early-spring top-dressing decision for winter wheat in Kentucky, a decision that relies on expectations of precipitation conditions one to three weeks into the future. We present findings and reflections from a framed field experiment in which farmers are presented with precipitation forecasts of varying levels of accuracy and then asked to respond with their best top-dressing strategy in terms of timing and application rates. Preliminary analysis suggests that farmers pay attention to the qualitative nature of the forecast (e.g. average, wetter, or drier) but not as much to the accuracy associated with the forecast.
Yoko Kusunose is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Kentucky. She works primarily in development economics, with a focus on production risk, coping mechanisms, income portfolios, and input decisions of agricultural households. Her other research interests include the value of weather and climate forecasts and food policy in general. She received her PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California-Davis, and earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford University. She grew up near Seattle.
"The Medium-Term Impacts of Girl-Friendly Schools: Seven-Year Evidence from School Construction in Burkina Faso"
Monday, December 5, 2016, 1151 McCarty A
1:30 pm - Meet and Greet
2:00 pm - Seminar
Dr. Harounan Kazianga
We evaluate the long-term effect of a "girl-friendly" primary school program in Burkina Faso, using a regression discontinuity design. The intervention consisted of upgrading existing three-classroom schools to six-classroom schools to accommodate more grades. After six years, the program increased enrollment by 15.5 percentage points and increased test scores by 0.29 standard deviations. Students in treatment schools progress further through the grades, compared to students in non-selected schools. These upgraded schools are effective at getting children into school, getting children to start school on time, and keeping children in school longer. Overall, we find that the schools sustain the large impacts observed about three years earlier, with enrollment declining slightly from 18.5 to 14.9 for the cohorts of children who were exposed to both the first and second phases of the intervention.
"Seeing is Believing?
Evidence from an Extension Network Experiment"
Monday, November 14, 2016, 1151 McCarty A
Dr. Valerie Mueller
Extension is designed to enable lab-to-farm technology diffusion. Decentralized models assume that information flows from researchers to extension workers, and from extension agents to contact farmers (CFs). CFs should then train other farmers in their communities. Such a modality may fail to address informational inefficiencies and accountability issues. We run a field experiment to measure the impact of augmenting the CF model with a direct CF training on the diffusion of a new technology. All villages have CFs and access the same extension network. In treatment villages, CFs additionally receive a three-day, central training on the new technology. We track information transmission through two nodes of the extension network: from extension agents to CFs, and from CFs to other farmers. Directly training CFs leads to a large, statistically significant increase in adoption among CFs. However, higher levels of CF adoption have limited impact on the behavior of other farmers.
"What is Driving Farmland Rental Prices in Sub-Saharan Africa?
Evidence fro Malawi"
Wednesday, November 16, 2016, 1151 McCarty A
Dr. Jacob Ricker-Gilbert
Informal land markets, particularly land rental markets, are emerging rapidly in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). While there is a growing literature on smallholder farm households’ participation in these markets, relatively little is known about the factors affecting land rental prices. This study aims to fill that gap using panel data from Malawi to estimate the effects of plot-, household- and community-level variables on plot-level land rental prices. Of particular interest is the potential effect of Malawi’s Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) on land rental prices, as evidence from other parts of the world indicates that part of the value of agricultural subsidies is often transferred into land rental prices. Our results suggest that FISP has had no substantive effect on land rental prices in Malawi to date, perhaps because the effect of FISP on maize productivity has been modest. Geographical variables, however, do influence land rental prices in Malawi: increasing population density and greater proximity to a border crossing are associated with higher average rental prices, ceteris paribus.
W. W. McPherson Distinguished Lecture Series in International Development
"The Inequality of Human Capital among China's Children and China's Future Growth and Stability"
10:30 am - 12 pm, J. Wayne Reitz Union, University of Florida
Dr. Scott Rozelle, Stanford University
Despite the recent robust growth, there is concern that as China moves up the income ladder that its high level of inequality may be a breeding ground for future instability. China’s Gini today means that China’s income distribution is one of the most unequal in the world!! It also is rising extremely fast at a time when other middle-income countries are experiencing falling inequality. It has become such an important issue that the new president of China, Xi Jinping, is—at least publically—making the reduction of inequality one of the top priorities of his new development agenda.
But, the focus on income equality today may be missing the factors that will determine equality in the next generation (the time when growth will be lower and when large inequities in the population might really create serious friction and instability). One of the largest sources of inequality in the future is the inequality of human capital among young cohorts today.
The overall goal of the presentation will be to document China human capital inequality gaps for children ages 6 months to college age.
To meet this goal, the presentation will draw on numerous sources of data and spells of field work. We will look at gaps in health, nutrition, and education. The gaps will be measured for rural-urban; Han-minority; interregional; and more. Among other empirical exercises, we will examine issues the cognitive and non-cognitive skills of children 6 to 12 months old; educational readiness of preschool-aged children; the rates of micro-nutrient deficiencies; intestinal worm burdens; share of children with uncorrected vision problems in primary schools; test scores between Han and minority students in the far West; drop outs from junior high school; the educational performance of VET students between inland and coastal provinces; access to financial aid for high school students; and inequality of access to higher education.
In addition—and perhaps more importantly, we will look at ways that have been shown to shrink the inequality. The efforts will be looked at in terms of efficacy and cost-effectiveness and scalability. Barriers to implementing the solutions by policy makers will also be discussed.
Scott Rozelle, Ph.D. Cornell University, 1991, holds the Helen Farnsworth Endowed Professorship at Stanford University and is Senior Fellow in the Food Security and Environment Program and the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Freeman Spogli Institute (FSI) for International Studies. For the past 30 years, he has worked on the economics of poverty reduction by focusing on issues of agriculture, resources and the environment. Currently, his work on poverty has its full focus on human capital, including issues of rural health, nutrition, and education. With his coauthors, Dr. Rozelle has published more than 400 papers and books. Among his publications, he has published papers in Science, Nature, American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Literature, etc.
He is also an adjunct professor at five universities in China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr. Rozelle's research focuses almost exclusively on China’s rural economy. For the past 19 years, Rozelle has been the chair of the International Advisory Board of the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). In recent years Rozelle spends most of his time co-directing the Rural Education Action Project (REAP), a research organization with collaborative ties to CAS, Peking University, Tsinghua University and other universities that run studies to evaluate China’s new education and health programs.
In recognition of this work, Dr. Rozelle has received numerous honors and awards. Among them, he became a Yangtse Scholar (Changjiang Xuezhe) in Renmin University of China in 2008. In 2008 he also was awarded the Friendship Award by Premiere Wen Jiabao, the highest honor that can be bestowed on a foreigner. In 2009, Rozelle also received in 2009 the National Science & Technology Research Collaboration Award, a prize given by the State Council.
"The Rise of Fish Oil"
10:40 am, 1151 McCarty Hall A
Dr. Atle Oglend, Professor, Department of Industrial Economics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Stavanger, Norway
Atle Oglend received his PhD in Industrial Economics from the University of Stavanger, Norway. He has been employed as a Professor at the Department of Industrial Economics University of Stavanger since 2011. His research focuses on commodity markets, the economics of salmon aquaculture and energy economics.
The presentation tells the story of how fish oil has gone from an inferior to a premium oil product. With the growth of aquaculture, fish oil became a valuable feed component. Its value increased further as the belief in the health benefit of Omega-3 opened the market for direct human consumption through nutritional supplements. Strong demand, limited supply growth and weaker substitution between Omega-3 and Omega-6 has led to diverging trends between fish oil and vegetable oil prices, with fish oil now a premium oil product. The paper also investigates how the salmon aquaculture industry has responded to the challenge of rising fish oil prices. We show that consorted effort in nutrition and feed research has allowed a reduction in the share of fish oil in feed from around 25% in the early 2000s to around 12% today. This substitution effort has allowed salmon production to grow without using substantially more fish oil.
"Improving the Food Value Chain: Methodology and Case Studies"
10:40 am, 1086 McCarty Hall B
Teresa Briz, Assistant Professor Polytechnic University of Madrid Department of Agricultural Economics (Visiting faculty at UF FRE)
Teresa is a professor in Agricultural Economics with a specialization in the area of food value chains in developed and developing countries; organic agriculture; and consumer preferences and responses to prices, labeling, and marketing. She is a participant in European and US research projects and collaboration in different journals and books in these issues and is the Spanish representative in the European Network of Organic Agriculture Teachers.
Watch live at http://ufifas.adobeconnect.com/aeb4424/
"Policy, Agricultural Production and Ecosystem Services"
3:00 pm, 1151 McCarty Hall A
Dr. Aaron De Laporte
"Modeling Field-Level Conservation Tillage Adoption with Aggregate Choice Data"
3:00 pm, 1086 McCarty Hall B
Dr. Tara Wade
Seminar Coordinator
Kelly Grogan, Assistant Professor
2016 Seminar Archive
Dr. Dyno Keatinge
"Local Inconsistencies in Climage Change: Implications for Global Vegetable Supply"
View Archived Seminar
Dr. Hector Sandoval
"Social Interactions in Rural Mexico"
Trey Malone
"Releasing Consumers from the 'Trap': A Method to Reduce Participant Inattention in Stated Preference Surveys"
Dr. Véronique Thériault
"How Does Gender Affect Sustainable Intensification of Cereal Production in the West African Sahel?"
Dr. Chris Parmeter
"A Partially Parmetric Regression Model"
Dr. Frank Asche
"Trade Costs for Highly Perishable Products"
Dr. Christa Court
"Technical, Economic, and Financial Analyses of Energy Systems and Related Environmental Issues"
Sep. 4
Dr. Spiro Stefanou
"Irrigation Technology: Adoption, Water Effectiveness & Productivity Measurement"
Sep. 29
Dr. Elizabeth Pienaar
"Incentives for Land Stewardship"
Dr. Madhu Khanna
"Responsiveness of Crop Yield and Acreage to Prices and Climate"
Dr. Bob Chambers
"Crop Insurance Fundamentals"
Dr. Berta Lina Muiño Garcia
"Plant Health Protection in Cuba"
Dr. Juan Camilo Carden
"Collective action in irrigation systems under uncertainty: Field experiments in Thailand, Nepal, China and Colombia"
Policies: Disability Services|UF Privacy|SSN PrivacyLast Modified: Wed, 11 Jan 2017 06:42:28 EST | 农业 |
2017-17/1154/en_head.json.gz/14693 | Bananas in the backyard
Nursery specializes in exotic trees, plants
Amber Nicholson
[email protected]
Comments Owners of The Honey Tree Nursery Kevin and Bonnie Cook, along with their son Logan, recently opened a business that specializes in unique plants and trees. Amber Nicholson/Journal Pioneer
Summerside - It started as a hobby. Then it grew, grew and grew some more.
A handful of seedlings have now turned into a house and yard full of hundreds of unique plants and trees.
"Two years ago I built a greenhouse for my wife and I just used the back corner of it to grow some seeds," said Kevin Cook, who moved from Ottawa to Summerside in 1993 for work, along with his wife Bonnie, who's a Moncton native.
"I didn't intend on getting into large trees. One thing just led to another."
The Cooks now own The Honey Tree Nursery in Summerside.
"This is my hobby," Cook said as he looked around his yard of greenery. "This is a hobby that became a business."
Honey Tree is not home to your everyday plant or tree. The Cooks pride themselves on their specialization of unique and different varieties.
"When we moved from Ontario I noticed there were trees back home that P.E.I. does not have. Same as when I saw palm trees in Florida," Cook explained. "I really like different trees because it allows me to bring a little bit of away to P.E.I."
Cook said he spends countless hours researching online and reading books about unique plants and trees.
A few uncommon varieties one can find at Honey Tree include the Kentucky coffee tree, ginkgo, amur maple and sensitive plant.
What also makes Cook's gardening unique is his interest in pushing the Island's zones. P.E.I. is listed as having two zones: zone 5b and 6a. Cook enjoys attempting to grow trees and plants that are supposed to be in a higher or lower zone.
"It's a lot of fun to test the zones," he said. "I really enjoy testing to see what will survive and what won't."
For example, Cook grows a variety of exotic fruit in and outside of his home including bananas, kiwi, pawpaw, mulberries, plums, pears and peaches.
"I sell peaches and a lot of people don't think you can grow them here," said Cook.
The Cooks now have more than 80 full-sized trees, hundreds of plants and the largest variety of magnolia on P.E.I. × | 农业 |
2017-17/1154/en_head.json.gz/15034 | Student’s Guide to the Environmental Impact of Deforestation Imagine hiking through a forest. Tall, green trees provide shade from the sun. Squirrels and other animals chatter around you. You walk through a small stream and shiver as cool water runs between your toes. Now, imagine not being able to take a walk through the forest because it has been cut down, and it’s not just the forest where you live but everywhere.
Deforestation is the clearing of large parts of our forests for human needs. Much of Europe, Asia, and North and South America were once heavily forested. For centuries, we have been cutting down these forests, but it is only in the past 50 years that we have been able to see the result clearing our forests is having on the planet as a whole. It is estimated that about half of all of the forests in the world have been cut down. Deforestation is worse in the tropics, where it is estimated that 100,000 square kilometers of forest are cleared every year. Scientists estimate that we will lose all of the tropical rain forests within 100 years if the rate of deforestation in certain areas continues.
Why Do We Need Forests?
The forest isn’t just a pretty place to take a walk. Forests are home to many plant and animal species. Some plants need the deep shade the forest canopy provides to grow. Wolves, bears, cougars, moose, foxes, and countless other animals call the forest their home. Tropical rain forests alone are home to more than half of the world’s plant and animal species. That’s not bad for a type of forest that makes up less than 10% of all forests in the world.
Forests also provide many helpful things for humans. It is hard to list all of the things we get out of the forest: Resins, incense, medicinal plants, and wood for paper and furniture are just a few of the things the forests of the world provide for us. Some people use forests for food, whether through hunting or foraging for edible plants, berries, and nuts. Tree and other plant roots help to keep the soil in place when it rains and reduce the chance of mudslides.
Why Does Deforestation Happen?
We are losing our forests for many reasons. Agriculture is the largest contributor to deforestation around the world. Huge sections of forest are cut down to make room for industrial cattle ranches and large plantations. Small farmers in some areas slash and burn forests near their homes to make room for livestock or to plant crops. When these small plots are unable to provide food for their animals because of overgrazing or the land becomes too depleted to grow crops, they burn down another section of forest and the cycle starts again.
Farmers aren’t the only cause of deforestation. Illegal logging operations move deep into forests and begin cutting down trees to supply paper mills. Miners push into forests to take advantage of fresh mineral deposits, and the only way to get to those deposits is to cut down the forests sitting on them. Many countries are discovering that building roads through their forests to help connect isolated communities also brings in people and companies that use the road to move further and further into the forest, causing more damage.
How Does It Hurt Our Planet?
Forests are the lungs of our planet. All plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, but trees are able to convert more carbon dioxide than a house plant. They are places where carbon dioxide is sequestered through photosynthesis. Tropical rain forests are very humid because of the water vapor they release along with the oxygen. When part of a rain forest is cut down, the humidity in the area drops, causing the remaining forest to dry. Scientists are starting to understand how cutting down the rainforest is affecting rainfall not just in the forest but thousands of miles away. Drying makes the ecosystem vulnerable to wildfires, which in turn destroy even more of the forest.
Depleting our forests is also adding to erosion. Erosion occurs when rock or soil is worn away, usually by water or air. Without plants to hold the soil in place, valuable nutrients are swept into rivers and streams and carried to the ocean. The removal of these nutrients from the life cycle of the forest causes additional stress on an already damaged ecosystem.
Many of the plants and animals found in forests are endemic, or only found in that particular forest and nowhere else on Earth. When we destroy their habitat, we drive these plants and animals to extinction. Every year, scientists find more species that we didn’t know existed in habitats that are critically endangered in large part due to deforestation. Some of these species may have medicinal properties that can be used to cure or treat diseases.
Ways to Fight Deforestation
The best way to fight deforestation is through conservation. Try not to waste paper (remember, that paper was once a tree). Start recycling, not just paper but cans, glass bottles, and plastics. Try to buy products made from recycled goods. Save electricity by not using lights during the day and remembering to turn off appliances like televisions when you’re not using them. Instead of asking for a ride somewhere, walk or take public transportation. Finally, there are tree-planting programs like those of the Arbor Day Foundation that need volunteers to help plant trees not just in deforested areas but also in cities like yours.
National Geographic Overview on Deforestation: Read here for a good general wrap-up of what deforestation is.
World Wildlife Fund: Deforestation: This page offers a lot of good information on the topic of deforestation.
Deforestation: Facts, Causes, and Effects: Learn more about why deforestation happens and what effects result here.
Forest Cover Loss in Indonesia, 2000-05: The Starting Point for the Norwegian Billion to Reduce Deforestation: Norway and Indonesia have signed a pact to work together to help stem damage caused by deforestation.
What is Clearcutting? The Natural Resources Defense Council looks at what clearcutting is and how it damages the environment.
Global Deforestation: Notes from a college lecture examine the causes of and remedies for deforestation.
Solutions to Deforestation: Greenpeace is one of the agencies that has worked to fix the problem of deforestation.
NASA Earth Observatory: Tropical Deforestation: NASA looks at the direct and indirect causes of deforestation.
What is Deforestation?: Learn more about deforestation on this page.
Environmental Defense Fun Fact Sheet (PDF): A document from the Environmental Defense Fund discusses a global policy to help cut harmful emissions caused by forest degradation.
Encyclopedia of the Earth: Deforestation: What is deforestation? Study this topic here.
Deforestation in Canada: The Facts: This Canadian government page looks at the subject of deforestation and its impact on Canada.
University of the Western Cape: Deforestation Fact Sheet: Facts about this environmental topic can be found on this page.
Deforestation Increasing in the Amazon (slide show): See the effects of deforestation in photos from The New York Times.
Threats to Our Forests: This kid-friendly site explores the reasons why our forests are in danger.
Brazil Gums Up International Agreement to End Deforestation: A CBS News article looks at an attempt to forge an international pact to end deforestation.
Livestock’s Role in Deforestation: The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization gives information about how livestock operations can harm forests.
Global Palm Oil Demand Fueling Deforestation: Another reason why forests are cut down is for valuable tree-based products, such as palm oil, which is found in many commercial products.
Major Forest Announcements at U.N. Climate Summit: World leaders have set a global timeline to end deforestation.
Deforestation: Carving Up the Amazon: Road construction is another reason that people cut down forests. | 农业 |
2017-17/1154/en_head.json.gz/16064 | Women in Food: Farmer-Turned-State Rep. Chellie Pingree Advocates for Local Farmers and Responsible Food Policy – Seedstock
Top Women in Food: Farmer-Turned-State Rep. Chellie Pingree Advocates for Local Farmers and Responsible Food Policy March 29, 2016 | Laura Hurst
Chellie Pingree. Courtesy Chellie Pingree.
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree has represented Maine’s First District in the United States Congress since 2008. But before her time as a legislator in Washington, D.C., she worked as a farmer and small business owner on the island of North Haven off the coast of Maine. Pingree originally hails from Minnesota but arrived in Maine as a teenager. Inspired by the likes of Helen and Scott Nearing, she has made the state home ever since. She graduated from College of the Atlantic and over the years, in addition to running an organic farm, started two businesses: North Island Yarn in 1981 and Nebo Lodge in 2006. Pingree says that she began her political career as a member of Maine’s state legislature in the 1990s as a way to get involved with the issues and policies she cares about such as food, education and healthcare. When elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, she became the first woman Democrat to represent Maine. Drawing on her personal experience and her state’s rich agricultural history, Pingree became a proponent of food and agricultural reform in Congress. In 2013, Rep. Pingree wrote and introduced the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act, which aimed to create and strengthen local and regional economic opportunities and infrastructure for farmers and to increase access to healthy foods for consumers and disadvantaged communities. Many of the Act’s provisions were included in the 2014 Farm Bill, which made strides in securing funding for small and organic farmers. Despite its progress, the 2014 Farm Bill faced criticism for drastically cutting funding to SNAP, and Pingree is quick to note that the Bill was only one step in a long fight for farm and food justice. “Watching the cuts to SNAP benefits was some of the most painful legislation I’ve ever observed,” she says. To reverse and fortify SNAP, Pingree says the Republican-controlled Congress and the powerful food and agriculture lobbies pose difficult obstacles. “We need the people to fight back against what is a very powerful lobby,” Pingree says.
The number of lobbyists representing the food and agricultural sector trails that of defense lobbyists, she notes. “People often don’t realize how much we’re up against. What consumers want is very powerful, but they have to fight back [against] a lot of money and people who are working to defend the status quo.”
Pingree has a unique understanding of the high stakes that family and organic farmers face because she has been there herself. “Farming has had a huge impact [on my political career]. I’ve done everything on a farm from milking a cow, to weeding a field, to driving a tractor.” Pingree says that she brings this practical experience and knowledge to bear when colleagues propose regulations that may be too strident for the average farmer. She has valuable experience dealing with consumers as well. “I know what people say when they come to the farm, when they join a CSA, when they go to a farmers’ market.” Now that she stands on the legislative side, Pingree sees that the biggest obstacle preventing citizens from connecting with their legislators is that they don’t know how their member of Congress stands on an issue or how to reach out effectively. “I think an overwhelming number of people in this country care about food policy. They want healthy school lunches. They want to buy more locally. They don’t want a lot of toxins in their food. But they don’t always know how to contact their member of Congress, or when the farm bill is going on, or what issues to communicate about.” Pingree cites the recent GMO Bill vote in the Senate (also known as the DARK Act) as an example of constituents reaching out to their legislators to voice concern. She says that people were familiar with the issue and spoke out. “I think the power of individuals and consumers is huge here; they just have to know how to use their voice.” Submit a Comment
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2017-17/1154/en_head.json.gz/16413 | Republic of Chad SUMMARY Vast landlocked country of Central Africa, the Republic of Chad is a low-income food-deficit country. The population, concentrated in the Southern part of the country, is young and predominantly rural. The country is experiencing a strong demographic growth and a high influx of refugees. The agricultural sector, which is subject to harsh climatic constraints, has dominated the economy of the country for many years. Oil extraction has recently become the main driving force of the Chadian economy. However, the majority of the population is still involved in agriculture, a sector characterized by low productivity. Despite a satisfactory economic performance recorded during the last decade, poverty affects two-thirds of the population. Moreover, limited health coverage and insufficient quality of health care services contribute to very high levels of infant and maternal mortality. As a matter of fact, infant and underfive mortality rates have not declined substantially in the last 25 years. The situation is further worsened by lack of adequate sanitation and access to safe water. With regard to education, illiteracy reaches alarming levels, affecting three-quarters of the population. The diet is mainly based on cereals (sorghum and millet) and starchy roots (cassava, yam), complemented by pulses. Consumption of animal products and of fruit and vegetables, foods rich in micronutrients, is low. At national level, the food supply barely meets the average energy requirements of the population, and due to disparities in access to food more than one third of the population is undernourished. As a result, many households face recurrent, and sometimes very severe, food insecurity. Although breastfeeding is a very common practice in Chad, exclusive breastfeeding is exceptional while complementary feeding is often not introduced in a timely manner and is insufficiently diversified. These inadequate child feeding practices, along with poor health coverage and poverty, are the main determinants of malnutrition. Stunting, i.e. chronic malnutrition, affects 41% of children under five years of age. Malnutrition is therefore a major public health problem in Chad. Moreover, during the last decade, no improvement has been observed in the prevalence of chronic malnutrition. The nutritional status of women of childbearing age is also of concern. Micronutrient deficiencies are widespread. The prevalence of iodine deficiency disorders has decreased considerably but the problem persists, particularly in certain areas of the East. Consumption of iodized salt must be increased and encouraged throughout the country. Among young children and women, vitamin A and iron deficiencies are highly prevalent mostly because of low levels of consumption of foods of animal origin and of fruit and vegetables. Iron deficiency anemia is a major public health problem in Chad as more than three-quarters of young children and more than one third of adult women are affected. The coverage of vitamin A and iron supplementation must be considerably expanded in order to combat these deficiencies more efficiently. FAO Country Profiles | 农业 |
2017-17/1154/en_head.json.gz/16441 | PlantsTrees & ShrubsPlanting & Growing Trees & Shrubs How to Cultivate a Butterfly Bush
How to Cultivate a Butterfly Bush
Overview Butterfly bush, also known by its scientific name, Buddleja davidii, is a perennial shrub native to warm areas of North America, Africa, Asia and South America. Gardeners value the plant for its ability to attract beneficial insects to the garden and for its attractive, brightly-colored foliage. Butterfly bush grows quickly and may reach its full mature size in just a few growing seasons. With proper care, the plant may reach heights of up to 10 feet tall and 10 feet wide. Butterfly bush is hardy in zones 5 through 9 and thrives in most areas of the United States.
Plant butterfly bush during early spring so the plant can become established before winter. Choose a planting location that receives full sunlight throughout the day and has fertile, well-drained soil for the best results.
Use a shovel to dig a hole in the soil twice as deep and three times as wide as the root ball of the butterfly bush. Set the root ball into the hole and back-fill with soil. Water thoroughly to collapse air pockets and bring moisture into contact with the roots.
Spread a 3-inch layer of mulch over the soil to insulate the plant's roots and suppress the growth of weeds. Begin the layer of mulch 3 to 4 inches from the crown of the plant, or the area where the stem meets the roots, to allow proper air circulation.
Water deeply once every two weeks during the spring and fall months. Decrease the frequency of watering to once per week during summer. Do not water the plant during winter, when it is not actively growing.
Fertilize butterfly bush twice per year, once in early spring and again in fall. Use a slow-release fertilizer to slowly deposit nutrients into the soil throughout the year. Apply following the manufacturer's directions.
Prune butterfly bush in early spring while the plant is still dormant. Use pruning shears to cut back the previous year's growth to about 12 to 18 inches in length to promote a compact growth habit. Remove any damaged or diseased limbs to increase the health of the plant.
Clemson University Extension: Butterfly Bush
Maryland Cooperative Extension: Butterfly Bush Production and Consumer Care
"New England Gardener's Guide"; Jacqueline Hériteau, Holly Hunter Stonehill; 2002
butterfly bush, cultivate butterfly bush, Buddleja davidii About this Author
Willow Sidhe is a freelance writer living in the beautiful Hot Springs, AR. She is a certified aromatherapist with a background in herbalism. She has extensive experience gardening, with a specialty in indoor plants and herbs. Sidhe's work has been published on numerous Web sites, including Gardenguides.com.
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2017-17/1179/en_head.json.gz/19961 | Pork and Plants The History of Pork & Plants The History of Pork & Plants
The Start of Pork & Plants (1967-80)
Edward and Joyce Kreidermacher purchased the farm just outside Altura, Minnesota in 1967, shortly after their marriage. At that time, they raised mainly dairy cows, but soon they expanded into raising hogs. Joyce was always very interested in nutrition and dietary research, particularly in growing specific vegetables that were promoted to be better for certain vitamins or nutritional aspects. When she wasn’t able to find these specific vegetables at nearby greenhouses, she researched how to get seeds and grow the plants herself. Eventually Joyce was growing all her own vegetables (and a few flowers of course) and being asked by family members to grow a few extras for them. One room of the old farm house (which was considered the office, sewing room, etc.) was always lined with hog mats and florescent lights (from the hog barn of course) for the many trays of seeds to be germinated in the early spring.
In 1972 a “lean-to” was added to the south side of the small hog barn, so that the small seedlings could be grown to maturity before being transplanted to the garden. At this point, word of mouth had spread from family members and neighbors to others in the area, who would come to buy vegetables or flowers from Joyce. It didn’t take long for Joyce to outgrow the “lean-to” and put up her first real greenhouse.
Year after year, word of mouth spread and more people came to buy plants. The Kreidermacher family also continued to grow and each of the 4 children spent much of their childhoods helping with the small plants in the greenhouse, making change for customers out of a yellow tackle box, and spending the summer gathering vegetables in the gigantic garden.
For many years Joyce’s hobby was really not considered a full-fledge business and customers just visited “Kreidermachers” for their vegetables and flowers. Finally around 1985, Ed and Joyce accepted the fact that they needed to really expand and make it official by coming up with a business name. Their oldest daughter joked with them one day, “You know Pork & Beans, just call it Pork & Plants!” As luck would have it, her joke resonated with the rest as it encompassed the entire farm, which by that time consisted of 2 large hog barns and the greenhouses.
In 1986 the greenhouse was moved (and more greenhouses constructed) on the current site. It seemed that every year there was another greenhouse being put up, since we were sold out of everything early the year before. Most of the original buildings on the farm have disappeared, even the old farm house and barn to be taken over by greenhouses.
There were several years that Pork & Plants even tried selling pork (bacon, pork chops, roasts, etc.) through a freezer in the greenhouse, but the seasonality and consumer demand for certain cuts over others made this extremely hard to predict and thus was discontinued.
The Current Pork & Plants
In 2002 all of the old production greenhouses were dismantled in order to construct a new greenhouse range that would be more efficient and produce better plants, since the roof peaks open up to direct sun and cool temps. With this new construction the whole site covers approximately 1.3 acres. Three of the old greenhouse structures were reinstalled on another part of the farm for additional space, particularly to grow cool loving crops like pansies & petunias.
Over the years, each of the children have spent their school years working in the greenhouse and even helping when home on vacation or visiting for the weekend. In 1997 Ed and Joyce’s son, Eric, returned to the farm to partner with them on the farm and greenhouse. As the hog market bottomed out shortly after his return, Eric & Ed sold off the traditional hog herd, so they could help Joyce concentrate on growing plants. Naturally the greenhouse has grown while the hogs become a minor part of the farm. Shortly after Eric’s return to the farm, his wife, Ann, joined the family and although her passion is horses, she found a natural talent in working with the family business.
Eric took over more of the business responsibilities, so that Ed & Joyce could enjoy what they really like to do, as well as spend more time with their 7 grandchildren. As the business continued to grow, Eric tried to convince his sister, Maria, to return home. After 10 years of working for PanAmerican Seed, an international flower seed breeder/producer, Maria decided to take him up on the offer Spring 2007.
Now, Maria runs the business side of the greenhouse, so Eric can devote more time to his other endeavors into organic farming, raising heritage animals with Ann to sell to restaurants & consumers through the greenhouse once again, and the newest family business Alternative Energy Solutions LLC, which helps other growers and farmers save on heating costs through bio-mass boilers and pellets we use to heat our greenhouses.
People that have frequented Pork & Plants over the years know that everything is grown on site and we are known for quality and selection. We remain mainly a family run operation with only 1 or 2 full time employees beyond the family (Ed, Joyce, Maria, Eric & 3rd generation in training), along with friends & neighbors that work part-time during the spring.
A few years ago an older gentleman showed up at the farm, and looking very puzzled, commented to Joyce that he was retiring from his job of taking pictures of local farms and had a photo of what he thought was this farm back around 1969. Well, his puzzled look made sense since not one building in the photo he held still stood on the farm. Other than a few trees, the driveway to the house was the only thing the same.
Now, nearly 40 years later, Pork & Plants has come full circle again: Dad’s experience of farming sustainably is continuing with Eric’s passion in Pork & Plants Heritage Farm, along with Mom’s love of growing plants, particularly vegetables, being passed down to Maria & the 3rd generation!
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2017-17/1179/en_head.json.gz/20223 | Industry Improving crop yields in a world of extreme weather
By University of California, Riverside
July 01, 2013 | 4:18 pm EDT
Farmers in the United States witnessed record-breaking extremes in temperature and drought during the last two summers, causing worldwide increases in the costs of food, feed and fiber. Indeed, many climate scientists caution that extreme weather events resulting from climate change is the new normal for farmers in North America and elsewhere, requiring novel agricultural strategies to prevent crop losses.
Now a research team led by Sean Cutler, a plant cell biologist at the University of California, Riverside, has found a new drought-protecting chemical that shows high potential for becoming a powerful tool for crop protection in the new world of extreme weather.
Named “quinabactin” by the researchers, the chemical mimics a naturally occurring stress hormone in plants that helps the plants cope with drought conditions.
Study results appear online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
All land plants have intricate water sensing and drought response systems that are tuned to maximize their fitness in the environments they live in. For example, plants in environments with low water grow slowly so that they do not consume more water than is available.
“But since farmers have always desired fast-growing varieties, their most valued strains did not always originate from drought-tolerant progenitors,” explained Cutler, an associate professor of plant cell biology. “As a result, we have crops today that perform very well in years of plentiful water but poorly in years with little water. This dilemma has spawned an active hunt for both new drought-tolerant crops and chemicals that farmers might use for improving crop yield under adverse conditions.”
Working on Arabidopsis, a model plant used widely in plant biology labs, Cutler and his colleagues focused their efforts on tinkering with one of the plant endogenous systems involved in drought responses. Plant leaves are lined with tiny pores, called stomata, which dynamically open and close to control the amount of water lost to the environment by evaporation. So that the plants can acquire carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the pores need to be open some of the time, resulting in some loss of water.
During drought the stomata close firmly to limit water loss. Behind the scenes, a small hormone called abscisic acid (ABA) orchestrates the opening and closing of the pores. Cells throughout the plant produce increasing amounts of ABA as water levels decrease. ABA then moves throughout the plant to signal the stressful conditions and close the stomata. Inside plant cells, ABA does its job by turning on a special class of proteins called receptors. The discovery in 2009 of ABA receptors by the same team behind the current breakthrough was heralded by Science magazine as one of the top breakthroughs of 2009 because of its relevance to the drought problem.
“If you can control the receptors the way ABA does, then you have a way to control water loss and drought-tolerance,” Cutler said. “It has been known for many years that simply spraying ABA on plants improves their water use and stress tolerance, but ABA itself is much too expensive for practical use in the field by farmers.”
To address this problem, Cutler and his team searched through many thousands of molecules to identify inexpensive synthetic chemicals that could activate the receptors by mimicking ABA. The team found and named quinabactin, a molecule they show is almost indistinguishable from ABA in its effects, but much simpler chemically and therefore easier to make than ABA. By studying how the new molecule activates the ABA receptors that are involved in drought tolerance, the team also has learned more about the underlying control logic of the stress response system and provided new information that can be used for others interested in developing similar molecules,
“This is a competitive arena that includes agrichemical giants who are busily working to bring similar drought-protecting molecules to market, so this is a landmark discovery because quinabactin is the first-in-class synthetic molecule of its kind,” Cutler said.
The work reported this week is the first in a multistep process of bringing a new agricultural product to market. Given the complexity and costs of such a process, the UCR Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) is working with an agricultural leader, Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc., to develop the technology.
Joyce Patrona, a licensing officer in OTC, is coordinating UCR’s licensing efforts for quinabactin.
“It has become very apparent to industry engaged in this area of technology of the robustness of Dr. Cutler’s research,” she said. “This is a credit to Dr. Cutler and his team as well as to UCR for its commitment to bring innovative research to the marketplace.”
Cutler’s collaborators on the research project are Brian Volkman and Francis Peterson at the Medical College of Wisconsin, who helped unravel the mechanism by which quinabactin mimics ABA by determining the atomic structure of the new molecule bound to one of its cellular receptors. Others who worked with them are Masanori Okamoto (first author of the research paper), Andrew Defries and Sang-Youl Park at UCR; and Akira Endo and Eiji Nambara at the University of Toronto, Canada.
The research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc., and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.
climate scientistsclimate changeAgriculturedrought About the Author: | 农业 |
2017-17/1179/en_head.json.gz/20456 | Our family has farmed the original part of Fruition Berry Farm, consisting of approximately 140 acres, since it’s purchase in 2003. The neighboring piece of property was purchased a year later providing a house, barn and another 100 acres enabling us to have enough land to grow our own wheat that could provide the straw for the strawberries. We opened the pick-your-own operation to the public in 2006. Late in 2011, we added another 17 acres to the plot and approx. 5 acres of that has already been planted to maple trees with the hope of a maple syrup operation for our children to operate in their future.
Ken grew up farming with his two sisters and parents Phil and Ruth on their farm in Napanee (www.paulridgeberryfarm.com). Phil and Ruth instilled a love of the land and appreciation for the farming lifestyle in Ken. The semester before he graduated from University with a degree in English, Ken returned home for Christmas break and purchased his first farm.
the Paul family, 2010
Christine grew up in the city of Oshawa and never in her wildest dreams thought she would marry a farmer. Although Christine graduated from St. Lawrence College with a business diploma, fate, (a.k.a a mutual matchmaking friend) intervened and the rest is history.
After being married in December 2000, two beautiful children and the acquisition of nearly 270 acres of land, our dreams are starting to come to fruition. (pun intended)
It is not possible to imagine operating this farm without the generous love and support of our families and good friends. As each year passes, we are learning and growing.
Our goal is to keep our distribution to on our farm and local markets. We think of our farm in terms of our family and a quality way of life. We look forward to sharing our passion for farming, family and good food with you and yours.
Ken, Christine, Grant and Lilly Paul | 农业 |
2017-17/1179/en_head.json.gz/21025 | Animal Health Schwartz: Wyoming needs to be better prepared for disease emergencies Written by Jennifer Womack Cheyenne – “Protecting our industry is critical,” says Wyoming Livestock Board Director Jim Schwartz. “It’s an $850 million business in Wyoming and we need to be better prepared.” Schwartz says his agency doesn’t currently have the personnel necessary to adequately carry out its duties. SF32, “Wyoming livestock health and emergency disease program,” sets out to help the agency secure additional staff and resources. Sponsored by the Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Interim Committee, SF32 originally called for a $920,000 appropriation allowing for three new field veterinarians, an information technology specialist and livestock health administrative staff for the Riverton office. When the legislation passed out of the Senate early February, it had been pared back to one field veterinarian and $115,000 for salary and associated expenses. “We really appreciate any help we can get,” says Schwartz, “but the truth is we need a lot more. We’ve got a lot more mobility in the livestock industry than we used to. We need to make sure we’re protecting our industry.” Members of the House Ag Committee responded to Schwartz’s request when they worked the legislation Feb. 10 before sending it on to the House Appropriations Committee for further consideration. If the positions are retained in the House, Schwartz says the legislation will head to a conference committee where members of the House and Senate will reach an agreement on the legislation. Schwartz envisions the additional veterinarians working with the state’s private veterinarians and the ports of entry to ensure health papers are properly checked on animals entering the state. Given the increasing number of small livestock operators, he also says there’s a growing need for education. “They aren’t always acquainted with animal husbandry,” says Schwartz of those raising livestock on small acreages. “We need some educational outreach.” As to where additional veterinarians would be located, Schwartz says one is needed in the Pinedale area to help producers in the Designated Surveillance Area for brucellosis in developing herd management plans. “With 900 to 1,000 producers in the DSA, we need to do risk assessments and herd plans with as many of those producers as we can,” says Schwartz. If additional positions are secured, he says State Veterinarian Walter Cook and Assistant State Veterinarian Jim Logan will determine their locations. As for the information technology specialist, Schwartz says the agency doesn’t currently have any computer support help. “This IT person would help with computerizing the brand program,” he says. “We currently have the financial resources, through a Homeland Security grant, to purchase the computers. We’d have 90 computers around state, which would require a huge amount of training and trouble shooting.” “There is a need for at least another vet and an IT person to help with the brand program,” says Wyoming Stock Growers Association Executive Vice President Jim Magagna. “I hope we can hold the money for at least those two positions.” Wyoming Wool Growers Executive Vice President Bryce Reece says given challenges to brucellosis and other diseases, “they do need those positions.” He says, “They don’t have enough trained professionals.” Reece says it’s likely there will be interim topic discussions on the agency and its duties along with animal welfare issues. “I’d like to figure out how to be more proactive,” says Schwartz of the need to be prepared and work to prevent diseases rather than being left to react to their presence. He says he’s also becoming increasingly convinced that Wyoming may need to look at its own state-level animal identification program. Jennifer Womack is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Print Email Calendar of Events | 农业 |
2017-17/1179/en_head.json.gz/21757 | Related Program: Under the Microscope Farmers prepare to embrace cannabis as the next commodity By Rodney Davis & Luke Runyon
Mar 23, 2016 Related Program: Under the Microscope TweetShareGoogle+Email Cannabis is beginning to look a lot like a commodity crop. After spending decades in darkened basements and secreted away on small parcels of land, marijuana growers are commercializing once-illegal plant varieties: industrial hemp, recreational marijuana and medical cannabis. As more states legalize the growth of certain types of cannabis, those in the industry are turning to traditional farmers for help in an effort to transform the plant from black market scourge to the next big American cash crop. Of course, this transformation would’ve been impossible without a change in law and a change in tone from regulators. In Colorado, marijuana is enshrined in the state’s constitution, and its regulations and standards are folded into several state agencies. While Gov. John Hickenlooper reluctantly took up the mantle of legalized cannabis, the state’s leaders are beginning to embrace it. Take for example, the 2016 Governor’s Forum on Agriculture, held in Denver. A typical farm conference, farmers in denim and bolo ties mingle with agriculture professionals and state regulators. The governor himself swings by for a keynote speech. But this year, there was a new addition. On the agenda was a panel discussion: “Cannabis: An Emerging Crop Of Colorado.” The session included three Colorado-based cannabis company executives, and was moderated by Duane Sinning, director of the state’s industrial hemp program. In years past, marijuana growers haven’t been invited to the forum. But this year the state facillitated a “lessons learned” panel with cannabis companies in front of an audience of farmers, tackling everything from how to run a combine over fields of hemp to genetically-engineered marijuana. “There’s an opportunity where traditional agriculture can help an industry emerge in this state,” Sinning says. Because cannabis is the state’s newest and flashiest cash crop, there’s a rush on finding the most efficient ways to grow it, to set up a marketing system, and to bring down the cost. This sometimes takes the form of innovations in lighting or hydroponic water delivery systems. In other cases growers spray plants with unapproved pesticides, sparking state-mandated recalls of contaminated marijuana. Some marijuana companies are realizing that to avoid problems in their grow facilities, former traditional farmers might be their best new employees. “Farmers understand scale. They understand hardship,” says Brooke Gehring, CEO of LiveGreen Cannabis, a chain of shops in the Denver metro area. “They understand you’re only as good as your last crop.” Stephen Lipton knows those lessons. He’s the cultivation manager at The Farm, a recreational and medical marijuana operation in Boulder, Colorado. Before growing commercial-scale cannabis, Lipton worked as an organic farmer. While other marijuana companies are attempting to just keep enough product on the shelves, Lipton oversees two research facilities and a development program for The Farm. In one room, which he dubs the “genetics library,” about 150 different strains of marijuana are planted in small pots. “Genetics is really the cornerstone of the whole thing,” Lipton says. “Without that you really have nothing.” Like a plant breeder attempting to make a sweeter apple or a hardier tomato, he crosses strains in the search of the perfect variety, ready to fold the best performer into the company’s lineup. “[We look for] plant vigor, smell, aroma, taste, anything that you can imagine really. Yield is a big one for sure,” Lipton says. It’s a tricky balance, Lipton says, attempting to birth a high-yielding variety that still holds on to the attributes customers at the store are asking for. Like most things in agriculture, the genetics program here is built on tradeoffs. Some incredibly potent varieties tend not to yield as much. The high-yielders lack the right aroma. The best-smelling buds are duds on taste. Genetics is just one factor to a successful farm operation. Most of modern agriculture relies heavily on inputs, like fertilizers and pesticides, to keep plants healthy and productive. But for obvious legal reasons, the Monsantos and John Deeres of the world aren’t currently catering to cannabis growers. That leaves room for startups. One of those new kids on the block, Colin Bell, decided to use his knowledge of soil microbes to serve the marijuana sector. Bell originally developed a mix of microbes at Colorado State University to sell to vegetable farms. But to get an influx of cash, Bell and his business partners decided to pitch their beneficial bacteria to marijuana growers under the brand name Mammoth P, serving a market sorely in need of tailor-made inputs. “We hear bigger flowers, we hear denser flowers. And in the end what it translates is to is more yield,” Bell says. More yield translates to more money. In Colorado alone, marijuana sales were just shy of a billion dollars in 2015. Savvy entrepreneurs in the sector are quick to say that even more markets are coming online. More than 20 states have laws allowing industrial hemp and medical marijuana, and four states, plus Washington D.C., give permission for recreational use of the drug. With a handful of states expected to fully legalize in 2016, everyone wants in on the ground floor. “It’s a super exciting opportunity from a business perspective, Bell says. “There hasn’t been a new market in many, many years, and there might not be one again in our lifetime.” That same excitement is on display at the cannabis panel at the Governor’s Forum on Agriculture. Grant Mattive farms potatoes and barley in the state’s parched San Luis Valley. Last season he gave hemp a try. In a region prone to drought, he likes the crop’s ability to withstand dry conditions. “To be successful and to get this industry really going on its feet, we need to involve farmers a little bit more, rather than just the basement weed growers,” Mattive says. At first, Mattive was skeptical about jumping onto the bandwagon, into the rush to grow cannabis. Now, he just needs to figure out how to run his combine over it. TweetShareGoogle+EmailView the discussion thread. © 2017 KBIA | 农业 |
2017-17/1179/en_head.json.gz/22948 | Napa County farm, wine grape values jump 33 percent Apr 19, 2017 Arizona tree nut plantings on the fast track Apr 18, 2017 California State Water Project boosts irrigation allotment Apr 18, 2017 Even with effective synthetic alternatives Sulfur remains a relevant tool for controlling powdery mildew Apr 12, 2017 Child nutrition program extended
The agricultural appropriations bill now pending in the Senate would provide nearly $150 million in child nutrition initiatives aimed at fighting hunger and promoting health among children around the country, Sen. Blanche Lincoln said. “These investments are a down payment on a robust reauthorization of the Child nutrition and WIC programs that serve tens of millions of children in Arkansas and across the country with healthy, nutritious meals,” said Lincoln, the new chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. “I am proud that my first legislative effort as chairman of the Agriculture Committee would help to improve the health of our children and prevent needy children from going hungry. The Committee will work with USDA and the administration on a reauthorization that improves access to healthy meals, reduces hunger, and improves school meals and the health of infants, school children, and pregnant and nursing mothers.” Lincoln said the package of child nutrition investments was crafted jointly with Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., and chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. Specifically, the fiscal year 2010 Agriculture Appropriations Conference Report includes temporary extensions of expiring provisions of the Child Nutrition Act, resulting in a cost savings of $150 million. These savings would be reinvested to meet critical nutrition needs across the country to ensure more children have year-round access to healthy and nutritious meals at school, in child care, and during the summer. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the final agriculture appropriations bill by a bipartisan vote of 263-162. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation later. “This is exactly the type of support communities and states need to continue addressing hunger but also start to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity,” said Dr. Joe Thompson, Arkansas Surgeon General. “Senator Lincoln is uniquely positioned to help lead the nation in making the food we eat more healthy and nutritious.” The investments made in this legislation would fill in the gaps during the summer months when children do not have access to school meals, assist states in their efforts to certify school children for meal programs, support breastfeeding, help schools upgrade their facilities to better support healthy school meals, and other key functions. The specific provisions include: • $85 million to improve children’s access to meals during the summer • $25 million to help schools purchase cafeteria equipment to provide healthy school meals • $25 million to help states to automatically enroll children in the School Lunch Program • $8 million in grants to states to improve health and nutrition in child care settings • $5 million in performance bonuses to state WIC agencies that increase rates of breastfeeding
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2017-17/1179/en_head.json.gz/23232 | Wholesalers welcome Government’s Code response
The fresh produce wholesaling sector’s representative organisation, Fresh Markets Australia (FMA), has welcomed the Federal Government’s long anticipated response to the review of the Horticulture Code of Conduct.
FMA Chairman, Shane Schnitzler, has congratulated the Government for its efforts in seeking to achieve a balanced, commercial outcome in its review, which removes the unnecessary and unworkable requirements of the existing Code.
FMA liaised closely with the Federal Government in finalising the Code review as it looks to having a new Code finalised and introduced by April 2017 when the current Code ceases to apply.
The Federal Government has responded to the 13 recommendations made by the Code Review Panel and in the main, FMA supports its position.
FMA Executive Director, Andrew Young, said there were concerns with just two areas, with the Government not supporting the inclusion of deeming provisions in the Code, while at the same time supporting the inclusion of monetary penalties.
“FMA believes that the inclusion of monetary penalties will be anticompetitive as these provisions will apply to just one sector of the Industry,” said Mr Young.
“It is noted that similar monetary penalties do not exist under the voluntary Food and Grocery Code, which applies to the retail chains, while there is no regulation of other retailers buying direct from growers. There is therefore a significant risk that the Code will be anticompetitive.
“Accordingly, penalties must only be applied in extreme cases where there has been systematic, repeated and blatant breach of the Code,” he said.
The lack of deeming provisions which provide for deemed Code compliance when a Grower continues to supply product to a Wholesaler, when they have not returned a signed terms of trade document, can also mean that a Grower can unintentionally force a Wholesaler to breach the Code.
This situation will expose both the Grower and the Wholesaler to potential monetary penalties for breaching of the Code. FMA says this would be a harsh and unfair outcome, which should not be allowed to occur.
Mr Young said that while it was good to see the Federal Government’s response, the devil would be in the detail and, as yet, FMA had not seen the draft new Code.
The government’s full response can be found online at: www.agriculture.gov.au/horticulturecode. Ω | 农业 |
2017-17/1179/en_head.json.gz/23353 | Agri-Info
Mango Processing Plant in Ilocos Norte Inaugurated
DISPATCHES FROM THE PHILIPPINESPartners trade agricultural, health knowhowDay 4 -- Jan. 7DURING the past 100 years, since the first sakadas arrived in Hawaii to work on the sugar plantations, Filipinos have played an integral part in the advancement of Hawaii's agricultural sector.Today Philippine agriculture was highlighted at the inauguration of a new mango-processing plant in Ilocos Norte. The plant, which is under construction and scheduled to begin operating later this year, is a partnership between Hawaii and Filipino entrepreneurs that is a result of our Hawaii-Ilocos Norte Sister-State/Province Agreement. The plant will process dried mangoes and mango concentrate, juice and candies for export to Japan, Hong Kong, China, Hawaii and the mainland United States.During this mission, Sandra Lee Kunimoto, director of the state Department of Agriculture, and Andy Hashimoto, dean of the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR), are meeting with Philippine agricultural officials, including Secretary of Agriculture Domingo Panganiban, and officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to explore partnership opportunities in agricultural technology, pest control, research and trade.ACCORDING to Kunimoto, Filipino farmers have similar challenges in the area of tropical fruits and vegetables, as well as aquaculture, two sectors in which Hawaii farmers have been particularly successful recently. It will take ongoing research and technological advancements to ensure that farmers in both Hawaii and the Philippines can continue to produce quality agricultural products for the world market.To this end, CTAHR is entering into two memorandums of understanding during our centennial mission -- one with the Mariano Marcos State University in Ilocos Norte Province, and a second with the University of the Philippines at Los Banos. These agreements will promote exchanges in agricultural research and education that ultimately will benefit farmers throughout Hawaii and the Philippines.Another critical area in which Hawaii and the Philippines are working cooperatively is in health care. Today we visited the Ilocos Norte Provincial Hospital, which has been part of an ongoing joint humanitarian project involving doctors from Hawaii and Ilocos Norte. The hospital has been the recipient of valuable medical supplies donated from Hawaii hospitals and medical community, particularly Filipino doctors and health care workers. Over the years, Hawaii has donated ambulances, a CT scanner and other valuable medical equipment and supplies to Ilocos Norte Hospital.THIS EVENING, Dennis Kawaharada, interim dean of business education, health, legal education and learning resources, represented Kapiolani Community College in the signing of a cooperative agreement with three universities -- Mariano Marcos University in Ilocos Norte, University of Northern Philippines in Ilocos Sur and Vigren Milagrosa University in Pangasinan -- to promote nursing education initiatives and exchange programs. The agreements will help address Hawaii's nursing shortage by helping nurses who are trained and educated in the Philippines pass licensing exams when they immigrate to Hawaii.These partnerships in agriculture and health care will be mutually beneficial and provide opportunities for Filipinos to pursue their dreams, as well as strengthen these critical industries in both Hawaii and the Philippines. They build on the strengths of both of our communities and allow us to continue to work cooperatively as we enter the second century of friendship and partnership between Hawaii and the Philippines.***************************************************************************************************************AGRI-INFO/JANUARY 27, 2006 TITLE: MANGO PROCESSING PLANT IN ILOCOS NORTE INAUGURATED ALAM BA NINYO NA SINIMULAN NANG ITAYO SA ILOCOS NORTE ANG BAGONG PROCESSING PLANT PARA SA MGA PRODUKTONG MANGGA? ITO AY RESULTA NG PAGTUTULUNGAN NG MAMAMAYANG PILIPINO SA ILOCOS NORTE AT HAWAII PARA SA PAGPOPROSESO NG DRIED MANGOES AT MANGO CONCENTRATE, JUICE AT CANDIES. ANG MGA NA-PROSESONG PRODUKTONG MANGGA SA NATURANG PLANTA AY PANG-EXPORT SA BANSANG JAPAN, HONGKONG, CHINA, HAWAII AT MAINLAND UNITED STATES. AYON KAY SANDRA LEE KUNIMOTO, DIRECTOR NG STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE NG HAWAII, MERONG KINAKAHARAP NA MAGANDANG KINABUKASAN ANG MGA PILIPINONG MAGSASAKA SA LARANGAN NG PAGTATANIM AT PAGPAPALAKI NG TROPICAL FRUITS AT VEGETABLES MAGING NG AQUACULTURE. SA NGAYON MERON NANG NILAGDAAN KASUNDUAN ANG MGA EKSPERTO NG HAWAII AT MGA KINATAWAN NG MARIANO MARCOS STATE UNIVERSITY SA ILOCOS NORTE AT UP LOS BANOS PARA ITAGUYOD ANG PALITAN NG PANANALIKSIK AGRIKULTURAL AT EDUKASYON NA MAKATUTULONG NG MALAKI KAPWA SA MGA MAGSASAKA NG HAWAII AT PILIPINAS. BUKOD SA AGRIKULTURA AY NAGKAROON DIN NG KASUNDUAN PARA SA PAGTUTULUNGAN NG DALAWANG BANSA PARA SA KALUSUGAN NG MAMAMAYAN.
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2017-17/1179/en_head.json.gz/24681 | COTTON SPIN: Will the boom in U.S. cotton exports continue? Apr 21, 2017 Conservation cropping systems, crop rotation focus of Rolling Plains study Apr 24, 2017 Successful peanut weed control requires ‘all-in-effort’ Apr 25, 2017 Mexican official ready to start NAFTA talks Apr 19, 2017 Dorgan, Grassley, Washington Post writers just don't get it
Forrest Laws | Feb 14, 2008
Byron Dorgan and Charles Grassley don't get it. Kent Conrad and Collin Peterson do. All are from the Midwest, represent heavily agricultural constituents and serve on the House or Senate Agriculture Committees. But when it comes to the issue of payment limits, Dorgan and Grassley simply do not understand how commercial-size farms operate. Those two have been trying to hamstring larger farm operations by imposing stricter payment limit regulations. Their oft-repeated claim that “70 percent to 80 percent of farm payments go to 10 percent of the farmers” has become the motto of an anti-farm coalition led by the Environmental Working Group and media outlets such as the Washington Post. The latter have forced changes in the 2008 farm bill that may harm some row crop farmers. But the damage they intended may be far less than it could have been without the efforts of Conrad, senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Peterson, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. Minnesota's Peterson has said farm payments are key to farmers obtaining financing that allows them to remain independent and not subject to the control of big business. Conrad of North Dakota took a different tack in a recent interview. Conrad said the statistics others have used to foster the idea most farm payments go to wealthy farmers are “misleading” because USDA considers any entity that has $1,000 or more in gross receipts a year to be a farm. “The vast majority of the people they call farmers are in that category, and most of those have the overwhelming percentage of their income off-farm,” said Conrad, noting that his son has a “mini-farm” in Oregon that would fit in that category. “He has more than $1,000 in gross receipts, but he's not a farmer. He has a fulltime job in town. “To say those people aren't getting much in farm program payments, well, of course, they're not. They're not producing much. The farm program payments follow production.” Conrad said those who receive more than $50,000 per year in farm receipts get less of a share of farm program payments than their production. Those who get less than $50,000 in farm receipts get more as a share of farm program payments than their production “That's the way it works, and those who are producing the most are the ones who get the lion's share of the payments. Interestingly enough, they get less than their proportionate share.” (A fact backed up by Barry Flinch-baugh, Kansas State University agricultural economist.) “Sometimes these facts get lost with our East Coast media friends, and I would put the Washington Post at the top of the list. They have written a series of stories that have a kernel of truth to them, and they never bother to tell both sides of the story. To me, that is unfair to their readers and unfair to the farm and ranch families who they disparage.” | 农业 |
2017-17/1179/en_head.json.gz/24962 | The Seed Debate
April 13, 2011 at 5:46 pm Leave a comment To plant heirloom or hybrid seeds. That’s the question facing many gardeners.
Most are going with heirloom seeds — those of old plant varieties. Gardeners attest to their vigor and stability and the flavorful fruit they produce. The “old seeds” are tried and tested, stalwarts that have adapted to and endured the rigors of their environment.
Modern or hybrid seeds, meanwhile, are getting dumped as quickly as fashionistas might their out-of-style shoes. Younger gardeners, in particular, have mercilessly banished the seeds, perhaps unjustly so, according to this article in the New York Times.
The article pokes fun at gardeners who insist on heirloom seeds, rejecting hybrid seeds of any kind. For many plant breeders and seed savers, the growing “heirloomism” has fostered a “reactionary, and sometimes confused, argument about food, farming and science,” writes Michael Tortorello in his piece.
Hybrids, after all, are heirlooms in progress. They are the result of crosses between breed-compatible types of plants. A tomato plant with resistance to a particular disease, for example, might be crossed with one that produces especially flavorful fruit. The goal is to create a new plant with the best features of both parents through traditional plant breeding, not through the controversial process of genetic modification.
“It’s a matter of personal preference,” said Susan Pell, a botanist and lecturer at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. “Overall, heirlooms are a good choice, but if you’re worried about pests, disease, shelf life or other factors, a hybrid might be a better choice for you.”
Heirlooms seeds are defined as varieties that have been saved and passed down through the generations for more than 50 years. They are by definition naturally or “open pollinated” by birds, bees, insects, and other pollinators, such as the wind. They yield plants that produce viable seeds that grow into seedlings just like the parent plant.
Hybrid seeds, on the other hand, aren’t “stable” in the way heirlooms are. There’s no guarantee that plants that come from hybrid seeds will be the same as the parent. Hybrid plants don’t typically produce seeds and if they do, they’re often sterile.
“You don’t know what you’re going to get the next year, if the seeds are even viable,” said Pell.
Hybrid seeds are sometimes patented by large seed companies, the source of anxiety for many gardeners. Growers question the provenance of seeds from large seed suppliers and bemoan the loss of small regional seed companies. As one of the interviewees in the New York Times articles noted, “We don’t like the big boys.”
Heirloom plants have other distinct, almost fable-like characteristics that make them a favorite among backyard gardeners. Unlike hybrid plants, heirlooms continue to grow after setting fruit, recalling the beanstalk in the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale. Because they produce more leaves, heirloom plants provide more surface area for photosynthesis to occur, a process that makes fruit sweeter.
“I’d be hard pressed to find tomatoes from a hybrid that tasted like the ones I had when I was a kid,” said Pell.
Most importantly, heirloom plants help maintain genetic diversity in food crops. They provide a huge amount of plant diversity in terms of size, color, taste and tolerance for difference climates, which makes food a daily palatal adventure.
“If we stop growing heirlooms,” said Pell, “we lose that genetic diversity.”
Entry filed under: City Farmers, Community Gardens, Local Food Production, Urban Agriculture. Tags: heirloom seeds, heirloomism, hybrid seeds, Jack and the Beanstalk, Susan Pell, tomatoes. Stringer Responds to Farmers Markets SOS United Way to Form NYC Food Policy Council with $2 Million USDA Grant Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here... | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/126 | : Our Team
Since 1870, we’ve specialized in quality. Globally, we lead in depth of experience, range of specialized seasonal farms, and number of unique varieties.
What’s our legacy? To us, it’s simple. It’s every dish that features our naturally-grown baby leaves. It’s the soil in which we grow those leaves on our sustainable farms. It’s the people who tend those farms and it’s the people who enjoy our product time and time again.
It’s our continuing commitment to quality in everything that we do. It’s being the best in baby leaves.
Mark DeLeo- CEO
Marks first introduction with B&W dates back to 2001 when he was brought in as a business advisor to help refine the strategy, improve quality and operational performance.
Mark joined B&W’s 3 person advisory board in 2010 and became CEO in Sept. of 2012.
Prior to joining B&W, Mark had a 25 year successful business advisory career working with startups to fortune 100 companies serving in a variety of capacities from a business advisory role to interim management positions of CEO, President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Restructuring Officer. Mark began his business advisory career in the late 80’s, spending 10 years with Proudfoot-Crosby Consulting, an international leader in productivity and quality management consulting. His focus the past 10 years prior to joining B&W had been working with PE firms and banks, successfully completing over 20 assignments. Mark has ample international experience, having worked in North America, Central America, Asia, and Europe. Mark serves on the Board of Directors/Advisory Board for companies in the healthcare, agriculture and education industries.
James McKenna-CFO
James O. McKenna has served B&W as its Chief Financial Officer since April 2015. Prior to joining B&W, James was employed by Forward Industries, Inc., a NASDAQ listed designer and distributor of mobile device cases and accessories, as its Chief Financial Officer, from 2008 to 2014, and as its Corporate Controller from 2003 to 2008. Prior to that, James was employed as the Assistant Controller with Medallist Developments Inc., a real estate development company, from January 2002 to December 2003. James was also employed as an auditor with Ernst and Young LLP from September 1996 to December 2001 and is an active Certified Public Accountant.
Todd Gosule- Executive VP of Sales & Marketing Todd Gosule is currently the Executive Vice President Sales and Marketing at B&W Quality Growers where he has been for the last 5 years. Todd has been in various sales and marketing positions in the produce industry for over 25 years. Early in his career, he was the Director of Sales and National Marketing Manager for Chiquita where he worked for 10 years. After leaving Chiquita, Todd worked as National Director of Sales for CHEP, owned his own company - Gosule Food Service, Inc., National Sales Director for Nurserymen's Exchange and was Regional Sales Manager for Dole Food Company. Todd currently serves on Board of Directors for various produce industry related associations throughout North America.
Don Drewel – Vice President of Plant Operations
Don is currently in his 10th year at B&W Quality Growers. Don brings 25 years of food manufacturing experience to the team. From plant management to industrial engineering he has been involved with every aspect of running food operations. A master baker by trade Don expanded his knowledge base by venturing into the dairy and meat industries. Before joining B&W, Don ran a successful consulting business which focused on process improvements, nutritional labeling, gum and starch applications, audit preparedness, recipe development and various other technical services within the food industry.
Cesar Rosero - Vice President of Farming Operations
Cesar Rosero is currently the Vice president of Farming Operations at B&W Quality Growers; He has been in the agricultural business for over 16 years and joined B&W in June 2008. Early in his carrier he was the Production Manager for Inflorex, a cut flowers export company where he worked for 7 years. After leaving Ecuador, he worked as a Ground Coordinator for Aramark. Cesar has an Agronomy degree in 1994 from “El Zamorano” in Honduras and a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture from LSU in 1996. Dr. Steven Rothwell— Advisor
Dr. Rothwell has a 30 plus year career in the watercress and baby leaf business and is a leading expert in this field. Dr. Rothwell has his PhD in nutritional and environmental physiology of watercress. He joined Vitacress in 1983 and remained with the company until his retirement in May of 2014. Dr. Rothwell was actively involved in all facets of the business and helped grow the company from 3m to 50m turnover. He has been actively involved in over 20 research programs centered on crop sustainability, food safety, and nutritional value of watercress to include anticancer properties. Currently sits on numerous boards to include University of Southampton Biological sciences external advisory board, vice chair of NFU watercress Growers Association and Technical Advisory Panel to Conservation Grade Framing. He has published numerous articles on watercress including interviews on the BBC. | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/231 | Who We Are Edible Milwaukee has arrived… finally.
Edible Milwaukee is a quarterly magazine and online platform focused on the production, distribution, and consumption of food in Milwaukee and the Midwest. We are part of a larger network of 80+ Edible Communities publications in North America, each locally-owned and -oriented. Our goals as a publication are:
to take advantage of our position within a national network of magazines to act as a megaphone, amplifying Milwaukee’s achievements to food fans locally and nationwide;
to present Milwaukee as a city at the forefront of integrating sustainable principles (economic, environmental, and social) into everyday life, and to recognize the city’s significant contributions to food-related initiatives;
to highlight the unique cultural makeup of the city and to pay homage to each group’s contributions to Milwaukee’s foodscape; and
to honor Milwaukee’s historical food traditions, whether they are in the past or being revitalized by new producers today. | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/1585 | Energy Partnering for Reclamation seed trials a success in Pinedale Anticline Pinedale – “There was a lot a of dramatic and extreme restoration being done in the Jonah Field and the Pinedale Anticline, but no one had proof that these reclamation efforts were working,” says NRCS Rangeland Management Specialist and Plant Materials Leader for Southwest Wyoming Karen Clause of the incentive for a restoration project on the Anticline. “We wanted to provide a public forum to view what would and wouldn’t work in this area as far as plants, seed mixes and using different planting methods, including broadcast versus drill seeding,” explains Clause. “We just started brainstorming one day. We knew we wanted to do a reclamation trial, and this one ended up falling into place with a location and some great partners,” she adds. The former well pad had been ripped, smoothed and the topsoil had been replaced, but Clause says the seedbed was still less than ideal for planting. Thirty-two grasses, 26 forbs and 16 shrub varieties were planted in October of 2005. A cone seeder, broadcasting and drilling were used to plant seeds, and a small number were also planted using a hydro-seeder. Different seed mixtures were used to compare their success levels, and a number of seeds not typically planted in the area were tested. In the broadcast application two seeds mixes were used. “The first was a Bridger mix, and it contained 72 percent grasses, 23 percent forbs and five percent shrubs. We applied that mixture at 78 seeds per square foot,” explains Clause. “The second mix was a Shell mix, and it had 34 percent grass seeds, 15 percent forbs, and 51 percent shrubs. Application rates were set at 138 seeds per square foot.” For five years after planting, the site was evaluated on emergence, survival, vigor, biomass and a number of other key points. Today Clause says the success of the project is highlighted by what they learned, and are able to share with the oil and gas industry, agencies involved in reclamation and the public. “The biggest push in reclamation right now is in growing shrubs and forbs. We’ve found that we are good at growing sagebrush, but found it interesting to look at what was done on this site and the resulting growth rates. “We found that there is no magic thing to make forbs grow here successfully, and that we need to continue our work in that area. We had several forb entries in this trial that grew really well for the first two years, and were never seen again. Others tapered off drastically after a couple years. Some that weren’t present the first three years are showing up after five. I think our human time scale and patience level with the reclamation process may not be appropriate for what it takes to get forbs off the ground,” notes Clause. “The results of our trial helped contribute to a couple grasses being released onto the production market. One of those is Continental basin wildrye, which was a joint release between the Agriculture Research Service and the Upper Colorado Environmental Plant Center out of Meeker, Colo.,” says Clause. She adds Copperhead slender wheatgrass was also released thanks in part to results from this project. It was originally designed as an acid tolerant plant, but performed well in the alkaline solids outside Pinedale. “Our results added to other results on the species, and showed additional geographical areas it will perform well in,” notes Clause. In 2010, 98 percent of the species originally planted were present. A number of varieties of basin wildrye and wheatgrass topped the performance list for grasses, and three saltbush varieties topped the replicated shrub list after five years. Western yarrow and Appar flax were the top two performing forbs on the site. Clause notes these are preliminary results, and final results will be released after additional analysis is performed early next year. “All of the performance information has been added to our agency database. This is very helpful when people from a certain geographical area come in and ask what to plant in this specific location. We have this list from all these background studies that shows us what really works and where,” explains Clause. “We get very specific, too, and within a species that has eight varieties we can show which one or two will perform best in an area. “The added data from this trial also resulted in some oil and gas companies changing their seed mixtures, or adding additional varieties that we now know will perform well in the area,” explains Clause. “We have a resource now that supports the appropriate plant species for a region, and this project added to that resource,” she adds. “But, perhaps the best thing about this project is that people can come and see it. We wanted it to be a public forum, and it has been. We have had a number of people from the oil and gas industry, the university, cooperative extension and a number of state and local agencies to the site, where they can physically see what we did and how it turned out. That has been huge,” notes Clause, who has also been very busy traveling to a number of seminars and meetings, where she presents information on the project. Clause reminds that the project is ongoing, and additional, more refined work on shrubs, in addition to continued monitoring, is planned for the site. “One of the most successful aspects of this project was the number of partners, and how we all worked together. Aimee Davison with Shell came on board at the beginning and was a huge partner. The Wyoming Game and Fish, BLM, local and state NRCS offices and the Sublette County Conservation District also contributed materials, time and other resources. It’s rare to have so many partners come together on a project of this scope and have it run so smooth and be such a success,” says Clause. “The Bridger Plant Materials Center and Upper Colorado Environmental Plant Center were also key partners in the project, and helped with seed selection and material contribution. We were all out there, doing the groundwork with this, and had so many agencies and individuals donate their time and resources. “This has been one of the best cooperative projects I’ve been involved in during my 18 years with the NRCS. It’s a true success story on how we can all work together and reach a common goal,” she concludes. Heather Hamilton is editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Print Email Calendar of Events | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/1947 | News & Events Flyer
UFA-president-and-CEO-provides-mentorship-through-CYL-program
UFA President & CEO provides mentorship through CYL programHomeCo-operativeOur CommunityNews & EventsUFA President & CEO provides mentorship through CYL program
Carol Kitchen, President & CEO of UFA Co-operative, will mentor Kristy-Layne Carr in this year’s Cattlemen Young Leaders (CYL) Mentorship Program, a program that provides industry specific training and mentorship to assist the beef industry into the future. Young producers between the ages of 18 and 35 have the opportunity to engage with industry leaders and participate in opportunities pertaining to the cattle industry. The candidates are matched with an expert in the mentee’s specific field of interest. Topics of interest can range from sustainable ranching to risk management, policy development research and more. “There is no lack of knowledge out there, and this program harnesses a wide-range of historical expertise for these up-and-coming leaders,” said Carol Kitchen, President & CEO of UFA. “These connections are essential for leading the beef industry into the future.” Kristy-Layne grew up on a mixed grain and cow-calf operation in central Manitoba. She was involved in 4-H Beef projects for many years and obtained a Bachelor’s of Science degree at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. She was involved in the Faculty of Agriculture Students Organization and sat on the executive for the Stockman’s Club. Kristy-Layne went on to pursue a Master’s degree at North Dakota State University in Animal and Range Sciences, specializing in dormant season grazing. Kristy-Layne actively contributes to the beef industry and sits on the Advisory Committee for Manitoba Beef and Forage Initiatives. With her husband she manages a cow herd of 200 head of Angus based cows. This year, Kristy-Layne hopes to develop relationships and make connections that will have a positive impact as she moves forward in the beef industry. Carol and Kristy-Layne are a great fit, as Kristy-Layne is passionate about leadership in the agriculture industry and about advancing women in agriculture. Her goals include exploring women’s leadership roles in Canadian agriculture, exploring the global beef trade and market forces which impact domestic beef prices, and fostering better relationships between cow/calf and feedlot sector. | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/2009 | American Farm Publications, Inc.P.O. Box 2026 Easton, MD 21601 1-800-634-5021 410-822-3965 Fax- 410-822-5068 American Farms archives Sons’ nomination early Mother’s Day gift for Nickerson
By SEAN CLOUGHERTYManaging EditorKENNEDYVILLE, Md. (May 6, 2014) — Every Tuesday, Kristen Nickerson is known to be at her family’s Grand View Farm by 4:30 a.m. to load hogs headed to Leidy’s in Pennsylvania then back to her house 10 miles away in Worton, Md., to see her two sons, Dutch and Michael, off to school and then return to the farm to start other tasks.Last Tuesday, she was also getting a load of feeder pigs tagged and ready to be hauled off the farm and looking after one son who was sick.“I really haven’t started my real work yet,” she said later that afternoon while referring to other daily chores in the swine barns. “But I’ll get to that.”That’s just the life of a farm mom, she said, and one she’s not interested in trading.Nickerson, who manages the nursery and finishing end of the farm’s swine operation along with numerous other farm tasks, was one of five farm moms selected as regional winners in Monsanto’s America’s Farmers Mom of the Year contest. Online voting ends May 6 at www.americasfarmer.com in deciding the national mom of the year, expected to be announced before Mother’s Day.Nickerson’s selection was a complete surprise to her after her family, led by her two sons, sent in her nomination. “Whether it’s helping us to train 4-H steers, plant and maintain wildlife plots, drive farm equipment, or bake a cake, mom uses every opportunity to teach my brother and me the importance of doing our best and developing skills to excel in life,” the boys wrote in their nomination. So when she didn’t recognize the number on her cell phone from a Monsanto rep calling to notify her of the selection, she let it go to voicemail.“It’s out of state,” she said with a laugh. “I’m thinking it’s a phone solicitation.” Upon returning the phone call, Nickerson learned what her family had been up to.“My family made me feel special by doing this,” she said, with an emotional quiver in her voice. “But being selected is really an honor. There are many many farm moms out there that deserve this recognition. “I want to represent the whole group well.”Soon after she was notified, Nickerson flew to St. Louis to meet the other finalists at Monsanto headquarters and tour the company’s research facilities. Nickerson said it’s been a great experience, especially getting to know the other farm moms.“That made it easy to have a conversation because who doesn’t like to talk about their kids? Who doesn’t like to talk about their farm?” she said.Nickerson added whether she goes further in the contest or not, she sees the contest as empowering to her and farm moms nationwide to continue the dialog with non-farmers about modern agriculture. It’s important for consumers to know while farm moms may have much different day-to-day tasks than other mothers, they still buy food in grocery stores, eat at restaurants and live normal lives.“I feel that we can use this to help educate and inform consumers and show them we’re the same as they are,” she said. “I’m proud of it and I want to uphold this honor.” | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/3770 | The New Farm: Our Ten Years On The Front Lines Of The Good Food Revolution Hardcover | May 2, 2017byBrent Prestonnot yet rated|write a reviewThe inspiring and sometimes hilarious story of a family that quit the rat race and left the city to live out their ideals on an organic farm, and ended up building a model for a new kind of agriculture.You know those books where the city folks move to the country and have all kinds of crazy misadventures? Where the barnyard is a place of bucolic harmony and each passing season brings the author closer to understanding his proper place in the natural order? You know those books where the primary objective is not so much farming, but writing about farming? This isn’t that kind of book. It’s true that Brent Preston and Gillian Flies did leave the city and move to the country, and they did make a lot of stupid mistakes, some of which are pretty funny in hindsight. But their goal from the beginning was to build a real farm, one that would sustain their family, heal their environment, and nourish their community. It was a goal that was achieved not through bucolic self-reflection, but through a decade of grinding toil and perseverance. Told with humour and heart in Preston’s unflinchingly honest voice, The New Farm is the story of one family’s transition from die-hard urbanites to bona fide farmers and passionate advocates for a more just and sustainable food system. It’s the story of how a couple of young professionals learned not just how to grow food, but how to succeed at the business of farming. And it’s the story of how a small, sustainable, organic farm ended up providing not just a livelihood, but a happy, meaningful and fulfilling way of life.+ read more
Pricing and Purchase Info$28.67 online$32.00 list price (save 10%)Earn 143 plum® pointsHardcover$28.67Kobo ebook$16.99Quantity:pre-order+ wish list+ gift listPre-order onlineShips free on orders over $25Available in storescheck other stores orSign in to see saved storesPrices may vary. why?Please call ahead to confirm inventory.
Praise For This BookAbout the AuthorDetails & SpecsFrom the PublisherThe inspiring and sometimes hilarious story of a family that quit the rat race and left the city to live out their ideals on an organic farm, and ended up building a model for a new kind of agriculture.You know those books where the city folks move to the country and have all kinds of crazy misadventures? Where the barnyard is a place ...Brent Preston worked as a human rights investigator, aid worker, election observer and journalist on four continents before finding his true calling as a farmer. In 2003 he and his wife, Gillian Flies, abandoned successful careers in Toronto, packed up their two young children, and moved to a run-down farm outside Creemore, Ontario. Si...Format:HardcoverDimensions:336 pages, 8.5 × 5.7 × 1.1 inPublished:May 2, 2017Publisher:Random House of CanadaLanguage:EnglishThe following ISBNs are associated with this title:ISBN - 10:0345811852ISBN - 13:9780345811851Related Pages:Books Coming Soon: Pre-Order Upcoming Popular Books
Customer Reviews of The New Farm: Our Ten Years On The Front Lines Of The Good Food Revolution
Extra ContentRead from the BookPROLOGUE EUTHANASIA FOR DUMMIES All happy chickens are alike; each unhappy chicken is unhappy in its own way. It all has to do with the coop. If a chicken’s coop is too small, the chicken will be pecked and harassed by its coop-mates. If its coop is too damp, it might catch the flu and die. If its coop is too cold, it will get frostbite on its comb and the comb will start bleeding. Worst of all, if a chicken’s coop isn’t properly sealed, varmints will slip in during the night and tear it to pieces. But when I woke on that fine July morning back in 2005, I wasn’t worried about any of that. I had built a beautiful coop. I knew my chickens would be happy.It was a Saturday, and still early. Gillian and the kids were asleep, so I got up quietly and eased myself down our squeaky stairs. Outside it was cool, calm and silent, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. In the backyard I stopped and surveyed my domain: flat, green farmland stretching off in every direction, an unbroken ring of forest on the horizon. I had that feeling I sometimes get when I’m up by myself in the early morning, that I’m lucky to be in this place, at this moment. We had been living on the farm for almost a year, and I was suddenly struck by the wondrous realization that we actually owned this place, that all this land was ours—a realization that struck me on a regular basis back then, and sometimes still does. In a single year Gillian and I had gone from being relatively normal urban professionals living in downtown Toronto to owners of a hundred-acre farm outside the village of Creemore, about a two-hour drive northwest of the city. We had been taken by the aspirational dream of living in the country, but like many actual dreams, this dream was fuzzy and vague and didn’t make a whole lot of sense if you thought about it too much. We wanted to raise our own food, to have animals and a big garden, but we didn’t really know what we were doing. We were enthusiastic and idealistic and profoundly naive. If our current selves could meet the people we were back then, we would look on ourselves with a mixture of pity and amusement. I had woken up early that morning in a state of excited anticipation. Our chickens had just spent their first night in their new coop, a structure that I had spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about, designing and building. I had spent so much time that the coop wasn’t finished when our chicks arrived, so they spent their first week of life in our bathtub, in the bathroom next to the kitchen. I didn’t know anything about chickens when we first moved to the farm. But we wanted livestock, and chickens seemed like the obvious place to start. I had to learn a whole chicken nomenclature in the beginning. Chickens bred to lay eggs are “layers” or “laying hens.” Chickens bred for meat—“broilers” or simply “chickens”—are very different animals. We had been persuaded by the hatchery’s website to order Special Dual Purpose chickens that supposedly combined the best attributes of layers and broilers. The website told us that White Rock broilers, the overwhelmingly dominant meat chicken variety, had been bred into such freakishly efficient gainers of weight that they couldn’t walk properly and were susceptible to all sorts of diseases if raised without antibiotic-laden feed (a claim that we later found to be false). If we were aiming for free-range and organic, we were assured, the Special Dual Purpose was the bird for us. Our batch of day-old chicks, fifty of them, arrived at our local feed store in a very small cardboard box. I began learning new things about chickens at a rapid rate. Day-old chicks are tiny and fluffy yellow and incredibly cute, but they are also very loud, mobile and assertive. They chirped loudly when the kids picked them up or when they were hungry (which was pretty much all the time) or seemingly just for the hell of it, all day long. We put down wood shavings in the bathtub and hung a three-hundred-watt heat lamp over them to keep them warm. It occurred to me that many chickens’ lives are bookended by heat lamps. Even Special Dual Purpose chickens have been bred to rapidly put on weight, so the chicks had an insatiable appetite. From day one they would frantically climb over each other to get at their food, and they also drank a lot of water. I would fill up their little feed trough immediately before going to bed, but they would eat it all during the night. Our bedroom was on the second floor, but their manic chirping was loud enough to wake me before dawn. Any animal with such a rapid metabolism produces a lot of waste. Our chicks were shit-producing machines (birds don’t urinate, another thing I learned early on). The bathroom rapidly became very hot, very humid and indescribably smelly. It was like some sort of dystopian sauna in there, and the stench began to pervade the whole house. Gillian let it be known that my coop construction should be expedited. It takes about ten minutes on gravel roads to drive from our farm to Hamilton Brothers, considered by many (or at least by me) to be the greatest retail establishment on the face of the earth. Hamilton Brothers is a farm and building supply store, but it sells almost everything. I once left there with some plumbing supplies, a box of ammunition, 250 feet of bungee cord and a flat of eggs. I kept the handwritten receipt as a souvenir. It’s also the place where I bought my coop-making materials. To say Hamilton Brothers is old school would be a serious understatement. I have never seen a computer anywhere on the premises, though I think they might have one in a back office somewhere, because the statements I receive in the mail appear to be created on a dot-matrix printer. Its many separate buildings and yards make up about half of the tiny village of Glen Huron, tucked under a dam at the head of the narrow Mad River valley. The river still powers the Hamilton Brothers feed mill, a five-storey steel-clad building filled with cobwebs, wooden chutes and giant drive belts that towers over the building supply store and the main lumberyard. Across the street is the farm supply building, and behind that is the welding shop and a big hangar where they keep the sheet metal, concrete mix and drywall. Around the corner and past a few houses is another building with tongueand-groove flooring and fence posts, and across from that is a second lumberyard, for all the pressure-treated stuff. When you call Hamilton Brothers, you have to ask for either the building side or the farm supply side, depending on what you’re looking for. The gas and diesel pumps are on the farm supply side. The staff sometimes travel from building to building by bicycle. When I first started making trips to buy coop supplies, I was accustomed to the anonymity of big-box building supply stores, where I would pile everything I needed onto a giant cart and haul it out to my car without speaking to anyone. But at Hamilton Brothers, not much is self-serve, and I was forced to interact with the guys at the counter. These were all middle-aged men who evidently knew a lot about everything. They would ask me questions about my order that I often couldn’t answer. “What size chicken wire?” or “Ardox nails or regular?” or the one that always struck me with fear, “What you doing with all this stuff?” It seemed they were running my order through a vast mental database and determining that there was nothing known to humanity that could be built properly with the list of items I wanted. I was terrified of looking like an idiot, so I would blurt out an answer and end up back at the farm with the wrong thing, and be forced to return the next day.After dozens of trips, one of the guys finally took pity on me and took me under his wing. Ivan is a giant of a man, probably six foot five, with massive hands and a huge head. I confessed to him that I was building a chicken coop but had no clue what I was doing. Ivan took me up into the loft above the store where the chicken wire was kept and helped me choose from the surprising range of options—rolls of different lengths and widths, with different size holes and different gauges of wire. After a while he would break into a broad grin whenever he saw me come in. “That must be some chicken coop you’re building!” he’d say.Editorial Reviews“A refreshingly honest, beautifully crafted story of family life on the front lines of the good-food economy, serving double duty as a handbook for those who dream of leaving the rat race. You will be inspired.” —Alisa Smith, co-author of The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating “A must-read story told with honesty, humour and humility by a passionate farmer who reminds us what our food system can and should be about.” —Daniel Boulud, chef and owner, The Dinex Group “It's one thing to dream of leaving behind your career to follow a more sustainable path, but how many of us have the courage to actually make that leap? Brent Preston uses brilliant storytelling and brutal honesty to describe what it takes to create both a viable organic farm and a more meaningful life for himself and his family. The New Farm is the kind of book that will inspire people to make positive change.” —Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post and founder and CEO of Thrive Global “This is a hilarious, deeply honest memoir, with profound insight into the ways in which small-scale agriculture can be a viable alternative to our havoc-wrecking current system. Now more than ever we need such wise and inspiring stories to guide us as we seek to build a more just and healthy world. I dare you to read this book and remain unmoved about the urgency for change.” —Nick Saul, president and CEO of Community Food Centres Canada“This book has timely and important things to say about food and farming and building a more sustainable future, but it’s also a fantastic story about the new economy, a textbook case of doing well by doing good. The New Farm should be required reading for every Canadian entrepreneur.” —Arlene Dickinson, businesswoman, author, former co-host on Dragon’s Den “Reading Brent’s book was as satisfying and as entertaining as learning the origin story of a favourite superhero. Delicious food starts with the best ingredients, and no one sets a higher standard for the food they grow than The New Farm. I hold Brent and Gillian in the same esteem as the best chefs I’ve worked with because they have forever changed the way I cook.” —Carl Heinrich, winner of Top Chef Canada | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/4973 | No.4, December 2005 global information and early warning system on food and agriculture(GIEWS)
COARSE GRAINS
BOX: PULSES
OILSEEDS, OILS AND OILMEALS
Other relevant agricultural commodities
Ocean freight rates
Statistical appendix
STATISTICAL NOTE
Table 4. Coarse grains production (million tonnes)
Change: 2005 over 2004 (%)
1.1Far East205.8206.80.1Near East in Asia19.720.75.2CIS in Asia4.34.78.9
11.6North Africa12.810.0-22.2Western Africa28.137.433.1Central Africa2.92.90.2Eastern Africa21.522.86.2Southern Africa17.319.110.2
-15.2EU 25152.3130.0-14.7CIS in Europe59.251.6-13.0
1 022.6
-5.1Developing countries405.8410.71.2Developed countries616.8559.9-9.2
Note: Totals computed from unrounded data.
Better harvest results in the United States raise global 2005 coarse grain crop
FAO’s forecast for world coarse grain output has been raised by almost 13 percent to 970.6 million tonnes, after slipping back in September, but remains below last year’s record level. A significant upward revision for the United States, following better than expected results in the latter stages of the maize harvest, accounted for most of the increase.
In Far East Asia, the 2005 aggregate coarse grains production is forecast marginally up from last year’s bumper level. In China, harvesting of the main crops is complete. The country’s aggregate coarse grains crop is now estimated at 139 million tonnes, 1.4 million tonnes down from the good level of 2004, following a return to average yield after the bumper levels in the previous year. Harvesting is well advanced in India, where the aggregate output in 2005 is forecast at 34 million tonnes, 2 million tonnes more than last year, reflecting an increase in the area planted. In Near East Asia, as for wheat, a bumper coarse grain crop was harvested in 2005 reflecting favourable weather conditions and more area dedicated to barley, the main crop. Significant increases were registered in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The 2006 crop has already been planted in many parts under generally favourable conditions. In Turkey, drier weather in early November after a wet period favoured planting, as did the arrival of the first rains of the season in northwestern parts of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which had previously been too dry.
In the Asian CIS countries, the 2005 aggregate coarse grains production is estimated at 4.7 million tonnes, about 400 000 tonnes up on the previous year. In North Africa, harvesting of the 2005 winter coarse grain crops was virtually complete as of mid-November. Aggregate output is forecast at about 9.9 million tonnes, some 22 percent below the 2004 crop due to reduced plantings in most countries as a result of dry weather. In Egypt, the largest producer, the maize crop is officially forecast to decrease to 6.2 million tonnes, reflecting a 6 percent drop in area planted. Planting of the winter coarse grain crop (mostly barley) for the 2006 harvest is underway and the outlook is generally satisfactory. Some seasonal rains since mid-October have improved the soil moisture level for planting and establishment after previously very dry conditions. In western Africa, harvesting of cereals is now well advanced. The aggregate output of coarse grains in the nine Sahelian countries in 2005 is estimated at a record 13.38 million tonnes, some 35 percent above last year’s harvest. Above-average outputs are anticipated in all countries with the exception of Cape Verde. Production is also expected to increase in most of the coastal countries along the Gulf of Guinea. In Nigeria, the largest producer, coarse grains production is officially estimated to have increased by over 42 percent compared to last year’s drought-affected crop.
In central Africa, harvesting of the 2005 coarse grains is underway. In Cameroon, prospects are favourable, reflecting abundant and widespread rains, in spite of reports of localized dry spells in the northern Sahelian zone. By contrast, persistent insecurity continues to affect food production in the Central African Republic.
In eastern Africa, harvesting of the 2005 main season coarse grains has been completed in southern parts of the subregion but has just started in the north. The subregion's aggregate 2005 output is forecast at about 22.8 million tonnes, about 6 percent higher than last year and above the average of the past five years. In Kenya, the “long-rains” maize crop is estimated at about 2.5 million tonnes, 20 percent above average. Similarly in Tanzania, the 2005 coarse grains output is estimated well above average at 4.3 million tonnes, while in Uganda, an about average output is forecast. By contrast, in Somalia, the 2005 main season “gu” crop, harvested until September, was estimated at just 115 000 tonnes, about 37 percent less than the post-war average. The decline is due to the poor rainfall in the main crop producing areas of southern Somalia. In Eritrea and Ethiopia, the outlook for the coarse grain harvest is favourable reflecting the good rains of the past months and the output is expected to recover from last year’s reduced level in Eritrea and to remain above average in Ethiopia. In the Sudan, latest forecast point to a better crop than last year’s reduced level. In southern Africa, the 2005 coarse grain crop harvested earlier this year was estimated at 19 million tonnes well above the average level of the past five years, primarily due to a record maize crop in South Africa, which more than offset reduced harvest in most other countries. Planting of the main season crops to be harvested in 2006 has started but progress is hampered in some parts due to delayed rains. Early prospects for the 2006 coarse grains are also uncertain due to reports on planting intentions in South Africa indicating (by late October) a sharp reduction in the area to be planted in response to low soil moisture and low maize prices. However, the increase of prices in November, particularly for white maize which is now higher than a year earlier, is likely to modify farmers’ intentions. Uncertainty also surrounds Zimbabwe, where problems with input supplies as well as hyperinflation could severely constrain production.
In Central America and the Caribbean, in Mexico, harvesting of the 2005 main summer maize crop (mostly rainfed) is underway. Official forecasts indicate an output of some 16 million tonnes, similar to the very good output obtained last year during the same season. Planting of the 2006 winter maize crop has recently started in the north-western states of Sonora and Baja California Sur. Elsewhere in the region, harvesting of 2005 second season coarse grain crops is about to start. Heavy rains due to the intense hurricane season have adversely affected the crops in localized areas. However, the main season coarse grain crops, harvested earlier in the year, were satisfactory in most countries of the subregion. In aggregate, the 2005 outputs are forecast to increase in Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador but to decline in Guatemala, where the impact of excessive rains in recent months has been more severe.
In South America, the 2005 aggregate coarse grains production is estimated to be down by 4 percent, essentially due to the sharp decrease in Brazil’s production as a consequence of the prolonged dry spells that affected southern producing areas. Planting of the 2006 maize crop is well advanced in the main southern producing countries. Early prospects are mixed. In Argentina, planting operations has been hampered by reduced soil moisture and reports on planting intentions point to an area of maize of 3 million hectares, about 9 percent lower than the previous years. Plantings of sorghum are also expected to be lower. In Brazil, the area planted and yields are forecast to substantially recover from last year’s level, increasing 6 and 12 percent respectively, and tentatively forecast to lift annual production to over 40 million tonnes. In Chile, official sources estimate a reduction of about 10 percent in maize area, as a consequence of the low prices in 2005 that induced a diversion of land toward more profitable crops, such as barley or vegetables. In North America, conditions remained mostly favourable for the maturation and harvest of the latest sown maize crops in the United States and the output estimate has been revised up slightly since the last report to 280 million tonnes, well above the average of the past five years but still about 20 million tonnes down from last year’s record. In Canada, the 2005 coarse grain output is now officially estimated at 24.8 million tonnes, slightly less than earlier expected and down from last year’s good level although still above the average of the past five years. Some reduction was already expected because of reduced plantings but yields also turned out poorer than expected. Moreover, adverse weather during the harvest period has resulted in poorer quality crops this year. In Europe, the bulk of the 2005 coarse grains have been harvested and the main winter coarse grain crops of barley and rye in northern and eastern parts of the region have mostly been planted under favourable conditions. In the EU the 2005 aggregate coarse grains output estimate remains virtually unchanged since September at 130 million tonnes, almost 15 percent below last year’s record and below the average of the past five years. Output of all the major grains fell as a result of reduced plantings and lower yields. In the Balkan countries, the 2005 coarse grains output is estimated sharply down from the previous year’s bumper level. Excessive summer rainfall had an adverse impact on the barley and other small grain crops and although the extra moisture was not as detrimental for the summer maize, the maize area and yields are nonetheless reported to have been well down on the previous year. In the European CIS countries, with just the last of the summer maize crop still to be harvested in some parts, the 2005 aggregate coarse grains output is also confirmed down this year. The 2006 winter grains are already dormant in the north of the Russian Federation and entering dormancy in the south and in Ukraine.
In Australia, the 2005 winter grain harvest is underway. Production prospects continued to improve over the last two months with ample rainfall in most of the major producing area. Output of barley, the main winter coarse grain, is now forecast at 8.4 million tonnes, about 2 million tonnes up from last year and above average, which had earlier seemed very unlikely given the exceptionally dry start to the season.
Trade volume change little compared to the previous season The prospects for world trade in coarse grains in 2005/06 have changed little since the previous report in September. At 105 million tonnes, world trade in coarse grains in 2005/06 would be slightly more than the revised estimate for 2004/05 and about 500 000 tonnes higher than anticipated earlier. For the developing countries, as a group, total coarse grains imports are forecast at 73 million tonnes, up 1.2 million tonnes from 2004/05, whereas, aggregate imports by the developed countries are put at 32 million tonnes, virtually unchanged from the previous season. Among the individual coarse grains, trade in maize is forecast at 78 million tonnes, up 1 million tonnes from 2004/05. World trade of rye is seen to decline but for other major coarse grains, trade is expected to remain mostly unchanged from the previous season. In Asia, imports are forecast to decline to 57.6 million tonnes, down 1 million tonnes from 2004/05. The drop in imports is mostly driven by reduced purchases of barley by Syria because of higher domestic production and by smaller maize purchases by Indonesia, because of the rise in its domestic production as well as a modest reduction in feed demand as a result of the avian flu and high fuel prices. Most other countries in the region are forecast to import as much coarse grains as in 2004/05 with demand for feed grains remaining exceptionally strong in Saudi Arabia and in the Islamic Republic of Iran but more subdued in Japan.
In Africa, aggregate imports are forecast to increase by almost 1 million tonnes from the previous season to 16.5 million tonnes in 2005/06. Coarse grains purchases by several countries in North Africa are expected to increase mostly in response to lower production of barley. Higher imports are also expected in sub-Saharan Africa, to meet severe shortages in several countries. In Zambia and Zimbabwe, maize imports are forecast to increase by nearly 200 000 tonnes and 260 000 tonnes respectively. In Zambia, the Government earlier extended the deadline for duty free imports to March 2006 in order to facilitate imports but by late November because of severe food shortages, it declared a national food disaster and appealed for immediate donor assistance. Maize imports by drought-stricken Malawi are forecast to increase more than four times to almost 800 000 tonnes. In mid-October, the Government of Malawi asked for external assistance by declaring this year as a national disaster with a major food crisis affecting millions in the country. It is reported that by early November, donors and the Government had mobilized 214 000 tonnes of maize and 18 000 tonnes of pulses. In a related development, the World Food Program launched an aid appeal for US$88 million for Malawi, of which, by mid-November, only US$28 million was reported to have been covered.
In Central America, strong domestic demand for both yellow and white maize is reported in Mexico. In a recent policy development, Mexico announced in October the issue of import permits for up to 300 000 tonnes of white maize imports for the second half of 2005 (under the 2004-2007 NAFTA maize TRQ scheme). Among countries in South America, higher maize imports are forecast for Brazil as a result of a drought-reduced production, low stocks and strong demand from pork and poultry industries (for exports) and rapid growth in domestic meat consumption. In Europe, imports by most countries are forecast to remain at the previous season’s level. In the EU, however, maize imports are forecast to rise as a result of a sharp drop in its production. The increase is likely to be much smaller than what the cut in production would have implied. This is because of large supplies of cheap wheat and a possible contraction in poultry production due to consumer reaction to avian flu which could reduce demand for coarse grains.
On the export side, maize exports from the United States are forecast to increase sharply because of large exportable supplies and less competition in world markets due to smaller availabilities from Brazil and China. Maize exports from China are forecast to drop to 4.5 million tonnes, down 20 percent from the previous season due to much tighter domestic supplies. However, with the worries over avian flu gaining ground in recent weeks (especially after the first reported human case in mid-November), domestic feed demand from the poultry sector could decline and this might result in larger exportable supplies than currently foreseen. A bumper maize crop and strong regional demand are boosting exports from South Africa to the highest level since the mid-1990s. Larger sales of barley are expected from Australia, Canada, and the EU this season, compensating for reduced anticipated exports from Bulgaria and Ukraine. However, rye shipments from the EU are expected to decline significantly given the slow pace of sales so far.
Growth in coarse grains usage hampered by a contraction in feed use
Following this month’s sharp upward revision of world coarse grain production estimates (by 12 million tonnes), the forecast for global utilization of coarse grains in 2005/06 has also been raised, although not to the same extent (but by about 5 million tonnes). Total coarse grain utilization in 2005/06 is now put at 982 million tonnes, up only 0.5 percent from 2004/05, which compares with a 3 percent expansion in the previous season. This is mostly due to the anticipated sharp decline in feed use, marking also the first such reduction since 2002/03. Total feed utilization of coarse grains is currently forecast to decline to 619 million tonnes, down 2 percent from the previous season. The largest decreases are forecast for the United States, the EU and several CIS countries, partly due to lower production and partly because of large supplies of feed wheat. At the same time, increased uncertainties over the impact of animal diseases, in particular the recent spread of avian flu into Europe makes forecasting feed demand particularly difficult. Early signs are pointing to limited gains in poultry production as consumers reduce egg and chicken consumption. Any prolonged meat consumption changes could lead to lower poultry production and reductions in feed demand in the coming months.
In contrast, an exceptional growth of about 5 percent is currently forecast for food consumption of coarse grains in 2005/06. This anticipated strong expansion largely stems from a likely rebound of about 5 million tonnes, or 17 percent, in maize and millet food consumption in western Africa after sharp drops in 2004/05 prompted by the severe drought last year. Industrial use of coarse grains is also forecast to expand significantly this season, mostly driven by higher fuel prices which have given a boost to demand for alternative energy sources which, as a matter of relevance to grains, has increased demand for maize-based ethanol. While strong investment in establishing and expanding ethanol plants is becoming more evident in many countries around the world, the United States is currently leading the way as the largest producer of maize-based ethanol. The United States is expected to put as much as 40 million tonnes of maize into ethanol production in 2005/06 and this would amount to almost as much maize as what the 25 EU Member countries, as a whole, are expected to use for animal feed from maize.
Coarse grains stocks decline For the first time since the start of the current marketing season, the FAO forecast for world coarse grains stocks has been raised, mostly to take account of higher production estimates for 2005 and lower feed use. World stocks of coarse grains for crop years ending in 2006 are currently put at 181 million tonnes, up 9 million tonnes from the previous report but as much as 12 million tonnes, or nearly 6 percent, less than their opening level. Based on the latest estimates, stocks held by major exporters by the end of the seasons in 2006 could fall to 88 million tonnes, down by nearly 4 million tonnes from their high opening levels. Two years of bumper maize crops in the United States are likely to result in record high ending season stocks in the United States. However, the projected increase of roughly 5 million tonnes in coarse grains stocks held in the United States would not be sufficient to offset completely the expected sharp decline in the EU, where, following this year’s fall in production of all major coarse grains (maize and barley in particular), ending stocks are forecast to be cut by at least 7 million tonnes compared to their opening levels.
Elsewhere, this year’s drop in production in drought-stricken countries in North Africa is expected to result in a sharp decline in stocks in the affected countries. Similarly, in Southern Africa, a draw-down in stocks in 2005/06 is anticipated in several countries that gathered a reduced 2005 harvest. However, most other African nations, including those which until recently were severely hit by food shortages in western Africa, are projected to replenish stocks as a result of improved production prospects. In Asia, stocks in China are expected to decline again although the decrease would be relatively small and carryovers remain large. However, avian flu outbreaks may dampen feed demand in China as well as other affected Asian countries and that could eventually lead to higher stocks than currently anticipated. In other regions, maize stocks in Brazil and maize and barley inventories in Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine are forecast to decline significantly this season, mainly because of smaller domestic production.
Strong sales lifted feed grain prices but further gains are limited So far this season, international maize prices have benefited from reduced exportable supplies in China and Brazil coupled with strong demand in several southern African countries. Prices of white and yellow maize from South Africa have been also supported by weather concerns and a weaker Rand against the US dollar in past months. In recent weeks, faster sales following the resumption of exports from the hurricane-affected US Gulf ports provided some support to the US maize and sorghum prices.
Since September, the US export prices moved generally sideways in spite of harvest pressures and large supplies of feed wheat. In November, the US maize export price (US No.2 Yellow) averaged US$97 per tonne, up US$3 from last year. However, any further gains are becoming more unlikely as markets expect the arrival of the second-largest US crop on record at a time when the strengthening of the US dollar is already putting pressure on US sales. In the futures market, the Chicago March 2006 values have declined US$5 since September, to around US$81 per tonne. Worries over the spread of avian flu in China, and possibly also Europe, could be expected to put more downward pressure on coarse grain prices in the coming months.
Economic and Social Department
©FAO, 2005 | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/5282 | Koch Names New Senior Agronomist
Published in the February 2014 Issue
Published online: Feb 20, 2014
WICHITA, Kan.—Koch Agronomic Services, LLC (KAS), recently announced Dr. Rigas E. Karamanos has joined the team as a senior agronomist in Canada.
In this role, Karamanos’ responsibilities include providing agronomic support to the Koch Fertilizer and Koch Agronomic Services Canadian sales force. Additionally, Karamanos will lead KAS’s university research program to develop technically sound agronomic tools and support materials, while expanding KAS’s network within Canadian research and professional communities.
Before joining KAS, Karamanos taught at the University of Saskatchewan and McGill University for over 10 years. He joined the KAS team from Viterra, where he was a manager of agronomic solutions.
Other previous work includes projects through the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Canadian International Development Agency.
“Rigas brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the KAS agronomy team and will be a great resource for all KAS team members,” said Chase Koch, senior vice president at KAS. “He has contributed to over 380 research, technical and conference publications, has participated in a number of international projects and is a member of numerous professional organizations.”
Karamanos received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Thessaloniki in Greece. He holds a master’s and a doctorate in soil chemistry and fertility from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. In 2013, he was awarded a fellowship in the Canadian Society of Agronomy.
April 25, 2017Growing Potatoes Involves High-Stakes Investment Successful farming isn't as simple as it used to be. Growers in Washington State illustrate that point. — Read MoreApril 25, 2017Perdue Confirmed as Agriculture SecretarySeveral Democrats joined Republicans in the Senate to confirm former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue as the newest secretary of agriculture. — Read MoreApril 25, 2017N.D. Potato Stocks Down from 2016 Potato stocks in North Dakota are down 22 percent from a year ago. — Read MoreApril 25, 2017New Product: Mesa 2 Tablet with Android OSJuniper Systems announces the release of its Mesa 2 Rugged Tablet with Android 5.1. — Read MoreApril 24, 2017Searching for Farm Policy Clues from TrumpWith few Trump appointees in place at the USDA, farm groups are finding it harder than usual to discern the new administration’s plans for agriculture. — Read MoreApril 24, 2017Washington Growers Set Up to Overcome ChallengesThe potato industry has weathered storms in the past, and is positioned to do so well into the future. — Read More | 农业 |
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Early History of the Area
Lands of the Wellton-Mohawk Valley have been under cultivation intermittently since prehistoric times. Spanish explorers followed the Colorado River to a point several miles above the mouth of the Gila, and found Indians living there and using the waters of the two rivers to irrigate their crops. The Jesuit missionary, Father Eusebio Kino, visiting the lower Gila and Yuma area in 1700, wrote of finding “little fields of maize, beans, calabashes and watermelons”.
In 1883, two headings (structures for the diversion of Gila River flows for irrigation) were built within the present District boundaries. One, south of Texas Hill, fed canals which served the “Mohawk Valley” on the north side of the river. The other, near Antelope Hill, delivered water to canals which served the “Antelope Valley” on the south side of the Gila, near Wellton. The lands produced excellent crops, and several thousand acres, rough leveled with teams of mules and horses and slip scrapers, were put into production.
In 1891, a very large flood on the Gila River destroyed the canal headworks, and much of the delivery systems that had been constructed. The river changed course at this time and, with the discouragement that followed, many families left the area.
Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River (the Gila’s primary tributary) was completed in 1911, greatly reducing the flow of the Gila. Even so, in January 1916, the Gila River ran its greatest flood in recorded history, estimated at 200,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) at Dome, near the western end of the District. In the spring of 1919, the river’s flow was slight and organized efforts at river diversions in the area were abandoned.
By about 1915, settlers were seeking a more dependable supply of water. With electricity for pumping now available, more and more farmers were choosing wells as the source of their irrigation water. The Mohawk Municipal Water Conservation District and the Gila Valley Power District were formed in the early 1920s to assist in the distribution of water and power. In 1931 there were approximately 11,000 acres irrigated by well water. By 1934, excessive salt had developed in the groundwater and the water table had declined alarmingly. The combination of extensive diversions far upstream, and an increasing number of irrigation wells close to the river eliminated, for all practical purposes, any surface flow in the Gila. Farms were abandoned as water and soil became too saline for successful agriculture. Production that survived consisted mostly of alfalfa seed and bermuda grass seed, the only crops that were sufficiently salt tolerant to be grown profitably. In the early 1930s, farmers approached the Bureau of Reclamation seeking engineering advice and financing. After years of study and negotiations, this project was authorized. The Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District took over the assets and liabilities of the Mohawk Municipal Water Conservation District and the Wellton-Mohawk Operating Company, which had succeeded the Gila Valley Power District.
Wellton & the Railroad
The history of Wellton in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is very much tied to the Southern Pacific (now Union Pacific) railroad, which played a vital role in the development of the area. The Southern Pacific line was built easterly from Los Angeles, and reached the bank of the Colorado River opposite Yuma on April 29, 1877. After completion of a bridge over the Colorado, the first train entered Yuma on September 30 of that year.
After some delay, surveying and grading resumed, and the first rails were laid eastward from Yuma on November 18, 1878, requiring a workforce of 1300 men. Normal progress was one mile of track per day. This was slowed somewhat by rock excavation required in going around “Cape Horn”, a name given to the north end of the Gila Mountains near the present heading of the Wellton-Mohawk Canal.
It is likely that surveying and grading crews came through the present site of Wellton (Railroad Mile 37 east of Yuma) in December, 1878, but not likely that rails reached the site of the town until some time in January, 1879.
The original alignment of the railroad was in and along the valley of the Gila River from the old mining community of Dome, at the north end of the Gila Mountains, to the present site of Wellton. The flood of 1891 washed out several miles of this alignment, after which the railroad was moved to higher ground along the mountains and mesa, approximately in its present location. There was considerable difficulty with locomotive boiler scaling, caused by brackish water obtained from the shallow wells along the railroad right-of-way. In an attempt to get good water, several deep wells were drilled at one particular site. This location became known as “Well Town”, hence “Wellton”. A post office was established at Wellton on August 4, 1904.
Apparently, the deep groundwater at “Well Town” was still not of adequate quality. Southern Pacific began pumping water from the Gila River to a storage tank on the northwest shoulder of Antelope Hill. From this location, the water flowed by gravity to a tank at “old” Tacna, at Avenue 36, near the present site of Antelope Union High School.
There was a disastrous flood on February 12,1931, when a cloudburst south of Wellton caused Coyote Wash to overflow its banks. Water was four feet deep in part of the Wellton business district (Arizona Avenue). Two lives were lost and property damage was extensive. A section of the railroad was washed out and trains were delayed for two days. Such a flood could not take place today due to the protective dike constructed, as a part of this irrigation project, on the south side of the District’s Mohawk Canal. Runoff from a similar rain would be diverted westerly to the storm channel outlet into Ligurta Wash, and thence into the Gila River.
As previously mentioned, there were damaging Gila River floods in 1891, 1916, and 1931. Lesser, but serious flood flows were experienced in 1921, 1923, 1932 and 1941. In 1959, the Corps of Engineers completed Painted Rock Dam, an earthfill structure 66 miles upstream from the eastern end of the District, northwest of the town of Gila Bend. The dam is 181 feet high and forms a reservoir with a capacity of 2,492,000 acre feet at the spillway level. Painted Rock has proven very beneficial to this District, impounding and regulating the release of significant flood flows in 1966, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1992, 1993, and 1995.
Painted Rock Dam Statistics
Elevation of Streambed
Elevation of Spillway 661.0
Maximum Water Elevation 647.80
Maximum Contents, this event 1,848,623 af 2,808,961 af Maximum Release, this event 4,815 cfs 25,577 cfs Maximum Inflow into WMIDD 4,182 cfs 20,000 cfs (est'd) The Corps’ original operational criteria for Painted Rock called for a minimum release of 2500 cfs, to empty the reservoir quickly so as to be prepared for another inflow. However, because of potential damage to Wellton-Mohawk and to the two districts downstream, most releases have been less than 2500 cfs. Exceptions were the floods of 1979, 1980, 1992 (previous high of 5000 cfs), 1995, and of course during the 1993, 500-year event, when a flow of 25,577 cfs was passing over the spillway, of which approximately 20,000 cfs reached the District.
Flood damage to the District resulting from “controlled” releases is in the form of closed county roads, increases in deep percolation into the groundwater table from the flowing river, waterlogging of land and build-up of salts on the surface as a result of capillary rise, and additional drainage pumping requirements. The 1993 event, however, re-wrote the book on actual damage. The total cost of that event, including flood-fighting, reconstructed irrigation and drainage facilities, and repair or replacement of flood control works, was in the range of 75 million dollars.
When Painted Rock Dam was built, the Corps of Engineers acquired only flooding rights, not storage rights, in the area which might normally be considered a reservoir. Hence, the landowners upstream of the dam demand immediate release of stored floodwaters, while the District prefers no releases, or such small releases that the flow will be absorbed before it reaches this project.
Construction of the historically significant Mohawk Valley Road bridge over the Gila River at Antelope Hill began on June 1, 1914. At that time, this location was on the alignment of the main road from Yuma to Phoenix. The bridge consisted of 10 concrete spans, was 642 feet long and contained 1857 cubic yards of concrete. The cost was $55,000, including losses from damages (estimated at $12,600) caused by local flooding during construction. Prisoners from the county jail provided much of the labor on the project. Completion was in August 1915, just prior to the mammoth flood of 1916. That flood, and others over the years (especially the flood of 1941), scoured material from under one or more piers, rendering the bridge unsafe. In the interest of public safety, one span was destroyed with dynamite on August 1955, so that the structure could no longer be used.
Southern Pacific (Union Pacific) Bridge over Gila River
The Southern Pacific bridge over the Gila River, also at Antelope Hill, was built in 1925, and its design was greatly influenced by the flood of 1916. The railroad bridge is longer by far than the adjacent Mohawk Valley Road bridge, and is of a size greater than required by any flow that has occurred since its construction.
McPhaul Bridge, over the Gila River near the western end of the District, was constructed by Yuma County and the State of Arizona in 1929 on the Yuma-to-Quartzite road, now U.S. Highway 95. It is a graceful suspension bridge, with a main span of 798 feet. Unfortunately, it is of very light construction. With Painted Rock Dam greatly reducing the probability of large flows in the Gila River, McPhaul Bridge was abandoned when the state completed a new, low profile concrete bridge (on a new alignment) for Highway 95 in 1967. The new bridge was destroyed by the flood of 1993, and has since been replaced with a larger structure.
Since 1973, the District and Yuma County have joined forces on several occasions to keep county roadways open across the Gila River during times of river flow. At the present time, the District has funded or participated in the construction of four 10,000 cfs capacity bridges, at Avenues 20E, 30E, 38E, and 45E. Additionally, the District has acquired and installed eight 14’ diameter steel tubes at Avenue 51E, where a flow of over 10,000 cfs can be accommodated.
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2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/5713 | Tractorvehicle
electric wheelchair
Harry George Ferguson
Sir George Cayley
Tractor, high-power, low-speed traction vehicle and power unit mechanically similar to an automobile or truck but designed for use off the road. The two main types are wheeled, which is the earliest form, and continuous track. Tractors are used in agriculture, construction, road building, etc., in the form of bulldozers, scrapers, and diggers. A notable feature of tractors in many applications is the power-takeoff accessory, used to operate stationary or drawn machinery and implements.Tractor harvesting potatoes.© Index OpenTractor.Massey FergusonLearn how tractors equipped with GPS navigation systems are being used in farming.Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, MainzThe first tractors, in the sense of powered traction vehicles, grew out of the stationary and portable steam engines operated on farms in the late 19th century and used to haul plows by the 1890s. In 1892 an Iowa blacksmith, John Froehlich, built the first farm vehicle powered by a gasoline engine. The first commercially successful manufacturers were C.W. Hart and C.H. Parr of Charles City, Iowa. By World War I the tractor was well established, and the U.S. Holt tractor was an inspiration for the tanks built for use in the war by the British and French.The Fordson, the first tractor manufactured by Ford, in 1916.Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesBelt and power takeoffs, incorporated in tractors from the beginning, were standardized first in the rear-mounted, transmission-derived power takeoff and later in the independent, or live-power, takeoff, which permitted operation of implements at a constant speed regardless of the vehicular speed. Many modern tractors also have a hydraulic power-takeoff system operated by an oil pump, mounted either on the tractor or on a trailer.Most modern tractors are powered by internal-combustion engines running on gasoline, kerosene (paraffin), LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), or diesel fuel. Power is transmitted through a propeller shaft to a gearbox having 8 or 10 speeds and through the differential gear to the two large rear-drive wheels. The engine may be from about 12 to 120 horsepower or more. Until 1932, when oversize pneumatic rubber tires with deep treads were introduced, all wheel-type farm tractors had steel tires with high, tapering lugs to engage the ground and provide traction.Tractor loader.© Index Open
charabanc
Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)
Crawler, caterpillar, or tracklaying tractors run on two continuous tracks consisting of a number of plates or pads pivoted together and joined to form a pair of endless chains, each encircling two wheels on either side of the vehicle. These tractors provide better adhesion and lower ground pressure than the wheeled tractors do. Crawler tractors may be used on heavy, sticky soil or on very light soil that provides poor grip for a tire. The main chassis usually consists of a welded steel hull containing the engine and transmission. Tractors used on ground of irregular contours have tracks so mounted that their left and right front ends rise and fall independently of each other.Four-wheel-drive tractors can be used under many soil conditions that immobilize two-wheel-drive tractors and caterpillars. Because of their complicated construction and consequent high cost, their use has grown rather slowly.The single-axle (or walking) tractor is a small tractor carried on a pair of wheels fixed to a single-drive axle; the operator usually walks behind, gripping a pair of handles. The engine is usually in front of the axle, and the tools are on a bar behind. This type of machine may be used with a considerable range of equipment, including plows, hoes, cultivators, sprayers, mowers, and two-wheeled trailers. When the tractor is coupled to a trailer, the operator rides.
in origins of agriculture: The tractorThe first applications to agriculture of the four-stroke-cycle gasoline engine were as stationary engines, at first in Germany, later elsewhere. By the 1890s stationary engines were mounted on wheels ...
in agricultural technology: Primary tillage equipmentMoldboard-plow bottom sizes refer to width between share wing and the landside. Tractor-plow sizes generally range from 10 to 18 inches (25 to 45 centimetres), although larger, special-purpose types e...
in automobile: The age of steam...use of steam road carriages was flourishing. James Watt’s foreman, William Murdock, ran a model steam carriage on the roads of Cornwall in 1784, and Robert Fourness showed a working three-cylinder ...
in motorcycle
Motorcycle, any two-wheeled or, less commonly, three-wheeled motor vehicle.Read This Article
Any of a class of large, self-propelled, wheeled vehicles that are designed to carry passengers, generally on a fixed route. They were developed at the beginning of the 20th century...Read This Article
in electric wheelchair
Any seating surface with wheels affixed to it that is propelled by an electrically based power source, typically motors and batteries. The first motor-powered wheelchairs appeared...Read This Article
in truck
Any motor vehicle designed to carry freight or goods or to perform special services such as fire fighting. The truck was derived from horse-driven wagon technology, and some of...Read This Article
in Harry George Ferguson
British industrialist who designed and manufactured agricultural machines, notably the Ferguson tractor. Ferguson began in 1900 to sell and repair automobiles and motorcycles,...Read This Article
in transportation
The movement of goods and persons from place to place and the various means by which such movement is accomplished. The growth of the ability—and need—to transport large quantities...Read This Article
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Take this Technology Quiz at Enyclopedia Britannica to test your knowledge of machines, computers, and various other technological innovations.
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Zhou Long
Chinese American composer known for his works that brought together the music of the East and the West, thus helping to establish a common ground between different musical traditions and cultures. Among...
https://www.britannica.com/technology/tractor-vehicle | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/6835 | Maintaining cotton's momentum in the Mid-South Apr 21, 2017 As farm income drops, young farmers take hit Apr 14, 2017 John Bradley: Still leading the innovation charge Apr 13, 2017 This Week in Agribusiness, April 22, 2017 Apr 22, 2017 House considers cuts to farm bill
Forrest Laws | Jun 22, 2007
House Agriculture Committee leaders are considering reducing the percentage of base acres on which farmers receive farm program payments to help lower spending for the 2007 farm bill. Committee members could also vote to shift funds from direct payments to a permanent disaster program or other spending categories, Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., told ag reporters during a weekly telephone conference call. The House Subcommittee on Specialty Crops, Rural Development and Foreign Agriculture approved a proposal to amend the definition of payment acres for the 2008 through 2012 crops of peanuts as meaning 74 percent of the base acres assigned to a farm. Currently, farmers receive payments on 85 percent of base acres. The subcommittee also voted in its mark-up session on June 6 to raise the marketing loan rate for peanuts from $355 to $375 per ton. The target price for peanuts set at $495 per ton in the 2002 farm bill was left unchanged. “This is a product of the negotiations that went on between the opposites in the subcommittee,” Peterson said when asked about the vote on the percentage of peanut payment acres. “It's fair to say none of them is happy with this, but that's where they ended up. “That could be where we end up with all the commodities,” he said. “We have some problems with several crops. Wheat, for example, is a problem. If I had extra money, we could fix it, but we don't.” Peterson said ag committee leaders haven't made a final decision on payment acres for other crops. But they will have to act soon since its General Farm Commodities Subcommittee was scheduled to have its mark-up session on the commodity title June 19. The full committee will mark up all titles of the new farm bill June 26-28. Peterson told reporters the committee is considering changes to direct payments and other aspects of the farm programs to provide funding for a permanent disaster assistance program that would avoid the nearly annual debates over finding money for disaster assistance bills that have marked the last two Congresses. The budget “baseline” for the 2007 farm bill is about $41 billion lower than that for the 2002 law because the federal government spent less money on farm program payments than expected in the last three years. “We're looking at some innovative ideas that have not been considered before,” he said. “The Congressional Budget Office is struggling with figuring out how to score those because we're thinking out of the box or in an area that no one has thought about before.” One of those would be discontinuing payments to farms with crop bases of 10 acres or less. “In 2006, we had 255,000 farms that fit that category,” said Peterson. “These folks are not really farmers, and it would save $240 million over 10 years. We're now going to have 20 acres scored and see how that does.” Such a change could also relieve pressure on county Farm Service Agency office personnel by eliminating 255,000 operators who now must sign up for direct and counter-cyclical payments and for CCC loans or loan deficiency payments annually, he noted. The chairman said committee members are also looking at the federal crop insurance program and how it is scored in relation to the disaster assistance program. “We're also looking at the implications of the fact that a lot of farmers' crop insurance premiums have doubled this year.” The chairman said the committee hasn't decided how much money it might shift from direct payments to a permanent disaster program. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin has also discussed transferring funds from direct payments to the conservation title of the farm bill. Many of the farm groups that have met with Peterson one-on-one in recent weeks seemed to be giving at least tacit approval to the possibility of seeing their direct payments reduced by some percentage in the new law. “I think it's something that everybody seems to react favorably to, even the crops that are not necessarily helped by this, for example, rice,” he said. (Rice farmers, who irrigate their crops for weed control, rarely suffer yield losses due to drought.) Peterson reiterated his position that the committee will write the new farm bill for farmers and not for World Trade Organization members who continue to call for the United States to make deeper cuts in its farm programs as a condition for lowering tariffs on ag imports. Noting Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has continued to offer suggestions on farm bill language, including reductions in farm program benefits the administration says will be necessary to re-start the WTO's Doha Round negotiations, Peterson said, “It's a free country. He can discuss what he wants.” Peterson said Johanns has “done some good work and offered some suggestions that will be useful to us. But we're going to write the best bill we can for American agriculture and not for the WTO.” Farm organizations have indicated a willingness to give some ground on direct payments, he said; not for the WTO negotiations but to re-direct funding to other programs such as disaster assistance. “You may recall that in the fall of 2005, the U.S. trade office made an offer to give up 60 percent of U.S. price supports,” he said. “They did that without giving us any heads up they were going to do it. My perspective is that they've never received much back for that, so essentially we've been negotiating with ourselves ever since.” While not going into specific proposals, Peterson said he believes the programs being considered by the House committee will still be within the amber box limits for the United States. “I don't hear a lot of interest within the committee in writing a farm bill for the WTO,” he said. “Besides that, I just don't think we will get an agreement in the Doha Round anytime soon.” | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/7171 | U.S.|Drought in Texas and Oklahoma Stunting Crops and Economies
U.S. Drought in Texas and Oklahoma Stunting Crops and Economies
By RICK LYMANAUG. 12, 1998
Figuring out how far Lynn Bartlett's erector-set grid of sprinklers can reach as they pivot around his sun-cracked cotton fields along the Salt Fork of the Red River is really not much of a chore.The plants within the irrigation perimeter stand three or four feet high, thick and bristling with moist green bolls of healthy cotton, some of them as big as an apricot. Just beyond the water's reach, though, the plants slouch only a foot above the scaly soil and most have just two or three dusty bolls, none bigger than a Ping-Pong ball.''This is basically burnt-up cotton,'' Mr. Bartlett said. ''We had a good planting rain back in May, then a week or so later the tap just shut off and it's been off ever since.''While many parts of the country, including the Northeast, are suffering through dry months verging on drought, the situation is particularly severe in Texas and Oklahoma. Just two years after a drought ravaged large swaths of the rich agricultural region, both states are in the midst of a dry spell that officials say shows signs of developing into the costliest and most devastating the region has seen since the Dust Bowl years. Continue reading the main story
There is not a corner of Texas that is not laboring under severe or extreme drought conditions. President Clinton has declared each of the state's 254 counties a Federal disaster area, making farmers eligible for low-interest loans. ''The crops have been lost, the livestock has been liquidated and there's really no relief in sight,'' said the Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Rick Perry. ''I am starting to hear reports that this is the worst ever.''
During crucial growing weeks from April through June, Texas received little measurable rainfall at all. South Texas, which has been hit hardest by the drought, received only 8 percent of its normal precipitation, the citrus ranchlands of the Rio Grande Valley only 4 percent.Oklahoma received only two-thirds of its normal rainfall from June 1 to Aug. 1, and the southwestern corner of the state received less than a third. Adding to the problems is the extreme heat throughout the region this summer, taking away the last bits of moisture in already dry fields.The United States Agriculture Secretary, Dan Glickman, recently declared 66 of Oklahoma's 77 counties Federal disaster areas, and state officials are hearing the same sort of dire reports about the drought's effects.''All of agribusiness is very much affected,'' said Oklahoma's Agriculture Commissioner, Dennis Howard. ''The ag dollar goes around Main Street six, seven, eight times, but it's not going around now, because it's not there. Small-town Oklahoma is really hurting.''But Texas and Oklahoma have changed a great deal since the Dust Bowl years of the 1930's, growing more urban and more economically diverse, particularly in the last two decades. So even though the drought could have a ruinous effect on farmers, cattle ranchers, small towns and agriculture-related businesses, the region's overall economy could well be cushioned.On Wednesday in Washington, the Agriculture Department will release its monthly crop report, estimating how many of the country's planted acres will be worth harvesting and what their expected production.The news is not expected to be good for Texas or Oklahoma.Already, officials in Texas have estimated that the drought will cost farmers and ranchers $1.8 billion and will result in a $4.9 billion drain on the state's economy. In Oklahoma, officials last week predicted a total statewide cost of $2 billion.But both Jared Hazelton, director of the Center for Business and Economic Analysis at Texas A&M University, and Bernard Weinstein, director of the Center for Economic Development at the University of North Texas, have said the drought will not have as dire an effect as some are predicting.
That, they say, is because agriculture accounts for only about 1 percent of Texas's $641 billion economy, even though Texas ranks third in the nation in net farm income, behind California and Iowa.''The wonderful thing about the growth in the 90's is it isn't tied to a single-sector economy,'' Mr. Hazelton said. ''There is no dominant industry.''Even in Oklahoma, where agriculture remains the state's leading industry, the economy has thus far been able to withstand the drought's impact.''Now, thank goodness, Oklahoma's economy is more diversified than it was,'' Mr. Howard said. ''The whole state isn't being impacted like it was during the drought in 1982, when we really went into a nosedive.''Even without such a nosedive this year, agriculture officials say, the drought will still be crushing to those corners of the region where agriculture remains at the center of life. In rural Texas and small-town Oklahoma, they say, businesses will close, tens of thousands of jobs will be lost, cattle herds will be affected for years to come, and nervous bankers will refuse to lend money to more and more struggling farmers.
''In metropolitan cities, the impact will be felt in consumer prices and in those businesses connected to agriculture,'' said Carl Anderson, an agricultural economist at Texas A&M. ''But the real impact will be felt in smaller farm communities, and it's going to be devastating. They're going to have problems collecting taxes to keep open their schools. It's going to speed up the drying up of these small, rural communities.''Economists say that while the drought will inevitably affect prices at supermarkets all over the country, it is too early to say which products will be affected and by how much.A $500 million Federal aid package is in a House-Senate conference committee, but agriculture officials in Texas and Oklahoma are complaining because half of that money is earmarked for farmers in the Dakotas and Minnesota. Mr. Glickman told officials in his recent swing through the region that he wanted the total raised to $1 billion, maybe more. He spoke to farmers and officials again today about Federal drought-relief efforts.Last Friday, Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma organized a Plains States Rural Crisis Summit meeting in Oklahoma City, where he and the Governors of three other states concerned about the drought -- South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska -- adopted 22 emergency and long-term recommendations, including urging President Clinton and Congress to act more quickly to pump drought relief into the region.
Mr. Perry, the Texas Agriculture Commissioner, is pushing a plan to use some of Texas's budget surplus for a fund to provide aid in natural disasters. But the Texas Legislature, which meets biannually, is not scheduled to meet this year, so such a law could not be passed until 1999 at the earliest.''God forbid this drought will still be going on then,'' Mr. Perry said.Truman Zybach raises cattle on 1,700 acres in southwestern Oklahoma and across the Texas line. On his 900-acre ranch in Oklahoma, Mr. Zybach said, he would normally have 700 head of cattle at this time of year. But last Friday, with no grass in the fields for the cattle to eat and little hay available in the markets, he packed up four truckloads and sold them off, leaving him with only 50 or 60 cows.''There's no green grass at all,'' Mr. Zybach said. ''We're plum out of green grass.''Jack Feagley, manager of the Farmers Cooperative Society No. 1 in Wellington, Tex., said conditions were as bad in the Panhandle as he had ever seen them.Most of Mr. Feagley's business comes from the co-op's two cotton gins. But this year, business has been so bad that the co-op is trying to sell one gin. The co-op also provides a weighing service for trucks full of cattle on their way to be sold.''Normally, you'd start getting the cattle trucks in September,'' Mr. Feagley said. ''But the ranchers are all out of grass out there, so they're selling early. They have to. I weighed 12 trucks already today.''Ernie Davis, an economist at the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, estimates that Texas cattle ranchers have already lost more than $450 million from being forced to sell off their herds early and from buying expensive feed in a vain effort to keep the herds going. If there are no rains in August, the year's loss figures could double, said Larry Boleman, a cattle specialist at Texas A&M.In Oklahoma, the story is similar.''Dry-land cotton is gone,'' Mr. Howard said. ''Irrigated cotton is very stressed. Much of it won't make it. The watermelon crop is three-fourths off. The pecans, they're pretty well wiped out. Hay crop is 70 or 80 percent off. The horticulture industry is feeling it. People aren't buying shrubs and trees. If we don't get rain very quickly, we are not going to have any wheat pasture this fall. Corn is 80 or 90 percent gone. Soybeans are something like 70 percent gone. My dairy farmers tell me that because of the heat the cows are just off their feed, off their milk and production is down a third or a half. I know how the cows feel.''Mr. Bartlett walked through his field near the Salt and watched a neighbor's tractor kick up reddish dust. ''I've heard of these droughts, but I've never been through one,'' he said.
On his own dry land, Mr. Bartlett said, he would normally expect to get 300 to 400 pounds of cotton per acre. This year, he will get only 50 to 100.''The irrigated cotton is close to normal,'' he said, ''but it's costing me $50 more an acre in watering. That's an expensive crop I've got in the ground.''If all goes well from now until the harvest, he expects to lose about half of what he would have earned on a normal crop.''There may well be a few less farmers around here next season,'' Mr. Bartlett said. ''Who knows? I may be one of them.'' He tossed a shriveled cotton boll back into a crusty furrow. ''No, I don't really think so. I'll make it. But it all depends on how understanding your banker is. The bankers have their rules and regulations, too, I suppose. It's just life, I guess.'' Continue reading the main story | 农业 |
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Can Australia be China's food bowl? ARE WE LOOKING AT THE WRONG OPPORTUNITY???
Andrew Forrest's Australia Sino Hundred Year Agricultural and Food Safety Partnership wants to position Australia as China's food bowl.
The numbers, and Australia's production capacity, don't support this however - but there are certainly some opportunities we should be continuing to pursue.
Here are my thoughts...
ARE WE LOOKING AT THE WRONG OPPORTUNITY???
Andrew Forrest has taken what he describes as “the first step” in turning Australia into China’s food bowl by announcing formation of “The Australia Sino Hundred Year Agricultural and Food Safety Partnership”, or, more sensibly, the ASA 100.
According to the ANZ Bank, “The aim of the ASA 100 is to position Australia as the primary food and agricultural product solution to China’s long-term food security and natural clothing needs”.
Without denigrating the initiative (although it is hardly a first step in exploiting the huge opportunity presented by China’s growing appetite), I wonder if the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang had a quiet smile when the two met earlier this year and Twiggy floated the concept.
My bet is that Premier Li would understand the reality – that Australia couldn’t possibly play a major role in solving China’s food security requirements by producing food, let alone become the “primary food and agricultural product solution”. Australia can’t, and no one country can.
As Dr Craig Emerson pointed out at the ACBC Australia China Food Summit a few months ago in Sydney, Australia’s capacity to become China’s food bowl is a common misconception.
A commonly-quoted figure suggests that Australia exports enough food to feed 60 million people. That is 4.4% of China’s population – assuming we only exported to China. Australian agricultural product exports to China have doubled in the past five years to $7.3 billion in 2013, however, according to the Australian Food and Grocery Council, over the past 20 years Australia's share of China's food imports has more than halved to just 3.3 per cent, with our loss being picked up by “more aggressive and better organised competitors” such as France, Indonesia and New Zealand which have grown their share of the Chinese market. Our share of China's food imports contracted from 7.17 per cent in 1994 to just 3.34 per cent in 2012. IF we could double our current food export capacity, AND export it all to China, we would theoretically be able to 120 million people – less than 9% of China’s population.
Could we double our food production capacity though? A number of factors suggest we couldn’t.
Doubling Australia’s farm production by 2050 equates to a productivity boost of 2.5 per cent a year – which is highly unlikely given the current status quo.
Whilst some regions will see increased productivity from climate change, due to different weather patterns, Australia could see a 10 percent drop in the production of wheat, beef, dairy and sugar by 2030 unless we update the way we farm. So we’re behind the 8-ball before we start.
I’ll use wheat as an example…
Australia is the fourth largest wheat exporter, but in real terms we account for only 3.4% of total global wheat production: There is a suggestion that we could increase production from current levels of close to 20 million tonnes to over 200 million tonnes – but the requirements to achieve this are completely unrealistic. We would need to clear massive amounts of land and redeploy all water and all land presently used for agriculture exclusively to wheat production – crippling the rest of our food production industry. On top of that, we would need to raise productivity from 1.5 tonnes per hectare to 4.4 tonnes per hectare.
Our track record suggests that this is almost impossible. From the late 1970s to the 1990s Australian agricultural productivity grew at almost 2 per cent per year, but according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) there has been little growth since then. Our last doubling of productivity took 25 years.
Recent stagnation in productivity growth is, in part, due to the drought conditions over the past decade, but we can’t just blame it all on the drought when our commitment to agricultural research has fallen from a peak in the 1970s of five per cent of the value of agricultural production, to just above three per cent in 2007.
In a global context, at 0.5% of GDP, Australia’s government spends much less on R&D and innovation than the OECD average of 0.8% and much less than the leaders (Finland and South Korea – both 1.1% of GDP). Australia ranks 28th out of 34 OECD countries for Government R&D funding. Fortunately our R&D sector is propped up by Australia’s corporate sector which, according to Austrade, increased its expenditure on R&D at a compound annual growth rate of 12.6 per cent from 2000/01 to 2011/12, well above Australia’s nominal GDP growth rate of 6.9 per cent
This means that Australia’s Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D sits at 2.2 per cent of GDP - above that of Singapore, Canada, UK and China.
The problem is, according to the National Farmers Federation, agricultural R&D represents only 2 per cent of the total government R&D spend. In February 2013 The Australian reported that “…as agricultural research spending has dropped since 2000, the ability of Australia's farmers to produce more food has stagnated. A joint research paper produced by Charles Sturt University and the Australian Farm Institute “links falling farm productivity between 2000 and 2010 with cuts to public funding of agricultural research from $1 billion to $716 million in 2008, followed by a further $150m to last year.”
Look at the cuts. The Australian Government has, in its last budget, cut funding to
the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) ($114.8m);
the Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) program($80m);
the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) ($11m);
the Australian Research Council. ARC) ($74.9m); and
Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) ($7.8m).
Various Industry support and innovation programs ($845.6m)
These cuts are real, and with the passage of the appropriation bills in late June, most are already in place. Research programs are already being cut back or stopped.
State Governments have done the same thing, including Queensland, where 550 out of 2,500 jobs within its Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) were reportedly axed and numerous research programs were closed, and South Australia, where the last state budget saw net funding to Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA) fall from $89 million to $77m, including $4m less for the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI). The sprinkling of good news was the allocation of $2.6m (over four years) for two food and wine clusters, and half a million plus to enhance food trade with China in the coming year.
To the Federal Government’s defense, the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry’s (DAFF) modest budget was increased this year from $1.6 billion to $1.9 billion, and a new Fresh Produce Safety Centre has been established in Australia, the first of its type, to research the safety of fresh food products.
Our performance has affected our reputation. Back in mid-2012 the Australasian chief of Kraft Foods, the world's second-largest food company, said that Australia is not seen as a high-value food innovator, but as “a critical supplier of food commodities''. I hear what she was saying, but in China’s case, a 3.34 percent share of total food imports hardly makes us a “critical supplier”.
So, we’re up against climate chance, stagnant productivity growth, and significant cuts to food and agricultural research funding.
I think we’re solving the wrong problem.
Australia shouldn’t even be talking about becoming China’s food bowl, let alone spending money on trying to achieve this, and some of the biggest players in the industry think the same way. Rabobank, the world’s largest food and agribusiness specialist bank, recommended in its Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper submission that Australia should focus on developing high-value produce and move away from competing in highly commoditized global markets.
Kraft Foods argues that we should be focusing on manufactured food and that becoming a farm-gate supplier would threaten jobs, our own food security and even the national economy. There are two sides to every argument, and I’m one of those people who prefers to make pasta sauce with tomatoes that I’ve peeled myself rather than those that have been peeled and pre-cooked in a factory and shipped in a can. China can buy tinned food from anywhere, but they can only buy top-quality fresh Australian food from one place.
I think we’d be smart to concentrate on exporting fresh and farm-gate produce. Australia can't solve China's food security issues, and in fact I would argue that we don’t, and won’t, play any significant role in China's food security equation. What we can do, what we are starting to do, is excel in the provision of high quality, safe, premium food products. Australia has a solid reputation for producing clean, green, health and safe food, and we should be leveraging this to its fullest potential.
I think we would be even smarter though, and have a bigger impact on food security in China, our region, and globally, if we redoubled our investment in farming productivity and food innovation. We should be exporting our expertise and collaborating with other countries that have developed their own expertise. This is a two-way street, and would help address food security concerns (those of our own as well as our global neighbours) far more than any additional food we could produce.
Australia is cutting funding to an already under-funded food and agriculture research community, and now backing a program that can never achieve its stated objective of becoming China’s “primary” food bowl. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge supporter of the concept of increasing our export trade with China. The attention being given to the China opportunity is welcomed and timely, but it will only really mean something if the Governments and corporates put their money where their respective mouths are.
The highest priority of Twiggy’s new ASA 100 should be, in my opinion, to trigger a pivot by the Federal and State Governments and have them dramatically ramp up investment in, and support for, research into food and agricultural technologies, and the commercialization existing and new Australian expertise. This must include serious incentives for Australian businesses to invest in the research and production sectors.
I’m worried that the current aim of the ASA 100 is distracting Government and business from the real opportunity – the provision of high-quality premium foods for China’s upper and growing middle class, and the provision of Australian food and agricultural expertise for Chinese producers. We should be leveraging our reputation for clean, green, healthy and safe, and leveraging our expertise and experience, instead of trying to become a bulk supplier.
I have to ask the question: Is the ASA100 really looking at the right opportunity?
Gareth Lott is a member of the Australia China Business Council and sits on the ACBC Agribusiness subcommittee in South Australia, he owns a china-focused aquaculture company, and, through his family business, operates several small-scale farms in regional South Australia. Gareth is also a member of the Australia Arab Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Australasia Representative of the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture in Abu Dhabi. This article is Gareth’s personal opinion only and is not endorsed by any of the above organizations.
© October 2014 Gareth Lott
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2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/8719 | Industry Eye in the sky: EPA defends feedlot flyovers
By John Maday
In response to criticism last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claims it has legal authority and precedent for using aerial photography to monitor compliance with the Clean Water Act.
The issue came to light when U.S. Senator Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) announced he, along with all of Nebraska’s Congressional delegation, had sent a letter to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson questioning the agency’s motivation and legal authority for using aerial surveillance of Nebraska livestock operations.
Drovers/CattleNetwork posted an article titled “Johanns questions EPA on feedlot flyovers,” on Thursday outlining the issue, based in part on an AgriTalk Radio interview with Johanns. AgriTalk is a partner with Drovers/CattleNetwork, with both organizations under the ownership of Vance Publishing Corporation.
Following the interview, EPA’s Region 7 office, which covers Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, provided the following response. “For nearly a decade, EPA has used aerial over-flights to verify compliance with environmental laws in impaired watersheds. Aerial over-flights are a cost-effective tool that helps the Agency and our state partners minimize costs and reduce the number of on-site inspections across the country as the Agency focuses on areas of the greatest concern. For animal feeding operations, EPA uses over-flights, state records and other publicly available sources of information to identify discharges of pollution. In no case has EPA taken an enforcement action solely on the basis of these over-flights. EPA and other state and federal agencies also use aircraft for responding to emergencies such as chemical releases or to assess environmental disasters.”
In an article published today in the Omaha World Herald, EPA provided additional written comments. “Courts, including the Supreme Court, have found similar types of flights to be legal (for example to take aerial photographs of a chemical manufacturing facility) and EPA would use such flights in appropriate instances to protect people and the environment from violations of the Clean Water Act,”
According to the World Herald article, EPA acknowledges the surveillance flights began in 2010 in Iowa and 2011 in Nebraska. The EPA has conducted seven flights in Iowa and nine in Nebraska. The EPA Region 7 office has focused on those states due to the number of concentrated livestock feeding operations situated in watersheds with histories of contamination. The planes usually maintain altitudes of 1,200 to 1,500 feet during the surveillance flights, and the agency says it alerts state environmental agencies before it takes to the air, but does not notify livestock owners.
The EPA Region 7 website lists “protecting and improving water quality across America's greatest watershed, the Missouri-Mississippi Basin” as one of its top priorities.
The original Drovers/CattleNetwork article drew a range of comments from readers expressing a mix of opinions. Some see the aerial surveillance as an example of government overreach and misuse of authority on the part of the EPA. Others believe it is perfectly reasonable the EPA would use aerial photography as a tool for monitoring compliance, and see the issue as political grandstanding on the part of Johanns.
So what do you think?
epa flyoversepa surveillancefeedlot surveillancelivestock surveillancefarm surveillance About the Author:
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2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/9432 | Livestock Wyo woolgrowers suggest more producers, smaller herds boosting industry Written by University of Wyoming Anyone who visits with Wyoming woolgrowers will soon come away as optimistic as they are when talking about the health of their industry.
Sheep numbers increased more than 10,000 head from last year, and members of the Wyoming Wool Growers Association (WWGA) board of directors suggest the increase comes from more people getting into the business with smaller flocks.
The Association is this year’s University of Wyoming Outstanding Research/Partner of the Year Award recipient. “We’ve been a player in Wyoming history as an Association since 1905, and when the university comes to us with an idea, and if it’s a good idea, I think we’ve been a strong supporter of the university,” says board member Regan Smith of Powell. Weaves through Wyoming history
The sheep industry and Wyoming history are closely entwined, painting an early landscape of the state. There were 5 million sheep in the state in 1900, and by 2011, the figure was 275,000 – about the same number of sheep as on three early Wyoming operations – John Okie, Frances Warren and brothers Thomas, James and John Cosgriff.
Numbers have increased to 355,000 on Jan. 1, 2016.
Producers like what they see.
“We’re not going to see 10,000-head herds. That’s history,” says Peter John Camino, board member and third-generation sheep rancher from Buffalo. “But we are going to see people starting to figure out there is money in the sheep business. They are going to start out small and eventually get bigger. Especially with the decline in the cattle market, if we put dollar signs on the sheep side and beef side, we’re going to figure out which one is going to make money.”
Woolgrowers and the University of Wyoming have collaborated with ram tests since 1961 in the Animal Science Department. The Association partners with the Mountain States Lamb Cooperative to conduct a black-face ram sire test and a white-face ram sire test with the University of Wyoming. Both are at the Laramie Research and Extension Center (LREC). Fleece characteristics are measured and combined with gain data to create an overall index. Seek sheep specialist
The board members have a unanimous answer to how the university could best serve them – hire a sheep specialist.
But they’re aware of the shrinking budgets. Anyone who has lived in Wyoming knows the peaks and valleys of mineral revenues, says Smith. “I don’t think any businessman, whether sheepman or anyone else, would want the university to not balance the budget,” he says. But having a sheep specialist is still important, he notes. Progress is limited without the leadership a sheep specialist could provide.
“I think it’s paramount to get someone who can point UW in a direction, whether animal health or genetic research, whatever,” Smith says. “There are a multitude of things that can get done at the university, but we have to have someone spearhead it.”
Research center trials are also important. Producers don’t want to be the first to try something new and fail.
“If UW could test, then all the producers and taxpayers benefit from it,” says Smith. “That’s certainly a place the university can help.”
Education, information key
Sheep producers face the same issues they’ve always had – predators, funding, marketing, weather, the government and public lands, says producer Lisa Keeler of Kaycee.
“I think the university could help us by joining forces and assist us with education,” she says. “I think part of it is giving producers more tools with which to help us survive.”
She also suggests fresh information to help those already established, as well as information for those just starting out. Management tool information is needed, as is information about genetics, says Camino.
“There is a lot of technology out there we should be able to use and can’t,” he says, also noting the lack of a sheep specialist and the benefits of providing information through meetings.
“Education is probably the number one thing to help producers,” says Camino.
Big Horn Basin producer Kay Neves of Emblem has seen quality improvement in sheep, which also improves lamb and wool quality.
“I think producers are working hard to improve their sheep, and they’re looking at a scientific basis for that,” says Neves.
International forces influence industry
Other issues are out of producer hands.
“The labor problem is probably one of the biggest we have,” Camino says. “If we don’t have labor, we can’t do our business. The labor department is putting on so many restrictions, it’s just about impossible to get outside help to come into the United States, and we cannot find American workers who will do sheep industry work. It’s just not there.”
Markets are at the mercy of international forces. Currently, the high dollar boosts wool prices but prompts imports of lamb at lower prices.
Camino, whose Basque grandfather came to America in 1904, says, “People see the future of the sheep industry as down. I don’t believe that.”
Neither does Amy Hendrickson, WWGA executive director.
“We have a vibrant sheep industry, despite all the pressures,” she notes. “It is not easy. Any ranching these days isn’t particularly easy,” but points out the rising sheep numbers in the state.
She also notes the need for a sheep specialist. “The sheep industry is very supportive of the university, and they’ve done a number of things for us, but it is disappointing we have to go outside the state to get expertise on some things,” says Hendrickson. “They do everything they can to help us, but a sheep specialist would help. I think they do a great job at the LREC sheep farm. They do the best they can, and we are very, very appreciative.”
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2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/9705 | NationalSoutheastern StatesFloridaIncreasing global wheat production WHEAT PRODUCTION ...
Increasing global wheat production UF/IFAS scientist will lead a consortium of scientists across the U.S.
Published on January 11th, 2017 Md Ali Babar, UF/IFAS agronomy assistant professor. (Courtesy Photo) GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researcher will lead a nearly $1 million project to increase worldwide wheat yield potential to help feed an anticipated 9.5 billion people globally by the year 2050.
To do this, Md Ali Babar, a UF/IFAS agronomy assistant professor and his team of researchers, hope to increase the harvest index from 45 to 60 percent, which translates to much more wheat. The harvest index quantifies a crop’s yield versus the amount of biomass – shoots and roots – that it produces.
“This will increase wheat yield and improve food security for a growing population,” Babar said.
Wheat, grown on more than 538 million acres globally, is one of the three most important cereal crops in the world, according to Babar. The other two are rice and corn. But wheat yield must be doubled in the next 30 years “to avert a major food crisis,” he said. To achieve food security in the next 30-plus years, wheat yields need to increase by 1.8 percent per year. Currently, yields are only increasing 0.9 percent annually.
Babar cites the so-called “Green Revolution” of the 1970s in explaining how and why his research group hopes to increase wheat production. In the 1970s, scientists increased the harvest index. That resulted in a huge yield increase and saved millions of people’s lives. However, research shows the wheat harvest index didn’t increase much in recent history.
That’s why Babar and his collaborators are adopting an integrated research approach involving varieties developed by U.S. and Mexican wheat breeders. In those varieties, Babar and his colleagues will evaluate traits related to the harvest index, hoping to eventually produce more wheat.
Babar will work with scientists from the International Corn and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico, the University of Nottingham in England and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The researchers are expected to develop a specific structure of wheat plants so they can separate more biomass genes, which they hope will add up to much more wheat globally.
They have received $250,000 for the first year of a three-year grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. NIFA officials have told Babar that he and his team will receive $920,000 based upon continued progress in the research and funding.
—Brad Buck
UF|IFAS
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2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/9795 | Feeding the world’s hungry and growing population
Despite the World Food Summit goal of halving the number of hungry in the world between 1996 and 2015, the number has remained stubbornly constant, with an uptick in the number as a result of the 2007-2008 crop price hikes. Currently the official Food and Agricultural Organization 2010-2012 estimate of the number of undernourished people is 870 million, though some aid organizations offer higher estimates.
At the same time, the world’s population is projected to grow from the current 7 billion to around 9 billion by 2050. Unsurprisingly, the question arises as to how we are going to feed 2 billion additional people by 2050, when we already have nearly 1 billion facing chronic hunger.
Recently we were asked to take part in a symposium at the Entomological Society of America annual meeting in Knoxville titled: “Feeding future generations: Expanding a global science to answer a global challenge.” The focus of that challenge was to identify ways to feed 9 billion people in 2050. What follows in a synopsis of our presentation.
We preface what follows by noting that it appears to us that the multinational biotech seed and chemical companies have responded to this challenge by positioning their products as the primary solution to meeting this goal. Not incidentally, they are also using this challenge as a justification for pressing the case for the extension of their intellectual property rights through trade negotiations.
As a result of our readings and discussion with others, it appears to us that much of the discussion about feeding 9 billion people by 2050 has been captured by these firms by setting up a false dichotomy. On the one side, we have what might be called the current mechanized agricultural model. In this model, the goal is to bring the latest technologies (read GMOs and agricultural chemicals) to bear on solving this problem. It is argued that through the use of patented products and technologies, US farmers can boost their production to help meet the increased demand for food. Similarly farmers in developing nations can use these same patented technologies and products to boost their crop production. But in order to make these technologies and products available, the agribusiness firms need to make sure that their intellectual property is protected. So what the companies want to do is offer the free use of products like a GMO cassava to a country’s farmers in exchange for their setting up US-style intellectual property rights and regulatory agencies in their country. The vision is to remold subsistence farmers into entrepreneurial export-oriented producers.
On the other side, they offer organic production, essentially viewing it as a post-industrial philosophical reaction to the mechanization of agriculture. They then use this reaction to describe a pre-industrial production system. The proponents of the mechanized agricultural model go on to characterize organic production as offering lower yields and increased labor requirements as a result of higher weed and insect pressure. The argument is often summarized in the declaration that if we wanted to match current US chicken production with free-range chickens, there wouldn’t be enough acres available to do that—we’ve never tried to make that calculation.
By positing organics as the only alternative to the full use of their products, they hope to quash any challenge to their vision. They also ignore a lot of other actions that could be helpful in meeting the challenge of feeding 2 billion additional people by 2050—an increase of 28 percent over a 38-year period. In taking on this challenge, we need to remember that we were able to move from feeding a world population of 4 billion in 1974 to feeding 7 billion in 2012—an increase of 75 percent over a 38-year period.
From our vantage point, one needed action is to reduce post-harvest loss, which can be as much as a quarter to a third of the crop. To do this, low-input storage technologies need to be identified that use resources that are available to farm households and can be maintained over the long-haul by the poorest of the poor.
Returning to a theme that we have touched on before in this column, we need long-term funding for conventional breeding programs that will produce public varieties of what the US National Research Council has called “lost crops:” teff, various sorghums, amaranth, fonio, African rice, millets, and various pulses. Many of these crops currently yield about 1 tonne per hectare—compared to 10 tonnes of corn per hectare in the US—while research plots have identified landraces of these crops that can yield triple or quadruple that. A conventional breeding program could breed these high-yielding characteristics back into the local varieties that would be acceptable to local households.
While intercropping would be a problem for farmers using four-wheel-drive, diesel tractors, it is more common among farmers who depend upon hand labor for their production. And intercropping has the potential to increase total food output from a given plot of land through techniques like succession planting—that is what we do when we plant radish and carrot seeds in the same row in the spring. In Colombia we saw indigenous farmers planting squash in among the hills of corn. With targeted research, intercropping systems that increase total nutritional output per unit of land could be identified using locally grown crops.
As a recent Iowa State study showed—see our November 12, 2012 column—three- and four-year rotations that includes crops and livestock can reduce the need for synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and herbicides. In some cases the task will be to help subsistence farmers recover traditional rotations that used local crops and crop varieties.
While we are not soil scientists, we cannot underestimate the importance of the issue of soil and water management. We need to pay attention to soil biotics and soil structure. Doing so could decrease water runoff, increase water infiltration, and improve nutrient availability to the plants.
None of this is difficult. The science is relatively easy. What it takes in the political will to fund programs in these areas. In saying this we are not arguing that the role of mechanized agriculture in the global North does not play a role in meeting this goal; it does. But there is more to it than that.
Oh! and we almost forgot our most important point.
The real challenge in feeding all 9 billion people in 2050 is not production; it is distribution.
Remember 1998-2001? The price of corn was $1.85 a bushel and we had 800 million hungry people in the world. But because they lacked purchasing power, 800 million people went to bed hungry while US producers were told that the low prices were caused by their “overproduction.”
The first step in meeting this challenge is to enable the farmers who are among the poorest of the poor to produce their own food using sustainable technologies that are within their resource base.
Daryll E. Ray holds the Blasingame Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Policy, Institute of Agriculture, University of Tennessee, and is the Director of UT’s Agricultural Policy Analysis Center (APAC). Harwood D. Schaffer is a Research Assistant Professor at APAC. (865) 974-7407; Fax: (865) 974-7298; [email protected] and [email protected]; http://www.agpolicy.org.
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2) An email sent to [email protected] indicating how often you intend on running the column and your total circulation. Also, please send one copy of the first issue with the column in it to Harwood Schaffer, Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, 309 Morgan Hall, Knoxville, TN 37996-4519.
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2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/10450 | Funding Available to Boost Declining Honey Bee Population
On Friday, June 20, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the availability of $8 million in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) incentives for Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin farmers and ranchers who establish new habitats for declining honey bee populations on their existing CRP acres. These five states are home for more than half of the commercially managed honey bees during the summer and are therefore a critical focus in efforts to restore honey bee habitat.
The new CRP pollinator initiative, administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), is designed to further enhance existing CRP land, allowing for it to provide honey bees with better access to pollinator forage. Through the program, producers can manage or replace existing vegetation with lower cost, high nutrition seed mixes for plants that provide the specific blooming cycles needed to benefit pollinators.
Such habitats will provide honey bees with more blooms from which they can collect nectar and pollen to sustain and promote colony growth and honey production throughout the growing season. Today’s announced CRP pollinator initiative takes advantage of new seed mixes that were developed by NRCS.
Agriculture Relies on the Bees
Now is a critical time to support the honey bee populations that have been declining for decades. Since 1947, the number of managed honey bee colonies in the U.S. has dropped from 6 million to just 2.5 million today. More than $15 billion worth of agricultural production across the country, including over 130 different fruits and vegetables, depend on the health and well-being of the honey bees.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack highlighted the critical role that honey bees play in sustaining agricultural production. “American agricultural production relies on having a healthy honey bee population. In recent years, factors such as diseases, parasites, pesticides or habitat loss have contributed to a significant decline in the honey bee population.”
Secretary Vilsack explained that the new CRP incentives in these states is part of an ongoing strategy to reverse these trends by establishing more plant habitat to restore the bee population in this region of critical habitat.
Additional Pollinator Habitat Incentive Options
Today’s announcement comes in addition to $3 million in funding through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) program to provide technical and financial assistance for interested farmers and ranchers to improve the health of bees. Funding is available to implement conservation practices that will provide safe and diverse food sources for honey bees, and is also a focused investment in the five Midwest states that provide significant habitat for honey bees.
In addition to EQIP, the Conservation Stewardship Program provides long-term stewardship payment for advanced conservation systems that can include a pollinator habitat enhancement, pollinator-friendly cover crop enhancements, and a variety of options to maintain pollinator habitat on land that previously was in the CRP but is returning to agricultural production.
USDA recently also announced restart of continuous CRP (CCRP) enrollments. CCRP includes a Pollinator Habitat Initiative that permits producers to develop pollinator habitat in field borders and buffer areas, with a goal of enrolling 100,000 acres of longer lasting meadows of native wildflowers to support honey bees, pollinators, and other wildlife populations.
National Pollinator Initiatives Also on May 20, the White House announced a new Pollinator Health Task Force to focus federal efforts to on research and action aimed at helping pollinators recover from serious population decline. Secretary Vilsack and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy will co-chair the task force, which will focus on research, public education, and public-private partnerships, while continuing to increase and improve pollinator habitats.
For more information about the new pollinator initiative in the five Midwestern states, the continuous CRP enrollment period, and the pollinator habitat initiative, producers should contact their local FSA office.
Conservation, Energy & Environment 3 responses to “Funding Available to Boost Declining Honey Bee Population” Sheila Broatch says: June 23, 2014 at 12:22 pm I like the idea of planting areas for bees to forage, but lack of forage seems like an unlikely cause for the disappearance of the honey bees. Where I live in the Pacific Northwest one of the first plants the bees forage on in the Spring is the Big- Leaf Maple. There are no lack of Big-Leaf Maple and yet you see no honeybees in them. Ditto with apple and pear. Why not study the more likely culprits, pesticides and cell towers ( see papers from Calpoly on magnetite cells and electromagnetic radiation).
FUNDING AVAILABLE TO BOOST DECLINING HONEY BEE POPULATION « The Virtual Grange says: June 25, 2014 at 10:07 am […] From National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition: Funding Available to Boost Declining Honey Bee Population […]
Frances in California says: June 27, 2014 at 7:47 pm I wish I thought Monsanto could be prevented from carpetbagging the farmers into pervasive GMO seed use and neonicotinoid pesticide use. It can’t help pollinators in the long run. | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/11628 | About Kefir
What are Kefir grains
Where do Kefir grains come from?
What does kefir taste like?
Benefits from drinking kefir
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Home / What is Nourish Kefir? / Where do Kefir grains come from?
Where do Kefir grains come from? Where do kefir grains come from? It's a bit of a mystery...
Kefir grains occur in nature. They are living organisms (not man-made). No one knows exactly where or when the kefir grain first appeared. What has been established however, is that kefir grains originated from the Northern Caucasus Mountain region of the former USSR.
A 'Gift from the Gods'?
The local people of the Caucasus Mountains are said to have discovered kefir several thousand years ago, believing it was a 'miraculous' gift from Mohomad" exclusively for them. The grains were treated like precious jewels in each family, because of their ability to preserve and enhance milk.
As part of its mystery, kefir is closely linked to the longevity of the Caucasian people, who were known to live long and healthy lives, with many centenarians among them. The word 'kefir' comes from the turkish language and means 'long life' or 'good life'.
According to legend, the Caucasian people were very possessive about their precious kefir, and wanted to keep their 'miracle drink' secret from the rest of the world. Luckily for us they didn't succeed… and at the turn of the twentieth century, stories about kefir leaked out to Russian officials who wanted to make the kefir drink available for all Russian citizens… After some persuasion, (The stuff of James Bond movies - a Prince, a beautiful woman - the kefir 'jewel's, espionage...) the kefir grains were shared with the Russians.
Kefir is considered a staple food in Russia.
Kefir is widely consumed throughout Eastern and Central Europe, where the drink is associated with general well being. It is given to children in primary schools to help them concentrate, as well as the elderly in nursing homes and everyone in between. Most people who grew up on kefir will tell you 'it's good for you', or their Grandma used to make it and swore by it!
We have discovered kefir through need and can testify that it is one amazing, natural and delicious food, thanks to fermentation of the cultures!
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2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/11713 | Banksia marginata
Proteaceae
Coastal heaths, forest and woodland in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.
Silver Banksia
Banksia...after Sir Joseph Banks.
marginata...from Latin marginatus; bordered, referring to recurved leaf margins on some forms.
Banksia marginata is a very variable species both in habit and habitat. It is typically a medium shrub about 2 metres high by a similar spread but also occurs as a scrambling, prostrate plant and as a small to medium-sized tree. Leaves are linear, 15 to 60 mm long by 3 to 13 mm wide often with recurved (rolled under) margins. The leaf margins and tip may have small serrations. The upper surface of the leaves is dull green and the under surface is silvery, giving the plant its common name.
The flowers occur in cylindrical spikes which are 50 to 100mm long, 40 to 60mm wide and pale yellow in colour. The seeds are enclosed in follicles attached to a woody cone and are generally retained within the cone until burnt.
Banksia marginataPhoto: Brian Walters
Fire-sensitive and fire resistant forms are known. The former rely solely on seed for regeneration while the latter can regenerate from both seed and from vegetative growth from a lignotuber.
Banksia marginata is common in cultivation and is generally hardy. However, due to the wide natural range of the species, forms for cultivation should be selected from similar climates to that of the location where it is to be grown. For example, in Sydney the forms selected from coast and mountains of New South Wales are very successful while forms from drier area (such as western Victoria) are difficult to maintain. In cultivation the species is not demanding in regard to soil types but waterlogged ground should be avoided. The plant favours a position in full sun or dappled shade.
Propagation from seed or cuttings is relatively easy.
A similar species is B.canei which is found in semi alpine areas of New South Wales and Victoria.
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2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/12661 | Directory News
Monaco Supports Sustainable Development in Mali
Malian Woman irrigating her crops
NEW YORK, April 11 – The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the Principality of Monaco have launched a new partnership with the Earth Institute, Columbia University that stands to make important new strides in protecting biodiversity and addressing the urgent needs of the rural poor in Mali. With a $1.5 million grant, this investment in the Earth Institute’s work on agriculture techniques to increase crop yields and combat land degradation is aimed at helping farmers and their families secure a more stable livelihood while protecting the ecosystems where they live. In addition to this applied research, the grant also supports the scale-up of multi-sectoral development interventions in 166 of the most impoverished districts of the country, helping millions living in the Malian drylands of the Sahel.
“Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world and is gravely threatened by further environmental degradation and global climate change,” said Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute. “Drylands are fragile ecosystems. People living in these ecosystems are profoundly vulnerable, living at the edge of survival and facing increased climate instability and water stress. It is imperative that we find tangible and timely solutions to these challenges if Mali is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and sustain its population in the longer term. Support from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the Principality of Monaco has importantly boosted this vital search for solutions to Mali’s sustainable development.”
Millenium Village - Tiby Mali, West Africa
Today, over one million square miles of land have been affected by desertification in Africa, including much of the land in the Sahel. In the Millennium Villages of Tiby and Toya in Mali this grant will promote the development of sustainable agriculture while helping to preserve the fragile dryland ecosystem. Earth Institute agronomists and biodiversity experts will oversee agriculture investments in the development of customized fertilizers and soil conservation structures, improved crop seeds, integrated pest management, and other sound agronomic practices as well as shifting to high value products with demand in both domestic and international markets.
“Over the past 30 years, per capita food production has declined, leaving over a quarter of the population in Mali undernourished,” said H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco. “As life sustaining natural resources are depleted and food production declines, serious effects on the health and stability of the country take hold. The Earth Institute will use a farmer-centric approach to participatory research and development to determine sustainable, financially viable agricultural and environmentally sound practices. Alleviating poverty and protecting the environment is one of the great global challenges of our time and we are proud to support these efforts towards lasting change in Mali.”
The Government of Mali, inspired by early successes of the Millennium Villages project in the communities of Tiby and Toya, requested Earth Institute assistance to provide the technical support needed for local governments to develop participatory planning tools focused on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). This grant makes this technical assistance possible, building the path for two million people in an additional 166 of the most food insecure districts in Mali to benefit from a proven package of techniques to revitalize the agriculture sector, secure basic social services such as health, education, water and sanitation, and improve roads and other infrastructure.
This scale-up of sustainable development work in the poorest districts of Mali combined with agriculture interventions will anchor income-generating resources to the region and help millions of people lift themselves out of poverty. About the Earth Institute, Columbia University
The Earth Institute, Columbia University is the world’s leading academic center addressing the challenges of sustainable development. Our mission is to mobilize the sciences, education and public policy to achieve a sustainable Earth. The Earth Institute was established in 1996 and is home to more than 30 research centers and programs, including a network of over 800 faculty, researchers and their students spanning the fields of public health, environmental engineering, Earth science, social sciences and the biological sciences. Our flagship applied research and outreach program is the Millennium Villages project, proving that by fighting poverty through community-led initiatives, rural Africa can achieve the Millennium Development Goals —global targets for reducing extreme poverty and hunger by half and improving education, health, gender equality and environmental sustainability—by 2015. For more information, visit www.earth.columbia.edu. About The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation
The Foundation has been created by H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince of Monaco in June 2006 and is dedicated to the protection of the environment and to promote a sustainable development on a global scale. The Foundation’s efforts focus on three main areas: Climate Change and renewable energies, Biodiversity, Water and desertification. The Foundation gives its support to projects in three main geographical zones: the Mediterranean basin, the Polar Regions, and the least developed countries. The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation supports initiatives of public and private organizations and companies, in the fields of research and studies, technological innovation and socially-aware practices. The Foundation is committed to raising the awareness of the population and States by implementing communication action plans capable of generating the maximum mobilization. In order to stimulate and develop innovation, the Foundation supports scientific and technical monitoring at an international level. For more information, visit www.fpa2.com.
About the Principality of Monaco (Department of External Relations, Directorate for International Cooperation)
The fight against poverty is one of the Monegasque Cooperation’s priority intervention areas. The policy of cooperating to promote development can be divided into 4 categories of intervention: health and the social sector, education and training, support given to micro-economic activities, preservation and promotion of natural resources. More than 100 projects are scheduled for 2010 in 23 partner countries. For more information, visit www.cooperation-monaco.gouv.mc | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/13073 | You are hereHome » "America's Fertilizer Keeps Blowing Up. It Doesn't Have To." | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/13102 | COTTON SPIN: Will the boom in U.S. cotton exports continue? Apr 21, 2017 Conservation cropping systems, crop rotation focus of Rolling Plains study Apr 24, 2017 Successful peanut weed control requires ‘all-in-effort’ Apr 25, 2017 Mexican official ready to start NAFTA talks Apr 19, 2017 By 80 percent: New bill increases conservation funding
Forrest Laws Farm Press Editorial Staff | Jun 20, 2002
You wouldn't know it from the criticism leveled by environmental groups, but the 2002 farm bill contains significant increases in funding for existing and new conservation programs. The conservation title, or Title II, of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 doesn't create as much alphabet soup as some previous farm bills, but it does provide an additional $17.1 billion over the next 10 years for programs that will help farmers take better care of their land. “This farm bill provides a record level of support for conservation, an 80 percent increase, 85 percent of which will be used for programs on working farmlands,” said Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. “And it adds new programs to preserve wetlands and improve soil and water quality.” When she made those comments at a May 21 press briefing, Veneman was responding to critics of the new farm bill who charged that its funding was earmarked primarily for wealthy row crop producers. “We're talking about conservation programs for working farmlands, conservation programs like EQIP that can help livestock producers,” she said. “I think it's critical that the public understand that a lot of the money that's going out under this farm bill is going to help the environment and help farmers be better stewards of the environment as we know they already are.” Environmental and conservation groups obviously did not get all the funding and all the new programs they wanted in the farm bill — they had proposed diverting another $4 billion primarily from commodity programs for a total of $21 billion in additional spending over 10 years. But as President Bush said when he signed the new farm bill, “It's not a perfect bill, I know that. But you know, no bill ever is. There's no such thing as a perfect bill because they are all results of compromise.” The conservation title addresses a number of issues, ranging from demands for higher spending and acreage caps on older programs such as the Conservation Reserve and Wetlands Reserve to providing nearly $2 billion for a new Conservation Security Program that will take effect in 2003. The Conservation Security Program. or CSP, which was introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, would provide payments to growers or landowners at one of three levels, depending on the number of conservation practices they implement on their operations. Using so-called Tier I practices, farmers would receive $25,000 per year; with Tier II, $35,000 per year; and Tier III, $45,000. The payment amounts would be subject to the farm bill's new payment limit rules. The new conservation title also greatly increases spending for previously little known items such as the Farmland Protection Program (FPP), which is designed to help prevent urban encroachment into farmland. The title provides $1 billion over the next 10 years compared to the $53 million Congress earmarked when it began the program in 1996. For the Conservation Reserve, the new title increases the acreage cap from 36.4 million to 39.2 million and re-authorizes the continuous signup provision where land can be enrolled at any time rather than during enrollment periods. It also expands the CRP Wetland Enrollment Pilot Program, which was established in the 2001 Agricultural Appropriation Act. The new language extends the program to all states and raises the enrollment cap to 1 million acres, which are included in the overall CRP acreage cap. The title increases the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) acreage cap to 2.275 million acres at a cost of $1.5 billion over 10 years. Conservationists have long complained that the WRP was too limited in scope to accomplish “meaningful wetlands protection.” The new farm bill also creates a new Grasslands Reserve Program with funding of $254 million. Up to 2 million acres of “restored, improved or natural grassland, rangeland and pasture, including prairie,” may be enrolled under contracts of 10, 15, 20 or 30 years. Under the EQIP or Environmental Quality Incentives Program mentioned by Secretary Veneman, funding will be gradually increased so that by 2007 it reaches the $1.3 billion annually originally envisioned by Congress when it began the program. The new language targets 60 percent of annual program funding at livestock producers. The new conservation title also provides a 10-fold increase in funding for the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) over the life of the new farm bill. It mandates funding of $15 million in FY 2002, $30 million in 2003, $60 million in 2004 and $85 million annually in 2005-2007. Under the new Farmland Protection Program, or FPP, money will be spent to purchase development rights on farmland, ensuring that the land remains permanently in agriculture. America currently loses more than 1 million acres of farm and ranch land each year to development, according to American Farmland Trust, one of the program's principal backers. “This is a major breakthrough for the future of our nation's farmland,” said American Farmland Trust President Ralph Grossi. “In committing $1 billion for farmland protection, Congress responded to the needs and demands of farmers and ranchers nationwide. Farmland protection now has a seat at the roundtable of agricultural policy — it's a major program addressing a significant national need.” Since the FPP is a matching program, states and local governments will have an incentive to develop and expand conservation easement programs, leveraging federal money to protect more farms and ranches. For a comparison of and listing of new details for conservation programs under the old and new farm bills, click on USDA's new farm bill Web site at http://www.ers.usda.gov/Features/farmbill/titles/titleIIconservation.htm. [email protected] | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/13415 | ← Why should donors care about corruption?
Rethinking Governance to Fight Corruption →
by Raza Rumi | June 20, 2008 · 6:57 am ↓ Jump to Comments
Food crisis demonstrates the limits of globalization
Food Is Different
Globalization has made more food available worldwide to more people at lower prices. But the current crisis demonstrates the limits of globalization and that the market for food may not be the same as for other products.
by Bruce Stokes
Globalization’s Pluses and Minuses
The world has become more dependent on imported grain in the past 40 years, but failing global grain stocks make it harder to ease shortages and high prices.
Robert Zoellick, head of the World Bank, warns that the unfolding food crisis could force 100 million people deeper into destitution and set back efforts to reduce world poverty by seven years.
In the midst of this crisis, the immediate humanitarian challenge is to feed the hungry. But the suddenness and breadth of the emergency has raised fundamental questions about the future of agricultural policy that will drive debates in Washington and other world capitals for years to come. The questions being posed about agricultural policies are complex and hard to answer.
Was it a mistake over the past generation to increasingly trust market forces to feed the world? Or are the problems that bedevil farmers today the residue of continued government interference in agricultural markets? Are current food prices a problem or the ultimate solution to future food needs? Does the world food system suffer from too much globalization or not enough?
In the search for answers to these questions, Washington is a Tower of Babel. Partisans of all stripes have seized on the crisis to justify their long-standing ideological positions on agriculture. Free-market proponents support a swift completion of the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations, which would cut American and European farm subsidies and allow developing countries to increase their food exports to rich countries. “The solution is to break the Doha Development Agenda impasse in 2008,” Zoellick said in April.
Some recent experience bolsters this argument. Since the early 1970s, when the world last endured a food crisis, production has soared, to the point that, until a few years ago, food experts worried that grain prices were too low to adequately reward farmers’ efforts. The global trade in grain delivered cheap food to the poor in the burgeoning cities of the developing world. Malnutrition rates fell in many parts of the globe.
But skeptics contend that leaving the supply of food solely to the market’s whims is a mistake. “The mindless liberalization mentality at the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and among my fellow economists misses the fact that food is a biological necessity as well as a commodity,” said Peter Timmer, a visiting professor at Stanford University’s Program on Food Security and the Environment.
With its short-term orientation, the free market has frequently failed the long-term interests of consumers around the world, critics contend. Governments have been pulling back from investing in the underlying infrastructure that supports agriculture. As a result, funding has atrophied for the development of new high-yielding seeds, for the building of better farm-to-market roads, and for loans to small cultivators. International grain traders and speculators have gained unprecedented influence over commodity markets. And world grain stocks have been allowed to dwindle to modern lows.
These changes in the worldwide food market are compounded by what economists like to call “externalities,” factors that are not susceptible to market discipline but that are rapidly shaping the future of agriculture: rising energy prices, water shortages, and, ultimately, climate change.
“We are looking at diminishing returns in a number of areas,” said Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington. “We spend a lot of money on research, with disappointing results. We are using more fertilizer, but that does not increase yields. We look [for] but don’t find much new water.”
In the face of these challenges, said Gawain Kripke, director of policy and research at Oxfam America, “there are no silver bullets. We need a matrix of solutions.”
The proper balance between government and the private sector will be at the center of the emerging debate over agriculture. “Some public intervention is needed,” said Kimberly Elliott, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington. “The question is, what is the right intervention?”
The ultimate matrix may include less direct government interference in the short-term workings of global food markets through subsidies and tariffs, coupled with greater government responsibility for providing a strategic grain reserve, funding basic research, and stewarding the environment to help compensate for inevitable market hiccups and externalities that can cripple food production.
Change in Fortunes
Just a decade ago, humanity’s age-old race to stay one step ahead of famine seemed finally won. Grain supplies were bountiful and growing. Food prices were low.
Then, world cereals production fell two years in a row, thanks in part to bad weather. This falloff came at a time of record low food stocks. With poor harvests and low reserves, the market was vulnerable to shocks that could send prices spiraling. That is just what happened. Despite a rebound in harvests in 2007, the U.S. diverted most of the extra corn it raised into making ethanol to fuel its cars and trucks. U.S. corn prices tripled. And, with cropland being diverted from wheat to corn production, wheat prices more than doubled.
In October 2007, spooked by mushrooming food prices, India, one of the world’s largest exporters of rice, banned most of its rice shipments. Vietnam followed with export restrictions in January 2008. Rice prices rose sharply.
Not surprisingly, consumers rapidly felt the pain in America, yes, but all over the world, too. Food prices rose 11.4 percent in Indonesia, 11.6 percent in Guatemala, and 18.3 percent in Botswana in a year. In such societies, where the poor may spend more than half of their income on food, this was a severe additional burden.
Nevertheless, a bit of light has appeared on the horizon. Higher prices have already spurred farmers around the world to plant more this spring. And the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization expects harvests to improve this year. World prices have already begun to fall from their recent highs as a result. Still, over the next decade, experts predict that crop prices will remain well above the mean for the past decade. The days of cheap food may be over.
High Prices: Problem or Solution?
In the midst of so much want, it may seem heartless to question whether high food prices help or hurt the poor. But that is exactly the debate raging among development economists.
Higher prices reward farmers, who receive more for their harvests, and punish consumers, who must pay more to feed their families. Many people in the poorest parts of the world–Africa, Asia, and Latin America–sell more food than they consume.
A recent FAO study found that half of the households in Madagascar and two in five households in Ghana, all classified as extremely poor, were net sellers of food and stood to benefit from higher prices. A recent Carnegie Endowment study of India found that “the poorest households and the most disadvantaged groups saw the largest gains” from a rise in rice prices, thanks to greater demand for their land and their low-skilled labor to produce that staple.
But the vast majority of poor households in Bangladesh and Pakistan are net buyers of food. Overall, conclude World Bank economists Maros Ivanic and Will Martin, in a recent paper, “even though many rural households gain from higher food prices, the overall impact on poverty remains negative.”
The fact is, higher prices create both losers and winners, even among the poor. And the distribution of winners and losers varies from country to country. Nor is the market for food the same from country to country. Thus, warned Sandra Polaski, director of the Trade, Equity, and Development Program at the Carnegie Endowment, generalizing from the experience of particular countries about the effects of food price increases on poverty can lead to incorrect one-size-fits-all policy prescriptions. Today’s food crisis is highly differentiated, requiring tailored solutions.
Too Much Globalization
Current food shortages are also a reminder that what globalization gives, it can take away.
Since the food emergency in the early 1970s, world trade in agricultural products has increased severalfold (see chart, p. 26). The globalization theory was that increased trade in food crops would lead to more production at lower prices. The notion that countries had to be self-sustaining in agriculture would fade away.
But the current crisis suggests to some critics that globalization may not have worked as intended. “Removal of tariff barriers has allowed a handful of northern countries to capture Third World markets by dumping heavily subsidized commodities while undermining local food production,” said Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute, a California-based think tank that advocates food sovereignty.
The Doha Round of trade talks threatens to make this situation worse, the critics contend. To safeguard their food security, some developing countries demand the right to exempt “special products” from tariff cuts, with each country’s list targeted to its individual needs. In addition, they want to slow unexpected surges of food imports.
“Let’s not put policies in place that make the current situation worse,” said Polaski, who argues that farming in the developing world can be nurtured only behind trade barriers. “You can’t do it in the face of global competition,” she said.
Trade liberalization is part of a broader set of market-oriented economic reforms that the World Bank and International Monetary Fund began to impose on many developing countries in the 1980s in return for loans. These reforms were intended to balance governmental budgets. But critics complain that they often harmed farmers. In 14 developing countries, farm spending fell from an average of 6.9 percent of gross domestic product in 1980 to 4 percent in 2004, according to a recent World Bank survey.
Globalization also encouraged a more efficient food market, in which grain moved around the world rapidly. Surpluses in one region easily replenished shortages in another. There seemed little need to maintain large, costly grain reserves. China, the European Union, and the United States let their food stocks dwindle as a result.
Recent price volatility suggests that the global food system now lacks flexibility because food stocks declined too far. In 2007, reserves equaled 54 days of world consumption, down from a high of 130 days in 1986.
The United States and other countries maintain strategic petroleum reserves. Through the International Energy Agency in Paris, they have agreements to share supplies during an emergency. So why not a strategic grain reserve?
It is a question of cost and control. American and European taxpayers have bad memories of out-of-control government spending to maintain grain and butter “mountains” in silos and warehouses. Recent rice export bans suggest that hoarding by producer nations does more harm than good–it just drives prices even higher.
With the FAO now predicting that grain prices could remain high for a decade, resulting increases in production may rebuild reserves on their own. But to be prudent, Stanford University’s Timmer suggests new international incentives for producing countries to hold greater stocks, coupled with agreements on what market conditions would trigger their release. Oxfam argues for village-level cereal banks that would ensure adequate local supplies during hard times.
Globalization, driven by the theory of comparative advantage, has also encouraged agricultural specialization. “This led to the dedication of good land to export crops with food crops forced into less suitable soil, thus exacerbating food insecurity,” wrote Walden Bello, a professor of sociology at the University of the Philippines, in a recent issue of The Nation. In years when specialty crop prices were high and food staple prices low, this was a rational trade-off for farmers to make. It was a bet that many countries are now losing.
Finally, globalization of the world food system exacerbates the effects of sudden policy shifts, such as the recent U.S. rush to use corn to increase ethanol production. In 2006, the approximately $6 billion in U.S. subsidies for ethanol production spurred demand for corn, triggering chain-reaction price rises around the world for corn, wheat, and soybeans. Never has the energy policy of a country that is not a member of OPEC had such a devastating global impact. (See “Is Ethanol Really the Culprit?” p. 30.)
Not Enough Globalization
It is no surprise that defenders of globalization hold a quite different view. They contend that a stronger, more open market is part of the solution to the food crisis.
Paul Collier, a professor of economics at Oxford University and the author of the recent award-winning book The Bottom Billion, criticizes the seductive notion of peasant-based, food self-sufficiency as hopelessly romantic. “We laud the production style of the peasant,” he wrote in a recent blog. “In manufacturing and services we grew out of this fantasy years ago, but in agriculture it continues to contaminate our policies. Unfortunately, peasant farming is generally not well suited to innovation and investment.”
Trade, these globalization defenders argue, has been the salvation of consumers in poorer countries, not their bane. “If you are for self-sufficiency, you must be willing to live with high prices,” wrote Dani Rodrik, a professor of international political economy at Harvard University in his blog. “If developing countries had all kept their import protection, the global supply of food would have been lower today, not higher.”
Globalization advocates condemn continued government intervention in agriculture. Farm subsidies in rich countries have long boosted production there, holding down world prices and undermining market incentives for farmers in poor countries to grow more food. High industrial-country tariffs, meanwhile, have kept out food imports from developing countries. If African, Asian, and Latin American food production is to increase, U.S., European, and Japanese subsidies need to be eliminated and their tariffs slashed, the globalization advocates argue.
If they are right, the path ahead will be long. The 2008 U.S. farm bill actually increased permissible American farm payments. If high prices continue, much of that money may never get spent. But the very availability of those subsidies reduces farmers’ risk, encouraging more planting. And some of the highest remaining industrial-country trade barriers apply to some of the very products, such as sugar and cotton, that farmers in developing countries may be most competitive at growing.
The Doha Round, if it is ever completed, will not significantly cut farm subsidies or import tariffs in rich countries. Doha negotiators also seem unlikely to liberalize some of the most important agricultural commerce, trade between developing countries. Cutting import barriers between developing countries–spurring more South-South trade–would be far more important to the economic welfare of such nations than reductions in farm support or export subsidies in developed countries, according to World Bank studies.
So if globalization is to ease food supply problems, proponents argue for more of it, not less.
Dealing With Market Breakdowns
However the world ultimately resolves the debate about globalization, the food crisis is a reminder that market forces are notoriously shortsighted and governments too often scrimp on the kinds of long-term investments that can sustain productive agriculture.
Between 1960 and 1970, thanks to the green revolution, global grain yields grew by 2.6 percent per year on average. From 1990 to 2007, the annual increase had slowed to only 1.2 percent. Apparently, the reservoir of agricultural technologies that farmers can readily rely on to boost harvests is shrinking.
Yet both the private and the public sector have failed to address this market failure. The proportion of World Bank lending devoted to agriculture has declined steadily since the 1980s, and the proportion of all foreign aid from all sources going to farmers is now only 4 percent. As a result, the seed company Monsanto spends seven times as much on research and development as the 14 international agricultural research institutes combined. And that private spending often concentrates on developing seed varieties for commercial agriculture, not for food staples that make up the diet of the very poor.
Similarly, the food production and distribution infrastructure has been given short shrift. In much of sub-Saharan Africa, concluded the World Bank in its 2008 World Development Report, poor market access was almost as important a constraint on food availability as poor rainfall. Transport costs, in part because of bad roads, account for about a third of the price that African countries pay for fertilizer. A public-private partnership to build roads and ports is needed to break these infrastructure logjams.
Oligopolies, which concentrate market share in the hands of a few companies, may be further aggravating global agricultural problems. The four largest agrochemical companies now control 60 percent of the world fertilizer market, up from 47 percent in 1997. The four largest seed firms have cornered 33 percent of the market, up from 23 percent in the same timeframe.
This concentration is also evident on the distribution side. International traders control 40 percent of the international market for coffee, which is the source of livelihood for an estimated 25 million farmers and farmworkers around the world. With greater market power, these traders can charge higher prices. The share of the retail price Americans pay for a pound of coffee beans that actually goes to the coffee-producing countries of Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, and Vietnam has declined from about a third in the early 1990s to only about 10 percent in 2002.
“It is generally believed,” the 2008 World Development Report concluded, “that when an industry’s [market share] exceeds 40 percent, market competitiveness begins to decline, leading to higher spreads between what consumers pay and what producers receive for their produce.” In laymen’s terms, the middlemen win; consumers and farmers lose.
The global food system might well benefit from a little Teddy Roosevelt-style trustbusting.
Coping With the Externalities
A final problem with the world market for food is that it is deeply affected by those unpredictable “externalities” that the economists talk about–factors, such as weather, that are important but not easily controlled. These include:
* Population growth. Strides have been made since the last food crisis in the 1970s in slowing population growth, a major driver of food demand. In the world as a whole, the average number of children per woman has fallen from nearly five to fewer than three. Yet even as population growth slows, the sheer number of women of childbearing age has driven annual population growth: About 81 million new people appeared on the globe in 2007, far more than in the early 1970s.
“You don’t have to be an agronomist to know that if you keep adding that many mouths to feed each year, you are going to be in trouble,” said Brown, of the Earth Policy Institute.
In nearly all developing countries, the number of women of reproductive age will increase between 2005 and 2015.
* Rising affluence. Higher incomes enable more people to eat higher on the food chain. The World Bank estimates that by 2030 more than a billion consumers in the developing world will have sufficient income to eat a middle-class diet. China provides a foretaste of this future. Between 1990 and 2006, per capita Chinese meat consumption grew by 140 percent, and individual milk consumption by 300 percent.
To produce 1 pound of meat takes up to 7 pounds of grain. So with developing countries’ meat consumption expected to double in a generation, demand for grain will grow much faster than population.
Slowing such consumption may prove impossible. European and American consumers could change their diets, but large-scale reform of consumption patterns is unlikely. And for African, Asian, and Latin American consumers, eating richer diets is one of the long-sought benefits of development. The stresses on the food system associated with rising affluence will simply have to be accommodated; they probably cannot be reversed.
* Energy prices. Higher fuel prices are also likely to further complicate the market’s ability to meet the food needs for both consumers and producers. It requires about 41.5 gallons of oil (in the form of fertilizer, gasoline for transport, etc.) to produce 1 ton of corn in the United States. As the cost of a barrel of oil has skyrocketed, so too has the price of grain. Economic models suggest that for every $1 rise in the price of a barrel of oil, U.S. grain prices, which determine world prices, could rise by 20 cents a bushel.
The rising cost of energy imports has also forced some developing nations to choose between importing oil or grain. For the farmer, higher energy prices have driven up the price of fertilizer (which can account for a third of soybean production costs in Brazil), electricity for irrigation pumps, and the costs of transporting produce to market. Most damaging is the high cost of gasoline that has increased U.S. planting of corn for ethanol.
Whatever gains are made in food production, they risk being overwhelmed if energy costs continue to spiral out of control.
* Soil erosion. Worldwide, croplands the size of Indiana disappear every year, according to studies by David Pimentel, a professor emeritus of ecology at Cornell University. “Erosion is a slow and insidious process,” he said. “It nickels and dimes you to death. Yet the problem, which is growing ever more critical, is being ignored because who gets excited about dirt?”
The cost is already apparent in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where a combination of population growth and poor land management has led to a 40 percent decline in arable cropland per capita since 1960.
Better land-use practices require agriculture extension services. Yet such services are nonexistent in many parts of the world because their cost and complexity exceed government capabilities and because they have not been in commercial farmers’ short-term interests. Moreover, the inexorable pressure to increase production may overwhelm even the most-well-meaning soil conservation programs.
* Water shortages. Irrigation accounts for about 40 percent of the value of agricultural production worldwide. But that production is often being bought with overdrafts at the water bank. In China, farmers take about 25 percent more water from underground aquifers than the rains replenish. In parts of northwest India, the overdraft rate is 56 percent. No wonder the irrigated area per person around the world is shrinking by 1 percent per year. More-efficient irrigation methods do exist and are slowly being adopted. But farmers will also need expensive new varieties of staple crops that use less water.
* Climate change. This may be the gravest and most imponderable long-term challenge the food system faces. If temperatures increase moderately over the next half-century, agricultural production losses in tropical developing countries may be partially offset by production gains in temperate zones. But if temperatures rise by more than 3 degrees Celsius, an increasingly likely prospect scientists say, harvests could be severely affected everywhere, falling by a fifth in South Asia alone. The cost of adapting the food system to climate change could be tens of billions of dollars in developing countries alone, far exceeding available resources.
Long-Term, Not Stopgap
The current food crisis is a product of bad weather, higher energy costs, commodities speculation, and policy shifts that have had unintended consequences, notably U.S. ethanol subsidies and widespread export bans. It is also a harbinger of more-serious food challenges rooted in the inability of the food system to deal with market breakdowns, such as investment shortfalls in research and development and infrastructure, and with externalities, such as rising affluence and climate change.
Some of today’s problems may eventually self-correct through a cyclical upturn in production and a downturn in prices. Tomorrow’s food issues are more challenging.
“Food security will deteriorate further,” Brown predicted, “unless leading countries can collectively mobilize to stabilize population, restrict the use of grain to produce automotive fuel, stabilize climate, stabilize water tables and aquifers, protect cropland, and conserve soils.”
To accommodate this change, global institutions may need to be restructured to cope better with inevitable future agricultural market volatility.
“The IMF needs additional authority to provide bridge financing for countries faced with sharply rising food import bills,” said Gus Schumacher, a former U.S. undersecretary of Agriculture. “It needs power to oversee hedge funds spiking commodity prices and to discourage food embargoes by wheat and rice exporters. And there needs to be some insurance facility to protect importing and exporting countries when drought and storms disrupt food supplies.”
World leaders will review the food situation at the G-8 summit in July and at a United Nations food conference in September. The danger is that food prices may be receding by then and leaders, distracted by some new crisis, will be tempted to pursue stopgap measures instead of long-term solutions.
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6 responses to “Food crisis demonstrates the limits of globalization” Dast July 14, 2008 at 1:13 pm No private enterprise puts in the first dime. Governments must invest in the villages, by establishing institutions… that generate an impact / effect and create an economy of their own. Physical dis-comfort is a reality but that will be a medium-term drawback. In the end., the whole country wuold become developed. SEZs must be built where land is rocky / unfit for agricultural use. Industrialisation is NOT the only answer. It is useless if there is no FOOD Security.. Water Security.. and Seed Security. These are very core issues. If the whole country is turned industrial, who will grow the food ? Man needs food., not plastic billets to survive. Over the next century, due to inflation and hardships., there would be food riots / revolutions.. and eventually a decline in world population. Inflation would deliver the hard-hitting message : Make less babies. The world is “House Full”. Bringing in a child means adding to the suffering of the world… Plus see the suffering of your child.. with your own eyes.
Reply Roger Chittum September 7, 2008 at 12:24 am I found this comment early in my search for “globalization+strategic+limit” and hope the thread is still open, at least insofar as the author’s attention is concerned. I did not see in the article any discussion of the idea that some goods may be too “strategic” to be traded or, at least, too strategic to be wholly traded. In 2008 alone, we have seen nations having serious discussions about whether it is consistent with prosperity or even survival as a nation to be heavily dependent on imports of water, food, or energy. In addition, there is a long history of national reluctance to be dependent on imports for military goods. Perhaps the strategic concern can be generalized to encompass all goods and services as to which military defense, population survival, or avoidance of economic calamity require reliable and affordable access without having to trust any other nation for timely and favorable actions. I note the quotation of Dani Rodrik to the effect that food would be more expensive but for international trade in food, but it does not seem that he is including any imputed cost of strategic insecurity for nations whose people will die by the millions during those times when food supplies are curtailed because of unaffordable prices or hostile actions. The article does discuss the need for international backstop measures to assure supplies at such times but, of course, there are no such reliable backstop measures now. So, under the circumstances that actually exist today, isn’t it reasonable for nations to protect themselves against calamity by refusing trade agreements that makes them less secure in access to strategic goods? Indeed, isn’t it a fundamental duty of every nation to do that? Unless I’m way off base here, don’t economists need a theory of how to decide when trade and globalization are good and when they are bad? Is anybody writing in this area? Or is economic theory unable to deal with hard-to-quantify strategic considerations?
Reply Raza Rumi September 7, 2008 at 12:25 pm DearRoger
Many thanks for the detailed comment. You are absolutely right – the orthodoxies of economics do not recognise issues that you have highlighted – these are the unfortunate limitations of neo-liberal market obsessed mantra..
Reply shaheen sultan dhanji September 12, 2008 at 1:45 am “Every sustained wave of technological progress and economical development everywhere has been fuelled by greed, profiteering, special privileges, and megalomania.” -Professor Theodore Levitt
Reply AgraQuest’s September 27, 2010 at 9:38 am Visit http://www.agraquest.com as a global leader in the agrochemical industry and a premier partner in the biological and low-chemical segments, AgraQuest’s Agrochemical Division focuses on discovering, developing, manufacturing and marketing highly effective food improvement products for agricultural and food safety markets.
Reply Pingback: With 1 billion people starving, will we be able to feed the world? « Sustainable Ag and Innovation
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2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/13872 | Search HomeBrowse by CategoryAgricultureArts & LiteratureBusiness & IndustryEducationFolklifeGeography & EnvironmentGovernment & PoliticsHistoryPeoplesReligionScience & TechnologySports & RecreationIndexesArticlesAuthorsEventsOrganizationsPeoplePlacesFeaturesGalleriesQuick Facts You are hereHome » Agriculture » Agriculture in Alabama Multimedia:Tall FescueLowndes County Peanut FieldPeanut Farm in SummerdaleRelated Articles:CottonCommunity-Supported AgricultureMulesLandmark ParkFood Production in AlabamaSteamboats in AlabamaAgri-Tourism in AlabamaExternal Links:Alabama Department of Agriculture and IndustriesUnited States Department of AgricultureAlabama Agricultural Experiment StationAlabama Sustainable Agriculture NetworkTennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture Agriculture in Alabama
Charles Mitchell, Auburn UniversityCotton BaleAlabama agriculture has changed considerably since the mid-1860s, when cotton was king and Alabama was known as "The Cotton State." By 1914, almost four million acres were planted to cotton, and by 2015 only 1.5 million acres were devoted to all agricultural crops. Alabama's landscape today is dominated by woodlands, pine plantations, scattered pastureland and hayfields, and small rural and suburban homesteads that stretch between major metropolitan areas. Few modern Alabamians depend totally on agricultural production for their livelihood, but as of 2015 there were 42,700 farms on 8.8 million acres (averaging 206 acres per farm) that sold over $5.5 billion worth of commodities. Poultry and eggs accounted for 65 percent of these sales, cattle and calves accounted for 11 percent, nursery and greenhouse crops 8 percent, and cotton 4 percent. History
Agriculture has been practiced in what is now Alabama for centuries. Prehistoric Native Americans practiced slash-and-burn agriculture, in which they cut and burned forests to make room for their patches of corn, beans, and squash. Early European travelers through Alabama described vast areas of the landscape that were open savannahs, the result of natural and human-made fires. CanebrakeDuring Alabama's territorial period, settlers established the first farms, primarily along navigable rivers near where Native American villages once stood. The pattern of agricultural development is closely associated with Alabama's major soil types and geographical regions. Early settlers moving south from Tennessee and Kentucky found the clayey, limestone-derived soils of the Tennessee Valley and other north Alabama valleys well suited to crop production. The soils of the Piedmont area were initially attractive to settlers moving westward from Georgia, but they quickly discovered that soils on the hilly land washed away easily after plowing. The central Alabama Black Belt Prairie region, once known as the "Canebrake," appealed to those emigrating from the Carolinas and Georgia. The region was accessible because of its rivers and its dark, clayey soils were well suited to plantation-style cotton production. Although cotton and other crops were grown on the sandy soils of the Cumberland Plateau and the Coastal Plain, they were not as productive, and farmers had not yet adopted the use of fertilizer and lime to increase soil fertility. Several events in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries combined to dramatically affect Alabama's early agricultural development. The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain created an insatiable appetite for cotton fiber and in 1794, Eli Whitney patented a new type of cotton gin in the United States, which lowered the cost of processing fiber. In 1814, Andrew Jackson and his Tennessee Volunteers joined with Cherokee warriors to defeat the Red Stick faction of the Creek Indian nation in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. This event resulted in the cession of millions of acres of former Creek lands and opened up the territory west of the Chattahoochee River for settlement. By the time Alabama became a state in 1819, the interior of the state was easily accessed via the Tombigbee, Warrior, Alabama, and Chattahoochee rivers. Crops could also be transported to European and New England markets via the ports of Mobile and Apalachicola, Florida. Settlers poured into the new state with one objective: grow cotton. Cotton and Crop Diversification
Cotton acreage expanded rapidly throughout Alabama until the outbreak of the Civil War, particularly in the Black Belt and Tennessee Valley regions where plantations prospered using mostly enslaved labor. Soils in these areas were clayey, more fertile, and not as acidic as the soils of the Coastal Plain and Cumberland Plateau. Mobile grew as well, becoming a major U.S. port because of the cotton industry. The Civil War brought financial and physical devastation and great change to Alabama's political, financial, and social history. Cotton production boomed after the war, as sharecropping replaced the plantation system. Some historians argue this new system empowered landowners and oppressed those who worked the land as much as slavery had. The number of acres planted in cotton grew steadily from around one million in 1866 to almost four million in 1914. The only other crop grown to any extent during the post-Civil War period was corn to feed livestock and the people who worked the land. Although few records of corn production exist, estimates indicate that as many acres were planted in corn as cotton. Until the 1930s, very few soil amendments were added to replace nutrients used up by the crops, and the common practice of plowing in the fall and planting in the spring resulted in widespread and severe soil erosion.
ErosionAlabama led the former Confederate states in agricultural education and was the first to take advantage of the 1862 federal Morrill Act, which aimed to create land-grant "agricultural and mechanical" universities separate from established state universities. In 1872, the East Alabama Male College (now Auburn University) in Auburn, the Lee County, was a recipient of Morrill Act funds and was designated the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College with the purpose of teaching agricultural, mechanical, and military sciences. In 1883, the Alabama legislature appropriated funds to establish the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, the first in the South. Tuskegee Institute, founded in 1881 in Tuskegee, Macon County, also served as a leader in agricultural education. Thomas Monroe Campbell, a Tuskegee graduate and the first African American extension agent, brought newly developed agricultural methods and technology to rural black farmers with his Movable School. Tuskegee scientist George Washington Carver researched and promoted the production of peanuts on the sandy, infertile soils of southeastern Alabama. Both Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University), a private institution in south Alabama, and the State Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes near Huntsville (now Alabama A&M University) were recipients of federal land-grant funds associated with the Land Grant Act of 1890. With research and teaching devoted to scientific methods and improvements and three land-grant institutions, Alabama's agricultural landscape slowly began to change.
One of the most dramatic changes in cotton production in Alabama and throughout the South was the appearance and subsequent destruction cause by the Mexican boll weevil. This insect reached Alabama in 1910, being first discovered in western Mobile County, and had a devastating effect on the cotton crop, with cotton production declining by one million acres at full infestation. Because of its devastating effect on the state's cotton crop production , attention turned toward controlling the boll weevil. This effort continued until the mid-1990s when an effective boll weevil eradication program was implemented. Cotton FarmAlthough cotton dominated Alabama agriculture until after World War II, a gradual diversification of agriculture occurred partially because of the boll weevil. Peanut acreage expanded in the Wiregrass region of southeastern Alabama. Almost 10,000 acres of commercial citrus was grown in Mobile and Baldwin counties by 1920. In the 1910s, farmers began establishing peach and pecan orchards in central and south Alabama. Legumes such as cowpeas, vetch, Caley peas, and clovers were introduced as green manure crops to add valuable nitrogen to the soil. Fertilizers such as nitrate of soda, superphosphate, and kainit (a potassium-bearing mineral) began to be used to replace the nutrients in worn-out croplands. Ground limestone and basic slag (a byproduct of the growing iron and steel industry) were introduced to neutralize acidic soils. Cattle and Livestock
Cattle first came to the Southeast with Europeans during the colonial era. Alabama's cattle industry during the nineteenth century was concentrated in the piney woods of South Alabama, where the open range dominated some counties until the mid-twentieth century. Most cattle were raised for local consumption, but some beef was shipped from Mobile along with Alabama's cotton crops. The conversion of some of the Black Belt cotton farms into grasslands and the introduction of European breeds of beef and dairy cattle in the twentieth century quickly transformed the Black Belt into cattle country. Fundamental to the region's rise as a cattle center was the presence of johnsongrass (Sorghum halapense), a tall, perennial, Mediterranean grass named for the Marion Junction plantation owner who introduced it in the 1840s. The grass spread easily in the dark, fertile, clayey soils of the Black Belt region. Although cotton farmers loathed it as a weed, cattlemen loved it because it provided grazing and a hay crop when few other perennial forage grasses were available. Arab Cattle AuctionBy the late 1960s, Alabama farm income from cattle exceeded that from cotton and large-scale poultry broiler and egg production replaced cotton on the small, hillside farms of the Cumberland Plateau. Fertilizers in the form of poultry manure and litter used for bedding transformed the fields of the region into productive pastures. New forages such as tall fescue, hybrid bermudagrass, bahiagrass, lespedeza, white clover, and red clover were introduced through research and extension efforts at land-grant universities. These provided nutritious grazing for livestock throughout the state. Agriculture to Industry
In the twentieth century Alabama's economy also gradually changed from agriculture to industry. Industrial cities attracted workers from the pool of agricultural labor, forcing remaining farmers to invest in mechanical cotton pickers, larger tractors and harvesting equipment, mechanical milking machines, and automated feeders and waterers for large poultry operations. In the 1960s, machinery largely replaced human labor, displacing many farm workers at a time when other social changes were occurring in the South.
By the 1970s, much of Alabama's former cotton land had been abandoned, planted with pine trees, or converted to pastureland. A global boom in soybean prices encouraged many Alabama growers to plow up old fields for this relatively new oilseed crop. Even growers in the Midwest sold higher-priced farmland and moved South to grow soybeans. By 1980, 2.2 million acres of soybeans had been planted throughout Alabama, but by 2000, falling soybean prices dashed the hopes of farmers looking for an alternative cash crop, and soybean farming dropped to 160,000 acres. The USDA's Conservation Reserve Program encouraged the planting of trees on acres that had once grown soybeans and cotton. Soil erosion was finally under control by the late twentieth century, but the economy of small-town and rural Alabama, particularly in the Black Belt region, had already been devastated by the loss of agricultural income and jobs. Alabama's Modern Agriculture
Red Angus CattleModern agricultural production is extremely efficient, whether poultry and egg production or cotton and peanut production. Many present-day independent farmers may grow crops on more than 2,000 acres of land with only three or four highly trained and well-paid workers. In addition to cotton, farmers often raise livestock, usually a cow and calf operation in which the yearlings are sold to feedlots in other parts of the United States. Some farmers also rotate cotton with corn, soybeans, or peanuts. Instead of plowing the soil and leaving it bare, farmers plant a cover crop of wheat, rye, clover, or vetch to protect the soil, add organic matter, and reduce erosion. Farmers till as little as possible to leave as much plant residue on the surface to protect the soil. Although dependent upon commercial fertilizers, they may also use poultry litter from a poultry broiler farm to improve pastures. Some may also recycle municipal biosolids from wastewater treatment plants, boiler ashes, and waste lime from paper mills. Ground limestone is used extensively to improve productivity of acidic, infertile soils. At one time, farmers had to spray cotton with pesticides up to 10 times during the season to control boll weevils, boll worms, other insects, weeds, and diseases. Now, genetically modified crops and integrated pest management practices reduce or eliminate the need for pesticide applications.
Many modern Alabama producers are part-time farmers. Most of their income comes from working in industry, education, government jobs, or local businesses. A typical family farm may have four or more broiler-chicken houses under a contract for meat chicken production. Each house can produce 30,000, six-pound chickens every six weeks. Almost all chickens produced in Alabama are raised under contract with a large centralized company that provides the chickens, feed, medications, and technical information and collects and processes the chickens in a local plant. Some cattle farmers raise cows to produce calves, which are then sold to other part-time cattleman who feed the calves, called stockers, on highly nutritious ryegrass, wheat, rye, and clover planted for winter grazing. These farmers then sell the calves, which weigh 700 pounds or more, to feedlots in Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, or Iowa to be finished on grain prior to slaughter. Regional Agriculture
Peanuts Wiregrass. The southeastern region of Alabama's Coastal Plain is known as the Wiregrass for the species of grass that once covered the floor of the longleaf pine forests of the area. The region may be the most agriculturally diverse in Alabama, producing cotton, peanuts, poultry, cattle, some vegetables, and forestry products. Following cotton in the nineteenth century, peanuts dominated the Wiregrass during most of the twentieth century. The peanut crop was heavily subsidized by U.S. government programs until the early twenty-first century. As these programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture changed or were eliminated, peanut production became less profitable for Wiregrass farmers and more profitable for farmers in other regions of the state. In the 1990s, with the eradication of the boll weevil, Wiregrass farmers began planting more cotton. Southwest. The southwestern area of Alabama's Coastal Plain, encompassing Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia, and Monroe Counties, is the heart of the state's timber industry and is also home to productive fields of cotton, soybeans, and grain crops. Further from the coast, land Satsumasin Washington, Clarke, Choctaw, and Conecuh Counties is mostly devoted to timber and cattle. In the 1990s, cotton acreage expanded in Mobile and Baldwin counties as the boll weevil was eliminated and former grain and vegetable farmers looked for more profitable alternative crops. At the same time, farmers began planting peanuts as a rotation crop with cotton. Pecan orchards are found throughout the region, although much of Alabama's acreage has been reduced because of insects, disease, and hurricane damage. Satsuma (Mandarin) oranges, a major crop in the area during the early twentieth century, are again being produced along the Gulf Coast for local markets. Commercial nurseries producing ornamentals and landscaping plants and commercial sod production are important industries in Mobile and Baldwin Counties. Pine plantations cover much of the rural land, producing timber for local pulp and paper mills and other wood-products industries. Wildlife management, hunting, and recreation associated with forests have become an important source of revenue for some land owners.
Catfish Farm Black Belt. The nineteenth-century cotton plantations and sharecropper farms have long vanished from the Black Belt region along with many of the dairies and large cattle operations that replaced them. Pine trees have been planted where suitable, and the pulp and paper industries thrive in this region today. Cattle operations remain an important industry, and there are still a few row-crop farms. Catfish farms and other forms of aquaculture, including shrimp, crawfish, and tilapia, have grown rapidly in this area because of favorable soils and the relatively low cost of pond construction. Hunting and wildlife management have also become important in the Black Belt, providing some income for land owners. Upper Coastal Plain. This region is one of the most topographically diverse in the state. Because of the hilly terrain, row crops are planted mostly on the bottomlands and other flat areas. Cotton farming is largely restricted to Autauga, Elmore, and Dallas Counties, and cattle Alabama Peachesoperations can be found scattered throughout the area. Chilton County has always been the heart of Alabama's peach and vegetable growing region, producing commodities for local markets. As in the rest of the state, pine plantations and managed timber production are found throughout the Upper Coastal Plain. Cumberland Plateau. The rolling plateaus and valleys of the southern Appalachians in northeastern Alabama is the heart of Alabama's poultry industry, which is concentrated in Cullman, Marshall, Blount, and DeKalb Counties. Excess nutrients produced from the poultry houses are in turn used to fertilize pastures and hayfields, and therefore poultry farms may also be cow-calf operations. In recent years, Poultry Farm in Morgan Countysuburban and exurban mini-farms have expanded onto former farmland, and horses are now a growing industry. Some small farms produce fruits and vegetables for local markets. Cullman County ranks number one in total agricultural income for Alabama because of its large poultry and cattle industries. Tennessee Valley. The Tennessee Valley is Alabama's most concentrated row-crop-producing area, with Limestone, Madison, and Lawrence counties leading in cotton acreage. Soybean, corn, and wheat are also important commodities in this region, as are cattle. Urban sprawl from Huntsville, Decatur, Athens, and Florence has consumed much of the former farmland in the Tennessee Valley region. Small suburban and exurban hobby farms occupy more land for urban commuters. The Piedmont. Agriculture in the hilly Piedmont of eastern Alabama has probably changed more than any other region since the days when cotton was king. Very few acres of row crops are found in this region today; pastures, hayfields, and tree farms occupy most of the Piedmont. Poultry production is important in Cleburne, Clay, and Randolph Counties, and wildlife management has become a source of income for some landowners. Alabama's Agricultural Future
Alabama has tried to take advantage of emerging opportunities as the face of agriculture has changed. With an average of more than 50 inches of rainfall a year, water is one of the state's most abundant natural resources. Yet much of this water runs off of the land, and most Alabama soils have little available water. Periodic short-term droughts during the summer growing season are always obstacles to crop and forage production. The growing aquaculture industry demonstrates one way to capture and use this water. As water for irrigation becomes scarce and expensive in arid regions of the country, more attention may be focused on Alabama as a setting for agricultural production.
SwitchgrassGlobal energy needs also may improve the future of agriculture in Alabama. Corn and oilseed crops, such as soybean and peanuts that can be converted into ethanol or bio-diesel, are being studied as a potential source of bio-fuels. Both native and introduced grasses such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and giant reed (Arundo donax) are being studied as potential sources of fuel, cellulosic ethanol, and fiber for pulp production. Alabama's forests and timberlands will remain a major source for wood products and pulp and will likely become increasingly important in energy production as a source of fuel and cellulosic ethanol. The future of concentrated animal feeding operations such as large poultry farms, swine operations, and dairies will depend on management decisions and government regulations. Managing and recycling wastes from large operations will be a key to the future growth of these operations. Also, wastes and byproducts from industrial processing plants and municipal wastewater treatment facilities, such as bio-solids, will continue to be issues that Alabama agriculture will have to address in cooperation with environmental agencies.
Sustainability in agricultural production has always been a concern for Alabama's farmers, but history dictates that economics tend to supersede sustainability. Farmers and researchers have learned how to manage Alabama's soil resources after almost 200 years of mistakes. Today's farmers are moving increasingly toward using conservation tillage practices and less fossil fuels, recycling nutrients, improving soil health, and adopting emerging technologies, such as genetically modified crops Organic Tomatoesfor disease, insect, and weed control. Sustainability issues are being largely addressed by specialty groups such as organic producers, who generally market to urban areas. The USDA's National Organic Program is working closely with the segment of producers who grow fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, and eggs for local markets in which the farmers can demand and get a premium price. There will always be a niche market for small scale and part-time producers, though energy and transportation costs will also influence these local markets. Nevertheless, the future of Alabama agriculture, like agriculture in most of the developed world, will depend on large, specialty farms producing for integrated companies which cater to the world market. Additional Resources
Blevins, Brooks. Cattle in the Cotton Fields: A History of Cattle Raising in Alabama. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1998. Davis, C. S. The Cotton Kingdom in Alabama. Montgomery: Alabama State Department Archives and history, 1939.
Duggar, J. F. Southern Field Crops. Rev. ed. New York: Macmillan Co., 1925. Oliver, T. W. A Narrative History of Cotton in Alabama. Montgomery: Landmarks Foundation of Montgomery, Inc., 1992. Published: December 4, 2007 | Last updated: November 15, 2016 THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALABAMAWelcome to your free, online resource on Alabama history, culture, geography, and natural environment. This site offers articles on Alabama's famous people, historic events, sports, art, literature, industry, government, plant and animal life, agriculture, recreation, and so much more.NAVIGATEAbout EOAAL BookshelfFeaturesGalleriesGive to EOAHomeIndexesPartnersPeopleQuick FactsSpecial ContentSponsorsCONNECT Follow EOA on Twitter Connect on Facebook Contact EOA Alabama BicentennialThe Encyclopedia of Alabama TM © 2016. Alabama Humanities Foundation. All Rights Reserved.A service of Auburn University Outreach. | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/15881 | Home > Fellows PANDURANG HEGDE
EnvironmentSectors: Agriculture, Conservation/Preservation, Natural Resource ManagementTarget Population: Communities, Indigenous Populations Appiko Movement
Drawing on over a decade of successful experience working with small local groups to stop large-scale lumbering and other forms of environmental destruction, Pandurang Hegde is now turning to the even harder job of helping them restore the land and establish new patterns of sustainable agriculture fitted to each area's particular condition. He's focusing initially on the areas once covered by tropical forest along India's west coast, the region where he was born and where he earlier was a founding activist and leader of the Appiko Andolan Movement, in effect the south's own indigenous Chipko Movement.
prepared when Pandurang Hegde was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 1989.
After five years' grassroots struggle the Appiko Andolan won a watershed victory; it persuaded the government to stop selling the remnants of the western Indian forests that had protected the hills, water system, soil, and climate of the region. Though deforestation continues, this change opened the possibility of restoration and renewal.
This was not a victory won in the drawing rooms of a distant capital. It was one of the first major examples of poor, seemingly powerless local people organizing in gradually widening circles in peaceful but persistent defense of their environment. It began in Sirsi, Pandurang's home village, and eventually engulfed five hill districts and exerted an influence by example well beyond.
Pandurang is now turning to the next, even longer and more difficult job how to build a grassroots mass movement that will not only continue the still necessary struggle against further damage to the region's environment but help thousands of villagers take up regionally adapted, sustainable agriculture. These alternative forms of agriculture would have to develop from what the farmers already know but would take them in a quite different direction than the government's current policy. Instead of fostering the "green revolution," with its heavy dependence on chemicals and high financial costs, Pandurang plans to lead in the direction of locally adapted, organically oriented farming.
He will be demonstrating and helping spread some of the most advanced forms of alternative agriculture, drawing heavily on the Japanese One Straw Revolution and Australian Permaculture models. Working closely with the two or three other leading groups that are working with these ideas in other parts of central and southern India, he hopes his work will become a regional center from which these ideas spread broadly. However, his central focus is on the grassroots. Having the most advanced models accessible is important. But far more urgent, is reaching the missions of small farmers and helping them learn and eventually become the champions of a new, profitable (especially for small farmers), easily understandable, and environmentally safe and sustainable way of working with the land. This is where his long, extraordinarily intense and successful years of building a people's Appiko Andolan Movement puts him in a unique position. He knows in his spirit as well as in his mind how to proceed. Although still mastering the agricultural techniques he hopes to spread, he knows both the realities facing his small-farmer neighbors and how they think. He knows how to help them take up new ideas and approaches individually, and also how to help them build up a powerful movement with staying power.
Pandurang Hegde is, in effect, hoping to create the first people's movement of alternative agriculture. It will build on the technical ideas others have been demonstrating. It will also build on the people's movement he helped create to stop the earlier headlong environmental destruction taking place in the region. But the goal is much more ambitious than either of these building blocks.
All over India the forests have been cut and cut for years. In Pandurang's Uttara Kannada District, Karnataka State, the forest that covered 82 percent of the land in 1952 had shrunk to cover only 20 percent in 1982. As a result, the climate and rainfall have become more erratic. Soil erosion has accelerated. A good many water resources have dried up or become intermittent, further disrupting both the natural ecosystem and human agriculture.
Ironically, as poverty has increased, poor people commonly press yet harder on their eroding natural resource basecutting more wood to sell and opening even more marginal fields. The government's response has been to push farmers to adapt to high-input and therefore high-cost technologies heavily dependent on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Their higher costs put small farmers at risk whenever anything goes wrong. Moreover, critics argue that these methods weaken the plants, cumulatively making the farmer's whole agricultural undertaking more and more vulnerable.
Pandurang's work has several major stands. He needs to continue helping sustain and build popular commitment to defending the region's environment against outside attack. The Appiko Andolan's early years of intense mass commitment are past, but a long struggle requiring a steady effort remains.
The day-to-day effort this requires fits well with Pandurang's newer work to help lead these same communities to fresh, more sustainable ways of organizing their own use of the land. Both changes are necessary to safeguard nature, and neither will happen without mass understanding and involvement by all the region's peoples. To win this mass support Pandurang will continue to help the communities maintain their local organizations, chiefly groups of small and marginal farmers. He'll also continue to reinforce his own direct efforts through use of his journalistic skills and by helping other voluntary organizations.
However, this new, second thrust requires much more. Just as Pandurang had to develop organizing techniques fitted to his region in the 1980s, now he's got to develop specific agricultural techniques fitted both to the region's tropical environment and to what its people will readily understand and take up.
On the one hand this is a very technical and nitty-gritty business. Pandurang feels he can be credible only if he is growing and depending on what he's suggesting that others who have no margin for experimental error grow. Consequently a six-acre demonstration farm is central to his plan. He'll learn very directly what works and what doesn't. Increasingly the farm will use advanced alternative farming techniques allowing it to be a model for the agricultural-thought leaders in the region and beyond. But its chief function is to help define specific alternatives that will work in the area.
The ideas and the experiments will be done all over the region, not just at Pandurang's demonstration farm. However, operating from his base at the farm and using his Appiko network, Pandurang will help pull all these experiences together. Gradually he and his neighbors will build a locally adapted alternative agriculture that works for them.
Because he is intensely concerned with what local small farmers are likely to quickly understand, Pandurang has decided especially to emphasize organic approaches to alternative agriculture first. Most farmers either still use or only relatively recently stopped using such techniques. By contrast, he feels these farmers would take a long time to intuit that "no till" approaches are plausible.
Pandurang plans to build an institution on the farm, the Centre for Sustainable Development, that will structure the several dimensions of this effort. It will collect, systematically document, and spread the indigenously developed, sustainable tropical land-use techniques the project will be testing and proving. The institution will organize local seed banks to collect, preserve, and make available locally adapted seeds likely to produce hardy, disease-resistant crops. It will also manage the farm, organize programs to reforest wastelands, help disseminate organic farming techniques such as composting and green leaf fertilization, and organize to carry what is learned in this region to the rest of the country.
Although Pandurang will be focusing chiefly on five districts of western Karnataka to begin with, from the start he's been aware of the importance of sharing what he's learning more widely. Already he's working with groups from other southern and central states. Ultimately, he hopes that these lessons will affect state and national forest, agriculture, and environment policies.
Pandurang Hegde was born in 1956 in a nine-house village amidst the tropical forests of Karnataka, the same region that he has done so much to protect. He remembers warmly what these forests were like when he was a young boy.
After his father died he lived with his brother, following him to postings in Nagpur and Bombay. After graduating from Karnataka University with a B. Comm., he worked in Delhi as a chartered accountant. However, his spirit was in public service, not accounts, and he enrolled and did well in the Delhi School of Social Work. Preferring to work in the rural areas, he spent four years in a voluntary organization in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh. He also worked in and was deeply moved by the Chipko Movement, a people's movement chiefly of women that effectively stopped the contract logging that was devastating the region.
With little other than these experiences and his own spirit he threw himself into helping build the Appiko Andolan Movement in the hills he knew as a boy. Intentionally faceless, working not to be a banyan tree whose shadow would prevent others coming up and leading, he served as an activist wherever he was needed. He received his room and food from the villagers whose energy and confidence he helped free.
Now he will be helping those in the country take the next, even more ambitious step millions of farmers practicing sustainable agriculture.
Ritwick Dutta
S.L.N. Swamy
Kishor Rithe
C. K. "Bablu" Ganguly
Raveendran Kannan
Sachidanand Bharati | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/16685 | Eastern Shore farmers, Perdue win pollution lawsuit
Hudson family Karl Merton Ferron, Baltimore Sun Alan and Kristin Hudson of Berlin, with their children, Ethan, 6, and Sawyer, 8 during a press conference. Alan and Kristin Hudson of Berlin, with their children, Ethan, 6, and Sawyer, 8 during a press conference. (Karl Merton Ferron, Baltimore Sun) Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun
Ruling in a bitterly contested case with national ramifications, a federal judge found Thursday that the Waterkeeper Alliance failed to prove that an Eastern Shore farm's chicken houses were polluting a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay.U.S. District Court Judge William M. Nickerson declared in a 50-page opinion that the New York-based environmental group had not established in a two-week trial in October that waste from chicken houses owned by Berlin farmers Alan and Kristin Hudson was fouling a drainage ditch that ultimately flows to the Pocomoke River. He also rejected arguments that Perdue, the Salisbury-based poultry company for whom the Hudsons raise birds, should share responsibility for any pollution because of its tight oversight of contract chicken growers.Alan Hudson, flown by Perdue with his family to a news conference in downtown Baltimore, said he and his wife were relieved by the verdict, which came three years after the environmental group first publicly accused their Worcester County poultry operation of polluting a waterway.
"It's been very trying for us,'' he said with his wife and two young children beside him, "but we're glad it went this way and we can get on with our lives." Spokespeople for the Waterkeeper Alliance and for the University of Maryland environmental law clinic, which represented the group, said they were disappointed by the judge's ruling and are considering an appeal. They said they believed they had raised important issues about farm pollution and the adequacy of government environmental protection.The case attracted national attention, as environmental and agricultural industry groups alike saw it as a major test of whether poultry companies like Perdue can be held legally accountable for any pollution from the waste the birds generate. The companies own the birds and supply all feed but insist they are not responsible for dealing with the waste. Perdue subsidized a public-relations campaign, savefarmfamilies.org, to publicize the Hudsons' case and helped with raising funds to pay their legal bills.
"Perdue and the Hudsons were convenient targets in the Waterkeeper Alliance's national campaign against modern agriculture," Perdue spokeswoman Julie DeYoung said in a statement. "The Assateague Coastal Trust and University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic were enthusiastic partners in this reckless witch-hunt against Maryland farmers," she added. The trust is a member of the Waterkeeper group, and the university's clinic drew criticism from farm groups, rural lawmakers and even Gov. Martin O'Malley for their role in the case.Though the ditches draining the 300-acre farm were contaminated at the time with high levels of bacteria and nutrients typically found in animal waste, Nickerson wrote that the Waterkeeper group had only shown it was "possible" some of the pollution had come from the Hudsons' two chicken houses holding 80,000 birds. The group argued that waste was blown out of the chicken houses by large ventilation fans and tracked out by equipment and boots, then washed off the farm whenever it rained.The judge indicated he was convinced the contamination came from the farmers' herd of 42 cows, which evidence showed roamed about the farm and deposited manure near the drainage ditch. Runoff from livestock in such circumstances was not regulated at the time, though the Maryland Department of Agriculture has since adopted rules requiring that farm animals be kept away from water. Given the ton and a half of waste estimated to be generated daily by the cows, Nickerson faulted the Waterkeeper group and its legal team for not sampling the vent fans and the ground around the chicken houses for traces of manure. The ruling was welcomed by farm groups that had rallied in support of the Hudsons. "Today's ruling is a win for Delmarva's family farmers and against radical environmental activists who disregard the facts, sue first and ask questions later," National Chicken Council president Mike Brown said in a statement. It was also hailed by Perdue, whose lawyers had contended that the lawsuit threatened the modern poultry industry, in which farmers raise chickens under contract to companies like Perdue, Tyson's and Mountaire."They want to change the contract relationship," Steve Schwalb, Perdue's vice president of environmental sustainability, said at the press conference. The Waterkeeper Alliance and some other groups contend that the system unfairly dumps responsibility for dealing with the birds' waste on farmers, and that poultry farm runoff is a major polluter of the Chesapeake and other waterways because of lax government oversight. It had hoped through this case to make companies take legal and financial responsibility for dealing with the millions of pounds of waste chickens generate on the Delmarva Peninsula and in other poultry-growing regions. The group had argued in its lawsuit that Perdue should be required to share legal responsibility for any pollution from the Hudsons' farm because the company effectively controlled the raising of the flock, inspecting the houses frequently, issuing orders to the growers and at times adjusting the operation. The judge said that although Perdue closely monitored and even regulated growers like the Hudsons, that wasn't enough to hold the company liable for any pollution because its oversight was directed primarily at ensuring the birds' health and growth. Nickerson did note that Perdue had entered into a voluntary agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency to train many of its growers on how to prevent or minimize pollution — a program suspended after the lawsuit was filed — but the judge said the company should be "commended, not condemned" for the effort. Schwalb said the ruling vindicates the company's contention that neither the Hudsons farm nor any "normal" poultry operation causes water pollution. He also said the company was weighing whether to resume its environmental compliance training, but wanted to be sure that it would not be used against the company in any more litigation.The Perdue executive called on the Waterkeeper Alliance to accept the judge's verdict and forget about appealing it."It's a time for healing," Schwalb said, adding that the lawsuit had generated "a lot of distrust" between farming interests and environmentalists over the last three years. "Going forward, we're hoping that the environmental community and agricultural community can work together and solve whatever issues are out there, perceived or real," said Patricia Langenfelder, president of the Maryland Farm Bureau, who added that "litigation is not the first step."Lee Richardson, who raises chickens for Perdue on his Wicomico County farm, said a campaign he had helped lead to raise funds for the Hudsons' legal expenses had raised close to $500,000, which he said should be enough to pay the bills to date.
"We feel it's been settled, and it's time to end this," said Richardson, who also flew to the Baltimore press conference on Perdue's corporate jet.But in addition to a possible appeal by the Waterkeeper group, George Ritchie, the Hudsons' lawyer, said he was he was weighing asking the judge to make the environmental group pay the defendants' legal bills — a rare sanction imposed when a court finds a lawsuit frivolous or irresponsible. The judge had warned in an earlier ruling that he could take that step, but made no mention of it in his verdict.Schwalb said Perdue executives intend to "reach out" to the Assateague Coastal Trust, which initially leveled the pollution allegations, in the hope that its leaders are "willing to rejoin the ranks of responsible environmental groups."Nickerson criticized Kathy Phillips, the Assateague Coastkeeper who helped investigate the Hudsons' farm and bring the lawsuit, even though she and her group were stricken from the case on a legal technicality. Writing that it appeared to him that the Waterkeeper group was trying to use the litigation to force poultry companies to alter or abandon their operations on the Eastern Shore, the judge said he "observed in her testimony and her conduct a certain 'ends justifies the means' approach, where truth can be 'spun' to achieve a desired goal."When Phillips and the Waterkeeper group announced they'd found evidence of pollution at the Hudsons' farm, they released aerial photos of a pile of brownish material they said was poultry manure, with rivulets of water running from it into the ditch. The pile was later identified as treated Ocean City sewage sludge. The Maryland Department of the Environment cited the Hudsons for placing it too close to the ditch and ordered it moved and covered, but concluded it was unable to identify the source or sources of pollution in the ditch.The Assateague Coastal Trust, for which Phillips works, issued a statement defending its action, saying it brought the case only after finding high levels of pollution in a dozen water samples taken in the ditches leading from the farm. Even though it did not succeed, the case still highlighted the way companies like Perdue control their growers and how the state does not exercise adequate oversight of farms to prevent pollution, the group said. Testimony at the trial indicated, for instance, that the Hudsons did not always report or keep records of what they did with their poultry manure, as required by state regulations.Jane Barrett, the clinic's director, who presented the case at trial, emailed that she shared her clients' disappointment with the verdict and said she'd be reviewing the judge's opinion and other aspects of the case for possible appeal.The Waterkeeper group and its supporters expressed no regrets about bringing the case, and said they would keep pushing to get poultry companies to take more responsibility for their growers' environmental impacts, and for government to exercise stricter oversight."This is a setback. The fight will continue," said Scott Edwards, the Waterkeepers' legal director at the time of the lawsuit, who has since moved to another environmental group, Food & Water Watch.Maryland Agriculture Secretary Earl F. "Buddy" Hance, who attended parts of the trial to show his support for the Hudsons and Perdue, issued a statement saying: "Judge Nickerson's ruling today goes a long way toward ensuring that both our agricultural heritage and our effort to restore the Bay can move forward cooperatively and in harmony, rather than through damaging litigation." He defended the state's oversight as better than many other states'[email protected]
Environmental Issues Crime, Law and Justice Laws and Legislation Environmental Pollution Justice System Perdue Farms National Government
Chicken farmer says poultry lawsuit stressed out family
Chicken farmer in water pollution suit takes stand
Eastern Shore poultry pollution trial opens | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/16764 | National Hog Farmer Newsletters Jump to: National Hog Farmer Daily | Pork Industry Express | Nutrient... World pork production and trade keep expanding Apr 17, 2017 Dismissed Des Moines Water Works lawsuit explained Apr 17, 2017 This Week in Agribusiness, April, 15, 2017 Apr 15, 2017 Press Release
JBS United Announces David H. Baker as 2012 John B. Swisher Leadership Award Winner
JBS United is excited to announce Dr. David H. Baker as this year’s John B. Swisher Leadership Award Winner. Dr. Baker’s family accepted the post humus award in his honor on Wednesday at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines.
The John B. Swisher Annual Leadership Award (by JBS United, Inc.) is an honor presented to an individual who exemplifies extraordinary leadership qualities and who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the swine industry. Throughout Baker’s career, he provided over 40 years of contributions to the animal and human nutrition industry. His work has helped improve the quality of livestock feed, led to the production of chemically defined diets for use in animal research studies, and increased the understanding of diseases caused by vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
With 451 peer-reviewed publications, six major awards from the American Society of Animal Science and five from the Poultry Science Association, Baker’s lifelong commitment has fundamentally advanced the scientific community in the fields of animal nutrition.
One of Baker’s true passions was teaching. In 1967 Baker became a professor at his alma mater, the University of Illinois.
“Dr. Baker was a larger than life person, with an unbelievable passion and commitment to the future of each student,” described Doug Webel, COO of Nutrition and Emerging Technologies at JBS United and a former student of Baker’s.
Baker’s work has been recognized by the University of Illinois, which named Baker a University Scholar, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which presented Baker with the Distinguished Service Award.
In 2005, Baker was honored for his contribution to animal nutrition and inducted as a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His legacy lives on through the people that continue his work in the industry, people that call Dr. Baker their mentor. About JBS United
Since its founding in 1956, JBS United has been dedicated to providing research-based solutions to enhance animal nutrition and livestock production profitability. The company, and it’s over 400 employees, provides various products and services to swine, cattle, poultry, dairy and other animal producers worldwide. For more information, visit the JBS United web site at www.JBSunited.com. | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/16967 | TERRA.WIRE
Drought-hit Vietnam says rice exports set to fall
HANOI (AFP) Apr 08, 2004
Vietnam said Thursday its rice exports in the second quarter of this year are expected to fall 10 percent from the same period in 2003, due in part to a severe drought.A Trade Ministry spokesman said the country looked set to export 1.25 million tonnes of rice in the three months to June, leading to an eight percent fall in rice sales earnings of 225 million dollars."The main reason is that we exported too much in 2003 so the reserve for 2004 is pretty small," the spokesman said."At the same time, the production in the first three months of this year was affected by severe draught."He said Vietnam now expects to export 3.5 million tonnes of rice this year, a decrease of 11.2 percent compared with 2003.On Tuesday, the ministry also warned its farmers and rice exporters about the drop of prices on the world market, as many Vietnamese exporters keep their rice to wait for higher prices.Vietnam exported 808,000 tonnes of rice in the first three months of this year, an increase of 6.1 percent compared with the last year.Rice is Vietnam's top agricultural export earner. Last year, the country exported nearly 3.9 tonnes of rice. Southeast Asia accounts for 34 percent of Vietnam's rice exports, with Indonesia and Philippines being the two biggest importers. | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/17091 | Trimble Acquires Farm Works Software Assets to Expand Its Precision Agriculture Solutions
5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) announced today it has acquired the assets of privately-held CTN Data Service, LLC, creator of Farm Works software, located in Hamilton, Indiana. The acquisition is expected to accelerate Trimble's information management capabilities and offer agricultural customers significant new capabilities in their precision farming operations. Financial terms were not disclosed.Farm Works provides integrated office and mobile software solutions for both the farmer and agriculture service professional. The software is compatible with a wide range of file formats and hardware typically used in the agriculture equipment industry. Among its capabilities, Farm Works software can automatically capture field event data, downloaded from an in-cab display or handheld computer, for record keeping. The software also tracks most farm operations including vehicle monitoring, crop management, staffing, field mapping, chemical and fertilizer management, and cost accounting. The software also includes a herd management and genealogy program for livestock producers."Bringing Farm Works and Trimble together allows us to integrate technologies and competencies to further enhance information management solutions for precision agriculture," said Erik Arvesen, vice president and general manager for Trimble's Agriculture Division. "As we continue to expand our agricultural solutions, it is important that we help farmers take full advantage of the available data to improve yield and productivity as well as reduce their carbon footprint.""We are very pleased to join Trimble," said Ian Harley, primary owner of CTN Data. "While continuing to work with a range of manufacturers, the combination of Trimble's field-proven technology and CTN's data management software will provide a seamless solution to help realize the full potential of precision agriculture."About CTN Data ServiceCTN Data Service, LLC, headquartered in Hamilton, Indiana, with subsidiary offices in the United Kingdom and South Africa, was founded in the summer of 1992 by Norman Teegardin, president of CTN Data Service, LLC. Teegardin, a former farmer, recognized that record keeping was time consuming but critical to business operations. He developed Farm Works software to create a comprehensive farm management system that was simple to use. The company supplies farm management software in 20 different languages and has a customer base of over 30,000 users worldwide. CTN Data Service provides fully supported, easy-to-use, yet technically advanced solutions for the office and field.For more information visit: www.farmworks.comAbout TrimbleTrimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location--including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.For more information, visit Trimble's Web site at www.trimble.com.Certain statements made in this press release are forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual events and results may differ materially from those described in this news release. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: whether Trimble will be able to successfully accelerate and expand the information management capabilities it offers for precision agriculture through the acquisition; Trimble's ability to integrate Farm Works technology and competencies and provide enhanced solutions that can improve productivity and reduce carbon footprints; whether customers will adopt such solutions, especially given the impact of worldwide recessionary conditions on customer purchasing decisions; and whether Farm Works software will continue to be compatible with a wide range of manufacturers and file formats in the future. Additional risks and uncertainties include: the risks inherent in integrating an acquisition; unanticipated expenditures, charges or assumed liabilities that may result from the acquisition; retaining key personnel; and the continuing impact of the current global recession. More information about potential factors which could affect Trimble's business and financial results is set forth in reports filed with the SEC, including Trimble's quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its annual report on Form 10-K. All forward looking statements are based on information available to Trimble as of the date hereof, and Trimble assumes no obligation to update such statements.GTRMB
SOURCE Trimble
Web site: http://www.trimble.com/
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Trimble Introduces Performance Manager to Make Field Operations More Efficient
NAVTEQ and Trimble Expand Relationship Globally
Trimble Outdoors Launches GPS Navigation Tool on the T-Mobile G1
Trimble Offers Affordable Outdoor GPS Lifestyle Applications to T-Mobile USA Customers | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/17218 | New study identifies contributing factors to groundwater table declines
July 11, 2014 It's no secret groundwater levels have declined across the state over the past eight decades, and that the primary reason was the onset of irrigation in agriculture and population growth. But a recent Texas A&M AgriLife Research study has identified other factors having an impact.
The groundwater declines have been most severe in the past four decades, but the news isn't all bad, according to Dr. Srinivasulu Ale, AgriLife Research geospatial hydrology assistant professor in Vernon.
"Long-term (1930-2010) trends in groundwater levels in Texas: Influences of soils, land cover and water use," authored by Dr. Sriroop Chaudhuri, former post-doctoral research associate at Vernon, and Ale, was published in the Science of the Total Environment journal recently.
Ale said they conducted the study because by 2060 the state's population is expected to double, increasing the demand for water at a time when the existing water supply is expected to be reduced by about 10 percent.
"We wanted to know which areas are more vulnerable to water shortages," he said. "In order to plan and implement strategies to deal with the water level declines, we needed to know how these levels were declining spatially and temporally."
Previous hydrologic studies on Texas groundwater levels were conducted mostly on an aquifer-specific basis, and lacked the statewide panoramic view Ale and Chaudhuri wanted to present. They wanted an overview of trends in groundwater levels from 1930 to 2010, and they wanted to identify spatial patterns from the 136,930 groundwater level observations from the Texas Water Development Board's database.
They utilized the boundaries of the Texas Water Development Board's designated Groundwater Management Areas, or GMAs, for their assessment. The 16 GMAs, with boundaries identified in response to legislation passed in 2001, included all major and minor aquifers in the state. The objective behind GMA identification was to delineate areas considered suitable for management of groundwater resources.
"Our results indicated a progressive decline in statewide decadal median water levels in Texas from about 46 feet to 118 feet between the 1930s and 2000s," Chaudhuri said. "We identified hot spots of deep water levels in GMA 8 (North Central Texas) and the Texas Panhandle regions since the 1960s, mainly due to extensive groundwater withdrawals for urban and irrigational purposes, respectively."
For the purposes of this study, the Panhandle region includes 12 western and central counties in GMA 1 and three northwestern counties in GMA 2, he said.
Statewide, the number of counties with deeper median water levels, a water-level depth below 328 feet, increased from two to 13 between 1930s and 2000s, he said. At the same time, there was a decrease in the number of counties, from 134 to 113, having shallower median water-levels or groundwater located within 82 feet of the ground surface.
"We know irrigated agriculture is the major cause of depletion in the Texas Panhandle, as compared to increasing urbanization in GMA 8," Chaudhuri said. "We saw a significant drop in median groundwater levels in irrigation wells from 75 to 180 feet between the 1940s and 1950s in the Texas Panhandle, coinciding with the initiation of widespread irrigated agricultural practices."
But he said they knew there was more to the decline than just these uses, because "unused" wells monitored across the state throughout the decades were also showing varying levels of decline. That was when they studied groundwater and surface-water use patterns, soil characteristics, geology and land cover types to better understand the water-level changes in Texas.
For instance, the South Plains and Panhandle were equally involved in agriculture and irrigated crops over the Ogallala Aquifer. However, the sandier soils of the South Plains allow more infiltration and recharge than the tighter clay soils of the Panhandle.
In addition to population growth in GMA 8, the high clay content in soils coupled with shale/claystone type geology and more land area covered by highways and parking lots have lowered the amount of recharge, thus contributing to the decline in water levels.
There is a brighter note, Ale said.
"Interestingly, the trends we observed over the decades show the water-level declines are leveling off recently in some parts of the state, including GMA 8, suggesting a recovery from historical drawdown due to implementation of conservation and regulatory strategies," Ale said.
The leveling off of the decline has been seen in the past decade after the implementation of the GMAs and the guidelines and regulations that were established with them, he said. Increased use of surface water and assessment of water levels are some measures being utilized to address groundwater depletion issues in the Houston, GMA 14, and Dallas, GMA 8, areas.
However, these voluntary conservation or regulatory strategies have resulted in a variable pattern of recovery in ambient water-levels, which are still occurring frequently at deeper depths in the hot spots and thus warrant further investigation, he said.
Ale said the need for more spatially intensive and frequent water-level monitoring has been realized over the course of this study. In addition, further investigation of aquifer-specific influences such as groundwater recharge and flow paths, human dimensions on water-level fluctuations and climate are warranted.
"Overall, our study indicated that use of robust spatial and statistical methods can reveal important details about the trends in water-level changes and shed light on the associated factors," Chaudhuri said. "Due to their very generic nature, techniques used in this study can also be applied to other areas with similar eco-hydrologic issues to identify regions that warrant future management actions."
Explore further: Salinization of groundwater resources in Texas is a growing concern
Science of the Total Environment DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.013
Journal reference: Science of the Total Environment
Salinization of groundwater resources in Texas is a growing concern
(Phys.org) —Degrading potable groundwater quality is a growing concern in Texas, as about 15 percent of all domestic wells in the state are at risk due to high salinity, according to a recent Texas A&M AgriLife Research ...
Groundwater depletion in semiarid regions of Texas and California threatens US food security
The nation's food supply may be vulnerable to rapid groundwater depletion from irrigated agriculture, according to a new study by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and elsewhere.
World's groundwater increasingly at risk
The groundwater footprint. If you haven't heard that term yet, read on, because it soon could become as familiar as "carbon footprint."
Million year old groundwater in Maryland water supply
A portion of the groundwater in the upper Patapsco aquifer underlying Maryland is over a million years old. A new study suggests that this ancient groundwater, a vital source of freshwater supplies for the region east of ...
New publication sheds light on agricultural water use in Texas
Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts recently released a report, Status and Trends of Irrigated Agriculture in Texas, highlighting the current status of irrigation in Texas.
Breakthrough provides picture of underground water
Superman isn't the only one who can see through solid surfaces. In a development that could revolutionize the management of precious groundwater around the world, Stanford researchers have pioneered the use of satellites ... | 农业 |
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Parfait Kouadio Kouakou: Investigating the genetic diversity of domestic cavies in Côte D’Ivoire
Parfait Kouadio Kouakou is a lecturer in Animal Breeding and Genetic Improvement at the University Peleforo Gon Coulibaly of Korhogo, Ivory Coast and a recipient of the Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund (ABCF) fellowship.
Parfait was awarded a fellowship for a period of five months from 15 May – 15 October 2012 to carry out studies on the genetic diversity of domestic cavies in Côte d’Ivoire.
The demand for animal protein in Africa has risen due to growing populations; rising urbanization; and, to an extent, increased wealth. Despite this, many households do not get a regular supply of animal protein from large livestock due to its cost and cultural issues, where large livestock are viewed as a source of wealth and prestige.
Domestic cavies can be used to address this nutrition gap both quantitatively and qualitatively. Cavies require little investment, feed from kitchen waste and yield an inexpensive but high quality meat. The cavy has rapid growth, high reproductive rate with up to five litters per year, and is less prone to diseases than chickens, rabbits and pigs. In addition to nutrition, trade in cavies has served as a source of income and cavy farming is increasingly becoming a viable commercial activity.
Despite its potential, the cavy is a neglected livestock species and little is known about husbandry practices or existing breeds. The aim of this study was to investigate the diversity, inbreeding levels and population structure of cavies in Côte d’Ivoire so as to better inform the breeding strategies to be used in improving small-scale cavy farming.
About his achievements, Parfait says:
While I was at the BecA-ILRI Hub, I wrote a proposal for the Africa-Brazil Agricultural Innovation Market Place. My proposal interested researchers from other universities in Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, and together we wrote a proposal on improvement of the guinea fowl and the grasscutter as small livestock. The proposed project is to be implemented in three regions of Côte d’ivoire and has already attracted the interest of farmers in these regions.
Although the project was not selected for this specific funding my colleagues and I are hopeful that we can secure funding for it from other sources.
I owe the skills I am now using in my research to the training and mentorship I received from the very dedicated BecA-ILRI Hub team. My special thanks go to leadership and the team of research technicians who supported me throughout my stay.
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© Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA) Hub | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/17984 | Organic Milk Really is Better for you than Regular Milk
Whole milk from organic dairies contains far more of some of the fatty acids that contribute to a healthy heart than conventional milk, scientists are reporting. The finding, published Monday in the journal PLOS One, is the most clear-cut instance of an organic food’s offering a nutritional advantage over its conventional counterpart. Studies looking at organic fruits and vegetables have been less conclusive.
Drinking whole organic milk “will certainly lessen the risk factor for cardiovascular disease,” said the study’s lead author, Charles M. Benbrook, a research professor at Washington State University’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources.
“All milk is healthy and good for people,” he continued, “but organic milk is better, because it has a more favorable balance of these fatty acids” — omega-3, typically found in fish and flaxseed, versus omega-6, which is abundant in many fried foods like potato chips.
Under government requirements for organic labeling, dairy cows must spend a certain amount of the time in the pasture, eating grassy plants high in omega-3s; conventional milk comes from cows that are mostly fed corn, which is high in omega-6s. Nonorganic cows that graze in pastures also produce milk with greater amounts of omega-3s.
The research was largely funded by Organic Valley, a farm cooperative that sells organic dairy products. But experts not connected with the study said the findings were credible — though they noted that the role of milk in a healthy diet and the influence of fatty acids in preventing or causing cardiovascular disease are far from settled.
“I think this is a very good piece of work,” said Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a nutritional neuroscientist at the National Institutes of Health.
The researchers looked at 384 samples of organic and conventional whole milk taken over 18 months around the country. Although the total amount of fat was almost the same, the organic milk contained 62 percent more omega-3 fatty acids and 25 percent fewer omega-6s.
The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in the organic milk was 2.28, much lower than the 5.77 ratio in conventional milk. (The figures do not apply to nonfat milk, which strips away the fatty acids.)
Nutrition experts broadly agree that omega-3 acids offer numerous health benefits. That was the impetus for the United States Department of Agriculture to urge people to eat more seafood when it revised its dietary guidelines in 2010.
But experts disagree sharply whether omega-6 consumption should be reduced.
In ancient times, people ate roughly equal amounts of the two fatty acids. Today most Americans now eat more than 10 times as much omega-6, which is prevalent in certain vegetable oils and thus also fried foods, as omega-3.
While omega-6 is essential, some health studies suggest that such a wide disparity is associated with many ills, Dr. Benbrook said. A shift to drinking organic whole milk — and raising consumption from the currently recommended three servings a day to 4.5 — would take a big step to lowering the ratio, he said, although adjustments would have to be made elsewhere in the diet to offset the added calories of the milk fat.
Donald R. Davis, another of the study’s authors, said the longstanding assumption that the saturated fats in whole milk raise the risk of cardiovascular disease has been questioned in recent years.
Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health, did not question the underlying data in the study. But he said the conclusions and recommendations were based on the “false assumption” that omega-6 fatty acids are harmful.
Dr. Willett said omega-6s were actually associated with a lower risk of heart disease, and he called the ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s “irrelevant.” People should try to eat more of both, he said.
And he noted that milk was not essential to a healthy diet; adults in many countries drink little or none. “We don’t know all the long-term consequences, so I think the best strategy given current knowledge is to keep intake low to moderate (as in the Mediterranean diet) if it is consumed at all,” Dr. Willet wrote in an email.
But Dr. Hibbeln of the National Institutes of Health, who has conducted research on the effects of fatty acids on heart disease, said animal studies showed that high levels of omega-6s interfered with omega-3s.
At the same time, though, he cautioned that the mix of omega-3s in milk is different from that in fatty fish. The simple ratio, he said, “is not as meaningful as we would like it to be.”
Still, he endorsed the organic milk recommendation. “You’re heading in the right direction,” he said.
Organic Valley uses independent milk-processing companies around the country, allowing the researchers to compare samples of organic milk with conventional milk from the same region.
The company provided $45,000 for an independent laboratory to measure the fatty acids, and it is a corporate sponsor of Dr. Benbrook’s program at Washington State. The university spent $90,000 to analyze the data and prepare the paper for publication.
George Siemon, chief executive of Organic Valley, said he was hoping to gain a better idea of how organic foods differ from conventionally produced ones.
“Organics have lacked a science base,” Mr. Siemon said. “I just wanted to know.” [via New York Times]
conventional,
fatty acids,
healthier,
omega-6,
organic milk,
Organic Valley,
regular milk,
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How To Heal Cavities Naturally | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/18360 | Industry Heat wave causes rise in summer cattle deaths in Central US
By Angela Bowman, Associate Editor, PORK Network
Cattle deaths are mounting in the central U.S. amid a recent heat wave, with early estimates totaling several thousand head.
The extended severe heat and humidity this month have taken a heavier-than-normal toll on the U.S. cattle herd, which typically experiences some heat-related deaths each year.
Daytime high temperatures in North and South Dakota and the upper Midwest have been in the upper 90s to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with high humidity levels pushing heat indices above 120 degrees in some areas. The severe conditions are expected to moderate over the next week, but temperatures will still be hotter than normal, said Mike Tannura, a meteorologist and head of T-storm Weather in Chicago.
The losses will hit individual feedlots the hardest, since slaughter-ready cattle are worth about $1,300 a head. The deaths, however, are expected to have little effect on overall cattle supplies--and in turn, beef prices--since analysts estimate the nation's total cattle herd at midyear consists of about 99 million head. Of that total, around 10.4 million head are being fattened in feedlots.
State officials reported heat-related deaths at some feedlots in the upper Midwest of 150 to 300 head. In parts of Minnesota, the conditions have been the worst that some producers have experienced, as temperatures remain warm overnight, providing no relief for overheated animals, said Grant Crawford, a feedlot-extension educator at the University of Minnesota.
He estimated cattle-death losses in Minnesota at 1,000 head, with the worst losses in the south-central and south-western areas of the state.
In South Dakota, death losses as of Wednesday afternoon were estimated at 1,200 to 1,500 head, state veterinarian Dustin Oedekoeven said.
Some livestock dealers and market managers said overall losses may be considerably larger than what has been reported so far.
States such as Texas and Nebraska, where the largest number of cattle are raised, haven't experienced the same increase in heat deaths. Although the region has been hotter than parts of the Dakotas and upper Midwest, it hasn't had the same high levels of humidity. Still, temperatures in western Nebraska and southward through the Plains will remain warmer than normal, with highs in the mid 90s and 100s, Tannura said.
The larger concern in the southern Plains is a prolonged drought that hasn't shown signs of abating.
U.S. cattle producers have 30 days to report losses to qualify for compensation from a government program that provides assistance for livestock deaths resulting from a disaster. | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/18897 | In Food Policy This Week: 5 News Bites
A roundup of news clippings we're reading that affect the way we eat. Leah Douglas
Halloumi is one of the biggest growing industries on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, which exports about $70 million a year of the rubbery cheese. The Cypriot government recently declared that all halloumi cheese produced in the country must contain at least 51% sheep and goat's milk. This has angered the many producers of the cheese that use up to 90% cow's milk in their production. Many farmers are at odds and the issue has become so fraught that the government is reconsidering the regulation.
In the aftermath of New York City's soda ban, which limits the size of soda sold in retailers to 16 ounces, the soda industry is suing the city's Department of Health. The plaintiffs in the case include the American Beverage Association, who poured millions of dollars into a campaign opposing the ban. Marion Nestle provides a look at the suit's claim - that the ban restricts personal freedom; the board of health doesn't have the legal power to implement the ban; and that New Yorkers are opposed to the ban - and provides her own commentary.
As a result of the devastating drought last year, Texas lost over 306 million trees. More than 5 million of those trees were in urban areas. The state government is working on replanting trees that are more drought- and disease-resistant, anticipating future climate activity that may prove unfriendly to weaker trees. The total agricultural losses of the state topped $8 billion.
The New York City Council implemented a rule last week that all business that employ bicycle deliverymen or women must pay for them to receive bike safety training. This measure is meant to improve the safety of both cyclists and pedestrians or drivers who have to compete with cyclists for the road. The Atlantic provides a deeper look at why bike deliverymen sometimes bike so aggressively, and how these safety precautions might help improve delivery safety.
Bloomberg Markets did an investigation into the FDA's approval process for food products. They found that in 2011, the agency only inspected 6% of domestic food producers and only 0.4% of importers. This low percentage is partially due to understaffing, but Bloomberg also found it fishy that inspectors often had investment connections to the corporations they were supposed to be inspecting without bias. The fallout from improper investigation could be increased sicknesses and even deaths among consumers who are exposed to bad product.
About the Author: A student in Providence, Rhode Island, Leah Douglas loves learning about, talking about, reading about, and consuming food. Her work has also been featured in Rhode Island Monthly Magazine. Leah Douglas
Food Policy Wonk/Book Reviewer
Leah loves learning about, talking about, reading about, and consuming food. For Serious Eats, she primarily covers food policy and writes reviews of food-related books. Her other work can be found at her website. Here are my columns!
Serious Reads
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Walmart Goes Organic, Farmer Suicides Increase, and More in Food Policy This Week | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/19040 | Napa County farm, wine grape values jump 33 percent Apr 19, 2017 Arizona tree nut plantings on the fast track Apr 18, 2017 California State Water Project boosts irrigation allotment Apr 18, 2017 Even with effective synthetic alternatives Sulfur remains a relevant tool for controlling powdery mildew Apr 12, 2017 Regulatory>Legislative UN climate change conference ends in chill of inaction
After marathon negotiations, little was accomplished at the UN’s 18th conference on climate change in Doha, Qatar, except for an agreement -- officially dubbed the “Doha Climate Gateway” -- that would extend the Kyoto Protocol until 2020. National Cotton Council | Dec 17, 2012
Delegates from 194 countries met for a two-week round of talks at the United Nation’s 18th conference on climate change in Doha, Qatar, ending on Dec. 8 without much result.
The Kyoto Protocol expires this year, and environmentalists were hoping for a new and improved international agreement. However, after marathon negotiations over the weekend, little was accomplished except for an agreement -- officially dubbed the “Doha Climate Gateway” -- that would extend the Kyoto Protocol until 2020. The agreement only will include the EU, Australia, Norway, Switzerland and a few other countries. Japan, Russia, Canada and New Zealand are not taking part; the United States never ratified the Protocol.
One of the major flaws of the Kyoto Protocol was its exclusion of developing countries from emission reduction requirements. China was classed then as a developing country but it is now the world's largest emitter and soon will overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy. China has made clear its determination to hang on to its developing country status and that the countries classed as developed in ’97 must continue to bear most of the burden for emissions cuts. India, another large emitter, also is considered a developing country under Kyoto.
In separate negotiations, set up to include the Unites States, it was agreed to allow unified discussions to begin on a global climate treaty that would require both developed and developing countries to cut their emissions. The treaty is supposed to be signed in ’15, at a conference in Paris, and come into effect in ’20.
The other major topic of discussion was pledges of monetary compensation from developed countries to developing countries for alleged damages incurred due to climate change. Industrialized countries promised to put $100 billion a year into a Green Climate Fund by ’20. To bridge the gap till then, developing nations asked for $60 billion in total by ’15. Britain, Germany and a few other countries promised to contribute $6 billion but this pledge is not binding. This is the first time developing countries have received such assurances, and the first time the phrase "loss and damage from climate change" has been enshrined in an international legal document.
The United States had strongly opposed the initial "loss and damage" proposals, which would have set up a new international institution to collect and disperse funds to vulnerable countries. US negotiators also made certain that neither the word "compensation" nor any other term connoting legal liability was used to avoid opening the floodgates to litigation – instead, the money will be judged as aid.
Key questions remain unanswered, including whether funds devoted to "loss and damage" will come from existing humanitarian aid and disaster relief budgets. The United States is one of the world's largest donors of humanitarian aid and disaster relief, from both public and private sources. It will be difficult to ascertain damage inflicted by climate change from other natural disasters.
Another question is how the funds will be disbursed. Developing countries wanted a new institution, like a bank, but the United States is set against that, preferring to use existing international institutions. These issues will have to be further negotiated at next year's climate conference in Warsaw.
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2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/19440 | Popular magazine focuses on early farming
My research features in the current edition (Winter 2016) of the popular RTE magazine, Ear to The Ground. The television show of the same name has been broadcast in Ireland for many years, exploring issues of interest to Irish farmers and their families. The magazine delves further into some of the issues raised during the television broadcasts, as well as highlighting farming news stories.
A researcher from the magazine was interested in finding out how and when farming arrived and spread across Ireland, eventually becoming a new way of life. Much of the article, entitled "Ireland's first farmers" (pages 120-122), is based upon an interview with me, where I explained my research findings.
An extract from the article:
The earliest farmers practised mixed farming. They cleared forests to graze their animals, chose sheltered locations and lived in isolated settlements, for the most part. We know this because these early farmers’ remains are occasionally discovered and excavated by archaeologists. Meriel McClatchie is an assistant professor at the UCD School of Archaeology and also the director of the Ancient Foods Research Group, which explores the foods eaten by our ancestors from as early as the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers; she explains how various excavations have helped to create a pretty good picture of the early farmers’ lifestyle.
"What we find on a lot of excavations of the early farmers is actual food remains, such as animal bones, which tell us the types of animals these people were eating; we’re finding bones that suggest they were raising cattle, sheep and pigs,” she says. “Then we find little tiny burnt seeds, which are the crops – what happens is if the crops come into contact with fire and become charred then they can survive in the ground for thousands of years – and we can reconstruct what the first farmers were eating: wheat, particularly, and barley, but it was an older type of wheat, emmer wheat, the earliest wheat. Oat and rye are much later introductions to Ireland – they only came in roughly 2,000 years ago. They were producing crops on a sustainable level for themselves.”
Another extract:
“What we see in Ireland from the very beginning of farming is that they were growing wheat and barley, they were raising animals but not just for meat; we know that they were producing dairy products as well. They were also making pottery vessels for the first time too. So we have built up a very nice picture of what people were eating and how they were farming,” says Meriel.
For more, you will have to buy the magazine! You can also read more about this topic in my recent collaborative paper in the academic journal, Antiquity.
McClatchie Meriel, Bogaard Amy, Colledge Sue, Whitehouse Nicki J., Schulting Rick J., Barratt Philip, McLaughlin T. Rowan (2016) Farming and foraging in Neolithic Ireland: an archaeobotanical perspective. Antiquity 90(350), 302–318. Posted by
hiddensid22 February 2017 at 12:05post was very good and helpful keep postingAgricultural sprayers manufacturers ReplyDeleteAdd commentLoad more... | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/21180 | Prunefruit
Prune, dried plum. See plum.
plum any of various trees or shrubs in the genus Prunus (family Rosaceae) and their edible fruits. Plums are closely related to peaches and cherries and are widely eaten fresh as a dessert fruit, cooked as compote or jam, or baked in a variety of pastries. The European plum (P. domestica) and the...Read More
Vitis any member of the grape genus, Vitis (family Vitaceae), with about 60 species native to the north temperate zone, including varieties that may be eaten as table fruit, dried...
Any member of the more than 300,000 species of flowering plants (division Anthophyta), the largest and most diverse group within the kingdom Plantae. Angiosperms represent approximately...
How Stuff Works - Science - Prune
Articles from Britannica encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.prune - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)Certain varieties of plums have such firm flesh and such a high sugar content that they can be dried with little loss of their original plumpness and flavor. These plums are called prune plums, and the dried plums themselves are called prunes (see plum).
What Is It? Fruits and Veggies Edition
Take this Food quiz at Encyclopedia Britannica to test your knowledge of different types of fruits and vegetables.
alcoholic beverage distilled from wine or a fermented fruit mash. The term used alone generally refers to the grape product; brandies made from the wines or fermented mashes of other fruits are commonly...
beverage produced by steeping in freshly boiled water the young leaves and leaf buds of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis. Two principal varieties are used, the small-leaved China plant (C. sinensis sinensis)...
Nutritional Powerhouses: 8 Foods That Pack a Nutritional Punch
Sure, we all know that we’re supposed eat a balanced diet to contribute to optimal health. But all foods are not created equal when it comes to health benefits. Some foods are nutritional powerhouses that...
A Serving of Fruit
Take this Food quiz at Encyclopedia Britannica to test your knowledge of cherries, peaches, and other fruits.
any of numerous sweet, colourless, water-soluble compounds present in the sap of seed plants and the milk of mammals and making up the simplest group of carbohydrates. (See also carbohydrate.) The most...
beverage brewed from the roasted and ground seeds of the tropical evergreen coffee plant of African origin. Coffee is one of the three most-popular beverages in the world (alongside water and tea) and...
food product made from cocoa beans, consumed as candy and used to make beverages and to flavour or coat various confections and bakery products. Rich in carbohydrates, it is an excellent source of quick...
This or That? Fruit vs. Vegetable
Take this food This or That quiz at Encyclopedia Britannica to test your knowledge of fruits and vegetables.
Food for Thought: The Origins of 6 Favorite Foods
The portmanteau, which merges the sounds and meanings of its parts, has become fashionable in the food world, as in the case of the “cronut.” The tasty treat combines qualities of both the croissant and...
any of several distilled liquors made from a fermented mash of cereal grains and including Scotch, Irish, and Canadian whiskeys and the various whiskeys of the United States. Whiskey is always aged in...
Editor Picks: 8 Fruits on My Bucket List
As a botanist and a foodie, sampling edible plants is one of my favorite pastimes. The following is a list of fruits that I’d love to try but might have trouble finding in my local grocery store or farmers’...
https://www.britannica.com/topic/prune | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/22161 | Meat Market Update | Grilling demand pulls prices higher Apr 20, 2017 Prime and Choice producing more dollars Apr 17, 2017 2017 Feed Composition Tables: Use this to mix your cattle feed rations Mar 21, 2017 2017 Parasite & Pest Management Product Listing Apr 18, 2017 Troy Marshall
BEEF Contributing Editor
Troy Marshall is a multi-generational rancher who grew up in Wheatland, WY, and obtained an Equine Science/Animal Science degree from Colorado State University where he competed on both the livestock and World Champion Horse Judging teams. Following college, he worked as a market analyst for Cattle-Fax covering different regions of the country. Troy also worked as director of commercial marketing for two breed associations; these positions were some of the first to provide direct links tying breed associations to the commercial cow-calf industry.
A visionary with a great grasp for all segments of the industry, Troy is a regular opinion contributor to BEEF Cow-Calf Weekly. His columns are widely reprinted and provide in-depth reporting and commentary from the perspective of a producer who truly understands the economics and challenges of the different industry segments. He is also a partner/owner in Allied Genetic Resources, a company created to change the definition of customer service provided by the seedstock industry. Troy and his wife Lorna have three children. Troy’s Recent activity
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2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/22648 | Markets offer support for farmers, better nutrition for customers
Which vegetables have more nutrition: the ones picked a week ago in some foreign country and shipped halfway across the world, or the ones picked maybe yesterday on a local farm and driven over?
ANDREA B. REITER
Which vegetables have more nutrition: the ones picked a week ago in some foreign country and shipped halfway across the world, or the ones picked maybe yesterday on a local farm and driven over?If you picked the produce from the local farm, you are correct.Registered dietitian Christina Brecht, who practices in Stroudsburg and is on the faculty of East Stroudsburg University, said, "Some nutrients do not hold up very well over time, especially vitamin C. The broccoli and green beans picked a day or two ago will have (much more nutrition)."Older food would have some nutrition, but for many foods, "the fresher the better," she said.But where can you find farm-fresh goods? The best bet is at a local farmers' market.Conveniently, there is one in Stroudsburg and one in East Stroudsburg. They are managed by Ann Gould of Gould's Produce in Brodheadsville. She said, though, that no single person runs them because they are governed by a slate of officers. "Decisions are made by everyone, and bylaws are followed. Everything comes from Monroe County or from the counties touching it," she said.In Stroudsburg, there are 18 vendors carrying delicious fruits, vegetables and baked goods.Needless to say, things ripen at various times throughout the growing season. Gould said that in June, strawberries would be at their peak "if the weather cooperates." In July, peas, tomatoes and sweet corn are the highlights. In August, the peaches and apples should be plentiful. In September, string beans and broccoli will be at their peak along with 15 to 20 other vegetables. October will bring sweet corn, pumpkins, apples, winter squash and potatoes, "with good weather and a little bit of luck."Gould said that once some of the veggies start up, they run to the end of October. "String beans and potatoes start in July and run right through. Red beets start in June and go right through the season," she said.The Stroudsburg market, which is on Ann Street next to American Ribbon Factory, is open every Saturday until the end of October. "There is lots of close parking," Gould said."Going to the farmers' market is a good outing and a neat day," said Gould. "We are getting a really decent crowd from all walks of life. It's, 'I love going to the farmers' market.' We have many repeat customers, and it seems that every week we get some new ones."Brecht agreed, "Buying locally develops communities. Going to market is really a community event."The shopper will find an interesting variety of goods. "We carry grains, bakers' breads, cookies, honey (mainly clover), soap, cheese, yogurt and eggs. We have fresh things, homemade things and homegrown things," Gould said. Some vendors even carry vegetable and flower plants, including hydroponic lettuce.Gould said that people like to buy local goods, too, because they want to support local businesses.Brecht added, "Buying locally helps to support the local economy. It also reduces our carbon footprint because we aren't using (and paying for) the fuel to transport the food across the country."And it's personal, too. "The vendors really try to accommodate their customers," said Gould. She said, for example, that if a customer wants to know how to freeze or can peas, the vendors would explain how to do it. Gould has books on freezing and canning in her store, but is unable to bring them to the market because "vendors can take only what they grow or make themselves," according to the bylaws.The East Stroudsburg Farmers' Market in Miller Park, behind Dansbury Depot, is open every Wednesday. It started last year, but it is growing rapidly. "It has seven or eight vendors already," said Gould. Among other goods, the market carries fruit, vegetables, cheese, yogurt, eggs and bakery goods.Gould said that none of the farmers at the market grow organically, but unlike produce grown in other countries, "we are governed as to what can be used," Gould said. "We get all our information from Penn State, and we use only what they consider acceptable practice," she said.Gould said that she would wash all fruits and vegetables brought home from the market before eating them, however, which is just using common sense. "Even if nothing is put on them, they are grown in the dirt — so wash them," she advised.Gould said that by buying local produce, "You are not getting products shipped from someplace else. I mean, who knows where those things come from?" She added that when you buy at a farmers' market, "You know your vendor. You know how things are grown and how they are raised."Brecht pointed out that many of the recent food-borne illnesses came from foods imported from other countries.Brecht had other reasons for buying locally. "When we buy locally we help to create a responsible, sustainable food system," she said. "It is not just about putting food in your body. It is about how it is grown, processed and distributed, too."Also, you help to support a system that can regenerate for generations to come without depleting the soil. "Healthy soil means healthy food. That means healthy people," she said.Brecht pointed out that in some large agribusinesses, the soil has been depleted from the unwise use of pesticides and fertilizers. "It is not as rich as it once was," she said. With the excessive use of fertilizers, the crops could grow too quickly, which does not give nutrients time to develop in the food.Brecht added that by buying locally, you help support a system that is "fair to the animals, fair to the people, fair to the workers, and fair to the environment. It is affordable and accessible to the people, too."Brecht said that the government has supported the large agribusinesses, especially the "big five crops" including corn, soybeans, hay, wheat and cotton. "By supporting the local farmer, you are supporting the people that have been largely neglected by the farm policy," she said.Brecht said that because of the farm policy, this country must import fruits and vegetables to meet the U.S. Dietary Guidelines. For that reason, many fruits and vegetables today come from Mexico and Central America and other countries outside the United States."If we start to reshape what kind of farmer we support, maybe that would change," she said. | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/22652 | Industry ICCI, HSUS notify Iowa farm of intent to file lawsuit
By JoAnn Alumbaugh, Editor, PORK Network
November 21, 2013 | 10:24 pm EST
A coalition of two activist organizations sent a notice of intent to sue Illinois-based The Maschhoffs, LLC over discharges of nutrient waste to waterways from one of its Iowa farms.
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) intend to file suit alleging violations of the federal Clean Water Act unless the facility obtains a Clean Water Act permit and the company can guarantee that its almost 7,500-head Keosauqua sow facility will not discharge any further pollution into Iowa’s waterways.
Iowa CCI is represented by The Environmental Integrity Project while the Humane Society of the United States is represented by David Sykes of David E. Sykes, P.C. in Fairfield Iowa and lawyers with the HSUS animal protection litigation section. The groups will file suit at the end of sixty days.
The sow facility, located in Van Buren County, Iowa near the Des Moines River, is one of the largest hog operations in Iowa. On November 4, a clogged pipe in the facility’s manure management system caused the discharge of waste into an on-site creek. The creek empties into a section of the Des Moines River that is listed as impaired due to biological pollutants.
In 2011, another clogged pipe at the facility caused more than 9,000 gallons of manure to flow into the same creek. And in 2007, operators failed to move the center-pivot irrigator used to spray liquid waste on fields, leading to a discharge of approximately 6,000 gallons of manure into the creek.
The Department of Natural Resources’ most recent inspection of the facility was in August of this year. The inspection resulted in a citation to the facility for record keeping errors, but the agency failed to require it to obtain a Clean Water Act permit, despite numerous warning signs. The inspection came shortly after Iowa recently entered into an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to improve the Iowa DNR’s regulation of the state’s 8,500 large farms. This agreement, which was spurred by a petition from Iowa CCI, EIP and the Iowa Sierra Club, includes mandatory Iowa DNR inspections to determine if a factory farm must acquire a permit under the Clean Water Act. Topics:
iccihsusintent to file lawsuitthe maschhoffsnutrient wasteclean water act About the Author:
JoAnn Alumbaugh, Editor, PORK Network
| JoAnn Alumbaugh grew up on a diversified farm in Michigan, and has been involved in many different facets of the industry. She joined PORK Network as Editor and Brand Champion on January 2013 and is anxious to engage in conversation with producers, educators, consultants and agri-business personnel. View All Posts | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/23277 | American Farm Publications, Inc.P.O. Box 2026 Easton, MD 21601 1-800-634-5021 410-822-3965 Fax- 410-822-5068 American Farms archives Up on new planting zones? (Editorial)
It’s called the Plant Hardiness Zone Map, and the USDA has released a new one which, as you might suspect, shows it’s getting a little warmer, like everywhere.The PHZM, as it is referred to in government-ese, is the product of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and Oregon State University’s Climate Control Group.It is a new version, updating a 1990 map, and is described as “the most sophisticated Plant Hardiness Zone Map yet for the United States.”Compared to the 1990 version, officials reported, zone boundaries in this edition of the map have shifted in many areas. The new map is generally one 5-degree-Fahrenheit half-zone warmer than the previous map throughout much of the United States. This is mostly a result, they said, of using temperature data from a longer and more recent time period. The new map uses data measured at weather stations during the 30-year period for 1976-2005. In contrast, the 1990 map was based on temperature data from only a 13-year period of 1974-86.While about 80 million American gardeners, as well as those who grow and breed plants, are the largest users of the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, many others need this hardiness zone information. For example, the USDA Risk Management Agency uses the USDA plant hardiness zone designations to set some crop insurance standards. Scientists use the plant hardiness zones as a data layer in many research models such as modeling the spread of exotic weeds and insects.Although in the past you could buy poster-sized copies of the map from the USDA, not this year. This year, anyone may download the map free of charge from the Internet onto a personal computer and print copies of the map as needed. For more information, visit www.planthardiness.ars.usda.gov. Once the map is displayed, click on an individual state to see more specific details for that area.It is clear that weather patterns have changed, and in many cases become more violent. It is also clear that the only thing we can do about it for the most part, is to map those changes. Still that is a useful exercise for commercial seed growers and farmers and plant breeders and others who take average temperatures — the highs and the lows — into their calculations. | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/23553 | Home > Fellows ANIL PRAKASH JOSHI
EnvironmentSectors: Income Generation, Natural Resource Management, Rural DevelopmentTarget Population: Citizen Sector Organizations, Communities, Farmers/Sharecroppers Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organization
A botanist from India's western Himalayan foothills, Anil Joshi is identifying new uses of bio-mass waste and weeds and helping villagers launch, manage and control related enterprises.
prepared when Anil Prakash Joshi was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 1993.
Fellow SketchAnil Joshi creates economic opportunities and improves rural livelihoods by helping rural communities leverage their natural resources, while, simultaneously, protecting the health of the natural environment. Anil and his organization, Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation (HESCO) cater their approach to address the needs of the specific community of focus, and the local resources available.One successful example is the use of the Latana Weed as a material to manufacture furniture. Harvest of Latana benefits the environment by controlling the invasive weed’s harm to the ecosystem while the manufacture and sale of furniture provides a source of income for rural villages. Anil furthers the economic benefit to the local community by employing innovative marketing strategies to replace imported products at local markets with locally made goods. This initiative is in response to the widening income gap between urban and rural populations. To date, HESCO has helped over 10,000 villages develop local enterprises taking up beekeeping, fruit processing, and grain processing, to name a few. It has delivered training in post-harvesting technologies to about 500 villages to maximize the use of their natural resources such as local fruits, aromatic plants, and botanical fibers. HESCO initiated WISE (Women's Initiative for Self-Employment), which serves as a platform for about one thousand women from all over the mountains of Uttarakhand to generate employment and marketing opportunities for income generation in their villages.HESCO has brought hydropower electricity to 2000 villages through construction of watermills to capitalize on the many streams of the Himalayas. The organisation’s work has expanded throughout India, with programs adopted in ten states, as far north as Assam, and south to Kerala. The programs developed by HESCO are now being adopted by state and national development agencies. In addition to development of local enterprises, HESCO engages in applied research and advocacy to strengthen the knowledge on appropriate technology and leverage this knowledge for advocacy with the government. Recently, HESCO has begun advocating for adoption of a “Growth Environmental Product,” (GEP) as a growth measure to be used in tandem with conventional Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The GEP incorporates more socially and environmentally minded metrics including, annual forest growth, soil quality, air quality, and water quantity and quality—indicators that are excluded under the standard GDP growth metric. With the state of Uttarakhand having already accepted the proposal of HESCO to incorporate GEP as a measure of growth, HESCO plans to increase it’s adoption throughout the whole of India. Note: This was updated in December, 2013. Read on for the ELECTION profile INTRODUCTION
The Indian villagers' use and misuse of available land and local vegetation has long determined rural India's economic health. This is especially true for villages in the lower Himalayan ranges with 67 percent of the land capable of even being cultivated, under forest cover. Yet, unfortunately, "invasive bio-mass," or weeds, have colonized vast areas, damaging land and inhibiting the growth of other vegetation.
Anil contends, "If the uses of a plant can be ascertained, it ceases to be a weed. Therefore, in an environment where eradication of weeds cannot solve the problem, what is needed is a new control concept . . . [that] emphasizes the possible uses of the plant, not its non-use or eradication."
Beginning with this premise, Anil has established methods of plant use that have spawned a wide range of new developmental initiatives in more than 46 villages. By finding consumption and other patterns of usage for weeds, remarkable changes have been brought about. Previous destructive land use patterns have changed, natural catastrophes have been averted, rural electrification has increased, sustainable cottage industries are developing and, most importantly, villagers have a greater sense of ownership and control over new, rural technologies.
Loss of community control over bio-mass has led to the economic problems of the villages in the hills of India. While only twelve percent of the available land is cultivatable, mismanagement of local vegetation has further depleted agricultural yields. Little or no effort has been made to develop uses for vast numbers of unutilized plants. This has led to high population pressure on land under cultivationover 1,000 people per acre! As a result, the yield from cultivated plots can sustain village communities for no more than three months in a year.
Villagers have begun to depend on earnings of members who have migrated to the plains, a fact that has discouraged village communities from making an effort to revive local resources and local markets. Furthermore, the 1980 Forest Conservation Act discourages individual or community participation in the plantation, protection and management of forest resources. It also gives the state the right to dispose of commercially viable species wherever planted. Technically trained forest management experts do not take into consideration the village community's knowledge of forest conditions or its needs when they are drawing up forest management priorities. As a result, village communities are left to fend for themselves. While the rural poor gain little by protecting tree cover, they succeed in establishing their ownership over a patch of land by cutting down the trees and putting it to plow. This has led to large-scale deforestation of land over the years and to the exhaustive use of sparse local vegetation for fuel, fodder and agricultural yield. It has also resulted in a loss of primary green cover and the subsequent colonization of the land by weeds.
The corrective measures previously taken have been ineffective. Although conventional methods of weed controlfelling, burning, uprootinghave been applied in these areas, they cannot stop the spread of weeds or encourage the regeneration of other vegetation. Biological and chemical methods of eradication can arrest weed growth only in initial stages of spread. While some weeds have traditionally been used for compost, medicines and pesticides, these methods have been isolated, unscientific and unplanned.
What began as Anil's enthusiastic initiative in 1979 is today the Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organization (HESCO) an institution of 30 people, a large number of whom are qualified scientists and engineers.
HESCO operates at two levels. On one level, Anil and his team of scientists work directly with grassroots communities of 40 villages in the Garwhal and Kumaon districts of Uttar Pradesh. They provide villagers with information and training in technologies gathered from local wisdom that can be sustained by local resources to address local needs.
The villagers are key partners in the botanical research. Their involvement at the beginning helps generate the credibility and early momentum essential to the spread of Anil's innovations. The team of professionals works closely with the villagers, focusing on their economic and developmental needs and tapping into their local resource strengths to encourage activities that will open new avenues to self-reliance. In this way, Anil and his team are breaking down institutional and psychological barriers between the scientist and the community.
Marketing and distribution are managed and controlled by local leadership. For example, there are over a dozen independent centers now under local leadership making fiber-based products. Under the technical guidance of trained HESCO staff, various beneficiary groups, especially women and children, gain from living in the low-cost houses being made from grasses available locally, fiberglass composting units and toilets based on prefabricated ferro cement, and the gunny bags and stone that are also constructed in villages. A village of nineteen families has been identified as the "HESCO Gram" (model HESCO village). The families have constructed HESCO homes and composting pits, have HESCO toilets, run enterprises of plan-based drugs and herbal pesticides, practice rainwater harvesting techniques and are setting up fruit plantations.
At another level, HESCO has set up the Bio-Mass Resource Centre to document the available range of bio-mass in various agro-climatic zones and to establish an inventory of its conventional and potential use. Consequently, HESCO is training several government and nongovernmental organizations to implement its repertoire of innovative technologies. This is facilitating quick replication of HESCO's efforts and is also a concrete step toward the organization's long-term objective, which is to set up an exchange of rural technologies that will facilitate the optimum use of bio-mass across the country.
HESCO is currently working with nonprofit organizations in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, South Bihar and Himachal Pradesh. Impressed by HESCO's new approach to landslide control, the Border Road Organization has appointed it as their advisor for the hills bordering Uttar Pradesh. HESCO has also liaised with several Indian universities and research centers to solicit institutional support for the research, implementation and transfer of technologies.
Anil was born in 1955 in the Himalayan village of Koldwar. As a botanist, Anil's doctoral degree in ecology, combined with his personal conviction that villagers need to optimize the use of nature's bounty, has formed a marriage of science and entrepreneurship in the organizational plan for HESCO.
Anil's first-hand experience in use of the region's traditional wisdom provided him with a realistic sense of how much intervention would be needed to change perceptions about bio-mass use. After three years of teaching botany in a local college, he decided to take his ideas from the laboratory into the field. His father, who is a farmer, continues to be a strong source of encouragement, as are his wife and son.
Jaya Prakash Rao
Anil Shaligram
Anil Pilgadkar
Muthu Velayutham | 农业 |
2017-17/1180/en_head.json.gz/24582 | Tobacco purchasing should be based on value, not price Apr 03, 2017 Some Georgia growers wanted to talk soybean weed control, most didn’t Apr 10, 2017 Caledonia: Where prisoners have grown their food for 125 years Apr 04, 2017 How a blueberry family won and lost against a punishing situation Apr 05, 2017 Tobacco equipment selling briskly
Chris Bickers, Freelance Writer | Mar 26, 2007
The market for used flue-cured tobacco machinery was unexpectedly hot over the fall and winter. “It seems that any type of curing barn or harvesting machine was selling well this year,” says Loren Fisher, North Carolina Extension tobacco specialist. “This started last season. But there was not a great deal of machinery on the market then, since farmers were waiting to see which way the market went.” Now, it appears farmers who think they have no future in tobacco decided to sell their equipment, while farmers who think they can make it in flue-cured are looking for more equipment to help them expand production. The high cost of producing the 2006 crop may well have pushed many marginal growers into a decision to exit tobacco farming. David Hinnant, a flue-cured grower in Kenly, N.C., said the hot sales of tobacco equipment shows there is still optimism about growing tobacco. “There has to be if they are willing to pay these high prices,” he says. Farmers in a position to expand their operations are usually the ones you see buying at these auctions, Hinnant says. “Often, they are people who have a way to go until their retirement years,” he says. “And maybe they have sons in back of them who want to grow tobacco.” Some farmers appear to be taking the opportunity at auctions to upgrade their equipment, he says. “It seems a lot of farmers who are still using rack barns, but want to convert to box barns, are coming to these sales.” Besides barns, Hinnant has seen many sprayers and combines for sale, along with some used greenhouses. He hasn’t seen a lot of out-of-state buyers at North Carolina auctions, but he has seen quite a bit of out-of-state equipment, mainly from Georgia, Florida and sometimes South Carolina. How old is the equipment? “It ranges all over the chute,” says Hinnant. “Some is but a year or two old, and some has been around a long time.” Hinnant says he saw several barns of the Long brand sell this winter for prices of $15,000 to $22,000, depending on the features they had. “A new barn of this type might run $27,000 to $28,000 now,” he says. From 1998 to 2004, says Fisher, when production was declining, there was a lot of used machinery available but not much demand, so prices were low. Building of new tobacco equipment ground to a near halt. “I think with demand the way it is, you will see manufacturers getting new equipment on line,” says Fisher. The high prices result from the desire by many growers to increase acreage and make up for the reduction in income they have experienced, he says. The farmers who are buying equipment are the ones who are committed to the industry and to growing tobacco, says Hinnant. “They are either getting enough machinery to expand their production or they are upgrading the machinery they are using now. It’s not new people coming into tobacco.” Hinnant says he didn’t buy any used equipment in 2007. “We bought barns last year, so we are sitting in our tracks now, watching what everyone else does.” One effect of this transfer of machinery is greater economy of scale in the farmer corps as a whole. “But total acres planted are not necessarily increasing in 2007,” says Fisher. “The equipment is just moving from one farm to another. “A redistribution among growers of flue-cured production is going on.” A geographical redistribution is also going on. “The counties of central eastern North Carolina — Wilson, Nash, Edgecombe and Pitt — have seen large increases in acreage since the buyout, and will probaby see more, while the Piedmont is losing some. We could have flue-cured produced in a more compact area.” That would indicate these areas are better suited for a large expansion of production than areas that are losing production, or at least the farmers think so. Fisher says there could be a drawback to this concentration, at least from an agronomic point of view. “As production is spread over a smaller area, there would be more concern about the effects of a bad season,” he says. “In 2006, the value of used tobacco barns was an unexpected surprise,” says Graham Boyd, executive vice-president of the Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina. Perhaps as a result, this year, tobacco equipment manufacturers “have introduced full-scale inventory of new barns for sale. This reflects an expected increase in production for the future.” But Boyd warns that another issue looms just over the horizon for flue-cured growers: how to address the degradation of converted heat exchangers. “Many of the initial units are approaching six years or greater in age,” he says. “That means efficiency loss, increased breakdowns or even the need to be completely replaced, all of which will be expensive.” | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/284 | Meet Patrick O'Brien
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Home / About / Custodians of the Land / Meet Patrick O'Brien
Meet Patrick O’Brien
From Dundrum, County Tipperary, Patrick O’Brien is one of Glenisk’s organic farmers. Patrick manages a herd of over 70 milking cows on more than 150 acres of organic farmland in Tipperary, where his love of farming was established at an early age. Patrick comes from a farming family, growing up in Tipperary surrounded by his parents’ dairy herd (and the odd trio of hens and family dogs). Patrick’s parents and cousin are also involved in farming. As a kid, Patrick’s favourite part of farm life was seeing the new calves after they were born and all the excitement of what the new additions to the herd would be like. As an adult, Patrick began farming his own beef enterprise but transitioned back to dairy after completing a course in dairy management at Reaseheath College in England. He says dairy farming is always interesting and he enjoys it more. Nowadays, Patrick (also a qualified teacher) is busy running his organic dairy farm, teaching, and studying. Patrick is very thankful to his parents for their help in developing his farming enterprise, and is honoured to be carrying on the tradition.
“Nature is a key part of my life and why I’m interested in organics.”
Patrick converted his farmland to organic production about four years ago, amid concerns about the impact that artificial fertilizers and sprays were having on his land and his animals. By eliminating these artificial inputs, Patrick has reduced pollution and improved the health of his soil, herd, and the surrounding environment. Patrick believes that organic is a more sustainable way of farming, and making the switch helped him reduce the chemicals and pollution on his family land. Animal health is his biggest priority, and as an organic farmer, Patrick must “focus on prevention and the animal itself.” Patrick has chosen specific breeds that are well suited to his type of farming and finds that animal health is better because he focuses on specific breeds for health, including crossed Friesian, Jersey, Shorthorn, and Brown Swiss cows. Patrick has also seen a difference in his cows’ choice of feed. Because the ditches and hedges around his land aren’t sprayed with chemicals, Patrick finds that his cows like to eat different plants as they move from pasture to pasture, seeking out a variety of natural vitamins and minerals.
“Every day you learn”
In organic farming, says Patrick, the main key to being successful is thinking ahead. Because there are no synthetic chemicals allowed in organic farming, soil management and grassland planning become paramount. Patrick says he always has a backup plan, and that he has learned a lot since converting to organics. In fact, he is part of a discussion group with other farmers to share best practice and he enjoys learning from other farmers in the area. When asked what his favourite part of farming is, Patrick says it’s still the same moments he loved as a kid – meeting the calves. For Patrick the excitement of seeing what the new calves will be like is only matched by the glee of his nieces and nephews who visit the farm to meet the new-borns.
#ShareGlenisk | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/879 | Organic farming promises to yield a sustainable future for India's rural poor
Submitted by Roger on April 8, 2012 - 08:51
Published on the 'Poverty Matters Blog' of The Guardian (UK), March 15, 2012
Organic agricultural practices are improving prospects for India's farmers by providing greater profit and sustainability MDG : India : An farm labourer displays a cabbage at the Sardar Patel organic farm A cabbage on an organic farm near Ahmedabad. Organic practices have the potential to improve rural livelihoods in India. Photograph: Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images
Sixteen months ago, Delhi-born Ashmeet Kapoor returned to India with a wish to make a difference. The 26-year-old graduate, who had recently completed his masters in innovation management and entrepreneurship at Brown University in the US, knew he wanted to improve the lives of India's rural poor in some way.
"I wanted to work to improve rural livelihoods using enterprise, but I needed to get my feet on the ground to explore where I could have the most impact," Kapoor explained.
It didn't take long for him to identify agriculture, which accounts for almost half of India's workforce, as his chosen sector.
Kapoor's search began with a train journey across India, the Jagriti Yatra, where he joined 400 other young people eager to gain inspiration for entrepreneurial work. The experience introduced him to the challenges facing farmers in India, as well as the attendant opportunities.
"Our agricultural system is in a mess," he said. "Many of our farmers are underpaid, malnourished, are frequently using chemicals that harm their health, and rely on practices that seriously degrade their land. Not only this, the food that they are producing is often coated in harmful chemicals, has little taste and is low in essential nutrients."
Kapoor was also struck by what he describes as the "lost talent" in rural areas. "I was amazed to discover that a lot of people in rural India actually have BAs and MAs, but there are no jobs for them. Their only option is to move to the cities to take jobs in factories. If you want to support rural development, you have to create the right opportunities. Farmers are still not really looking at agriculture as a business."
Kapoor moved to rural Uttar Pradesh and started a two-acre demonstration farm to experiment with different agricultural practices and spend time among farmers. The more farmers he spoke to, the more convinced he became of the relevance of organic practices as a solution to many of the challenges they face.
"Organic farming, when practised properly, reduces the input costs for fertilisers, pesticides and seeds, dramatically improves farmer health and enhances the fertility and resilience of their land," said Kapoor, as we travelled to Haryana, just north of Delhi, to visit a group of farmers he plans to work with. "Of course, it also gives you tastier, safer and more nutritious produce."
The problem is that the right incentives for farmers to convert to more sustainable practices have not been effectively created, said Kapoor. "People want good, nutritious food but they don't want to pay more for it. Farmers want to be paid fairly for their work, and to farm in a way that can support them long into the future, but today's systems don't provide for that. Certification is expensive, many of their skills have been lost and much of the money paid for good produce is, in any case, lost to middlemen."
As a result of these experiences, Kapoor set up a company, Jagriti Agro Tech, which, on Thursday, will start to supply affordable organic fruit and vegetables direct to households in Delhi, sourced from farmers in the surrounding states under the brand name I Say Organic.
His remit is simple: by connecting farmers directly to markets, he hopes to address several challenges simultaneously, providing better incomes and quality of life to rural farmers.
Kapoor plans to pay his farmers prices 25% higher than the current market rates for their produce, incentivising the use of more sustainable practices. In addition, unlike most "box schemes", few of which exist in India today, he says the cost of his produce will remain competitive with local non-organic fruit and vegetables. Kapoor believes customers should be able to choose what they want, and receive it within a day.
It sounds an impossible task, but the only way to achieve these goals is to work with the system, said Kapoor. "You can't just create markets, nor can you just work with farmers, so instead we are trying to work from one end to the other: to create and support the whole value chain."
The farmers appear to have seen rapid benefits. "We currently have no means of marketing our produce, and initial conversion costs to organic farming require time, effort and money," said Nepal Singh, a farmer from southern Haryana. "I Say Organic is giving us better rates for our produce, and clearly labels it, making it far more worthwhile to farm organically."
"In the future, I believe organic produce will be in great demand," added Gulzar Singh, another farmer from the same region. "I want to be one of the first people to grow it, just like our ancestors used to. I Say Organic is providing us with proper markets for our produce, and better prices than the Mandi [local market]."
Kapoor's work is part of a wider wave of change in India.
"The organic market is growing in India," said Sunil Gupta, founder and CEO of Dharani Organic, and one of Jagriti's first partners. "More farmers are becoming aware of both the hazards of conventional farming and the opportunities, financial and otherwise, of more sustainable methods."
A number of Indian states, including Mizoram, Uttarakhand and Sikkim intend to go 100% organic, with many more adopting policies to promote organic farming. There is a growing dialogue around the potential for India's organic market both within and outside India. One study has estimated it could grow by about 15% between 2011 and 2013.
To scale up his business, Kapoor plans to increase the number of farmers and customers he works with from hundreds to thousands, and to diversify his business model.
"Our goal is to make organic produce accessible to everyone eventually, not just a niche group," he said. "To do this, we hope to start also marketing B and C grade produce – vegetables which might be smaller or less physically perfect, but perfectly usable – to lower-income customers, to develop rural markets, and even to start processing any food we don't sell. It's just one step along the road at a time."
20-year study backs organic farming
By Fred Pearce, New Scientist magazine, May 30, 2002 Organic farming – India's future perfect?
A budding interest in organic food offers farmers soaring incomes and higher yields, but critics say it's not the answer to India's fast-rising food demands.
By Nashika Patel, Guardian (UK), May 11. 2011
Articles originaux en français
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2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/996 | Jim Correll continues a long tradition of Grange service at the Fair
The Delaware Grange cooks up some good eating at the Delaware State Fair, something Jim Correll has been doing for more than 40 years.
Jim Correll of Clayton joined the Delaware Grange back when he was just 15 years old. Now 65, the retired farmer has spent a half-century working with the organization and supporting its efforts on behalf of agricultural concerns and rural communities.
For approximately 40 of those years, he’s spent the last two weeks of July at the Delaware Grange building at the Delaware State Fair, serving up fried chicken and corn on the cob. It’s a job he loves, particularly because it supports the Delaware Grange.
Founded in the late 1860s in response to the devastation of Southern farms during the Civil War, the Grange – more formally, the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry – has worked in support of issues affecting agriculture nationwide. It was one of the first national organizations that encouraged leadership roles for women, and has a tradition of supporting policies that favor agricultural interests without regardless to political affiliation.
Correll’s grandfather, Jake Correll, was a charter member of the Pencader Grange.
“When you become a Grange member, you do what you can to help,” Correll said. “But you don’t have to be a farmer.
“The Grange means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.”
For Correll, being a member of the Grange and taking part in the Delaware State Fair are like intertwined destinies. He first came to the Fair at the age of 12, working with and exhibiting livestock. After a long day of labor, he and his brother often spent their nights sleeping in the expansive livestock barns.
Today, it’s a bit different: Correll and his wife, Becky, now stay in a camper parked near the Grange building.
The Delaware Grange has had a presence at the State Fair for decades. Correll remembers the current Grange building, where between 70 and 80 members spend each day preparing meals for hungry Fair patrons, as much smaller back in the 1960s. At the time it was little more than a large hot dog stand.
The current building was put up in the mid-1960s. The spotlessly-clean cooking area has large sinks, refrigerators and fryers on a cement floor, while diners take their meals on picnic tables. The eating area has a sand floor to make cleanup easier. The building itself has changed little, although overhead fans were installed several years ago. Volunteers now use automated peelers and dicing machines instead of preparing the ingredients for French fries by hand.
Food served in the Grange building – a meal costs $12 – comes from Delaware farms, Correll said, and the menu is basically the same as it was 40 years ago. The chicken is seasoned with a traditional blend of ingredients, known to only a few Grange members; it is then deep fried and roasted until perfectly done.
Everyone working in the Grange building, from the cooks to the cash register lady, are volunteers, working to support the Grange, Correll said. Money raised by Grange members goes toward supporting organizations such as the FFA, 4-H and the Delaware Agricultural Museum. The Delaware Grange also provides scholarships and generally works to help people in need, even if they’re not farmers or engaged in farming activities.
It’s satisfying work for Correll and the rest of the volunteers: even though it’s an uncomfortably hot Sunday afternoon, their down-home fare has drawn a considerable number of diners, and there’s a line of people waiting outside the door.
It just goes to show that people know what they’re getting when they come to the Grange building for a bite to eat, he said.
“When you get a piece of chicken that falls off the bone, you know it’s good,” Correll said. “And you can only get that kind of chicken here.
“Everyone says that, and it’s nice because it makes you feel good.” | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/1072 | FR Gay Lea Foods on Positioning Canadian Dairy Industry for Growth and Innovation
As a proudly Canadian dairy co-operative, Gay Lea Foods is focused on building and growing strong relationships with our industry and government partners in the Canadian dairy industry.We look forward to working with and supporting the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of International Trade as they engage industry stakeholders in a plan to “work towards long-term, sustainable solutions to ensure the Canadian dairy industry can grow and thrive in an ever-changing global economy”.“We remain confident that with a modern, flexible policy and regulatory framework, that we can create a market environment that supports an innovative, state-of-the-art, green dairy industry that stimulates growth and investment throughout the value chain,” said Steve Dolson, Chair of the Board of Directors.
About Gay Lea FoodsIn 1958 a group of farmers came together with a common vision – to better the lives of Ontario farming families and co-operatives. Gay Lea Foods is 100% Canadian owned and operated, with 1200 dairy farmer owners who produce 35% of Ontario’s cow milk, and more than 3800 members making it the largest dairy co-operative in Ontario. Gay Lea Foods has now opened its membership to include licenced dairy goat producers in Ontario; and processes goat milk into a range of dairy products as well as serving as a broker in the sector. Gay Lea Foods is driven by innovation and growing the market for Canadian cow and goat milk. Our products include the consumer favourite Spreadables; North America’s first Smooth ™ Cottage Cheese; and the introduction of an innovative snack made with 100% cheese, Nothing But Cheese ™.CONTACT:Rosemary MacLellanSenior Director, StrategyGay Lea Foods613-290-5951 | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/3270 | Making all the right moves
Kavith Harrilall
THE provincial sugar industry has rebounded well from the 2011 drought-stricken season, with Illovo Sugar having successfully re-established cane-planting in certain areas.
Furthermore, the JSE-listed, KZN-based company has successfully facilitated the establishment of new cane-growing areas.
Strong profit growth
Illovo yesterday reported seasonal headline earnings per share growth of 30,5% to 82,1 cents for the six months ended September 30, on the back of 17% growth in sugar production. Sugar sales grew by 10% year on year.
Illovo is Africa’s largest producer of sugar. The company also boasts a leading 30% market share in South Africa.
Local operations back on track
MD Graham Clark told The Witness yesterday that its South African operations — including its four production sites in KZN, located in Eston, Noodsberg, Sezela and Umzimkulu — have improved their performance.
Crushing at its Umzimkulu factory is now back on stream following a disruption due to the drought.
“The past two years have been a tough time with the drought. Since then we have worked on better management of cane areas … and a cane project for growers in order to re-establish operations in certain areas,” Clark said.
Private-public partnerships
He added that they have worked closely in partnership with the government to enhance the viability of small-scale growers and other previously-disadvantaged farmers — with a total of more than R215 million worth of direct government funding being channelled to this sector over the past three years or so.
“The government has identified us as a key partner in ensuring that the cane industry remains viable.”
The recent rains have bolstered production for the current season, as well as prospects for next season.
Major local investment
Illovo is in the process of setting up a giant state-of-the-art warehouse worth more than R300 million in Willowton, Pietermaritzburg.
Clark said the development, which is expected to be completed in the second quarter of next year, will address a range of issues related to input costs.
“We are about 60% through the project. We did an intense study on our South African supply chain.
“We decided to locate the distribution centre in the middle of our production and supply ring. It’s a significant investment … and will address various cost efficiencies.
“We produce sugar over nine months instead of 12 months, so storage is critical for us. Currently, we store sugar all over the place.
“For instance, it is stored in Durban, and then transported past a centre of production on its way to Johannesburg.
“We are basically consolidating eight or nine warehouses into one.” | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/3436 | COTTON SPIN: Will the boom in U.S. cotton exports continue? Apr 21, 2017 Conservation cropping systems, crop rotation focus of Rolling Plains study Apr 24, 2017 Successful peanut weed control requires ‘all-in-effort’ Apr 25, 2017 Mexican official ready to start NAFTA talks Apr 19, 2017 Ag economist slams farm programs
David Bennett 1 | Apr 10, 2003
Achtung! Warning! Those with delicate constitutions, proceed with caution…. Chances are almost certain you aren't going to like what Luther Tweeten has to say. He'll assert your reliance on subsidies is akin to a junkie's need for his drug of choice. He'll say you've probably paid too much for land, that your career of choice comes at too high a price for non-farming U.S. citizens, and that you've been lead down a path of prosperity at the unnecessary expense of tax dollars and foolish politics. However, the retired economist and author has the ear of many politicians and their advisors. As such, you should know what he believes and unabashedly proposes. At Arkansas State University's Agriculture-Business Conference, Tweeten presented his views and verbally sparred — in a good-natured manner — with other economists. Surprisingly to Tweeten, the large audience received his talk calmly — something he says is rare at other venues. A few days after the conference, the professor emeritus at Ohio State University spoke with Delta Farm Press about his views on where U.S. farm policy has been, where it stands now, and where he sees it heading. Among the questions and answers: Q: So, how did you find the ASU meeting? A: I enjoyed the meeting and debate. I hope I didn't offend too many farmers. I'm from a farming background in Iowa. I have five brothers and a sister who all farmed until retirement. They gave — and continue to give — me a hard time for my views. But I think they're like many farmers who feel they must protect their turf. Despite our differences of opinion on ag policy, I have the absolute highest regard for them. Q: How did you come to your position on subsidies? A: I've gradually gone through a transition. I think there was a time when a case could be made for farm subsidies. In the 1930s, farm income averaged only 40 percent of non-farmers' per household. Furthermore, there was a technological revolution with the tractor, combine and other machines and it was really tough for farmers to adjust to that. Data from the late 1950s shows that excess labor on farms was close to half. There was great disequilibrium. That's no longer true. We live in a totally different world. Farmers are no longer a disadvantaged group. In fact, farmers are doing better than non-farmers on average. It's just difficult to find any economic justification for continuing farm programs — other than as a phase-out. Q: At the ASU event, you likened the situation with ag programs to supporting a drug addict's addiction. Is that a legitimate correlation? A: Yes. If you talk to a drug addict, they say, “I can't get along without this drug” while the drug is slowly destroying them. It's even harder for them if someone else is paying for the drug they abuse. The benefits are lost to farmers, just as they are with addicts. The highs soon wear out and the drug must be taken just to be normal. It's the same with farm programs. The benefits are quickly capitalized. There was a study done at Ohio State that found program benefits are passed to landlords to the tune of 60 percent in a one year. In the case of land purchase, there is also a loss. Why? Because the new purchaser pays the capitalized value of all future benefits on the land. The benefits are thus lost to the new buyer. Only about 1 percent of land changes hands every year in a way that transfers program benefits. The USDA has estimated that 25 percent of current land values are due to farm commodity programs. So it is like a drug habit. You no longer get the highs, but you can't get off the substance because the withdrawal symptoms are severe. If a farmer pays 25 percent too much for land, it works much the same. If the programs are removed, the poor guy who paid the extra rent or price feels a lot of pain. Some farmers may argue that we wouldn't raise much sugarcane or sugar beets without the programs. That's true in some areas. But we don't produce bananas, cocoa, coffee or tea because that isn't where our comparative advantage lies. We'll do better as an economy — and we'll have a stronger constitution — if we stay away from commodity programs. Q: But you also say it's a bad idea to cut a drug addict off cold turkey… A: That's right. I thought the 1996 farm bill was going in the right direction. We need a phase-out — say over five to 10 years — announced well in advance so everyone knows it's coming. If someone is bidding for land, they won't bid as much because the benefits are leaving. But the government must show some backbone and stick with the phase-out. They didn't do that with the 1996 legislation. I'm very much in favor of providing personal and financial counseling for farmers. The Labor Department can help with job training, job information and relocation assistance. But nowadays, farmers have all kinds of experience with off-farm employment and skills and they're very flexible. The larger farmers are very efficient and, if they didn't pay too much for land, will be okay At least that's true for any commodity where the United States has a comparative advantage over a foreign nation. Q: How about the arguments that farming is inherently volatile, that other countries are subsidizing their farmers and thus we need to continue ours? A: The Europeans are paying roughly double what we are for farm programs. Their economies are being damaged terribly. They're suffering from Euro-sclerosis. When you see someone shooting themselves in the foot, there's no reason to follow suit. The big losers from agricultural interventions are the countries that intervene. In other words, the big losers are Europe, Japan, South Korea and others. Unfortunately, the United States is also a big loser. Our national income is $6 billion to $12 billion lower per year because of farm programs. Now that doesn't seem like a big deal in an $11 trillion economy. Still, there's the famous quote: “A billion here, a billion there soon adds up to real money.” Q: What are you hearing from farmers? Did you get any reaction from the crowd at Jonesboro, Ark.? A: Not much. That was surprising because I usually get stronger negative reaction than I did at that meeting. Q: Do you think it's because of Southern manners? Because of the venue? A: Maybe it depends on where you are in the South. I debated Ron Knutson, a Texas A&M economist, in Texas and said many of the same things I said in Jonesboro. The crowd there was much more hostile. One farmer said only two words to me: “You're dumb.” Farmers don't like this message and you can't really blame them. The one thing I've learned in 40 years as a professional economist is that people are very good at rationalizing their self-interests. That applies not just to farmers but college professors, reporters — who will defend the First Amendment come hell or high water — and nearly everyone else. The point is that everyone is very good at rationalizing. And my debates with Darryl Ray (director of the Agricultural Policy Analysis Center at the University of Tennessee who supports subsidies and also spoke at ASU) and others are friendly. Darryl and I are good friends. He's a good guy regardless. We just agree to disagree on some economic points. Q: If farm subsidies were phased out, what would be the fall-out? A: There would be financial difficulties and the federal government would have to step in and help farmers out with loans to those who'd paid too much for land. There are studies on who is most vulnerable in agriculture. It's across the board in size and types of farms, but best estimates are that 4 percent of farmers are financially vulnerable. By vulnerable, I mean farmers who have negative cash flow from farming and they have a debt/asset ratio of 40 percent or more. There are arguments that it's less than 4 percent of farmers because off-farm income isn't calculated in. I've talked this over with many smart economists. We don't have very good empirical estimates, but I think if subsidies were dropped around 10 percent of farmers would leave agriculture. That's the highest estimate I've seen. I hasten to add that the 10 percent would likely leave anyway — their timetable would just be pushed up. If 10 percent did leave, we're talking about 200,000 farmers. If we did away with the programs, there would be plenty of money to help the relatively few farmers who would have to make adjustments. We could spend a lot of money to help them and still move to a market-oriented agriculture. Q: Can you elaborate on instances you think farm subsidies are good idea? A: Subsidies didn't really come on in a big way until 1933. At that time, poverty was rampant throughout farming households…. Q: Okay, assuming subsidies were done away with. What conditions in the future would trigger new subsidies? A: That's partly an economic question and partly political. Economically, I don't think anything would justify the government getting into agricultural subsidies again. | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/4733 | Posted April 4, 2017 Water for Food Global Conference wraps up with discussions on leveraging partnerships from the field to the cloud
May 5, 2016View from the Field panelists (from left) Owen Palm, 21st Century Equipment; John Berge, North Platte Natural Resources District; Roric Paulman, Paulman Farms and moderator John Heaston. The 2016 Water for Food Global Conference concluded April 26 with speakers and panel discussions that ranged from a farmer’s view from the field to big data and the controversial topic of water pricing.
Participants in the popular View from the Field panel highlighted the theme of catalytic partnerships. The farmer, CEO and watershed manager shared their perspectives working in Nebraska agriculture. They agreed that greater collaboration among all stakeholders is needed to take advantage of opportunities to improve farming and water conservation. We have to do a better job of working together and to encourage technology adoption, said panel moderator and private consultant John Heaston. As information has been the commodity of the early 2000s, air and water will be the commodities of the next 30 years, said Richard Sandor, of chairman and CEO of Environmental Financial Products. Putting a price on water would incentive people to conserve. But while the technological ability exists, the social and political will remains an enormous challenge. “I think the world would be a better place, if we put a price on water,” he said.
Enormous amounts of agricultural and water data from numerous sources are collected, but the ability to analyze the data to provide value to users remains challenging, concluded a panel on Big Data. Collecting and aggregating individual farm data and sharing it with all farmers – an unpopular notion to many – is the answer to expanding yield rates fast enough to meet future food demand, said Ken Cassman, Water for Food Institute Faculty Fellow and emeritus Robert B. Daugherty professor of agronomy at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Sally Rockey, executive director of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, stressed the importance of agricultural research in the closing Heuermann Lecture. In order to meet the demands of feeding a growing population, research must keep up with advances in science and technology, she said.
To drive research in food and agriculture, Rockey is developing partnerships between the public and private sectors. This type of partnership offers incentives for both sides to engage, including direct access to important research for the private sector and the opportunity to address real-world problems for the public sector. The result is research that can be transferred quickly to the economy.
The conference may be over, but the conversation doesn’t have to end there! In an effort to further the conversation surrounding the theme of “Building Public-Private Partnerships for Water and Food Security,” we encourage you to share your insights gained from the event and continue to engage with the Water for Food Institute in the days ahead.
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Big Data: Partnerships to Leverage Data for Water and Food Security panelists (from left) Ken Cassman, UNL; John Gates, Climate Corporation, and Lee Addams, Good Earth Irrigation.
Richard L. Sandor, the “Father of Carbon Trading” and chairman and CEO of Environmental Financial Products.
Sally Rockey, executive director of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research. | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/4986 | Maintaining cotton's momentum in the Mid-South Apr 21, 2017 As farm income drops, young farmers take hit Apr 14, 2017 John Bradley: Still leading the innovation charge Apr 13, 2017 This Week in Agribusiness, April 22, 2017 Apr 22, 2017 MILLS ROGERS, second from right, was named to the Hall of Fame of the Mississippi Agricultural Consultants Association at the organization’s annual meeting. Participating in the induction were, from left, Virgil King III, MACA president; Patricia Rogers; and Bob Stonestreet, who made the presentation.
Crops>Cotton Mississippi consultants group names two to Hall of Fame
Mills Rogers, Rogers Entomological Services, Cleveland, Miss., and Jimmy B. Walker, Walker Agricultural Services, Inc., Rolling Fork, Miss., were named to the Mississippi Agricultural Consultants Association's Hall of Fame at the organization's annual meeting at Mississippi State University. Hembree Brandon | Feb 27, 2012
Two veteran agricultural consultants have been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Mississippi Agricultural Consultants Association.
Mills Rogers, Rogers Entomological Services, Cleveland, and Jimmy B. Walker, Walker Agricultural Services, Inc., Rolling Fork, were honored at the organization’s annual meeting at Mississippi State University.
“This is the highest, most prestigious award any member can obtain,” said Bob Stonestreet, Clarksdale consultant, who made the presentation. “These two men have distinguished themselves by their dedication, perseverance, integrity, and their achievements and contributions to the field of entomology and our association.”
Rogers, a graduate of Delta State University, began his college career on a musical scholarship, but was offered a freshman laboratory assistantship in general zoology, which he continued until graduation.
After graduation and marriage to his college sweetheart, Patricia Williams, he decided to enter the field of medicine, but instead was drafted into the Army Medical Corps. At the end of the Korean War he returned to Cleveland and worked for California Spray Chemical; it was through that work that he became interested in entomology and went on to earn a master’s degree in the field at Mississippi State University.
He started Rogers Entomological Services in 1957, which he and, later, his son Lee operated until Mills’ retirement.
“Mills Rogers has had a joyful, rewarding career, and has been awarded many honors in his profession,” Stonestreet said, “but the one of which he is most proud is being a charter member of Mississippi Agricultural Consultants Association and serving as its second president in 1975.”
He also served as president of the Mississippi Entomological Association and the NEA, and in 2002 was awarded the Outstanding Consultant Award by the National Association of Independent Crop Consultants.
Mills and Patricia have four children, Lorna Steele, Renee Reshard, Camille Burns, and Lee Rogers.
Jimmy B. Walker, a lifelong resident of Rolling Fork, is a graduate of Southwest Mississippi Community College and Mississippi State University, where he earned a degree in agricultural education.
He returned home, married Anne Branch in 1957, was a mathematics and science teacher at Hollandale and served in the Mississippi National Guard before founding Walker Agricultural Services, Inc. in 1962, serving a total of 39 years as a private agricultural consultant.
“He is considered a pioneer in the field of liquid fertilizer,” Stonestreet noted, “and Walker Ag became a primary source for fertilizer and agricultural consulting in the lower Mississippi Delta.”
The company was sold to Tri-State Delta Chemical Company in 1998 and Walker served as manager of that operation until his retirement in 2005.
He was involved in the formation of the National Association of Independent Crop Consultants and a charter member of that organization. He also served on the boards of the National Fertilizer Association, the Agricultural Retailers Association, and the Bank of Anguilla, currently serving as board advisor.
He and his wife have one daughter, Suzanne Walker Smith, and two grandchildren, Benjamin and Mary-Hannah.
Jenny Bibb, Indianola, Miss., was named recipient of the organization’s 2012 scholarship award.
“She has excelled in her agricultural studies and we expect great things from her in the future,” said Bill Pellum, Clarksdale consultant, who presented the award.
Bibb is a graduate of Hinds Community College and earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural sciences at Mississippi State University, where she is now enrolled in the master’s program.
“Jenny has a background in both animal sciences and plant sciences,” Pellum said. “She has worked as a veterinary assistant and at the Brown Loam Experiment Station she collected data on cattle and forages and conducted research on cattle production.
“She recently has turned her interest to row crops and has been rearing colonies of soybean loopers and tarnished plant bugs, as well as collecting data on crop projects.
“She has been working with Associate Entomology Professor Angus Catchot and Assistant Research Professor Don Cook and her master’s project is analyzing the effects of corn earworms on yield and grain quality of field corn.”
RelatedCotton Incorporated focusing campaign on comfortable cottonApr 24, 2017Maintaining cotton's momentum in the Mid-SouthApr 21, 20172017 Mid-South Agricultural and Environmental Law Conference June 8-9 in MemphisApr 18, 2017Delta Farm Press Calendar of EventsApr 18, 2017 Load More | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/5572 | What Is Hibiscus Cannabinus?
Sandi Johnson
Hibiscus cannabinus is a member of the flowering plants division known as Magnoliophyta, further divided into the Hibiscus L. genus of the Malvaceae family of plants. Although classified in the same family with the ornamental hibiscus bush, few characteristics beyond flower color and leaf shape are common to both the ornamental shrub and hibiscus cannabinus. Characteristics of the hibiscus cannabinus plant include long woody stems up to 10 feet (3.5 meters) with high branches; purple, white, or yellow flowers; and small fruits measuring approximately ½ inch (2 cm) in diameter. When planted in fields, hibiscus cannabinus resembles jute or bamboo in that stalks are tall, slender, and green with a thin layer of outer bark. Plants are annual or biennial, although in rare conditions, may appear as perennials. Better known as kenaf, hibiscus cannabinus is primarily grown for fiber, livestock feed, biofuel, seed oils, engineered wood products, housing insulation, and paper. The plant, which is believed to have originated in Asia, is now cultivated in China, the United States, India, Korea, Bangladesh, South Africa, Mexico, Thailand, and other countries. In the United States, the primary uses are livestock bedding and fiber for paper. Korea, India, and China use the fibers in textiles, rope making, and paper. Leaves of the hibiscus cannabinus are also a popular food for human consumption known as gongoora in certain countries. Using kenaf plants for ropes and other textiles has been a common practice for thousands of years. Egyptians used kenaf fibers to make boat sails and other textiles in ancient times. Leaves were used to feed both people and animals. Bast fiber — the fibers garnered from the outer bark of the hibiscus cannabinus plant — were used in cords, ropes, and storage bags for grains or other crops. Some cultures still use similar methods as the ancient Egyptians to remove the bast fibers for rope and other cordage, as well as serving similar hibiscus cannabinus leaf dishes. Beside using bast fibers for rope, both the outer bast fibers and the inner core fibers are used to make a bimodal pulp similar to hardwood pulp for paper. In comparison to pine pulp, the common pulp used to make most paper in the United States and Europe, pulp from the hibiscus cannabinus is cheaper to obtain and process. During the mid to late 1990s, newsprint made of kenaf fiber pulp obtained from U.S. and Canadian hibiscus cannabinus growers proved stronger and required less bleaching than pine pulp newsprint. Ad
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What Plants are Good for Wet Areas? | 农业 |
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BRUNELLO 2011 HARVEST: CASTELLO BANFI PREDICTS SELECTION WILL BE THE KEY
Cristina Mariani-May, family proprietor of the renowned Castello Banfi vineyard estate in Montalcino, Tuscany, and her team of winemakers are preparing for one of their most challenging Brunello harvests in years. “Variations in weather conditions over the past month have given us conditions that we did not expect earlier in the season,” said Ms. Mariani-May. “The recent brief but severe heat wave will reduce our yield and require care and attention both in the vineyards and the winery. The research and development behind our hallmark ‘pursuit of excellence’ puts us in a position to take these adverse conditions and maintain high standards for our estate’s Brunello di Montalcino and super Tuscans.”
According to Ms. Mariani-May, the 2011 season started late with a cool spring and abundant rainfall. Lower than average temperatures persisted through July, but in mid-August the effects of an anti-cyclone above the African continent drove temperatures well over the 100 degree Fahrenheit mark through early September. The vines had sufficient water reserves to avoid hydric stress, but in vineyards where mature grapes were exposed, strong sun literally gave the fruit a bad case of sunburn.
She pointed out that conditions were dramatically different from the consistently hot 2003 and consistently cool 2002, likening the current conditions more to the 2000 harvest, which similarly started cooler than usual and was marked by a brief but severe heat wave in August.
“We concluded harvesting white grapes last week with a sudden 30% to 40% reduction in yield,” she said. “This week we’ve started to harvest Merlot and Syrah; hand picking has been key, and will be even more vital when we begin harvesting the more sensitive Sangiovese over the coming weeks. While we are seeing overall good quality, we have to select the fruit very carefully in the vineyard, and then scrupulously inspect it again when it comes into the winery.” While most of Castello Banfi’s premier vineyards have been hand harvested since the estate was founded in 1978, in 2007 they added a “double triage” sorting of fruit at the winery that first inspects the bunches that come in to the winery and then selects the individual de-stemmed berries by both further visual inspection and weight density tests. The selected grapes from each vineyard are then vinified separately in individual fermenters, hybrids of stainless steel and oak that were developed and patented by Castello Banfi to take advantage of the best characteristics of both materials. Castello Banfi also led pioneering research in conjunction with the universities of Milan and Pisa to isolate a selection of superior clones of the native Sangiovese grape to produce consistently outstanding Brunello. “We would much rather have favorable conditions as we did in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2009,” Ms. Mariani-May declared, “but our decades of work have prepared us for the vagaries of nature and our dedicated team knows how to handle harvest conditions like this.”
The family-owned Castello Banfi vineyard estate and winery is the first in the world to be awarded international recognition for exceptional environmental, ethical and social responsibility (ISO 14001 and SA8000) as well as customer satisfaction (ISO 9001:2000). Castello Banfi was also declared “International Winery of the Year” an unprecedented four times and Italy’s “Premier Vineyard Estate” an unprecedented 12 times at the VinItaly wine fair in Verona, Italy. A medieval castle crowning the estate serves as a hospitality center for the region, housing the Taverna Banfi, and luxury rooms and suites in Il Borgo, as well as an enoteca and a museum tracing the history of glass as it relates to wine.
Cristina Mariani-May
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2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/6471 | The History of Olives and Olive Trees
Author: Abel Jones
Olive trees, 'Olea europaea,' are the oldest fruit trees and certainly are one of the most important fruit trees in history. Olive tree culture has been closely connected to the rise and fall of Mediterranean empires and other advanced civilizations throughout the ages. Because olive trees offered wealth and future food supplies to established civilizations, the agricultural nations became stable societies, resulting from a secure expectation from past experience of an uninterrupted food and olive oil supply. This factor was a necessary requirement for population growth and increase. Dependable fruit production and olive oil production means that olive trees must exist in a stable society and a peaceful environment. That stability must extend for many years, since most ancient seedling olive trees required eight or more years before ever producing the first crop of fruit. Productive orchards of olive trees meant that a foundation of the great empires of Greece ...
and Rome had arisen and developed into complex economic and political forces. It is interesting to note that the historical decline of these empires corresponded to the destruction of their olive tree orchards that reduced the available supplies of olives, olive oil, olive wood, and olive soap. In connection with the destruction of olive orchards, it is interesting to note that in the Israeli wars with Palestine, 50,000 olive trees were destroyed by Israeli bulldozers. That act of agricultural destruction resulted in considerable anger and unrest along the Gaza strip and the West Bank, because the economic livelihood of many Palestinian farmers depended on their products from the uprooted olive trees. Additionally, the olive tree was historically a 'peace and goodwill' symbol, and when the olive trees were leveled near the city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus and the "Cradle of Biblical History," that elimination of olive trees seemed like a deliberate provocation to end the 'peace' with the Palestinian settlers and farmers.
The Greeks recognized that in their vast empire they must avoid hostilities and war during the period that the Olympic Games were being conducted, and they declared a worldwide armistice so that their complete attention could be directed toward their athletic events and games.
Medical properties of olive oil were reported by many ancient Greek writers and philosophers, their importance in creating nutritional benefits and wealth for Greek citizens continues abundantly today--some Greek olive tree orchards containing a million or more trees. Aristotle wrote extensively about the accepted methods of successfully growing olive trees.
Greek mythology records that Athena, the Goddess of wisdom and peace, struck her magic spear into the Earth, and it turned into an olive tree, thus, the location where the olive tree appeared and grew was named Athens, Greece, in honor of the Goddess, Athena. Local legend tells us that the original olive tree still stands growing after many centuries at the ancient sacred site. Citizens still claim that all Greek olive trees originated from rooted cuttings that were grown from that original olive tree. Homer claimed in his writings that the ancient olive tree growing in Athens was already 10,000 years old. Homer stated that Greek courts sentenced people to death if they destroyed an olive tree. In 775 BC Olympia, Greece, at the site of the ancient Olympic stadium, athletes competed and trained, and winners were triumphantly acclaimed and crowned with a wreath made of olive twigs. Ancient gold coins that were minted in Athens depicted the face of the Goddess, Athena, wearing an olive leaf wreath on her helmet holding a clay vessel of olive oil. The Greeks began olive cultivation in 700 BC. The sacred lamp that was used in ancient Greek culture for lighting dark rooms at night was fueled by olive oil. Aged olive oil was also used in sacred anointing rituals of the church at weddings and at baptisms. Herodotus wrote in 500 BC, that the growing and exporting of olives and olive oil were so sacred that only virgins and eunuchs were allowed to cultivate orchards of olive trees. The first documented plantings of olive trees may have occurred during the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete and are believed to have been growing around 3500 BC. That civilization predates the discovered Mycenae olive fossils from 1600 BC and later in the Greek empire. Sturt Manning, an archeologist from Cornell University, reported in Live Science Magazine (Apr 28, 2005) that the most devastating volcano in 10,000 years occurred on the Greek Island of Thera, after which the city of Akrotiri was totally buried by the falling ash. The finding of olive wood and olive seed fossils buried near the site has shown through carbon dating that the volcanic eruption occurred between 1660 and 1600 BC and may have contributed to the total destruction of the advanced Minoan civilization (Atlantis) on the isle of Crete and may have led to the formation of the Sahara desert in North Africa after vaporizing the native forests there.
In the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible (Gen 8:11), Noah was given an olive branch by a dove after the great flood as a symbol of peace and love of God, which it remains today. In the book of Exodus, Moses explains that God expected olive oil to be used in various rituals that were performed by priests of Israel. Olive oil was used as an anointing oil to be poured over the heads of Kings and priests that acknowledged their authority as an agent of God. Many other references to olives are given in the Bible. Psalms 52:8 "But I am like the green olive tree in the house of God, I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever." Finally, Jesus was to spend his last day praying at the mount of olives garden of Gethsemane, in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. Jesus was arrested there, tried, convicted, crucified and later ascended to heaven, after his resurrection from the tomb.
Impressionist artists were stunned by the antique age and beauty of olive trees and their productiveness that resulted in masterpiece paintings by Van Gogh, Cezanne, Renoir, and Matisse. The world's great Biblical reporters, literary writers, and poets immortalized the olive tree, such people as Jesus, Milton, Shakespeare, and Lord Byron.
Thomas Jefferson wrote "The olive tree is the richest gift of heaven." The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has reported "Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, who traveled abroad, brought plant material such as olive trees and rice back to the U.S. to develop United States agricultural production." Thomas Jefferson was the U.S. ambassador to France during the Revolutionary War, and he began to import olive trees and seeds into the southern U.S. The excessive humidity of South Carolina and Georgia did not allow profitable olive tree orchards to develop properly in those areas. Jefferson wrote "The greatest service which can be rendered to any country is to add a useful plant to its culture." He ranked his introduction of the olive tree and dry rice into South Carolina as two of his top lifetime achievements. Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Ronaldson on January 13, 1813, "it is now twenty-five years since I sent them (southern planters) two shipments of about 500 plants of the olive tree of Aix, the finest olive trees in the world."
The fragrant flowers of olive trees are small and creamy white, hidden within the thick leaves. Some cultivars will self pollinate, but others will not. The blossoms usually begin appearing in April and can continue for many months. A wild, seedling olive tree normally begins to flower and produce fruit at the age of 8 years. The fruit of the olive tree is a purplish-black when completely ripe, but a few cultivars are green when ripe and some olives turn a color of copper-brown. The size of the olive fruit is variable, even on the same tree, and the shape ranges from round to oval with pointed ends. Some olives can be eaten fresh after sun-drying and the taste is sweet, but most olive cultivars are bitter and must be treated by various chemical solutions before developing into edible olives. If the olives are thinned on the limbs of the trees to 2 or 3 per twig, the ultimate size of the olives will be much larger. The fruit is gathered in mid October and should be processed as soon as possible to prevent fermentation and a decline in quality.
The leaves of olive trees are gray-green and are replaced at 2-3 year intervals during the spring after new growth appears. Pruning yearly and severely is very important to insure continued production. The trees have the unproductive limbs removed, "so that it will be more fruitful" John 15:2. An olive tree can grow to 50 feet with a limb spread of 30 feet, but most growers will keep the tree pruned to 20 feet to assure maximum production. New sprouts and trees will emerge from the olive tree stump roots, even if the trees are cut down. Some olive trees are believed to be over a thousand years old, and most will live to the ripe old age of 500 years.
Olives generally are beaten off trees with poles, harvested mechanically or by shaking the fruit from the trees onto canvas. Most ripening olives are removed from the trees after the majority of the fruit begins to change in color. It is important to squeeze out the olive oil within a day after harvesting or else fermentation or decline in flavor and quality will occur. The olive oil can be consumed or used in cooking immediately after its collection from the press. Olive oils are unique and distinct, each brand of olive oil having its own character, as determined by many factors, like those unique flavor differences found in fine wines. Prepared commercial olive oils can vary greatly in aroma, fruit flavor; whether the taste is, flowery, nutty, delicate, or mild, and the coloring of olive oil is quite variable.
Olive oil produces many health benefits when used in cooking or when poured over salads. The use of olive oil can improve digestion and can benefit heart metabolism through its low content of cholesterol. Experts claim that olive oil consumption will cause a person to grow shiny hair, prevent dandruff, prevent wrinkles, prevent dry skin and acne, strengthen nails, stop muscle aching, lower blood pressure and cancel out the effects of alcohol.
Olive trees can survive droughts and strong winds, and they grow well on well drained soils up to a pH of 8.5 and the trees can tolerate salt water conditions. In Europe, olive trees are normally fertilized every other year with an organic fertilizer. Alternate bearing can be avoided by heavy pruning and generally the trees respond to this very quickly and favorably.
Olive trees should be purchased that have been vegetatively propagated or grafted, because the seed grown trees will revert to a wild type that yields small olives with an insipid taste. Olive trees are more resistant to diseases and insects than any other fruit tree and, therefore, are sprayed less than any other crop.
The Romans conquered Greece in 146 BC, and the victors took olive secrets to Rome, but since then Greece has remained the greatest exporter of olive oil during the centuries. The olive tree seems to be perfectly adapted for growing in the mild climate of the Mediterranean countries. The trees grow well in dry areas with mild winters and long hot summers, even enduring drought conditions or high winds. The European area of the Mediterranean produces 98% of the world olive oil supply. Olive seed are believed to have been brought to California in 1769 to grow into trees hardy to 12 degrees Fahrenheit. Those olive trees were cultivated in the Franciscan Spanish monasteries.
Even though commercial production of olives in the United States is only 2% of the world market, great interest in growing olives throughout the South has been stimulated by the recent introduction of promising cold hardy olive trees from European hybridizers. Many European immigrants to the United States grow their own olive trees in large pots, that can be moved in and out of the house during seasonal changes.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/the-history-of-olives-and-olive-trees-2390918.html
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News Alumni Giving Items of Interest College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Man in the middle: Scott Marlow strives to strengthen family farms
With the Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA, Scott Marlow promotes sustainable agriculture; helps to protect diversity of plants, animal and people; and tries to ensure responsible use of new technologies.
Photo by Becky Kirkland
For Scott Marlow, the son of a minister and grandson of a farmer, there's something sacred about the earthly enterprise of farming - something worth working hard for, in the face of oftentimes discouraging odds.
"Bringing food from the land, being a caretaker of the species - there's something special there," he says. "It's not just another business."
While not a farmer himself, Marlow works every day to strengthen farming and farm families through his efforts with the Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA. The College of Agriculture of Life Sciences alumnus serves as RAFI's director of community-based agriculture.
A Pennsylvania native, Marlow earned a master's degree in crop science from N.C. State University after earning a bachelor's degree in political science from Duke University. He was interested in pursuing a career in hunger and agricultural policy, and he knew that additional science training would give him a deeper foundation.
"In my courses at Duke, lecturers would come in and give us numbers, and I had no way to tell if they were telling the truth or not," he said. "I wanted to know what the numbers meant, and I didn't have the framework. Having an agricultural science background makes me a better policy person, I think, and I got that through N.C. State."
After working for on an agricultural project in Jamaica and in the College's soybean breeding program, Marlow joined RAFI, which works to promote sustainable agriculture; strengthen family farms and rural communities; protect diversity of plants, animals and people; and ensure responsible use of new technologies. Marlow's work with the non-profit has ranged from conducting on-farm research to helping develop programs to aid the clergy's understanding of the dramatic changes taking place in rural America and the mental toll these changes have taken on producers, their families and their communities.
Through RAFI, he's had the chance to collaborate frequently with his former coworkers, teachers and others in the College. With Dr. Rick Brandenburg of the Department of Entomology, for example, Marlow conducted on-farm research to help farmers better understand the threat from rootworms and to avoid costly pesticide applications. By participating in the research, farmers saw firsthand the costs versus the benefits of using insecticides to control the pests.
"What we found was that in less than 10 fields out of hundreds would it be economically advisable to use the pesticide," Marlow said. "When we followed up last year with a quarter of the farmers who had participated in the research, we found that they had dropped their production costs by 35 to 40 bucks per acre. That's a substantial savings."
That experience working directly with farmers, on their farms, also helped position Marlow to help teach an N.C. State course in participatory research with Drs. Keith Baldwin, now with N.C. A&T State University, and Nancy Creamer, director of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems in Goldsboro.
And, he says, it has helped inform his work in the public policy arena. "We try to work at the local level and then take that understanding of what's happening at the local level to policymaking levels," he says. Recently, Marlow has focused on helping farmers survive amid structural changes that have made survival hard for independent family farms that are too big to sell directly to consumers and too small to compete in commodities markets.
Traditionally the heart of American agriculture, "agriculture of the middle," as it's come to be called, is disappearing, Marlow says, and the families and communities that have depended on it are in the midst of a difficult transition.
To address the trend, Marlow serves on a national Agriculture of the Middle initiative task force. The initiative, supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, seeks to renew agriculture of the middle by connecting it with promising consumer trends. "There's a developing market for food and products that are produced in sustainable systems, and consumers are seeking out products from family farms," Marlow says. "It is the farms in the middle that have a comparative advantage in responding to this demand because their size allows them to be flexible enough to implement new production and marketing systems but with enough volume to supply significant markets.
"The question," he says, is whether "the infrastructure can be created to connect farmers of the middle with these emerging markets quickly enough to keep the rapidly disappearing farms in operation."
Success, Marlow says, will also require public policy changes as well as research and education support from land-grant universities like N.C. State and nonprofits like RAFI.
- Dee Shore | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/8563 | Farmers and Ranchers Travel to Washington, DC to Speak Out on the 2012 Farm Bill
Farmers Speak Out On 2012 Farm Bill
— Family Farmers, Ranchers, and Food Advocates to Testify Before Congress —
Washington, DC March 6, 2012 – On Tuesday and Wednesday, nearly 30 independent family farmers and ranchers from 17 states are traveling to Capitol Hill to share their stories and speak out for crucial farm bill programs that enable them to produce healthy food, build community, and sustain the environment.
Brian Gronski of Groche Organic Farms LLC in Suamico, Wisconsin is among those farmers making the trip to Washington: he’s been farming part-time for 35 years, but just two years ago received an EQIP Organic Initiative grant and financing through the Farm Service Agency (FSA) Beginning Farmer and Rancher (BFR) loan program, both of which enabled him to transition into full-time organic vegetable production. Their new mission on the farm is to feed 300 families organically through four seasons of the year — a feat made possible by another EQIP grant that helped finance a season-extending hoop house.
As Congress continues work on the 2012 Farm Bill, farmers from California to New York have their livelihoods at stake as the programs they use and value face grave budget cuts in Congress. Gronski and others will offer a farmer’s perspective on why key programs matter and how they can be improved, including:
Ensuring a sustainable future for American agriculture through the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act
Creating jobs, spurring economic opportunities, and increasing access to fresh, healthy food through the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act
Supporting innovation for today and tomorrow’s farmers through strong research, extension, and education programs
Protecting our natural resources through robust on-farm conservation programs, including the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program
Gronski says he’s coming to Washington because “it’s an opportunity to be a voice for the organic and sustainable community and to give direction to the farm bill, which goes to feeding our country […] We need to do that smarter and better.” Though he knows Congressional purse strings are tight these days, he says that his new organic vegetable operation would have been impossible without EQIP and the Beginning Farmers program. “It’s not a handout,” Gronski explains, “it’s a helping hand. It’s an investment because we’re going to pay it all back, with interest.”
Farm Bill, Press Releases Comments are closed. | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/9449 | Marketing Market outlook Recent report shows sheep market holds steady Written by Natasha Wheeler Buffalo – Bridger Feuz, UW Extension livestock marketing specialist, is optimistic about the market outlook for sheep.
“We have had a steady increase in consumer confidence,” he said.
Feuz was one of several speakers at the Northeast Wyoming Sheep Symposium, held Dec. 11 in Buffalo.
Feuz noted that the total U.S. population estimate continues to increase and that changes in demographics could be positive.
“We are getting more ethnic populations, and we know that the ethnic market has been a solid market for the sheep industry,” he said.
The challenge, according to Feuz, is that these populations eat less lamb after they have been in the country for some time.
“There has been some research to show that it only takes about 15 years of an immigrant living in this country for their diet to be completely changed to a more standard U.S. diet,” he stated.
Moving to imports, Feuz reported that the U.S. gets a lot of its lamb from imports, although the amount varies. He noted that the dollar is strengthening in Australia, which he considered to have a negative impact on demand.
“The good news is that Australia is at record lows in terms of production, so they don’t have a lot of supply to send to the U.S., even though they would like to, with our strengthening dollar,” he said.
Overall, he noted that consumption has held steady in the U.S., and retail prices have increased.
“A level economy has led to consistent consumption and retail prices. It has helped us stabilize demand,” Feuz said.
He also noted that supply and production have been relatively stable.
“New inventory decline has slowed. Dressed weights would indicate we are current in our inventory, and lamb and mutton production are projected to slightly increase,” stated Feuz.
Discussing inputs, he noted that corn and feed barley prices are below the five-year average. Alfalfa and other hay are still above the average but not in a shortage.
“I have talked to a lot of producers who have hay left over from last year, and they are not planning on selling,” Feuz stated. “Producers are just trying to bank hay right now.”
Looking at the fundamentals, Feuz remained optimistic as he projected that next fall’s prices will be similar to those from this fall.
Feuz also noted a number of programs that Wyoming sheep producers might find useful when managing their operations.
“The Wyoming Wool Master Program is a combination of animal production and economic topics,” he said.
Feuz recommended this day-and-a-half long program to both new and experienced producers, as it can help them to combine business management with production.
“At the Master Stockman Institute, we take producers to a location, take their car keys away and keep them there for three days, feeding them full of economics and business management,” Feuz continued.
This program, for both cattle and sheep producers, is designed to help make business decisions on the ranch, he explained.
“We give producers tools, where they can look at a business plan, doing some basic economic analysis,” he said. “Producers can take that plan to the bank and show hard facts about their own ranch and what can be done with actual costs and returns,” stated Feuz.
Lastly, he introduced the Management Transition Program, as one of the newest programs offered by UW Extension. In this course, discussions cover management skills that the current generation has already worked on and developed.”
Feuz explained that the program is designed to “translate those skills and transition them to the next generation.”
By offering these programs, UW Extension hopes to address some of the issues that are facing the sheep industry today.
Natasha Wheeler is editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Print Email Calendar of Events | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/10832 | PlantsAbout PlantsHistory & Culture of Plants The Meaning of a Beech Tree
The Meaning of a Beech Tree
Beech trees (Fagus) are members of the Fagaceae family, which includes about 1,000 genera. The family also includes familiar trees like sweet chestnuts and oaks. Beeches are tall trees, reaching 140 feet in height, with an almost equal spread. Some species, including the American beech, Fagus grandifolia, can live 300 to 400 years. Beeches are distinguished by their smooth, gray bark, relatively short trunks, sweet, edible nuts and spreading branches. Fagus grandifolia, the American beech, is the only member of the genus native to North America. Fagus sylvatica is common in Europe. Over the centuries, beech trees have acquired many meanings: religious and mythological, symbolic, therapeutic and utilitarian.
Meaning of the Name
"Fagus" is derived from a Greek word, meaning "to eat", possibly a reference to the tree's edible fruit. The common name, "beech" is from Teutonic languages and may be derived from a word meaning "book". Some sources suggest that ancient runes, which were some of the earliest books, were written on beechwood tablets or slabs. Fagus may have been an ancient Celtic tree god, significant to Celts in ancient Gaul and the Pyrenees.
Religious, Mythological and Cultural Symbolism
Beech trees may have been sacred to Zeus, king of the Greek gods. They have also been a symbol of prosperity. The trees may also have represented the goddess Diana, who presided over forests and woodlands. In ancient Gaul and the Pyrennees, Fagus may have been a tree god. In England, the iconic bluebell woods, filled in spring with bluebells (Hyacinthoides non scripta) are beech woods.
Meanings: Sustenance for Humans and Animals
The edible fruits of the beech tree are called beechnuts or "mast." Fresh beechnuts were eaten immediately or roasted, as they spoil quickly. Traditionally, mast was a ready source of food for domesticated animals (especially hogs) as well as wildlife In the nineteenth century, oil from beech nuts was used for cooking and as fuel for oil lamps. The nuts were also ground and processed into flour.
Meaning of Beeches: Beech Products
The leaves of the copper beach (Fagus sylvatica 'Atropurpurea') were once used to extract anthocyanin pigment. Beech wood was traditionally used for furniture, railroad ties, marquetry (inlays) and parquet flooring. Burning beechwood or beech chips have traditionally been a part of the process of beer and cheese making in Europe and the United States.
Meanings: Medicinal
Before being replaced by modern medicines, creosote or tar, derived from the wood of Fagus grandifolia, was used for both internal and external complaints. Its antiseptic qualities made it useful in the treatment of skin problems. It was also used as a cough remedy or expectorant, when taken internally.
beech tree meaning, fagus lore, beech tree significance About this Author
Elisabeth Ginsburg, a writer with twenty years' experience, earned an M.A. from Northwestern University and has done advanced study in horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden. Her work has been published in the "New York Times," "Christian Science Monitor," "Horticulture Magazine" and other national and regional publications. New in History & Culture of Plants Bamboo Manufacturing Process
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2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/11320 | Home » NewHampshire.com » Lifestyles
Rosaly Bass' Peterborough kitchen garden grew to a certified organic 25-acre farm
By MELANIE PLENDASpecial to the Union Leader | September 01. 2014 8:31PM
Rosaly Bass moved to New Hampshire with her husband, Perkins, in 1973 and immediately started gardening. (ANNIE CARD)
What started as a kitchen garden when Rosaly Bass moved to Peterborough and married Perkins Bass in the 1970s has grown to 25 certified-organic acres. (ANNIE CARD)
It starts with a plot of dirt and hope. The hope that somehow, given the right light, the right water and just enough care, the tiny seed plopped into an ocean of earth will turn into something new. For 77-year-old Rosaly Bass, that hope took her from a quarter-acre kitchen garden to a 25-acre career and two books. Her latest, “Organic!,” which was released earlier this year, is a handbook full of practical advice from a woman who’s spent the better part of her life figuring out the tricks to making any garden grow.Bass’ own seeds for gardening were sown as a girl. She was born to parents who believed it was good for kids to grow up on a farm. For Bass, this meant helping to take care of the family’s shorthorns and bees as well as tending the garden that fed their brood of seven.“The whole point of the farm was to feed us, there were five kids,” Bass said. “I grew up during World War II and there were a lot of shortages and we didn’t have shortages, because we were growing our own stuff. So that was sort of my introduction to being organic and growing animals and vegetables for our own use.”It was also her introduction to organic gardening.“My mother was an avid gardener and was also very concerned about the environment and against using any kind of pesticide or poison type thing at all for anything,” Bass said. “She thought it was really dangerous to people’s health. I hate to say this, but she was a real health nut. She loved (author and nutritionist) Adelle Davis. She was really, really into it. That was my introduction.” But Bass left gardening behind when she went away to Wells College to study philosophy and English literature. She eventually married and had two boys, leaving little time for much else.But then in the late 1960s, she divorced, and moved with her children to New York.“I wanted to do something really different,” she said. “So, I ended up teaching in Harlem for five years and living in New York, and my kids loved it. They were really into the whole thing.”Bass earned her master’s degree at Columbia University and landed a job teaching a fifth-grade class.
“They had taken every bad kid out of the other fifth-grade classes and put them into one class, and gave it to me,” she said. “They had gone through 13 teachers before I got them. And I survived.”More than that, the parents were so grateful to her for sticking with the class she had her choice of classes for the next four years. She chose a third grade.
To New HampshireBy then she had met Perkins Bass, the former congressman whom she would later marry. The two, along with his five kids, wound up moving to his farm in Peterborough in 1973, and Rosaly Bass immediately got to work.“Even before I married Perkins, I started growing a garden on his land,” she said. “Just sort of things for people’s kitchens, lettuce and spinach and berries, just sort of stuff that a home gardener would grow.“I was very excited about not having to work and being able to write, that was my plan. But I also started this pretty big garden... And it just grew and grew. I just really enjoyed growing food for other people.”She started out giving away the extra to the Bass side of the family, which is considerable. But there was still more. So she started selling that extra to, among others, the Folkway Restaurant. And, yet, there was still more.By 1989, when it was certified organic, her kitchen garden had grown to 25 acres. By 1990, the Basses opened Rosaly’s Farmstand. From there she started working with the University of New Hampshire and its Cooperative Extension conducting experiments to discover not only new foods that could grow in New Hampshire, but the best ways to grow them.
“We’ve learned a tremendous amount and we’re still learning,” she said. “We’re still taking on new projects and trying to make them work. And sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. “One of the experiments we’ve tried is growing our own mushrooms…Another experiment we’ve gotten involved in is growing ginger. We started doing that last year and it was very successful. People just loved having fresh ginger. So this year we have a bigger crop.”
A growing bookBass wrote her first book roughly 25 years ago, which was a compilation of articles she had written about gardening for the Monadnock Ledger.“And then I started to revise the book, because I needed more copies to sell, really looking seriously what I had written 25 years ago,” Bass said. “We had changed our practices dramatically and what is allowed if you’re certified organic has changed, I mean everything has changed.“So then I realized I was writing a whole new book.”That book was “Organic!” Bass said the book is filled with,” tricks that we’ve learned to grow them better, and tricks we’ve learned to deal with pests and disease and other stuff that happens when you grow things.”While the book is comprehensive, she said, it’s not exhaustive or exhausting for the reader and that was by design. She said she wanted to make sure that anyone from the beginner to the avid gardener could benefit from the tips, tricks, recipes and food prep ideas she’s cultivated for the past 41 years.“For me it’s just magic,” she said. “That you can put a little seed in the ground and grow something that you can eat or enjoy, like flowers. To me, the whole process is a joy.”
NH Senior Notes: AARP offering workshops on iPads, the digital-age job search AARP New Hampshire next month is bringing a free, interactive job-search workshop, “Job Search in the Digital Age,” to Manchester and... Lifestyle briefs: SEE Science Center offering 3-part LEGO mini-courseThe SEE Science Center in Manchester is encouraging kids to set aside their LEGO building instructions and use their creativity in a mini-course... 3 men with NH ties complete Air Force trainingU.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Scott J. Winslow, Airman Nawyn E. Meas and Air Force National Guard Airman 1st Class John J. Granfield graduated from... Julie Jason's Your Money: Starting points for planning a financially secure retirementMy mission is founded on my belief that, irrespective of circumstances, there is always something you can do to improve your situation. UNH to hold conference for educators on engaging with families UNH says the program will explore the critical role that partnerships between families and school staff play in the support of academic achievement... NH Club Notes: Danbury church, Grange plan joint dinner, auctionThe Blazing Star Grange says a “two-for-one event” is planned at the Grange Hall on Saturday, April 29, when the United Church of Danbury... Top news headlines
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2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/12777 | Maintaining cotton's momentum in the Mid-South Apr 21, 2017 As farm income drops, young farmers take hit Apr 14, 2017 John Bradley: Still leading the innovation charge Apr 13, 2017 This Week in Agribusiness, April 22, 2017 Apr 22, 2017 Wheat pastures and cattle
David Bennett | Jan 22, 2006
The cattle tend to follow meandering, seemingly random paths through Bo Dougan’s wheat fields. The foot-wide ribbons of bare soil are testament to the producer’s uniqueness: Dougan is one of few Arkansas producers running cattle on winter wheat pasture. Dougan, a longtime central-Arkansas farmer, controls about 7,000 acres just off I-40, east of North Little Rock in Pulaski County. About half his acres are cropland for rice, soybeans, wheat and cattle. “We have a water supply, a lake, on the farm. A spillway goes out of the lake into a bayou that eventually drains into Bayou Meto. Every drop of water on the 7,000 acres that we can recycle and re-circulate, we do.” Dougan has always raised cattle. For only nine months since 1960 has he been without cattle to care for. 1960 also happens to be the first year he raised wheat for the animals to graze on. “Wheat pasture has done very well for me. Out of all that time, only a few years have been bad luck with it. We can take thin cattle in the fall and, if we’ve got a good stand of wheat, the cattle gain weight during the winter. That’s even with a calf on them. The caveat is you’ve got to have good wheat to make that work. But it isn’t uncommon.” Dougan never takes his wheat to harvest. Instead, he turns it under in the spring. Doing so provides “a good cover crop.” Cattle on wheat wasn’t always such an oddity. “I come from around 20 miles south of here,” said Dougan. “We used to put two strands of barbed wire around a field. We had 500 acres of cotton back then. Cottonseed is a good feed for cattle so we’d turn them onto the cotton and soybean stubble. Then someone suggested planting a little wheat for them. “We’ve been doing this since back in the 1950s. When I was still at home, my father had cattle and we did it then. We had airplanes sow the wheat and then prayed for rain. It worked then and still does.” The project As Dougan is the right producer and his land is in the right spot, Al Beuerman, Pulaski County Extension agent, and John Richeson, state Extension Beef Improvement Program associate, figured he might help them with a project. “We’re working with Bo to check the economics of growing the wheat, raising it, and taking cattle off and on it,” said Beuerman. “In this state, most of the time, you’re either a cattleman or a row-crop farmer. Bo walks in both worlds easily and that makes him extremely well-suited for this project. “We’ll take some of the wheat to harvest after taking cattle off it just to see what yields will be. We want to check anything that might be economical.” If the right balance can be attained, “this could be something farmers — especially in eastern Arkansas — could do. Maybe there’s a way to have both row-crops and cattle on the same land.” For the first year of the project, the researchers are mainly waiting to see how things play out. “This is a discovery year, really,” said Richeson, a recent arrival from his native Oklahoma. “There are several items we’re aiming to track, though.” One such item is forage availability as cattle go on wheat. Another involves restriction cages in the wheat field being studied. “Before the cattle were turned on we put three restriction cages inside an approximately 25-acre field. In the spring, we’ll return and see what wheat inside the cage looks like when it isn’t grazed.” Come spring If a producer wants to take a wheat pasture to harvest, first hollow stem is usually when cattle are pulled off in the spring. Next spring, at first hollow stem, a second enclosure will be placed around the three original cages. By doing so, the researchers can check any yield differences between grazed and non-grazed wheat. Not surprisingly, a lot of work has already been done on such topics in Oklahoma and Kansas. “I grew up in Oklahoma and have experience with the grazing systems,” said Richeson. “Typically, grain yields on hard red winter wheat are very similar between grazed and non-grazed. There’s an added benefit in the grazed fields through tillering.” While research on hard red winter wheat has been done, the dominant wheat grown in Arkansas is soft red winter. Richeson isn’t sure how well the Midwest research translates to the Mid-South. “Around here, it’s different than the Oklahoma system and there’s been no work done on grazing soft red winter wheat. So, we’re looking for answers.” Much of the current project coincides with the work of Paul Beck, Merle Anders and Don Hubble, all Arkansas Extension researchers working on similar pasture questions at the Batesville, Ark., research facility (editor’s note: for more on the Batesville work see http://deltafarmpress.com/mag/farming_mix_row_crops/index.html). Anders, a soil specialist stationed in Stuttgart, Ark., will get involved in the Dougan project later on. “We want to check soil compaction and other issues he’s an expert in,” said Richeson. “This year, we’re concentrating on performance, grazing days and yield difference. Jason Kelley (Arkansas Extension wheat specialist) will also be a huge help with this.” Perceptions/opportunities With the Dougan project, Richeson admits he’s hoping to change perceptions about wheat pastures. “This is an economic opportunity that should be considered. It’s a way to diversify an operation either through a row-crop farmer purchasing stocker cattle themselves or, more likely, working with cattlemen in their off-season. “On a pasture lease, fees typically run 30 cents to 35 cents per pound of gain. And if the farmer can come back and combine the same amount of wheat as in non-grazed fields, then that’s major.” What are some of the concerns row-crop farmers talk to Richeson about in bringing cattle onto their fields? “Fencing is one — there just aren’t any fences in eastern Arkansas anymore. We believe that can be solved easily through electric fencing, or hot wire.” Water is another issue of concern. “There are opportunities through USDA incentive programs to solve that one, though.” Another issue raised is terracing. “There is certainly concern about terraces potentially being compacted and irrigation channels being hurt by cattle traffic.” Another issue is when to pull cattle off fields. This, said Richeson, depends on soil type. “If soils are sandier and drain well, cattle can be left out a lot longer. However, there are concerns about how much rainfall can be tolerated before moving cattle off a field. And, of course, you must have an alternative area to move cattle to.” Forage availability When you’re grazing cattle on wheat, the crop doesn’t present nutrition issues but forage availability ones. “Wheat is a very good feed with plenty of protein and energy for growth,” said Richeson. “It almost always meets lactating cow requirements.” But with wheat, forage availability is always a concern. “You want to have the wheat planted by the end of September to insure fall grazing. You want to fertilize in the fall and hope for enough rain to get it into the soil. With normal rain, a good grazing fall is the norm.” Dougan tries to plant wheat in soybean fields on the last week of August or the first week of September. “As soon as we get the soybeans out and see a front with rain potential coming at us, we try to put out some fertilizer. We usually use a buggy to do that.” If a rain comes, Dougan usually waits until mid- to late November before turning the cattle onto the field. A good stand of wheat will be 8 to 10 inches tall by then. This fall, the fields the researchers are watching didn’t achieve a decent stand until late. “We planted the wheat, by airplane, the first week of September. It just wouldn’t come up — not enough rain. After we cut the beans, I went back in the bean stubble with a no-till drill and planted more wheat. A rain came and the wheat came up and began growing pretty well.” Several questions Are there wheat varieties better-suited to pasture? “As far as I know there hasn’t been a lot of research on what soft red winter varieties may be best for this type of program,” said Beuerman. “We definitely want to know if there are varieties better-suited for a dual purpose. Because wheat pasture grazing is rare in Arkansas, we just don’t know right now.” Currently, Dougan has planted DeltaGrow 4500. “It’s supposed to have resistance to leaf rust, although it has the rust this fall,” said Beuerman. “I’ve been told by wheat specialists and plant pathologists that sometimes juvenile wheat plants get rust. Then later in the spring as the plant gains growth, it develops resistance to the rust. It’ll be interesting to see if the rust appears on this wheat next spring.” Dougan’s wish-list includes a university wheat variety that would fit his system better. “I’d like the University of Arkansas to develop a wheat seed we could buy at market price to plant. It’s tough to pay $7.50 for a sack of wheat we won’t even cut for yield. Actually, it’s hard to find cheap wheat seed unless you raise your own. Nowadays, when you plant two or more bushels, it costs a lot of money.” Two-tone fields Sludge from a nearby water treatment plant was put out on some of Dougan’s fields last summer. It’s easy to see where. The fields with sludge are markedly greener with healthy wheat. “The sludge has had a definite effect,” said Dougan. “It was injected into the ground in early summer. They let the sludge from the treatment center dry down to a certain moisture and then bring it out in a big truck and inject it about 6 inches deep.” How does Dougan deal with compaction? “Usually in the spring we hip the ground up. We used to work the ground with chisel plows and V-rippers and do it up right. But since diesel fuel got so high, we don’t do that anymore. “We go into the bean stubble and roll it into a bed. We let a shower melt it down a little and then we hip it back up again. We might hip three times. Then, we knock the tops of beds off — or roll them down if the soil is soft enough — and plant on top. I don’t have all the answers, but I know that grazing cattle on green pastures is much cheaper than feeding them hay.” e-mail: [email protected] | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/12796 | Directory IRI Spotlight: Betting on the Rains
IRI Spotlight: Betting on the Rains
By Caitlin Kopcik To view the original story with images on the IRI website, please click here. Para Espanol, please click here.
Rising global food prices and favorable rainfall patterns in recent decades have allowed farmers in South America's Southern Cone region to grow crops on formerly marginal lands. But if climate patterns shift and the rains start to fail, the region could face devastating losses in its economy, livelihoods and infrastructure.
The IRI is working with local partners to characterize the climatic variability of the region and to take actions that will allow people in these marginal lands to be more resilient to climate-related risks.
The countries of Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay, also known as South America's Southern Cone, have seen a major agricultural shift over the past 20 years. The region has become one of the most important producers of staple crops feeding a growing population: corn, wheat and soybeans (see graph). Rising global food prices have provided economic incentive for farmers to focus production on these crops to much success. Demand has also led farmers to cultivate large areas of "frontier" land--traditionally used only for raising livestock due to climate and land conditions rendering it unsuitable for agriculture. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, more than 25 million hectares of frontier lands were converted to agriculture between 1965 and 2005. Despite having been beneficial to farmers thus far, such changes bring to question the conditions that have allowed this shift to happen.
"In the western region of the Argentinian Pampas, for example, there are areas that didn't get enough rainfall to support crops in the 1950s and 1960s. But throughout the later quarter of the 20th century, rainfall during the spring and summer increased, and these places are now able to sustain annual crops," says Walter Baethgen, the head of IRI's Latin America regional program. The ability for farmers to plant crops and expand this frontier clearly has been facilitated by increases in precipitation. What is less clear is the duration of such changes.
"Are these precipitation patterns part of a multidecadal cycle or a permanent, long-term trend? This is of grave importance to the future of farmers in the Southern Cone," Baethgen says. Such uncertainties aren't limited to changing precipitation, however. The frontier soils are often already marginal, characterized by low fertility and high erosion risks- adding another element of fragility to an already tenuous future.
Baethgen and colleagues from the National Agricultural Research Institutes of the Southern Cone, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA-PROCISUR) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), have been awarded funding from Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Initiative (SECCI) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to assess the vulnerability of these changes in the agricultural frontier.
"This project could be considered a platform to identify new ways to help the farmers and society of a crucial world region in reducing the vulnerability of food production in the years to come," says Roberto Diaz a senior researcher from Uruguay's Instituto Nacional de Investigacion Agropecuaria (INIA), who is collaborating with Baethgen on the project.
The joint research will compile and examine the climate history of the Southern Cone over the past 80 years to understand how it has varied across decades and how it can possibly vary in the future. By studying how climate change can alter rainfall, researchers have a better understanding of the nature and magnitude of the current and future risks that threaten farming and other livelihoods in the region. "We can then see what technologies, production systems and water resource management practices are available to people there that can help reduce those risks," Baethgen says.
In a separate Fontagro (also IDB) funded project, IRI will be working with the same national agricultural research institutes of the region, IICA-PROCISUR and the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) to improve the seasonal climate forecasts available for the Southern Cone. In identifying ways in which forecasts and other climate-relevant information can assist water management decision making, the project seeks to provide information and tools to improve water use efficiency (including irrigation) throughout the region under the threats of a changing climate.
Caitlin Kopcik is a student in the Climate and Society master's program at Columbia. In partial completion of her degree, she will be interning with Americas regional office of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre located in Panama, with a focus on increasing their ability to access, interpret and utilize available information on climate-related risks.
About the IRI
The IRI works on the development and implementation of strategies to manage climate related risks and opportunities. Building on a multidisciplinary core of expertise, IRI partners with research institutions and local stakeholders to best understand needs, risks and possibilities. The IRI supports sustainable development by bringing the best science to bear on managing climate risks in sectors such as agriculture, food security, water resources, and health. By providing practical advancements that enable better management of climate related risks and opportunities in the present, we are creating solutions that will increase adaptability to long term climate change. The IRI was established as a cooperative agreement between NOAA's Climate Program Office and Columbia University. It is part of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and is located at the Lamont Campus.
Postdoctoral Fellows Program DONATE | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/15473 | In a corner of the Himalayas, India now has its first organic state Written by
Madhura Karnik
& Manu Balachandran
Quartz india
These hills are so green. (Reuters/Rupak De Chowdhuri)
Sikkim, the northeastern Indian state snuggled between Bhutan and Nepal, has now rid its agricultural land of pesticides and fertilizers making it the country’s first organic state.
The 75,000-hectare area was transformed as per the policies of the Indian government’s National Programme for Organic Production, meant to promote organic farming. This form of agriculture typically avoids the use of pesticides, fertilisers, genetically modified crops, and other artificial inputs. Instead, farmers use natural alternatives such as green manure and compost.
“We achieved fully organic status by the end of December. Prime minister Narendra Modi will formally announce this at a sustainable agriculture conference in Gangtok on Jan. 18,” S. Anbalagan, executive director of the Sikkim Organic Mission (SOM), told the Press Trust for India on Jan. 14.
Harmful pesticides
In 2003, Sikkim chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling passed a resolution in the state legislative assembly, vowing to make the Himalayan state completely organic, and subsequently banned synthetic fertilisers and pesticides. Sikkim has one of the smallest agricultural land area in the country and it mainly produces maize, paddy and cardamom. This is what the SOM website wrote about the ban:
The ban of synthetic fertilisers, and pesticides at local level has led to reduction in the use of fossil fuels and emission of green house gases in addition to sequestering native soil and ecology of the state thereby playing an important albeit small role in mitigating the effects of climate change which is very significant in the fragile Himalayan ecosystem.
For long, India has grappled with challenges relating to the safety of pesticides and fertilisers. Much of that was a result of the Green Revolution, an initiative launched in the late 1960s to increase food production. This led to an increase in the use of modified seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, but also had socioeconomic cost due to environmental damages.
For instance, in May 2011, India’s supreme court passed an interim order banning production and sale of endosulfan, a deadly pesticide, after over 150 people in the south Indian state of Kerala were affected by hydrocephalus, which causes a swelling of the head, and mental retardation.
“It is a great initiative. States are now taking the lead on their own to implement such policies, and we believe they (policies) are in the right direction,” Amit Khurana, the programme head of New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment’s food safety team, told Quartz.
“India’s pesticide management programme has a lot of gaps,” Khurana added. “For instance, we need a system in place that regulates the daily acceptable intake of pesticides. There are also concerns that close to one-fifth of pesticides used in the country don’t have their minimal residual limit approved by food safety authorities.”
On the flipside, as states gradually adopt organic farming, there could also be a drop in yields. According to a research report by Jitendra Pandey and Ashima Singh of the Banaras Hindu University, organic farms yield between 10% and 15% less than traditional farms. However, the report added, the lower yield was balanced by “lower input costs and higher margins.” | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/15835 | Home Enhancing the Ecological Integrity and Ecological Services of Halgolla Estate
Wed, 10 Apr 2013 Halgolla is a 1,196 ha tea estate managed by Kelani Valley Plantations PLC. It is located in Yatiyanthota in the Sabaragamuwa Province.The Wewalthalawa watershed is a unique and isolated watershed area within Halgolla Estate, and forms the catchment of Olu Oya, which feeds the Kelani River through Wee Oya. Photo: IUCNSL
The natural and semi-natural areas of the Wewalthalawa watershed function as an important repository of Sri Lanka’s biodiversity. Many of Sri Lanka’s endemic and threatened species, including faunal species such as the Rhino-horn lizard (Ceratophora stoddartii) and Sri Lanka whistling thrush (Myophonus blighi), and rare floral species such as Vatica lewisiana and Gordonia speciosa, have been recorded in these habitats. Some of these species have been recorded for the very first time in this region, making these natural habitats immensely important for the conservation of Sri Lanka’s biodiversity, overall. Recognizing the ecological importance and conservation needs of the Wewalthalawa watershed, the management of the estate entered into a partnership with IUCN Sri Lanka. The objective of this initiative was to develop a management plan for the natural areas that lie within the estate premises, and to improve the ecological integrity and watershed services of the property, overall. As such, IUCN Sri Lanka designed and implemented a project to meet these objectives within the overall framework of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).<>n As an initial step, the biodiversity and hydrological characteristics of the Wewalthalawa watershed were assessed, with the land-use patterns and streams found in the area being mapped. Based on the preliminary information gathered, the major threats associated with the watershed were also identified. Subsequently, a watershed management action plan, with the solutions to mitigate these threats and issues, was developed. This action plan was implemented by the IUCN team through the undertaking of physical and hydrological interventions, as well as ecological restoration activities.
In addition, Gordonia speciosa – a nationally threatened endemic species with a highly restricted range – was propagated as part of the project, in an effort to conserve this extremely rare species. A monitoring protocol has also been developed in order to allow the estate management to evaluate the effectiveness of the action plan, and facilitate the improvement of management actions in future. A number of awareness raising programmes targeting key stakeholders, such as estate management, staff and workers, local communities, school children, local government officials and representatives from neighbouring plantations, were also conducted by IUCN. Awareness materials, including booklets, leaflets and posters, were also prepared in the local languages (English, Sinhala and Tamil) for dissemination among key stakeholders. The successful completion of the project has laid the foundation for the application of integrated watershed management practices in the area and its surroundings, and initiated a dialogue between key stakeholders, which will, ultimately, facilitate the long-term sustainable management of the watershed and its natural resources. Location: Sri Lanka | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/15996 | The Top 5 Most Vital Foods in the History of the WorldImage credit: WikipediaOne of the greatest achievements in the history of human kind is the shift of a simple question, the addition of the word “What” to the question “Will I eat today?” In most parts of the so-called modern world (the world is always “modern” in its present state, after all), true hunger and starvation are things of the past. While many still suffer from a lack of sufficient food, most of us have not only enough food but also choices of what we will eat. This was not always the case, not by a long shot. Historically, these are the five most important sources of human nourishment. 5 PotatoesFirst cultivated in what is now Peru over 10,000 years ago, anyone who doubts the importance of this starchy tuber need look back less than two centuries to the Great Irish Famine, AKA The Irish Potato Famine, to understand how vital it can be. Potatoes come in thousands of varieties and are grown all around the world. The more colorful varieties pack plenty of vitamins and all potatoes are rich in carbohydrates.4 FishFish is the source of more than a fifth of the annual protein intake for more than two and a half billion people today, and has traditionally been a foodstuff of immense importance as well. The presence of fish in rivers, lakes and the sea has made them the staple of the diet of people ranging from the Arctic to the Caribbean to the Middle East and beyond. Fish are rich in protein and omega acids, as well as other vitamins and compounds.
3 WheatThe third of the Big Three staple starches, wheat was first cultivated in northern Africa and the Middle East. It is now grown worldwide, with annual production near 700 million tons. Wheat is higher in protein than maize or rice and is actually consumed in greater quantity than either of the other staple starches in much of the world. It also might be the oldest known starch, with evidence of some wild wheat harvesting going back 20,000 years!2 Maize/CornThe world’s second most widely consumed staple today, maize was first cultivated in years predating accurate historical records in Mesoamerica. By the second millennium B.C. it has spread throughout most of the Americas and was being consumed in many varieties. By the 15th Century, maize/corn was being grown in Europe as well and was soon harvested worldwide. Corn crops are of immense importance to humans both as a direct food source and as feed for animals. Other corn products, from syrup to starch to ethanol, are used in most every aspect of our daily lives. Almost a billion tons of corn is harvested each year globally.1 RiceRice remains the largest staple food consumed on earth today, as it has been since its first noted planting, some 14,000 years ago. Unlike many other staple crops, such as wheat or barley, which require milling, rice need only be harvested, hulled and cooked to provide nourishment, thus making it a wonderfully simple source of carbohydrates. Today, rice provides up to 20% of all human calories consumed each year.SourceDmoz.org: Cereals: RiceNytimes.com: Tracking the Ancestry of Corn Back 9,000 YearsWheatworld.org: Want a few pieces of wheat trivia to throw at your friends?FAO.org: Many of the world's poorest people depend on fishFAO.org: The Potato
Today's Random ListsThe Top 5 Most Amazing Moons in the Solar SystemScience FactsThe Top 5 Most Garish Celebrity GravesRandom FactsThe Top 5 Most Famous KidnappingsRandom Facts5 Things You Didn’t Know These Corporations DidRandom Facts5 Things You Never Knew About Sigmund FreudRandom Facts | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/16224 | Ethiopia Strategy Support Program September 27, 2013 by cruiz Women watering crops in Ethiopia - IFPRI Images
Ethiopia has achieved significant reductions in poverty in recent years. While nearly 46 percent of the population resided below the poverty line in 1995, this figure dropped to nearly 30 percent by 2011, according to the World Bank. This achievement can be attributed, in part, to policies that effectively targeted the rural poor.
Central to the development of effective policy responses is sound research. IFPRI initiated its research program in Ethiopia in the 1980s, producing influential studies on famine and food insecurity. These research results provided much-needed insight into the causes of and appropriate policy responses to drought-related food shortages in Ethiopia and beyond.
In 2004, IFPRI launched the Ethiopia Strategy Support Program—in partnership with the government of Ethiopia and regional partners—to cultivate country specific solutions. In Ethiopia, as in many countries, development strategies face design, implementation, and monitoring challenges. IFPRI’s in-country work is dedicated to reducing hunger and undernutrition throughout Ethiopia. This is accomplished by fostering the efforts of universities, government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations as they shape the country’s development priorities and strategies.
Through the years, with support from several donors including Irish Aid, USAID, Canada, and the UK department for International Development (DFID), the Ethiopia Strategy Support Program has promoted sustainable development and poverty reduction in Ethiopia through policy-oriented research, capacity building, strengthening of institutions, and an open dialogue on economic and agricultural policy. Key local partners include the Ethiopian Development Research Institute, the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Agricultural Transformation Agency, and the Ethiopian Economics Association.
An external impact evaluation has revealed the following outcomes of the Ethiopia Strategy Support Program:
The program has strengthened the capacity of five core national institutions in their role as local partners: Ethiopian Development Research Institute, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the Central Statistical Agency, and the Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research.
There is widespread acknowledgement within the donor community in Ethiopia that IFPRI’s research contributed substantially both to the establishment of donor priorities and efforts to support government policies consistent with those priorities.
The Ethiopian computable general equilibrium model, developed by IFPRI together with local partners, has been used in national policy formation, such as the exchange rate devaluation in 2010, in which IFPRI research indicated that devaluation of the Ethiopian birr was the best way to deal with excess demand for foreign exchange. The government took this input into consideration and the birr was allowed to depreciate significantly.
The Productive Safety Net Programme: The Productive Safety Net Programme is the second-largest social safety net program in Africa south of the Sahara, targeting transfers to poor households through public works and direct support. IFPRI played a principal role in monitoring and evaluating the program’s effectiveness in addressing the formidable food security challenges faced by Ethiopia’s poorest citizens. IFPRI’s work has been useful in measuring program outcomes and impacts, keeping stakeholders well informed about the program’s operations, and contributing to in-depth donor coordination, which has fostered an unusually open and constructive environment among donors. These contributions led directly to strong support for IFPRI to design and execute sophisticated monitoring and evaluation systems for other major funded programs such as the Agricultural Growth Program.
Ethiopia Commodity Exchange: IFPRI’s research and technical support on agricultural commodity markets led to the launch of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange. The Exchange, by generating market information for farmers on important crops such as coffee, sesame, haricot beans, maize, and wheat, is bringing transparency and integrity to the pricing system, which increases smallholder farmers’ incomes by allowing them to sell at higher prices.
Agricultural Transformation Agency: Currently, IFPRI is providing technical research, capacity building, and policy communications support to Ethiopia’s Agricultural Transformation Agency. This new government agency, a catalyst for sustainable change in the sector, is developing a national agenda to achieve both growth and food security by addressing systemic bottlenecks.
Since 2004, the government has relied heavily on IFPRI’s analysis in formulating and implementing the Agricultural Development Led Industrialization Strategy. In addition, IFPRI worked with the Central Statistical Agency to provide analysis to the Agricultural Growth Program, a major government project.
IFPRI has built capacity at partner institutions such as the Central Statistical Agency, the Ethiopian Development Research Institute, and national universities.
The Ethiopia Strategy Support Program has trained more than 800 Ethiopian participants in areas such as computer economic models and mapping —a contribution that has been applied in a variety of research contexts, from the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme goals to climate change scenarios in Ethiopia.
Since 2009, 40 working papers and research notes, jointly authored with the Ethiopian Development Research Institute, have been published in an effort to improve access to relevant research results at the country level. These analyses have provided timely inputs to the government’s formulation of exchange rate and wheat price stabilization policies and have supported the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme’s assessment of the implications of agricultural investments on growth and poverty.
Together with local partners, IFPRI has published several atlases that have been met with keen interest from stakeholders. In particular, the Atlas of the Ethiopian Rural Economy (2006), the Population and Housing Census Atlas of Ethiopia 2007 (2011), and the Atlas of Agricultural Statistics 2006/07–2010/11 (2011) are in high demand for decision making and spurring policy dialogue.
For additional information, please go to the ESSP outcome notes.
Filed Under: Canada (Global Affairs), Development Strategies, Eastern and Southern Africa, Ethiopia, Ireland, UK (Department for International Development), USA (US Agency for International Development) Tagged With: Canada, EDRI, Ethiopia, Ireland, UK Department for International Development, USAID
The Outcome Brochures show how IFPRI’s food policy research has contributed to reducing poverty and improving food security for the world’s poor in a number of key areas. With a focus on a particular country, region, or donor organization, the brochures highlight the outcomes, use or influence of the IFPRI’s research programs.
As part of IFPRI’s 40th Anniversary celebration, 12 stories were published that reflect on the Institute’s work on key issues, such as social protection, gender, nutrition, and partnerships with key countries, including Bangladesh and Ethiopia.
Impact Assessment work examines the policy and development outcomes and contributions to impact of IFPRI's research. | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/16486 | Horticulture shake-up 'too fast'
Sarina Locke
Jeremy Story Carter
Farmer groups want more time and a different location than the Ausveg Conference to vote on Horticulture Australia changes. (Stephanie Anderson)
Hurrying Horticulture reform has some growers worried
Horticulture Australia Ltd accepts need to change (Sarina Locke)
Map: Sydney 2000
The restructure of Horticulture Australia, the peak research and development body, is happening too fast for some farmer groups.A report, released last month, found that, due to conflict of interest with Peak Industry Bodies, Horticulture Australia needed to transition to grower ownership.The board has accepted the report, and has called an Extraordinary General Meeting in Cairns June 20th 2014, coinciding with the Ausveg conference 19-21st June.Jan Davis, from the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers, says it should be held in a more central location and she needs more time."I have a concern that they're doing it with undue haste," says Ms Davis."It's a very serious piece of work. "We've been given barely enough legal notice to have this meeting and that means that members like me are unable not only to consult with my board, but with my membership, about what their views are.The EGM will be held in Cairns after the Board meets on June 19."It's a very difficult location for most industry groups to get to and very expensive to get to and it's be held with the Ausveg conference," Ms Davis said."It's certainly not appropriate to be in a location as far away as Cairns and tied to an industry group. "We needed to have it a bit later on, after we've had time to think about it, and in a Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra location where we have most of these things, so that all of us can get there and have an informed discussion knowing the thoughts that some of our people would have coming into that."Three-quarters of the members, the 43 peak industry bodies from fruit to nuts, turf and vegetables, will need to vote in favour of changing the constitution to remove them as shareholders of Horticulture Australia and hand over to growers.John Lloyd, the CEO of Horticulture Australia, defends the timing and co-location of the meeting at the Ausveg conference."It's not a rush. It's a set timeline. "This statutory review is a three-year review. We have a three-month timeframe to reply with an implementation plan to government. "Our next Board meeting is on the 19th of June. We have a 21-day period to put a resolution to our members for the EGM. "Ausveg, or the vegetable industry, pays about a third of all the R&D levies, so it's natural the board would like to go to the Ausveg Conference. "So it's not about being with Ausveg, it's about being in the next Board meeting." Support for restructureNotwithstanding the misgivings about the pace of change, the shift appears to have support including from the Produce Marketing Association, a body which represents fresh produce through the supply chain from seed to transport, growers, packers and retailers. Michael Worthington, CEO of PMA, says it will break up vested interest in horticulture research and marketing, and allow it to focus on the big picture for the future of this $9 billion sector."Like market access, biosecurity, fruit fly, food safety, and robotics, anything to do with future technology that's going to transform our industry."Mr Worthington says if growers are the owners, peak industry bodies (PIBs) will be concentrating on delivering a service which will save money and be more transparent."There will always be a need for some organisations that can help bring together growers, identifying research projects," he said."They'll still happen in a way that is much more transparent, streamlined, a lot lower costs. Those PIBs will have to justify to their membership, why they should be there."Growers urged to registerAs there is no list of growers, they'll be given 12 months to register voluntarily as levy payers. Helena Whitman, the executive manager of Vegetable Growers of Victoria, says privacy laws would need to change to reveal the levy payers."The vegetable levy is paid at the first point of sale, so the Levy Management Unit won't be able to identify who the levy payers are."She says not even the Australian Bureau of Statistics has an accurate record of the number of vegetable growers. Audio:
Victorian vegetable industry concerned over HAL changes
"You've got things like the Privacy Act, if a market agent pays a levy on behalf of a grower, that market agent really can't give that grower's information to anybody else."The Vegetable Growers of Victoria wrote in its submission to the ACIL Allen review that research capability was lost in Victoria.She says this review hasn't addressed the problem."A lot of our very good researchers have moved onto other areas, so I'm not sure how we're going to get these researchers back."With the Federal Government keen to see changes in Horticulture Australia, the suggestion is growers get up to speed - soon.
vegetable-fruit-nuts,
cairns-4870,
bundaberg-4670,
launceston-7250,
sale-3850
First posted June 03, 2014 12:26:50
Contact Sarina Locke
stories from New South Wales | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/16931 | Breaking the balance
Stephen Coan
BRAKES are being heavily applied in hindsight following a legal blunder that has seen scores of KwaZulu-Natal farmers being granted permission to plough up virgin grasslands, most of them in the midlands.
Since August last year, agricultural extension officers from the provincial Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development (DAE&RD) have been advising farmers that they can plough up to 100 hectares of virgin grassland without environmental authorisation on the basis of obtaining a Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act (Cara) permit only. These are issued by the national department. This appears to be the result of a misreading of the legislation as environmental authorisation is still required in terms of the National Environmental Management Act (Nema).
Permits were issued by the national Department of Agriculture for a total of 3 876 hectares, 579 of which are situated in irreplaceable mist-belt grassland and the majority in sensitive biodiversity areas. Alarmingly, 65% of the applications for which Cara permits were granted, fall within “Biodiversity Priority 1 areas”.
The granting of permits in suchareas could see the province fail to achieve its stated conservation goals and targets.
Ploughing has already gone ahead in some areas and this could have a dramatic impact on the already dwindling populations of the endangered Oribi Antelope and the critically endangered Wattled Crane, as well as various other grassland species of fauna and flora.
In all, 80 permits to break virgin land were granted before the mistake was discovered and the subsequent issuing of permits frozen. The provincial DAE sent letters to farmers in January instructing them to stop the cultivation of land. According to provincial DAE spokesperson Zahhele Nyuswa, this instruction applies specifically to farmers who have received Cara permits from the national department “for the cultivation of five hectares or more, without an environmental authorisation from DAE&RD, in terms of EIA [environmental impact assessment] Regulations, 2010, published in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998, effective 02 August 2010.”
The provincial DAE has since established a task team to investigate and report on the matter and the resultant impact. The team is currently visiting all affected farmers to determine the level of cultivation.
“Farmers who have not started [cultivation] are advised not to start,” says Nyuswa. “Those who have, are advised to stop. In both instances, the department will advise on the way forward to each farmer.
“Farmers are advised to contact Environmental Services offices in their respective districts to get more information about EIA regulations applicable in their circumstance prior to ploughing or clearing of land, and about Cara requirements,” he says.
Meanwhile, according to Nyuswa, the provincial DAE is to strengthen co-operation with the national departments on the issuing of Cara permits in identifying applications that require both environmental authorisation and Cara permits.
In a statement, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife says it views the apparent misunderstanding of the EIA regulations and the fact that numerous farmers in the KZN midlands have exercised their Cara permits without obtaining the necessary environmental authorisations in a very serious light. “The level of land transformation in the KZN midlands is high, resulting in small and highly fragmented grassland patches that may be unviable from an ecological perspective,” says Andrew Blackmore, head of integrated environmental management at Ezemvelo.
“These temperate grassland fragments are home to endangered and even critically endangered fauna and flora. Further transformation of such habitat could have disastrous implications for species and habitat already under extreme pressure.”
Ezemvelo is assisting the relevant government departments in resolving the matter and is also represented on the provincial DAE task team.
Ezemvelo has also done an aerial photographic survey of all the farms for which only Cara permits were granted. This revealed that a number of areas have already been cultivated without the necessary environmental authorisations. One of these areas is on a farm located within a proposed KZN Biodiversity Stewardship site.
To add insult to injury, in some cases the biodiversity and ecosystem importance of the areas applied for (and in some cases already ploughed), were known to both the landowner and the agricultural extension officer, as permits had been applied for the same areas in the past and were either withdrawn or denied environmental authorisation on account of the critical biodiversity and ecosystem issues.
In at least one case a farmer awarded “Crane Custodian” status, and who has a sign on a public road declaring the fact, went ahead and ploughed land where he knew cranes were nesting.
Though species such as Wattled Crane and Oribi are those most under threat, humans are not exempt. “These grasslands play a significant role in moderating climate change and the impacts thereof on people and their wellbeing,” says Blackmore. “They also play a critical role in capturing rain, filtering and releasing clean water in the river systems that supply both rural and urban communities throughout the year. The grasslands trap sediment and in so doing slow down the siltation of our dams.”
“Given the challenges KZN is facing, it is critical that these vital life-support systems the natural environment provides free of charge be safeguarded for people’s health and well-being. It is for this reason that these farmers require both an agricultural and an environmental permit before they can cultivate and in so doing achieve a sustainable balance between crop production and maintaining our natural heritage.”
Is the situation retrievable? “In some cases, it may be possible to rehabilitate critical biodiversity areas,” says Blackmore, “so there is hope that this most unfortunate situation may be recoverable.”
However grasslands specialist Ed Granger is less hopeful: “There is no way you can put these grasslands back,” he says. “People say they will rehabilatate the land to what it was. You can’t do it. The best you can get is something that vaguely resembles what was destroyed.
“Here we have lost grassland identified by the South African National Biodiversity Institute as extremely valuable and that ought to be conserved. We are losing a national asset and one that affects our national biodiversity.” | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/17084 | Trail of grandfather’s tractor leads to Kewanee
1971 John Deere was purchased in Kewanee
As I stated in a column a few weeks ago, old tractors are like bookmarks in the family album.Last week I got a call from a young man in Wapella, Ill., midway between Bloomington and Mattoon, who is trying to relocate his grandfather’s 1971 John Deere 4620. He has tracked it to the Kewanee area and is seeking our help in at least finding where the tractor is today.Ben Donovan said his grandfather, auctioneer-farmer Jim Donovan, bought the tractor new at Arends John Deere in Melvin, Ill., 42 years ago.“My grandpa grew up and farmed just east of Heyworth, Ill., and had three boys. On the front of each tractor he had each boy’s name pinstriped. My dad’s name, ‘Denny,’ was painted in large letters on one of them,” Donovan said.“My grandfather passed away in March of 2000 and in August of 2000 we had his farm sale. We had just moved off the farm at the time and had nowhere for the tractor and couldn’t buy it. Since then my brother has bought a 40-acre farm and we decided we would like to track the tractor down. We went back through pictures of the day of the sale and in a few of them were the guy who bought this tractor, but no one could tell us his name.“Oddly enough, in early 2010 my brother happened to be at a farm sale and noticed a gentleman standing in the crowd and sure enough it was the man who had bought the tractor at my grandpa’s farm sale,” Donovan said. “Unfortunately, he had sold the tractor in, I believe, 2008, but said he changed nothing on the tractor. The man’s last name was Jones from a small town called Chestnut, Ill. He didn’t recall the man’s name who had bought the tractor, but told me it went north somewhere.“I was once again at a standstill with no leads. I tried putting posts on tractor forums and would look at tractor websites with hopes of maybe seeing it for sale but I came up with nothing.“Recently I happened to run into Mr. Jones’ son and he recalled the tractor going north to the Kewanee area. So here I am writing you, and the best idea I can come up with is to put the picture in front of as many farmers as I can and what better way to do that than putting it in the Star Courier.” Ben and his brothers now collect and restore John Deere 2-cylinders and antique John Deere equipment and have around a dozen implements and 13 John Deere tractors. “I would love to have this tractor back in the family, but more importantly just knowing where it has ended up would help ease my mind,” Ben wrote. “I know every young man would love to have their father’s or grandfather’s tractor back in the family, but it’s a question of how far are you willing to go to find it. I have posted flyers in post offices, written on tractor forums, and even gone out of my way to cruise country roads when I am away from home with hopes maybe I just might find it, and I plan on looking for this tractor until I find it.” Donovan is even offering a $100 reward to anyone who can come up with a name and phone number of who has this tractor, even if his dad’s name is no longer on the side.“I was in the fourth grade when we had my grandfather’s farm sale and now it is 13 years later and I am getting ready to graduate from Illinois State University and to think that after years of searching I finally found it would be incredible.” Donovan said he has driven through Kewanee several times on his way to Morrison and wondered if he might be passing a barn or shed that housed the 4620. From the column I did a while back on retired Wyoming John Deere dealer Joe Colgan, I know the 4000 series was John Deere’s biggest seller of all time, especially the 4020.They marked an historic departure for the company from the trademark 2-cylinder “poppers” to a 6-cyclinder, diesel engine. Ben doesn’t have the serial number but, checking the internet, Arends still has a John Deere dealership in Melvin. The question is, do their records go back to 1971, the year Grandpa Donovan bought the tractor.According to the TractorData website, about 14,000 JD 4620s were made at the Waterloo, Iowa, plant in 1971 and 1972. The original price was $15,000. Looking on the Ultimate John Deere website, I found the tractor was designed with an “industry first” — an intercooled, turbocharged engine which produced more oxygen per stroke for added power and efficiency. To accommodate the increased horsepower, the 4620 was turbo-built with strengthened final drives, axels and frame and was equipped with a 1,000-rpm power take off. So, we are looking “somewhere in the Kewanee area” for a 1971 John Deere 4620 with a Hiniker cab purchased about five years ago from someone named Jones of Chestnut, Ill. The name “Denny” would have been pinstriped vertically on the right forward engine panel.Ring a bell with anyone? If so, give me a call (852-2181) and I’ll pass it on to Ben. | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/18809 | Larry's Produce
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Historic Suisun Valley - Vintage Fruit Crate Labels
History of Fruit and Vegetable Crate Labels
Before produce growers and distributors started using cardboard boxes to ship their goods to market in the 1960s, fruits and vegetables were (and occasionally still are, by smaller growers) shipped in inexpensive wooden crates and adorned with beautifully crafted labels.
Growers first started using fruit and vegetable crate labels in the late 19th century. Labels were glued on the ends of wooden crates to identify the contents, place or origin, and the packer's name. Packers made an effort to display their produce with colorful and attractive labels in order to generate more business at the local market. These colorful labels were pasted onto wooden crates and shipped all over the nation for nearly 70 years. In the late 1950's labels were no longer used because pre-printed boxes replaced the older wooden crates. The leftover labels were gathered up by collectors, dealers, and old orchard owners. These unused labels make up the trading stock that exists today. And, they are getting scarce!
The label featured the brand name of the produce, along with the region where it was grown. Since the crates themselves were used as displays in stores, the labels were an important part of marketing the produce, and as such, often featured wonderful art. Today, these labels are a growing collectible selling for a variety of prices.
There were labels used all over the county. California, the largest farming region, grew fruit from lemons, oranges, melons, apples, and grapes. Oregon and Washington are known for their apples and pears. Texas and other southern regions grew a lot of vegetables. Louisiana had a lot of sweet potatoes and yams. Florida and other southern states grew a variety of citrus labels. The east coast is known for seafood, vegetable canning, and apples. The mid-western states grew a variety of fruits and vegetables, mostly canned. As you can see, labels were used all over the country, from apple labels in Yakima, Washington to citrus box labels in Florida.
Artists and Manufacturers
Sadly, little is known about the artists who produced the enticing, vividly colored images for the labels that graced fruit and produce crates. Many of the artists were German immigrants who came to cities like New York and Chicago and attended trade schools to learn commercial art skills. They would often head for California to work for large printing houses like Schmidt Litho in San Francisco or Western Lithograph in Los Angeles, just two of the hundreds of companies producing labels in the late 19th to early 20th centuries.
Individual label artists were rarely, if ever, credited for their work. In fact, it's even unusual to find a printing company's identification on a label. In some instances, as with certain Western Lithograph labels, this branding is accompanied by a date indicating the month and year it was printed. A large company might employ 100 artists, who worked anonymously.
It is interesting to note that fruit crate labels from the early 20th century document many European artists' initial impressions and romantic notions of life in the United States. Perhaps, their idealized portraits of glorious fruit, colorful cowboys and Indians, rosy-cheeked children, and wholesome "pin-up girls" reflect the spirit of optimism shared by immigrant artists recently arrived in the fertile agricultural regions of California.
Judging a Label By Its Fruit
Early labels were designed to appeal to the senses, conveying health, freshness, vitality, and flavor. They also were made to catch a passerby's attention, glued to the short end of the crate in plain view of shoppers hurrying down the street past the neighborhood market. In short, the labels had to be eye-catching if the crate's perishable contents were to sell in time.
Some labels even were created with the regional destination of the produce in mind. For instance, California grapes had a large market among Italian neighborhoods on the East Coast, so the crates sent to these areas often featured l abels with an Italian theme and atmosphere.
The original images for the labels would be painted with watercolor on paper or linen. Collectors and dealers believe that most of the original artwork for the labels was destroyed, though examples do surface. From these originals, lithographs would be produced, either on Bavarian stone (from the 1890s to1920s) or magnesium. A few experimental samples were produced and proofed before printing and date stamped on the back with a rubber stamp and kept on file. These printer's samples now sell for between $5 and $200.
Crate labels are usually printed on a heavier quality paper. They had to hold a lot of ink to offer the brightest possible colors to attract consumers at the market. Labels also had to withstand the extreme change in temperature on refrigerated railroad cars and trucks while being shipped across the country.
Labels come in a variety of sizes, depending upon the size of the crates on which they were placed. For example, crates of apples, a relatively hardy fruit, could be stacked upon one another, resulting in crates 10 inches by 11 inches, or sometimes 10 inches by 20 inches long. Tomatoes, on the other hand, could not be stacked, resulting in a shorter, 6 inches high by 14 inches long crate, and thus smaller label.
Collecting Basics
The abrupt change to pre-printed cardboard boxes for packing fruit resulted in a surplus of unused labels. They were forgotten and abandoned in packing sheds, fruit grower's collections, and printer's files. Over many years and with much research, collectors have gathered the labels that still exist today.
Collectors always seek original labels that have never been affixed to a wooden crate. Once removed from a crate, the label is practically worthless, given the strength of the glue. All labels on the market today come from stocks of labels found at old produce farms or stockpiled by former workers--often found in quantities of thousands.
Condition is rarely a problem, given the circumstances a produce crate had to endure. Labels were printed on high-quality paper, enabling examples from the '20s and '30s to retain their luster and creamy white appearance even today.
In light of the number and diversity of labels available, it's wise to specialize if you're thinking of starting a personal collection. Many collectors initially will focus on a particular fruit, region, or label theme, such as apples, Washington State produce, or mythological images. At the moment, the supply of fruit and produce crate labels outstrips demand, making it a clear buyer's market. Superb labels from the '30s to '40s can be had for a song, with many sellers offering entire sets for new collectors.
Prices on fruit and produce crate labels are determined by age, rarity, graphic appeal, and subject matter. Currently, high prices for rare, single labels with quality design and color from the early part of the 20th century can reach $30 to $40, while other semi-rare labels from the '30s hover around the $10 range. More common labels, some of which are available in bulk, sell for $2 to $15. Sets of assorted labels in quantities of 100 often fetch $40 to $50; however, as with any assortment offered online, it can be difficult to determine the collection's true value
In general, labels from the '20s show signs of strong appreciation. When buying for resale, focus on labels that are in short supply, such as those used for premium produce, including Sunkist King David oranges and Airship brand navels. Premium fruits were less common than lower-grade fruit; as such, fewer labels were produced.
Images of people and cute animals are popular with collectors, including the Buckaroo and Bronco apple labels, featuring a cowboy riding in the sun. The popular "Up and Atom" carrots label, featuring a bunny rabbit, has an average market price of $6 and the Apple Kids label at $12, illustrating two kids tugging a giant apple up a hill. In the "pin-up" category, collectors value the Tex Rio tomatoes label, featuring a lovely Mexican woman, at $6 and Woo-Woo vegetables label at $8, adorned by a blond sweater girl.
(Re-printed with permission from BlueSkySearch.com)
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2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/19242 | What is Turtle Farming?
A turtle.
Turtle farming is a commercial pursuit by which turtles are bred, hatched, and raised for sale to the pet and food industries. The turtle farming industry is believed to have originated in the United States in the 1940s, with breeding turtles harvested from wild populations. Today, turtle farmers in the United States supply turtles to the pet and food industries in North America and Asia. Turtles are routinely eaten in Asia and in some rural parts of North America. Some ecologists are concerned about the human impact of meat harvesting on the world's wild turtle populations.
Farms that raise healthy, disease-free baby turtles are relatively common in the United States. Many American turtle farmers raise species such as the red-eared slider for sale as pets in the domestic market. Some turtle farmers even offer breeding pairs of pet turtles to their customers. Other species, such as green turtles, may be raised on farms for sale to the food market. Ad
In the 1970s, the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the sale or distribution of hatchling turtles less than 4 inches (10.2 cm) in diameter, when it was discovered that some baby turtles offered for sale were carriers of salmonella. Turtle farmers now generally sterilize their turtle eggs, using a method known as Siebeling method. This method typically requires the eggs to be rinsed and then sterilized in a vacuum tank. The process doesn't normally harm the eggs, and can be used to ensure that the hatchling turtles are healthy.
On large turtle farms, the breeding turtles are typically kept in outdoor ponds. They are generally allowed to mate and lay their eggs undisturbed. Turtle farmers typically collect the eggs after they are laid, sterilize them, and then incubate the eggs in a temperature-controlled environment until they hatch. The baby turtles are usually examined by a veterinarian before being distributed.
American turtle farms also export turtles to the food industry, particularly in China and other parts of Asia. Turtles are also often considered a viable food source in many rural areas of the United States. They're also sometimes sought by Asian-Americans in urban settings. The harvesting of turtles for meat in the United States and Asia is believed to pose a genuine threat to the world's turtle populations, as about 40 percent of the world's wild turtle species face extinction. Some US states have already outlawed the collection of wild turtles. Some conservationists hope that turtle farming can offer a supply of turtle meat that does not threaten wild turtle populations. Turtles raised on farms are generally certified as safe for domestic and international distribution by the applicable health authorities. Most of the turtles raised for food in the United States are exported to Asian countries, especially China. Turtle farming is believed to be growing in popularity in China, where the consumption of turtle meat is often far more common than it is elsewhere. Ad
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@bythewell - Turtle farming can't be that much more advanced than any other form of farming in the United States though. I'm sure there are ethical breeders out there, but when you look at the deplorable state of puppy farms and food farms in general, I'm a bit skeptical that turtles fare any better than chickens or pigs. Although at least farming turtles might help to stop them from being harvested from the wild and decimating wild populations. People don't really have an excuse for doing that when turtles have been farmed for their meat for so long, there are well established domestic varieties. bythewell
@pleonasm - Actually the salmonella thing was definitely the main reason they began to prevent people from shipping tiny turtles in bulk, but most animal welfare laws would protect them now anyway. Keeping them in such close conditions was how the bacteria would spread so quickly and I'm sure that people who treated turtles like that during the shipping process didn't care much about how they were raised either. pleonasm
Another factor in that law change was that it used to be common for turtle sales people to pack baby turtles into boxes so that they were unable to move in order to ship them. Turtles are fairly sensitive creatures, but they don't express pain or discomfort the way we readily recognize it and so people wouldn't realize that the cute little turtle they bought at the pet store was traumatized and possibly near death's door. Even now you have to be cautious about where you go to see turtles for sale, since there are still people who are willing to treat them like inanimate objects and not provide any concern for their welfare. Post your comments | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/19749 | Home > Fellows OSCAR ARRUDA D'AVILA
Economic DevelopmentSectors: Agriculture, Income Generation, Rural DevelopmentTarget Population: Farmers/Sharecroppers, Landowners, Underserved Communities Instituto Sertão
Oscar Arruda has devised a strategy for enabling farmers in Brazil's semi-arid northeast to exploit an abundant local plant as an alternative crop that provides economic self-sufficiency in an otherwise depressed local economy.
prepared when Oscar Arruda d'avila was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 1999.
Drought-resistant palm trees native to the state of Ceará are the source of carnauba wax, a product that has markets worldwide but is dominated by large distributors. Oscar bypasses the middlemen who have long controlled the purchase of raw materials for processing plants. He has collaborated with small farmers to build a plant in the Bonfim-Conceição Settlement to refine the wax from locally harvested palm leaves. To help the farmers and harvesters become managers of production intead of simply being suppliers of raw material, he offers technical training and links with regional and national distribution networks. The region's small farmers now have a valuable alternative product that can provide them with good livings while taking advantage of local resources. Oscar is applying for environmental certification based on the guidelines of the International Standards Organization.
Oscar is subverting an old prejudice that the climate and droughts are irreversible causes of sub-development and backwardness in northeast Brazil. Brazil's semi-arid Northeast has long been unable to provide livings for its people, who emigrate in droves to cities in the south, where they encounter social and economic discrimination in their search for work. A recent study by the World Bank reveals that at least 70 percent of the state's seven million residents live below the poverty line. Illiteracy exceeds 60 percent. The principal agricultural activities are beans and corn winter farming and raising livestock. However, these do not guarantee even the minimum income for necessities, especially during droughts.
Government-promoted agrarian reform has rested on the assumption that giving people land results in economic growth, and that loans will enable them to start profitable livestock businesses. Instead, drought compels farmers to sell much of their stock in order to buy feed, perpetuating a cycle of debt that forces the government to provide emergency services and make-work projects. Instead of alleviating poverty, this welfare system has often created social problems such as dependency, vagrancy, and increased alcoholism. Moreover, as part of its agrarian program, the government's agricultural reform agency, Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (INCRA), registered the father of each family as the only member who had an economic interest. This policy excludes young people and limits their options for the future, causing a constant exodus from the countryside to the cities. The Bonfim-Conceição Settlement, like others in the Northeast interior, survives on subsistence crops planted after the rains in January and February. In drought years, however, residents have no paying work except processing the leaves–the "straw"–of the carnauba palm to make wax. In Ceará, fifteen thousand tons of carnauba straw are harvested annually and sent to the national and international markets in order to make cosmetics, inks, polishes, rinds for cheese and fruit, and waxed cardboard for packaging and other uses. The harvesters are at the end of a chain that is held by a business group which sets the prices and makes profits from export margins. Their efforts to keep the prices low harm the small producers and harvesters, who lack the education and technical skills to take full advantage their local resources in a more sophisticated and profitable manner.
Oscar began by persuading a key local organization to support his strategy for making carnauba production the income-generating focus of local residents. After hearing his plan, the Association of Rural Producers in the Bonfim-Conceição Settlement began to redirect its government funding away from unprofitable cattle raising and toward alternative agricultural endeavors. Oscar appointed the settlement's leaders as cooperative directors to help make the project idea a reality. He created a link with wax-exporting businesses in Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte in order to secure technical advisors to supervise the first production run and to provide training in processing techniques, accounting, and management. In less than a year, producers in the Bonfim-Conceição Settlement began earning 15 percent beyond costs. Once a certain level of profit is reached, a designated percentage will be invested in a Human Development Fund that will finance the settlement's social programs.
Oscar plans to make the Bonfim-Conceição Settlement wax producers responsible for the technical training of other settlements, in order to form a grassroots network of wax producers. Workers will then be able to train others among Ceará's seventy-three municipalities and 144 rural settlements. A newspaper article that piqued interest from communities and technicians has made the settlement a widely admired model for income-generation alternatives. Partnership building has been a key component of Oscar's efforts. Early on, he secured the support of the city government of Santana and the Kellogg Foundation. More recently, support from the Swiss embassy made possible the purchase of machines and security equipment that allowed the settlement to expand production. Oscar also negotiated a partnership with the National Company of Settlements, a public entity associated with the Ministry of Agriculture that certifies communities for subsidized loans. Oscar is also establishing partnerships with technical groups and citizen organizations to help improve services, as well as to develop more alternatives for sustainable economic and social development. The Getúlio Vargas Foundation of São Paulo is helping to spread the word about Oscar's work by printing materials and providing airline tickets between Fortaleza and São Paulo for developing contacts. The Odebrecht Foundation invited Oscar to present his methodology for use in a project for youth and economic development in the Northeast. More recent endeavors include a diagnostic study of the environmental degradation in the region that counts on technical assistance from the Cearenese Company of Water Resource Management and the Technical Center of Ceará . Oscar is also working with an organization to promote organic production among the carnauba growers. Oscar wants to create a commercial cooperative to bring together the products from thirty-one producers that are the source of thirty-six hundred tons of carnauba wax per year–25 percent of the Ceará market. Oscar has established the Sertão Institute to foster the creation of partnerships and develop programs to serve the communities of the Northeast. He hopes to ensure the institute's fiscal base by reinvesting a portion of the income from the network of small producers. Oscar's long-term objective is to create a local refining and marketing infrastructure so that raw wax will no longer have to be sent away from the interior in order to make wax emulsion, a product refined only in the national market.
Born in Rio de Janeiro to a family from Ceará, Oscar spent his childhood and adolescence moving from city to city because of his father's job at the Bank of Brazil. At fifteen, he found himself totally out of place when his family moved to Ribeirão Preto, one of the largest cities in the state of São Paulo, where he suffered the jeers of his classmates because of his Northeastern accent. His peers called him "Cearense" and "Paraíba." Oscar constantly heard slurs such as "We are carrying the Northeast on our backs" and "The problem with São Paulo is the Northeasterners." Repelled by the prejudice against Northeasterners, who represent a large part of São Paulo's poor, Oscar began seeking out contacts with migrants, whose values and beliefs he shared.
When he was ready to enter the university, Oscar enrolled in the prestigious MBA program at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation's business school in São Paulo, where he battled for a scholarship. He discovered that the upper class of São Paulo is a province itself, in which sons succeed their fathers and power always stays in the hands of a few. This realization led Oscar to work for change. While he was still a student, Oscar was a consultant for the Anthropological and Environmental Institute (IAMA), which works on economic alternatives for sustainable development in indigenous communities in Rondonia. When Oscar learned about a prize for business administration students, he gathered professors and students to help him develop a project to improve the economic situation of the Northeast, and this proposal became the business plan for the carnauba wax project. Oscar moved to the Ceará interior to dedicate himself to his mission.
Mara Ferreira
ASPLANDE-Assessoria & Planejamento para o Desenvolvimento
Sebastião Alves
Wagner Gomes
Agencia de Desenvolvimento Economico Local
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2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/19847 | At Sherborn's Dowse Orchards, drought bites into apple crop
It’s the drought that was foremost on Dowse’s mind as he drove through the orchards last week. While some trees have irrigation, others do not; unless plenty of rain comes the orchards’ way, the consequences include smaller apples and reduced yields.
By Maureen Sullivan, [email protected]
For most of us, apples are a sign of autumn; we head to local orchards for pick-your-own; we savor fresh-baked pies and fresh-pressed cider.
For Dowse Orchards, which has been a part of Sherborn almost as long as there’s been a Sherborn, apples are every day.
“It takes all year to grow apples,” said Alex Dowse.
Maintaining 130 acres, 45 of which are devoted to apple trees, includes dealing with everything nature can throw at you — mice, flood, deer, worms, drought…
“There’s no hedge against drought,” he said. “We need an inch of rain a week for the rest of the month.”
Dowse showed where part of the orchards draws its water — a small reservoir currently 3 feet below its normal level.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen it this dry,” he said, adding that last winter and spring had also been drier than normal.
Several trees show half-eaten apples on the bough and on the ground, the result of thirsty birds pecking into apples for the moisture.
At another part of the orchard, Dowse pointed to a row of stumps — all that remained of trees destroyed by mice in the spring of 2015 — not as a result of drought, but from the record-setting winter.
“The mice killed 1,000 trees,” he said.
Weather, critters, disease — all part of the Dowse family’s world of maintaining an orchard that’s been around since 1778.
At the farmstand
Despite the weather, and other challenges, early apples such as Jersey Macs are already in the farmstand on Main Street, which is open every day from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. In addition to apples, the farmstand offers a variety of fruits and vegetables grown by the Dowse family, including tomatoes, asparagus and eggplant.
The farmstand also offers corn, meats and other products produced by regional vendors.
The orchards’ own apple cider should be available in the farmstand by the end of September.
As for the other fall fruit, pumpkins, Dowse said they’re coming in “all right,” thanks to irrigation.
About the PYO…
Pick-your-own season at Dowse Orchards will take place weekends beginning Sept. 10.
Those taking part in pick-your own should be aware of what happens to “drops,” or those apples thrown to the ground while PYO visitors rummage for just the right apple.
The “drops” are not sold at the farmstand or sent elsewhere.
“All discarded fruit on the ground in the U-Pick operation is not used due to concern of contamination and is generally ground up in place,” said Alex Dowse.
Dowse said that up to 60 percent of the PYO crop ends up on the ground.
More information about Dowse Orchards may be found at http://www.dowseorchards.com/, or visit its Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/adowse2 | 农业 |
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Harvesting Sunshine More Lucrative Than Crops at Some U.S. Farms
For more than a century, Dawson Singletary’s family has grown tobacco, peanuts and cotton on a 530-acre farm amid the coastal flatlands of North Carolina. Now he’s making money from a different crop: solar panels.
Singletary has leased 34 acres of his Bladen County farm to Strata Solar LLC for a 7-megawatt array, part of a growing wave of solar deals that are transforming U.S. farmland and boosting income for farmers.
Farmland has become fertile territory for clean energy, as solar and wind developers in North America, Europe and Asia seek more flat, treeless expanses to build. That’s also been a boon for struggling U.S. family farms that must contend with floundering commodity prices.
“There is not a single crop that we could have grown on that land that would generate the income that we get from the solar farm,” said Singletary, 65.
The rise in solar comes as the value of crops in the Southeast — with the exception of tobacco — has dropped. Cotton prices have fallen 71 percent in the last five years. Soybeans are down 33 percent and peanuts have slipped 16 percent.
Solar companies, meanwhile, are paying top dollar, offering annual rents of $300 to $700 an acre, according to the NC Sustainable Energy Association. That’s more than triple the average rent for crop and pasture land in the state, which ranges from $27 to $102 an acre, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.
The economic incentives spurring solar will be discussed at a Bloomberg New Energy Finance conference in New York starting April 4.
“Solar developers want to find the cheapest land near substations where they can connect,” said Brion Fitzpatrick, director of project development for Inman Solar Inc. of Atlanta. “That’s often farmland.”
Developers have installed solar panels on about 7,000 acres of North Carolina pasture and cropland since 2013, adding almost a gigawatt of generating capacity, according to the NC Sustainable Energy Association. Georgia has added 200 megawatts on fields and cleared forests over the same period, much of it farmland, according to the Southface Energy Institute of Atlanta.
The number of megawatts developers can generate per acre of farmland varies, based on weather patterns, size of the panels and contours of the land. On Singletary’s farm, Strata Solar installed 21,600 panels, each about 6 feet by 3 feet (1.8 meters by 914 centimeters). Combined, they can power as many as 5,000 local homes.
Long-Term Contracts
Farmers typically lease a portion of their land, signing 15- to 20-year contracts with developers who install the panels and sell the power to local utilities. In rare cases, farmers have leased their entire property to solar companies.
Singletary signed a 15-year lease in 2013, with two 10-year extension options, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based Strata sells the power to Duke Energy Corp. He declined to disclose financial terms.
Government incentives have played a key role in the spread of solar farms built on real farms. North Carolina granted developers tax credits equal to 35 percent of their projects’ costs though a program that expired at the end of 2015, helping make the state the third-biggest U.S. solar market. In Georgia, the Public Service Commission passed a bill in 2013 requiring the state’s largest utility, Southern Co.’s Georgia Power, to buy 525 megawatts of solar by 2016. Both policies sent companies scouring for open space to build.
Solar panels have buoyed tax bases in impoverished rural counties, said Tim Echols, a member of the Georgia Public Service Commission. They also let farmers diversify their income with revenue that’s not subject to markets or unpredictable weather patterns.
‘Stable Income’
“Solar and wind farms have become a new stable income stream for farmers — and they don’t fluctuate with commodity prices,” said Andy Olsen, who promotes clean energy projects in rural areas for the Chicago-based Environmental Law & Policy Center.
Press Release: Iowa Electric Co-op Sets Standard for Rural Solar
Contact: Katie Coleman, (312) 795-3710
Solar Shines for Rural Electric Co-Ops
Announcement Sets New Iowa Record for Solar from Rural Electric Co-ops
Iowa’s Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO) and its member cooperatives announced a major investment in solar energy today, unveiling plans to build 5.5 megawatts of new solar energy at six locations across its service territory. This will be Iowa’s largest solar project from a rural electric co-op, and it represents a 20% increase in Iowa’s total solar capacity (27 MW as of 2015, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association).
CIPCO is Iowa’s largest cooperative energy provider, serving nearly 300,000 residents and about 12,000 commercial/industrial accounts in its 300-mile territory stretching diagonally across Iowa and touching Des Moines and Cedar Rapids.
The announced projects will be built by Azimuth Energy LLC of St. Louis, MO.
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), Iowa installed a total of 6 MW of solar energy in 2015. That means this project alone is just shy of that annual total.
“CIPCO has taken a great step forward in providing their members access to solar energy,” said Josh Mandelbaum, Staff Attorney of the Environmental Law & Policy Center in Des Moines. “CIPCO was clear that this effort is just the first phase of the rural electric cooperative’s long-term plan to incorporate solar as an additional pollution-free resource within its energy portfolio.”
Brad Klein, Senior Attorney at the Environmental Law & Policy Center, said the CIPCO announcement sends a strong signal to rural electric cooperatives across the Midwest. “The enormous potential for solar energy in states like Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin is just now beginning to be realized, and rural electric cooperatives, which have strong relationships with their members, have an opportunity to lead the way.”
To learn more about the CIPCO announcement visit: http://www.cipco.net/content/cipco-launches-iowas-largest-utility-based-solar-project
Midwest Energy News: ELPC’s Andy Olsen Speaks on Co-ops Embracing Solar
By Kari Lydersen, Midwest Energy News
In Wisconsin, where state regulators and utilities have been perceived as cool to renewable energy, rural cooperatives are making major investments in solar power.
According to solar installers and experts, co-ops, which aren’t subject to regulation by the state’s Public Service Commission, are being more responsive to their customers’ interest in solar.
“What’s very important here is working with cooperatives, they have more flexibility,” said SoCore senior vice president of sales Rob Federighi.
Last year, Wisconsin’s solar capacity grew 39 percent, with community solar and other projects built by co-ops comprising a significant share of that.
That capacity is expected to grow another 40 percent this year – the state’s largest influx of solar power ever – thanks to projects commissioned by the Dairyland Power Cooperative.
Dairyland is a generation & transmission (or G&T) cooperative, that brings together 25 smaller member electric cooperatives and 17 municipal utilities in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois. Such G&T cooperatives provide wholesale power to distribution cooperatives, which deliver the electricity to customers in rural areas.
Currently Dairyland has only 3 MW of small solar and bio-digesters in its system. The cooperative had incentive to increase its renewable resources because of the closing of DTE Energy’s 40 MW Stoneman biomass plant in Cassville, Wisconsin. Dairyland’s contract with that plant had helped meet its state renewable portfolio obligations.
“Dairyland Power is committed to expanding our investment in solar and other renewables for two main reasons: our members have expressed interest and we continue to diversify our generation portfolio with more renewable energy as part of Dairyland’s overall strategic plan,” said manager of business development Craig Harme. “It is good business practice.”
Dairyland has entered Power Purchase Agreements with two solar developers that will build and own solar installations providing energy to customers in member cooperatives. The cooperative got 30 answers offering 100 different plans in response to its request for proposals last summer, according to Harme.
Chicago-based SoCore will develop solar at 11 sites around the state, for a total of 16.4 MW. Vermont-based groSolar will develop a 2.5 MW project in northern Wisconsin.
Seeding Interest
SoCore senior vice president of development Eric Luesebrink said the project “is really kind of an innovative program” in its design and structure.
“Setting aside the fact it’s probably the largest single solar contracting exercise in Wisconsin, I don’t of know any other approach that’s been collaborative with distribution cooperatives and generation and transmission cooperatives like this,” he said.
Federighi said Dairyland’s RFP didn’t specify that projects had to be scattered over multiple sites, but “I think at the end of the day Dairyland liked the distributed nature of the projects and it fit in well with the grid.”
Distributed projects are “typically better absorbed by the power grid without significant impact on the local infrastructure and reliability,” confirmed Harme. Since the sites are all located near existing utility substations, significant upgrades to the grid should not be needed. SoCore is leasing sites from farmers or landowners with unused space.
“We really worked with the transmission members of Dairyland – who were really asking for solar,” said Federighi. “By partnering with them we really gained a lot of support within the network to do this project, as well as landowners who were really excited about it, as well as member co-ops, who are thinking about their own community solar garden projects, whether we can build systems for them outside of this.”
From One Farming State to Another
GroSolar’s installation will involve 6- to 8-foot-tall tracking panels that move with the sun, increasing efficiency 15 percent over stationary panels. The company says it will provide about 5,000 MWh in the first year, enough to power about 470 homes.
GroSolar spokesperson Maribeth Sawchuk said the company has no other developments in Wisconsin, and is “hoping to use this to get more contacts in the state, and see how local folks feel about solar.”
Sawchuck said the company often does installations on city property, old landfills and universities. GroSolar’s 2.5 MW, 10-acre installation on the Rutland city landfill in Vermont is part of Green Mountain Power’s heavy investment in renewable energy.
The company says the Wisconsin construction will mean about $750,000 in direct wages and more than $1.5 million economic impact on the area, with local contractors hired.
“It’s not just about installing solar, it’s about helping the environment, creating jobs and so much more,” she said.
A Cooperative Model
Keith Reopelle, senior policy director of Clean Wisconsin, said the group is “very pleased” with the Dairyland investment in solar especially given the challenges that solar faces in utility service territories.
“It is interesting we’ve seen more activity and investment by co-ops and municipal utilities under a little bit of a different model,” he said. “It makes sense because they are really just trying to be as responsive as they can to their members. Whether served by investor-owned utilities or cooperatives, solar is becoming more and more popular as the price goes down; and co-ops maybe have an advantage as they are able to be more nimble and more responsive to their customer base.”
“It’s really impressive to see all over the country how cooperatives are embracing solar and finding new ways to implement it,” added Andy Olsen, with the Environmental Law & Policy Center. “There are a number of things that led them to this, to diversify their generation mix and move away from fossil fuels, which they have to do regardless of what happens with the Clean Power Plan.”
Lacrosse Tribune: ELPC Applauds Solar Leadership by Wisconsin’s Electric Cooperatives
Using nature to help generate power isn’t exactly a new idea.
These days, when you factor in regulatory and environmental concerns and stir in the debate about climate change, all of a sudden it’s a fascinating — and sometimes frustrating — debate.
But two utilities in western Wisconsin have announced a significant investment in harnessing solar energy to generate power — and they’ve done it the old-fashioned way.
They’ve made the decision because it makes good business sense.
For the people of our region — from energy users to ratepayers — this is good news all around.
Barbara Nick, CEO of La Crosse-based Dairyland Power Cooperative, said: “It’s finally solar’s day in the sun.”
Projects announced recently by Dairyland and Xcel Energy will nearly double the capacity to generate solar energy in Wisconsin:
Dairyland will purchase power from 12 new solar arrays with a combined capacity of almost 19 megawatts.
Xcel will purchase up to three megawatts of electricity from community-owned solar gardens in western Wisconsin.
Investing in and developing natural sources of energy — and reducing reliance on fossil fuel — is the right strategy for the future.
As Nick pointed out, members of her cooperative believe it’s a good idea — and it certainly diversifies the cooperative’s portfolio.
Tyler Huebner, executive director of Renew Wisconsin, says 2016 will be Wisconsin’s year in the sun — in part because a drop in prices has made photovoltaic generation cost-effective for utilities as well as residents, business and nonprofits.
So, what does it mean when a utility like Dairyland adds a capacity of 19 megawatts? That can power the homes and farms of about 2,500 members of the cooperative.
It also means that Dairyland can reduce the amount of energy it buys on the open market — something it has had to do more of since it shut down five coal-fired boilers at its plant in Alma in 2014 as part of its agreement to settle a pollution case with the Environmental Protection Agency.
The moves by Xcel and Dairyland also demonstrate that “Wisconsin’s electric cooperatives are now national and state leaders in solar energy,” said Andy Olsen, senior policy advocate for the Environmental Law & Policy Center in Madison.
Dairyland Power Announces Historic Co-op Solar Advance
(February 25, 2016) Wisconsin’s Dairyland Power Cooperative and its member cooperatives announced a historic investment in solar energy on Wednesday unveiling plans to build more than 15 megawatts of new solar energy at 12 locations across Wisconsin.
The announced projects will nearly the double the amount of solar power installed in Wisconsin, which now has about 25 megawatts of installed solar. The projects will be built by solar developers SoCore Energy, based in Chicago and groSolar based in White River Junction, Vermont. Together the installations will create enough electricity for more than 2500 homes.
“Wisconsin’s electric cooperatives are now national and state leaders for solar energy,” said Andy Olsen, Senior Policy Advocate of the Environmental Law & Policy Center in Madison. “Dairyland was clear that this effort grew out of support for solar from their members, commitment to diversifying their generation and stabilizing costs.”
Brad Klein, Senior Attorney at the Environmental Law & Poli (more…)
E&E: Rural energy efforts run low on fuel as farm bill expires
Chuck Bushman Farm flipped the switch earlier this year on 360 solar panels spread across its chicken barn in Castalia, Iowa. (more…)
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2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/22165 | Hustai National Park (HNP) is a mountainous forest steppe area of 50.600 ha in the lower spurs of the south-western range of the Khentei mountains, situated some 100 km to the south-west of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. The south-western part of the park extends into the valley and the flood plain of the Tuul River. This river takes its source on the Khentei Mountains, flows by Ulaanbaatar and HNP before joining the Orkhon River that sheds its waters into Lake Baikal in Siberia. The National Park lies between latitudes of 47.35 and 47.52 degrees North, and between longitudes 105.40 and 106.37 degrees East. The park is relatively small: maximum East-West distance measures about 34 km, while in the North-South direction maximum distance is about 26 km.
Hustai National Park covers the territory of three sums (villages). The southern two-third of the Park is within the territory of Altanbulag Sum, while the Northern one-third is about divided between Bayanhankhai Sum and Argalant Sum.
Overall objective of Hustai National Park
To maintain, restore and preserve the ecological balance of the ecosystems and the cultural values of the National Park, to the benefit of present and future generations of local, national and international communities.
Climate and meteorological conditions
Hustai National Park is under a continental climate, altered by effects of altitude. Climatic conditions are harsh and meteorological extremes lead regularly to “natural disasters”. Annual average temperature is 0,2 centigrade. Average monthly temperatures vary between – 23 centigrade in January with coldest temperature of -40 till -50 centigrade, and + 20 centigrade in July with warmest temperature of +31 till +42 centigrade. Average rainfall is 270 mm., 80% of which falls during the short growing season which lasts from May till September. During springtime heavy winds and storms are frequent, blowing away a good part of the top soil of the neighbouring agriculture lands of Argalant and Bayanhankhai Sum.
Ground and surface water
There are 10 natural streams in the Park. Some of these small streams do not freeze in winter. Within the Park a number of water sources are diminishing. The permanent water sources are typically associated with the two major forest complexes in the West and the East of the Park. There are signs that the groundwater levels are falling.
The soils of the Park are generally of a sandy to loamy texture. Organic matter content in the top soil is high.
A total of 55 species of mammals (2016) has been recorded. Besides the over 350 Przewalski horses in 2017, 500 marals (red deer), about 50-100 Mongolian gazelles, seasonally increasing to over 500 heads, including black-tailed gazelles, some roe deer, migrating Arkhali sheep and over 20.000 Bobac marmots inhabit the park. Several rodent species, including susliks (ground squirrels) and long tailed hamsters can be seen. Common predators are; Corsac foxes and wolves (more than 25 in general), Siberian lynxes, manul cats, badgers, martens, etc.
The total of bird species recorded is presently (in 2015): 43 families, 119 genera and 223 species. It includes 6 species of black stork, bar-headed goose, great bustard, osprey, white-tailed eagle, hooded crane, black vulture, long-eared owl, eagle owl, little owl, and great-spotted woodpecker. Some species stay permanently, some spend summer in the area of the Park and grow up their offspring, other species just pass it and a few species come to the Park only in winter time.
Historical and cultural monuments
The area of HNP is showing many traces of ancient habitation and use. Among the oldest ones are the many Neolithic graves that dot the terraces of the Tuul river valley, as well as some of the inner valleys. The oldest ones are reported to be over 4000 years of age. The most spectacular grave-site however lies just outside the Western border of the Park and is composed of a number of statutes. This grave is built by people of Turkish origin (the Ongot) in more recent times (about 1200 years ago).
The sacred Hustai mountain has long been the object of worship by the local people. This has provided the mountain and its ecosystems with a good protection against over-exploitation of its resources over the ages. | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/22180 | Regeneration International (http://regenerationinternational.org/about-us/)
About Regeneration International
Regeneration International, a project of the Organic Consumers Association, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to building a global network of farmers, scientists, businesses, activists, educators, journalists, governments and consumers who will promote and put into practice regenerative agriculture and land-use practices that: provide abundant, nutritious food; revive local economies; rebuild soil fertility and biodiversity; and restore climate stability by returning carbon to the soil, through the natural process of photosynthesis.
Through our global network, we are connected to 4.1 million consumers, farmers, activists, scientists and policymakers in over 100 countries.
Our steering committee members are: Andre Leu (IFOAM Organics International), Hans Herren (Millennium Institute), John D. Liu (Environmental Education Media Project), Precious Phiri (Earth Wisdom), Renate Künast (German Parliament), Ronnie Cummins (Organic Consumers Association), Steve Rye (Mercola Health), Tom Newmark (The Carbon Underground), and Vandana Shiva (Navdanya).
To build a global network of farmers, scientists, businesses, activists, educators, journalists, policymakers and consumers who will promote and put into practice regenerative agriculture and land-use practices that: provide abundant, nutritious food; revitalize local economies; regenerate soil fertility and water-retention capacity; nurture biodiversity; and restore climate stability by reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions while at the same time drawing down excess atmospheric carbon and sequestering it in the soil.
A healthy global ecosystem in which regenerative agriculture and land-use practices cool the planet, feed the world, and promote public health, prosperity, and peace.
Our work, supported by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and other founding organizations, is focused on the following:
Engage the global scientific, agricultural, and activist communities in a narrative about the relationships between healthy soils, food and the climate.
Identify, support and promote leading experts and success stories focused on the science and best practices that support regenerative organic agriculture as a viable means to reverse global warming through carbon sequestration.
Aggregate, translate and disseminate the latest research linking the climate, food, natural health, environment, and economic justice movements to food and farming, and best practices for adapting regenerative techniques to different climates and cultures.
Unify the global grassroots through a diversity of messages and campaigns to appeal to different segments of the global body politic, including consumers and environmentalists.
Collaborate with universities and NGOs to train farmers in organic regenerative farming and land management techniques.
Mobilize consumers, farmers, and environmentalists to pressure policymakers to create policies that advance organic regenerative farming and land management practices.
Learn More About Our Steering Committee
Vandana Shiva, Navdanya
Scientist, philosopher, feminist, author, environmentalist, activist, Dr. Vandana Shiva is a one-woman movement for peace, sustainability and social justice. In 1991, Dr. Shiva founded Navdanya, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources. Among Vandana Shiva's many honours is the Right Livelihood Award for her work in placing women and ecology at the center of the international development agenda. She is the author of more than 300 papers in leading scientific and technical journals, and her book-length publications.
Ronnie Cummins, OCA
Ronnie Cummins is co-founder and International Director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and its Mexico affiliate Via Organica. Cummins has been active as a writer and activist since the 1960s, with extensive experience in public education, grassroots mobilization, and marketplace pressure campaigns. Over the past two decades he has served as director of US and international campaigns dealing with sustainable agriculture issues including food safety, genetic engineering, factory farming, and global warming.
Steve Rye, Mercola.com
Steve A. Rye, is CEO of Mercola Health Resources, a source of health articles, optimal wellness products, medical news, and natural e-newsletter from natural health expert Dr. Joseph Mercola. Together Steve and Dr. Mercola have grown Mercola.com to the #1 most visited natural health website in the world. Mercola Health is dedicated to giving back to the community and partnering with key organizations who educate the public on important health, food safety, and informed consent issues.
John D. Liu, EEMP
John D. Liu is Director of the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP), Ecosystem Ambassador for the Commonland Foundation and a visiting research fellow at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1997, John founded the Environmental Education Media Project to help educate the public about environmental and ecological issues first in China and then worldwide, producing, directing, writing, filming and presenting many ecological films broadcast worldwide.
Andre Leu, IFOAM Organics International
Andre Leu is the author of The Myths of Safe Pesticides and the President of IFOAM – Organics International. Andre has over 40 years of international experience in all areas of organic agriculture and has extensive writing and publications in many areas of organic agriculture including climate change, the environment, and the health benefits of organic agronomy. He was recently invited by the UNEP to present research findings from the organic movement at a high-level.
Hans Herren, Millennium Institute Hans Herren is a Swiss entomologist, farmer and development specialist. He was the first Swiss to receive the 1995 World Food Prize and the 2013 Right Livelihood Award for leading a major biological pest management campaign in Africa, successfully fighting the Cassava mealybug and averting averting Africa’s worst-ever food crisis. Herren is the president and CEO of the Washington-based Millennium Institute and co-founder and president of the Swiss foundation Biovision.
Tom Newmark, The Carbon Underground
Tom Newmark is a environmentalist and organic farmer. He is the co-owner of Finca Luna Nueva Lodge in Costa Rica, a Demeter-certified Biodynamic farm and conference center. Tom is also the co-founder of several nonprofits, including The Carbon Underground and Semillas Sagradas (now Sacred Seeds). Tom also chairs the Greenpeace Fund USA and the American Botanical Council (“ABC”).
Precious Phiri, Earth Wisdom
Precious is a training and development specialist in regenerative environmental issues and community organizing. She recently founded an organization called EarthWisdom a network, which she formed immediately after her full time nine-year career with Savory hub in Zimbabwe. Her vast experience in education and mobilizing communal populations and implementing institutions in Zimbabwe and Africa in restorative farming programs using Holistic Land and Livestock Management (HLLM) is the force behind her network. Her work currently focuses on training rural communities and collaborating with networks in Africa to reduce poverty, rebuild soils, and restore food and water security for people, livestock and wildlife.
Renate Künast, Chairwoman in Bundestag (German Parliament)
Renate Künast is a German politician of Alliance '90/The Greens. She was the Minister of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture from 2001 to 2005 and is serving as chairwoman of the her party's parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Always taking a firm stand, she has put herself fully behind the Save Our Soils campaign. "Healthy soil is the key to global food security. Compost is the new gold."
Support Our Efforts to Reverse Climate Change | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/22418 | Cash in on the right blend
- by Jeff Gelski
The trend of food manufacturers demanding oils free of trans fat apparently is not going away, and neither are escalating oil prices. The situation emphasizes the importance of selecting the right oils or oil blends for products free of trans fat and preferentially also reduced in saturated fat.
Soybean oil, Decatur, Ill., was priced at 49c per lb on Jan. 25, which compared with 27.5c per lb a year earlier. Palm oil, ports, was at 55c per lb on Jan. 25, up from 30.5c a year earlier. Prices for cottonseed oil, sunflowerseed oil and canola oil also gained over the year.
Palm oil, soybean oil and cottonseed oil all appear in donuts recently introduced as free of trans fat. Dunkin’ Donuts, Canton, Mass., last year switched to palm oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil to create a donut with less than 0.5 grams of trans fat. Cottonseed oil remains stable without hydrogenation and thus has no trans fat, according to the National Cottonseed Products Association, Cordova, Tenn.
According to canolainfo.org, Winnipeg, Man., Cork’s Old-Fashioned Donuts, Albany, Ore., now offers trans-fat-free donuts. The company switched to a blend of cottonseed oil and soybean oil from the NovaLipid line of Archer Daniels Midland Co., Decatur. AarhusKarlshamn USA, Inc., Port Newark, N.J., also uses blends in its EsSence non-hydrogenated shortening line that may include canola, soybean, sunflower or safflower oils.
The trans-free transformation continued on Jan. 14 when Target, Minneapolis, said more than 2,000 products featured in its Archer Farms private label line will have 0 grams of trans fat based on the Food and Drug Administration’s ruling that any product with under 0.5 grams of trans fat should be rounded down and listed as 0 grams of trans fat. The Archer Farms products include berry pies, lemon cookies and blueberry muffins.
"Removing added trans fat has quickly become a priority among the health community and for good reason," said Susan Mitchell, a health and nutrition expert for Target. "Regardless of age or gender, consuming food products with added trans fat presents a host of long-term health concerns."
In donuts and other baked foods, palm oil generally may be used as a one-to-one replacement for partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which have trans fat. A content of about 50% saturated fat is a negative for palm oil. Both trans fat and saturated fat may affect cholesterol levels negatively.
Dunkin’ Donuts now uses palm oil in its glazed donuts and glazed cake donuts. Before turning to palm oil, when the company used a larger amount of partially hydrogenated oil, the glazed donuts had 4 grams of trans fat and 1.5 grams of saturated fat while the glazed cake donut had 4 grams of trans fat and 5 grams of saturated fat. Now, nutrition data for both donuts show 0 grams of trans fat, but the glazed donut has gone up to 4.5 grams of saturated fat and the glazed cake donut has gone up to 9 grams of saturated fat.
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C., also recently announced its donuts were free of trans fat. The company’s original glazed donut and powdered cake donut now each have 6 grams of saturated fat.
Palm oil prices will remain high this year, Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui, Plantations Industries and Commodities Minister in Malaysia, said in a published report. He said the export value of his country’s crude palm oil reached RM45 billion ($14 billion), up from RM32 billion ($10 billion) in 2006.
Soybean farmers may receive a premium for low-linolenic soybeans, which do not require partial hydrogenation when they are turned to oil and thus avoid trans fat in the oil. Mostly Midwest farmers grew the low-linolenic soybeans in recent years, but Perdue AgriBusiness, Salisbury, Md., said it will be contracting low-linolenic soybeans from DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred for the 2008 growing season. Perdue will pay a 60c per bu premium for low-linolenic soybeans stored on-farm and delivered after harvest.
"Perdue is excited about the opportunity low-lin soybeans bring to both soybean growers on the Eastern Shore and our food company customers who are seeking to lower the trans-fat content of their products," said John Ade, vice-president of grain sales and merchandising for Perdue.
Scientific studies have shown trans fat may raise L.D.L. or "bad" cholesterol and decrease H.D.L. or "good" cholesterol. Because of these health concerns, the F.D.A. on Jan. 1, 2006, started requiring food manufacturers to list the amount of trans fat in their products sold at retail. Cities consider trans fat legislative initiatives
Recent legislative action from Boston to San Francisco has focused on reducing, or even banning, trans-fatty acids from food service operations:
Legislation in committee in the Baltimore City Council seeks to prohibit food service facilities from serving, using, storing, distributing or holding food containing trans fat, with certain exceptions. For example, legislators are considering an exception for food with a Nutrition Facts label or other documents from the manufacturer that lists the food’s trans fat content as less than 0.5 grams per serving. An exception also might apply to food served directly to patrons in the original sealed package of the manufacturer.
Baltimore restaurants may find it difficult to locate some prepared foods that do not contain trans fat from suppliers, said Melvin R. Thompson, vice-president of the Restaurant Association of Maryland, in the Jan. 26 issue of The Baltimore Sun. He gave pie shells and cakes as examples.
"Our problem is not that we want to continue using trans fats," he said. "Our problem is we have a lot of baked goods, and until (suppliers) are able to reformulate the products, our hands are tied."
The Boston Public Health Commission’s Board of Health on Jan. 10 gave preliminary approval to a ban on the use of trans fats by restaurants in the city. The board set up a 60-day period for public comment on the proposed legislation.
The San Francisco Health Code is considering a new voluntary program for the city’s restaurants. The program will use incentives to encourage restaurants to quit using trans fats. After a public hearing, the Director of Health would adopt guidelines, rules, regulations and forms to implement the Trans Fat Free Restaurant recognition program.
Qualified restaurants would pay a $250 fee to register and receive a standardized decal that may be posted. The next step would be to make the trans fat ban mandatory, said supervisor Sophie Maxwell, the legislation’s author, in the Jan. 30 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle.
"San Francisco is known for its restaurants, and I think it’s important that our restaurants are healthy," she said. "We’re first going to try a volunteer program. People will get used to it and then we’ll go for the other."
Bill No. 124, introduced Jan. 28 in the Virginia State Senate, seeks to develop and disseminate guidelines for school divisions with the goal of gradually eliminating all foods containing trans-fatty acids from public schools. The bill seeks to begin with eliminating vegetable oils containing trans fat from school cafeterias. Other goals are eliminating foods sold as part of the official school breakfast and lunch programs; foods sold in vending machines on school grounds; and competitive foods sold during school hours.
The bill recognizes trans fats as fats created artificially through a chemical process involving the hydrogenation of oils. This article can also be found in the digital edition of Food Business News, February 5, 2008, starting on Page 39. Click here
to search that archive. | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/22522 | Svedarsky weighs in on the future of America's grasslands
He's an invited speaker at conference in Manhattan, Kansas.
Dan Svedarsky was an invited speaker and conference co-summarizer at a recent conference on, America's Grasslands: The Future of Grasslands in a Changing Landscape. Svedarsky is a research biologist at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center and director of the University of Minnesota, Crookston’s Center for Sustainability. The meeting brought together researchers, natural resources professionals, farmers and ranchers, representatives of Native American tribes, and policy experts and conservationists from California to Washington, D.C. to discuss the outlook and opportunities to conserve North America's grasslands. The biennial conference was held in Manhattan, Kan., and was focused on working collaboratively with ranchers to conserve grasslands but also included presentations on prairie ecology, interpretation, and restoration techniques. Primary sponsors of the conference were the National Wildlife Federation and Kansas State University along with the World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Defense Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, Sharp Brothers Seed Company, Grassland Heritage Foundation, and the Consortium for Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability. In his paper entitled, Prairie restoration – up close and personal – on a University Campus, Svedarsky reported on his long-time work with restoring prairie at the Red River Valley Natural History Area of the Northwest Research and Outreach Center in Crookston and the use of prairie plants in interpretative demonstrations on the Crookston campus. He and other faculty, staff, and students have installed prairie plants in the Nature Nook, Youngquist Prairie Garden, and currently in a raingarden in front of Heritage Hall; the newest resident hall on the Crookston campus. “Prairie plants have the advantage of being adapted to local growing conditions, are readily available, low maintenance, and are the “architects” of the rich fertile soils of the Red River Valley,” notes Svedarsky. A number of UMC natural resource graduates are currently employed in land management capacities where they use prairie plants in their work. Svedarsky has also worked closely with The Nature Conservancy in northwest Minnesota in projects such as the Pankratz Prairie, Pembina Trail Preserve, and the Glacial Ridge Project. He received the President’s Stewardship Award from The Nature Conservancy in 1981. Over 250 participants attended the conference which included field trips to the Konza Prairie Biological Station of Kansas State and the National Tall Grass Prairie Preserve. The regional setting was the Flint Hills region of the North American Tallgrass Prairie where limestone geology lies close to the surface thus favoring grassland development on the thin soils and a ranching culture. Kansas State has been the center of numerous research studies on tallgrass prairie ecology including vegetation and animal interactions including the Greater Prairie Chicken. "Native grasslands and the wildlife that depend on them are disappearing at alarming rates," said Aviva Glaser, agriculture policy specialist at the National Wildlife Federation and conference co-organizer. Recent surges in grain prices have prompted the extensive conversion of native grasslands and CRP grasslands in the Dakotas, many of which are erosion-prone due to steep slopes and droughty soils. "We want to do what we can to help the conservation and careful management of the American grassland," said Dr. John Briggs, Kansas State professor of biology and director of the Konza Prairie Biological Station who also helped organize the conference. "It's going to take all of these groups working together. We can't just work in a vacuum." In his summary remarks, Svedarsky posed the question of why people should care about prairies in the first place, with their rich diversity of plants and animals; large and small. “I think often of the following words of Larry Kruckenberg, former North Dakota Game and Fish Commissioner: for people to care about something, they must; feel it is of consequence, believe that it affects them, and believe they can do something about it. Does an unemployed single mom in the Bronx care about the conversion of South Dakota grassland to row crops? I doubt it, but before real consequential action is taken at the regional and national level, the base of caring constituency must be broadened.” Svedarsky believes in educational solutions and also quoted the Central African Conservationist, Baba Dioum. “For in the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.” Being a college natural resources conservation professor, Svedarsky adds to this his mantra for teaching, “So let us teach often, and well.” | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/23104 | Napa County farm, wine grape values jump 33 percent Apr 19, 2017 Arizona tree nut plantings on the fast track Apr 18, 2017 California State Water Project boosts irrigation allotment Apr 18, 2017 Even with effective synthetic alternatives Sulfur remains a relevant tool for controlling powdery mildew Apr 12, 2017 Effort starts to head off peach fruit fly
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has established a 105.5 square-mile quarantine zone including portions of Fresno and Madera counties following the discovery of peach fruit flies (Bactrocera zonata). Since May 15th, six flies have been trapped. “Exotic fruit flies are a serious threat to California agriculture,” said CDFA Secretary A.G. Kawamura. “The quarantine is a necessary step to keep this infestation from spreading and allow growers to safely market their crops. We are confident in our eradication program, which has a 100 percent success rate against this exotic pest and others like it in California.” The quarantine area for Fresno and Madera counties includes the initial detection sites as the epicenter and a buffer zone, which extends approximately 4-1/2 miles in each direction from the find sites. The purpose of the quarantine is to closely control and monitor the movement of agricultural crops, backyard fruits and vegetables, soil and other plant materials to prevent the spread of this infestation. Growers in the quarantine area will be required to sign compliance agreements governing the treatment, harvest and movement of their crops. Under carefully monitored circumstances, growers may be able to harvest and transport their crops within or out of the quarantine area if approved pre- or post-harvest treatments have been performed. Growers are urged to contact the quarantine project office to begin the compliance process and find out if approved treatments are available for specific crops. Residents of the quarantine area are urged not to move any backyard fruits or vegetables from their property. These items should be consumed or processed (jams, canning, etc.) on site or disposed of using double-bagging. “We appreciate the cooperation and assistance that the community has given us so far in this project,” said Kawamura. “In a region that is so closely connected to agriculture, the residents are keenly aware of just how serious an infestation can be. We intend to eradicate this infestation as quickly as possible so that the affected growers can get back to the business of feeding California and the world.” Increased trapping began immediately following the first fly find on May 15. Eradication efforts began on Friday, May 19, in the 25-square-mile core of the quarantine area, in the area surrounding the fly finds. The eradication process, known as “male annihilation,” relies on a powerful attractant based on the pheromone that the female fly emits to attract mates. “Bait stations” including the pheromone and the pesticide dibrom are applied 8-12 feet high on utility poles and tree trunks. Male flies are drawn to the stations and die upon consuming the mixture. The bait stations will be reapplied approximately every 10-14 days for a minimum of two months. The applications could be extended if additional flies are found. Male annihilation projects have been used several times in California to eradicate infestations of this and similar fruit flies. All of these eradication projects have been successful. The peach fruit fly is native to parts of Asia including India, Egypt, Thailand, Pakistan, Vietnam, the Phillipines and Taiwan. Crop damage occurs when an adult female fly lays eggs in fruits and vegetables, with the resulting larvae making the produce unfit for consumption. Homeowners and visitors are urged not to remove fruits and vegetables from the area. | 农业 |
2017-17/1181/en_head.json.gz/24194 | November 2, 2014 Seed wars and monopolization: the case of Monsanto
By Srishti Malhotra
Edited by Namrata Caleb, Senior Editor, The Indian Economist
The Genetically Modified (GM) seeds world has been facing a serious threat: that of monopolization, resulting in “seed wars” across the world. In 2013, Philip Howard, a researcher at Michigan State University and creator of the popular Who owns Organics info-graphic showed that Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta controlled over half of the global seeds production, a sharp rise since 1996 when the top three corporations in the global seed industry controlled 22% of the industry. GM crop cultivation is predominantly limited to a few countries: 90% of GM crops are grown in the US, Brazil, Argentina, India and Canada.
The “big four” biotech seed companies—Monsanto, DuPont/Pioneer Hi-Bred, Syngenta, and Dow AgroSciences—own 80% of the US corn market and 70% of the soybean business. This movement away from a competitive market to one that is an oligopoly or even worse, a monopoly is evident from the fact that the largest and the best known company of these, Monsanto, licenses its genetically modified traits to other seed companies and as a result, more than 80% of US corn and more than 90% of soybeans planted each year are attributable to Monsanto. The Department of Justice in the US investigated Monsanto’s dominance of the seed market in 2010 but failed to take any action.
Monsanto’s legacy includes the production of herbicides RoundUp and Agent Orange (used during the Vietnam War and later proved to be a carcinogenic), banned substance DDT, and saccharine (artificial sweetener). In mid-90s it started producing GM crops such as soybeans, alfalfa, sugar beets, and wheat. These crops were immune to its leading weed killer, Roundup. That meant that farmers no longer had to till the land to kill weeds, as they had been doing for hundreds of years. They could simply blast their entire fields with chemicals, leaving GM crops the only thing standing. Monsanto then patented the seeds. Since 1980s, Monsanto has won 674 biotechnology patents according to US Department of Agriculture data, much more than any other company has.
However, the usage of GM seeds imposes additional indirect costs on the farmers. Traditionally farmers were able to save money every year by replanting seeds produced in the previous year’s planting. Monsanto’s contracts prohibited them from using these, implying that the farmers had to purchase new seeds every year from Monsanto or face penalties worth millions of dollars. Monsanto engaged in spying and intimidating farmers to prevent them from replanting seeds. Traditional seed varieties were pushed out of the market making it impossible for farmers to cultivate non-GM seed varieties, since Monsanto bought two major traditional seeds companies in 2005. Since 1996 Monsanto has launched thousands of investigations and filed hundreds of lawsuits against farmers alleging violation of its patent rights. Most farmers settle and pay an amount in damages as they don’t have the time or the money to pursue the case.
According to the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, the average per-acre cost of soybean and corn seed in the country increased 325% and 259%, respectively, between 1995 and 2011. This corresponds to the time period when acreage of GM corn and soy grew from less than 20% to more than 80-90%. Moreover, the crops do not command a higher price once they are grown and continuously increasing pesticide usage adds to costs for farmers. A US Department of Agriculture Report and a 2009 study by Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, confirmed that commercial GM crops do not increase the intrinsic or potential yield of any crop. Instead, pests become increasingly resistant to them. Since GM crops were introduced in 1996, pesticide usage has increased by 404 million pounds. Sales of a corn-soil insecticide produced by Syngenta, one of the world’s largest pesticide makers, more than doubled in 2012, due to the increased resistance to Monsanto’s pesticide.
The effects have not been limited to the US alone. According to Consumers International, around 270,000 small-holding farmers were forced to grow GM corn in the Philippines and ended up in debt as the cost of corn seeds rose 282% from its introductory price. In India, farmer suicides by farmers cultivating Bt Brinjal were attributed to the increasing cost of seeds and pesticide use. In 2011, 90% of total area of cotton production was under Bt cotton, an insect-resistant variety. However, the bollworm pest which plagued cotton and initiated farmers to shift to Bt cotton eventually became resistant to Bt cotton. However, a greater threat faces our food supply system. In 2012, Christian Krupke, a professor of entomology at Purdue University, showed that neo-nics which had been used to treat Monsanto’s GM corn, led to the collapse of bee colonies which threatens the entire food system since one-quarter of the human diet is pollinated by bees.
GM crops have faced greater resistance across the world than in the US. Mass mobilizations in Haiti restricted Monsanto’s donation of GM seeds after the Haitian earthquake to protect their small farmers and the food sovereignty in the country. The European Union imports 30 million tons of GM crops annually for livestock feed, but it has approved only two GM crops for human consumption- Monsanto’s MON810 maize and BASF’s Amflora potatoes. Several countries in Europe now have national bans on these two despite the European Commission’s opposition to these bans. Between 2008 and 2010, the total area of agricultural land under GM crops in the EU declined by 23%. In 2010, a moratorium was imposed on Bt Brinjal in India, restricting Monsanto from commercializing an Indian staple food. In 2011, the Indian government’s National Biodiversity Authority took legal action against Mahyco Monsanto for biopiracy alleging that the company had used six local varieties of brinjal for the development of Bt Brinjal without essential approvals. In Latin America and the Caribbean countries like Haiti, Brazil, Argentina and Peru, movements and local communities are fighting for bans on GM seeds and pesticides, and for food sovereignty and independent local control of seeds and agriculture. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the US does not require genetically modified foods to carry a label, but organic food companies and some consumer groups have intensified their push for labels arguing that they have a right to know what their food is made up of, and this has been supported by consumers who are averse to processed and modified foods.
The problem of seed and food monopoly does not have easy answers. Whoever controls the seed supply of the world ends up controlling the food supply of the world. Independent and uninfluenced research will go a long way in paving the way for future developments and from preventing the monopolization of agriculture by unscrupulous companies as has happened in the case of the US. The fact that developing countries depend much more on agriculture than the developed countries makes this issue one of equitable distribution of income and resources for them and therefore, agriculture in these countries cannot be ruled by the profit making motives of global organizations. A much more careful analysis is needed of the impact of this ‘industrialized’ agriculture on the smallest of farmers.
Srishti Malhotra is pursuing M.A. Economics at Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, JNU. She graduated in economics from University of Delhi. Subjects that interest her the most are macroeconomics, international economics and finance. Dance is the passion of her life and she is a trained dancer in western styles .Her future plans include travelling the world and learning to play the drums. Share Email Share WhatsApp Tweet Banning Animal- Tested Cosmetics In India Quantitative Easing: During and After Related posts
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2017-17/1182/en_head.json.gz/1442 | The Delicious Mr. Ed?
SlateExplainerAnswers to your questions about the news.Feb. 25 2013 3:47 PM
Why Don’t Americans (Knowingly) Eat Horse Meat?
Horse meat has been found in Ikea’s Swedish meatballs.
By Brian Palmer
Americans have an aversion to eating horses, but the practice is common in Europe Photo illustration by Holly Allen. Horse and fork images by Thinkstock. Horse meat is the now not-so-secret ingredient found in processed food products throughout Europe. In the latest revelation, the Czech State Veterinary Administration tested two batches of frozen meatballs from Ikea and found that one pack contained horse meat. Meatballs from the same supplier have been sent to 12 European countries, ensnaring the popular furniture store in Europe’s increasingly complicated meat scandal. (Ikea’s North American branches receive its frozen meatballs from an American supplier.) In 2011, Brian Palmer examined why Americans do not eat horse meat. Slaughtering horses for food has been prohibited in the United States since 2007, but animal rights advocates and ranchers continue to argue over the ban. A report (PDF) from the Government Accountability Office released in June says the prohibition merely shifted horse slaughter abroad, where consumers aren’t so squeamish about equine dining. Why don’t Americans eat horse?
Advertisement Because we love our beasts of burden. As with many food taboos, there’s no settled explanation for why most Americans are perfectly willing to eat cows, pigs, and chickens but turn their noses up at horse. Horse-eating, or hippophagy, became popular in Europe in the 19th century, when famines caused several governments to license horse butcheries. Today, horse meat is most widely available in France, Belgium, and Sweden, where it outsells mutton and lamb combined. While Americans have occasionally consumed their equine friends during times of scarcity, the practice just didn’t catch on. It may be that so many Americans forged intimate relationships with horses during our founding and expansion that eating the creature seemed morally wrong by the time of the nation’s major food shortages of the 20th century.
Hippophagy may have become somewhat popular in industrial Europe, but it had been taboo there for at least a millennium before. We know because Pope Gregory III wrote a letter to Boniface, an eighth-century bishop in Germany, instructing him to eliminate the practice among pagan converts. The pope described hippophagy as a “filthy and abominable custom.” (Also, horses aren’t kosher.) The popular view among historians is that banning horse-eating helped distinguish Christians from the pagans, but some think the pope’s real motivation was to preserve horses for warfare. Around the same time, the Irish Collection of Canon law sought to end the Celtic and Teutonic habit of eating horse, forcing violators to subsist on bread and water for four years.
Americans looked on with curiosity as Europeans went back to horse meat in the 1800s. It had become so common by the end of the century that Scientific American published an article in 1892 remarking on the popularity of horse in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and Milan. (Residents of Turin apparently hated the stuff.) While Americans wanted no part of hippophagy, they were perfectly willing to supply the raw materials. In 1899, the USDA engaged in a contentious exchange with a Norwegian paper that complained American inspectors rarely visited horse meat factories, because they didn’t sell domestically.
U.S. hippophagy seems to have reached its high point during and shortly after World War II, because of domestic shortages of other, more conventional meats. Horse steak was even on the menu at the Harvard faculty club, although ordinary Americans never fully embraced it. After publishing an article about the growing popularity of horse meat in 1943, Life got a series of pithy letters to the editor. One reader wrote: “If your illustrated article on horse meat is followed by one showing how to make chicken chitterlings, the meat problem will be solved. We’ll all be vegetarians.” Another responded: “Not this side of starvation. Not while there are beans.” (One hippophagy enthusiast suggested that the problem was horse doesn’t have a dinner table euphemism like “beef” or “pork.”)
Advertisement Some horse-eaters say the meat tastes like beef, only slightly sweeter and more tender. (Other gourmets are less impressed.) During a meat shortage in 1946, American housewives reportedly tried to fool their husbands by swapping the cheaper and more widely available horse for beef.
Bonus Explainer: Is horse meat good for you? It’s a little better than beef. A three-ounce serving of roast horse has 149 calories, 24 grams of protein, and five grams of fat. The same amount of beef tenderloin has 179 calories, 24 grams of protein, and nine grams of fat. Horse milk, which some Central Asians drink in fermented form, has one-third the fat of cow’s milk.
Got a question about today’s news? Ask the Explainer.
Explainer thanks Richard Bulliet of Columbia University and Adrienne Hall of Drexel University.*
Correction, Oct. 25, 2011: This article originally misspelled the first name of Adrienne Hall. Brian Palmer covers science and medicine for Slate. | 农业 |
2017-17/1182/en_head.json.gz/1449 | Tobacco purchasing should be based on value, not price Apr 03, 2017 Some Georgia growers wanted to talk soybean weed control, most didn’t Apr 10, 2017 Caledonia: Where prisoners have grown their food for 125 years Apr 04, 2017 How a blueberry family won and lost against a punishing situation Apr 05, 2017 Alabama expects soybean acreage increase
Paul Hollis | Mar 13, 2009
The crop budget numbers don’t lie, and they’re telling growers to plant soybeans in 2009. Following a successful crop this past year, Alabama farmers might just follow that recommendation. “Many producers were growing soybeans for the first time last year,” said Dennis Delaney, Auburn University Extension agronomist. Delaney spoke at the Central Alabama Cotton Workshop, held recently in Autaugaville, Ala. “In 2008, we grew 350,000 acres of soybeans at 35 bushels per acre,” he says. “Some of our late beans received good rainfall, and some growers in north Alabama made 60 to 70 bushels per acre.” For those who are new to growing soybeans this year, maturity groups range from Group 000 to Group X, says Delaney. “In Alabama, we normally grow from Group IV to Group VII or VIII. Generally speaking, Group IV and under are indeterminate — they can triple in height from the time they start blooming. Maturity Group V and above are determinate or later beans. When they start blooming, that’s pretty much it. What you have at bloom is essentially what you’ll have at the end of the season,” he says. It’s important, says Delaney, for all growers to remember the basics of soybean production. “We need to soil test and lime, and we need to go ahead and inoculate those seed with the right rhizobia to fix the nitrogen for you. But if pH is too low, they just won’t be able to do the job. Soybeans are very sensitive to low pH in the soil,” he says. In fields in which soybeans haven’t been grown for awhile, Delaney says the standard recommendation is that growers inoculate. “Like with all other legumes, there’s a particular kind of rhizobia for soybeans. At $1.25 to $1.50 per acre, it’s fairly cheap insurance compared to having to go back in and top-dress with expensive nitrogen,” he says. Some states have shown a slight yield boost by inoculating, even if they had a history of soybeans in the field, he says. “We haven’t seen that in our tests in the last couple of years. We’re seeing an increase of only 1 to 1.5 bushels, so it’s hard to justify,” says Delaney. “Just as with cotton, it pays to use a seed-applied fungicide in soybeans. I have seen — especially when we plant some of the early soybeans — particularly sentinel plots in late March or early April – that beans will sit there for two or three weeks. But they’ll come up if they have a good fungicide package on them. If they don’t, they’ll rot. It buys you a little time in case the weather is cool and wet,” he says. Soybeans, he says, are a very poor rotational crop if you’re growing peanuts. The two crops share several diseases, including white mold and cylindrocladium black rot. “We had a variety test in north Alabama where white mold came into soybeans following peanuts under irrigation. It came in at about the middle of July and killed about one-third of the field while stunting the remainder of the soybeans. We made about 30 to 35 bushels under irrigation.” Nematode resistance, says Delaney, is another important consideration in soybean production, especially for root-knot nematodes. “Particularly as we get into the Group IV’s, we find we don’t have a lot of resistance to nematodes. Most of the Group V’s have some resistance, but it varies. Look at the charts from the seed companies and see where a variety falls in terms of resistance. You may want to move to a different field or try and find another variety. Very few varieties are resistant to reniform nematodes — there are just a handful, so watch out for that.” A lot of disease resistance — to both foliar and soil-borne — can be “bought in the bag,” says Delaney. He recommends that growers spread out their soybean maturities, from early to late, insuring the beans are planted on time. “If you have late-planted corn and you can’t get it out on time, along with early soybeans, many times they’ll be on top of one another in August. Corn may wait a little while, but these early planted Group IV soybeans will wait only a week or so.” Like cotton, says Delaney, soybeans can be forgiving when it comes to plant populations. “Usually, about 150,000 plants is optimum. That gives a quick shading of the ground and translates to about 12 seed per foot on 36-inch rows and about 10 seed per foot on 30-inch rows. In tough conditions or when drilling or no-tilling beans, you can bump up that number.” If farmers are fortunate enough to receive ample rainfall this year, they also are likely to see Asian soybean rust, he says. Alabama has about 25 sentinel plots located throughout the state, and these will be checked weekly during the production season, says Delaney. “If we do get a wet, rainy summer, our research over the years has shown an average yield increase of about 6 bushels per acre whenever we use one of the new fungicides like Headline and Stratego, even if we don’t have heavy disease pressure.” Soybeans, says the agronomist, don’t respond well to deep tillage. “If you plant after wheat and you’ve subsoiled or deep-tilled the wheat, just drop and no-till plant soybeans. There’s no need in losing that moisture and straw.” Traditionally, Alabama growers have planted Group V soybeans in the northern part of the state, Groups V and IV in the central region, and Groups VI and VII in the south, says Delaney. “Over the years, we’ve moved to an earlier maturity group throughout the state. Normally, we planted from May through mid-June after we had done everything else and we tried to harvest in September and October. In the last few years, the Group IV Early Soybean Production System (ESPS) has been used by some growers. With each planting system, there’s different management with different pest problems for each one. With ESPS, we’re trying to move it back to earlier in the year. “This system shifts Group IV planting to mid-April, and then you have seed fill in July and maybe early August. Before we run out of moisture, we get them out in mid-August. Normally, there’s a lot less worm pressure with this system, but you need to watch for stinkbugs. In 2005, some growers saved themselves one fungicide spray with the early production system.” Looking to the future, Delaney says Roundup Ready II soybeans will be available on a very limited basis this year. “There will be about 1,000,000 million acres in the United States. There’s no real change on the herbicide label. Monsanto reportedly has been able to link some genes so there will be more seed per pod, increasing the proportion of three-seeded pods. Also, LibertyLink will have about 1,000,000 U.S. acres this year of its soybean variety with resistance to Ignite herbicide. It looks good on broadleaf weeds, but it’s a little weak on grasses, particularly once they grow to some size.” e-mail: [email protected] | 农业 |
2017-17/1182/en_head.json.gz/1507 | Follow @thepigsite News & Analysis Features Markets & Reports Knowledge Centre Business Directory Events Our Shop Forums News Japanese Pork Imports Continue to Fall05 November 2015 JAPAN - The continued recovery from PEDv, coupled with high stock levels, resulted in a further decline of pork imported into Japan, with volumes for January to September down six per cent at 581,300 tonnes.The latest figures show that imports of pork continued to fall during the third quarter of 2015, an ongoing trend throughout the year so far.
Volumes were down 9 per cent compared to the corresponding time period in 2014, at 201,000 tonnes.
However, it is worth noting that import demand reached high levels in 2014 as domestic production was affected by PEDv outbreaks. For the first nine months of 2015, the total value of imports of fresh and frozen pork fell by 7 per cent to ¥314 billion.
During the months of July to September 2015, imports from the EU fell by nearly a quarter on the year to 72,200 tonnes.
This was predominantly driven by Denmark and Spain, with both countries recording declines, of 17 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.
Outside of the EU, there was a marginal increase in pork destined for Japan, with increases from Mexico and Canada. In comparison to the third quarter of 2014, shipments from Canada were ahead by 22 per cent and Mexico by 7 per cent .
Whilst imports from the US dropped 8 per cent year on year, it remained the largest country supplier, making up just under a third of all shipments.
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