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2017-09/0639/en_head.json.gz/21789

New generation of West Marin ranchers coming back to the family farm A NEW GENERATION of ranchers is emerging in West Marin, young adults who are going off to college but returning home to leave their mark on family businesses that have been around for generations.One hundred years ago there were few career options for young people who grew up on a ranch. It was where they stayed to tend to animals and grow crops and eventually take over the family operation.Today options abound, but more young people are coming back home and finding fulfilling work on the farm."Most of the friends that are my age would never want to be stuck in Tomales," said 24-year-old Marissa Thornton, who came back to her family's ranch after graduating from Chico State University with a degree in animal science in 2010. "They would rather be in a city or traveling. In that way I am unique, I decided at a young age to be here and do this now. When I'm here I am the most satisfied."At her family's farm she works with her father helping raise beef and sheep on land that has been ranched for 150 years.But Thornton — the sixth generation of her family to live in West Marin — has her own ideas beyond traditional agriculture.She has free-range chickens and sells the eggs at a bakery in Petaluma under the name Marshall Home Ranch. Thornton also has bought eight dairy sheep and will start milking them in the spring. She will sell milk to a cheese maker initially, but has plans to make her own cheese."I love being outside. I could never have a job where I had to be inside," she said, looking over a hillside dotted with trees at the ranch. "I love animals and getting my hands dirty. In the long term I couldn't work for someone else, so this gives me the opportunity to be an entrepreneur and start a business, it's perfect."Like other young ranchers, Thornton is paying close attention to emerging niche markets that focus on locally produced and organic goods. "The market has changed so much, people are willing to pay more for local products," she said. "It didn't used to be that way when I was younger. The operations are more sustainable and in Marin that is important. It's a higher quality, it is hand-crafted. It's a good place to be if you want to be in agriculture. People want to support their local farmers."Marin agriculture is continuing to diversify its products. In the past 10 years the amount of locally produced products sold directly to consumers annually has doubled from $600,000 to $1.2 million, according to the University of California farm extension in Marin. Ten years ago the county had two local cheese makers, today there are nine. Marin also has 20 livestock producers growing for the local organic and grass-fed beef markets. Ten years ago there was none."In this area, organic is where it is going to go," said Jarrod Mendoza, 26, who produces organic milk on his ranch near the tip of the Point Reyes Peninsula on the historic "B" ranch. "It's hard for conventional dairies because you have to compete with huge operations."Mendoza, 26, also graduated from Chico State, but with a degree in criminal justice."My dad wanted us to get degrees in something else in case the industry went to hell," he said with a smile. "I thought about being in law enforcement, but once I got a sense for what they deal with, it made this job seem easy."In 2010 he came back to start his business, the Double M Dairy, and is the fourth generation of Mendozas to work the land in Point Reyes. He now has 210 cows in production and produces about 1,400 gallons of organic milk daily that find their way into stores such as Trader Joe's. He is contemplating growing crops and may even try cheese at some point."I like being able to call the shots and use some of my own ideas," he said. "Some things work, some things don't, but it's nice to try new approaches. It's nice being your own boss," Mendoza said, standing in front of his modest home with young cows milling nearby behind a fence. While keeping the family ranching business going was important to him, Mendoza said he will let his children do as they see fit."I didn't want to be the last guy on the chain, but with my kids, I will offer it to them, but they have to want to do it like I do. I don't want to guilt trip them into it," he said.Ellie Rilla, a member of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust Board of Directors who served as Marin's University of California farm adviser for 22 years, is pleased to see the transition to the new generation."We used to call them our next generation, but that time has arrived," she said.With the average age of a rancher at almost 60, many areas of the country are expecting hard transitions because the next generation is not staying, Rilla said. "We are blessed in Marin to have fourth- and fifth-generation families who have a strong bond and stewardship to their land and returning to work the ranch," she said. "They go away to college and return with degrees in animal science, dairy production, or business ready to dig in."Up the road in Valley Ford several younger ranchers and farmers from North Bay counties formed the Valley Ford Young Farmers Association to support one another and market their products. The interest in organic, cheese and other local markets is making agriculture more attractive for young people, Rilla said."Confidence, enthusiasm and willingness to take new risks in new markets comes when you see other Marin producers trying and succeeding," she said. "There's a sort of snowball effect."She noted MALT helps when it buys development rights from ranchers. That keeps the land free of sprawl and provides dollars to agriculture to support new endeavors.Amanda Moretti, 18, a third-generation dairy farmer from Tomales, spent this summer working the fertile West Marin loam on her family's ranch. Now she is back at Cornell University studying animal science with great plans for the future."Once I am finished with my schooling, I hope to work in the agriculture industry, specifically dairy industry, as a marketing director, financial manager or some other position within the business sector," she said. "Eventually, I plan to take over my family's dairy in order to continue our family tradition of dairying in the North Bay."While interested in the business end of agriculture, Moretti enjoys day-to-day chores such as feeding baby calves, as well as spending time outside and working side-by-side with her family. "My ultimate goal to settle in the rolling hills of Marin County, where I can spend time with my family and our cows," she said.Contact Mark Prado via email at [email protected]

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2017-09/0639/en_head.json.gz/24180

Scrapping regulations calls for discretion Feb 10, 2017 Stronger safety net is goal for National Cotton Council Jan 27, 2017 Oklahoma Peanut Expo March 23 in Altus Feb 08, 2017 Cattle industry 'very concerned' about Trump's pledge to renegotiate NAFTA Feb 06, 2017 Few days to review 2006 tax scenarios Caroline Booth Lara | Dec 18, 2006 Though time is running short, agricultural producers do have a few weeks left to review their financial situations and identify ways to reduce their 2006 tax bills. The 2006 tax system is largely similar to last year’s, except for a few minor benefits that expired at the end of 2005. “There aren’t any surprises for 2006 taxes,” says Jose Pena, economist with Texas Cooperative Extension in Uvalde. “Ninety-nine percent of the benefits that expired, like the research and experimentation credit and the welfare-to-work credit, don’t apply to farmers.” The war in Iraq, the huge federal deficit and controversy over the last tax package have caused a stalemate in Congress as far as new tax laws go, Pena explains. Pena says the Section 179 expensing option for depreciable property used in business was increased to $108,000 to account for inflation. This can be used on computers, office furniture, equipment and vehicles, along with other tangible business property. “The SUV ‘loophole’ has been eliminated, so that means the expensing option is capped at $25,000 for SUVs with loaded weights between 6,000 and 14,000 pounds,” Pena says. The full expensing deduction is available for heavy non-SUVs, providing they are equipped with a cargo area of at least 6 feet in interior length and have an integral enclosure that fully encloses the driver’s compartment. Also producers should be aware of some standing provisions covering drought-related livestock sales, says Dan Childs, an agricultural economist at the Noble Foundation in Ardmore, Okla. “The tax implications of cattle sales caused by a drought are fairly straight-forward,” Childs says. “Two different tax treatments apply.” The first option covers draft, breeding or dairy animals. If a producer sells more animals than normal, he or she can elect not to recognize any gain if they use proceeds to purchase replacement livestock within two years from the end of the tax year in which the sale takes place. “The time period is extended to four years when the sale of animals in excess of normal was in a natural-disaster-designated area,” Childs says. The new livestock purchased must be used for the same purpose as those sold. Only the additional animals sold in excess of normal sales can be replaced without recognition of gain. The entire sales proceeds must be reinvested in at least the same number of animals as sold for no gain to be recognized. If the sales proceeds are reinvested in exactly the same number of animals, then the new animals will have the same basis as the animals sold. If a lesser amount than the sales proceeds is invested, a portion of the gain will need to be recognized. If more than the sales proceeds is invested, then the difference is added to the old basis to establish the new basis. “A producer can choose not to recognize the gain from the sale of animals in excess of the normal amount of sales by attaching a statement with the required information to their tax return,” Childs says. The second option applies to all livestock and allows for a one-year postponement of reporting the sales proceeds from livestock sold due to drought in excess of the number ordinarily sold. The animals do not have to be replaced as in the first option. Reporting sales proceeds is simply deferred for one year. However, several requirements must be met: a producer’s principal business must be farming; a producer must use the cash method of accounting; a producer must show that the livestock would normally have been sold in the following year; and the weather-related conditions that caused an area to be declared eligible for federal assistance must have caused the sale of livestock. “Again, a document containing the necessary information must be attached to a producer’s tax return indicating that an election has been made to defer the gain,” Childs says.

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2017-09/0639/en_head.json.gz/25071

Green Subsidies: India's Unfortunate Lesson One of the focal points of the President's plan for reviving the US economy is federal subsidies for "green manufacturing" and "clean energy." Now, I've already laid out a lot of serious problems with such plans - the most important of which is America's unblemished record of utter incompetence when it comes to subsidizing products and companies to further vague environmental objectives. But another serious problem with green (and, well, pretty much all other) subsidies is the fact that they almost always lead to lots of harmful unintended consequences. From today's Wall Street Journal comes an absolutely perfect (and sad) example in India of just how bad the unintended consequences of "green subsidies" can get: India has been providing farmers with heavily subsidized fertilizer for more than three decades. The overuse of one type—urea—is so degrading the soil that yields on some crops are falling and import levels are rising. So are food prices, which jumped 19% last year. The country now produces less rice per hectare than its far poorer neighbors: Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Agriculture's decline is emerging as one of the hottest political issues in the world's biggest democracy. On Thursday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's cabinet announced that India would adopt a new subsidy program in April, hoping to replenish the soil by giving farmers incentives to use a better mix of nutrients. But in a major compromise, the government left in place the old subsidy on urea—meaning farmers will still have a big incentive to use too much of it.... Agriculture has lagged behind other industries such as manufacturing and services, posting less than 2% growth in the latest reports on gross domestic product. And double-digit food inflation and declining yields spell less money in the pockets of rural Indians. India spends almost twice as much on food imports today as it did in 2002, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Wheat imports hit 1.7 million tons in 2008, up from about 1,300 tons in 2002. Food prices rose 19% last year.... Behind the worsening picture is the government's agricultural policy. In an effort to boost food production, win farmer votes and encourage the domestic fertilizer industry, the government has increased its subsidy of urea over the years, and now pays about half of the domestic industry's cost of production. Mr. Singh's government, recognizing the policy failure, announced a year ago that it intended to drop the existing subsidy system in favor of a new plan. But allowing urea's price to increase significantly would almost certainly trigger protests in rural India, which contains 70% of the electorate, political observers say. The ministers of fertilizers and agriculture each declined requests for interviews.... Farmers spread the rice-size urea granules by hand or from tractors. They pay so little for it that in some areas they use many times the amount recommended by scientists, throwing off the chemistry of the soil, according to multiple studies by Indian agricultural experts. Like humans, plants need balanced diets to thrive. Too much urea oversaturates plants with nitrogen without replenishing other nutrients that are vitally important, including phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, magnesium and calcium. The government has subsidized other fertilizers besides urea. In budget crunches, subsidies on those fertilizers have been reduced or cut, but urea's subsidy has survived. That's because urea manufacturers form a powerful lobby, and farmers are most heavily reliant on this fertilizer, making it a political hot potato to raise the price. As the soil's fertility has declined, farmers under pressure to increase output have spread even more urea on their land....Yikes. Be sure to read the whole thing here. What's most interesting is the vicious cycle that developed in India because of the original, and relatively small, fertilizer subsidy program that started over 40 years ago. The first fertilizer subsidies produced a powerful and bloated industry and millions of dependent farmers. With all those new companies and farmers, more subsidies followed, and the cost of the subsidy program exploded - it was about $640 million in 1976 but $20 billion last year. When the government sought to reduce or eliminate the subsidy, the industry and farmers fiercely protested and, with the help of their favorite legislators, forced the government to "compromise" in the early 1990s and only subsidize one kind of fertilizer - urea. That decision led to even more urea production and use, and not only started harming crop yields, but also destroyed domestic manufacturers of competitive fertilizers like phosphorous. So the government decided to subsidize those fertilizers, but the subsidy, bound by budget constraints, was too small and failed to jumpstart production of urea alternatives, thus wasting millions of taxpayer dollars and doing nothing to solve the government-caused problem. In the end, the urea subsidy remains (mostly) in place, state budgets are buckling, crops are suffering immensely, and both the domestic fertilizer and agriculture industries are proving increasingly unprofitable (thus, imports are increasing rapidly to fill the void). Oh, and all that fertilizer overuse has severely tainted the local water supply around many farming communities. All in all, it's an abject disaster bordering on national tragedy. All because of a few million dollars in "green" government fertilizer subsidies. But I'm sure that the billions and billions of dollars that President Obama wants to provide to his favorite "green" companies won't have any of these nasty unintended consequences. I mean, all of our other forays into the environmental market have worked out so gosh darn well, right? Riiiiiiiight. Subsidies, Surely subsidies is a problem. But more than that the recent jump in agri prices in India is the forward trading of agri produts by the traders manipulating on the commodity exchange. Surely there is a clear nexus between the trading community as well as the politicians supporting the same. Earlier it was in the hand of the few, now it is legalized and rampant. RickRussellTX I don't think there is any evidence to indicate that commodities trading causes jumps in prices that would not have occurred due to other problems. Indeed, with a few rare exceptions (e.g. speculative hoarding, like you saw in the rice market a couple of years ago), commodities markets with their futures and options contracts reduce volatility by allowing both buyers and sellers to hedge against sudden changes in supply due to non-economic factors like weather or pests.It's an economic reality that "the trading community" will never be able to sell a product for more than what someone is willing to pay for it, and they will never be able to buy a product for less than what someone is willing to price it. Consequently, their long-run affect on commodities prices must be zero; the most they can do is shift variations in time and arbitrage small fractions off the trading system -- a small price to pay for a more efficient, less volatile commodities market.

农业

2017-09/0639/en_head.json.gz/25364

Global Farmer Network By: Global Farmer Network The Global Farmer Network are farmers committed to inserting their voice and perspective in the global dialogue regarding food and nutritional security. Elected For the Common Good In his victory speech on Election Night, Barack Obama said that America has “sent a message to the world.” He was talking about national unity. A week ago, we were red Republicans and blue Democrats. Today we’re red, white, and blue Americans. President-elect Obama is right about that. We need to send another message to the world as well--one that says the United States won’t embrace the specter of protectionism, even in a time of economic anxiety. Cracking down on freer trade and trade agreements will only make our problems worse. Throughout the presidential campaign, Obama said that our country must improve its image abroad. Rightly or wrongly, too many foreigners see the United States as a menace rather than a force for good. During his speech in Berlin this summer, Obama recognized this challenge: “In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common.” The anti-Americans will probably always be with us, from the snobbish salons of Paris to the terror-loving madrassas of Pakistan. But surely we can do better in the eyes of the world. One of the fundamental promises of Obama’s candidacy is that under his leadership, we will. As he said at the Democratic convention in August, “just as we keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America’s promise abroad.” Protectionism is a sure-fire way to blow it. It doesn’t keep a promise abroad. Instead, protectionism breaks a promise--a promise of American leadership on global economic issues. Since the end of the Second World War, the United States has fought for trade liberalization around the planet, to the benefit of ordinary people everywhere. Times may be tough right now, but on any objective scale that takes in the full sweep of history, we’ve never been more prosperous. Just a generation ago, there were no high-speed web connections, cell phones, or iPods. There were no GPS devices in minivans or combines. There was no agricultural biotechnology, keeping down our costs and boosting our yields so that farmers can continue to feed a hungry world. The ability to buy and sell goods and services across borders has underwritten much of this progress. Economic isolationism would threaten these gains--especially the ones that we still hope to achieve for the next generation. Earlier this year, during the Democratic primaries, Obama suggested that the United States “renegotiate” or even “opt-out” of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Talk about breaking a promise! The good news is that a little while later, Obama seemed to retreat from these rash comments. The guy with the famously cool temperament more or less admitted that his rhetoric had turned a little hot during the pressures of a high-stakes campaign. “I believe in free trade,” he said in June. “As somebody who lived overseas, who has family overseas, I’ve seen what’s happened in terms of rising living standards around the globe. And that’s a good thing for America, it’s good for our national security.” Now this was a change I could believe in! Our economy is in rough shape at the moment, and not everybody believes in free trade. Some public officials in Washington won’t resist the deadly allure of protectionism. Special interests will plead with them to close borders and raise tariffs. It won’t matter to them that this will hurt people whose jobs are tied to the export market. It won’t matter to them that it will inflate consumer prices for everyone. It won’t matter to them that the world will wonder why America is turning inward. The very opposite of a special interest, after all, is the common good. So as much as I’d like to urge Obama to push through the Bush administration’s sensible free-trade agreements with Colombia and South Korea, and to ask Congress to renew Trade Promotion Authority, my first request of our next president is a simple one. When it comes to trade policy, for the sake of our economy here at home and America’s image abroad: Start by doing no harm. Dean Kleckner, an Iowa farmer, chairs Truth About Trade & Technology. www.truthabouttrade.org Matt Bogard Actually, I think the useful idiots are the ones in denial of basic economic truths, who in the face of evidence, are not shaken in their anticapitalist dogma, trade more freedom for more government, because it feels so good. On another note, Mr. Kleckner with regard to sensible free trade, did you see Greg Mankiw's article in the times. If not check out his blog post at : http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2008/11/memo-to-potus-elect.html I think you will enjoy it. Best. Anonymous you sir are just another useful idiot

农业

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Just peachy enough Rosa Parra, 9, helps fill a bin of an early variety of local peach at the Mt. Garfield Fruits and Vegetables stand near Palisade. The stand enjoyed brisk business this past weekend after cherries, apricots — and peaches — arrived. It’s no secret: We love peaches. So when a cruel cold snap this spring wiped out many of this year’s early peaches, folks took notice. As other more cold-hardy peach varieties begin to hit roadside market stands and farmers markets in the next couple weeks, some growers hope those sales can make up for a slow start to the fruit and vegetable selling season. Bruce Herman of Herman Produce, 753 Elberta Ave. in Palisade, said their cotton-candy pink stand just off Interstate 70 hasn’t yet received the influx of visitors as in years past. While they have a limited amount of early peaches, the good news is there will be plenty of the luscious fruits for locals in coming weeks. The company is not selling peaches to wholesale distributors this year because of the shortages. “We have high hopes. It’s going to be a better year than we thought,” he said. “We’ll have a good local crop here in a couple weeks.” The dozens of fruit and veggie stands around the Grand Valley rely on the draw from peaches and tomatoes to get folks in the door. Once there, buyers tend to shop around for other fruits and veggies. It also isn’t helpful that most of area’s cherries and apricots succumbed to the frost. Those fruits are usually in abundance this time of year. However, some local stands feature those treats after purchasing them from orchards in areas around Delta and Paonia. On Saturday, Mt. Garfield Fruit and Vegetable Stand, 3371 Front St., finally saw a healthy dose of customers come through. The stand has cherries and apricots and a limited selection of Paul Friday peaches, an early variety. “Everything’s late because of the weather,” said a woman who was working there. “I was getting worried,” she added, about a lack of customers recently. Alida Helmer of Alida’s Fruits, 3402 C 1/2 Road, said the stand had some early peaches earlier this week, but sold out. Tomatoes should be for sale there this week. “I think it’s been a littler slower, but I’ve had a lot of people stop here today,” she said from her stand. “I can’t say that we’ve been swamped.” Lee DeVries of DeVries Farm Market, 31 1/2 C Road, confirmed that most people first seek peaches when out shopping for local produce. They will have them soon. “That is the draw,” DeVries said. “Then they pick up other stuff.”

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You are hereHome » The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of... The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food (Hardcover) By Dan Barber $29.95 Usually Ships in 1-5 Days " E]ngaging, funny and delicious... I would call this The Omnivore's Dilemma 2.0." --Chicago Tribune At the heart of today's optimistic farm-to-table food culture is a dark secret: the local food movement has failed to change how we eat. It has also offered a false promise for the future of food. Our concern over factory farms and chemically grown crops might have sparked a social movement, but chef Dan Barber, recently showcased on Netflix's Chef's Table, reveals that even the most enlightened eating of today is ultimately detrimental to the environment and to individual health. And it doesn't involve truly delicious food. Based on ten years of surveying farming communities around the world, Barber's The Third Plate offers a radical new way of thinking about food that will heal the land and taste good, too. The Third Plate is grounded in the history of American cuisine over the last two centuries. Traditionally, we have dined on the "first plate," a classic meal centered on a large cut of meat with few vegetables. Thankfully, that's become largely passe. The farm-to-table movement has championed the "second plate," where the meat is from free-range animals and the vegetables are locally sourced. It's better-tasting, and better for the planet, but the second plate's architecture is identical to that of the first. It, too, is damaging--disrupting the ecological balances of the planet, causing soil depletion and nutrient loss--and in the end it isn't a sustainable way to farm or eat. The solution, explains Barber, lies in the "third plate" an integrated system of vegetable, grain, and livestock production that is fully supported--in fact, dictated--by what we choose to cook for dinner. The third plate is where good farming and good food intersect. While the third plate is a novelty in America, Barber demonstrates that this way of eating is rooted in worldwide tradition. He explores the time-honored farming practices of the southern Spanish dehesa, a region producing high-grade olives, acorns, cork, wool, and the renowned jamon iberico. Off the Straits of Gibraltar, Barber investigates the future of seafood through a revolutionary aquaculture operation and an ancient tuna-fishing ritual. In upstate New York, Barber learns from a flourishing mixed-crop farm whose innovative organic practices have revived the land and resurrected an industry. And in Washington State he works with cutting-edge seedsmen developing new varieties of grain in collaboration with local bakers, millers, and malt makers. Drawing on the wisdom and experience of chefs and farmers from around the world, Barber builds a dazzling panorama of ethical and flavorful eating destined to refashion Americans' deepest beliefs about food. A vivid and profound work that takes readers into the kitchens and fields revolutionizing the way we eat, The Third Plate redefines nutrition, agriculture, and taste for the twenty-first century. The Third Plate charts a bright path forward for eaters and chefs alike, daring everyone to imagine a future for our national cuisine that is as sustainable as it is delicious. The Wall Street Journal " F]un to read, a lively mix of food history, environmental philosophy and restaurant lore... an important and exciting addition to the sustainability discussion." The Atlantic "When The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan's now-classic 2006 work, questioned the logic of our nation's food system, "local" and "organic" weren't ubiquitous the way they are today. Embracing Pollan's iconoclasm, but applying it to the updated food landscape of 2014, The Third Plate reconsiders fundamental assumptions of the movement Pollan's book helped to spark. In four sections--"Soil," "Land, "Sea," and "Seed"--The Third Plate outlines how his pursuit of intense flavor repeatedly forced him to look beyond individual ingredients at a region's broader story--and demonstrates how land, communities, and taste benefit when ecology informs the way we source, cook, and eat. About the Author DAN BARBER is the executive chef of Blue Hill, a restaurant in Manhattan s West Village, and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, located within the nonprofit farm Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture. His opinions on food and agricultural policy have appeared in The New York Times, along with many other publications, and he was recently showcased on Netflix'sChef's Table. Barber has received multiple James Beard awards, including Best Chef: New York City (2006) and the country s Outstanding Chef (2009). In 2009 he was named one of Time magazine s 100 most influential people in the world. @DanBarber" Product Details Related Editions (all) Kobo eBook (May 20th, 2014): $13.99 Compact Disc (May 20th, 2014): $45.00

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2017-09/0640/en_head.json.gz/1203

Ideas shared for bridging urban-rural divide Whether the topic is use of technology in food production, how to insure safe food or whether climate change is real, it's no secret that rural residents often see the issues much differently than their urban counterparts. By Candace KrebsContributing Writer OKLAHOMA CITY — Whether the topic is use of technology in food production, how to insure safe food or whether climate change is real, it's no secret that rural residents often see the issues much differently than their urban counterparts."We in agriculture are part of the Red State-Blue State polarization going on right now," said Bruce Knight, a longtime Washington insider and legislative consultant who remains involved in a family farming operation in South Dakota.Knight was one of multiple speakers at the International Leadership Alumni Conference, a four-day gathering of approximately 75 ag leadership graduates from around the U.S. and Canada, who addressed the growing urban-rural rift.Knight spoke about a Farm Bill that is in the third year of a fractious reauthorization process — which he said could easily result in another one-year extension of current policy — but he urged farm leaders to step back and take a wider view."Are we looking ahead to the next generation chBallenges?" Knight asked. "Farm Bills are written looking in the rear-view mirror. We are probably headed for a much smaller Farm Bill than we have today. It's probably time to move beyond the fight over reallocating funds to rebuilding our infrastructure. It's time to shift the focus from price security to risk management and long-term research investment."Agriculture needs to pursue what he called "sustainable intensification" in order to meet the needs of the future."We are now farming by the inch instead of by the acre," he said. He pointed to the Bipartisan Policy Center, a legislative consultancy formed by former Senators Bob Dole of Kansas and Tom Daschle of South Dakota, as a rare example of common sense in Washington. They "look at the bigger picture and routinely tackle the tough issues," such as how to respond proactively to the threat of climate change, he said. Tough talk from Kevin Murphy, the Kansas City-based founder of Food Chain Communications and publisher of a website called Truthinfood.org, seemed to strike a cord with many in the audience.Murphy contends that agriculturalists are losing today's public relations battle because they have been reluctant to enter into the debate over religion, ethics and morality."I've been on lots of college campuses, and I'm not optimistic," Murphy said. "I have been really depressed by agriculture's response to the accusations that we are unethical. The image people have of the character of farmers is rapidly eroding. The activist groups are selling compassion, and that's what we're up against."It's gotten to the point where he said he feels judged if he buys a bag of cheap dog food.Murphy was not a fan of the much-promoted "Food Dialogues" undertaken by U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance, a public relations collaboration of various commodity groups and leading agribusinesses. He called it "too middle of the road" and "too politically correct" and questioned the effectiveness of the group's recent "listening tour.""We're wasting these dollars and that just means we're losing faster," he said.Both he and Knight said one possible solution might lie in transforming commodity check-off programs to make them more flexible.Check-off campaigns need to mature beyond bare bones messaging, Murphy suggested."We're still stuck in generating awareness," he said of check-off promotions. "The next step we have to get to is education. We've got to get more detailed."Knight agreed that some older check-off programs were due for reform, since they impose numerous restrictions on how funds can be spent. "We need to look at all these little rules and overhaul them," he said. Jayson Lusk, a food economist at Oklahoma State University who grew up on a hardscrabble farm in West Texas, said meaningful consumer research is needed to address topics like the true economics and sustainability of locally grown food."We have to couple our concerns with evidence," he said.Lusk lays out his case against knee-jerk reactions to modern food production in a new book called "The Food Police: A Well-Fed Manifesto About the Politics of Your Plate." His ideas have been published on mainstream media sites such as the Wall Street Journal and Time.com. While many popular books and films offer doom and gloom about the food industry, Lusk said modern technologies represent to him "the triumph of human ingenuity over nature's indifference to us."Concerns of the "cultural elitists" are full of contradictions, he added. At the same time critics were saying corn was too cheap, headlines around the world were decrying rising food prices as a "crisis" devastating to the world's poorest."There's a lot of good food and good agriculture out there, and I think it's important to recognize that," Lusk said. "Trade is beneficial. It has made us very wealthy over time."Farms offer toursSeveral farmers in the Oklahoma City area hosted tours during the conference.Among them was Virgil Slagell, who participated in the Oklahoma Ag Leadership Program back in the mid-1980s. At that time, at least 75 percent of his fellow class members were engaged in production agriculture, he said, and only a handful represented related industries and associations.Today that ratio is reversed."There's starting to be so few of us in production ag that we just don't seem to matter anymore," he said.Slagell and his crew at Triple S Farms were in the middle of watermelon harvest. He said his farm is subjected to four separate audits every year, requiring one employee to handle paperwork full-time."They love paper," he said of the auditors. "If you don't document it, it didn't happen."Considering all that, it pains him to go to the grocery store and see how his produce is handled after it leaves the farm, he added."They set out a bin of watermelons and everybody who comes by touches everything," he said. "After it leaves here, it's out of our hands. We don't have any control over kitchen hygiene. But if they trace something back to our farm, we're broke, whether it's our fault or not."Increased regulation and difficulty hiring needed labor are two of the main factors hurting production agriculture, he and other host farmers said. Slagell's neighbor, Dean Smith, who grows specialty peppers that are sold to spice extraction companies in addition to other crops, said offering tours was the best way he knew to bridge the urban-rural divide. He typically hosts two or three groups a year, including visitors from the local technical school that get a chance to drive his auto-steer tractors."I just like to show them that farmers are real people," Smith said.

农业

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Randolph Center Fish Farm A ‘Low Profile Operation’ Tweet People / Jul. 9, 2009 12:00am EDT By Martha Slater Randolph Center Fish Farm A ‘Low Profile Operation’ By Martha Slater Louis Warlick gets ready to feed some of his mature trout in one of many ponds on his Randolph Center property. (Herald / Tim Calabro) If you want to hear an interesting fish story, just ask Louis Warlick of Peak Pond Farm in Randolph Center, who knows a great deal about the care and feeding of freshwater fish. Warlick’s fish farm, which he and his wife, Patty Akley-Warlick, started 25 years ago, is the oldest privately-owned fish hatchery in the state. Accompanied by his faithful pair of 12-year-old chocolate labs, Kobe and Jack, Warlick recently gave the Herald a tour of his operation. Warlick does most of the work on the fish farm by himself, with occasional help from family and friends. He buys eggs for brook and rainbow trout from the state in September, and hatches the eggs in the middle of the winter. As he leads his visitors through the fields across from his house, Warlick noted that he goes to the hatchery in Salisbury and brings the eggs home in jars of water, then transfers them to his hatching troughs, where a gravity-flow system, fed by several natural springs and ponds, supplies water to the long narrow metal troughs and a number of circular black plastic rearing tanks, all housed in a structure that resembles a greenhouse. As with human babies, fish babies have to be fed often, and Warlick explained that a fish’s appetite depends upon the temperature of the water. They like it best between 50-60 degrees. “If the water’s too cold, it slows their metabolism way down and they don’t want to eat,” he said. Right now, he’s feeding them tiny brown pellets that contain vitamin-enriched fish meal, grain, proteins, and fat. “The feed we use is the same thing used to feed the salmon you buy at the store,” he added. One tub will hold 900-1,000 fingerlings, which is the sixth of seven steps in the fish growth cycle. The eggs become sac fry, fry, swim up fry, and advanced fry, before attaining fingerling status, and ending up as stocking fish. He sells the fish to be stocked in ponds by fish and game clubs and for fishing derbies, primarily in the spring, which is his busiest season. The fish, which can grow to an average of 6-8 inches in length in a year, are sold at many stages. Orders are filled for a certain size and number of fish. “With small fish, the typical order is for 100-200 fish; with bigger ones, it’s 50-100,” Warlick explained, “although I’ve had orders of anywhere from five to 1,000 fish at a time.” Warlick’s operation has to be licensed by the state and inspected annually by the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, under an inspection program funded by the state agriculture department. The fish operation takes up about 5-6 acres of Warlick’s 41-acre farm. He bought the property 28 years ago, and he and his wife raised their three daughters there. “Originally, we had a pick-your-own strawberries operation here and after I dug a pond to irrigate the berries, I was told by a soil conservation engineer that I had more water than the Pennsylvania state hatchery,” Warlick recalled. “My old friend, Hank Hewitt, used to belong to the Sunny Brook Trout Farm, a club that was open to the public, and he suggested that I get some fish and put them in the water troughs I had for the draft horses. From there, I borrowed some money, dug ponds, and learned as I went along. Jack Hardy, who owned a hatchery in Plainfield, helped me by taking me around to a lot of hatcheries, and was very generous with his time. I read a lot on the subject for the first four or five years, and mostly just sold fish to Jack.” In addition to being a fish farmer, Warlick works as a carpenter and property caretaker. The work on the fish farm slows down in the winter, but he explained that, “the troughs don’t freeze because the water comes out of the ground warm enough and keeps moving.” Of course, he notes, he does have to keep paths open and clear snow off the top of the greenhouse, “so, at midnight when it’s snowing, I’m down here shoveling!” His plans for next year include putting a new plastic roof on the greenhouse and rearranging the tank setup. Warlick, who has passed along the help he received by mentoring several others who have started hatchery businesses, says that one of the secrets to his success is that “I’m blessed with really good quality water for raising fish. It’s all gravity-flow spring water—as good as it can get.” Besides, he adds, “I have no electricity, no heat and no employees to pay—that’s how we’ve survived so long. We’re a low-profile operation!”

农业

2017-09/0640/en_head.json.gz/1421

Can Anyone Grow Their Own Food ‘From the Ground Up’? [25 September 2013] By Catherine Ramsdell When Jeanne Nolan was just a teenager, she left her parents’ comfortable home and lifestyle and ended up living on a commune (cult?) called Zendik Farm. Throughout From the Ground Up, Nolan weaves in memories from her time there. Many are unsettling—such as when Nolan was mocked and left alone in a hospital to give birth because she needed an epidural after 15hours of labor. But some are not. Zendik Farm taught her much about conservation and nature—from growing organic food to butchering chickens to making natural medicines to cure ailing goats. After leaving the commune, Nolan became a professional organic gardener. She created gardens at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, opened her own organic gardening business, and worked with nonprofits to create gardens for lower income communities. Here, too, are interesting thoughts. Nolan describes her first job and her computer mishaps. Technology didn’t appear to be a big part of the commune lifestyle—Nolan states “The world had leaped into the digital age while I’d been pulling weeds.” She includes her gardening mistakes as well, such as her panic over a garden full of nut grass, something that is described as a “particularly noxious weed”. She also talks about the people she meets—a young boy who was in occupational therapy for early stage ADHD who was completely “focused and absorbed” when gardening and a woman who wanted an organic garden because cancer runs in her family. Not surprisingly, Nolan also is an advocate for eating locally grown food and includes a fair share of research on various subjects relating to food, health, and the environment, from lead poisoning to cancer causing chemicals to energy: “One fast-food cheeseburger, according to one estimate, generates between seven and fourteen pounds of carbon dioxide, versus roughly half a pound of carbon dioxide per pound of many fresh-grown vegetables. Processed foods take an environmental toll: 16 percent of the total energy currently used in the U.S. food system goes to processing.” In a world where books about food, carbon footprints, and urban gardening are popping on an almost overwhelming basis, Nolan sets herself (and her book) a part a bit by showing how a regular person can exact change. For much of the book, Nolan is both a single parent and in a financially insecure place. At one time she thinks “This is absurd. I’m a thirty-five-year-old unemployed single mom who was at one point was on track to go to an Ivy League school. Now I’m not qualified for an entry-level clerical job.” Once she becomes a professional gardener, her financial stability increases, but it takes a toll on her personal life and at one point, her daughter screams “This house is disgusting…We can’t live like this…I hate you.” Through it all, though, Nolan maintains optimism—even though it feels a little forced at times. Further, Nolan is also in this for life—her story is not an experiment to see if she can live a year without buying anything that isn’t locally grown or something of that nature. Nolan clearly wants to present organic gardening and eating well as doable, and for the most part, she succeeds. Some of her detailed descriptions of creating raised beds on rooftops might be a little much for the beginning gardener, but Nolan finishes the book with a series of tips (e.g., How to grow a food garden in ten steps and ten favorite gardening products) and includes “certain general guidelines for success—five principles that will help [people] grow food anywhere, whether on a rural farm, in the city, or in the suburbs.” Nolan’s story is inspiring, her tales of the commune strangely fascinating yet often disturbing, and her statistics impressively frightening. In the beginning all this information blends well. Nolan moves, for example, from a nervous reunion with friends (after leaving the commune) to a discussion of how outsiders were treated at the commune (and how members of the commune were treated if they were too close to people on the outside). Later in the book, some of the leaps between the present, the past, and the research aren’t quite as seamless. Part memoir, part lecture, and part how to, From the Ground Up is as thoughtful, complicated and chaotic as the gardening (and life) journey it describes. Perhaps more importantly, Nolan’s encouraging tone, honest style, and practical advice do make you believe that no matter where you live or what you know (or don’t know about plants) you can create an edible garden. Published at: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/from-the-ground-up-by-jeanne-nolan/

农业

2017-09/0640/en_head.json.gz/1532

Resistance management even more critical with new herbicides Feb 06, 2017 Plan for strong disease, nematode pressure early this year Feb 02, 2017 US cotton moves to rebrand its promise to the world Feb 02, 2017 David Blakemore to lead National Cotton Ginners Association Feb 14, 2017 Crops>Peanuts From Sunbelt Expo Paul L. Hollis | Dec 20, 2000 James Lee Adams `Farmer of the Year' James Lee Adams, a resourceful farmer who runs an operation that utilizes every byproduct available to him, has been chosen as the Lancaster/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year for the year 2000. Adams was announced as the Southeastern winner during the opening day of the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition in Moultrie, Ga. "Anyone who has been able to farm and still is farming after all we've been through the past few years could stand here just as well as me," said Adams in accepting the award. "On behalf of all farmers, and what they've accomplished for this country, I accept this award." "Mr. Adams is representative of the modern farmer who takes advantage of modern technology, utilizes products that would be considered waste in many business ventures and believes in promoting agriculture to the general public and in working with both national and foreign governments to market and promote agricultural products. "He is to be commended, as are all of the winners who represent what is outstanding in America today," said J. Thomas Ryan, executive vice president of Swisher International whose Lancaster Premium Chewing Tobacco brand has sponsored the award for 11 years along with the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition. Adams was chosen for the honor from finalists who represented eight Southeastern states. He was selected for the Southeastern honor by a group of judges who visited each of the state winners in August of this year. He received a check for $12,500 from Swisher International, a year's supply of clothing from the Williamson-Dickie Company, the use of a Massey Ferguson 4200 series tractor for a year from AGCO, a $1,000 gift certificate from Southern States Cooperative and a custom- made gun safe from Misty Morn Safes. Additionally, he and each of the state winners received a check for $1,500 from Swisher International and a $500 gift certificate from Southern States. "We are proud to honor James Lee Adams as the 11th Lancaster/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year," said Chip Blalock, director of the Sunbelt Expo. "He is among an outstanding group of agricultural entrepreneurs who are featured in the Hall of Honor at the Sunbelt Expo headquarters building." Adams previously was named the Lancaster/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year for Georgia in 1992. Georgia Extension officials had encouraged him for several years to allow his farming operation to be nominated for the honor a second time. The seven other winners who also were honored during the Expo are, from Alabama, George Hamilton of Hillsboro; Florida, Damon Deas of Jennings; Mississippi, James Tackett of Schlater; North Carolina, Reid Gray of Statesville; South Carolina, Raymond Galloway, Jr., of Darlington; Tennessee, Harris Armour III of Somerville; and Virginia, John Davis of Port Royal. Adams has a wide variety of enterprises on his 2,000-acre fully irrigated farm in southwest Georgia. He grows pecans, peanuts, cotton and corn, raises stocker cattle, has broiler houses and raises alligators. Adams, who has been farming for 31 years, oversees the operation which involves all family members. Each of the crop and animal enterprises complements one another, says Adams. "We utilize everything," he says. "Chicken litter is used for fertilizer, peanut hulls are used for bedding in poultry houses, cattle graze in the winter under center pivots and the cattle are used in pecan groves during the summer where they graze beneath the pecan trees and serve as a pruning tool by eating the lower limbs from the trees. This make harvesting pecans easier and more economical." Dead chickens, he adds, are used as food for alligators. The next step, says Adams, is to install greenhouses next to poultry houses to capture heat expelled from the poultry houses during the winter. When Adams joined his father as a $100-per-week employee, he left a job which had paid considerably more. But he also brought a considerable amount of expertise from his previous experience. "I believe we have the most complete set of records of anybody," says Adams. "All of our farm records since 1978 are on computer. This includes yields, daily weather and farming operations and costs." Adams installed the personal computers and wrote the software for the programs. Adams installed irrigation on his farm in 1972. "I believe we were among the first in the Southeast to install center pivots. Sixty-eight percent of agricultural losses are related to dry weather, and it's difficult to pre-sell or hedge production with erratic yields," he says. Adams has built an efficient and cost-effective farming operation. "Our goal is not to be the largest farm but to be the most efficient," he notes. The development of the alligator farming operation is an indication of that philosophy. Adams' son-in-law, Mark Glass, operates this venture which has 8,000 alligators and is being expanded to house 12,000. Hides and meat are being marketed from this venture which originally was designed to dispose of dead chickens. "We have designed the alligator houses and they have landfill liners so the hides aren't damaged. They must be perfect for the buyers." Adams also promotes agriculture by speaking to groups and by heading up industry organizations, such as serving as the president of the American Soybean Association. He has traveled worldwide to market American farm products and has been active in trade negotiations. He and his wife, Sue, have three children - Vicki Adams Davis, Susan Adams Glass and Sarah Adams, who is a student at Brenau College. Adams was nominated for the Georgia honor by Extension Agent Rad Yager.

农业

2017-09/0640/en_head.json.gz/2783

Cover crop cocktails are more than a salad bar Feb 15, 2017 5 ways to celebrate National FFA Week Feb 17, 2017 Seedstock Directory Dec 28, 2015 Directing nature? Gene editing offers big potential Feb 16, 2017 Agenda Diablo Trust Honored With BEEF 2011 Trailblazer Award It started as an effort to simply remain in business. It turned into an example of how disparate views can come together. Burt Rutherford | Nov 01, 2011 The early ’90s were a tenuous time to be a public lands rancher. The rallying cry of “Cattle Free by ’93” rang loud, and sometimes violently, within the environmental-activist crowd. Even state and federal land management agencies seemed to think it was a good idea. It was against this tumultuous backdrop that two Northern Arizona ranches looked back at their historic past and forward to an uncertain future. “We were running into quite a bit of conflict with other public land users,” remembers Bob Prosser, who along with his wife, Judy, run the Bar T Bar ranch headquartered in Winslow, AZ. That conflict had both the Bar T Bar and the neighboring Flying M, owned by Jack Metzger, wife Mandy and his sister Kit, worried whether they had a long-term future on the land. So, the two families took a decidedly non-traditional approach to the situation. In 1993, the year the environmental activists had targeted for their demise, they called a community gathering in Flagstaff. There, they proposed an unlikely alliance they dubbed the Diablo Trust, named after Diablo Canyon, which forms a boundary between the two ranches. The idea was to develop a collaborative process that included the wide and disparate views and agendas from ranchers, state and federal agencies, wildlife enthusiasts, academia and environmentalists. It’s likely that other ranchers in the West thought it was more of an unholy alliance than an unlikely one. The thought of inviting the very people who wanted cattle off public lands to be part of a collaborative management process designed to keep the ranches in business was a concept beyond comprehension. But to the Prossers and the Metzgers, it made sense. Continued conflict wasn’t getting them anywhere. In fact, it was moving them backward, draining time and energy away from being good stewards of the resource, and exacting an emotional toll that ultimately threatened their very existence. “We had never really connected with the public,” Kit Metzger says, “but we were hearing all this talk about what everybody else wanted to see out here. So we thought we need to invite all the people who come out here on the ground or have something to do with managing the ground, and see if we can come up with some common goals.” What is the Diablo Trust? And so, against the backdrop of “Cattle Free by ’93,” the Diablo Trust was born. It’s not a “trust” in the fiduciary sense of a land trust or a conservation easement. Rather, the “trust” comes from the heritage of the West’s ranching tradition where a word was a commitment and a handshake sealed the deal. The Prossers and the Metzgers knew that for sustainability, a trusting relationship that holds the collaborative group together was essential. What it is, then, is a forum and a venue where ranchers, environmentalists, federal and state land managers, scientists, recreationalists and others work together to achieve a variety of shared goals. Ultimately, however, their goal is to create an environment of trust and interdependence that will allow the two ranches to carry over to the next generation. Said succinctly, its mission is: “Learning from the land and sharing our knowledge so there will always be a West.” That’s not a nostalgic statement, the group says on its website. “On the contrary, it reflects our forward-looking commitment to working ranches as long-term, economically viable enterprises, while maintaining unfragmented landscapes and restoring native ecosystems.” The Diablo Trust works toward that goal by involving 26 collaborating groups that represent various public land users, and the state and federal agencies that manage those lands, ag groups and universities. The land area of the two ranches is roughly 426,000 acres of intermingled private and public land. Approximately a third of that 665-square-mile area is private land, with the rest owned by either the Forest Service or the Arizona State Land Department, on which the ranches have grazing permits. The Diablo Trust has a full- and part-time paid staff. Monthly meetings are open to anyone who wants to participate. A 10-person board of directors oversees its activities, which are spread out between several working groups that conduct projects in wildlife management, watershed improvement, land and forage management, and monitoring and data collection, among others. Its funding comes from donations, grants and the two ranches. But its heart and soul is the land, and its promise is the example it sets – that collaboration is better than conflict and working together accomplishes much more than working apart. “There are 4-5 billion acres of land on this planet with similar topography, geology and climate to the American West,” says Jack Metzger. “If these American ecosystems aren’t used as a global laboratory, then where on this planet – with what money and parallel sources of academia, land agency expertise and educated people living on the land – will this be done? And when will we start?” Does it work? While all that looks good in concept, getting people with widely divergent resource-management views to agree on much of anything is a daunting challenge. But the Diablo Trust seems to have found sufficient middle ground, with what its staffer Derrick Widmark calls the “radical center,” to accomplish some remarkable things. “It has its moments…any kind of collaborative organization that relies on consensus building is difficult because it takes so long to make a decision,” says Judy Prosser, Diablo Trust president. “But, when you do come to a consensus, it’s a strong one and it’s supported by a wide array of people.” An example is one of the first projects the group undertook, a project that endures even today. “The big push when we got started was to deal with the dwindling antelope population, the growing elk population and a limited amount of spring feed for all during drought years,” Bob says. Given the emotional rhetoric of the time, the conventional wisdom held that cattle were causing the antelope herd to crash. But the Bar T Bar and the Flying M have always taken a very scientific, objective approach to ranching, and they felt such an approach was crucial within the Diablo Trust as well. So, to answer the question of what was causing dwindling antelope numbers and resource damage, the Diablo Trust, with the support of the agencies and sportsmen, initiated an extensive utilization monitoring effort that drilled down to which herbivore ate what, how much, and at what time of year. Out of that came a dataset that shed objective light on the situation, showing that cattle weren’t the issue; it was the elk. Based on that data, the groups launched a collaborative effort to reduce the elk population due to its impact on the resource, particularly in the winter and spring. They didn’t stop there. They also launched an aggressive vegetative management and water-distribution effort, as well as modifying many miles of fence to allow better access for the antelope between pastures. With help from the Diablo Trust and funding from the agencies, they’ve removed junipers from around 40,000 acres of private, state and federal lands since the mid ’90s. To determine the success of the project, radio collars were used to track the antelope. “Prior to that, there had been very few antelope pass through those areas. After that, the telemetry on those antelope changed significantly and they started moving back in,” Bob says. Winning converts That was the first piece of hard data indicating that a century of encroachment by junipers was part of the antelope problem. By removing the trees, the habitat was regenerated and restored, very much to the liking of both the resident and migratory antelope. “With this data in hand, the Game and Fish became probably the biggest driver of the entire effort,” Bob says. That monitoring and management effort continues today. “It’s the single largest utilization database in the state,” Bob says. “In fact, right now they’re talking about increasing the elk herd and that’s certainly substantiated by the data we’re collecting.” Since then, the Diablo Trust has enjoyed additional success, including the development of a full environmental impact statement (EIS), backed by the Diablo Trust collaborators, that was presented to the Forest Service when the 10-year grazing permits for the two ranches came due. “Doing an EIS was very innovative,” Judy says. “To my knowledge, it had never been done before. Six years of work and 650 pages. Needless to say, it has substance to it! We refer back to it all the time when we go out to do a project or talk to people about whatever issue comes up.” It was also instrumental in keeping the two ranches viable. “We were able to maintain our permits, which could have had a big cut,” Kit says. “Then, we would really have had only one choice, and that would have been to start selling off (private land).” However, because the private land is intermingled with public land, that would break up the open space that many public land users cherish. “So we had a lot of people help on that issue, a lot of support to maintain it as a working ranch and keep it open space, keep the wildlife values,” she says. “They could see the writing on the wall because Arizona has been subdivided so much.” The Diablo Trust’s latest effort is called CROP, for Coordinated Resource Operational Plan. “The agencies have a real revolving door of people,” Kit says. “Just about the time you get them on board and they understand what you’re doing, they move up the ladder,” Judy adds. “And you start all over again with a new person.” So the Diablo Trust produced a document that contains maps and a history of the projects they’ve been working on over the years. When new staff comes on board, they’re handed a copy of the document to get them up to speed with the trust’s past, present and future. In the meantime, the Diablo Trust will continue to be an industry trailblazer as it works collaboratively to keep the “new” West, with its various and often conflicting philosophies, a place where ranches can still call home. For more information on Diablo Trust, go to diablotrust.org.

农业

2017-09/0640/en_head.json.gz/3015

Sell to the Women Tags: looking back, Sam Moore, women, During first half of the last century (sounds like a long time ago, doesn't it? But wait—I lived through two thirds of that long ago century—unbelievable!) many farm equipment dealers sold water systems, lighting plants, washing machines and other household appliances. These dealers had long been used to selling only to “the man of the house,” because it was he who controlled the purse strings. A writer in the July 29th, 1922 issue of Implement & Tractor Trade Journal, a magazine aimed at dealers, has much to say about that “mistaken idea,” as he calls it. He traveled through Rice County, Kansas, during wheat harvest time and says the wheat crop was good and the fall’s corn crop would be just as fine. As a result, farmers were already planning to buy lots of new field equipment. On a hunch, he talked to twenty or so farm women and found that although there were many fine farm houses, the wives still lagged way behind their husbands in labor saving equipment. The county had 305 tractors, but only 188 power washing machines, 90 home lighting systems, and 139 homes with running water in the kitchen, with the last item being the most desirable to the ladies followed by a home lighting plant. One farm wife, who had a twelve room house with “practically every modern convenience,” told him, “Don’t blame the men because more women don’t have these things. The women could have conveniences if they would ask for them. She could have labor saving equipment providing she just demands it. You should direct your selling arguments at her.” Another lady told the reporter that, due to her conveniences, she was able to regulate her work in an orderly manner. Monday is washing day, the wash being done and the house straightened up by 10 o’clock due to her power washer. Tuesday is ironing day and the day the light plant batteries are charged, probably due to the drain on them from the 32-volt iron. Wednesday she makes butter in the morning using an electric churn and sews with her electric sewing machine. Thursday is her “day off” to which she believes she’s entitled. Friday is cleaning day using the electric vacuum sweeper. Saturday is baking time, the dough being prepared by the children in an electric bread mixer before breakfast. This lady also reported that she had been to town three times that week on harvest errands for her husband, but was still up with her work. A Mrs. Tobias credited her running water, light plant, and electric washer and iron with making the family $1,200 the previous year. That’s how much her flock of chickens had made and she explained that she could never have tended such a large flock without the conveniences. Mrs. Tobias also told the reporter that “When my child was a little baby, I told my husband if he would get me a power washer I would gladly dispense with a girl to help, so he spent $90 on a washer. A neighbor, who also had a baby, hired a girl at $10 a week to help. She kept the girl four months, spent $160, and had nothing to show for it at the end.” An enlightened farmer named Lattimer said he has had a lighting plant for six years that powers 32 lights, a washer and an iron. He also uses the gas engine on the light plant to saw his cord wood. Lattimer says, “The woman should get a piece of labor saving equipment every time the man does. It is true that the fields and herds of the farm bring in the money but efficiency and comfort are as necessary in the home as in the barn and field if you are to have a happy, contented farm family.” At the last house he visited, the reporter found evidence that the farm wife herself was often to blame for the lack of modern conveniences. The farm was rented and that lady, a Mrs. Correll, who had only running water in her kitchen from a gravity tank outside, told him the story. The men of the family had a spare tank and offered rig it up to give her running water in the kitchen. She said she “objected strenuously,” because she “did not want to spend any money on a rented place.” The men went ahead anyway and the project cost but $15.00. “Now,” said Mrs. Correll, “I wouldn't be without water in my kitchen for the world.” So the reporter concluded from his interviews that “the women, themselves, are the answer to the problem of selling labor saving conveniences for the farm home, such as water systems, lighting plants and other household devices.” When I was very small on our western Pennsylvania farm, water had to be carried about 100 yards up a steep grade from a spring below the house, as the well right outside the kitchen door had failed. We got commercial electricity about 1938 and Dad installed an electric pump in the cellar. That gave Mom running water (cold only, no water heater) in the kitchen and it was piped to the chicken houses as well (we finally got a bathroom when I was in high school). There was an electric refrigerator, a wringer washing machine, and an electric iron, as well. Mom had to cook and bake on a coal kitchen range, hang her clothes outside to dry, and work her sewing machine with a foot treadle, but there was a radio and she had a piano that she loved to play. I don’t know if she was content, but that maybe wasn't as important to folks back then as it is today. Photo by Sam Moore: My mother at the farm house sink in the mid-1940s.

农业

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Hidden New Jersey The travels and adventures of a couple of nuts wandering around New Jersey, looking for history, birds and other stuff. A few of our sources HNJ in the media NJ 350 Newark's State Fair was a great state fair Midwestern-born friends of ours admitted to being a bit confused at the hubbub advertised as the State Fair and held in the parking lot of the Meadowlands Sports Complex earlier this summer. I can't say I blame them: it wasn't a real state fair, with 4H exhibits, tractor pulls and judged livestock shows. That's held at the Sussex County Fairgrounds in August. The other one, technically named "State Fair Meadowlands," looks like a street carnival on steroids. No self-respecting livestock would step foot there. Excuse me. Can you tell me how to get to the PATH train? Interestingly enough, the East Rutherford version was a bit closer, geographically, to the first permanent home of New Jersey's premier agricultural exhibition: Newark. Yup, the state's largest city was once the place where farmers and their families learned the latest about livestock and crops, enjoying fun and games while they were at it. Technically, the site of the fair, the current-day Weequahic Park, was in Clinton, an small community that was yet to be absorbed by Newark. In the years before the site became a county park, it was largely farmland, neighbored by marsh instead of apartment buildings, highways and train tracks. Clinton had a better deserved reputation for breeding mosquitoes than for crop production until James Jay Mapes came to town. A noted scientist with an interest in agriculture, he purchased an unproductive farm there in 1847 as a laboratory for his theories in crop rotation, fertilization and seeding. His work wasn't just successful, it proved the value of scientific agriculture in improving soil quality and crop yield. Though many farmers had scorned 'book farming' before, the results were undeniable, and Mapes became the closest thing to an agricultural rock star as was possible in the mid 19th century. Who wouldn't want to boost production on their own acreage, and who better learn from than the master himself? Mapes took to the speaking circuit, drawing on his considerable wit and speaking skills to present over 150 lectures on scientific farming. He also patented and sold his phosphate fertilizer branded as, what else, "Mapes Fertilizer." The farm in Clinton became a popular draw for knowledge-hungry farmers, so much so that in 1866, the organizers of the New Jersey state agricultural fair chose it as the event's permanent site. Besides the usual seminars, shows and competitions, farmers and their families could enjoy food, drink, shows and games of chance at the newly-dubbed Waverly Fairgrounds. The grandstand and racing oval constructed for the fair proved so durable that it stood until 1960, evolving from a horse track to automobile racing. Clinton's days as the capital (at least for a few days a year) of New Jersey agriculture ended in 1899, as Essex County amassed several tracts of land to become present-day Weequahic Park. The last bits of the township were annexed to Newark in 1902, completing a process that had gone back and forth for close to 70 years. In any case, the years of moos, manure and midways were over for the park, but it would later host significant events, including a celebration of the city's 250th anniversary in 1916. county park, farms, Weequahic Park Weequahic Park, Newark, NJ, USA Tomato hangover: 80 varieties at Rutgers' Snyder Farm Wait a minute, Bunol, Spain. You may have La Tomatina, but you don't have the Great Tomato Tasting. Both happen on the last Wednesday in August, but we New Jerseyans celebrate our tomatoes by sampling their deliciousness, rather than letting them get overripe and then throwing them at each other in some sort of wacky bacchanalia. Well, some of us do, anyway. For several years I've been meaning to head to Pittstown, where Rutgers and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension host the annual open house and tomato tasting at the Snyder Farm Research and Extension Farm. This year I finally made it, and if it's possible to overdose on tomatoes, I think I did. Before I get into that, however, a few words about the farm itself. Originally, the 390 acre property was owned by Cliff and Melda Snyder, well-known in the community for their embrace of the science of agriculture and the technology that proved to help farmers increase yield. Cliff was the longtime president of the Hunterdon County Board of Agriculture, while Melda served both there and was director of the New Jersey Farm Bureau. Both welcomed their colleagues to the farm to learn more about advances in agricultural science. When Melda died in 1988 (Cliff had predeceased her 20 years earlier), she bequeathed the farm to Rutgers, which has transformed it into a research facility to foster sustainable agriculture. In other words, while the farm's staff works to develop crop plants to keep New Jersey farms profitable, there's a strong emphasis on environmental responsibility and educating the public. The farm itself is a bit off the beaten track -- take Route 78 to Clinton, then some country roads that bring you into Pittstown and beyond, passing a good amount of working acreage along the way. Rather than a broad expanse of one or two crops, the Snyder farm has a wide variety -- corn in one area, small orchards of apples and peaches in another, as well as other crops. It's kind of like a gardening hobbyist's fantasy, except that research scientists are closely controlling and monitoring the conditions. And then, of course, there are the tomatoes -- about 80 different varieties, served up in bite-sized chunks for sampling. Whether you're a fan of grape tomatoes, beefsteak, plum tomatoes, sauce tomatoes, you name it and it's there. Rather than try to explain, I'll give you a look at just a few of the offerings: The grape tomatoes were very popular and came in many different colors. No, that's not a small watermelon. It's a grape tomato called Lucky Tiger. Pear tomatoes. They had red ones, too, but these were more fun. Imagine the sauce from this one! The Large Tomato table, where volunteers cored the fruit before cutting it into sample chunks. I lost count of my samples somewhere around 40 and felt a sudden need for something, well, NOT tomato. Fortunately several other tables were offering alternatives, including exactly what I needed: basil. Mixed with small bits of tomato, mozzarella and a dash of olive oil (we're in New Jersey, after all), it was the perfect palate cleanser. But then there were the peaches and the melon and the apples and the honey and even hazelnuts. The only thing missing was blueberries, whose season has already passed. A few bushes were still bearing fruit in the display garden, but I resisted the urge to pluck a couple of berries and run. Needing a break from noshing on healthy food, I jumped on a hay wagon for a narrated tour of the research fields. A volunteer Rutgers Master Gardener shared insights on the studies being done at the farm: peach trees that grow more vertically to increase the number of trees that can be planted on a tract, the relative effectiveness of various fertilizers on corn (chicken guano seems pretty helpful, whole milk not so much), halting the impact of basil downy mildew on one of my favorite herbs. And in one very special area, researchers are monitoring the progress of their efforts to recreate the Rutgers tomato originally hybridized and introduced by the school in 1934. As I marveled at the number of apples and peaches hanging tantalizingly from the trees, our guide noted that the farm donates about 30 tons of harvested fruit and vegetables to food banks every year. Some fruit, she admitted, was left beyond the electrified fence to bribe deer to stay out of the farm and away from the plants. I may have gone for the tomatoes, but I left feeling even prouder of our state's flagship university and its agricultural extension program. The folks at the Snyder farm are living up to the example of the folks who donated the land, finding new and more responsible ways for Garden State farmers to provide us with healthy, abundant produce. And, well, I ate enough fruit and vegetables to make my parents beam with pride. But I have to admit: on the way home, I stopped for some mutz and focaccia. There's only so much tomato I can eat without bread and cheese. (Check Rutgers' New Jersey Agricultural Extension Station website for more information on the 2015 event.) Hunterdon County, Pittstown, Rutgers, 140 Locust Grove Road, Pittstown, NJ, USA French, botany and a debate on socialism: Just another week at Miss Dana's School for Young Ladies Today it's the site of a wine store, but back in the day, 163 South Street in Morristown hosted one of the nation's most progressive educational institutions for young women. No historical markers commemorate the site, but Miss Dana's School for Young Ladies deserves note as an incubator for independent thought for women of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I wish I could say I discovered Miss Dana's totally on my own, but getting there was more like a scavenger hunt than a field trip. Our friend Joe Bilby, co-author of 350 Years of New Jersey History, From Stuyvesant to Sandy, mentioned Dorothy Parker's birthday as one of the historical nuggets he regularly posts on the National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey Facebook page. Research on the Algonquin Round Table wit led to Miss Dana, but more on that connection later. As we learned when we stumbled on the site of the Bordentown Female College, women's education in 19th century America generally took one of two routes. Some of the institutes, seminaries or colleges founded exclusively for girls focused on the type of higher education that we're familiar with today. Others were basically finishing schools that prepared daughters of wealthy parents for their entry into polite society, teaching manners, literature and the culinary arts so they could have a decent conversation with their future husbands and neighbors. Despite the impression you might get from its innocent-sounding name, Miss Dana's School was a serious educational institution. The property on South Street was originally home to the more studious-sounding Morris Female Institute but became Miss Dana's when Elizabeth Dana leased it in 1877 after leaving her English and French Boarding School in Dobbs Ferry, NY. What happened to the Female Institute isn't clear, but if the scathing assessment provided by Rutgers Professor G.W. Atherton is any indication, it didn't live up to its scholarly name. (Either that, or Atherton made a hobby of exposing self-professed educators who consistently employed bad grammar and paltry vocabulary.) Miss Dana's proved popular with prominent families, both in New Jersey and around the country. Classes were small, limited to 15 girls taught in seminar style to assure personal attention. Students learned the classics -- Greek, Latin, literature, history and the Bible -- in addition to mathematics and hard sciences like chemistry and physics. Botany, psychology, studio art, music, logic and other electives were also available to round out the students' education. Noted scholars visited the school to lecture on current events and politics; in fact, Reverend William Griffis, one of the first Americans to travel extensively to Japan, came to the school to share his impressions of the East. (You might recall we "met" Rev. Griffis through our research on the Japanese graves in New Brunswick's Willow Grove Cemetery.) Parents could send their daughters to Miss Dana's with the assurance that if the girls took to their studies, they'd be assured a path to further success at one of the nation's top women's colleges. Graduating from her school meant an automatic acceptance to Vassar College, with no other entrance requirements necessary. Unlike her predecessors at the Morris Female Institute, Miss Dana had a penchant for excellence that transcended the classroom. As one indication, in 1893 the school became the first in the state to hire a resident nurse. Marietta Burtis Squire was at the top of her field; at other points in her career she was the first president of the State Board of Examiners for Nurses and Superintendent of the Orange Memorial Hospital. Elizabeth Dana died in April 1908, having prepared a few hundred women for higher education and productive lives. The school closed four years later, but her legacy lives on. Just after her death, students and alumnae endowed a reading prize in her name at Vassar, which the college continues to award to the student who undertakes and completes the best independent reading project over their summer break. So what's the connection to Dorothy Parker, poet, author and satirist? Born in Long Branch as Dorothy Rothschild, she lived with her family in Manhattan but boarded at Miss Dana's after a stint at a Catholic school in the city. (She joked that she was encouraged to leave after characterizing the immaculate conception as "spontaneous combustion.") She graduated in 1911 as part of the school's last class. Her biographer, Arthur F. Kinney, suggests that the education Parker got in the Morristown school may have influenced her worldview and political interests. As he notes, the weekly current events discussions during her senior year "focused on such themes as exploitation in the slums, reports of muckrakers, and the growth of the Socialist party." The final issue of the school paper before her graduation included articles on child labor in American sweatshops and U.S. expansion in the Pacific region. One has to wonder how many other girls' schools in that day were encouraging that kind of discussion. While finishing schools taught young women how to conduct a pleasant conversation, Miss Dana encouraged her students to think for themselves. She was well ahead of her time. Morris County, Morristown, women with moxie 163 South Street, Morristown, NJ, USA A variety store of history: the King Homestead in Ledgewood Our visit to Ledgewood's historic King Store opened our eyes to the retail world of a small community along the Morris Canal in the 19th-early 20th century timeframe. A walk next door to Theodore King's Queen Anne/vernacular style homestead led us to an experience which, if it were a shopping destination, would be a mall with surprisingly varied stores. I expected it would give us a view into the merchant class, much as the store had represented the community and transient customers, but the mix of exhibits led me to think about a lot more than that. This view of the King family home shows the front porch to the right, side porch to the left, with Mr. King's office at center, probably added on after the house was built. One of the things I love about local house museums is the stories they tell through the hodgepodge of artifacts they display, and the King homestead is no exception. The buildings themselves are sometimes the only place where small historical societies can show their diverse collections or share what's remarkable about the community. From their perspective, I'd gather the arrangement is often a blessing because they don't have the resources or sufficient artifacts to interpret an entire house for one given era. In my eyes, museums like these are one-stop wonders where I can learn what local residents find most remarkable about their own communities. The King homestead is kind of like that. Built in the mid 1880s with the proceeds of the entrepreneur's many businesses, it now serves two purposes. Walk up across the broad, inviting porch and into the house, and you can turn to the left to learn about the King family and their life there, or check out the rooms on the right for a view into the history of the Roxbury area. Or both. Heading to the left, we were greeted by Roxbury Historic Trust President Miriam Morris, who led us through the house, narrating its history and the Trust's efforts to bring it back to its former glory. The Roxbury Rotary stabilized the home after they finished work on the King Store, upgrading utilities and fixing the chimney before turning the property over to the Trust. As you walk around, you see places where more work needs to be done, but the overall impression is of visiting a very much lived-in older relative's home, complete with vintage and antique furniture. Theodore King's small office stands just off a corner of the parlor, ready to receive business, but the home feels more like the dominion of his daughter Emma Louise, the last of the family to live there. There's even a collection of Depression glass laid out on the dining room table, a temporary exhibit that underscores another facet of life in the community over the years. The dining room offers a pleasant surprise: a wrap-around mural of a pastoral scene, with lovely trees and some grazing cattle. Painted by British artist James W. Marland in 1935, it may include elements of the scenery that once surrounded the house, though it's more reminiscent of English countryside. Not much is known about the artist, who first arrived in the United States in the early 1900s and seems to have settled in Morristown and Budd Lake several years later, returning to England just before his death in 1972. As part of its research on Marland, the Trust is looking for additional surviving examples of his work in the area. Miriam mentioned that he'd done some additional work in the bathroom and had stencilled the upper walls of one of the upstairs bedrooms. Heading to the other side of the house, we got another surprise. A full room contains an exhibit inspired by the Minisink Trail, the Lenape thoroughfare that predates Main Street, the road on which the house and store now stand. As one of the signatories of the 2010 Treaty of Renewed Friendship with the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, the Trust is committed to sharing the tribe's history and relationship with the region. In particular, the room's exhibit covers the forced departure of much of the Lenape population from New Jersey and the re-emergence of the community despite the common belief that no natives live here. Closer to the front of the house, the rest of the Ledgewood/Roxbury area gets its due through the "Heels, Wheels and Keels" room. Drawn on the walls is a representation of the transportation routes through the area: the Minisink Trail, early 19th century turnpikes, the Morris Canal and current-day highways. Reflecting the "innovation" portion of the theme for New Jersey's 350th anniversary, a temporary exhibit highlights the inventions and technology developed in the area and by local residents, a good part of it from AT&T and Bell Labs. Like the King Store, the homestead is open only once a month, on the second Sunday afternoon of the month from April through December. It's well worth a visit, not just as a symbol of how New Jerseyans lived and worked, but as a great example of the classic community museum. Stop by and tell them Hidden New Jersey sent you! historic house, King House, Ledgewood, Lenape, Morris Canal, 209 Main Street, Ledgewood, NJ, USA A time capsule view into the past: Ledgewood's King Store Morris County's old Ledgewood Circle is no more, but if you follow a couple of small brown directional signs to the Drakesville Historic District, you'll find one of the earliest remnants of what made this crossroads the focus of a rural community from the heyday of the Morris Canal until the early 1900s. Just off the intersection of Routes 10 and 46, the Roxbury Historic Trust is in the process of restoring the King Store and Homestead. Hidden New Jersey friend Kelly Palazzi suggested we check it out, but it wasn't easy: the property is open only on the second Sunday of the month and is closed entirely from January through March. It's easy to imagine a few neighbors trading newson the porch of the old King Store. Our welcome to the King Store was probably a lot like the one a canal boat crew would have gotten in the 1800s: the proprietors were standing in the doorway of the stone building and called out a greeting as we pulled up. Walking onto the porch and into the store was like stepping back in time: the interior was lined with wooden shelves, groceries and sundries of a previous age stocked here and there. A cast-iron stove stands in the center of the room, just in front of a large scale, and a tall set of cubby holes near the door sufficed as the community's post office. In the back room, the wooden doors of a large icebox are open to help visitors imagine how milk and other perishables were kept fresh in the days before refrigeration. Our friendly guides explained that the store was built around 1826 on what was then the Essex-Morris-Sussex Turnpike, one of the first roads chartered by the New Jersey Legislature at the start of the 19th century. The original owners, the Woodruff family, operated the store until 1835 before closing it for unknown reasons. Two years later, canal boat owner Albert Riggs bought the property and reopened it to serve the local community and the increasing traffic through the nearby Morris Canal lock and two planes. Riggs transferred ownership and operation of the store to his son-in-law Theodore King in 1873, and the new storekeeper and his wife Emma moved into the living quarters above the mercantile. Brands of the past find their homes on the King Store shelves. Though competition from the railroads was already digging into the canal's business, King was on his way to prosperity. Besides the popular general store, he got into the mining business and bought significant tracts of land, some of which he sold at a handsome profit while retaining the rest as vacation rental space. He also operated hotels and a steamboat company to cater to the tourist trade at nearby Lake Hopatcong. The proceeds from all of these businesses enabled him to build a comfortable Victorian home on the lot next to the store, where he could keep an eye on business while enjoying time with his wife and their daughter, Emma Louise. King died in 1926, and with him the store. His daughter simply locked the door, leaving the goods sitting on the shelves. Dwindling traffic on Canal had ended with its termination a few years before. According to our guide, family members would come in from time to time to take items they fancied, but for the most part, the building was a de facto time capsule. Louise King divided her time between New Jersey and Florida until her death in 1975. Fresh milk, anyone? A few years later, the Roxbury Rotary Club took on the store as a civic project, clearing the overgrown, weeded lot and acquiring state Green Acres funding to buy the property for the township. Now the responsibility of the Roxbury Historic Trust, the King Store is slowly being restored; a new slate roof is the latest improvement, along with a refurbished scale sitting next to the porch. While work clearly needs to be done to stabilize the structure to prevent further decay, there's much to be said for keeping a good part of the current look. Too much paint and varnish would take away the character of a classic general store. As it stands, it doesn't take much to imagine a local farmer or canal mule tender at the counter, ordering supplies and settling his bill. The next stop on our visit to historic Drakestown was the King house, just next door... but that's a story for our next installment. Posted by general store, Anchors, birds, farmhouses and oil: the evolution of Bayonne's Constable Hook Last week's visit to Bayonne revealed more than an interesting avian visitor and a surprisingly highbrow golf course. A small sign at the start of the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway revealed that Henry Hudson himself might have been the first to discover the site's ornithological gifts. Equally as interesting, my research revealed a truly hidden morsel of Dutch-American heritage lurking within the city's industrial heart. Henry Hudson: possibly the first guy to bird at Bayonne I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to read that Hudson anchored his ship, the Half Moon, not far from the site of the current-day walkway when he first visited the area. Histories of early New World visitation by European explorers credit the English-born, Dutch-employed sea captain with discovering New York Harbor, Manhattan and the river that was later named for him. They don't say much, if anything, about the place where he parked the craft after sailing through the Verrazzano Narrows upon his arrival in September 1609. As it turns out, it was at a bulge along the peninsula between the river and the Kill van Kull, now known as Constable Hook in Bayonne. Hudson reportedly called the area Bird Point in recognition of the prevalence of gulls at the site. In fairness, the Dutch West India Company wasn't paying Hudson to look for birds, but for the northwest trade route to Asia. According to the First History of Bayonne printed for the 250th anniversary of the city's settlement, the local natives were both friendly and generous. Members of the Raritan branch of the Lenape tribe "visited his vessel daily, bringing furs, oysters, corn, beans, pumpkins, grapes and apples to trade." The dense forests of the area were home to an abundance of animals including panthers, bears, snakes, beavers and rabbits, making the region even more attractive for settlement and establishing trade. Some of the encounters between natives and newcomers turned violent during Hudson's 1609 visit to the area, but I couldn't find accounts of any disputes at Bird Point -- it's possible they might have occurred on nearby Staten Island or perhaps farther south near Sandy Hook. What is known is that Hudson stayed near Bayonne only for a short time, leaving to explore the river route clear up to present-day Albany. The Bird Point peninsula remained solely in Lenape hands until 1646, when the Dutch West India Company granted the land to constable Jacob Jacobsen Roy, who apparently never did anything with the property. Instead, the tract lay unchanged until about 1700, when Pieter von Buskirk arrived from Manhattan to build a house and start a farm. About 35 years later, he buried his wife Tryntje nearby, starting a family cemetery that reportedly grew over the years to include neighbors as well. For 200 years von Buskirk's descendants lived on the property as the world changed around them. The family sold a portion of the land to the Hazard Powder Company in 1798, probably one of the first signs of heavy industry in the area. Real estate speculation and the attendant population growth spurred the communities of Constable Hook, Bergen Point, Salterville and Centerville to unite as Bayonne in 1861. The Central Railroad of New Jersey laid tracks into the city, bringing even more industrialization. And finally, in 1872, John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company became the first of several refiners to settle on Constable Hook, attracted by its key position on New York Bay. By 1900, the land Pieter von Buskirk tended tilled had become a different kind of farm, lined with acres of oil tanks to serve what was, for a time the world's largest refinery. The family farmhouse was demolished by Standard Oil in 1906; many of the cemetery plots were emptied, their contents moved to other graveyards despite a court battle waged by family members who reportedly hadn't visited in decades. Another burial ground started by one of Pieter's descendants remains, still in some semblance of order among the massive tanks of a company that specializes in oil and chemical storage. (Look closely at the grassy area on this Google Earth view and you might locate it.) You have to wonder if the spirits of Pieter and Tryntje von Buskirk wander the streets of Bayonne looking for their homestead, and perhaps the gulls of Bird Point. Maybe they gain some solace from the restored wetlands near the waterfront walkway, or perhaps they've found some peace in their ultimate resting place, though not on their own family property. Bayonne, Dutch settlement, Dutch West Indies Company, Henry Hudson, Hudson County, Hudson County, NJ, USA All hail the King (rail) of Bayonne! Wow, was all I could say. I went to Bayonne to find a new species for my New Jersey birding list, and I was astounded by what else I found. The New Jersey birding community has been abuzz with the sighting of a King rail near the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, a natural oasis of sorts nestled among the city's shipping terminals and oil tanks. Finding rare avian visitors in industrialized areas is no real shock for local birders - as we've found often in Hudson County, pockets of nature thrive where some would assume it to be impossible, and water quality has improved enough to host wildlife. I wasn't quite sure what I'd find there, but I was prepared for just about anything. Maps of the area showed a good-sized green area labeled "Bayonne Golf Club" on a tract of land jutting into upper New York Bay. Rather than looking into it before my trip, I just headed out, road directions in hand. As for the King rail, it's a rarer visitor to New Jersey's marshes than the species usually seen here, the Clapper rail. Well, it's usually more "hearing" than "seeing": secretive by nature, rails generally live among the reeds and grasses of wetlands, frustrating birders by their clapping calls. (Needless to say, rails are masters at the game of Marco Polo.) If you're going to see them at all, it's likely to be at low tide as they come out to feed on crustaceans and insects. Clappers tend toward saltwater marshes, while Kings are freshwater birds, with the two species sometimes sharing space (and cross mating) in brackish marshes. Bayonne, located on the bay where Hudson River and Atlantic Ocean waters meet and mix, is apparently geographically desirable for Kings and Clappers. After a wrong turn that landed me in Bayonne's Marine Ocean Terminal, I found parking for the Walkway in a strip mall lot. I was barely out of my car when I saw a binocular-wearing couple coming off the path. "Here for the rail?" one asked. Just down the path a bit, alongside the long bridge, he told me, adding that other birders were still there. The usual rule was in force: when in doubt where to find a chase bird, look for the crowd. The walkway winds along the northern edge of what's traditionally known as Constable Hook, with an inlet on one side and a reclaimed landfill on the other. This, as I discovered, was no typical capped landfill, but more on that in a moment. The wild grasses and flowers on the undulating slope put me in the mind of Scotland or Ireland, and the goldfinches perching on the thistles had to agree that someone had done a good job of making a nice habitat. I noticed a few egrets in the inlet to my left, patiently waiting for an early lunch to swim by. The farther I walked along, the more the pieces came together. The "Bayonne Golf Club" I'd seen on the map isn't a city owned course; it's an all-out exclusive country club, modeled after the traditional links courses in Scotland. At the crest of the hill was a large, expensive-looking clubhouse with a huge American flag flying beside it. According to designer Eric Bergstol, as quoted on Golf.com, the economics of converting the landfill and doing the necessary wetlands mitigation blew the concept of a low-cost public links course out of the water, so it appears he hit for the fences. Bulldozer-sculpted hills and dales are lined by grasses, shrubs and flowers recommended by a Rutgers agronomist, all within the backdrop of Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty and the container cranes of the port. As part of the deal, the developers were required to provide public access to the waterfront, hence the walkway. The King rail had found a home in a most regal environment. Fortunately, if a rule of finding chase birds is to find the crowd, the next rule is to look wherever you see someone aiming their optics. As I crossed the bridge on the walkway, I encountered a man with a viewing scope aimed between the railing and support struts. Maybe he had the rail? I walked up slowly, figuring not to scare it if it was there. It wasn't, but the consolation was a very cooperative Yellow-crowned night heron, plus more specific guidance on the rail's whereabouts. It wasn't much farther - maybe 100 feet. Two birders were on the site as I arrived, waiting for the secretive rail to emerge from the grass to forage on the small patch of mud to the side of the bridge. A little farther down, where a wider mudflat held a stream, they'd seen a rail chick who was a bit less shy, and in the distance they'd noticed a Clapper rail. Yup, that's the King rail, right in the middle. Knowing I wouldn't be able to differentiate a King rail chick from a Clapper rail chick, I decided to wait the adult King out by the mud patch. A moment or two later, I noticed some movement in the grass, just behind the first layer of reedy grass. Looking closer, I was pretty sure it was the King (overall, they're a rustier shade than their cousins), but it was tough to tell because he was preening. I wasn't going to let that be the sum of my first-ever look at his species, so I sat down to wait, staring at that patch of grass as the occasional golf cart whirred past behind me. It may sound crazy, but in situations like that, I like to send a mental message to the bird, letting him know it's safe and I just want to admire him. Sometimes it works; other times it rises to levels of frustration that nearly lead me to a Sheldon Cooper-type tantrum. Are we in golf heaven? No, Bayonne. This time it worked. Like an actor coming onstage, the rail emerged from the curtain of grass to walk to an open area where I could see him completely. Stopping, he posed with his wings raised above his back, as if to air them. Then, like a model, he walked a few more steps and turned, allowing me to see the rest of him as I committed him to memory. Just as I was thanking the bird for being so cooperative, a golf cart stopped behind me and the King ducked back into the grass. Two course employees were wondering why so many binocular-toting people had been standing around the bridge for the past few days. Pulling out my Sibley guide to show them, I explained the significance of the rail and complimented them on the golf club's work to create a good environment for birds. It didn't occur to me until now that the rail was as much of a VIP (or VIB) as any of the club's members, and he didn't require use of the club's exclusive boat or helicopter to get to the links. King rail, landfill, Pandas rejoice: bamboo abounds in New Brunswick We didn't see any pandas on our last trip to New Brunswick, but I honestly wouldn't have been shocked if we had, based on what we found. Toward the end of our recent visit to Rutgers Gardens, we found ourselves in a less showy part of the property. A greenhouse, service buildings and a tractor or two got me thinking that we might have inadvertently walked into an area where visitors weren't encouraged to go. No signs were warning us away, so we figured we'd keep going until they did. Then, at a point, the usual New Jersey-type overgrowth of shrubs, grass and vines evolved into a monoculture of bamboo. I mean, a LOT of bamboo. "This can't be a coincidence" quantities of bamboo. A break in the exotic wall of greenery drew us onto a footpath arched by distinctly Asian overgrowth. We'd stumbled upon Rutgers Gardens' real secret: its one acre bamboo forest. Neither Ivan nor I had ever seen a grove of bamboo so expansive, except maybe at a zoo somewhere. As we continued our exploration, a winding path brought us to a rocky brook crossed by a simple wooden footbridge. I half expected to find a Zen sand garden, or perhaps a statue of a sitting Buddha nestled somewhere, but all we found was green foliage and the gentle babble of water streaming by. The grove's species, Phyllostachys nuda, is known as running bamboo for its tendency of spreading aggressively if it's not hemmed in by concrete or water barriers. While that creates challenges for gardeners, it's a boon to the environment: the faster a plant grows, the more carbon dioxide it removes from the atmosphere. Native to China's Zhejiang province, this evergreen plant can withstand temperatures as low as -15 degrees Fahrenheit, making it more than suitable to New Jersey's climate. Growers in Idaho have seen the species do well in areas where temperatures dip into the -30 degree Fahrenheit range. How did bamboo get to Rutgers, and why? According to the Gardens' website, a small grove was originally planted on site in the 1940s as a winter home for honeybee colonies. Maybe it wasn't intended to become the forest it's grown to be, but Rutgers is making the best of it: once a culm (as the stalks are called by botanists) reaches the end of its five to seven year lifespan, it's removed in order to let a newer, healthier one take its place. The cuttings are sold during the Gardens' annual spring flower fair in May. Considering that a new culm can grow to a height of 30 feet in just a few weeks, any bare patches in the grove are filled pretty quickly. Every culm around us looked healthy and about two inches around at most; a good knock on a few revealed a very solid report, similar to what you'd hear from a good quality tree wood. Rutgers might be missing out on an opportunity here: combine rampant bamboo with the seemingly ubiquitous Phragmites growing in marshes and on roadsides, and you've got building and roofing material in abundance. In any case, we're getting ahead of ourselves. The Rutgers bamboo grove is beautiful just as it is: a quiet, out of the way place to relax and contemplate life, and an authentic Zen-type experience. Save the plane fare to the Far East: bamboo heaven is just a few miles from Turnpike interchange 9. Oh, and here's a bonus haiku: Rutgers bamboo grove Bliss hidden in New Brunswick Peaceful, calm and green botanical gardens, Rutgers Gardens Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA A surprising secret garden grows between the Turnpike and Route One For a while, we've been meaning to get to Rutgers Gardens, the 180-acre bit of bliss located not far off Route One on Ryders Lane in New Brunswick. It's tucked so securely away from the hubbub of the University that many New Jerseyans, let alone Rutgers students and alumni, know about it. Though I visited once or twice during my college years, I honestly forgot exactly where it was and how to get there. Directional signage from the major campuses is virtually non-existent, and if there's any indication from the highway, I must have missed it. In any case, I had visions of beautiful flowering gardens, well-kept trees and shrubs, and maybe a Rutgers-bred hybrid or twenty in the mix. Given that the WPA-built Log Cabin building on the grounds is a popular wedding reception site, I figured odds were good that we'd see a newly-married couple posing amid the greenery. The recently hitched folks weren't there yet, but the gardens didn't disappoint. Ivan and I visited on a cloudy August morning, hoping to dodge the rain that was supposed to fall sporadically through the day. We basically had the place to ourselves, give or take a dog walker or two, but it was still early. Consistent with Rutgers' leadership in holly breeding, visitors are greeted to the site by the nation's second largest American holly collection as they drive onto the grounds. Not far away is an impressive variety of shrubs, leading Ivan to comment that RU had missed its chance to rename its mascot the Scarlet Knight who says NI! (Bring them a shrubbery, anyone? Anyone?) Evergreens, ornamental trees and rhododendrons all get extensive space, too. Stopping by a cheery potting shed that doubles as a gift shop and information desk, we met a friendly volunteer who filled us in on the latest. The gardens were started in the 1920's as a teaching tool for students in the plant sciences and has evolved over the years to include a broad range of species. Though the land and buildings are owned by the University, the gardens are totally self-sustaining, gaining their revenue from facility rentals and events like farm markets, classes, tours and membership fees, which enables them to offer free admission to the property. In fact, we just missed the annual open house, a major fundraiser that included tours, discussions with horticulturists, a wine tasting and plant sale. The showiest area of the property is the Donald B. Lacey Display Garden, named for the state agricultural extension specialist in horticulture who converted it from a huge bearded iris collection to a display of annuals the home gardener can grow in his or her own plot. To celebrate the display's 50th year, Rutgers Gardens' "Best in Show, Sun to Snow" theme highlights what the staff feels are the best species of annuals, perennials and vegetables to grow in New Jersey. The selections change regularly to reflect the growing and blooming seasons for each species. Just behind a locked gate was a large volunteer-run vegetable garden with tomatoes and all sorts of summer squash ripening tantalizingly. Hikers looking for a less manicured bond with nature can check out the Frank G. Helyar Woods, a 70 acre old-growth forest of beech, hickory and oak trees. Unfortunately the well-marked 2.5 mile path was blocked by a felled tree about 20 yards in, preventing us sandal-shod explorers from trekking much further. Maybe another day, with more energy and wearing more suitable gear, we'll check it out again; it's said to be a nice jaunt out to Weston's Mill Pond and an abandoned Christmas tree farm left to grow on its own. As we looped around the back end of the Gardens, we found another forest with a more passable trail, but that's a story for next time. Stay tuned! horticulture, Rutgers Gardens, Rutgers–New Brunswick, Rutgers University, 112 Ryders Lane, New Brunswick, NJ, USA Visiting the Rich and Famous at Riverview Cemetery in Trenton Doc in the box: Dr. Robert W. Cooke's very small clinic Mendham: George Washington perked here Pileated Woodpeckers: the excavation professionals The Statue of Liberty in Butler: the story evolves Do you know a historic, interesting or just plain fun place in New Jersey that we should visit? Send your suggestions to [email protected], and we may just check it out! Traveling around the Garden State Birding New Jersey Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area Jersey City Peregrine Falcon cam New Jersey 565 - audio clips from the state's municipalities NJ Audubon NJ Pine Barrens Official NJ 350th Anniversary Website Where is the Line Between North & South Jersey? Wild New Jersey You Don't Know Jersey I Like Jersey Best Follow @HiddenNJ Visit our online store! Tomato hangover: 80 varieties at Rutgers' Snyder F... French, botany and a debate on socialism: Just ano... A variety store of history: the King Homestead in ... A time capsule view into the past: Ledgewood's Kin... Anchors, birds, farmhouses and oil: the evolution ... A surprising secret garden grows between the Turnp... Visit Hidden's profile on Pinterest. Check out our gallery on Redbubble Copyright 2011-2015 by Susan Kaufmann. All rights reserved. Travel template. Powered by Blogger.

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an occasional magazine about land rights Reclaim the Fields Ed Hamer discovers a European youth movement taking action on the issue of access to agricultural land If the statistics are to be believed farming must be up there as one of the least attractive jobs facing school-leavers in the UK. With a typical wage middling at £4.50 an hour1 and the average farmer pushing 622, the future looks far from rosy for an industry recently charged by the government with securing the nations food supplies over the next 20 years. Or so you would think. Take a walk through a typical student Barrio in Bristol, Leeds or London however and you may well come to a different conclusion. Among the multitude of backyard veg-plots, edible window-boxes and youthful looking allotmenteers you see, you are more than likely to witness guerrilla-gardening in action or overhear the word "permaculture" casually dropped into a passing conversation. There is no doubt about it, growing-your-own now competes with recycling, energy saving, and cutting short-haul flights in the efforts of the country's youth to act decisively on the environment. And while many of these urban gardeners are happy simply to be greening-up their own streets, there are many, many more who are desperate to get back to the land. So what's the problem? On the one hand it appears we are faced with an ageing farming population, endowed with acres of land but lacking young recruits, while on the other, an emerging movement of motivated young growers are desperate to farm but frustrated by a lack of land. The solution it seems could be simple, the reality however is far from it. The current state of land ownership in the UK, which has placed our entire country's farmland in the hands of less than one per cent of the population3, has its roots stretching from the original enclosures of the 14th century to the progressive industrialisation and more recent gentrification of the British countryside. Economies of scale dictate that, today even the children of farming families face little prospect gaining agricultural employment in an industry in which a 90-acre farm can only realistically support a single wage4. Of course, it hasn't always been this way. In 1950 120,000 people were directly employed in farming in the UK5 with many young lads leaving school at 14 to pursue a worthy career on the farm. Within 30 years however the systematic intensification of farming, which accompanied the UK's entry to the Common Agricultural Policy, had claimed over half of these jobs and taken the majority of our small farmers to the wall. Without doubt, access to land remains the single greatest obstacle facing a new generation of growers. A combination of property speculation and city bonuses have seen land prices inflated by an average of £2,000 per acre within the past 10 years alone and as much as £10,000 in some areas of the country6. Volatility in the agriculture sector has also left many farmers reluctant to lease even the smallest area of productive ground. Access to capital is also sadly lacking. Thirty years ago it was still possible to take out a mortgage on a 30-acre smallholding and service your re-payments through a combination of hard work and sensible business management. Today that same smallholding is likely to have been featured in the pages of some glossy lifestyle magazine and no amount of hard work is going to allow you to afford it. Farming skills and knowledge too have been severely undermined by the race for modernisation. The government's own department for the environment food & rural affairs (Defra) acknowledges that the industry must act to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels7, but how many farmers do we still have left who can teach us how to use a scythe, lay a hedge or farm with a horse? In January this year the government released what was heralded as "the most comprehensive review of UK food security for more than 60 years'', Food 2030; A Strategy for the Future. Although the 84-page document identifies many of the issues raised above, it's prescriptions are certainly more relevant to an upcoming general election than a genuine attempt at addressing the root causes of the farming crisis. Despite this frustration, it is this blatant lack of political leadership which has prompted the youth to act. The same motivation which has seen young climate change activists mobilising across Europe in increasing numbers over recent years has galvanized the need to get back to the land: The simple fact that if you're under 30 the peer-reviewed science is going to hit the fan within your lifetime. Whichever way you look at it the futures of climate change and agriculture are undeniably linked. Whether its the impacts on land use which will accompany a four-degree rise in global temperatures over the next century, the collapse of globalized agriculture in the face of peak oil, or simply the staggering challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050, a new perspective on how and what we farm is desperately needed. It is in reaction to this challenge then that a new youth coalition Reclaim the Fields, (RTF) is now emerging from the continent. Taking its name from the road protest collective which swept the UK in the early 1990s, the movement intends to employ the same creative mix of political lobbying, networking and direct action in its objective to get the 21st century peasantry back onto the land. Morgan Ody is a young farmer from Brittany and one of the group's founding members, she explains how the idea for RTF first came out of the 2008 European Social Forum in Malmo, Sweden: "The Social Forum brought together people from permaculture and farming backgrounds who were full of hope but lacking a political perspective, as well as activists and squatters who were very politicised and very radical but also tended to be quite pessimistic." "Through sharing our experiences we were able to firstly offer the activists some hope, and secondly to offer the young farmers the political thinking to globalise their struggle. It soon became clear that access to land was a common problem, not just in Belgium, France or Switzerland, but a problem facing young people across Europe." In October the same year several RTF members travelled to Mozambique for the fifth international conference of La Via Campesina, representing 148 peasant farming organisations worldwide. "La Via Campesina was really the central inspiration Reclaim the Fields" explains Morgan. "They have pioneered a model of networking between international and local peasant groups to share experiences on securing land tenure, resisting globalisation and spreading appropriate technology. Ultimately this is what we would like to achieve with RTF." "There is however a big difference between the way Via Campesina operates; as a network of organisations, and how we would like to work. It is important to recognise that is not in the youth culture to be part of an organisation but instead to find a more horizontal structure. We want to be a network of individuals each doing his or her own thing but working towards a common goal; access to land. To achieve this our first priority was to bring all of these like minded youth together." In October 2009 RTF held their first international gathering at Cravirola, a 400 hectare mixed farm in the French Ariege. The co-ordinating group were expecting 150-200 people to respond to the call for the camp, in the event more than 400 turned up. "We were completely overwhelmed by how many people actually arrived" Morgan says, "it was a shock but also a welcome surprise that this issue has so much support". First and foremost the camp was an opportunity for networking and sharing experiences; from securing farm tenancy in Belgium to black-market abattoirs in the Alps, trashing GM crops in Germany and dodging EU imposed livestock vaccinations in Slovenia. The five-day gathering included practical workshops on gaining access to land, exploiting legal loopholes, low-impact development and GM free-zones. The camp seminars resulted in a series of draft proposals for the RTF membership to act upon over the coming months. These included; establishing informal working groups at the local level, providing a central website for activists and peasants to network, mobilise and communicate online and compiling a list of collective projects and farmers who are looking for young people to work. In addition there was a strong consensus that RTF should have a visible presence at the UNFCCC climate conference in Copenhagen; "to highlight the role agriculture plays in both contributing to, and remedying climate change". Many, including Adam Fulop who travelled from Hungary to take part in RTF's actions, saw Copenhagen as the place: "To make a stand and start the process of reclaiming the land." "Access to land is the biggest obstacle facing young people in Europe who want to become peasants, and climate change has a direct impact on this" explains Adam: "Carbon trading is leading to further privatisation of land, water, seeds and farming resources. This can only make the situation worse for young farmers trying to start farming in Europe." "We share the view held by Via Campesina that small-scale peasant farmers offer a low-carbon future for agriculture. Through an agro-ecological approach to farming peasant agriculture can actually use organic matter to lock carbon into the soil. Instead of this we see deals on the table at Copenhagen actually encouraging large-scale oil-dependent agriculture that increases carbon emissions, its crazy." More than 40 members of RTF from across Europe travelled to Copenhagen between December 11 and 18 to take part in meetings and direct actions at the COP15 summit. The affable Swedes laid-on a soup kitchen and pedalled illegal seeds to the masses, while RTF supported Via Campesina's demo outside the Danish Meat Board in protest at factory farming and feedgrain imports. Tuesday December 15 was declared as an official 'Agriculture Day of Action' with RTF taking part in a demonstration through the centre of Copenhagen targeting agri-business interests, supermarkets and agrofuels. On December 16 RTF took part in the 'Reclaim the Power' action which saw more than 4,000 demonstrators hold a "peoples assembly" outside the conference centre. Despite the complete failure of the talks at Copenhagen to achieve anything other than a collective burst of hot air, those who travelled there under the RTF banner remained positive: "In a way we see this failure to reach an agreement as a victory for the peasantry" explains Morgan, "There is little doubt that the measures under discussion this week would have only accelerated the erosion of our land, our resources and our way of life. We now have a little more time to get ourselves mobilised." The UK movement it appears could learn a lot from RTF's approach. Although many UK-based activists took part in actions during the Agriculture Day at Copenhagen, there was little interaction between regional groups and few of these were even aware of RTF. "This is one of our biggest problems" agrees Adam, "Our challenge is not only to raise our profile, but to contact more and more youth who are based in cities and involve them in the struggle to get back to the land." Morgan also sees mobilisation at the national level as the next priority for RTF: "It may be that in 2010 we do not have an international camp but rather four of five national or regional camps. At Cravirola we agreed it is now time to come together at the local level, to make our movement strong, and plan for land occupations in 2010. This is how we aim to bring people together with a strong common cause while at the same time respecting the youth culture of autonomy." Here in the UK Reclaim the Fields will undoubtedly find sympathisers among urban permaculture groups, climate campers and WWOOFers alike. Taking the movement mainstream however may be a different story. Organic Futures, the Soil Association's attempt at inspiring a youth wing has failed to do just that due to its obsession with a single issue: Organics. Instead of a black and white ideology which threatens to be divisive, RTF must embrace a broad range of issues which will unite young people regardless of their persuasion, political, farming or otherwise. There is no reason why a young farmer from Shropshire who goes fox hunting cannot stand side by side with a peasant squatter from the Basque in demanding a future on the land. In embracing the youth culture of autonomy RTF has certainly found a niche which appeals across both cultural and social boundaries, something which has been particularly key to the success of Climate Camp actions across Europe over recent years. The challenge it seems is how to achieve the movement's goal of a united European-wide coalition while remaining true to a fully autonomous structure. In kick-starting Reclaim the Fields in the UK it will be essential to draw on existing networks from as wide a social spectrum as possible. Permaculturalists, young organic farmers and climate change activists will have to interact with students from Conservative agricultural colleges and Young Farmers' Clubs (YFC). It is only through doing this that we can abandon traditional stereotypes and realise that the call for access to land is greater than any of us could have hoped for. Just as the climate change debate has inspired a new generation to push the environment onto the political agenda, those of us who feel particularly passionate about food and farming have the potential to do the same for agriculture. Whether your motivation stems from a need for employment, a respect for a way of life, or the right to decide how your food is produced, a single banner uniting these issues is undoubtedly an effective tool in forcing local, regional and national governments to take these concerns seriously. In the meantime, it is becoming increasingly clear that a resurgence in growing-skills and an appetite for direct action among the youth has combined with the most fragile state of our agriculture sector for more than fifty years. In the absence of political leadership it seems that actively Reclaiming the Fields may offer the most immediate and practical solution to getting ourselves onto the land. www.reclaimthefields.org REFERENCES1. Helena Norberg-Hodge, Peter Goering & John Page, From the Ground Up, Rethinking Industrial Agriculture. International Society for Ecology & Culture. Zed Books 2001.2. Eurostat: Agriculture and fisheries: Farm Structure Survey in the United Kingdom 2007.3. Kevin Cahill, Who Owns Britain, Cannongate 2001.4.Defra "Joint Announcement by the Agricultural Departments of the United Kingdom; latest national statistics on farm incomes released by the Agricultural Departments of the UK", released 29 January 2009.5. Helena Norberg-Hodge, Peter Goering & John Page, From the Ground Up, Rethinking Industrial Agriculture. International Society for Ecology & Culture. Zed Books 2001.6. Press Release by The UK Land Directory: "Agricultural Land Prices are expected to nearly double in value between 2010 and 2012", October 19 2009.7. Defra, Food 2030: A Strategy for the Future, published January 5 2010. Reclaim the Fields This article originally appeared as 'Reclaim the Fields' in The Land Issue 8 Winter 2009 website design by ethical digital

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Business Your Balance +tax Growing success Local mushroom farm thriving By: Murray McNeill Posted: 03/17/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: Tweet Post Reddit ShareThis Print This article was published 16/3/2010 (2534 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The province's only commercial mushroom farm has boosted its sales and production by about 25 per cent since adding a second production plant late last year.Winnipeg-based Loveday Mushroom Farms Ltd. is churning out about 72,576 kilograms of mushrooms a week at its two plants -- a 125,000-square-foot facility that's been operating on Mission Street for the last 63 years, and a new 73,000-square-foot one that opened last November just east of the city. KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESSBurton Loveday, president and general manager of Loveday Mushroom Farms, says business is great for the company. Purchase Photo Print The new Cedar Lake Road "farm" has a full-time staff of 20 and was needed because the Mission Street plant couldn't keep up with the growing demand for mushrooms.Company president and general manager Burton Loveday, who is the fourth-generation Loveday to run the family owned business, said the company had been turning down orders because it didn't have the capacity to fill them all."We had already lost some business to our competitors -- maybe 10,000 pounds per week," he said, adding the firm's main competition comes from two B.C. firms (Champs Mushrooms and All Seasons Mushroom Farm Inc).But that's no longer a problem, he said, and shouldn't be in the future because the new plant was designed so it could easily be expanded.Another benefit of building a second plant is that it enabled Loveday Mushroom Farms to modernize some of its operations and begin producing organically grown mushrooms."That's a niche and a need that we wanted to fill," Loveday said.The difference between organic and non-organic mushrooms is that the organic ones are grown in a certified, pesticide- and fungicide-free facility that is audited annually and uses only certified compounds for cleaning its equipment.Loveday said while demand for organic mushrooms is still limited -- they account for only about two per cent of the company's sales -- he expects it to grow as health-conscious consumers become more selective about the foods they eat. And when it does, the new plant will be able to meet the increased demand.Loveday Mushroom Farms has about a dozen large customers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and northwestern Ontario. They include all of the major grocery store chains and regional food distributors.This is the fourth expansion the company has undertaken in its 78-year history, and the largest in more than 25 years. Loveday wouldn't reveal how much it cost, other than say it was a multi-million-dollar project.For competitive reasons, he also wouldn't reveal the company's annual sales.He said the company's growth in sales occurred about seven years ago when its only competition in the province -- the K&G Foods mushroom plant in Portage la Prairie -- closed and it picked up most of its [email protected] Loveday Mushroom Farms Ltd.: Owned and operated since 1932 by Winnipeg's Loveday family.Operates two mushroom plants or "farms" -- a 125,000-square-foot facility at 556 Mission Ave. in Winnipeg and a 73,000-square-foot one located just east of the city at 23080 Cedar Lake Rd.Produces 72,576 kilograms of mushrooms a week, compared to 58,968 prior to the expansion.Produces more mushrooms in two hours than it did in an entire year during its first few years in operation.Employs 170 people.Grows five different types of mushrooms: white, oyster, portabella, crimini, shiitaki and enoki.The company has invested more that $3 million over the last five years on new equipment and plant upgrades to help reduce odours emanating from its Mission Street plant, which produces the composting material for both facilities.-- Source: Loveday Read more by Murray McNeill.

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Tag: grant news Nine new Trellis Fund projects awarded The Horticulture Innovation Lab has announced nine new projects in Africa and Asia as part of its Trellis Fund program. Each of these six-month projects is funded with a $2,000 grant, with work scheduled to begin in 2017. A U.S. graduate student with related expertise will be matched to each project, to provide additional agricultural knowledge and support for local goals. “We are pleased to build new relationships with local organizations, with support from our innovative Trellis Fund program,” said Elizabeth Mitcham, director of the Horticulture Innovation Lab at the University of California, Davis. “We believe this model, which links knowledgeable U.S. university students with local, on-the-ground practitioners, can help further extend horticultural expertise to farmers nearby.” Six of the newly awarded Trellis Fund projects are Continue reading Nine new Trellis Fund projects awarded Posted on September 19, 2016October 20, 2016Author Brenda DawsonCategories Program news, Trellis FundTags Cambodia, Ghana, grant news, Kenya, Nepal, Trellis, UgandaLeave a comment on Nine new Trellis Fund projects awarded MásRiego project starts in Guatemala Expanding irrigation and climate-smart farming to Guatemala An international team led by UC Davis is working to connect 9,000 rural households in Guatemala with improved water management and climate-smart agriculture strategies, to increase food security and reduce poverty. Called MásRiego (“more irrigation”), the project aims to increase farmers’ incomes and their use of climate-smart strategies, including drip irrigation, rainwater harvesting, reduced tillage, mulch use and diverse crop rotation. To enable farmers to adopt these new practices, the team will not only provide trainings but also build partnerships to increase farmers’ access to needed microcredit financing and irrigation equipment. “The opportunity to impact so many farmers’ lives on this scale is exciting,” said Beth Mitcham, director of the Horticulture Innovation Lab. “We’re taking lessons learned from our previous research — in Guatemala, Honduras and Cambodia — and building a team to help more small-scale farmers apply our findings and successfully use these innovative practices.” The new project is part of the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative. It represents an additional $3.4 million investment in the UC Davis-led Horticulture Innovation Lab by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s mission in Guatemala. Partnering with UC Davis is an international team with representatives from Centro de Paz Bárbara Ford in Guatemala; Universidad Rafael Landívar in Guatemala; the Panamerican Agricultural School, Zamorano, in Honduras; Kansas State University; and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Continue reading MásRiego project starts in Guatemala Posted on August 3, 2016September 12, 2016Author Brenda DawsonCategories Conservation Agriculture, Irrigation, Program newsTags associate award, Centro de Paz Bárbara Ford, conservation agriculture, Feed the Future, grant news, Guatemala, Kansas State University, MasRiego, NC A&T, UC Davis, Universidad Rafael Landivar, USAID, ZamoranoLeave a comment on MásRiego project starts in Guatemala Call for Trellis Fund project proposals The Horticulture Innovation Lab is seeking project proposals from organizations in developing countries for small horticultural projects, through its Trellis Fund. The Trellis Fund will offer 15 grants, up to $2,000 each, to local organizations for six-month projects that address horticultural challenges in the region. Organizations in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Rwanda, Senegal, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia are eligible to apply. Project proposals must identify a problem faced by local farmers related to horticultural crop production, Continue reading Call for Trellis Fund project proposals Posted on November 4, 2015January 4, 2017Author Brenda DawsonCategories Opportunities, Program news, Trellis FundTags funding, grant, grant news, Trellis1 Comment on Call for Trellis Fund project proposals U.S. scientists begin new horticulture projects in developing countries Agricultural scientists from five land-grant universities have been awarded $4.2 million to research ways to improve livelihoods for smallholder fruit and vegetable farmers in developing countries. Posted on February 24, 2015January 3, 2017Author adminCategories Program newsTags conservation agriculture, Feed the Future, gender equity, grafting, grant news, irrigation, NC A&T, Nutrition-sensitive, Penn State, Rutgers, UC Davis, USAID, UW-Madison2 Comments on U.S. scientists begin new horticulture projects in developing countries Five more years for the Horticulture Innovation Lab New grant aims to build global food security through produce research A new $18.75 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development will boost international fruit and vegetable research led by the University of California, Davis. The award extends for five more years a research program established at UC Davis in 2009 as the Horticulture Collaborative Research Support Program. Recently, the program was renamed the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Horticulture. “We believe this new, larger investment validates the work we’ve done with the Horticulture Innovation Lab and recognizes the pivotal role that fruits and vegetables play in people’s lives, both in improving health and increasing rural incomes,” said Elizabeth Mitcham, program director and a UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences. New tools for farmers around the world In its first four years, the Horticulture Innovation Lab trained nearly 32,000 individuals in more than 30 countries, including more than 9,800 farmers who have improved their farming practices. The program also established regional centers in Thailand, Honduras and Kenya as hubs to circulate the program’s research findings. Through collaborative research, the program has successfully adapted more than 500 new tools, management practices and seed varieties to aid farmers who grow fruits and vegetables in different countries. One such tool is called the CoolBot, a temperature control system developed by an American farmer as an inexpensive way to cool his farm’s produce. The system was later marketed to other small-scale farmers in the United States to reduce losses of fruits and vegetables after harvest. The Horticulture Innovation Lab has tested the CoolBot with farmers in Honduras, Uganda, Kenya, Cambodia, Bangladesh, and elsewhere — including at the UC Davis Student Farm. Similarly, the program has successfully adapted: zeolite-based drying beads made by a private company to dry and store high-quality seeds for better germination in tropical climates; agricultural nets that keep pests away from crops with products made by a local mosquito bed net company in Tanzania; and an inexpensive solar dryer design with a chimney, designed by UC Davis scientists to more efficiently dry and preserve fresh fruits and vegetables even on cloudy days. The Horticulture Innovation Lab tests and adapts these innovations through grant-funded research projects led by U.S. universities with international partners including entrepreneurs, foreign scientists, farm extension agents, government representatives and other. Noel Makete, a Kenyan scientist, checks on vegetables in a solar dryer during a Horticulture Innovation Lab training session in Arusha, Tanzania, during the program’s first five years. (Horticulture Innovation Lab photo by Amanda Crump) “This award underscores our university’s renewed emphasis on international agriculture. It also emphasizes our partnerships with other land-grant universities to solve global problems by pooling our expertise,” said Jim Hill, associate dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “These kinds of programs foster not only solutions to agricultural problems, but also leadership skills and long-term relationships that turn our partners into unofficial U.S. ambassadors in the long run,” he said. Global food security on behalf of the American people Amanda Crump, associate director, hangs a new office sign as the program adjusts to its new name, the Horticulture Innovation Lab. (Horticulture Innovation Lab photo by Brenda Dawson) The Horticulture Innovation Lab is one of 24 innovation labs that leverage U.S. university research to advance agricultural science and reduce poverty in developing countries. The labs are part of Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative. UC Davis leads five of the Feed the Future Innovation Labs with USAID funding, more than any other university. Currently, the program is selecting new research projects that focus on ways to reduce postharvest losses in fruits and vegetables, ways to improve nutritional deficiencies through horticulture, and address gender equity in agriculture. About Feed the Future Feed the Future is the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative. With an emphasis on smallholder farmers — particularly women — Feed the Future supports a country-led approach to reduce hunger, poverty and undernutrition by promoting growth in the agriculture sector. About the U.S. Agency for International Development The U.S. Agency for International Development administers the U.S. foreign assistance program providing economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 80 countries worldwide. The agency leads the U.S. government’s efforts to end extreme poverty and promote resilient, democratic societies. UC Davis is growing California At UC Davis, we and our partners are nourishing our state with food, economic activity and better health, playing a key part in the state’s role as the top national agricultural producer for more than 50 years. UC Davis is participating in UC’s Global Food Initiative launched by UC President Janet Napolitano, harnessing the collective power of UC to help feed the world and steer it on the path to sustainability. About UC Davis UC Davis is a global community of individuals united to better humanity and our natural world while seeking solutions to some of our most pressing challenges. Located near the California state capital, UC Davis has more than 34,000 students, and the full-time equivalent of 4,100 faculty and other academics and 17,400 staff. The campus has an annual research budget of over $750 million, a comprehensive health system and about two dozen specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and 99 undergraduate majors in four colleges and six professional schools. This press release was originally published by UC Davis News Service. The Horticulture Innovation Lab builds international partnerships for fruit and vegetable research that improves livelihoods in developing countries. The program is led by a team at UC Davis, with funding from USAID as part of the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative. For more information, visit http://horticulture.ucdavis.edu. Top photo information: Sean Kearney, then a UC Davis graduate student, interviews farmers in Uganda for a project with Dr. Kate Scow during the Horticulture Innovation Lab’s first five years. (Horticulture Innovation Lab photo) Posted on October 18, 2014January 3, 2017Author adminCategories Horticulture for development, Program newsTags grant news, UC Davis, USAID This blog is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the Horticulture Innovation Lab and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

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SADHU'S VISION Thank you for visiting my website! I’m Sadhu, the founder of Govardhan Gardens, a natural living and self-sufficiency oriented farming project near Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. After traveling the world for over 20 years, doing volunteer work for various cultural, social, altruistic and agricultural projects, an opportunity came up to acquire my own land. Thus, I could fulfill my old dream of living in nature and being as self-sufficient as possible. When I acquired my land, a ten acre farm, it had severely eroded, heavy clay soil and it was mostly covered with weeds; in short, it was a major challenge to even get the most basic cultivation going. My first project was to grow as much of my own food as possible. Despite all the challenges, I lived off the grid for a while and was happily eating my own produce. At that time, there were not more than a handful of organic projects in Puerto Rico, and everyone grew more or less the same limited varieties of crops. I felt that there was a need to bring more diversity to the island and I started to systematically collect tropical fruit species. Since I needed an income to survive and develop my farm, I soon opened a small tropical fruit tree nursery. Within less than a decade, I was able to establish the most diversified tropical fruit and nut collection as well as nursery in the Caribbean. By now, my farm has turned from a weeded place full of invasive plants into a true tropical fruit forest. In February of 2012, I reached my original goal of planting at least 350 tropical fruit and nut species at my farm. (Update July 2013: by now, the collection has reached 400 species - which surprises even me). Almost all of the collection species are spreading fast throughout Puerto Rico which is a big step in securing the fruit future of the island. About 160 of these new tropical fruit and nut species are the first ever being circulated in the Caribbean. Throughout the years, I continued to systematically study, propagate and promote new tropical fruit, herb, vegetable and bamboo crops. In March of 2007, I published "Oro Verde - Securing the Future of our Food" - which is a proposal of how to improve or even revolutionize the derailed state of agriculture in Puerto Rico. I am happy to see how a new generation of small -scale farmers is taking advantage of this publication, and is currently helping to introduce a new era of sustainable, holistic farming in the tropics. Puerto Rico, like most other Caribbean islands, lacks biological and genetic diversity of vegetables, grains and herbs. In order to help improve this situation, I started the Oro Verde Foundation with the help of a local activist and farmer, Magha Garcia. From my perspective, the acquisition of the hundreds of required tropical vegetable and herb species is a major challenge, and foremost, the endeavor is a race against time. Open pollinated heirloom seeds are disappearing at an alarming rate and ruthless corporations are working hard to control the world's seed market. In the fall of 2007, I began to add a bamboo collection of high quality structural, edible and ornamental bamboos. (A special thank you for his guidance and help goes out to Jim Rehor, who has one of the most beautiful bamboo collections in the Western hemisphere). I consider bamboo cultivation one of the more important steps towards self sufficiency for any small scale farmer. Some of my nursery species are already used by farmers as wind breaks, living fences and even as a food source. I am looking forward to the day when I can start to popularize bamboo construction projects in Puerto Rico. All these years of improving Govardhan Garden's eco system has led to an increased bird population (Birds @ Govardhan Gardens). In order to protect and support the avian community, I have written a Bird Manifesto and the farm has become a true bird sanctuary, with over 50 species frequenting or living here. I also started an island-wide program of studying local and visiting tropical bird species systematically. By the end of 2015, was able to document 170 species, which increased to over 220 species by November 2016. I am currently trying to find land for a privately run bird sanctuary in the southwest of Puerto Rico. Please contact me in case you want to support this important project. In 2015, a local TV documentary was put together about the farm. July 2015 marked the planting of the 450th tropical fruit/nut species, which happened to be Garcinia multiflora. The Garcinia collection itself has expanded into one of the largest private Garcinia collections in the world (50 edible species). In December of 2015, I completed a compendium of the best 1,000 fruits on the planet. The work was done for a friend of mine, who is considering to put up a new fruit web site for fruit enthusiasts. In July 2016, I gave two interviews that were read by tens of thousands of people on the island and abroad: http://www.organicfarm.net/Article_Naled_Assault.htm, http://www.organicfarm.net/Article_Naled_Aftermath.htm There is undoubtedly much work to do and maybe not that much time left. We are living in a fast paced materialistic time where money, power, exploitation and mass manipulation dominate practically every sphere of life. It is not surprising that these unhealthy dynamics are resulting in an artificial economy, based on the exploitation of limited natural resources. Now that this artificial economy is about to crumble under the weight of having reached its peak, sustainable agriculture and lifestyle are again in a position to resolve many of humanity’s deep-rooted problems. In general, a citizen has only two identities for our governments: being a tax payer and devoted, materialistic consumer. All necessities of life are increasingly controlled by centralized powers and my work is to fight these powers in order to create a network of independent self-sufficiency oriented communities. Every other year, another false hope or dream is sold to the public. Currently, there is much talk about the progressive "green wave", and as usual, it is a dishonest product meant to be sold with high profit margins. Almost all "green" products have the same unsustainable, toxic background as any of the conventional products ( Link to Solar Power Article ). It did not take long and the once idealistic organic movement has been infiltrated by opportunistic and ill motivated people who have no concern for true holistic eco-farming or nature in general. All they see is a new opportunity for high profits and a white-wash of their bad conscience for having been addicted to toxic agricultural practices. The fight over government grants for organic and sustainable projects has already begun, and the same power hungry and greedy people who were enthusiastic proponents of mono culture and toxic chemicals, are now the ones grabbing most of the federal funds circulating in the system. As usual, the honest and hard working small scale farmer doesn't see a cent of these funds. It is not difficult to understand what all of this has done to our agriculture. As a result of unqualified agricultural leadership, Puerto Rico's agriculture has been pushed to the brink of extinction. Today, there are only 18,000 registered farms and slightly over 30,000 farmers left. Much of the farm land (several thousand acres per year for the last six decades) around the island is sold, broken down into smaller plots and subjected to erosion, neglect or housing developments. A good percentage of these 18,000 farms are not under cultivation and the vast majority of the cultivated land has practically no diversity. The main concern for the local department of agriculture is still the coffee mono culture industry, which ultimately doesn't benefit anyone. After all, we need to grow food, not unhealthy stimulants. Instead of seeing farming as an ecologically responsible lifestyle, Puerto Rico's agricultural "leaders" see farming merely as a business based on exploiting farm land. For too long now, Puerto Rico’s agriculture has followed the same trend that prevails almost worldwide by only growing a few mono-crops that are “cultivated” with an array of pesticides, chemical fertilizers and herbicides. The average modern farmer and sadly especially the government has had little or no concern or vision for an ecologically sound and sustainable agriculture. Not many farmers know about the medicinal, nutritional or insecticidal properties of herbs, fruits or vegetables, and only very few are self-sufficiency oriented. Instead of seeing farming as an ecologically responsible lifestyle, modern agronomists see farmers merely as a business based on exploiting farm land. Currently, the island is highly food-dependent (about 94% of all foods consumed in Puerto Rico are imported). Unknown to most, a large percentage of those imported foods contain hundreds of dangerous chemical additives and transgenic ingredients. “Oro Verde – Securing the Future of our Food” explains how the island could turn towards a healthy, decentralized food production and become largely food self-sufficient. Holistic farming can be a meaningful and fulfilling way of life and it will always remain the most important natural means of economic security. To reach this point, nothing short of a complete paradigm change is required. I hope to be instrumental in paving the way for this change by inspiring people to become independent thinkers and true lovers of Mother Nature. Feel free to contact me if you need help with finding, designing or developing agricultural land in Puerto Rico or the Caribbean. For those of you who would like to visit in person, the fruit tree and bamboo nursery are open by appointment at any time of the year. Extended farm tours are only possible during the dry season (January-March). - Sadhu ARTICLES BY SADHU Bamboo History of Puerto Rico Fruit History of Puerto Rico San Juan Conference Food Security in Puerto Rico? Organic Certification in Puerto Rico Solar Power Coming Your Way Puerto Rico's Stolen Seed Future Acquiring and Raising Goats in the Tropics Q&A: Organic Agriculture in Puerto Rico Tribute to Bob Marley Monsanto, Seed Regulation in PR Dangerous Food Additives The Naled Assault on Puerto Rico The Naled Aftermath I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to everyone who has helped out this project over the years. Even if I can't acknowledge all of you individually since so many people have supported Govardhan Gardens in so many ways, I certainly remember every one of you. If you would like to find out more about the tree sponsoring program and other opportunities to help the project, click here view sponsors and friends ECO LIBRARY This revamped page is Govardhan Garden's new "eco library". You can find videos, links, articles and other media about relevant environmental topics. Please contact me if you know of any additional good links that you think should be a part of this library. Thank you. view eco library Tropical Fruits Nursery Photos by Sadhu Govardhan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://organicfarm.net/contact.htm. ORGANIC FARM is proudly powered by Browardstudios | Web2.0 Design by Navindra Lochan |

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Dry summer has Schuylkill County farmers at risk of losing crops David Mckeown/staff photos Michael Scheidel of Little Peace Farm, Schuylkill Haven, allows dry dirt to fall from his hand Monday. Earlier this year, farmers were praying the rain would stop.Now, they want it to come back."It's very dry. Most of the crops I've seen around the county are really suffering. The corn is curling up pretty bad and there's places where it's even starting to turn brown. So we really need some rain in the next few days," Elizabeth A. Hinkel, district manager of the Schuylkill Conservation District, Pottsville, said Thursday.Schuylkill County has baked under a heat wave this week, along with much of the United States. There is a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms today, with a 50 percent chance of precipitation and a high near 89, according to the website for the National Weather Service, State College.Chris Maccarone, a program technician with the Farm Service Agency, Pottsville, believes that if the heat persists, the state will declare a disaster because of drought."The corn's dying," Maccarone said. "Right now is a very critical time for corn in the county. The corn is in tassel. It's pollinating right now. When the tassels come out on the corn, that's when the corn starts pollinating and if there's no rain to aid in pollination and the plants are stressed, a lot of times it won't fill out," Hinkel said."And pumpkins are shriveling up, and a majority of farmers in Schuylkill County do not have irrigation systems, so if it doesn't rain there's a good chance right now they're going to lose their crops," Maccarone said.Hinkel said a good inch of rain would help."But hopefully it doesn't downpour all at once," Hinkel said.Mother Nature hasn't been giving farmers much of a break this year.In May, rain was putting farmers like Robin Hetherington of B&R Farms, Ringtown, off their usual planting schedules. At the time, there were 5.7 inches of rain more than normal, according to Bill Gartner, a meteorologist with the NWS."That rain delayed planting, and with wet soils in the spring, sometimes that can tend to really aggravate things even more when it dries out. It can almost turn to concrete. It gets really dry and the plants often time don't have a really good root system that's down in the soil," Hinkel said.On July 18, Mike Scheidel, owner of Little Peace Farm, an organic farm at 257 Moonhill Drive, Schuylkill Haven, said the heat was damaging crops.According to the 2008-09 edition of Pennsylvania Agricultural Statistics, the most current edition, there are 965 farms in Schuylkill County that make up a total of 118,000 acres. The average size of a farm in the county is 122 acres, said Dwane Miller, county extension director with Penn State Extension Office, Pottsville.

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Food Giants Want 'Sustainable' Beef. But What Does That Mean? By Daniel Charles Mar 25, 2014 TweetShareGoogle+Email Customers order food from a McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Ill. The company has promised to start buying "verified sustainable beef" in 2016. Originally published on March 25, 2014 3:07 pm McDonald's made a big green splash a few months ago by announcing that it will start buying "verified sustainable" beef in 2016. A chorus of voices responded, "What's 'verified sustainable' beef?" McDonald's, it turns out, is part of a group that's trying to come up with an answer. It's called the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, and its members include some of the biggest names in the beef industry as well as some environmental groups. Last week, the roundtable released a draft of principles and criteria for what might constitute sustainable beef. The document lays out general goals for a sustainable production system, such as minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and damage to ecosystems. But it doesn't say exactly how much "minimizing" it actually takes to qualify as "sustainable." "Those metrics have to be developed nationally," says Alex Bjork, manager of agriculture supply chains at the World Wildlife Fund, a member of the Sustainable Beef Roundtable. Beef production raises different concerns in different countries. In Brazil, "we'd like to see deforestation eliminated," says Bjork. In Australia, environmentalists want to stop sediment washing from grazing areas into the ocean, damaging the Great Barrier Reef. In the U.S., the goal may be to "keep ranchers ranching" in a way that preserves healthy grasslands. On top of those complications, there are trade-offs between different goals. Raising cattle on grass is generally worse for the climate; cattle grow more slowly and emit more greenhouse gases per pound of beef produced. On the other hand, grazing cattle can help preserve diverse grassland ecosystems. For all those reasons, actually getting to a consensus definition of sustainable beef may take a very long time. "Twenty years is kind of the time frame that we're looking at," Bjork says. So why did McDonald's promise to start buying "verified sustainable" beef in 2016? As it happens, that's the year the Global Roundtable on Sustainable Beef plans to begin some pilot projects that will raise cattle in the major beef-producing countries. Researchers will measure the environmental and social effects of producing beef in those operations, and look for ways to do even better. So technically, the beef won't be "verified sustainable" just yet. And while some environmental groups have argued that reducing the demand and supply of meat should be the priority, Bjork is hoping that this effort to reform the beef industry can imitate the Forest Stewardship Council, an international initiative devoted to reducing the environmental damage caused by logging. That group, which is now 20 years old, also brings together private companies and their critics, and according to Bjork, it has led to a global consensus on how forests should be managed.Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. TweetShareGoogle+EmailView the discussion thread. © 2017 WVXU

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DOW AGROSCIENCES' CEO ANTONIO GALINDEZ TO RETIRE, TIM HASSINGER PROMOTEDMar. 21, 2014Source: Dow AgroSciences news release After more than 31 years of service, Antonio Galindez, president and CEO of Dow AgroSciences (DAS), a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) will retire from the Company, effective May 1. Tim Hassinger, global commercial leader for Dow AgroSciences and global leader of Dow AgroSciences' Crop Protection Global Business Unit, has been named as Galindez' successor. Since joining Dow in 1983 as a field sales representative for agricultural products in Spain, Galindez has held a wide variety of leadership roles for both Dow and Dow AgroSciences. During his tenure, he served in a variety of marketing and business positions throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. In 2006, he was named DAS vice president of the Crop Protection and Seeds business and has been serving as President and CEO since 2009. "Over the last decade, Dow AgroSciences has become one of the fastest growing companies in the agricultural industry and has developed one of the richest innovation pipelines, with leading solutions in both crop protection and seeds, thanks in large part to Antonio's leadership," said Andrew N. Liveris, Dow chairman and CEO. "We thank him for his many years of service and have great confidence that Tim will build on to and accelerate business momentum going forward." Hassinger joined Dow in 1984, working in various sales, marketing and supply chain roles before being named global business leader in the Insecticides Global Business Unit in 2001. After serving as the regional commercial unit leader for Greater China, Hassinger returned to Indianapolis and became global leader for Europe, Latin America and Pacific. He assumed his current Crop Protection Global Business Unit global leader responsibilities in 2009 and added global commercial leadership responsibilities last year. As president and CEO, Hassinger will oversee the global Dow AgroSciences business and report to Bill Weideman, Dow executive vice president and chief financial officer. "Tim has proven leadership skills from his years of experience and expertise at Dow AgroSciences and within the broader global agriculture industry. He is positioned well to take the helm," said Weideman. About Dow AgroSciences Dow AgroSciences, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, is committed to discovering, developing, and bringing to market crop protection and plant biotechnology solutions for the growing world. Dow AgroSciences is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company and had annual global sales of $7.1 billion in 2013. Learn more at www.dowagro.com. Follow Dow AgroSciences on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube or subscribe to our News Release RSS Feed. About Dow Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company is driving innovations that extract value from the intersection of chemical, physical and biological sciences to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, clean energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's integrated, market-driven, industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 180 countries and in high growth sectors such as packaging, electronics, water, coatings and agriculture. In 2013, Dow had annual sales of more than $57 billion and employed approximately 53,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 6,000 products are manufactured at 201 sites in 36 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.Tweet

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Aggie Agriculture: A Recipe for Success in Horticulture Research and Information Home gardening and the support of locally grown produce is on the rise across the nation. Aggie Horticulture, part of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service at Texas A & M University, is one of the world’s most popular resources on all things horticulture. Dr. Douglas Welsh, Associate Department Head, Professor and Extension Horticulturist at the Texas AgriLife Extension Service Department of Horticultural Sciences, speaks about the origins of Aggie Horticulture and its vital role as a resource for both industry professionals and private gardeners. What is the aim of the Aggie Horticulture program? The Aggie-Horticulture® website, aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu, is the primary Internet/electronic outreach of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in regard to horticultural information. The website’s audience includes the gardening public, as well as the commercial nursery and landscape industry, commercial fruit, nut, and vegetable producers and processors, and horticultural educators across the nation. We feel that Aggie-Horticulture® is the best horticultural website in the world; by the numbers it is in the top 5. What are your responsibilities at Aggie Horticulture? Martin Anderson serves as the website administrator. Our horticulture faculty, comprised of 44 Extension Horticulturists and County Extension Agents, provides content for the website. My role is simply to provide administrative oversight and get out of the way. Could you tell us about some of the recent projects that have been undertaken as part of Aggie Horticulture? With over 100,000 documents on the website, revisions and updating is a continuous process. Recently, the Earth-Kind® website has been redesigned, revised, and updated. It provides insight into the widely popular Earth-Kind® Landscaping program which targets water conservation, reducing pesticide and fertilizer use, reducing yard waste entering land fills, and energy conservation. Earth-Kind® Roses are also featured on the website. How did the term “Aggie Horticulture” come about? Texas A&M University has historically been recognized as a top agricultural university. The students are called Aggies, referring to the agricultural roots of the university. The name, Aggie Horticulture, tied the website to two things to which we are committed, the Aggies and horticulture. Who founded Aggie Horticulture? In October 1994, Aggie Horticulture began serving gardening information. Dan Lineberger, Professor in the Department of Horticultural Sciences, was the founder of Aggie Horticulture. Could you tell us about the responses you have received from those who have been affected by the program? Perhaps the best evidence of the website’s impact is the web statistics which reflects use of the website. In 2009, Aggie-Horticulture® served over 7.9 million unique visitors, 12.7 million user sessions, and 52.6 million pages viewed. According to the Alexa Traffic Rankings, Aggie-Horticulture® is the number two website in the horticulture category nationwide (846 total websites). Aggie-Horticulture® is also the number seven website in Alexa Traffic Ranking under the category of agriculture nationwide (3,848 websites). Does Aggie Horticulture accept volunteers? The volunteers associated with Aggie Horticulture are Texas Master Gardeners. Their primary role as gardening educators is to use the resource of Aggie Horticulture as they provide information and educational activities to the gardening public. You have been an expert in the field for over three decades. What would you like to see as the future of the horticulture field? The local foods trend has begun and I am glad to see it. The interest and practice of home vegetable and fruit production is growing rapidly. Not since the late 1970s has such interest been seen. Aggie Horticulture is responding to the need for accurate, environmentally- sound, and practical gardening information. Popular

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"At either end of any food chain you find a biological system -- a patch of soil, a human body -- health of one is connected, literally, to the health of the other." - Michael Pollan Join/Renew You are here: PublicationsMaine Organic Farmer & GardenerSpring 1998Volunteer - Judy Kirk Volunteer Profile – Judy Kirk Judy Kirk remembers going to the Fleece Tent at the Common Ground Country Fair for the first time six years ago. “It’s pretty exciting when you walk into a tent with 500 fleeces. I was like a child in a candy store.” A fleece producer and spinner herself, she started getting “more and more involved,” visiting the tent every day of the Fair and participating in the shows. So three years ago, when the area’s coordinator was ready for a change, Judy took over. Now she shares the job with a co-coordinator, Jeanne Young. Judy and her computer do the summer work while Jeanne “irritates me really well (urging her on), and then, “come September, we both just work ourselves to death for three days.” The fleece tent brings buyers and sellers of fleeces together. About 500 fleeces – unprocessed, “right off the animal” – are sold during the Fair. MOFGA gets 10% of the selling price. Most of the wool is from sheep, but llama, alpaca and mohair are also represented. The tent’s “great reputation and great diversity” draw people from all over New England, according to Judy. Her goal is to “help people understand fleece more,” and she sees education – shows, workshops, presentations – playing a larger role in the tent’s future. She also hopes to get more kids involved, with hands-on activities such as spinning and carding. “Fiber I love,” says Judy, “but I love the animals most.” She has a small flock of Romneys on her two acres of land in Orono. “My sheep are my pets.” Three angora rabbits, down from a total of 20 a few years ago, live in an outbuilding, or, when it’s cold, her pantry. She also shares her home with her retail yarn shop, “Damsel Fly,” which she opened in 1981. The shop has been only a part-time avocation for the past five years, when she went back to school. She now has a degree in aquaculture and, while she may not be farming off the coast, the degree “gave me a lot of knowledge.” Now finished with school, she started working full-time at “The Store,” a natural foods store in Orono, last September. She also gardens. “I’m a big gardener,” she says. Although she is the only human eating regularly at her house – her two children are grown and her husband died five years ago – she still grows at least 32 tomato plants because she “can’t resist” all the new and heirloom varieties. “It’s nuts, but I can’t help it.” She has an herb garden, raised beds for vegetables, raspberries, grapes and “lots of flowers.” Her children have inherited her zeal. Her daughter managed a nursery when she lived in New Mexico, then worked for Smith & Hawken in San Francisco. She now owns a plant and garden store in Orono. When she moved back, before her brother’s wedding last August, she and her mother “tore up the garden. We totally redid everything for the wedding.” The new lawns and plantings were a success. And while Judy has been growing hot peppers for her son for the past few years, she is sure that he and his wife “are going to have a great garden this year.” Besides, “I’m counting on him to get some this manure.” With “fingers in so many pies,” Judy says of her life, “obviously I’ve got to cut back somewhere.” But of the big garden she says, “It’s hard to give up something like that.” And when asked if she plans to keep working with MOFGA, she just states, “Yep. I sure do.” She’s excited about the new site and the possibilities for a continuing agricultural program there. She volunteers at a living history museum, Leonard’s Mills, and says, “that’s fine, that’s history. But this [the new site] is today, this is not a historical museum, this is life. People will be able to see they can do it, too.” – Ann Cox Halkett

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WACC joins FAO advisory group Maria Cristina Forero Ramirez, 35, picking some of the tomatoes she produces in her garden as part of a project that supports 55 IDP women to produce their own food. The project helps women who are displaced by violence to produce food for their families and for sale. Photo: ACT/Sean Hawkey WACC has accepted an invitation from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) to join an advisory group preparing for the International Forum on Communication for Development and Community Media for Family Farming (IFCCM), scheduled to take place at FAO headquarters in Rome on Oct. 28-29, 2014. The forum is being organized by the FAO office of Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development in the context of the 2014 International Year of Family Farming, which aims to raise the profile of family and smallholder farming. The international forum is being organized in collaboration with the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC). The Forum is an official event of the Year of Family Farming and will also take place in connection with the Global Dialogue on Family Farming (30-31 October, 2014). The main objective of the Forum is to identify policy options, strategic partnerships and a road map to promote communication for development (ComDev) services in support of family farming and rural development. “The invitation to join the advisory group is a recognition of WACC’s long-term experience in working with marginalized and dispossessed people whose rights to communicate are systematically denied,” said WACC general secretary the Rev. Dr. Karin Achtelstetter. She especially drew attention to WACC’s activities and projects in the areas of rural poverty reporting and community radio. The Forum will be an opportunity to showcase experiences and lessons learned about the contribution of ComDev and community media to rural development challenges. It will be preceded by virtual consultations to identify priorities and common agendas also at the regional level. The advisory group will provide technical orientation to the IFCCM and follow-up to its resolutions. The group began its activities during the first week of July 2014, including organizational meetings, promotion of online consultations and studies on the role of ComDev and community media to advance family farming and the identification of partnerships and follow-up initiatives. Categories: News Keywords: Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, International Year of Family Farming Add A Comment

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Industry Drought costs California's ag industry $2.2 billion The Drought Monitor map of California, released on July 17, 2014. More than 80 percent of California is in extreme or worse drought, according to the latest Drought Monitor report. No drought improvement is expected through the end of October as the prospects of a mega El Niño fizzle. The state’s agricultural industry is being hit especially hard by the drought. A new study released last week put a hefty price tag on the state’s drought, which has cost the state’s agricultural industry an estimated $2.2 billion and put some 17,000 agricultural workers out of the job this year. Scientists warn the worst of it may not even be over. The drought could last for several more years, even with the arrival of El Niño. “Statistically, the drought is likely to continue through 2015 – regardless of El Niño conditions,” the report said. “A continued drought also increases the vulnerability of agriculture, as urban users with largely adequate supplies in 2014 will likely buy water from agricultural areas.” Climatologist Brian Fuchs of the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska agrees the drought won’t be easy to break. He explained in a Los Angeles Times article here California’s prolonged drought means it will be “harder to break the cycle,” much like some thirsty regions in Oklahoma and the entire state of Texas, which have been struggling with drought since 2010. Additional dry years in 2015 and 2016 could end up costing crop farming in Central Valley an estimated $1 billion annually. According to The Wall Street Journal, the financial losses point to a need to build new reservoirs in the state. Previous proposals to expand water infrastructure have been met with opposition from environmental and other groups "One of the saddest things about the losses caused by the drought is that they could have been prevented," said Paul Wenger, president of the California Farm Bureau Federation. Richard Howitt, a University of California, Davis professor emeritus of agriculture and resource economics, told the Associated Press it’s time for farmers to take a lead in managing groundwater to irrigate crops and sustain the state’s agricultural industry. "My message to farmers is treat groundwater like you treat your retirement account," Howitt said in an interview. "Know how much water's in it and how fast it's being used." See, “California drought threatens to dry up farm wells.” historic droughtcaliforniaagriculture About the Author:

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What are the main crops in Italy? Italy's rich soil, especially in the Po region, makes it possible to grow rice, corn, wheat, grapes, olives and tomatoes. Italy uses a majority of these crops, but the country is a major exporter of rice. What crops are grown in Italy? What fruits are grown in Italy? What do people eat in Italy? Francesco Sgroi Italy uses its land to grow field and tree crops. Some of these crops grow better in one area than another, and the country considers its rice, wheat, tomatoes, olives and grapes to be its most important crops.People in Italy use hard wheat to make pasta, and use soft wheat to produce bread and pizza crust. Two of the most successful agricultural exports out of Italy are olives and wine made from Italian grapes. Learn more about Italy britannica.com What are the main crops grown in Africa? Some of the main crops grown in Africa include cereals and grains, such as corn, wheat and rice, and legumes and fodder, such as beans, groundnut and cowpe... What are some common crops and their botanical names? Some common crops and their botanical names include corn (Zea mays), wheat (Tritcum spp.), rice (Oryza sativa) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa). Others are to... What are some examples of monocots and dicots? Some examples of monocots are garlic, onions, corn, wheat, rice, asparagus, sugarcane, lilies, orchids and grass, while tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, caulif... What is the climate of Italy like? Italy has a varied climate, including a harsh climate in northern Italy, a milder climate in central and southern Italy. Italy typically faces thunderstorm... What is the most popular food in Italy? Why did the Renaissance orginate in Italy? Where is Tuscany? Where is the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and will it ever fall? What are the benefits of traveling to Italy in October? What are the three main rivers in Italy? Types of Crops Grown in Italy Agricultural Crops of Italy Animals in Italy Agriculture in Italy Climate in Italy Farming in Italy Physical Features of Italy Landforms in Italy What are the seasons like in Spain? What is Naples, Italy, famous for? Where did the story "Romeo and Juliet" take place? What are the names of some important Italian seaports?

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You are here: Home › Resources › USDA › Survey of American Honeys, Part 10: Summary Survey of American Honeys, Part 10: Summary Gleanings in Bee Culture – August, 1961 10. Summary 1/ JONATHAN W. WHITE, JR. Eastern Regional Research Laboratory Eastern Utilization Research and Development Division Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture Philadelphia 18, Pennsylvania This is the last of a series of ten articles on the different honeys of America. In the previous articles in this series, we have attempted to describe briefly the high-lights of our analytical survey of the composition of American honeys. We have presented average values for the composition of honey, based on 490 analyses, and for honeydew based on 14 analyses. A listing of 74 types of honey and 4 honeydews has been included which shows generally how the various kinds of honey compare with average values and with one another. The kinds of sugars, rare and common, that are found in honey were discussed. All honey samples were found to have the same sugars present, but the relative amounts did differ considerably. Differences in composition of honey have been considered that can be ascribed to area of production. Probably the only reliable way to assess this factor is by statistically comparing average values for several samples of the same type of honey from different areas. In other articles the relationship of color and of granulating tendency of honey to its composition were discussed. It was shown that the granulating tendency of honey can be predicted from its dextrose and water content. A D/W ratio of 1.70 or less generally means a non-granulating honey, while a value of 2.10 or more predicts a relatively rapid complete granulation. Values between these imply partial granulation. In comparing dark honeys with light honeys, we have confirmed that the former show higher ash and nitrogen contents. We have also shown that the dark honeys are lower in dextrose and levulose content, granulate less, and are higher in acids. Storage of honey at ordinary temperatures has been seen to cause considerable loss in free simple sugars, increases in more complex sugars, some increase in acids and rather considerable (3% per month) losses in diastase content. The laboratory work in this project, representing nearly 10,000 separate analyses, was carried out by the individuals named in the first article in this series. We could not have done this work without the active cooperation of hundreds of honey producers, packers, extension specialists, apiary inspectors, national and state organizations and their officers and others. They cannot be named here, but we are greatly appreciative of their cooperation. All of the individual analytical results, complete descriptions of all samples, and names of those cooperating appear in the final technical bulletin to be published by the Department of Agriculture. This will also contain descriptions of the analytical methods used, a review of the literature and show the statistical evaluations of the data. In addition to the principal tables of data, averages are included for all floral types and blends in which more than one representative was present. Average values of all honey samples as classified by plant family is given, and a table showing the average composition of honey from each of the 47 states having samples, as well as a map showing sample distribution. No mention has been made in these articles of the flavor of honey. This does not mean that it is not considered important, but simply that it is difficult to measure and practically impossible to describe. It is, of course, probably the most important single attribute of honey, and possibly the one that is least understood chemically. More attention should be given to flavor and its maintenance in honey, especially protection against processing factors within our control. 1/ This is one in a series of articles describing a large-scale study of the composition of honeys from over the United States. Complete data interpretation and conclusions will appear in a forthcoming Department of Agriculture publication.

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Business & EconomyCompanies & Industries Gold Kist Inc. Paul G. Brower, Atlanta, 12/15/2003 Last edited by NGE Staff on 01/12/2015 Explore This ArticleContentsThe Early Years, 1930s-1940sDiversification, 1950s-1980sRefocusing on Poultry, 1990sTwenty-first-Century Developments Atlanta-based Gold Kist, founded during the Great Depression by a young agronomy instructor at the University of Georgia, merged in 2006 with rival Pilgrim's Pride Corporation to form the world's largest poultry company. In 2003 Gold Kist employed more than 18,000 people, conducted annual sales of more than $1.8 billion, and comprised 2,300 member-owners who produced 14.5 million chickens per week for national and international markets. The Early Years, 1930s-1940s In 1922 D. W. Brooks, who at the age of nineteen received a master's degree from the University of Georgia College of Agriculture, was given a faculty appointment by his alma mater to teach and conduct research in agronomy. Traveling around the state and visiting with Georgia farmers over the next decade, he became aware of the bleak economic situation that prevailed with farmers all across the country, and particularly in Georgia. In the early 1930s a group of farmers from Carroll County—then one of the largest cotton-producing areas of the state—having failed at several attempts to organize a cotton-marketing cooperative, asked Brooks for help. They were impressed with Brooks's dedication to agriculture and his sound judgment on business matters, despite his youth. As the son of a merchant, Brooks had a practical knowledge of the basic requirements of competent management. Through his education and research, he knew that new methods of production were being developed that could help farmers improve their yields and extremely thin profit margins. In 1933, with the depression closing banks and businesses all over the country, Brooks left his secure position on the faculty and took on the challenge presented by the farmers in Carroll County. By 1936 the original venture was liquidated and reorganized as a Georgia cooperative. It soon began to turn modest profits, which were returned to the farmer members in the form of patronage refunds. Before World War II (1941-45) most of the cotton handled by the Cotton Producers Association (CPA), as the company became known, was exported to England and Europe. During the war the cooperative struggled to satisfy the strong wartime demand for cotton despite a shortage of able-bodied workers to produce and gin it. By war's end in 1945, CPA was on firm financial ground and had expanded into fertilizer, farm supplies, seed, and agricultural chemicals that were sold through a rapidly growing network of local farm-supply cooperatives in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and South Carolina. Diversification, 1950s-1980s InD. W. Brooks the 1950s feed sales grew rapidly as southern farmers began to produce more and more chickens. Feed mills were built to supply the chicken growers as well as dairy operators, hog producers, and cattle growers. To supply the mills, the cooperative bought larger volumes of corn and soybeans, as well as other food and feed grains that were handled through a growing number of grain-buying points operated in connection with the local Farmers Mutual Exchanges, or FMXs, as they were popularly known. Peanut production had long been an important agricultural enterprise in much of the South, especially Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. CPA purchased peanut-shelling operations in all three states, each of which grew distinctive varieties of peanuts for specific markets. CPA quickly became the largest sheller in the peanut industry. Exports, long a primary cotton opportunity, were also an important market for U.S. peanuts. The successful introduction of soybeans to the Southeast in the 1950s offered the promise of a major crop opportunity as an alternative to cotton. CPA, one of the region's larger users of soymeal in its expanding chicken business, soon added soy-crushing plants in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia to handle the anticipated growth in soybean production. Although the Mississippi Delta saw huge acreage shifts to soybeans, the expected boom in soybean production in the Southeast did not materialize. After trying for a decade to procure enough soybeans in the area to keep its plants operating at optimum efficiency, the company sold the operations to focus on poultry production, processing, and marketing, and its network of approximately 100 farm stores. Peanut shelling also continued to be a major revenue source for the company, as did pecan shelling after the purchase of a privately owned company in Waycross in 1951. The shelled pecans were marketed under the Gold Kist brand name, which soon was applied to poultry and other products as well. The brand was linked with the familiar CPA corporate identity in the late 1960s when the company began to call itself CPA–Gold Kist. Cotton declined in the region, and the Cotton Producers Association name and the initials CPA disappeared in 1974, when the company became officially known as Gold Kist, Incorporated. By the 1980s the company's primary business segments were the FMXs, which were its largest operation in terms of dollar volume, followed by chicken, peanuts, pecans, and several subsidiary companies related to its core businesses. Despite the seesaw cycles of agriculture, Gold Kist surpassed $2 billion in sales volume by the 1990s and accumulated nearly $400 million in member equity. Much of Gold Kist's success during these decades can be attributed to its status as a farm cooperative. Farmer members paid competitive market prices for the goods and services they purchased from Gold Kist, and were paid market prices for the products they sold to Gold Kist. Beyond their individual profits, the farmers received a share of the cooperative's profits. Moreover, they shared the profits from the supplies they purchased, thus lowering their cost of doing business in profitable years. Membership in the cooperative also isolated farmers from most market risk on their commodities: they shared in the gains made by Gold Kist in processing and marketing the products they sold to the cooperative, but they did not suffer losses in the inevitable down cycles that characterize commodity markets. Refocusing on Poultry, 1990s During the 1990s fundamental changes affected all of American business, and agriculture was not left untouched. Size and ability to serve larger markets became extremely important to survival, and consolidation became the norm in all segments of the American industrial base. Farmers realized that economies of scale were their only defense against stagnant global agricultural-commodity values. Gold Kist pursued growth in its core businesses of farm supplies and poultry. Having become the largest poultry processor in the United States, it was recognized as a provider of quality chicken products by consumers in many foreign countries as well. Per capita consumption of chicken had risen from about twenty-four pounds per person in 1960 to more than seventy-two pounds per person by the late 1990s. Chicken surpassed pork in 1985 and displaced beef in the mid-1990s as America's favorite source of meat protein. Meantime, farm consolidation continued at a rapid pace, reducing the number of farms from four million to fewer than two million in less than a decade. A major redistribution of population resulted in the shift of millions of acres of farmland in the Sunbelt from agriculture to residential and commercial development. Surviving farmers had to cope with increasing pressure to invest more capital and operate as efficiently as possible. These events together were driving a quiet revolution in the farm supply industry. The list of fertilizer manufacturers shrank from hundreds to less than two dozen, and major chemical suppliers merged or abandoned the cyclical agricultural market, as did seed-breeding companies. The farm-supply retail business was forever changed. In the late 1990s, having sustained heavy losses for some time, Gold Kist sought a buyer for its farm stores and related businesses. In 1998 Southern States Cooperative, a farm and suburban store specialist based in Richmond, Virginia, purchased the Gold Kist farm-supply operations. Gold Kist withdrew as a one-third partner in Golden Peanut Company, an international commodity-trading firm it had joined in 1985. Twenty-first-Century Developments A partnership with Young Pecan Company of Florence, South Carolina, was dissolved in 2002, leaving Gold Kist with its poultry operations, a small operation that produced baby pigs in partnership with another cooperative in the Midwest, and a hog growout operation that supplied mature hogs to a Mississippi-based packer. Gold Kist's poultry plants—including twelve processing plants, nineteen hatcheries, twelve feed mills, and three by-product plants—posted sales of more than $1.8 billion in fiscal 2002. While consumption of chicken peaked at nearly eighty pounds per person in 2001, Gold Kist continued to expand and develop new international markets and to create more processed-chicken products to maintain its leadership position among meat items. The once-familiar whole chicken nearly disappeared from supermarkets and was replaced by trays of chicken parts and numerous forms of processed chicken products. And where once the meat counter was the only source of chicken, large supermarkets began to sell as much chicken in the deli section, in fully prepared form. New technology not only kept chicken prices low in comparison with other forms of meat but also made it possible to provide chicken in an amazing variety of partially and fully cooked forms with breading, spices, and companion vegetables all in one heat-and-eat package. Although competition from Brazil, China, Thailand, and other producing nations encroached on traditional U.S. export markets, distinct labor cost advantages and "upstream," or invisible, government subsidies of producers gave Gold Kist, and other American poultry processors, significant advantages when marketing to international customers. In 2006 Gold Kist agreed to merge with Pilgrim's Pride Corporation of Pittsburg, Texas, thereby creating the world's largest poultry company. At the time of the merger, Gold Kist was the nation's third-largest poultry producer, employing 16,500 people and controlling 8.8 percent of the poultry market share in the United States. D. W. Brooks (1901-1999) Farm Cooperatives More in Agribusiness Henry Tift (1841-1922) W. B. Roddenbery Company Cagle's Jesse Jewell (1902-1975) Destinations Art Across Georgia Fall in North Georgia Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia Ten Major Civil War Sites in Georgia Media Gallery: Gold Kist Inc. D. W. Brooks Loading Further Reading Brian S. Wills, "D. W. Brooks: Gold Kist's Goodwill Ambassador," Georgia Historical Quarterly 74 (fall 1990): 487-502.Barbara Young, "Trendy Solutions," National Provisioner , December 2001. Cite This Article Brower, Paul G. "Gold Kist Inc.." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 12 January 2015. Web. 21 February 2017. More from the Web Pilgrim's: The Pilgrim's Story More in Business & Economy Waffle House Irrigation Georgia Experiment Station, Griffin Kaolin College of Management at Georgia Institute of Technology J. Mack Robinson College of Business Primerica Financial Services Michael J. Coles College of Business Georgia Department of Transportation Equifax Joel Hurt (1850-1926) Cagle's Coca-Cola Company Terry College of Business Stuckey's Georgia Railroad Bank and Trust/Wachovia Bank, N.A. NGE Topics

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http://www.mysanantonio.com/life/home_and_garden/article/A-homegrown-lifestyle-4340314.php A homegrown lifestyle By Karen Sullivan, Charlotte Observer Published 4:53 pm, Friday, March 8, 2013 Photo: McClatchy-Tribune Photos The mix of plants on Barbara Damrosch's and Eliot Coleman's land creates a good ecosystem, say the authors of “Four Season Farm Gardener's Cookbook.” Damrosch loves to tell about the rewards of growing food. “There is a new awareness of the value of homegrown food,” says Damrosch. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — No matter where she goes, Barbara Damrosch can find herself talking with someone about the rewards of growing fresh, wholesome foods at home and becoming less dependent on other sources. It's a lifestyle that was popular in the 1960s and '70s. Today a natural food movement has re-emerged as the nation's ecology and health force us to tally things being lost to convenience. Nutrients and fuel use can be tradeoffs when foods travel long distances to reach us. Pesticides and food waste also take a toll. As measures of the pros and cons continue, many people are going off-grid for food. Others are puttering in the soil for the joy — and the flavor — of a home-based harvest. “There is a new awareness of the value of homegrown food,” said Damrosch, co-author of the newly released “Four Season Farm Gardener's Cookbook” (Workman Publishing, $22.95). “We're trying to make it easier for people to get out there and grow their own food.” Damrosch's husband, Eliot Coleman, has been farming in Maine for more than 45 years. Coleman, 74, started what is now Four Season Farm in 1968. Today, the operation occupies fewer than 2 acres but provides enough food for a farm stand that is open in June through September, a mobile stand for farmers markets, as well as a year-round wholesale business. He shares his expertise at extending the growing season with home cooks, chefs and various TV audiences, so they can have access to local food for more of the year, as he does. Damrosch, 70, came to the farm in 1991, the year she married Coleman. She has emerged as a champion of gardening as a central part of family and community life, even as big corporate farms grew and overshadowed small, local agriculture such as theirs. Their family garden is a showcase of the plant diversity that is considered vital to a healthy ecosystem but frightfully lacking in large-scale agriculture. They grow old, heirloom varieties alongside newer hybrids. The couple's new book includes pictures of their gardens, growing tips and recipes that Damrosch created with produce from their fields. “The deep green of the spinach and bluish cast of the broccoli leaves tell us we've fed these plants well, and that they will feed us well in return,” the couple write in the book. In her weekly column for the Washington Post, called “A Cook's Garden,” Damrosch shares pictures of her home-grown vegetables and fruits with the pride of a parent posting her babies' pictures. At a time when digital automation makes so many chores seem effortless, the prerequisite of toiling for weeks or months to grow one's own food seems too costly for many people, especially when a supermarket is on the way home. Damrosch says that even the smallest plot can be an abundant source of food for much of the year. The book includes tips for making gardening manageable and efficient, even for those with limited time. For Damrosch, the garden is a path to better flavor, better nutrition and perhaps hope that more of our great-grandchildren will want to know the magical flavor of food grown in the backyard. The transformation of pretty herbs and tomatoes to food for the table, as illustrated in the book, is perhaps the best argument that we are missing something special when we don't harvest from our land or at least buy from a neighboring farm. “People are looking for stuff that's real and not diluted with chemicals,” Damrosch said. “It doesn't taste the same.”

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Skillful Means: A New Report from Brighter Green Breeding Sow in a Medium-Sized Farm, Eastern China (Picture: Peter Li/HSI/CIWF) New York-based policy action tank Brighter Green’s new report, Skillful Means: The Challenges of China’s Encounter with Factory Farming (PDF) explores the emerging superpower’s “livestock revolution,” which is having serious impacts on public health, food security, and equity in China—and the world. The Beijing Summer Olympics are showcasing a resurgent nation, which only two generations after a devastating national famine is eating increasingly high on the food chain. In the past ten years, consumption of China’s most popular meat, pork, has doubled. In 2007, China raised well over half a billion pigs for meat. Given that every fifth person in the world is Chinese, even small increases in individual meat or dairy consumption will have broad, collective environmental as well as climate impacts. Increasingly, what the Chinese eat, and how China produces its food, affects not only China, but the world, too. “When I was a child, every person was allotted one pound of pork a month,” says Peter Li, a professor of political science at the University of Houston in Texas who grew up in Jiangxi province in southeast China says in Eating Skillfully. “We could not eat more than that. You could not get it. Now, though, more people have access to more meat and want to eat a lot of it.” In yuan terms, meat is the second largest segment of China’s retail food market. China has also opened its doors to investments by major multinational meat and dairy producers, as well as animal feed corporations, including Tyson Foods, Smithfield, and Novus International. Western-style meat culture has gone mainstream. Fast food is a U.S. $28-billion-a-year business in China. McDonald’s, a major sponsor of the Olympics, had more than 800 restaurants in China, with at least a hundred more set to open by the time the games began. Four McDonald’s are operating in Olympic venues, including the press center and the athletes’ village. “China is not yet a bone fida “factory farm nation” like the U.S.,” says Mia MacDonald, Brighter Green’s executive director and co-author of Skillful Means. “But the strains of its fast-growing livestock sector are becoming harder to ignore. In the U.S., a re-examination of the multiple human, environmental, economic, and ethical costs of factory farming is taking place. Such a process needs to get underway in China’before it’s too late.” Although these realities won’t be fully obvious to the millions of people cheering on the Olympic athletes in China and across the globe, they demand attention: China’s livestock produce 2.7 billion tons of manure every year, nearly three and a half times the industrial solid waste level. Run-off from livestock operations have created a large “dead zone” in the South China Sea that is virtually devoid of marine life. In northern China, overgrazing and overfarming lead to the loss of nearly a million acres of grassland each year to desert. Diet-related chronic diseases now kill more Chinese than any other cause, and nearly one in four Chinese is overweight. More than 90 percent of some bacteria in Asia can no longer be treated effectively with “first-line” antibiotics like penicillin’due to their overuse in farmed animals. China can still feed itself. But this is likely to change as its meat and dairy sectors expand and intensify. The Chinese government is looking abroad, not only to international food markets but also to Africa, Latin America, and other parts of Asia for land on which to produce food for people and feed for livestock. In 2008, China surpassed the U.S. to become the world’s leading emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2). Per capita emissions of CO2 in China have more than doubled, from 2.1 tons of CO2 equivalent in 1990 to 5.1 tons today. Meat and dairy production have a direct relationship with global climate change: fully 18 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions stem from the livestock industry. Even though the Chinese government seems set on emulating industrialized nations’ meat and dairy culture, a small but growing number of Chinese non-governmental organizations and individuals are questioning this path. To them food quality, not quantity, is important, along with issues of sustainability and animal welfare. Eating Skillfully recommends the following actions to both the Chinese government and civil society: The government ought to redefine its conception of short- and long-term food security so it doesn’t give priority to a meat-centered diet. Meat in China ought to be, as it was, a condiment and not the mainstay of a meal. Government subsidies that now support the expansion of industrial-scale livestock operations, owned by Chinese or foreign companies, should be ended. The “externalities” on which animal agriculture is dependent’such as riverine and marine water pollution, contamination of soil and groundwater, and land degradation’should be paid for, in full, by the industry and/or specific facilities that cause them. Increased sharing of information and experiences of industrial animal agriculture should take place among policy-makers, academics, and civil society groups in China and other countries, both developing and developed. A forum for dialogue between the government and China’s and global animal welfare, environment and other civil society organizations should be established. The growing environmental movement in China ought to include the issue of intensive animal agriculture within its analysis, awareness-raising, and advocacy activities, and collaborate with civil society groups working on related issues. Contact: Mia MacDonald, Brighter Green, New York, E-mail: [email protected] (After August 26: Tel: (1) 917 202 2809). Peter Li, University of Houston, Texas Tel: (1) 832-647-6518. E-mail: [email protected]

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Agweb HomeMyMachinery.com HomeNewsDeep Cuts in Food-Stamp Spending Said Averted in Farm Bill Deep Cuts in Food-Stamp Spending Said Averted in Farm Bill Deep cuts in U.S. food-stamp spending sought by House Republicans were averted in a tentative agreement on a much-delayed agriculture bill, according to a congressional aide familiar with the matter. The proposed farm legislation crafted by U.S. lawmakers, billed as saving $24 billion through food-stamp cuts and the end of a direct-payment program for farmers, may advance to the Senate after a vote in the House of Representatives that could take place as soon as Jan. 29. By approving a plan that largely keeps food stamps intact and preserves most farm subsidies, an urban-rural coalition has been maintained amid a tough political environment that saw an earlier plan rejected in the House. If it passes, the agreement would be another bipartisan achievement by a Congress faulted for a lack of legislative success. Leaders of the House and Senate agriculture committee are being asked to sign off on the plan today, after weekend talks. The House plans to act before leaving town this week for party strategy meetings. The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. Washington time and may consider the farm plan, according to the aide. Some of the savings may go to compensate counties with large swaths of untaxed federal land, a $450 million item House Speaker John Boehner assured lawmakers earlier this month would be in the bill. Bunge, Ace The bill to reauthorize U.S. Department of Agriculture programs governs farm subsidies, which encourages planting of soybeans, cotton and other crops that lower materials costs for commodity processors including Bunge Ltd. The bill subsidizes crop-insurers such as Ace Ltd. and funds purchases at Kroger Co. and other grocers through food stamps, its biggest expense. The farm-bill accord would be a third bipartisan deal by the current Congress, which passed a budget last month and cleared a $1.1 trillion spending bill on Jan. 16. The five-year farm legislation would end an aid program that makes direct payments to farmers and cost about $50 billion over 10 years, and reduces food stamps. Much of the subsidy spending was restored in other programs. The agreement reached on food stamps would cut spending by $8 billion over 10 years, or about one-fifth of the $40 billion sought by House Republicans. Negotiators agreed to tighten a provision that let states give residents as little as $1 a year in heating assistance to qualify them for an average of $1,080 in additional nutrition aid. Target, Supervalu Republicans successfully sought to lift the "heat and eat" threshold to $20, while Democrats proposed $10. The higher level creates almost $9 billion in savings, some of would be plowed back into a $200 million pilot program that lets 10 states toughen work requirements and boosts spending for food banks by about $200 million for 10 years, said the congressional aide who requested anonymity to discuss internal talks. Food stamps used at retailers such as Target Corp. and Supervalu Inc. cost a record $76.1 billion in fiscal 2013, or about 12 percent of the $650 billion a year Americans spend on groceries. About 47.4 million Americans used the program in October, the most recent month available, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Jan. 10. Almost half of all food-stamp redemptions are in big-box supercenters such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., while most of the rest are in chains such as Safeway Inc., according to data collected by Bloomberg. Lottery Ban The farm bill would also forbid food stamps for lottery winners, an idea supported in both chambers, and restrict aid for college students. Not included was a Republican plan to tighten state eligibility requirements, a projected savings of $11.6 billion, or a $19 billion reduction by reducing waivers states can give childless adults who would otherwise face work requirements or time limits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the technical name for food stamps. Contested proposals over meat labeling and state laws governing farming practices are still being negotiated, while a plan to involve the government in managing dairy supplies will be modified to gain support from House Speaker John Boehner. Companies including Tyson Foods Inc. have called for country-of-origin labeling, a part of farm bills since 2002, to be weakened after complaints about the labeling from Mexico and Canada before the World Trade Organization the U.S. has lost. Last year the USDA tightened the rules, eliminating the ability for companies to merely say the beef was from North America and requiring separate disclosures to say where beef, lamb, pork, chicken and goat were born, raised and slaughtered. Subsidies, Insurance On commodity subsidies, the bill combines a House push to raise so-called target prices under which the government will subsidize farmers with the Senate approach that emphasizes more insurance aid. As the cost to farm has increased and crop acreage has shifted from wheat and cotton to soybeans and corn in the past 20 years, price and acreage calculations for aid have been seen as archaic, though tying subsidies too closely to market conditions increases the chance of trade retaliation through the World Trade Organization. Payment limits under commodity programs would be capped at $125,000 per individual or $250,000 per couple, with the definition of a "family farmer" left up to the USDA for definition purposes. Crop insurance, which paid out a record $17 billion after the 2012 drought, would include requirements that farmers follow conservation plans on their land to qualify for federal subsidies. So-called conservation compliance is included, while limits on subsidies for wealthier farmers receiving assistance on paying premiums, supported by the Senate, isn’t in the bill. Congressional passage would put in place a new law to succeed the previous bill passed in 2008. An extension of that law expired Sept. 30, potentially forcing the USDA to re- implement farm programs governed by language the from 1949 law that underlies policy and potentially doubling dairy prices. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has said the department is focusing on implementing a new law rather than re-creating an old one because he’s confident Congress will pass the legislation. The department won’t change paths unless he’s convinced otherwise, the secretary said earlier this month. GAO Report Criticizes USDA on Subsidy Rules 10/8/2013 12:21:00 PM Lobbyists Provide Inside Look at Farm Bill Negotiations 12/12/2013 7:27:00 AM Comments

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Scrapping regulations calls for discretion Feb 10, 2017 Stronger safety net is goal for National Cotton Council Jan 27, 2017 Oklahoma Peanut Expo March 23 in Altus Feb 08, 2017 Cattle industry 'very concerned' about Trump's pledge to renegotiate NAFTA Feb 06, 2017 2006 High Cotton Award Winners Delta Winner, Joe Bostick, Golden, Mississippi Nestled into a corner of northeast Mississippi, cotton producer Joe Bostick must sometimes feel like a forgotten man. There is no irrigation here to bump cotton yields to super-high levels. Soils are thin and not always forgiving. This year, the only rain of any consequence came on the heels of three hurricanes that blew through the Gulf of Mexico. But success isn’t always built on what we have, or what Mother Nature doles out. Rather success is measured by what we do with what we’ve got. And Joe Bostick is doing some good things with his 1,050-acre cotton operation near Golden, Miss. For those accomplishments, Bostick has been named the 2006 High Cotton Award winner for the Delta states. He farms with his two sons, Ryan and Nathan, who help out at harvest and planting. There is full-time hand, Dale Ray, and part-time hand, Josh Brown, who helps out after tending to his job as a football manager at the University of Mississippi. Moral support comes from Bostick’s fiancé, Teresa Singleton, who works at the La-Z-Boy factory in nearby Belmont. Bostick graduated from Mississippi State in 1971, and taught agriculture to high school students full-time while farming part-time with his father, Charles. He took over the cotton operation when his father retired in 1982. He had taken cotton out of his crop mix in 1978 after the local gin closed, turning his attention to grain and soybeans. “We didn’t have Pix and cotton would just get too big,” Bostick explains. In 1991, he started growing cotton again, and he’s been at it ever since. “He came back to his bread and butter,” says his consultant, Homer Wilson, who has been working for Bostick since 1996. The return to cotton production was made without Bostick’s father, who died in an automobile crash in 1985 at an intersection a hundred yards from the farm headquarters. Soon after returning to the crop he loved, Bostick emerged as a conservationist and top-notch cotton manager, eager to increase efficiency on the farm. He began with water and soil — building and maintaining terraces and grass waterways, improving drainage, and converting to no-till in order to conserve soil, fuel, and labor. “One of the greatest benefits of no-till is the increase in organic matter,” consultant Wilson says. “There was a train of thought here in the hills that the ground was supposed to do what it was supposed to do. We really never used to give much thought to how our practices were affecting our yields.” In fact, Bostick’s topsoil is very thin — just a few inches thick before running into barren red clay. Many fields are highly erodible, making his soil conservation efforts even more important. “You have to take care of it, or you’re going to be in trouble,” Wilson says. Trouble often came in the form of stunted plants. “We were applying so many yellow herbicides that those thin places with no organic matter couldn’t handle it. Joe tried to build organic matter with corn, but in some cases, corn would die if we tried to rotate on some of this land.” Bostick says, “No-till has provided us with the organic matter in the soil to handle these herbicides, although we don’t have to use as many now that we have herbicide-resistant crops. But no-till was a great plus, and has boosted our overall yields. It brought yield between poor land and good land closer together.” He continues to rotate cotton with corn on a field-by-field basis. “We notice when the cotton yields start dropping during the year, and we try to rotate it with corn the following year. The soil needs a rest from the cotton.” He can usually count on a 150-pound yield increase in cotton following corn. No-till has helped from a labor perspective as well, Bostick says, noting that. “dependable farm labor is almost non-existent in this part of the country.” Controlling and slowing the flow of water on cotton fields is an ongoing project. During rains, he will often travel around the farm to get a better understanding of how surface water moves across his fields. His farm sits on a divide between the Tennessee-Tombigbee and Tennessee River waterways. Some land drains into the Tombigbee basin, but most drains into the Tennessee basin. He’s built parallel terraces on larger fields, diversion channels, and wide grass waterways. Drainage pipes built into the terraces take water off the fields into a ditch, lake, or a wooded area. To keep soil on the farm, he’s installed grass turnrows on most of the field edges. The grass – some seeded, some volunteer – also does a good job of keeping down dust. He’s built parallel terraces on larger fields, diversion channels, and wide grass waterways. Drainage pipes built into the terraces take water off the fields into a ditch, lake, or a wooded area. To keep soil on the farm, he’s installed grass turnrows on most of the field edges. The grass – some seeded, some volunteer – also does a good job of keeping down dust. Bostick is known for rescuing some tough ground from potential ruin and making it profitable. For example, he acquired one field in 1991 where erosion “had torn it up pretty badly. I signed up with the Soil Conservation Service and we built it up with terraces and ran drainage pipes.” He has dramatically improved yields on the field, too. “In the long run, you make more cotton with the terraces.” In 1995, Bostick took advantage of USDA’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program to help pay for converting to no-till cotton production on a couple of 50-acre fields. The cost-share program helped him purchase no-till equipment, and helped launch a 100 percent conversion to no-till. A conservationist and a good farm manager have a lot in common, says consultant Wilson. “One thing that impresses me most about Joe is that he carries out recommendations quickly and accurately. From time to time, I might see a low spot that might need some drainage or some dirt work, and I’d tell Joe about it. It wouldn’t be long before it got done. He doesn’t put things off.” “Conservation can be aggravating sometimes,” says Bostick, who does his own dirt work,“but in the end, it’s worth it. If you have a weak spot in the field and you let it continue to wash, it gets worse. If you’re willing to go the extra mile, it will pay.” He has won several local awards for his conservation work, serves as chairperson of the FSA county committee, and has also served as commissioner of the Tishomingo County Soil and Water Conservation District. In nominating Bostick for the award, Wilson noted, “He has many fields with a 50-foot, fringe wildlife area that also catches runoff and prevents stream pollution. He uses these practices to protect the land for future generations, specifically his sons’ future livelihood.” Phillip A. Horn executive director of the Alcorn/Tishomingo County FSA office, noted, “Joe has set the benchmark on all aspects of hill farming, and through his example, showed others that it can be done.” There is no age limit on the beneficiaries of Bostick’s efforts. One afternoon in late September, he hosted a group of first graders from nearby Tishomingo Elementary School. Each had a small sack for picking a few bolls of cotton. He and his hands stopped the cotton harvesting operation long enough for the kids to fill their sacks and ask a few dozen questions about the crop. It was hard to tell who was having more fun — the kids, or Bostick. Southeast Winner, Cliff Fox, Capron, Virginia For Virginia growers Cliff and Clarke Fox cotton is something new, but soil conservation and good stewardship are generations old. The Fox brothers with some sage help from their father, Trent Fox, grow 950 acres of cotton, 200 acres of peanuts, 325 acres of corn and 150 acres of soybeans at Foxhill Farms in Capron, Va. Though Cliff and Clarke Fox have developed Foxhill Farms into a diversified agricultural business, farming is a multi-generation operation for the Fox family. winners of the 2006 High Cotton Award. Cliff and Clarke Fox got an early introduction into farming from their father Trent. Their grandfather was a banker, who worked closely with farmers in Southampton County. Both Clarke and Cliff graduated with degrees in agricultural economics from Virginia Tech. Both their father and grandfather also attended Virginia Tech. After graduating from college, Clarke returned to the farm and began the process of converting his father’s part-time farming operation to a modern, diversified operation. When Cliff graduated from college, he chose to work with Southern States Farmer’s Cooperative in the southeast region of Virginia. In 1991, he joined his brother in the farming operation and Foxhill Farms became a corporate entity. Since that time, the farming operation has diversified away from a dependency on peanuts to cattle (for a few years) and on to cotton in 1994. Located about 70 miles south of Richmond and 75 miles west of the Atlantic Ocean, Foxhill Farms is in the heart of Virginia’s historic Southampton County. For over 200 years cotton was king in Southampton, but WWII and the need for domestic oil from peanuts brought a new crop to the area — peanuts. Add to the increase in peanut production, continued cotton losses to boll weevils, and by the 1950s cotton was no longer king and by the 1960s it was gone from Southampton County. Ironically, what nature and the government gave and took from Southampton County farmers has gone full circle. The boll weevil eradication program brought cotton back to the county and the end of the government supported peanut program has dramatically reduced the popularity of the crop to area growers. “We planted our first crop of cotton in 1994,” notes Cliff Fox. “My dad started farming this land in the mid-1960s, but he didn’t remember much about cotton, so the first 100 acres we planted was done with very little knowledge about the crop,” he said. “For our first cotton crop, we broke the land and ripped and bedded it,” he recalls. “It didn’t take us but one crop to figure out we needed to do something different, the younger Fox brother stresses. “My father was one of the first to use strip-tillage equipment in the county in 1969 for some of his corn fields, so he knew a great deal about conservation tillage — all we had to do was adapt it to cotton,” Fox laughs. For their second crop of cotton in 1995, they bedded the land in the fall and planted a wheat cover crop. They killed the wheat a couple of weeks prior to planting cotton in the spring. “The second year was better, the Virginia growers remember, but even with a cover crop, the bedded land is flat, and when it gets water on it, the water doesn’t have a place to go, so it makes it own way, causing us a lot of erosion problems,” the Virginia grower explains. Though growing dryland cotton in Virginia has been a challenge, the Fox brothers have consistently topped two bales per acre. This year is likely to be in the 1,000 pound per acre range, with some fields topping three bales per acre. One of the keys to keeping yields high, they agree, is taking care of the land. Growing cotton has been a work in progress for the Virginia farmers. Cliff laughingly recalls his first experience with Pix. “I over did the Pix a little bit and the cotton never met in the rows. We had a good crop of cotton, and a real good crop of weeds — that’s a battle we don’t want to try again,” Fox muses. In 1998, the Fox brothers bought a KMC strip-tillage rig, which has been good for both cotton production and conservation practices. The eight-row rig has a ripper shank in front, followed by four fluted coulters and a two basket configuration behind that. Though they continue to tweak the rig, it produces an excellent seed bed for cotton. “We handle our cover crop a little different from some growers,” Fox says. “We have found that when we kill the wheat 2-3 weeks prior to running the strip-till rig, the stubble tends to go away before we plant,” he said. They use a burn down herbicide, either glyphosate or paraquat, depending on the weed history of the field and time of application. “If we don’t have a real strong stand of wheat, we wait until the first true leaf of the cotton crop to kill the wheat,” he says. By waiting until the first true leaf of the cotton crop, he saves one pass over the field and glyphosate has no negative affect on Roundup Ready cotton. Cotton varieties stacked with herbicide and insecticide genes have changed the way cotton is grown — for the better, according to the Fox brothers. “For one thing, these varieties have allowed us to grow cotton with no cultivation. If we need to get into our cotton for escaped weeds, we use a directed, hooded sprayer,” Fox points out. In some years strip-tillage costs more in herbicide costs in some crops, but being able to use glyphosate on cotton has greatly reduced the need for herbicides. “For our operation, the big increase in cost has been the technology fee,” Fox says. Some savings come from application of Orthene tank-mixed with the first true leaf application of glyphosate. Thrips are a constant problem for young cotton in the Tidewater area of Virginia. They typically come back in the fifth true leaf with another application of glyphosate, which usually takes care of most weed problems. “If problem weeds come back later in the growing season, we go back with a hooded spray application, usually Suprend, which has worked well for us,” Fox contends. Loss of the peanut program has created problems for Virginia farmers, regardless of other crops grown. For the Fox brothers, it has meant a decrease in peanut acreage, which affects their rotation program for cotton. Ideally, they rotate cotton with corn and peanuts. They have replaced some of their peanut acreage with soybeans, which works well in the rotation, but doesn’t have the profit potential of peanuts. Always innovative, the Virginia farmers would like to take advantage of many of the new high-tech farming systems that are available. “We farm about 2,000 acres of land, but we have over 200 individual fields,” Clarke Fox points out. “Some of the new, high-tech, precision agriculture systems are just not practical for us,” he adds. “When we first went to module builders to replace bale wagons, people would stop on the side of the road to watch and often ask us what the contraption was,” Cliff Fox recalls. Now, he says, virtually all the cotton picked in Southampton county is moduled. One of the biggest changes in cotton production over the past 10 years for the Fox brothers has been with varieties. “Of the cotton varieties we started with in 1994, only Deltapine 51 is still available, and it’s being phased out,” Cliff Fox points out. We do variety tests with pesticide companies and with Virginia Tech researchers at Tidewater Research and Education Center in Holland” (Holland, Va, is about 30 miles from Capron, Va.), Fox says. He points out that being in the northern end of the Cotton Belt has meant fewer varieties that are bred for Virginia growing conditions. Farming on land that is prone to washing and erosion problems has likewise been a challenge for the Virginia growers. Cover crops on all their land, strip-tillage and drainage tiles on most of their land have proven to be successful for both erosion and crop production. “On land with bad wash problems, we have installed grass waterways,” says Cliff Fox. “Some we do ourselves, but on some land we have a company from nearby Suffolk come in and construct the waterways,” he said. The grass waterways are typically 60 feet across, with the bottoms of the drainage ditch at least 8 feet wide. These waterways are graded back to natural levels and seeded with grass. The concept is to provide a gentle grade, not a ‘V’ shape. “We are trying to create a way for water to get off the land,” says Fox. Critical to these grass waterways being efficient is to clean off the banks periodically, because dirt builds up in the grass, creating multiple pathways for water to run across the field. “If you don’t keep the banks of the waterways clean, you get two or more ways for water to get off the field, creating a bigger problem,” Fox said. Another key to the conservation system is to place heavy rocks at the end of the waterway. Otherwise, Fox says, the volume of water will be so heavy it will break the end of the waterway. Conservation practices are an everyday part of the operation at Foxhill Farms. The Fox brothers routinely triple rinse chemical containers and place these in a trailer. Once the trailer is filled, they take it to a warehouse, where the plastic is picked up, ground into pellets and reused in the plastic industry. They also recycle all the used oil from the farm. These services are provided through the local Virginia Tech Extension service. They also participate in a used tire program with the Soil and Water Conservation District. “We recently bought a farm that had thousands of used tires discarded on several sites on the farm. Working with the Department of Environmental Quality, we found a regional company that would pick up these tires for a fee. Since that time, we have recycled all the tires from our farm,” Fox said. Foxhill Farms has several miles of drainage tiles — another holdover from the conservation practices of Trent Fox. “We spend a lot of time keeping drainage tiles working. In the winter that is one of Cliff’s biggest jobs,” Clarke Fox notes. For Cliff and Clarke Fox cotton is becoming a part of the tradition that includes Virginia Tech, conservation, good stewardship and strong family support. Southwest Winner, Lawrence (Buck) Braswell, Raymondville, Texas Buck Braswell walks through stalks left standing from last year’s cotton crop, stopping occasionally to kick up remnants of grain sorghum stubble, residue from 2004. He stoops, digs his hands into the loose, grayish-black soil and sifts it through his fingers, like a miner, panning for gold nuggets. No shiny stones turn up here but Braswell picks out bits and pieces of rich organic matter, decomposing and adding value to his South Texas fields. He points to a tractor and bedding rig running across the far end of the field and explains how he’s rowing up a bed, through last summer’s cotton stalks, for next spring’s grain sorghum crop. He says soil erosion will not be a significant problem in this field. Braswell values soil and does all he can not only to conserve it, but also to make it better than he finds it. Conservation makes sense. He contends that the better he maintains the soil the better cotton crop it will make. It makes economic sense as well, saving him trips across the field, allowing him to farm more acreage with fewer and smaller tractors, less expensive diesel fuel and fewer man hours. And yields remain equal to or better than many farmers who continue to follow conventional tillage methods. Braswell’s dedication to conservation, along with his unselfish willingness to help other growers learn about and adopt conservation practices, earned him the 2006 Farm Press High Cotton Award for the Southwest. Braswell will accept the award in January at the Annual Beltwide Cotton Conferences in San Antonio, Texas. He made his first reduced-tillage crop in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in 1992. He had done some conservation tillage in Mississippi before moving to Texas. “Yield on that first con-till crop was just as good as conventional,” he says. He’s refined the system since and follows the same basic procedures in both cotton and grain sorghum. “We’re producing crops as good as anyone around us,” he says. Braswell plants cotton in grain sorghum stubble and grain sorghum in cotton stalks. “We never pull stalks,” he says. “It’s important to leave those stalks.” He says, in addition to adding organic matter to the soil, stalks and root systems keep channels open for water to penetrate and for the next crop to follow to moisture. “I always follow the same rows, every year. Controlled traffic is a key for conservation tillage.” Braswell follows a fairly simple procedure. He uses a John Deere Max Emerge planter. “I just add a disk on the front to move dry soil,” he says. “I put out seed, no insecticide hoppers, no herbicide tanks. I just plant. And I use bulk seed, so we don’t have to lift bags anymore.” Braswell doesn’t use a total no-till system. “I put up a little row,” he says, “and use the same ones every year.” He likes to “bed up the land” in the fall, after September rains. “I don’t want to bed up too early, because all rain water will run off when the middles are clean of debris,” he says. “I leave the stubble in the beds to hold that moisture and will put up beds in October. Then I hope we get rains before planting to replenish moisture.” He manages residual stalks with a Prep Master before planting. “I kill cotton stalks just after harvest with 2,4-D to prevent boll weevils from reproducing late in the year. I may hit it three times. I get checked a lot on stalk destruction, but this system works better than mechanical destruction. Often I can’t find any (stalks) alive after spraying. I can get near 100 percent stalk destruction by spraying. I can’t do that well when pulling stalks.” He says growers have to be meticulous about spraying to assure proper coverage. He runs the Prep Master over grain sorghum stubble too, usually a week before planting. “I have no trouble getting a stand with minimal-till cotton,” Braswell says. “That was a concern back in the early 1990s but since 1995 and 1996, we’ve gotten excellent stands. But we will do whatever it takes to get a cotton stand. We only get that one shot at it, so we make certain we get it up. I rarely have to replant.” Weed control has posed few problems either. He uses all Roundup Ready varieties and will apply Prowl pre-emergence only to irrigated acreage. “I may use some Diuron in a rainy summer. “I’ll plant as many Roundup Flex, stacked varieties as I can get in 2006,” he says. “Roundup Ready has made a big difference in farmers’ acceptance of reduced tillage systems.” He expects Roundup Flex, with a broader application window, will be even more useful in reduced tillage systems. The current system has worked well. “I have no serious weed problems but I realize that Roundup is not good on some weeds, and I could run into some trouble down the road.” He uses a hooded sprayer to take care of in-season weeds. He’s careful with spray application, for either weed or insect pests. “Spray drift can cause a lot of damage and ill will,” he says. “But we can spray without drift if we do it right. We have to be aware of the wind.” He uses a high cycle and a hooded spryer for spraying insecticides and herbicides. He is careful with either. “We have to be mindful of people’s property,” he says. “Folks spend a lot of money on their yards and they don’t want their plants damaged. If we’re careful, we can draw a fine line with a sprayer and keep drift from being a problem.” Cultivation plays no part in his weed management system. “I own no disks or field cultivators,” he says. He recently took in a 500-acre farm and had to run a chisel plow to get it ready to plant. “Even when I chisel, I leave residue on the surface,” he says. That residue is important in the Valley. “We get a lot of wind erosion down here.” Rotation keeps yields up. “We simply can’t plant cotton after cotton here,” he says. “Cotton yields will drop by half if we don’t rotate.” He says milo responds to reduced tillage even better than cotton. “Yield improvement seems better with the grain,” he says. Braswell says current high energy prices may encourage other Rio Grande Valley farmers to cut back on tillage. “We’re saving a lot of diesel fuel with minimal tillage. I haven’t bought diesel since mid-season,” he said in mid-October. “My neighbors are buying it every week. And at $2.23 a gallon, it’s a big expense.” Steel price jumps also add up. “Steel cost is a big issue for a farmer,” he says. “Sweeps are up 40 percent since last year, but we only put up that little row so we only use a sweep once a year.” He figures equipment lasts 30 percent to 40 percent longer because of reduced tillage. “I don’t go to the shop for repairs nearly as often as I used to. We spend very little money on equipment repair. “We use less equipment, probably 60 percent to 70 percent less than we did with conventional tillage. And we use smaller equipment. We just don’t need the high horsepower.” In addition to fuel, soil, labor and equipment savings, Braswell believes his nutrient program works better. He’s participated in a variable rate fertility program and says his soils show more uniform nutrient distribution than conventionally tilled fields. “Also, I have higher organic matter content.” He says the organic matter provides a “distinct difference during drought. At planting time I see an obvious difference in the amount of planting moisture available. That’s an established fact.” In addition to his minimum till conservation program, Braswell also keeps soil out of the Arroyo Colorado River that runs by one of his fields. He’s built a buffer between the field and the river, built low berms to divert water away from the river and is planting grass to help hold the soil. He thinks precision farming will be the next step in improving farm efficiency. Global Positioning System (GPS) agriculture “is the way to go,” he says. “I intend to work on it in the next few years. It will improve farming. The technology is amazing and will allow us to be more accurate with spraying, planting and the other practices we do on a farm. We will be able to apply chemicals with GPS and save $4 to $5 an acre because of improved accuracy. We will save on seed, too. “Every application on the farm, within five years, will be adaptable to GPS. A lot of us said we would never use a computer on a farm. Now, we all have them. It will be the same with GPS.” Braswell has been a willing teacher for other farmers interested in learning about reduced tillage systems. He speaks at five or six meetings a year, sharing what he’s learned about reduced tillage. “And hardly a day goes by that someone doesn’t call asking for information,” he says. He provides that counsel willingly because it’s a production philosophy he believes in. “In this area, we now have thousands of acres that have not had a plow in 10 or 15 years,” he says. “A lot of neighbors who have adopted reduced tillage have been able to make a crop when some with conventional systems could not. And conventional farming has higher production costs.” Braswell says the percentage of reduced till acreage goes up every year, he estimates by around 10 percent. “Five yeas ago, very few were into reduced tillage, but we see a lot of it now. We don’t have as much bare land in the fall as we used to see. And landlords are beginning to request that we use reduced tillage methods on their land. They have seen the advantages.” Buck Braswell drives the back roads of Willacy County, showing us the bare autumn landscape where the country’s earliest cotton crop was harvested back in mid-summer. He points out fields with cotton stalks still standing and tells how one farmer or another recently switched to conservation tillage. He’s pleased at how much better these farmers like the system than what they had done before, many for decades. He doesn’t say so, but other observers contend that Braswell may have played a key role in encouraging the change. Calling him an evangelist for no-till may be a bit over the top but it somehow seems appropriate. He’s not a pushy type, but given the opportunity to talk about what conservation tillage will do, he’s more than willing to share what he knows. Western Winner, Wally Shropshire, Blythe, California Wally Shropshire of Blythe and famed movie director Cecil B. DeMille of Hollywood share a lot more in common than just calling California home. They both are epic creators -- gathering together casts of thousands to attract millions: Wally even more so than the late Cecil. Shropshire has been orchestrating — with a supporting production ensemble of hundreds — a cast of trillions that saved millions from a horde of lurking evildoers. Wally’s legacy over the past 38 years would make Hollywood proud. However, Wally’s work will never get him invited to Oscar night, but there are thousands of cotton growers who would be more than willing to dole out statues by the truckloads for the accomplishments of the band Wally leads. Former California Department of Food and Agriculture director Jack Parnell called the epic Wally has directed since 1974 “The Greatest Story Never Told.” Western Farm Press and the Cotton Foundation are telling the story this year with its Far West High Cotton Award for 2006. Rather than honor a farm family for producing cotton with a commitment to environmental stewardship, this year’s Far West High Cotton award goes down a different path. The honor goes to the California Cotton Pest Control Board or as it is better known, “The California Pink Bollworm program,” and its chairman Shropshire is accepting the High Cotton Award at this year’s Beltwide Cotton Conferences in San Antonio, Texas. Why? The answer is simple. It is undoubtedly the world’s most successful and longest running area wide integrated biological pest control program, and the program with a current budget of $5.5 million has been funded virtually with 100 percent grower funds almost from its inception nearly four decades ago. It is a program that has negated the use of millions of pounds of pesticides. The California San Joaquin Valley pink bollworm exclusion program is an environmental benchmark for the ages. There have been at least 38 million acres of some of the highest quality cotton produced in the world in California’s San Joaquin Valley since growers banded together and opened their checkbooks to keep the pink bollworm — the world’s most destructive cotton pest — out of the San Joaquin. Using a conservative 2.5-bale average, this acreage represents roughly 100 million bales of cotton. Beat expectations And Wally’s entourage has succeeded longer than anyone imagined in the beginning, using an integrated pest control approach, relying on trapping, sterile release, crop residue destruction, and pheromone confusion technology to keep PBW infestations below economic impact levels for decades. Since 1968, at last 20 trillion irradiated, sterile pink bollworm moths have been aerially distributed over the San Joaquin for 38 years this to keep PBW at bay. “Bottom line is that the California cotton industry would not be here today without the pink bollworm program,” said Earl Williams, president of the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association. Williams has logged 40 years in the California cotton industry and added, “We would have run out of options a long time ago and likely would be where the Imperial Valley and other desert cotton growing areas are today had growers not formed the cotton pest control board and funded out of their own pockets the pink bollworm program.” In 1977 there were 140,000 acres of cotton and 12 cotton gins in Imperial Valley. Today there is one gin and less than 12,000 acres, and the pink bollworm is largely responsible for that. At the height of the pink bollworm infestation, desert cotton producers were spending annually an average of $125 per acre in Palo Verde Valley and $175 per acre in Imperial Valley trying to control pink bollworm. It was not uncommon at the height of the pink bollworm problems for a grower to spend $300 per acre on pesticide sprays. Not one SJV cotton producer has spent a single dime to apply a pesticide to control PBW. It costs SJV producers about $2 per bale or about $5 per acre annually for that rare privilege. At four or five bales, it is still a bargain at $8 to $10 per acre. Mid-’60s problem PBW became a major problem for Arizona and Southern California cotton producers in the mid-1960s. Jack Stone, Stratford, Calif., cotton producer, like Shropshire, is one of the two original board members still serving, recalled a group of SJV producers going to Arizona and Southern California to see first hand what type of threat they were facing. Less than 300 miles separate Blythe, Calif., where the PBW was wreaking havoc at that time and Bakersfield, Calif., where there were no pink bollworms. Growers and researchers were convinced it would only be a matter of time before PBW would reach the San Joaquin without an area wide exclusion effort, recalled Stone. “We realized early on that it would jeopardize our livelihoods, and we decided to form the cotton pest control board to develop a plan to address the problem,” said Stone. The producers went to the legislature to get the authority to levy an assessment to support the use of sterile insects to overwhelm native populations. Surprisingly, it was not a novel idea 40 years ago. It had been used since 1953 to control screwworm, an insect that feeds only on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals. It was a major problem for American livestock. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) entomologist used the technique first to eradicate screwworm in the Southeast and then the program was expanded to eventually eradicate the screwworm from the entire United States, Mexico and most of Central America. Screwworm eradication from the U.S. began in 1962 under the direction of ARS labs in Kerrville and in Mission, Texas. Shropshire said it was from the work at Mission that the California sterile release pink bollworm program had its beginning. Few objections “The amazing thing to me back then and still today, is how very few cotton growers objected to the bale assessment we used to start and maintain the program,” said Stone. “Growers have always willingly paid it and it has been a tremendously successful program over the years. It has exceeded my expectations by far. “I am almost certain that the pink bollworm program is why we are still growing cotton in the San Joaquin Valley today,” said Stone. Bill Tracy, partner in the family-owned Buttonwillow Land and Cattle Co. in Kern County, was introduced to the idea of releasing sterile moths to control native pests when he returned to the farm after Army Reserve active duty in the late 1960s. Informational meetings were being conducted in the valley at that time and “you can imagine the initial reaction of pre-bio engineering farmers when state bureaucrats (from the California Department of Food and Agriculture) were suggesting releasing the most devastating cotton critter in the world over the San Joaquin Valley.” It took some convincing that there would be no non-sterile moths inadvertently released as part of the sterile drops. Fortunately, said Tracy, Shropshire was at those early meetings telling SJV growers, “Gentlemen, the Palo Verde Valley is already infested, and I’d give a million dollars to be in your shoes with the opportunity to prevent the pink bollworm from getting into your valley.” In 1967 the state of California paid to spray every acre of cotton in the Palo Verde Valley 13 times with Sevin to prevent the pink bollworm from getting into the desert valley, recalled Shropshire. And the state even mandated that cotton trailers crossing into California from Arizona across the Colorado River had to be fumigated before going to the gins on the California side. Attempts to keep pink bollworm on the Arizona side of the river failed and desert cotton growers have had to live with the pinkie ever since. ‘We were naive’ “We were naive to think the pinkie would not cross the Colorado,” he said. “There was no question in my mind had we not had the sterile program all these years, we would have a hellacious pinkie problem in the San Joaquin today,” said Shropshire. Jeff Hildebrand of Bakersfield, Calif., recently went off the cotton pest control board after having served since 1984. His family has farmed in California since 1937. “The pink bollworm program is one of the least known, most environmentally sound pest control programs in the country. It has saved California growers millions of dollars while costing them next to nothing. Just the environmental significance of the amount of pesticides it has saved growers is staggering,” said Hildebrand. One of the key people in the success of the program has been USDA entomologist Bob Staten who has been involved with the program since 1970. He has been an adviser to the board and has conducted numerous PBW research projects both in the San Joaquin and in the desert valleys. "The success of this program is huge, (See CALIFORNIA, Page 30) you just look at what hasn't happened in the SJV. In the history of the program, there has only been one incidence of a measurable infestation in the SJV. (Buttonwillow). No grower in the SJV has ever had to apply pesticides for pink bollworm control,” said Staten. CDFA brought that Buttonwillow infestation under control. CDFA has managed the program since its inception. Bob Roberson was branch chief of the CDFA Integrated Pest Control branch and worked with the program from 1977 until he retired in 2000. Amazing vision “It was amazing how visionary the board was in seeing the importance of keeping pink bollworm out of the valley — how growers and ginners like Wally and Jack and others had the vision to see what was needed,” said Roberson. “And these men followed the direction of an outstanding group of scientists like Bob Staten, Fred Stewart and Tom Miller. Dr. James Brazil was another entomologist who was a key part of the program, especially when the board got involved in eradicating the boll weevil in Arizona and from Southern California,” said Roberson. Working with the cotton pest control board and these scientists “was the highlight of my career,” said the retired CDFA administrator. Jim Rudig is program supervisor for the program. He began his CDFA career as a temporary employee working on the new technology of releasing sterile PBW moths to overwhelm any native populations in 1967. When a sterile moth mates with a native, there is no offspring and it breaks the generation cycle. “Everything we did in the beginning was new technology and it was not very sophisticated,” said Rudig. One of the challenges initially was find how to effectively release the sterile PBW moths. “In the screwworm program, they irradiated and released larvae. They found you could not do that with pink bollworm. We had to release the moths,” recalled Rudig. The first releases were done by hand with moths inserted into toilet paper tubes stuffed with excelsior—“bunny grass. Yea, the stuff you find in Easter baskets. I remember going to the drug store in Bakersfield and buying all the bunny grass in the store to stuff in toilet paper tubes. We would walk the cotton fields putting out the moths in those paper tubes,” said Rudig. Aerial release That quickly gave way to the successful development of aerial release equipment to blanket the valley weekly with sterile PBW moths during the growing season. “In the beginning it amazed me how careful the members of the cotton pest control board were to protect the cotton industry. In the 60s, most of the leaders were young men yet they have always exhibited a vision into the future for their industry,” said Rudig. Rudig brings a unique perspective to the program because interspersed with his work on the PBW program have been stints eradicating Medfly infestations from urban areas. “It has been extremely gratifying to work on the pink bollworm program because of my experience in using pesticides to eradicate Medfly,” he said. “I am not against the use of pesticides. They are important to control insect pests if done properly, but when you can do what cotton growers have done working with CDFA for almost 40 years, it is truly amazing,” said Rudig, who was a leader in moving the PBW technology to the fight against Medfly. Rudig said it is almost impossible to keep Medfly out of California’s urban areas like Southern California, and CDFA now aerially drops sterile Medfly over the Los Angeles area to minimize infestations. Using sterile insect releases to keep a pest at bay is a numbers game, but those numbers can be deceiving, pointed out Rudig. Trapping to capture both sterile and native PBW is an integral part of the program. “In 2005 we released 231 million steriles and captured 231,000 in traps. Because we are trapping only males, that represents only two-tenths of 1 percent. We trapped only 116 natives at the same time,” said Rudig. However, if you use the same trap percentage as sterile moths, “it is easy to recognize that a native population can quickly get away from you without a sterile release program. Just because you caught one native moth does not mean it is the only one out there.” Overwintering Early on in the program there were doubts expressed that the pink bollworm could overwinter in the San Joaquin Valley. Staten researched the issue with caged cotton plots in the middle of Kern County cotton field one season. He recorded five generations in those cages; end of debate about overwintering. Williams has high praise for the board and the CDFA crew that runs the program. In recent years the board has approved funding for CDFA trapping for silverleaf whitefly, a potentially devastating pest that can cause severe damage to cotton lint and the valley’s high quality cotton reputation. The California growers and ginners groups have conducted an aggressive campaign to prevent sticky cotton caused by whitefly. “The trapping by CDFA has been very extensive and very informative. It gives us a clue as to where sticky cotton issues may arise and allows us to address it quickly,” said Williams. With cotton acreage declining, revenue for the cotton pest control board PBW program has been declining. “The board was facing budgetary constraints and were looking to cut back whitefly trapping. We encouraged them to stay with the program and they accommodated us. Every cotton grower in the San Joaquin appreciates that very much. “And, I might add Jim Rudig has done a fantastic job with the program,” he said. Another critical element in keeping PBW at bay is a mandatory plowdown regulation to reduce overwintering habitat for the pest. Conservation tillage is a new technology several SJV growers are trying and in that system, complete plowdown may not be possible. CDFA flexible “The board and the CDFA people did not stonewall these efforts. Instead they adopted some rules that will allow growers to experiment with conservation tillage without compromising the integrity of the pink bollworm program,” said Williams. “That is the kind of flexibility and continued support for the cotton industry that has been repeatedly displayed by CDFA and the board.” While the majority of the funds collected have been to support SJV pink bollworm suppression, Southern California cotton growers have not been ignored. The board has funded research there over the years. Ironically, the next and possibly final chapter of pink bollworm story in the Western U.S. and Mexico may be written in Southern California along with Arizona, New Mexico, Far West Texas and Northern Mexico where the pink bollworm has been a constant threat since the mid-1960s. Growers in these area have been able to stay in the cotton business with the use of pheromone confusion and reduced pesticide use. Now eradication may be possible. “Bt cotton could be the final piece of the puzzle that will allow us to truly consider eradicating the pink bollworm from the U.S. and Mexico,” said Shropshire. Pheromones and Bt cotton have reduced pink bollworm populations in many areas to levels where massive sterile release drops like are done each year in the San Joaquin can possibly eradicate pink bollworm by overwhelming native populations. Bob Hull is a long time Palo Verde Valley cotton grower who was a young man just out of college when pink bollworm greeted his return to the family farm near Blythe, Calif. “There were airplanes flying all over the place when I came back to the farm. I did not know what was going on,” he said. He quickly found out and also found himself in a leadership role of talking to growers about area wide programs to keep the PBW at bay. Bt cotton value “Bt cotton is keeping us in the cotton business today. Without that technology, cotton would be little more than a rotation crop,” said Hull is a member of the National Cotton Council Pink Bollworm Action Committee, which has been the focal point of the emerging eradication program. “I was so pleased to make the motion to support an eradiation effort. If we can use the same technology to eradicate the pink bollworm as has been used to keep it out of the San Joaquin Valley — Wow!” Sterile moths for this eradication effort will come from the rearing facility built in Phoenix 10 years ago with California cotton grower money. "Wally and the board came through in 1994 with support to build a new state of the art 60,000-square foot rearing facility in Arizona that has allowed us to exponentially increase our rearing capacity and scientific knowledge,” said Staten. “At that time we were hoping to rear 8 million to 10 million insects per day. Today because of that resource, we expect to turn out 22 million insects per day. It's all been possible because San Joaquin Valley growers had, and continue to have, the foresight to invest in the future. It was a huge unleashing of energy, and the board made it happen," said Staten. If the eradication effort in Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Far West Texas and northern Mexico is successful, sterile moth drops would likely end in the San Joaquin. However, trapping would continue. “The combination of Bt cotton, pheromones and sterile releases is a pretty bright light at the end of the tunnel toward that elusive goal of eradication,” said Shropshire. “Eradication may put me out of a job, but I would not be happier.” Shropshire began his California cotton career in 1954 when he moved to Palo Verde Valley to manage a cotton gin. He farmed cotton from 1955 to 1992. Today he’s “semi” retired, but keeps official ties to the industry as a business associate with Hull Farms. Shropshire is known as a joke teller. He always has a new one to share, but make no mistake he takes seriously the job of pest control board chairman. Tracy credits Shropshire’s leadership in always keeping the future of the cotton industry on the table in making visionary decisions. Pink bollworm bull “Every successful organization or program has their share of worker bees, but there is always one old range bull whose unflagging energy, through good and bad times, keeps everything heading in the right direction,” said Tracy. “I know the intention of Western Farm Press and the Cotton Foundation is to salute the whole cotton pest control board program and the many state and university staff plus the myriad of current and past board members, but Wally Shropshire is that old bull in the pink bollworm world.” And, everyone knows you don’t mess with an old range bull. If you don’t believe that, ask Wally about the time he called the governor of California a “thief” for “borrowing” $4 million of cotton grower money to fund a state budget shortfall. He got the money back — with interest owed — and then led a legislative effort to allow state boards funded with grower money to deposit funds in a private bank, safe from greedy bureaucratic hands. Now most state boards keep funds in private bank accounts. Along the way, the governor refused to re-appoint Wally to the local fair board. It didn’t faze the old range bull. He collected interest from the governor.

农业

2017-09/0614/en_head.json.gz/11985

Please enable JavaScript to access the full functionality of BusinessUSA. Skip to Content Home About Resources Business Needs Access Financing Explore Exporting Explore Government Contracting Learn About New Health Care Changes Browse Resources for Veterans Learn About Taxes and Credits Help with Hiring Employees Invest in the USA Seek Disaster Assistance Find Regulations Find Green Opportunities Understanding Intellectual Property Choosing a Retirement Solution Find More Tools Socially & Economically Disadvantaged American Indians and Alaska Natives Explore State and Local Resources Find International Trade Leads In Your Industry Events Training Translate Twitter LinkedIn email updates Skip to Content Business Needs Search mobile Business Centers Near You Business Events Near You Sign Up for Email Updates Contact Us hover to see wizard hover to see wizard Discover Events In Your Area American Indian and Native Alaskan show search bar ResourcesBusiness NeedsStart a Business Special GroupsWomen BusinessUSA Export Dashboard You are hereHome » Article » USDA Announces Availability of Funding to Develop Advanced Biofuels Projects USDA Announces Availability of Funding to Develop Advanced Biofuels Projects 0 0 0 0 Select which email service you want to send an email with WASHINGTON, Oct. 21, 2013 –Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the availability of $181 million to develop commercial-scale biorefineries or retrofit existing facilities with appropriate technology to develop advanced biofuels. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a time of significant budget uncertainty. Today's announcement is one part of the Department's efforts to strengthen the rural economy. "This financing will expand the number of commercial biorefineries in operation in the U.S. that are producing advanced biofuels from non-food sources," Vilsack said. "USDA's Biorefinery Assistance Program is yet another way USDA is helping to carry out the Obama Administration's 'all-of-the-above' energy strategy to develop every possible source of American-made energy. But the benefits go beyond reducing our dependence on foreign oil. These biorefineries are also creating lasting job opportunities in rural America and are boosting the rural economy as well." The Biorefinery Assistance Program - http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/BCP_Biorefinery.html was created through the 2008 Farm Bill and is administered by USDA Rural Development. It provides loan guarantees to viable commercial-scale facilities to develop new and emerging technologies for advanced biofuels. Eligible entities include Indian tribes, State or local governments, corporations, farmer co-ops, agricultural producer associations, higher education institutions, rural electric co-ops, public power entities or consortiums of any of the above. Sapphire Energy's "Green Crude Farm" in Columbus, N.M., is an example of how this program is supporting the development of advanced biofuels. In 2011, USDA provided Sapphire Energy a $54.5 million loan guarantee to build a refined algal oil commercial facility. In continuous operation since May 2012, the plant is producing renewable algal oil that can be further refined to replace petroleum-derived diesel and jet fuel. According to the company, more than 600 jobs were created throughout the first phase of construction at the facility, and 30 full-time employees currently operate the plant. The company expects to produce 100 barrels of refined algal oil per day by 2015, and to be at commercial-scale production by 2018. After receiving additional equity from private investors, Sapphire was able to repay the remaining balance on its USDA-backed loan earlier this year. In 2011, USDA issued a $12.8 million loan guarantee to Fremont Community Digester for construction of an anaerobic digester in Fremont, Mich. The digester, which began commercial operations late last year, is the largest commercial-scale anaerobic digester in the United States. It has the capacity to process more than 100,000 tons of food waste annually to produce biogas and electricity. Biogas from the digester runs generators that total 2.85 megawatts in capacity. The electricity produced is sold to a local utility and is providing power for about 1,500 local homes. Applications for biorefinery assistance are due by January 30, 2014. More information about how to apply is available in the October 2, 2013 Federal Register announcement - https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/10/02/2013-24081/notice-of... or by contacting your regional USDA Rural Development Energy Coordinator - http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/BCP_Energy_CoordinatorList.html. Since the start of the Obama Administration, the USDA Biorefinery Assistance Program has provided approximately $684 million in assistance to support biofuels projects in eight states. Secretary Vilsack noted that today's funding announcements are another reminder of the importance of USDA programs such as the Biorefinery Assistance Program for rural America. A comprehensive new Food, Farm and Jobs Bill would further expand the rural economy, Vilsack added, saying that's just one reason why Congress must get a Food, Farm and Jobs Bill done as soon as possible. President Obama's plan for rural America has brought about historic investment and resulted in stronger rural communities. Under the President's leadership, these investments in housing, community facilities, businesses and infrastructure have empowered rural America to continue leading the way – strengthening America's economy, small towns and rural communities. USDA's investments in rural communities support the rural way of life that stands as the backbone of our American values. President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack are committed to a smarter use of Federal resources to foster sustainable economic prosperity and ensure the government is a strong partner for businesses, entrepreneurs and working families in rural communities. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users). Business.USA.gov is an officialwebsite of the U.S. Government. Business.USA.gov is an official website of the U.S. Government.

农业

2017-09/0614/en_head.json.gz/12463

Missouri 2011 Growing Season Climate Summary A challenging growing season was experienced by farmers this year as floods, drought and extreme temperatures impacted the Show Me state. With the exception of May and September, all months from April through October witnessed above normal temperatures, and a wet spring transitioned to a hot, dry summer creating stress on crops and livestock. Statewide precipitation averaged above normal in April and May and below normal from June through October. The clash of air masses was frequent over Missouri during the spring of 2011 and resulted in large weekly temperature swings and unsettled weather. A very mild weather pattern dominated during the first two weeks April and was warmer than the latter half of the month. There were numerous precipitation events during the month including a week long historic rain event across southern Missouri that brought record rainfall and flooding to the region. Most counties across southern Missouri recorded their wettest April on record. Generally, more than a foot of rain fell southeast of a line extending from Newton to Sainte Genevieve counties. Some southeastern locations in Shannon, Carter, Butler and Cape Girardeau counties reported more than 20 inches of rain for the month. Overall, average April rainfall was 7.45 inches for the state, making it the 5th wettest April in the past 117 years. The cool, wet weather during the latter half of the month halted spring planting opportunities across the state May had below normal temperatures and above normal precipitation, but much of the month was dominated by highly contrasting air masses, leading to periods of much warmer than normal and much cooler than normal weather. Numerous rain events throughout the month led to above normal precipitation for most locations. Preliminary numbers indicate the statewide average total for the month was just over 6 inches, or 1- inch above normal. An unusually warm air mass established itself over Missouri during the first ten days of June with oppressive heat impacting the state and several high temperature records broken. Temperatures averaged 8-10 degrees above normal during the period and it was the hottest June 1-10 period since 1934. Most locations experienced 90 degree plus temperatures on a daily basis and some locations in the Bootheel witnessed several days with triple digit heat. A pattern change led to a more seasonable and below normal temperature regime for the remainder of June and was a welcome change for many. Overall, monthly temperatures averaged 1-3 degrees above normal across the northern half of Missouri whereas southern sections averaged 3-6 degrees above normal. Springfield, Joplin and West Plains had their 6th, 4th and 4th hottest June on record, respectively. Precipitation was highly variable during the month with a sharp gradient extending from northeastern through southwestern Missouri. Generally, above normal rain fell across the northeastern half of the state with below normal precipitation across the southwestern half. Amounts increased northeast of a St. Joseph to Cape Girardeau line, from 4.5 inches to more than 12 inches. Totals decreased southwest of this line, from 4.5 inches to less than 1-inch. Some of the highest June rainfall totals occurred in Scotland, Lewis and Clark counties where the communities of Memphis, Monticello and Kahoka reported 13.29, 15.47 and 17.88 inches, respectively. Some of the driest communities were in Christian and Greene counties. A couple observers living near Nixa and Springfield reported 0.53 inches and 0.61 inches, respectively. Flooding along the Missouri River was ongoing for much of June due to record water release occurring from upstream reservoirs in Montana and the Dakotas. These record releases translated to major flooding downstream to St. Joseph, MO and moderate flooding along the Missouri River from Kansas City to Jefferson City, MO. Thousands of acres of cropland were flooded in northwestern Missouri where overtopped levees and levy breeches worsened the situation. Atchison and Holt counties, in the northwest corner of the state, were experiencing numerous impacts with flooded residences, closed roads and inundated cropland. A ridge of high pressure over the southern Plains intensified and expanded northeastward in July, profoundly influencing the weather pattern across the Show-Me state. Hot and dry conditions spread across Missouri and had adverse impacts on people, animals and vegetation. Missouri witnessed its hottest July in more than 30 years. The average statewide temperature for the month was 83°F, slightly over 5 degrees above normal, and the hottest month since July 1980. It was also the 6th hottest July on record and will go down as the 8th hottest month of all time when final numbers are tallied. Hot temperatures and high humidity in July and early August combined to produce very uncomfortable and life threatening conditions. There were lengthy and continuous periods of various heat advisories and warnings impacting the state and, unfortunately, heat related fatalities were reported. Another feature of the prolonged heat wave was high minimum temperatures. The average July minimum temperature for most areas of Missouri was between 72-74°F, or five to six degrees above normal. Most areas of the state reported dry conditions in July and preliminary data indicated a statewide monthly average of 2.34 inches, or more than 1.5 inches below normal. The majority of precipitation events were scattered and highly localized, but there were a few instances of significant rainfall. Heaviest monthly precipitation was confined to northwestern, north central and east central sections, and the eastern Ozarks region. Several northwestern counties reported four to six inches of rain whereas three to four inches were common over north central Missouri and parts of the eastern Ozarks. Less than two inches were typical over northeastern, central, west central, southwestern and far southeastern sections. Some exceptionally dry pockets were found in parts of northeast, west central, southwest and southeast Missouri where less than 0.75 inches were reported for the month. The southwestern district was especially hard hit by the heat and lack of precipitation during July. According to the Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service, 84% of the corn and 91% of the soybean crop was in very poor condition by the end of the month. Complete crop failures were reported in southwest Missouri and burned up pastures were forcing livestock producers to feed hay in some areas. Above normal summertime temperatures persisted throughout much of August, wrapping up another hot summer for the Show Me State. Preliminary numbers indicate average June-August temperatures for the state were slightly under 79°F, and rank the summer of 2011 as the 7th hottest on record, 0.1°F warmer than the summer of 2010. The hottest temperatures for the month occurred during the first and last week of August with more seasonable temperatures occurring during the second and third weeks. Precipitation events were more numerous, and heavier, across parts of Missouri during August than the previous month, bringing some relief to the state. Preliminary numbers indicate a statewide average of nearly 3.7 inches, which is near the 30-year normal. Specifically, totals across the southwestern half of Missouri were near to above normal and averaged between 3-6 inches, whereas rainfall totals were below normal, less than 3-inches, across the northeastern half of the state. Heaviest monthly totals were confined to some south central counties where more than 8-inches were reported across parts of Dallas, Laclede, Phelps, Texas, Dent, Howell, Shannon and Oregon counties. Driest conditions were reported across the northeastern border counties where some locations reported less than 1-inch of rain. A significant weather pattern change in early September translated to cooler conditions for Missouri where monthly average temperatures ranged 2.5 to 3.5 degrees below normal for many locations. Some parts of the Ozarks and far northwestern Missouri had cooler departures running 3.5 to 4.5 degrees below normal for the month. A fairly active and progressive weather pattern dominated much of the month as several frontal boundaries swept through the state and brought periods of precipitation. Most rain events, however, were not widespread, nor heavy, and preliminary data indicated an average statewide total of nearly 2.90 inches, more than 1-inch below normal for the month. According to the Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service, the generally dry weather during September hastened fieldwork activity over much of the state and allowed producers to harvest nearly two thirds of the corn by the end of the month. Soybean harvest was going at a normal pace and nearly 10% was harvested by the end of the month. Nearly 50% of the pastures were in poor to very poor condition at the end of the September due to lingering effects of summer heat and drought that impacted much of state, especially across west central, southwestern and northeastern sections. There were numerous reports of farmers feeding hay as well as hauling water due to dry ponds, springs and creeks. Pasture deterioration was also noted across north central and northwestern sections due to unusually dry September weather. Generally, mild and dry conditions were the rule during October with temperatures averaging near normal across southern Missouri and one to two degrees above normal across northern and central sections. All locations reported below normal rainfall with some unusually dry conditions in northwestern and west central Missouri. Several counties in northwest and west central Missouri received less than 0.25 inches for the month and a couple precipitation observers in Atchison and Harrison counties reported no measurable rainfall for October. Preliminary data were indicating it was the driest October in nearly 50 years across northwestern sections and extreme west central Missouri.

农业

2017-09/0614/en_head.json.gz/12515

Classifieds Directory Kids East Flooding Fix Could Put Town In Hot Water Drainage basin on ag land lacked proper permits By Joanne Pilgrim | July 26, 2012 - 11:18am Work on a drainage basin being built by East Hampton Town was halted when Suffolk officials learned the work was being done on farmland over which the county owns development rights. David E. Rattray Excavation for a stormwater drainage basin being built by the town off Route 114 in East Hampton to alleviate severe flooding in a nearby neighborhood was halted this week when it was discovered that the property is agricultural land for which the county owns the development rights. The project lacks Suffolk County and State Department of Environmental Conservation permits and should have been reviewed by the county farmland committee, which discussed the situation at a meeting on Tuesday night. A “big concern,” according to Katherine Stark, the chief of staff for Suffolk Legislator Jay Schneiderman, who attended the meeting, was the disposition of the topsoil being dug up — prime, highly rated agricultural soils, Mr. Schneiderman said Tuesday. Besides permission from the farmland committee, Ms. Stark said, the town should have obtained a D.E.C. mining permit for excavation of the amount of soil that has been removed. In addition, before approving such a project, the committee, which includes a member from the county soil and water conservation district, would have examined the proposed placement of the sump in terms of potential erosion. The county could assess penalties of up to $5,000 a day, but, Mr. Schneiderman said, “I don’t think that’s going to occur in this case.” County officials could, however, require the town to replace the soils and restore the property to its original condition or ask the town to deed an equivalent property to the county, “because you have an area that the taxpayers paid to preserve as farmland that’s not going to be used as farmland,” the legislator said. No determination was made at the committee meeting Monday night. Among those who attended were John Jilnicki, the town attorney, Tom Talmage, the town engineer, and representatives of Sidney B. Bowne and Son, an engineering company that was paid $35,100 to design the project, prepare and review bids, and obtain permits. The project was spearheaded by Councilwoman Theresa Quigley. Keith Grimes, the contracter hired by the town for the project, has been digging the hole at the site, which has now been abandoned. According to a May resolution hiring Mr. Grimes, he was to be paid $293,000 for the work. That bid, the lowest of “at least five” from different companies, according to the town purchasing agent, included Mr. Grimes taking the topsoil, and was chosen over a $321,000 option that called for spreading the excavated soil at the property. Last September, Elizabeth Fonseca granted the town a drainage easement on the property. However, Ms. Stark said that Real Property Tax Service Agency records show the owner of record as the Richard Cornuelle 2010 Marital Trust. Nonetheless, the previous property owner, J. Kaplan, had sold the development rights to the county in 1985, precluding any future grants of easements. The county has ordered an examination into the chain of title to the underlying ownership of the property, Ms. Stark said. “The homeowners in Hansom Hills have been suffering for years with the massive flooding destroying their homes, flooding their streets, basements and pools,” Ms. Quigley said in an e-mail yesterday. “The farmers have been losing prime agriculture soil as it has washed across the highway with the surging waters, and all of us who drive along Route 114 have been impacted by the hazardous conditions caused by the waters flooding the road.” “The recharge basin has been contemplated since at least 2001, and after all these years, it is finally almost a possibility due to the generosity of the landowner who unquestioningly signed off on allowing the town to install a recharge basin,” she wrote. “The fact that the process has been delayed yet again is disappointing, but I hope only a delay and not a permanent obstacle to seeing this much needed and long overdue fix to a hazardous and damaging situation,” Ms. Quigley said. Randy Parsons, a former town councilman, said Tuesday that he had noticed the excavation as he went to and from his office at the Nature Conservancy headquarters close to the site. “We drive by it every day,” he said. “The construction started, and in the back of my mind I was kind of thinking about the county agricultural review board.” He also thought, he said, about provisions in the town code requiring excavation permits and barring the removal of prime agricultural soils from farmland. “I saw huge quantities of topsoil being trucked away,” Mr. Parsons said. “They kept digging deeper, taking more topsoil out,” Mr. Parsons said. He said that in the course of other business with a county contact, he asked about the final design of the sump. “And that was when they said, ‘What sump?’ “ he said. “I think it’s important that these programs are respected,” Mr. Parsons said of the development rights purchase program, through which the county and other municipal entities pay property owners to eliminate the potential to develop agricultural land, preserving it as farmland. “It’s public money. It’s important that the public investment and development rights restrictions are respected,” he said. Mr. Schneiderman said Tuesday that he supports the idea of a sump to provide a solution to the flooding in the area, which regularly fills the Hansom Hills subdivision across Route 114 and surrounding areas with deep water, something he said he remembers well from his days as town supervisor. Officials have been seeking a solution to the problem since then. The water runs across the farm fields stretching all the way from Long Lane, he said. “I don’t think it’s a bad solution,” he said of a recharge basin at the site in question. Both Ms. Quigley and Mr. Schneiderman said that the recharge basin, by stemming flooding, would help to prevent runoff and soil loss. “At the end of the day I don’t think anyone’s acting in bad faith,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “They’re trying to solve a really perplexing drainage problem.” “The county was made aware of this issue last week and we are in the process of reviewing the details. We are working with members of the farmland committee to investigate this issue thoroughly,” Sarah Lansdale, the county director of planning, said through Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone’s press office. The town has been asked to submit an application to the county farmland committee, which will then begin to address the issues raised by the project, Ms. Stark said. The subject will be on the agenda at the committee’s next meeting on Sept. 25. About the Author Joanne Pilgrim

农业

2017-09/0614/en_head.json.gz/12924

Follow us on: FFA students help with farm energy audits Issue Date: November 6, 2013 By Christine Souza Woodland High School student Nancy Martinez completes an on-farm energy audit for farm owner Blake Harlan. Harlan says having FFA members conduct the audits provides farmers with an opportunity to stop and look at their accounts. Photo/Christine SouzaYolo County farmer Blake Harlan talks to Woodland High School FFA member Nancy Martinez about opportunities to improve irrigation efficiency. Photo/Christine Souza With some assistance from high school students, agricultural customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. can learn how to save money and increase energy efficiency in a program developed through a partnership between the utility and Future Farmers of America. Students are trained in conducting energy assessments via the online "My Energy" tool on the PG&E website. "We have students who are comfortable using the technology and are able to show producers how to access the program, how to plug the variables in and create an energy plan they can use to decide whether or not to implement parts of it or all of it," said Jim Aschwanden, executive director of the California Agricultural Teachers' Association. "It's a neat program because it will actually tell you about the rebates that are available." Since June, for example, agricultural students at Woodland High School have been trained to use the PG&E energy tool. If farmers haven't done so already, FFA students can help them register for a "My Energy" login on the PG&E website by entering their agricultural account number, name and address. This allows farmers and students to look at account information in real time, and continue with the energy assessment. Nancy Martinez of Woodland High School FFA recently completed her first on-farm energy audit outside of the classroom during a visit to Blake Harlan's nearby farm. "The basis of this program is to help growers save money by conserving energy," Martinez said. "Basically, FFA students go out to local farmers and show what kinds of different changes they can make to their facilities to conserve energy. We are able to see energy conservation in action, a valuable real-world experience. It may sound like a long and difficult process, but it is actually very simple and straightforward." Harlan, a diversified grower who produces crops such as alfalfa, processing tomatoes and sunflowers, said he appreciates the opportunity to view details about the farm's energy usage, and to work with Martinez on the energy assessment. "The important part of this program is that it stimulates the exercise of reviewing your accounts," Harlan said. "It's a simple format, and having a fleet of students that are at least trained to go through the exercise helps you to get through it." He added that most farmers "are excited to help the FFA kids when we have the chance, so to have a bunch of kids that you can work with and promote their training and skills in a way that can help benefit you as well is worthwhile." During the online audits, the farmer and student select "agriculture" as the industry, to ensure that they are looking at the farm's agricultural account, not a residential account. Dean Kunesh of PG&E said an "Energy Checkup" feature on the website is intended to help farmers create an energy plan to reduce energy costs. "(The students) sit down at the computer with the farmer and the farmer will input their account number, and then they go through the steps that we've got outlined in the lesson plan," Kunesh said. A grower may be able to pre-answer a few questions, Harlan said, but he or she will need to be on-site to answer questions regarding facilities on the farm such as buildings and irrigation pumps. Patrick Mullen, PG&E regional director for agriculture and customer service, said the audit may offer ways to improve energy efficiency on the farm, such as energy-efficient lighting in barns or other areas, improved heating, cooling and ventilation systems, and improvements in irrigation pumps, variable-speed motors and pump tests. "The savings can be significant," Mullen said. "The programs change, so that is why it is helpful periodically to go in and do an assessment." Aschwanden said an energy audit of a dairy, for instance, could help determine the potential benefits of switching from one type of flourescent light to a more energy-efficient type. "This program will allow you to enter the number of lights that you are going to convert and it will tell you what the energy savings would be," he said. "It tells you what the new lights will cost and how many weeks or months it would take to recover that in terms of energy savings." PG&E provided examples from farmers who made pump improvements, irrigation system pressure reductions and improvements to lighting and refrigeration. The savings varied from almost $1,000 to $17,000 per year, the utility said, and in some cases PG&E issued rebates of between $8,000 and $12,500. PG&E and FFA have set a goal of completing 5,000 on-farm energy assessments by the end of the school year. "Completing these assessments is a win-win situation: The growers are able to save money, FFA members are able to build new relationships and gain experience that will help us now as well as in the future, and PG&E is able to help us conserve energy," Martinez said. "I have definitely enjoyed this experience and can't wait to be able to show others how easy it is to save both money and energy." Farmers can learn more by reaching out to their local FFA chapters or by visiting www.pge.com and logging into the "My Energy" portal. (Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at [email protected].)

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Asia Pacific|Indian Farmers Turn to New Crops as Climate Gets Drier Asia Pacific | Letter from India Indian Farmers Turn to New Crops as Climate Gets Drier By AKASH KAPURDEC. 16, 2010 ELVALAPAKKAM, INDIA — The monsoon has been vigorous this year, with heavy rains for days and even weeks at a time. The roads are in bad shape, potholed and filled with puddles. Low-lying areas of the countryside are waterlogged. Village reservoirs are dangerously full.The monsoon brings its share of hardships: flooding, leaking roofs and round after round of the flu. But it is also a beautiful time. Trees and forests come to life. Birds, butterflies and the occasional rabbit surface between downpours.One of my fondest childhood memories is of the rice fields that emerge after the monsoons. I remember hectare after hectare of emerald green stretching to the horizon.This year, I have been struck by an unmistakable sense that there are fewer rice fields. Along highways, agriculture has given way to real estate development. Even deeper in the countryside, the fields look different. There are fewer rice and other traditional crops like peanuts and sugar cane, and more casuarina, palm oil and other so-called cash crops. Continue reading the main story Recently, I have had several conversations with farmers in this area. They confirm a shift in farming patterns. Partly, this development is underpinned by a familiar tale of agricultural decline. Many traditional crops are labor or water intensive, drawing on two commodities in increasingly short supply. Farmers around Elvalapakkam can no longer afford to grow what their ancestors did. But the shift is also an indication of hope — however incipient — for agriculture in this part of South India. It is a sign that farmers are trying to adjust, coming up with new crops and strategies to accommodate what has in many respects been a painful decade.On recent rainy afternoon, I paid a visit to an 80-year-old farmer named V. Venkatavaradha Reddy. He lives in a high-ceilinged mansion with elegant arches and cool cement floors at the edge of more than 40 hectares, or 100 acres, of land. He has been farming that land since 1950.Sitting in a cane chair on his veranda, Mr. Reddy provided a brief history of agriculture in the area. He said that, when he started, farming was a tough business. By the late 1960s, with the advent of the Green Revolution, things started getting better. The best years were the 1970s and ’80s, when water was plentiful, labor was cheap and chemical fertilizers increased yields.Recent years have been harder. Chemicals have depleted the soil. Cheap pumps and bore wells have lowered the water table. New opportunities in local industries and the cities have increased incomes. This last development is good for people in the villages, but it has made it almost impossible to find affordable labor for the fields.“The whole agriculture sector is falling,” Mr. Reddy said. His three sons live in the cities, he said, and aren’t interested in working on the farm.None of this was new to me. I had heard similar stories from scores of farmers over the years. They are repeated across the nation. M.S. Swaminathan, often called the father of the Green Revolution in India, has written about “the crisis of Indian agriculture.”The Peterson Institute for International Economics, a research group based in Washington, estimates that climate change could lead to a decline of 30 percent in Indian agricultural output by the 2080s.But when Mr. Reddy started talking about changes on his farm, walked me around and showed me how different things had become, I heard something new: the possibility of a turnaround, a pathway that could possibly — just possibly — stem the rot in agriculture. Mr. Reddy is in remarkably good shape. He walks with the aid of a stick, but he is steady on his feet and unhesitant in the slippery mud. He showed me the new irrigation techniques he had implemented to conserve water. He pointed to the aluminum pipes that ran through his fields, the backbone of a sprinkler system. Elsewhere, he had installed a drip irrigation network.He told me, also, that he was increasingly turning to organic methods. He showed me a bed of organic fertilizer (mostly cow manure) 4 meters, or 13 feet, deep that he used in his coconut plantations. The resulting fruit, he said, was bigger and tasted better.He said that going organic was the only option remaining for farmers. He couldn’t imagine agriculture surviving if it continued to rely on the chemicals that had for so long poisoned the soil.Mr. Reddy talked a lot about the new crops he was growing. Like so many farmers, he had moved away from traditional crops. Instead, he found fruits and vegetables more economical. He said that over the past few years, his bananas and coconuts and mangoes had really sustained the farm.Mr. Reddy was particularly hopeful for a crop that had recently been imported into the area from Malaysia. He pointed to 10 hectares of short, stubby trunks that in a few years he said would yield pot after pot of palm oil.Some groups have expressed concern about the environmental effect of palm oil cultivation, particularly in Southeast Asia. But Mr. Reddy said that palm oil was healthy and friendly to the environment. He said that it was used for biofuels and that many farmers were turning to it. He was convinced that it was the future of farming in this area.A farmer walking with us, a relative of Mr. Reddy, agreed. He said that when he switched to palm oil, he was told by an agronomist that he would soon be able to afford a Mercedes-Benz. Like Mr. Reddy, he is waiting. In a few years, they both expect the oil to start flowing.On the way back to the house, with the sky grown a little darker, I asked Mr. Reddy whether he really thought his farm could be saved. “It’s still an experiment,” he said, of the palm oil in particular. “We’re still waiting to see.”Talking more generally, he said: “I have hope. I have to have hope. Without all these new techniques, agriculture would have died. I’m watching it, day by day.” Join an online conversation at www.akashkapur.com A version of this article appears in print on December 17, 2010, in The International Herald Tribune. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

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DuPont and Rosetta Green Sign Research Agreement to Identify Drought Tolerance Genes in Corn and Soybeans Dec. 16 2011 08:50 AM Collaboration Aims to Identify Additional Modes of Action for Drought Tolerance DuPont and Rosetta Green Ltd. have entered into a strategic research agreement to identify drought tolerance genes in corn and soybeans. Under the agreement, Rosetta Green will use proprietary technology and bioinformatics capabilities to identify microRNAs. DuPont, through its Pioneer Hi-Bred business, will test candidate genes in target crops. Pioneer will have an exclusive commercial license for genes identified through this collaboration which will improve drought tolerance in corn and soybeans for farmers. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. "Drought can lead to losses for corn growers of up to $13 billion annually," said John Bedbrook, vice president, DuPont Agricultural Biotechnology. "We are pleased to collaborate with Rosetta Green to identify new genes leads which can help farmers protect yield and feed a growing population, and build on our strong pipeline of leads for drought tolerance." Water is one of the most significant inputs for farmers. On average, 85 percent of corn acres experience some level of yield reduction due to drought stress during the growing season. Improved drought tolerance in corn and soybeans will enable growers across the world to increase productivity while responsibly managing water resources. "We are greatly honored by Pioneer's decisions to work with Rosetta Green," said Amir Avniel, Rosetta Green CEO. "Signing this agreement is a significant milestone for the company and a vote of confidence in its technology. We believe that microRNA genes have great potential in the agriculture industry and in crop improvement." MicroRNAs are small RNA molecules in corn, soybeans and other plants. They represent an additional mode of action to develop important trait solutions in corn and other crops. Rosetta Green Ltd (TASE:RSTG) has a database of microRNA genes which it uses to develop improved plant traits using innovative genes called microRNA. The company specializes in the identification and use of these unique genes that function as "main bio-switches" to control key processes in major crops such as corn, wheat, rice, soybean and more. Rosetta Green's current trait development portfolio includes improved abiotic stress tolerance, increased yield and improved nitrogen use efficiency. For additional information please visit Rosetta Green's website at www.rosettagreen.com. Pioneer Hi-Bred , a DuPont business headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, is the world's leading developer and supplier of advanced plant genetics, providing high-quality seeds to farmers in more than 90 countries. Pioneer provides agronomic support and services to help increase farmer productivity and profitability and strives to develop sustainable agricultural systems for people everywhere. Science with Service Delivering Success™. DuPont (NYSE: DD) has been bringing world-class science and engineering to the global marketplace in the form of innovative products, materials, and services since 1802. The company believes that by collaborating with customers, governments, NGOs, and thought leaders we can help find solutions to such global challenges as providing enough healthy food for people everywhere, decreasing dependence on fossil fuels, and protecting life and the environment. For additional information about DuPont and its commitment to inclusive innovation, please visit www.dupont.com. 12.16.2011 2012 Alltech Lecture Tour – The Path to a Profitable Future - to Visit 24 Cities across North America Next American Farmland Trust Announces Farm Bill Webinars Previous

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Promotions Home Free Stuff Newsletters & Texts Flyerboard Best of Seattle 2010: Gail Savina Best Fruit Savior By Angela Garbes Wed., Aug 4 2010 at 12:00AM Sitting over coffee and just-picked plums—soon to be supplemented with homemade pickled green beans, feta cheese, and bread—Gail Savina is remembering a call that recently came in to her organization, City Fruit."She said she had some fruit trees that she doesn't know how to care for. When I paid her a visit, what I saw was almost unbelievable." Savina pauses, throwing out her arms and leaving her mouth agape for a moment. "She's basically sitting on an orchard. All these fruit trees in her backyard, hidden on Beacon Hill, just above Rainier Avenue. It's just incredible."Thousands of fruit-bearing trees are scattered and clustered throughout Seattle, on private property and in public parks. Every summer, thousands of pounds of this fruit fall to the ground and rot, attracting pests and creating both a waste-management problem and a public-health hazard. Savina's aim is to teach people how to properly care for trees and harvest the fruit, then make sure that fruit is put to use by people who need it.For Savina, it's new but not unfamiliar territory. For several years, she led the Community Fruit Tree Harvest for antipoverty group Solid Ground. There she coordinated and oversaw the harvest of massive amounts of fruit (last year Solid Ground collected nearly 10 tons), which was donated to people with limited access to fresh produce. Savina, whose background is in horticulture, couldn't help but notice that for as much fruit was put to use, just as much went to waste because of worms, pests, and other preventable factors."I started to see a real need for stewardship of these trees, to educate people on how to take care of the fruit, to ensure future harvests." This was the beginning of City Fruit.Savina's position at Solid Ground was grant-funded, meaning that every year she was hired in the spring, then laid off in the fall. So in November 2008, after the harvest was over, she gathered a group of associates, including a dedicated fruit fan who calls himself Donny Appleseed, to create City Fruit.Savina's roster of experts ("Let's see...there's a Mason Bee guy, a planting person, an apple-maggot expert, plus a coddling-moth specialist, and someone who knows a lot of about apple varieties, to name a few") reflects the variety of City Fruit's programs. They offer classes on pruning (seasonal pruning and espalier, a labor-intensive method of getting fruit trees and shrubs to grow in a single plane), protection from pests, and canning and preserving. They also run an online mapping project of fruit trees throughout the city.City Fruit has established strong programs in Phinney Ridge and the South End, where fruit is delivered to local food banks and parents learn to dry fruit and donate it to their children's schools for healthier snacks. The next phase is to create a system that can be replicated easily in other neighborhoods. A grant which currently gives City Fruit authority to steward trees in Seattle city parks is also helping Savina's group develop a training curriculum for volunteers, so the army of fruit experts will grow.After talking to Savina, your own view of Seattle may change. Adjust your gaze, even slightly, and you begin to see the "urban orchard" Savina describes, fruit trees rising from the landscape: plums, apples, pears, cherries, figs, quince. City Fruit's work strengthens communities now, but in a town that was once home to many farms and orchards, it also paints a lovely, almost ghostly, portrait of Seattle's past. Savina sees Seattle as an “urban orchard.” cityfruit.org

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0 Tenth Navaisha Fair show report Tuesday, 18 September 2012 14:52 Image source: Naivasha Horticultural Fair.Mwangi Mumero reports from the 10th Navaisha Horticultural Fair in Kenya With exports currently valued at US$640 million, the Kenya horticultural sub-sector has continued to attract investors and service providers in the last couple of years. The sub-sector now employs about 4.4mn people in the country directly in production, processing and marketing, while another 3.5mn benefit indirectly from horticulture. It is a major contributor to the nation’s GDP, third only to tourism and tea on the list of biggest contributors to the economy. Horticulture is big business with many trade and business fairs catering for the sub-sector taking place across the East African region. The recent Naivasha Horticulture Fair attracted more the 250 exhibitors, 50 of which were multinationals in the flower, vegetable and fruit industries. Exhibitors included flower breeders, marketing firms, transportation and logistics companies and service providers. Most of the flowers exported to the European Union originate from the Naivasha region in the Rift Valley, which is 80 km from Nairobi and known for its saline lake which provides most of the irrigation water used by the flower farms. “The horticulture industry continues to contribute to the Kenya economy through the generation of income, creation of employment opportunities for rural people and foreign exchange earnings in addition to providing raw materials to the agro processing industry”, said Joram Kiarie, Kenya Commercial Bank director of mortgage business and one of the guests at the two-day event. Currently on its 10th year, the Naivasha Fair has been sponsored by the Kenya Commercial Bank for the past three years. “As a leading financier of agribusiness in the region, the KCB Group has invested Ksh12mn (US$140,000) in the fair over the period”, Kiarie said during the opening ceremony, which was also attended by Kenya’s Agriculture minister, Dr Sally Kosgei. According to Dr Kosgei, the Naivasha Horticultural Fair is a ‘one-stop shop’ that brings together all industry stakeholders to showcase their products and services and discuss how to move the sub-sector forward. “As the government, we have received complains from producers on the slow pace of VAT refund and we are working closely with the ministry of finance to streamline the payments,” said Kosgei regarding the government’s incentives to enable farmers to boost production. “We have also removed tax on farm inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides to increase access to farmers and also reduce production costs.” Kosgei added that the government has worked closely with large scale and small scale horticulture producers to smoothen their operations by removing obstacles. “The horticulture industry is in private hands and the only thing the government can do is to create an enabling business environment for the private sector to achieve their targets,” she said. Exhibitors interviewed by African Farming felt that the fair provided a good opportunity to interact with farmers, breeders and service providers. It is also provided a forum for new business contacts to be made and business relationships forged. “The fair has provided us with a platform to show case our irrigation kits and other farm technologies from the smallholder to large scale horticulture farmers,” said Yariv Kedar, the deputy managing director of Amiran Kenya Ltd. “We have been able to interact closely with the consumers of our products and services.” In the last decade, Amiran has pioneered the introduction of affordable irrigation technologies that have seen smallholder farmers initiate green house project for the production of vegetables such as onions, cabbages, tomatoes and capsicum. The company has rolled out an irrigation kit suitable for schools colleges, and even for small scale farmers. “A minimum land requirement is an eighth of an acre,” said Kedar. “At affordable prices, the schools can access a greenhouse, collapsible tank, drip lines, agro-chemicals, fertilisers and a spray pump. “We also offer protective gear and formal training for at least three persons in a school on irrigation techniques.” Depending on the size of greenhouse, prices vary. A 15 by eight metre greenhouse retails at Ksh177,000 ($1,770) while a bigger one of 24 by eight metres costs Ksh240,000 ($ 2,400). According to Kedar, the company offers training and extension services to buyers of their products for over two years. Information technology was also well represented the fair as companies showcased solutions for horticultural farmers. “With this mapping software, a farmer will be able to identify parts of land according to the yields obtained from that section,” said Khurram Mohamed, the precision sales engineer with Crop Nutrition Laboratories. “This will enable the farmer to evaluate how their piece of land yielded – where most grain was harvested and where the least produce was obtained.” He was showing farmers new software - known as Farmworks - that can map a piece of land on their yield production capability. Mounted on a combine harvester, the device collects data using GSM and then transmits it to a nearby laptop for interpretation which is displayed in the form of a shaded colour map. “With this information the farmer may decide to add more manure or fertiliser on the poor yielding areas, may change farm practices such as ploughing or may decide to introduce new crops to boost soil fertility”, said Mohammed. Another company Two Way Communications was showcasing new communication gadgets. “Communication within the flower farms mainly on operations and security are a must for any grower,” said Stephen Ndung’u, the technical sales officer with the firm as he explained to farmers on their latest products. “Over 99 per cent of the flower farms are users of our products.” Farmers attending the fair also had the opportunity to learn new farming technologies and skills. “We always come to this show to seek new ideas,” said David Kibyego, a smallholder farmer from Kericho County, which is located about 150 km from Naivasha. “As a small-scale farmer, it is important we keep up with the trend in the horticultural industry so that we are abreast with emerging issues in the sub-sector.” Like many farmers in his region, Kibyego grows cabbages, kales and tomatoes on his five acre piece of land that overlooks the Mau Escarpment. “I have acquired an irrigation kit and I plan to expand my horticultural enterprise in the coming years,” he said. “I have to learn to be better informed of new ideas.” Smallholder farmers have been credited with producing most of the vegetables and fruits consumed in the country over the past decade. Mwangi Mumero

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North Platte Bulletin - Former ag secretaries: Outlook is positive Full Site View Agriculture - Ag News Former ag secretaries: Outlook is positive by Benjamin Welch, Nebraska News Service - 9/29/2012 The University of Nebraska-Lincoln got a quadruple opinion when it hosted former U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture John Block, Dan Glickman, Mike Johanns and Clayton Yeutter Friday at the Lied Center. The secretaries kicked off the 2012-13 Heuermann Lecture Series with discussion on the Morrill Act, the 150th year old act that created public universities in the Midwest, and they weighed in on the agricultural outlook and support for the world’s growing population. “We’ve done a wonderful job with moving forward with research and education,” said Block, who served with Ronald Reagan from 1981-85. “We’ve managed to feed the United States and countries around the world.”That's not enough, though, Block said. He said the benefits of the Morrill Act’s legacy, which created land-grant universities in 1862, made education more affordable and emphasized disciplines in agriculture, home economics, mechanical arts and other then-practical professions.“But we’ve got to continue to do this,” Block said. “You don’t do it unless you continue to focus on research and looking ahead. I don’t think we’re paying enough attention to research today.”Despite the drought and climate change, the former secretaries observed that Nebraskans are still in a prosperous period. Farm income has never been higher. About a third of the state’s production is shipped to other nations and 30 percent of Nebraska’s GDP comes from agriculture. Locally, 25 percent of Nebraskans are involved in agriculture, considerably more than the national average of 15-18 percent.However, one resource faces scarcity that is essential to growing crops: water.“Water is the oil of the next century,” Glickman said, who served as secretary from 1995-2001. Block pointed out that genetic engineering has created crops requiring less water, and Nebraskan Johanns, the Secretary of Ag from 2005-07, said the state must take advantage of being on top of the Ogallala Reservoir.Other hot topics among the panelists included livestock, organic food, women, farm bills and ethanol.“There is no reason why we shouldn’t have a guest worker program,” said Yeutter, who grew up in Eustis and served as agriculture secretary from 1989-91.Block said immigrants, whether legal or not, were necessary to take the jobs Americans didn’t want to pick berries or milk cows. Johanns said while most Americans have no problem with legal immigration, reform must be created to allow all to pursue prosperity freely. Promise exists in the youth, though, the officials said. With agricultural technology at its height, years of affluence can continue with the right work ethic and motivation.“Don’t necessarily worry so much on whether you’re going to make multiple millions of dollars,” Johanns said. “Do it because you love it and because it’s your passion, and I promise the rest of it will take care of itself.”Another reviewBy Dan Moser, IANR NewsThe discussion's title, "The Land-Grant Mission of 2012: Transforming Agriculture for the 2050 World," is a nod to the land-grant system's challenges today: Helping to feed a world whose population is expected to increase from 7 billion to 9 billion by 2050. Nebraska native Jeff Raikes, CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and co-moderator of Friday's lecture, said some estimates are that agricultural outputs actually will need to increase by 70-100 percent to meet that 2050 population's needs because as people in the developing world become wealthier, they will seek out more protein-rich diets. "If you're going to feed the world … you're going to need science and you're going to need technology and you're going to need the best of land-grant universities," said Johanns, now a U.S. senator from Nebraska. "We've got to do everything better than we do it today," Yeutter said. Yeutter turned to Ronnie Green, Harlan vice chancellor of UNL's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the other moderator of the lecture, to call on UNL and other land-grant universities to be "bold" in their research, extension and teaching. The panelists cited several goals for land-grant universities in the next few decades:• Increase public-private partnerships, especially given federal budget limits that mean fewer government dollars for research. • Help farmers continue to adjust to climate change and its impact on production.• Continue to pursue biofuels options, notable cellulosic ethanol, that do not pit fuel vs. food as crop uses.• Help farmers in the developing world increase their productivity and efficiency.Johanns said American farmers are justifiably proud of their role in feeding the world, but meeting the needs of 2050 and beyond will require producers in Africa and elsewhere to get more efficient. American scientists, many of them in land-grant universities, can play a key role in training them to do so."Nothing will buy more good will for the United States of America," Johanns added. "They want our help. They want to feed themselves," Glickman agreed.Although farmers now comprise fewer than 2 percent of Americans -- compared to 60 percent when the Morrill Act was passed -- the ag sector actually is positioned to have greater political, social and economic influence than ever because of concerns about the expanding population's food needs, panelists agreed. In fact, Glickman said, if the movie "The Graduate" were made today, the one-word career advice to Benjamin Braddock would be "agriculture.""Over the long term agriculture and food is poised to be a very dominant industry in America," Glickman said.This year's punishing drought has increased the interest of people who normally don't think about agriculture, Block said."They don't know about farming, they don't care about farming, but they do care about having enough food," he said.The four former agriculture secretaries, all but one of whom -- Glickman -- served Republican presidents, generally agreed on the issues and challenges, but for a good-natured exchange between Block and Glickman over organic agriculture, which the former dismissed as largely insignificant, while Glickman noted that consumers nowadays do want food that's been treated with fewer chemicals."That doesn't mean they want to be vegetarian hippies from the 1960s," he joked.Johanns and Glickman agreed that today’s consumers do want more information about the food they eat, and they expect choices in the marketplace they didn’t expect in years past. This lecture will be archived later at heuermannlectures.unl.edu, as well as broadcast later on NET2 World, RFD-TV and RURAL TV.The Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Heuermann Lectures are made possible through a gift from B. Keith and Norma Heuermann of Phillips, long-time university supporters with a strong commitment to Nebraska's production agriculture, natural resources, rural areas and people. The North Platte Bulletin - Published 9/29/2012

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Aylward reiterates support to retain Regional Veterinary Lab in Kilkenny 3rd February 2017 Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Farming and Skills Bobby Aylward says the Regional Veterinary Lab in Kilkenny is an essential piece of infrastructure for farmers in the South – East and must remain open. Deputy Aylward made the comments after the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) pledged their support for retaining the veterinary lab. “Last year it was revealed that the Government was overseeing a review of the veterinary lab in Kilkenny. It has been suggested that this review could be used as a way for the Government to close the lab. I made it clear when the review was announced that the farmers in the South – East could not stand over the closure of this lab,” said Deputy Aylward. “The veterinary lab provides an invaluable service to farmer’s right across the south-east, and its importance has been enhanced in recent months given the additional threats that farmers face as a result of Brexit. The Government should be looking at ways to provide additional reassurance and support for farmers, but instead Fine Gael is overseeing a review which has made farmers anxious about the future of services in the south-east. “I’ve stated it before and I’ll state it again – the veterinary lab in Kilkenny must not be allowed to close. I have requested a special Dáil debate to be held on this issue so that I can ask the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to provide an update on the ongoing review. I will use this debate to highlight the importance of retaining the veterinary lab in Kilkenny. “I’m delighted to see the ICMSA come out and support the campaign to retain the lab. I’ve spoken to many ICMSA members in recent months and they have all stressed the importance of keeping Kilkenny’s veterinary lab in place. Without it farmers will be forced to travel to Dublin or Athlone to access a veterinary lab.” Filed Under: Latest News, Rural Ireland Tagged With: Bobby AylwardNews Archives

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Texas A&M Forest ServiceTexas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostics LaboratoryTexas A&M AgriLife Extension ServiceTexas A&M AgriLife ResearchTexas A&M College of Agrculture and Life Sciences Algae For FuelHome About AgriLife Research About General Atomics Texas AgriLife Research Bioenergy Program General Atomics BioFuels Program Evaluating algae co-products as potential sources of livestock feed Stock Media Algae: From Raceway to Runway Opportunities for Renewable Energy and Economic Development Biofuels and biopower will soon play a significant role in providing energy for the United States. Key components of a successful agriculture-based bioenergy industry are securing an economical and environmentally sustainable supply of biomass, creating value-added coproduct streams, and improving delivery logistics. With its high oil content, algae garners interest for production of diesel and jet fuel as well as other bioproducts, and it can be produced using underutilized land with brackish water. Algae is also biodegradable. In 2007, General Atomics and Texas AgriLife Research formed a strategic, collaborative alliance to research, develop, and commercialize biofuel production through farming microalgae in Texas and California. The U.S. Department of Defense awarded a multi-year grant to General Atomics and AgriLife Research for algae research and development. Soon after, Texas AgriLife Research, with General Atomics as a partner, was awarded a $4 million grant from the State of Texas Emerging Technology Fund to develop an algae test facility at the Texas AgriLife Research Pecos (Texas) Research Station. These two grants provided impetus that led to additional funding, from the Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Energy, for commercialization of algae production. Additional funding was awarded in large part as a result of research advancements at the Pecos facility and expands the project scope to include algal coproducts, such as feed additives for the livestock and mariculture industries. Through collaborations with the military and major universities, AgriLife Research and General Atomics are also expanding their efforts in cellulosic-derived biofuels and bio-oil production processes. And they are working to demonstrate the feasibility of large-scale biofuels production from wastewater treatment facilities, using a combination of algae and microorganisms, for applications throughout the world. With technical support from General Atomics, Texas AgriLife Research constructed and operates the Pecos Algae Research and Development Facility. At their headquarters in San Diego, General Atomics made major research, development, and commercialization commitments, building a world-class microalgae facility. Together, these two lead organizations have built a team of the most advanced industry, university, national laboratory, and government partners synergistically working on development of this technology. In Pecos, the goal of this phased research and development program is to develop and demonstrate algae growth and harvesting techniques and bio-oil extraction processes that can be commercially scaled and economically replicated in the Southwestern desert regions of the U.S. for industrial production of biofuels. High-Yielding, Cost-Effective, Sustainable Alternative Fuels Energy efficiency, new energy systems, conservation, and advanced conversion processes are all part of the equation for energy independence. Coastal production of microalgae for biofuels presents another significant opportunity. Projects at the AgriLife Research Mariculture Laboratory in Corpus Christi are designed to establish and optimize a cost-effective prototype system for high-density microalgae in open systems (raceways), using seawater and flue gas carbon dioxide captured from power-generating plants. In production, large-scale microalgae systems annexed to power-generating plants could effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions while producing a range of high-value products. In College Station and Galveston, Texas AgriLife researchers focus on determining characteristics of algae species to increase the oil content and on the economic analysis of microalgae and potential bioproducts. Through innovative, science-based programs, expertise, infrastructure, and partnerships, General Atomics and the Texas AgriLife Research Bioenergy Program are leading the way in developing alternative fuel solutions. Research Components Algae Coproducts for Animal Feed Propagation Laboratories Construction and Installation Microalgae Raceway Production At the Pecos Algae Research and Development Facility, research in bioenergy and bioproducts spans the full range of discovery: Developing high-tonnage biomass plants at the molecular level and more efficient processes in the manufacturing of biofuels Testing algae under various conditions for maximum growth and oil production Investigating harvesting methods to reduce operating costs Transportation for bioenergy production, including environmental aspects Using modeling to determine economic and sustainable production areas Tracking of all unit costs to determine cost per kilogram of biomass Commercial microalgae farms in West Texas would generate significant employment opportunities and dramatically enhance economic activity. Additionally, the economic viability of microalgae is enhanced by all aspects of production, including coproducts. Deriving value from post-extraction algal residues is also essential to the overall economic sustainability of algal fuel production. Learn more about Texas AgriLife Research Learn more about General Atomics Photos and Videos from the Pecos Algae Research and Development Facility Contact Information regarding ‘Raceway to Runway’ Download the program from the 6/4/10 event, 'Algae: From Raceway to Runway Texas Veteran's Portal

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And The Winner Of The World Food Prize Is ... The Man From Monsanto By Dan Charles A pioneer in genetically modified crops, Robert Fraley has spent his entire career at Monsanto. He's now the company's chief technology officer. Photographer: Brian Schmittgens / Courtesy of the World Food Prize Foundation Ever heard of the World Food Prize? It's sometimes called the "Nobel Prize for food and agriculture," but it has struggled to get people's attention. Prize winners tend to be agricultural insiders, and many are scientists. Last year's laureate, for instance, was Daniel Hillel, a pioneer of water-saving "micro-irrigation." This year, though, the World Food Prize is likely to get some publicity, some of it in the form of anger and protests. The prize will go to three scientists who played prominent roles in creating genetically engineered crops: Marc Van Montagu, Mary-Dell Chilton and Robert Fraley. Of the three, Fraley is by far the youngest, but also the most pivotal and divisive. He's spent his entire career at Monsanto. He was hired in 1981 as one of the company's very first molecular biologists, led the company's intense drive to sell genetically engineered crops in the 1990s, and is now the company's chief technology officer. In fact, if there's a single person who most personifies Monsanto's controversial role in American agriculture, it's probably Robb Fraley. (A bit of self-promotion: I told much of this story in a book about the origins of genetically engineered crops, Lords of the Harvest, published in 2001. During research for the book, I also interviewed Fraley, Van Montagu and Chilton.) The winners were announced Wednesday at the U.S. State Department, with Secretary of State John Kerry contributing his own remarks. It's hard to imagine a similar event taking place in Europe, where government authorities have refused to approve the planting or importation of some of these GMO crops. Today's event reunited former scientific rivals. Thirty years ago, at a scientific meeting in Miami Beach, each of the award winners separately presented the results of experiments showing their first success in inserting genes into plants. At the time, Van Montagu was at the University of Ghent, in Belgium, and Mary-Dell Chilton was at Washington University in St. Louis. Both were far more prominent in scientific circles than Fraley. They also later worked with biotech companies (Plant Genetic Systems and Syngenta, respectively), but neither had as much impact in the business world as Fraley. The World Food Prize Foundation is a private, nonprofit organization with its headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa. It was set up in 1986 at the suggestion of Norman Borlaug, who had won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the "green revolution" that increased grain harvests worldwide. Major funding for the prize, which is worth $250,000, was provided by John Ruan, a prominent Des Moines businessman. In its early years, the award was sponsored by General Foods. The prize has been criticized in the past for close relationships with agribusiness companies. Last year, activist groups opposed to genetically modified food staged an "Occupy World Food Prize" protest during the formal awarding of the prize in Des Moines.Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. TweetShareGoogle+Email © 2017 Peoria Public Radio

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Sage (Salvia officinalis) is an herb which has been valued for centuries for its fresh scent, the peppery depth of flavor it adds to foods and for its special constituents which help to keep skin healthy and beautiful. Sage grows as a small perennial shrub, usually no more than 24 inches tall;the oblong leaves have a slightly rough texture and hair-like growths. It is a member of the mint family and is related to rosemary. The plant is believed to have originated in the Mediterranean region, but spread to northern Europe during Medieval times. It is now, of course, a treasured garden herb grown throughout the world. Salvia officinalis, usually called common sage or kitchen sage, should not be confused with Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia, which has a similar scent), sagebrush (Artemisia tridentate, native to the plains region of North America) or Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa).Sage has been used as both an herb for food flavoring and as a source of healing ingredients for more than 2,000 years. The earliest records of its use show that the Egyptians prepared a tea-like beverage from its dried leaves to increase fertility. The Romans apparently introduced the plant into Europe, where it quickly found favor as both as a culinary ingredient and as a medicinal plant. The scientific name for the genus, Salvia, is taken from the Latin word meaning "healthy" and is the root of the modern English word "salve," reflecting the curative value associated with the plant. Throughout the Medieval period in Europe, sage was credited with the power to heal almost every ailment. It was even an ingredient, along with thyme, rosemary and lavender, in "vinegar of the four thieves," a concoction believed to provide protection against infection by bubonic plague. It was considered such a valuable herb that it was perhaps the only spice" that was traded to the Far East;during the 16th century

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Dairy Today Expo Extra By: Wyatt Bechtel, MILK Dairy Today's Wyatt Bechtel brings you the latest from the World Dairy Expo. DFA’s Rick Smith Responds to Critics By Catherine Merlo For several weeks, critics have been calling for Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) to do more to help its 18,000 producer-members through 2009’s dairy crisis. An e-mail campaign is being waged questioning DFA’s “limited efforts” in helping producers survive this year’s financial disaster. Rick Smith, DFA’s president and CEO, is all too aware of 2009’s toll on dairy producers – and the target the nation’s largest dairy marketing cooperative has become. But the industry’s problems are beyond the ability of any one organization to fix, Smith told me yesterday by telephone. “There’s tremendous frustration, anger and fear out there among the producer population,” says Smith. “Dairy farmers are getting hammered, and they’re shell-shocked. It’s been extremely gut-wrenching because there’s nothing they could have done to prepare for the economics they’re faced with.” It’s natural in this environment for criticisms to be expressed about major players in the industry, “whether they’re valid or not,” Smith adds, his voice growing hoarse during the 30-minute conversation. “Almost anything we do, people will criticize,” he says. “We’re not going to get unanimity in the dairy industry. But we’re doing what we’re supposed to do.” Reacting to the Crisis The answer to the current down cycle isn’t popular or easy, he says. “We need the marketplace – supply and demand -- to be realigned,” says Smith. From 2005-2009, the industry saw five years of production growth. “What absorbed that run-up in production was the unprecedented growth in exports,” he says. But the “worldwide economic tsunami” coupled with China’s melamine scandal, hit hard in the fall of 2008. “We lost billions of pounds of exports overnight,” he says. “No one was prepared for the end of 2008.” Many in the industry, including DFA, could see what was to follow. Beginning in January, the co-op warned producers and bankers about the storm clouds that were coming. As 2009 unfolded, DFA took several steps to help producers with the crisis, Smith says. Those ranged from setting up a member hotline to handle stress-related calls to issuing a special $9.5 million cash payment in July and early 2008 patronage checks in August. DFA also worked to encourage the two herd retirements that the Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) held this year. DFA also urged USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to re-implement the Dairy Export Incentive Program (DEIP) for 2009-2010. The co-op has continued to support the $350 million appropriations sought by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Is DFA Doing Enough? Even so, critics say those haven’t been enough. If the sharp drop in exports is behind the downturn, critics ask, why hasn’t DFA worked to put tariffs on the milk protein concentrates (MPCs) or casein products that are entering the U.S.? “We’ve been supporting tariffs on MPCs for for five to seven years," Smith says. “This is not a new issue. “ The major obstacle to import tariffs is “people on the other side,” Smith says, those U.S. companies that use the imports in their own products. They are pushing for freer trade, something the dairy industry should also support because it represents opportunity in the world market. How can the U.S. oppose free trade when it seeks such a large role in global exports? Also from the critics: Is DFA more interested in protecting its profits – and those of Dean Foods – than those of its producer-members? “We supply Dean Foods less than half of their milk,” Smith says. “Other major dairy marketing cooperatives are also involved in supplying and pricing milk to Dean Foods. If there’s an over-supply of milk, it’s hard to get more for your product. “ DFA is price-competitive, he adds. “We want to have a constructive relationship with Dean Foods, but I work for dairy farmers, even if they feel we’re not working for them.” DFA’s Next Steps Smith would not venture an economic outlook, saying the industry had seen two false starts already. In part, it’s hard to forecast since no one is sure about the inventory of dairy products that exist in private hands and whether it’s large enough to impede a recovery. “I still think we’re just about there for prices to start moving,” he says. Prices will eventually recover, Smith says, but it’s important to recognize that the status quo doesn’t work. “Farmers and co-ops need the tools and a system that doesn’t create this harm, that can manage price volatility.” DFA is working with the National Milk Producers Federation, which recently announced a four-pronged proposal to change the milk pricing system. The co-op is also continuing its support of the CWT program. And DFA is talking to the Holstein Association USA about its Dairy Price Stabilization Program. While Smith wouldn’t comment on whether he supports the supply management program, he says, “I commend the Holstein Association for the quality level of their discussion.” In the meantime, one displeased DFA member tells me he will continue demanding more from the co-op. He will be writing more letters and taking other steps to get DFA to step up with more solutions. “That people have lost billions [of dollars in this downturn] is unforgivable,” he says. The story will continue to unfold, but until then, there’s one area where Smith and his detractors may agree. “It’s going to take more than one good price cycle to compensate for this down cycle,” Smith says. “Balance sheets – and psyches – have been seriously harmed. We’ll be dealing with the consequences of this downturn for a number of years.” Yes, Rick Smith is a nice guy, but that doesn't make a good CEO, does it? DFA and other co-ops have lost their grassroots. Some of the board members have been board members for years and years. There should be a change every 5 or 6 years, not stay on for life. How do they even get elected? They must be hand picked by management. Why would the farmer board members vote for some of the things they do that actually hurt farmers? Tells me they have become brainwashed. After so many years listening to management, must have worn off on them. Co-ops need to have a complete overhaul. Many co-op board members are also put on other dairy committees such as NMPF and CWT and probably the new Dairy task force. Must be whoever forms these committees thinks farmers are too dumb to be of any help or too smart that they would rock the boat. they truck milk back and forth across market orders so they can pay more where they have to compete for milk and cost producers money where milk is short and there is little competition to secure producer milk. Anonymous I have heard these kind of comments for 25 years. Milk was always been up and down. The good mangers we survie and prosper.Myself,I am very thankful for Rick Smith.Very smart,likeable,hounest,and good speaker.Waco,Texas

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Soil, Weedkillers And GMOs: When Numbers Don't Tell The Whole Story By Daniel Charles Farm statistics: usually illuminating ... occasionally misleading. Food and Water Watch Herbicide use on corn, soybeans and cotton — break it down per acre and it's not so dramatic. NPR using USDA data Herbicide use per acre on wheat has been going up a lot in recent years. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture/NRCS Originally published on January 27, 2014 1:12 pm I love numbers. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but I think a good bar graph can be worth a thousand pictures. But three times in the past few days, I've come across statistics in reputable-looking publications that made me stop and say, "Huh?" I did some investigating so you don't have to. And indeed, the numbers don't quite tell the story that they purport to tell. So here goes: My skeptical inquiry into statistics on herbicide use, soil erosion, and the production of fruits and nuts. First, weedkillers (and GMOs). I was struck by this graph, which appeared in a report issued by Food and Water Watch, an environmentalist group. The report was published a while ago, but Tom Philpott reused it recently in a post for the website of Mother Jones magazine. The point of the chart is to show how increases in herbicide use on soybeans, corn, and cotton have gone hand-in-hand with the rise of genetically modified, herbicide-tolerant, versions of those crops. That link seems logical, but still, farmers have been planting more corn and soybeans in recent years. How much of this soaring curve is simply because farmers have more acres to cover? I dived into the USDA numbers, and discovered, first of all, that they're fragmentary. In recent years, the USDA didn't collect such numbers for all three crops in all years. The curve, in this case, is based on just two data points. No matter. I took the numbers that were available and divided them by the number of acres planted. (I'm using a column chart to make clear for which years we have data.) Suddenly, the trend doesn't seem quite so dramatic. And how do we know if herbicide-tolerant GMOs are driving this increase? What if it's something else entirely? For comparison, I decided to look at herbicide use in wheat, since no GMO wheat is being planted. Here's a graph of herbicide use in wheat, per acre, over the same period of time. Whoa. No GMOs here, and herbicide use went up at a faster rate. (In absolute amounts, farmers still use much less herbicide on wheat than on soybeans or corn.) What could be driving this increase, if not herbicide-tolerant GMOs? I called a few wheat experts in Kansas and Oregon, who mentioned some possibilities. First, farmers are reducing their use of tillage to control weeds, in part to conserve their soil. Many are relying more on chemical weedkillers instead. Second, with grain prices high, farmers are more inclined to spend more money on anything that will boost yields. Both of these factors are probably influencing herbicide use in corn and soybeans, too. They may be more important than the popularity of GMOs. One thing, though, is perfectly clear. The rise of glyphosate-tolerant GMOs did persuade farmers to use much more of that particular chemical. Some argue that a new generation of GMOs that are tolerant to other weedkillers will drive further increases in herbicide use. Maybe they will. I'll wait for the numbers. Next up, soil erosion. Here are two maps that caught my attention. They're published in a report called the National Resources Inventory, released last week by the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. (I should also tell you that the NRCS is one of my very favorite federal agencies; please don't hold this post against it.) The dramatic shrinkage of those red and orange blotches along America's major rivers is terrific news. It shows that less topsoil is washing away today, compared with 1982. Intrigued by this apparent good-news story, I called Craig Cox, in the Iowa office of the Environmental Working Group. Cox already knew about this map. He wasn't happy about it. In his view, it obscures more than it reveals. According to Cox, the good news is old news. Practically all of the dramatic progress in fighting soil erosion occurred 15 years ago, between 1982 and 1997. At that time, "we were on a really solid pathway to finally getting on top of this ancient enemy," he says. Since 1997, however, progress has stalled, so the map paints an overly cheerful picture. (In fairness to NRCS, there is another, less prominent, graph in the report that does show this stagnation in anti-erosion efforts.) In addition, there's a basic problem with these data, Cox says: "They only capture one kind of erosion," called sheet and rill erosion. This is the erosion that happens evenly across a field, and can be predicted from the amount of rain, the field's slope, its soil type and whether it is bare or covered by grass. The NRCS data are based on such predictions, and the estimated improvements since 1982 happened mainly because farmers are tilling less, and protecting more of their land with vegetation. By contrast, no models can predict when something more catastrophic will occur; when small rivulets of water combine into larger, fast-moving streams that cut deep ditches, or gullies, into a field. According to Cox, those gullies actually carry off more soil than the predictable kinds of erosion, and they were especially bad during the storms that hit the Midwest last spring and summer. So my straightforward good-news story about soil erosion evaporated. Finally, there was a second surprising statistic buried deep inside that NRCS report, and I noticed it only because of a press release that the USDA put out. According to that release, the NRCS's National Resources Inventory detected "a boom in land dedicated to growing fruits, nuts and flowers, increasing from 124,800 acres in 2007 to 273,800 in 2010." Wow! I looked at the numbers again. In fact, the boom was only in a category of production called "cultivated" fruit and nut production. Turns out, that's a tiny category, barely worth counting. It apparently refers to orchards in which there's also some tillage going on to grow a second crop. "Uncultivated" fruit, nut, and flower production, by contrast, went from 4.7 million acres in 2007 to 4.4 million acres in 2010. Sorry. No boom.Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. TweetShareGoogle+EmailView the discussion thread. © 2017 90.3 KAZU

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MSU report shows agriculture contributed $91.4 billion to Michigan economy By Lindsey Smith Apr 11, 2012 TweetShareGoogle+Email Apples from an orchard in Ottawa County. dailyinvention / Creative Commons A new Michigan State University study shows Michigan’s agriculture industry has grown dramatically throughout the recession. Agriculture contributed a little more than $91.4 billion to Michigan’s economy in 2010. The economic impact of farming, food processing and the supply chain is twice as much as it was in 2004. “(Agriculture’s) critical to what’s happening in the state. And the story about our growth I think is significant versus other sectors of the state’s economy that have clearly been in decline,” said Chris Peterson, director of the MSU Product Center. The center helps agriculture businesses get new products to market. Peterson says growing demand for food in big countries like China and India are a major factor in agriculture’s growth in Michigan. He says farmers and processors have also become more productive. The latest report shows 618,000 jobs come directly from Michigan’s food and agriculture business sector. Tags: Michigan agricultureagricultureMichigan State UniversityTweetShareGoogle+Email Related Content Michigan apple growers expecting a great crop this year By Lindsey Smith Sep 6, 2011 dailyinvention / creative commons Not only will there be way more Michigan apples this year, they’ll probably be bigger and better looking too. According to estimates from the United States Department of Agriculture, Michigan apple growers are likely to produce 26.1 million bushels this season. The 5 year average is 19.5 million bushels. Only Washington and New York state grow more. Denise Donohue is the Executive Director of the Michigan Apple Committee. “This is the 5th year on the rollercoaster for Michigan. It’s been an up and down thing for the last three years in particular.” Michigan asparagus farmers need workers to harvest early crop Apr 10, 2012 Lake Express / Creative Commons Michigan’s asparagus season has started early because of the warmer than usual weather this spring. But farmers are worried they don’t have enough workers to harvest the crop. “Being a former migrant worker I can tell you that in the past Michigan has had a wealth of workers coming to Michigan. It was destination state,” Belen Ledezma said. She’s the Director of Migrant, Immigrant and Seasonal Worker Services for the Michigan’s Workforce Development Agency. Ledezma says the huge crop diversity in Michigan means migrant workers have a variety of jobs to choose from throughout the year. But this year farmers are struggling to find enough workers to harvest. “I think we’re starting to recognize that the same labor pool that we’re used to is no longer coming to Michigan,” Ledezma said. Ledezma says the state is trying to help farmers recruit local workers to harvest asparagus. Her agency will host a job fair in southwest Michigan on Thursday in hopes of filling more than 220 immediate openings on asparagus farms. Hard freeze hurts Michigan cherry crop Apr 10, 2012 Photo courtesy of Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station by Bob Allen for The Environment Report A hard freeze has wiped out a big portion of the cherry crop in Northwest Michigan this spring. The area produces more than half the state’s cherries that end up in desserts, juice and as dried fruit. An historic early warm-up in March left fruit trees vulnerable to frost once the weather turned cooler again. Temperatures broke records for the month of March across the Great Lakes region. Climate researchers say there’s never been anything like it going back more than a hundred years. “We’re seeing history made before our eyes at least in terms of climatology.” Jeff Andresen is the state’s climatologist and professor of geography at Michigan State. “And in some ways if we look at where our vegetation is and how advanced it is, it’s probably a month ahead of where it typically is.” Andresen is careful to point out that this year’s early warm-up is an extreme weather event. He says it far outpaces the previous warmest March on record in 1945. He can’t say it’s a direct result of climate change. But it fits the predicted long term pattern of change that includes extreme fluctuations. Agriculture drives the Midwest economy – and farming is just the start of it Mar 21, 2012 Lindsey Smith / Michigan Radio This month, we’re looking into some of the hidden assets of the Midwest – the parts of our economy that don’t often get noticed when we talk about our strengths (the first part of the series is here). Agriculture is one of the biggest drivers of local economies in the Midwest – it accounts for billions of dollars worth of exports and thousands of jobs. There’s been a lot of concern about whether enough young people are going into farming these days. But the ag industry goes well beyond being just farming – and plenty of young people are interested in that. At Navy Pier, a special meeting of the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences’s FFA chapter is being called to order. Ringed around the room, one by one, chapter officers check in during the traditional opening ceremony. It ends when President and Senior Jennifer Nelson asks her fellow FFA members: “Why are we here?” The students stand and chant in unison: “To practice brotherhood, honor agriculture opportunities and responsibilities, and develop those qualities of leadership that an FFA member should possess.” Agriculture industry is growing, but can't find white collar workers By Sarah Alvarez Oct 11, 2011 United States National Archives The Midwest’s persistently high unemployment rate isn’t expected to fall anytime soon. But as Changing Gears' Kate Davidson reported, temporary employment agencies across the Midwest can’t seem to find enough people to fill all the open factory jobs they have waiting. These agencies are busier than they’ve been in years, because manufacturing has more open jobs than candidates willing or able to fill them. Now, another industry finds itself in a similar position: agriculture. It's a big business all across the Midwest. In Michigan, agriculture is said to be the state’s second largest industry and is still growing. But, Jim Byrum of the Michigan Agri-Business Association says agriculture producers can’t find enough people to fill jobs now, and he’s even more worried about the future. “The industry demand is pretty solid, and it’s an increasingly severe problem,” Bryum says. A large group within the agriculture industry -- white collar workers at agri-business companies -- is getting ready to retire soon. His concern is that a new generation of workers is not ready to replace those workers getting ready to leave. © 2017 Michigan Radio

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Oregon slows the loss of farmland A study shows Oregon is still losing farmland to development, but the pace slowed dramatically as land-use planning took hold. By Eric MortensonCapital Press Oregon continues to lose farmland to development and other conversions, but the pace has slowed dramatically since statewide land-use planning kicked in, a state Department of Agriculture specialist says.Data from aerial surveys done every three years by the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service show Oregon has lost 700,000 acres of agricultural land since 1982, or about 4.4 percent of the state total, said Jim Johnson, land-use specialist with the Oregon Department of Agriculture.California has lost 2.6 million acres during that time, Johnson said, and Washington has lost 552,000 acres. Idaho figures were not immediately available. For the study, agricultural land is defined as land used for crops, pasture, rangeland or as conservation reserves.Johnson said the impact of Oregon’s statewide land-use planning system is evident in the data. The system is intended to prevent urban areas from sprawling onto prime farmland, primarily through requiring cities to adopt comprehensive land-use plans and establish urban growth boundaries. While cities and counties may expand growth boundaries, the process is strictly defined, slow, contentious and subject to legal challenge.The system has persistent critics, largely because it eliminates or restricts development options for many rural property owners, but there is no doubt it’s done what was intended. Travel outside any Oregon urban area and there is a sharply defined point where development ends and farm or forest land begins.The loss or conversion of land for crops — usually the most valuable, flattest and easiest to develop — slowed as cities adopted comprehensive land-use plans in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Johnson said. Almost 400,000 acres of crop land was converted from 1982-87. About 60,000 acres of crop land was lost from 2007-10.“You can tell when land-use laws kicked in, you can really tell,” he said.Johnson said development pressure will continue in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, from Portland to Eugene, where most of the state’s people live and also home to extensive, valuable and diverse farming operations. As population increases and cities expand growth boundaries, “We’re going to lose a lot in the Willamette Valley,” he said.Other rapidly growing areas, such as Hermiston in eastern Oregon, will face the same problems.“Sometimes those cities forget why they exist in the first place — agriculture,” Johnson said.Agricultural land also will be lost to “non-farm development” such as energy facility sitings, parks and recreation areas and gravel mining, Johnson said. The cumulative impact of such land conversion deserves attention, he said.“It’s not just the footprint of the development, but the shadow cast by development” that has an impact on farming, Johnson said.

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Justices skeptical of farmer who planted patented seeds CaptionVernon Hugh Bowman, a 75-year-old Indiana soybean farmer, accompanied by his attorney Mark Walters, speaks with reporters outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, after justices heard oral arguments between Bowman and high-tech agriculture company Monsanto Co. that produces genetically engineered and patented seeds. The case considers whether Bowman violated Monsanto’s patents when he planted an unmarked mix of soybeans that he bought from a grain elevator and that is often used for feed. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)By David G. Savage, Tribune Washington Bureau (MCT)WASHINGTON — An Indiana farmer who clashed with Monsanto Co. over his replanting of its patented soybean seeds ran into steady skeptical questions Tuesday from the Supreme Court. The justices strongly suggested that they would rule for Monsanto and decide that the company’s patent protection for its genetically modified seeds covers not just the first planting, but also seeds that are generated later.“Why in the world” would any company invest millions of dollars in creating a new seed if a farmer could buy one and freely reproduce it, asked Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.Mark Walters, a lawyer representing Indiana farmer Hugh Bowman, argued that a patent holder “exhausts” his rights after selling the product.But the justices said that made no sense for products that are easily copied, or in the case of seeds, copy themselves.Justice Antonin Scalia said the farmer was free to use the seeds by planting a crop. But he can’t “grow additional seeds. It’s the other seeds we are talking about,” he said.Justice Sonia Sotomayor agreed. The patent law “doesn’t permit you to make another item. You can use the seed. But you can’t use its progeny,” she said.The court’s decision to hear the case of Bowman v. Monsanto set off alarms in the biotechnology industry and among software makers. Those companies rely on strict enforcement of patent and copyright laws to protect their innovative products from being copied by others.Bowman, a 75-year-old bachelor farmer, said he buys Monsanto’s popular and costly soybean seeds because they are engineered to withstand the spraying of herbicides to kill weeds. But for his second crop of the season, he tries to save money by buying soybeans from a local grain elevator. These seeds include a large percentage of Monsanto’s patented seeds, and the company sued him for violating its patent rights.Lower courts ruled for Monsanto, but the Supreme Court agreed to hear Bowman’s claim that the seed maker had exhausted its patent rights when it sold its seeds.An Obama administration lawyer joined sides with Monsanto in urging the court to reject Bowman’s claim.“The exhaustion doctrine has nothing to do with this case,” Melissa Sherry, an assistant solicitor general, told the justices. Otherwise, a company’s 20-year patent protection would expire after “one and only one sale,” she said.Washington attorney Seth Waxman, representing Monsanto, said the company had spent 13 years and hundreds of millions of dollars developing the herbicide-resistant seed at issue in the case. If Bowman’s claim were upheld, the value of Monsanto’s patented product would be gone “the very first time it sold a seed,” he said. Comments

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Ramaz Maghlaki, Georgia / Farming A loan of $3,200 helped to build a greenhouse. Ramaz's story Ramaz is a 65-year-old married man. He lives in a small village of Tskaltubo district with his wife, son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters. His wife is a teacher at a local school and gets 300 GEL per month. Ramaz is involved in agricultural activities. In particular, he has a cow and two calves, whose milk is used in making cheese products to sell. Ramaz decided to build a greenhouse and requested a loan. The Start Up program, which is a joint initiative with Kiva and Credo, enables him to get a loan of $3200. With the received credit he will purchase building materials and will build a greenhouse, where he will sow cucumbers and tomatoes to sell. The Start Up program will be a great support for the family. This loan is part of Credo's startup loan program targeting particularly vulnerable clients who live at the subsistence level and have been unable to obtain credit due to lack of income from an existing business. This program offers them a longer repayment term and an annual interest rate that is 5% lower than the standard interest rate. By funding this loan, you are supporting a program that gives borrowers a second chance to start and grow small businesses. This has the potential to alleviate the effects of poverty, significantly improving borrowers' incomes and their families' quality of life. Learn more about Credo's startup loan program on the Kiva Blog. | #Biz Durable Asset | #Elderly | #Supporting Family | #Vegan

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Todd Staples: The TT Interview The Texas commissioner of agriculture on the "catastrophic" devastation he's seen from the worst one-year drought in recorded Texas history, what the feds and state are doing and what needs to happen to cope with a potential multiyear drought. by Kate GalbraithAug. 31, 2011 Texas Commissioner of Agriculture, Todd Staples - August 29, 2011. Todd Staples has seen easier days. Now in his second term as Texas agriculture commissioner, Staples is coping with a full-blown crisis as the worst one-year drought in the state's history drags on, destroying crops and forcing ranchers to sell their livestock, unless they can afford to import hay from states as far away as South Dakota. Staples holds an agricultural economics degree from Texas A&M University and has long been involved with Future Farmers of America. He got his start in politics at age 25 when he ran for city council in the East Texas town of Palestine, where he was born and raised. Later he served in both the Texas House and the Senate before being elected agriculture commissioner for the first time in 2006 (he was re-elected last year). Staples spoke to the Tribune about the devastation he's seeing around Texas. The state and the feds are trying to help, but fundamentally, Staples says, "When it comes to short-term for agriculture, there are not many options." Except rain. This interview was edited and slightly condensed for clarity. TT: Where have you traveled recently within the state, and what are you seeing in terms of the drought? Staples: Well, I had two unique experiences last week. I flew into both San Angelo and the Rio Grande Valley. And when I flew into San Angelo and you look out the window it looks like wintertime — solid brown except for green treetops. And that's pretty indicative of the entire state. But the other extreme was the Rio Grande Valley and McAllen and Mercedes and Brownsville and South Padre Island for the Texas produce convention. And there's actually green grass and cows grazing that aren't just struggling for every blade of grass. And so it was refreshing to see that at least one small area of Texas for at least another week or two has some green grass to be able to survive. But it is truly catastrophic what I've seen across Texas. TT: $5.2 billion of losses — and counting. Staples: And counting. And that is a very conservative number because it really only covers the livestock losses of a little in excess of $2 billion, cotton of about $1.8 billion, lost hay of around $750 [million], and then I think corn and maybe some grain sorghum. It doesn't include produce and vegetables. It doesn't include citrus and other row crops. So that's only a snapshot. And with each passing day, it gets worse. And I was at the Dallas farmers market, I think it was their 75th anniversary, earlier this year, and I was talking to some produce growers in different regions. And the intense heat is what has made this year and this drought cycle — I think it's what led Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon [the state climatologist] to conclude that this is the worst single-year drought in history, with the lack of moisture coupled with the intense, intense, just depredating heat that we're facing. TT: One thing I've been wondering is what percent of farmers — farmers and ranchers — have insurance? Staples: Well, that's the good news. That many of them will be able to survive potentially through this on the row crop side of things because there is a well-established crop insurance when it comes to cotton and corn and grain sorghum. Livestock and dairy, though, there is no insurance. One dairy farmer ... earlier this year, I met with her, and she said, "We're paying $300 a ton for alfalfa," and I said, "Really, what did you pay last winter?" And she said, "$185 [per ton], and we were crying then." And that was early, early in the summer. My little small operation that I still have in East Texas, I paid like $252 [per ton] for range cubes, and then I bought some along through early in the summer, and the last I paid was like $322 per ton. So producers in the beef cattle industry have never gotten out of the winter cycle. They've just gone from feeding in cold weather to feeding in hot weather. TT: What are you hearing from back home in Palestine? Staples: Devastating. Many producers have actually liquidated their herds — just carried everything they have to the sale barns, because [they were struggling to find hay and were running out of pasture]. And it was kind of a methodical process. Some early on saw it happening and read the weather forecast accurately and said, "Look, you can't survive this." Others like me were optimistic, thinking one day without rain means closer to rain one day away, and so we would keep our hay pastures that we don't graze on in wintertime, we'd turn out cattle in there and rotate them in and out, waiting for it to rain. And it never rained. And so they'd just actually — start carrying their heavier calves to sale and then the younger, lighter weight calves to sale, and then culled cows to the sale, and then you'd get into your breeding stock. It's passed onto generations sometimes, those genetics, that are gone now. TT: Talk to me about what the state and the feds are doing to assist. Staples: Couple of different fronts. The disaster declarations have been forthcoming. The feds have released the Conservation Reserve Program lands in some areas for emergency grazing and haying. Low-interest loans are available through the federal programs. Loans don't mean that much in these difficult circumstances because the ability to pay back has just been decimated. I mean, to say this is a crisis is a true understatement to the men and women who are struggling every day to manage through these circumstances. And before I talk about what the state's doing, I might point out that droughts of this nature, the worst in this state's history, are just unplanned, unexpected, unwelcome natural disasters. Texas has a great record of tracking hurricanes coming in and taking precautions to mitigate the damage and the chaos that ensues. But something of this nature is just truly catastrophic of unprecedented proportions, and so there's no amount of planning that you can prepare for. So you do have to manage through it. But nonetheless we are doing things that are of a temporary nature. We have a new and expanded hay hotline that is bringing information together of hay sellers, grazing lands that are available. They're not in Texas but in other parts of the country. [Information on transportation providers is included, too.] We have modernized that hay hotline to include those new elements, and we've also included pricing and weights in there that hasn't been in there previously. This is coming down to staying in business or just completely getting out for the foreseeable future. And so knowing the tonnage and the cost and the quality of hay is very important when you determine whether to ship it in or not. TT: Some [ranchers] I talked to several weeks ago in San Angelo at a cattle auction — I asked them about the hay hotline and they said, "Well it's not very useful because nobody's got hay." And so how do you deal with that? Staples: We've reached out with texasagriculture.gov/hayhotline. A lot of [hay providers] are from out of state even. I recently sent a letter to every commissioner or director or secretary of agriculture in the United States asking them to promote our hay hotline, to get their sellers of hay to put their information on there where [Texans] can have access to it. We've asked for hay waivers, and Gov. Perry has been responsive. And now Louisiana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas and South Dakota have all either enacted hay waivers (or I think Nebraska had regulations that were similar) that relieves height and weight restrictions so you can get more hay. Because the biggest cost, where there is a surplus of hay, is just the transportation cost of getting it to Texas. TT: So we're transporting hay from South Dakota to Texas? Staples: Yes. Yes. It's just unbelievable. TT: How much does that cost? Staples: Too much. Really too much for the economics to work out for any time period. And now, what is it, almost Sept. 1, the growing season is getting shorter. Even urban Texans know — it's getting darker longer in the mornings when they wake up and it's getting darker earlier in the evening. ... So if it starts raining today, we're still in a world of hurt when it comes to having the available resources we need. Right now farmers are preparing their wheat pastures, their winter wheat pastures, that are so important to the Texas livestock industry to graze these feeder cattle to get them up to a good weight before they put them in the feedlots, and without any moisture — I mean, it's so bad. Earlier this year, early, we had 2 million acres of dry-land cotton that was abandoned. Even irrigated crops in some instances have been abandoned this year. TT: The state climatologist, John Nielsen-Gammon, said that we are likely to be at the start of a multiyear drought. If this goes on, are there any other tools in the toolbox, so to speak, to help farmers and ranchers around the state. Staples: Weathermen have not been my best friend this year. Each weather prediction — forecast — extends it even further til now even to 2012. One thing that's important in this state is that the Legislature passed Proposition 2 that's going to be on ballot this November that will allow for a self-funded revolving bond that will be administered by the Texas Water Development Board. And this is really for municipalities and communities and and water districts. Because now over 800 water providers have issued restrictions, and that number's going to continue to grow. But when it comes to short term for agriculture, there are not many options. I mean, that's the short of it. The long of it — research has led the way where am consumers enjoy the most reliable, the safest and the most affordable food supply than anywhere in the world. We have drought-tolerant crops, greater yields have been made available through research. Our extension system is phenomenal because it takes data and puts it in the hands of farmers and ranchers, who use those production practices and techniques [of which] we're a major exporter. And it's a big part of our economy, it's a big part of jobs. Rural communities are being crippled today because there's no production. No production means no tires are bought. New tractors aren't bought. New pickups aren't bought. New clothes aren't bought. These are dire circumstances in many ares. TT: Will the Texas agriculture sector be able to recover from this drought, and ... how long will recovery take? And will some people just get out of the business to stay out? Staples: This will end the agriculture careers of some operators. Some families will be abandoning what was generations of production. But the real answer is that Texans are survivors. Texans have a heritage of overcoming difficult circumstances and being stronger than ever before. The sheer size of this state, and the diverse environmental conditions creates challenges. Our farmers and ranchers face political battles across the seas that close export markets to our products. They face policy battles internally that presents challenges. And they faced — we haven't even talked about the wildfire consequences associated with this drought. The latest numbers I saw from the Forest Service indicates that almost 20,000 different wildfires have been battled since this season began, scorching over 3.5 million acres, which, by the way, is equivalent to the combined acreage in ... several Northeastern states. TT: I talked to, again, the state climatologists, and scientists are saying that climate change could make droughts like this worse — hotter and dryer. Staples: And that's a reality of what we face. We know the climate changes. And we know that we're experiencing one of the hottest cycles of recorded history and for a prolonged period. And hopefully we will cycle out of this, back to several years of cooler temperatures that allows us to overcome and to get production practices. But it requires us to plan. And I think Texans in the 1950s recognized this. ... If you will remember there was a massive buildup in the '50s of water supplies. Because we were in a crisis. Our population then was ... substantially less than it was today. So we built up available water supplies per capita that positioned us well and we had a continual rise of available water per capita until we got to the '70s and '80s, and our construction of reservoirs stopped, and our population continued to rise, so the per capita availability started going back to where today we're about where we were in the 1950s in available water per population. So Texans have some serious issues. In 1997 I was a part of the Legislature that adopted the statewide water plan and empowered the Water Development Board to put together what I think was something that all Texans, regardless of your political perspective about what good comes out of Austin, can agree [was good]. The Legislature created a water planning system that was from the bottom up, when we created the 16 regional water plans. This was phenomenally important because it put the water planners in the local regions in the driver's seat to determine the needs of their specific communities and regions. Then that's compiled at the state level to where we were going through this water planning cycle and identifying the forecasted needs and trying to reach them. Texans have some real decisions to make. New reservoirs are a part of that water planning process. It's not the only solution, but it's a big, big part of the solution. And many people from all walks of political life don't want to see new water reservoirs constructed. And I have hunted and fished and played in a lot of river bottoms, and I love it — it is an experience that every Texan and every person even from Washington, D.C., should have the opportunity to do. But we have to have new water resources or we're going to be an economy that cannot sustain our growth and our jobs that we know are very critical. But we also need to have policies that encourage the movement of water when we have more water than we need for the planning process on the horizon but that also discourages the movement of water when it only shifts a problem from one region of the state to the other. Our friends in Oklahoma and Louisiana — we have ongoing dialogues about moving water into Texas. We have to continue that discussion, work through the legal hurdles, and it needs to be profitable for the area where that water's moved from. That is a realistic consideration that has to be factored into what we're doing. TT: You mentioned the '50s. Did your parents or grandparents live through that? Staples: They did. And [it was] just unprecedented. ... I've talked to producers in their 80s, from all walks of life, and they look me in the eye and say, "Staples, we don't know when it's been this bad. This dry. And this hot." And you'll remember, earlier this year we had sustained winds that were just drying out the topsoil. And so you have a combination of factors that led to the dire consequences that we're facing today.

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Contact Thu 27 Mar 2008 More News from France, and It’s Not Necessarily Good Posted by Fredric Koeppel under Champagne , What Were They Thinking [4] Comments The announcement was made this month that the INAO, the institute that governs the appellation controlee system of vineyards and vine-growing in France, has authorized the expansion of the areas that may legitimately call themselves part of Champagne. You must understand: This is a HUGE BIG DEAL. This NEVER HAPPENS. The region in north-central France where the world’s best and best-known sparkling wines are made — and which alone should be entitled to the name “champagne” — was rigorously limited to 319 villages by the INAO in 1927. This recent addition of 38 villages or communes is unprecedented. The motivation lies in the increasing demand for champagne all over the world, but especially in Russia and China, those wondrous realms of new wealth. Between 2006 and 2007, sales of champagne increased 41 percent in Russian; in five years, sales of champagne have increased in China by 30 percent. There’s not enough to go around. The INAO tentatively addressed the problem of supply and demand in 2006 by allowing, on an experimental basis, for the grape yield per hectare (about 2.47 acres) to increase from 13,000 kilos to 15,500 kilos, though the increase is supposed to be held in grower’s tanks in reserve in the event of disease, hail, frost or bad harvests. Still, evidence both historical and contemporary shows that in many cases increasing yields in vineyards (taking into account such factors as density of vines and canopy management) can result in lower quality wine. As “TimesOnLine,” the website of The London Times said on March 14, “Permission to make champagne is almost a license to print money,” and not only because the luxurious effervescent beverage is so much in demand. Land that was previously outside the allowed areas of Champagne may increase in value as much as 200 times. Gilles Flutet, who is in charge of demarcation at INAO, was quoted in many sources as saying: “If your vines fall on the wrong side of the divide, they will be worth 5,000 euros a hectare. On the other side they will be worth a million euros.” License to print money indeed. We understand why communes have petitioned and filed law suits for years in their attempts to join the Magic Circle of Real Champagne Farmers or at least for the chance to sell their land. The fact that new law suits are being filed by land-owners and communes not admitted in the expansion — in other words, the losers — emphasizes how serious the fiduciary aspects of the situation are. I hate to sound cynical. Obviously the INAO has spent a great deal of time researching the quality of the soil and the character of the land in the newly permitted communes, as well as the history and traditions and micro-climates of the anointed areas. In the United States, however, we have seen too often how political and commercial is the system that grants official American Viticultural Area status to regions that seem to have no real viticultural value other than the exigencies of local geography and the influence of local growers, winemakers and legislators. It would be a miracle if the INAO were immune to similar pressure. In all the stories I have read about the decision, no one is quoted as saying, “We’re doing this for the glory of our beloved Champagne region.” It will be 10 years before grapes and juice from the 38 communes make their slow way through the traditional champagne method into bottles and thence onto the world’s retail shelves. By then, we might not care. Go ahead, throw a few more villages into the mix. Will the Russians and Chinese be able to tell the difference? Image from istockphoto.com. 4 Responses to “More News from France, and It’s Not Necessarily Good” Terry Hughes Says: March 28th, 2008 at 8:06 am Personally, I’m no big fan of Champagne. Too much a standardized product, price/quality ratio out of whack, and I truly hate dosage, the source of my headaches. But this makes it all so much worse, even for those who love the stuff. It’s all about greed, only this time a legalized form of the same impulse that led to the current Brunello scandal. Fredric Koeppel Says: March 28th, 2008 at 10:05 am well, im a huge fan of champagne (the less dosage the better), but you’re right about the standardization from the Big Houses. It’s more gratifying to search out the products of the small growers and makers that express some individuality. Félicien Breton Says: March 30th, 2008 at 9:36 am Standardization is a current problem. Therefore it is not related to a starting acreage increase. The INAO has a big history of correctly delimitating zones, so we can hope that this move will keep prices and yields in check. Anyway as Fredric does, I’ll keep tasting small production. Center for Wine Origins Says: March 31st, 2008 at 4:52 pm Another issue that is especially important for Champagne as a region is obviously name protection. A poll released last week said that the majority of wine consumers support truth-in-labeling, an issue that this region deals with constantly. When wine purchasers take the time to learn where their beverages come from, they will also be more informed about the many appellation issues that the region of Champagne currently faces. Consumers need to be aware of both this appellation issue as well as understanding where the Champagnes (or Ports, Sherries or any other brand of food/drink that currently faces the issue of name protection) that they buy come from. Thursday, Mar 27th, 2008 at 7:38 pm Champagne and What Were They Thinking

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http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/12/111219-wind-turbines-help-crops-on-farms.html Planting Wind Energy on Farms May Help Crops, Say Researchers Among other positive effects for farming, wind turbines can improve the flow of carbon dioxide to the surrounding crops. Photograph by Bertrand Rieger, Hemis/Corbis America's corn belt overlaps with its central "wind belt"—a wide swath of the midsection of the United States that is ideal for wind energy development-an intersection that could be good news for corn, new research suggests. Experimental Glider to Attempt Record-Breaking Flight Into Space Zika's Accidental Ally: Miami's Luxury High-Rises Dodging Wind Farms and Bullets in the Arctic With the tremendous growth in wind energy in the past decade, turbines often have been planted in or near cropland—leading both farmers and researchers to wonder what effect the rotating blades might have on corn, soy, and other crops. In traditional agriculture in many places, farmers grow trees along the edges of fields, a technique that slows the wind and stirs up the air, benefiting the crops in the field. Now researchers are studying whether wind turbines can have a similar effect—actually helping crops to grow. Some of the leading research is under way in the U.S. Midwest, heartland of the world's leading corn-producing nation, a place where blustery fields have been ideal for siting wind energy farms. The findings here could apply to many places around the world, wherever turbines and farms are near each other, although the effects on vegetation may vary by region or by crop. Mixing the Air One of the more obvious ways that wind turbines could help agriculture is by mixing up the air, getting more carbon dioxide (CO2) to the crops, since "the job of corn is to take up as much CO2 as it can," said Eugene Takle, an agricultural meteorologist at Iowa State University. Some of the other effects turbines could have on crops would be more complicated. For example, by causing the air to move, wind turbines could reduce the amount of dew on leaves at night. This would help reduce crop diseases, such as those caused by fungi, Takle said. That would be a welcome impact in the top U.S. corn-producing state, Iowa, where climate change has made the air more moist, making dew more common, according to a report this year commissioned by the Iowa state government. (Iowa was second to Texas in the United States in wind energy installed in 2011.) Another potential beneficial impact: Because turbines mix up the air and slow wind speeds, they also could also affect the temperature around them, making nights warmer and days cooler. Both these effects could help crops, making frosty nights less common, and reducing the number of sweltering days that stress plants. With this variety of effects, "we are finding it's more complicated than we thought," Takle said. But based on his work on how trees affect crops, Takle expects that "on balance, the effect would be positive." Revealing Turbines' "Wakes" To figure out what effect turbines might have on crops, Takle is collaborating with a team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, led by atmospheric scientist Julie Lundquist. Lundquist has begun using "lidar"—like radar, but using light—to reveal the swirls of air in the long "wake" behind a wind turbine, like the waves trailing behind a boat. At an American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco last week, her team presented initial results from its first large set of measurements, which the researchers are still analyzing. Modern turbines are typically perched on tall towers about 250 feet (80 meters) high, and the strongest part of the wake stretches downwind from a turbine about two or three times the height of the tower, the lidar studies revealed. The swirling turbulence from the turbine spreads out as it travels downwind, the lidar study found. "We're still trying to figure out where, and in which circumstances, the wake hits the ground," Lundquist said. A Need for Answers The turbines' influence on temperatures could also have a downside for crops. A nighttime rise in temperature could increase the amount the plants respire—a kind of exhalation at nighttime, when plants release some of the carbon they took up from the air during the day. That could be a negative because the plants would take up less carbon, losing some of the benefits of their daytime growth. The possibility underscores the importance of the research for the agricultural community. Farmers for years have leased portions of their fields for wind turbines as a way to boost income, but they have wondered what effect it might have on crops, Lundquist said. "It's a big choice for farmers to make," she said, so they hope to start getting answers soon. The effects that wind turbines could have on wind and temperatures fit with a 2010 study led by atmospheric scientist Somnath Baidya Roy of the University of Illinois, which was the first published study of the weather around a wind farm. His study found that in southern California, nighttime temperatures were higher downwind from wind turbines. Roy agreed that the effects on crops will be complex, and "one good thing could offset another bad thing." "I think the frost protection effect for crops is going to be a really good thing," Roy said, adding that it might outweigh other effects. Because of the varied effects of turbines and the needs of different plants, Lundquist cautions that what may help Iowa corn might not help other crops in other places. "Wind energy offers us great potential for renewable energy," she said, "we just have to be clever and sensitive about how we deploy it." This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.

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Tractor Trendsetters: Ford-Ferguson 9N Written by Larry Gay In late October 1938, Harry Ferguson of England brought a Ferguson-Brown tractor with a hydraulically-controlled hitch to the U.S. and demonstrated his tractor and attached implements to Henry Ford. Ford was very impressed with how Ferguson’s tractor outperformed the Allis-Chalmers B and Fordson tractors that Ford used for comparison. As a result, Ford and Ferguson sat at a table in the field and worked out an agreement that Ford would manufacture a tractor with Ferguson’s patented hitching system and Ferguson would market the tractor and implements. The discussion ended with a handshake and was never put in writing. Ten Ford engineers, led by Harold Brock, started designing the new tractor in January 1939. Two of Ferguson’s assistants helped adopt the hydraulic-hitching system into the tractor. To simplify the design process, the Ford engineers used many production automobile and truck parts and the 4-cylinder, 120-cubic-inch engine was derived from the Mercury V-8 automobile engine. On June 29, 1939, the Ford-Ferguson 9N tractor was introduced to the press and the public. The 9N was a small, low-profile tractor with the operator’s seat positioned immediately above the transmission case, requiring the operator to straddle the transmission. Although the tractor had four wheels with one on each corner, it was not a standard-tread tractor because the wheels could be adjusted to match the spacing of row crops and the front axle had 21 inches of clearance. The 9N was the first example of what we now identify as a utility tractor. One of the biggest problems encountered during the development process was what name to put on the tractor. Eventually it was decided to put the Ford name on one plate and Ferguson System on another plate. The tractor weighed about 2,140 pounds and the initial retail price was $585. About the first 750 were built with a cast aluminum hood until the stamping dies for the sheet metal hood were built. The trade magazines were impressed by the unique hitching system on the rear of the tractor for attaching a series of wheel-less implements. Demonstrations during the introduction meeting emphasized the ease of attaching the implements, backing into corners, and the weight transfer to the tractor’s rear wheels. This hitching system soon became known as a 3-point hitch. The 9N model became the 2N during World War II with the material changes required due to the war, but the serial number retained the 9N prefix. From 1939 through 1947, Ford Motor Company built about 99,000 of the 9N and 207,000 of the 2N for a total of about 306,000 tractors. Harold Brock continued to lead the Ford tractor engineers until 1959. By 1963, he was the leader of the John Deere tractor engineers when the John Deere 4020 tractor was introduced. Two classic tractors in one engineer’s lifetime is an outstanding achievement. Harold Brock passed away on January 2, 2011 at the age of 96. Larry Gay is the author of four tractor books published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, including A Guide to Ford, Fordson, and New Holland Tractors. This book may be obtained from ASABE at 800-695-2723 or asabe.org, click publications and then click history books.

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The Origin and Evolution of Baby Carrots The Cut & Peel story - White Blush scare - Chlorine Issue Watch a video of how the process works and how baby carrots are "made". Some statistics Baby carrots first appeared in US supermarkets in 1989. There are two types - true baby carrots, and manufactured baby carrots. Baby carrots have become a lunch box staple. Parents love them for their convenience and because they’re seen as a healthy food choice. Kids love them because they’re sweet and fun to eat. But what’s the real deal behind baby carrots? After all, they’re not like regular carrots. They’re perfectly shaped with rounded edges; they don’t have the same thick core; and, even peeled, they are bright orange. A quick Google search of baby carrots turns up some frightening information, and mis-information, on how they are made and whether they are really “soaked in chlorine.” Strictly "baby" means immature, pulled from the ground before they reach full size. Originally that was the case, nowadays they have developed miniature strains which are mature when small in stature! Real baby carrots (miniature version of full size) are what they are, about 3 or 4 inches in length. Baby "style" cut carrots (those whittled down from larger carrots) started off by the "inventor" as being approx 2 inches in the 1980's, and have remained so, more or less, ever since. USDA use weight to base its standards for nutrition etc - a small baby carrot is deemed 10 grams, a medium one 15 grams. Note that prior to the "invention" of baby cut carrots in the 1980's, engineer and inventor, Joseph T. Listner was early to recognize the appeal and convenience of bagged, ready-to-eat vegetables. In 1959, he designed and built a one-of-a-kind machine that sliced raw carrots into sticks. The machine enabled a small-scale producer like Listner, Inc., in Wallington, New Jersey, to slice an estimated one million pounds of carrots in sixteen years of operation. Listner sold his bagged carrot sticks and coleslaw to stores, including the Grand Union supermarket chain. Read more at the National Museum of American History, which includes some photos of his early carrot slicing machine. See the Youtube video produced by Grimmways about the whole process of producing baby carrots. Here Here is the Carrot Museum take on it all. True Baby CarrotsIn the 1980's supermarkets expected carrots to be a particular size, shape, and colour. Anything else had to be sold for juice or processing or animal feed, or just thrown away. One farmer wondered what would happen if he peeled the skin off the gnarly carrots, cut them into pieces, and sold them in bags. He made up a few test batches to show his buyers. One batch, cut into 1-inch bites and peeled round, he called "bunny balls." Another batch, peeled and cut 2 inches long, looked like little baby carrots. Bunny balls never made it. But baby carrots were a hit. They transformed the whole industry. A "true" baby carrot is a carrot grown to the "baby stage", which is to say long before the root reaches its mature size. The test is can you see a proper "shoulder" on each carrot. These immature roots are preferred by some people out of the belief that they are superior either in texture, nutrition or taste. They are also sometimes harvested simply as the result of crop thinning, but are also grown to this size as a specialty crop. Certain cultivars of carrots have been bred to be used at the "baby" stage. One such cultivar is 'Amsterdam Forcing'. You will see them in the stores and are normally very expensive and displayed with some of the green showing to "prove" they are a "real" carrot. There is also a baby variety called Thumbelina, or Paris Market shaped like a golf ball. Manufactured Baby Cut Carrots (the most common) Tired of the wastefulness he was seeing, Mike Yurosek whittled "babies" from grown-up cast off carrots. Baby Cut Carrots were invented by Mike Yorusek (Read the full story here.) Most baby carrots sold in U.S. and U.K. supermarkets are really what the industry calls “baby cuts” – made from longer carrots that have been peeled and cut into a smaller size. These carrots have been specifically bred to be smaller in diameter, coreless and sweeter than regular carrots. "Manufactured" baby carrots , or cut and peel, are what you see most often in the shops - are carrot shaped slices of peeled carrots invented in the late 1980's by Mike Yurosek, a California farmer, as a way of making use of carrots which are too twisted or knobbly for sale as full-size carrots. Yurosek was unhappy at having to discard as much as 400 tonnes of carrots a day because of their imperfections, and looked for a way to reclaim what would otherwise be a waste product. He was able to find an industrial green bean cutter, which cut his carrots into 5 cm lengths, and by placing these lengths into an industrial potato peeler, he created the baby carrot. The much decreased waste is also used either for juicing or as animal fodder. Perhaps most important, the baby-cut method allows growers to use far more of the carrot than they used to. In the past, a third or more of a carrot crop could have been easily tossed away, but baby-cut allows more partial carrots to be used, and the peeling process actually removes less of the outer skin that you might imagine. They are sold in single-serving packs with ranch dressing for dipping on the side. They're passed out on airplanes and sold in plastic containers designed to fit in a car's cup holder. At Disney World, and MacDonald's burgers now come two ways: with fries or baby carrots. There is nothing "wrong" with manufactured baby carrots. They are a food that humans have enjoyed for centuries, probably millennia, chock-full of goodness that we need to keep our bodies functioning. Mr Yurosek died in 2005. Baby carrot products have been the fastest growing segment of the carrot industry since the early 1990s and are among the most popular produce items in the supermarket aisle – more than potatoes and celery, according to a 2007 USDA report. Transformed to the core The baby-cut boom also transformed the industry from its roots up. Before, growers were more interested in a bulky carrot with more of a tapered shape. But those were hard to chop into baby shape, so plant breeders worked to create varieties that were longer and narrower, allowing a producer to get four cuts instead of three on each carrot root, which is the part of the plant we eat. They also found they could limit the diameter size of carrots by increasing the density with which they were planted — a discovery that helped them harvest more carrots per acre. (This sort of change wasn’t new for carrot growers: Up to the 1950s, when carrots were sold with their leaves intact, they were bred for hearty leaf growth. That stopped after grocers started selling just roots.) Today’s carrot is also now bred for uniform colour. Because the cutting process exposes much of the root to the buyer’s eye, producers don’t want their bags of carrots to be collared like a paint palette. With baby carrots or cut-and-peel carrots, you can see the core of every chunk,. The growers would like every carrot in that bag to look like every other one. Growers also obsess about texture and taste. You might find carrots far sweeter than they were in the past, and that’s intentional. Researchers found much of their appeal as a snack came from their sweetness, especially for perennially sweet-toothed kids, and bred them to have more natural sugar and less of the harsh taste that comes if you do a poor job of peeling. Today specific cultivars are grown to create the now ubiquitous baby carrot. Farmers want a carrot that is about five-eighths inches in diameter, 14 inches long that they can cut into four pieces to make baby carrots. In order to create thinner vegetables, baby carrots are planted closer together than traditional carrots. In as little as 120 days from planting, the carrots are dug up and trucked to the processing house to be cut and peeled. But before packaging, all carrots receive a brisk scrub accompanied by a chlorine bath. Borda says Grimmway Farms, whose labels include Cal-Organic, uses a chlorine solution on all its carrots – organic and non-organic -- to prevent food poisoning, before a final wash in water. Grimmway says the chlorine rinse is well within limits set by the EPA and is comparable to levels found in tap water. Ashley Bade, nutritionist and founder of Honest Mom Nutrition, says the chlorine bath is a standard practice in many pre-cut food items. “The chlorine-water solution is a needed step in the process to limit the risk of food-borne illnesses such as E.coli,” she says. The new varieties’ names reflect the change in growers’ needs: Prime Cut, Sweet Cuts, Morecuts. What is perhaps most important, the baby-cut method allows growers to use far more of the carrot than they used to. In the past, a third or more of a carrot crop could have been easily tossed away, but baby-cut allows more partial carrots to be used, and the peeling process actually removes less of the outer skin that you might imagine — in part because growers, who are selling by weight, don’t want to take off more than they need to. And what’s left over after the initial processing can still be used in even smaller products, or squeezed for juice. There is no doubt that baby carrots are a fun snack and are a great way to introduce healthy foods into the often French fry, and fast food driven diets of children and teenagers, because from the snacking perspective, they are convenient and satisfying, for all ages. Read more here on the processes involved in the production of baby carrots. "Where do baby carrots come from? Behind the scenes at a baby carrot harvest." Vanmark Equipment LLC is one of the world's leading manufacturers of carrot processing equipment. Millions of pounds of carrots processed in the United States go through Vanmark’s peelers/washers before making their way to consumers. Vanmark makes equipment for cleaning and polishing carrots of all sizes as well as processing and shaping product sold as baby carrots. Our equipment can use a two part process to first remove material from full size cut carrots and then shape and smooth the pieces into a rounded, distinctive baby carrot shape. (Source Vanmark equipment website) What happens to the left over pieces of carrots? The 0.84 % left over mainly goes to animal feed, though I also know of some, where it can go to juice and for pulping into baby foods/soups etc. There seems to be two attitudes - 1. it is "waste" (for animal feed). 2. It has a commercial value and is passed on to the food processing industry. The problem is that the cutting down/shaving process is designed to do just that, it is rarely commercially viable to ensure the shavings are collected effectively to remain clean and safe to pass on to the food industry. It's ok for animals!. Because it is not a consistent left over, in terms of size, the cuttings do not go to salads or other fresh products. The carrot cake producers buy shredded carrot made from whole big carrots as it easier to process that way and you get more for your money. The "waste" is becoming less and less as the machines get more efficient. For example many of the modern computer/laser guided machines can make 3 babies out of one carrot. How a typical carrot is processed to maximise use for human consumption If you were to divide up a typical 8 and ½ inch carrot it would typically be processed in such a manner that only about the very top half inch goes to animal feed. This is at the crown end. The point end quarter of the remaining carrot goes to making those tiny, baby carrots. The central portions are processed either to make “standard” cut or peel baby carrots or sent for juice making. The thickest part goes off to be processed into juice concentrate to be further sliced or diced into fresh pre-packs. Diagrammatical Representation Some Statistics: In the US over 172 million tonnes of carrots are processed into baby peeled carrots. In the US baby peeled carrots sales exceed US$400 million per annum. Overall carrot consumption in the US has increased by 33% through the introduction of baby peeled carrots. In the US annual consumer spending on baby peeled carrots exceeds US$2.00 per head. In 1999 baby peeled carrot purchases passed whole carrots. 94% of US consumers purchased baby peeled carrots 90% had bought whole carrots. Purchases of baby peeled carrots were even ahead of fresh salad mixes. Baby peeled carrots have the lion's share of the carrot category accounting for over 80% of all retail carrot sales. Up until 2000 baby carrots have dominated US produce department's with excellent growth ahead of all other produce items. From Field to Supermarket Shelf In the field, two-storey carrot harvesters use long metal prongs to open up the soil, while rubber belts grab the green tops and pull. The carrots ride up the belts to the top of the picker, where an automated cutter snips off the greens. They're trucked to the processing plant, where they're put in icy water to bring their temperature down to 37 degrees to inhibit spoiling. They are sorted by thickness. Thin carrots continue on the processing line; the others will be used as whole carrots, juice or cattle feed. An inspector looks for rocks, debris or malformed carrots that slip through. The carrots are shaped into 2-inch pieces by automated cutters. An optical sorter discards any piece that has green on it. The pieces are pumped through pipes to the peeling tanks. The peelers rotate, scraping the skin off the carrots. The carrots are weighed and bagged by an automated scale and packager. Finally placed in cold storage until they are shipped. People sometimes find that baby carrots turn slimy in the fridge, very soon after storage. They are going off due to poor storage conditions, post harvest. If you eat them you run the risk of food poisoning (usually from ecoli or salmonella bacteria). It happens to baby carrots more than normal carrots because of the additional processing involved. Baby cut carrots are made from longer carrots. The skin is taken off and then longer carrots are cut into smaller "baby" carrots. The skin (as in humans!) is there for a reason, a protective layer. These baby carrots are then washed in a chlorine solution before a final wash in potable water. This process is an attempt to ward off early degradation of the baby carrots. Most carrots are kept and processed in near freezing conditions and once they leave the packing plants experience warmer temperatures which encourage bacterial growth. Storage conditions in supermarkets is far from ideal, in many cases.In the case of slimy carrots (baby or otherwise) one has to err on the side of caution and throw them away. Here is the full story of the popular Baby Cut & Peel carrot: It all began in the mid 80's ago when Mike Yurosek of Newhall, California got tired of seeing 400 tons of carrots a day drop down the cull chute at his packing plant in Bakersfield. Culls are carrots that are too twisted, knobbly, bent or broken to sell. In some loads, as many as 70% of carrots were tossed. Yurosek tried to be resourceful. He used some of his cull as animal slop, but his farm was so big and he had so much waste -- 400 tons a day -- that his pigs’ fat turned orange. He went on this way for decades, enduring the daily tragedy of the cull, and dreaming of a better world. Yurosek had always been a "think outside the carrot patch" guy. In the 1960s, Yurosek and Sons was selling carrots in plastic bags with a Bunny-Luv logo, a cartoon that got the farmers in trouble with Warner Bros., which was protective of its Bugs Bunny brand. Instead of bringing in lawyers and spending a fortune, Yurosek recalls, "I said to my wife who is a pretty good drawer, 'Hey, draw me up about 50 bunnies, would you? Then we'll send them to Warner Bros. and ask them to tell us which ones we can use.' " The entertainment giant picked one, and Bunny-Luv lived on for the price of a pencil. The farmer continued growing carrots, and throwing them out, for decades. But in 1986, Yurosek had the idea that would change American munching habits. California's Central Valley is dotted with farms, fruit and vegetable processors, and freezing plants. Yurosek knew full well that freezers routinely cut up his long, well-shaped carrots into cubes, coins and mini-carrots. "If they can do that, why can't we, and pack 'em fresh?" he wondered. First he had to cut the culls into something small enough to make use of their straight parts. The first batch was done in a potato peeler and cut by hand. Then he found a frozen-food company that was going out of business and bought an industrial green-bean cutter, which just happened to cut things into 2-inch pieces. Thus was born the standard size for a baby carrot. Next, he sent one of his workers to a packing plant and loaded the cut-up carrots into an industrial potato peeler to take off the peel and smooth down the edges. What he ended up with was a little rough but still recognizable as the baby carrot of today. After a bit of practice and an investment in some bagging machinery, he called one of his best customers, a Vons supermarket in Los Angeles. "I said, 'I'm sending you some carrots to see what you think.' Next day they called and said, 'We only want those.' The babies were an economic powerhouse. Stores paid 10 cents a bag for whole carrots and sold them for 17 cents. They paid 50 cents for a 1-pound package of baby carrots and sold them for $1. By 1989, more markets were on board, and the baby-carrot juggernaut had begun. Today, these "babies" come from one main place in the US: Bakersfield, California. The state produces almost three-quarters of U.S. carrots because of its favourable climate and deep, not-too-heavy soil. Every day, somewhere in the state, carrots are either being planted or harvested (20 million pounds in 2006). Which is why Bakersfield is home to the nation's top two carrot processors: Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms. In the early 1990s, Yurosek sold his company to rival Grimmway. The Bunny-Luv logo still can be found on Grimmway's organic carrots. But it's Bakersfield's other carrot producer, Bolthouse, that carries on the Yurosek tradition. Yurosek's grandson Derek is Bolthouse's director of agricultural operations. The Industry calls them "Minis" and have brought about a carrot-breeding revolution, says the USDA's Phillip Simon, who also teaches horticulture at the University of Wisconsin. Carrots originally were sold in bulk, straight from the farm. The first advance was the "cello" carrot. Introduced in the 1950s, these were washed and sold in newfangled (at the time) cellophane bags. "Cello carrots had to look like a carrot, and that was enough," Simon says. Enter the baby carrot. Suddenly carrots were "branded." Instead of just carrots, they were Bunny-Luv or Bolthouse or Grimmway carrots. Consumers could remember the name, and if they got a bad carrot, they wouldn't buy that particular brand any more. Breeders got to work, getting rid of woodiness and bitterness. They also bred for enhanced length, smoothness and a cylindrical quality that lets processors clip off as little of the tip as possible. Balancing these with the desirable sweetness and juiciness is a delicate task, Simon says. The faintly bitter taste is essential to what makes a carrot taste like a carrot. "I've had carrots that have more of a flavour note of peas or corn," he says. Get the carrot too juicy and it breaks in the field. "There are some carrot varieties so succulent they're amazing, but they're like glass," Simon says. "Consumers like juicy carrots, but if they're all broken, you can't sell them." None of this was done with fancy genetic engineering. "You just grow lots of carrots and look at them and taste them," Simon says. Breeders started experimenting with seed from varieties culled in the past for being too long to fit into the plastic bag. "Prior to baby carrots, the ideal length for a carrot was somewhere between 6 and 7 inches," Simon says. Now they're typically 8 inches long, a "three-cut" that can make three 2-inch babies. And breeders are edging toward fields of even longer carrots. "You make it a four-cut, and you've got a 33% yield increase," Simon says. The baby-cut boom transformed the industry from its roots up. Before, growers were more interested in a bulky carrot with more of a tapered shape. But those were hard to chop into baby shape, so plant breeders worked to create varieties that were longer and narrower, allowing a producer to get four cuts instead of three on each carrot root, which is the part of the plant we eat. They also found they could limit the diameter size of carrots by increasing the density with which they were planted — a discovery that helped them harvest more carrots per acre. Mr Yurosek is often referred to as the "Father of Baby Carrots". By simply cutting carrots into 2-inch sections, he won a well-earned place in agricultural history. Equally deserved is his legacy in business lore. Yurosek transformed an industry by addressing a common problem. Whereas most growers focused their energies on production excellence, Yurosek addressed another ingredient required for success: customer relevance. Sadly he died of cancer in 2005. The Baby Carrot industry has been successfully rejuvenated in 2010 by the introduction of "Eat'em Like Junk Food" campaign, following the recent trend of fast food outlets trying to gain new customers by extolling the virtues of the healthiness of their offerings. Read more here. Here's what Grimmways say about their baby carrots - Are baby carrots grown to be so small, or are they just regular carrots that have been cut to size? Baby carrots begin as full-size, long and slender carrots. The variety that we use for our fresh, peeled baby carrots is a hybrid that combines the best qualities of more than 250 known commercial carrot varieties. Because taste is very important to us, we allow the carrot to grow almost to its full maturity before harvesting. Prior to selecting which carrots will become baby carrots, we eliminate any that are greater than 7/8-inch in diameter. The smaller carrots are then cut into two- inch pieces, peeled, polished and packaged. We use no food additives or preservatives in this process. What is the shelf life of your peeled baby carrots? If the carrots are stored at 33 to 40 degrees, they should maintain fresh for four to five weeks. What causes the white coating on carrots? Dehydration causes a white coating on carrots. When carrots are peeled, they lose some of their natural moisture barrier, begin to dehydrate and may eventually develop a white color on the carrot surface. We use no chemicals or additives that would cause the white surface. Often, you can restore that “just-picked” color and freshness by soaking the carrots in a bowl of ice water for a few minutes before serving. How are peeled baby carrots processed? We create our fresh, peeled baby carrots by first cutting the carrots into two- inch segments. After inspection and grading for defects and size, the carrots are peeled and polished. This mechanical process uses no chemicals, food additives or preservatives. The carrots are then washed in water that is treated with a small amount of chlorine, then soaked and rinsed with potable water before being packaged. Baby carrots, like bagged salad mixes and other “ready to eat” fresh vegetables, are rinsed in this diluted chlorine solution to inhibit bacterial growth that naturally occurs in water. Carrots are then hydro-cooled to 34 degrees. Just prior to packaging, we inject less than half-an-ounce of water into the bag to help keep the carrots moist. Can I freeze the carrots? We don’t recommend freezing them. If you do, blanch the carrots first. Otherwise, they will turn mushy when they are thawed. Can I use the carrots after the “best if used by date?” We don’t recommend it. If the carrots are still firm and crisp, you can use them for up to two weeks after the date on the bag. However, if they have become slimy, mushy, black, or have an off odor, you should not use the carrots. Do you use any GMO’s? We do not use any genetically modified organisms. Do I need to wash and peel the carrots? The specialty cut carrots (baby, chips, shredded, etc.) are pre-washed and “ready-to-eat” directly from the bag. We do recommend that you wash whole carrots. Peeling is personal preference. Where are Grimmway carrots grown? Most of our carrots are grown in California. However, we do have some fields in Colorado. What is the difference between organic and conventional carrots? Organic carrots are grown without the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. In addition, organic fields must be free from the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers for three years before being considered organic. Certification includes inspections of farm fields and processing facilities, detailed record keeping, and periodic testing of soil and water to ensure that growers and handlers are meeting the standards that have been set by certifying agencies. - See more at: http://www.grimmway.com/carrots/our-process/ask-the-farmer/#sthash.HHMcqyJA.dpuf Why is one little carrot so important? Some children refuse to eat vegetables and many won’t touch a carrot unless it can be used as a sword during playtime. Sometimes it can feel like it’s just not worth the bother to try and feed them vegetables at every meal. But according to the World Health Organization, eating vegetables like carrots can help prevent blindness caused by vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency partially or totally blinds nearly 350,000 children from more than 75 countries every year. Roughly 60 percent of these children die within months of going blind. However, vitamin A deficiency is preventable. One cooked carrot has approximately 150% of the Recommended Daily Amount of beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A. Vitamin A helps to prevent night blindness, dry skin, poor bone growth, weak tooth enamel, diarrhoea and slow growth. The greatest health benefits come from eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. The American Institute for Cancer Research has estimated that a diet high in a variety of fruits and vegetables may prevent 20 to 33 percent of lung cancers. The cartenoids found in greens, broccoli and spinach may help protect against other cancers. Eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables supplies a whole range of nutrients, which provide the kind of protection originally attributed to betacarotene alone. Unfortunately, most children are not interested in cancer and disease prevention so it is parents who have to resort to sneaking nutrition in the foods kids love. And the Baby Carrot plays it part. Over 40 brands are sold, marketed under such names as Premier and Bunny-Luv, and more modern names to reflect what the consumer wants, like Prime Cut, Sweet Cuts, Morecuts. The market now also covers things such as baby-cut but also sticks, chips, dipping packages, shredded carrots and juice. The FutureThere appear to be endless, indeed, packaged carrot products have become so ubiquitous that the industry has levelled off in per-capita consumption. Americans are still eating 50 percent more carrots than they were, but ironically, the carrot has regained such an important position on the shopping list that some in the industry worry it could be losing its value as a premium product. (And some of that drop, they point out, could also be because peeled products actually offer more edible carrot per pound. Buying less doesn’t mean eating less.) With that in mind, researchers are always looking for ways to spice up the carrot. Producers want to darken the colour of carrots, not just for aesthetics but also because the deeper orange signals more beta-carotene, an antioxidant that serves as one of the best sources of vitamin A, for which carrots are renowned. Scientists are pushing has pushed the colour curve - producing white, red and purple carrots that are actually the colours of the roots were originally grown 1,000 years ago. The rainbow colours give growers still more marketing options - especially for kids, who seem drawn to items that look like someone was having fun with crayons - and could even be mixed together in a variety pack. Look for a Rainbow Pack at a store near you! Eat 'em Like Junk Food Campaign In 2009, after a decade of steady growth, Bolthouse's carrot sales went flat. Sales of baby carrots, the company's cash carrot, actually fell, sharply, and stayed down. Nobody knew why. This was a big problem. After a series of focus groups and surveys something interesting was discovered. People said they were eating as many carrots as they always had. But the numbers clearly showed they were buying fewer. What people meant, it turned out, was they were as likely as ever to keep carrots in the fridge. When the recession hit, though, they became more likely to buy regular carrots, instead of baby carrots, to save money. But people used to eating baby carrots weren't taking the time to wash and cut the regular ones. And unlike baby carrots, which dry out pretty quickly once a bag is opened, regular carrots keep a long time. So people were buying regular carrots and then not eating them, and not buying more until the carrots they had were finally gone or spoiled. Bolthouse had never marketed its baby carrots. It just sent truckloads to supermarkets, where they got piled up in the produce aisle. A new advertising campaign was needed. The concept was "To have a great advertising idea, you have to get at the truth of the product. The truth about baby carrots is they possess many of the defining characteristics of our favourite junk food. They're neon orange, they're crunchy, they're dippable, they're kind of addictive - They're just cool and part of your life. If Doritos can sell cheeseburger-flavoured Doritos, we can sell baby carrots." A new jazzy packaging portfolio was created, aimed primarily at junk food addicts and it soon became a roaring success. (The above information is taken from a more detailed piece by Douglas McGray writing for the Fast Company - read the full article ) $25m campaign to Get Kids to Eat Carrots by branding them like junk food - According to USA Today, a group of producers will unveil a sophisticated media campaign designed to drive a wedge between the munching public and our snack foods, a wedge in the shape of a carrot. This campaign will include repackaging carrots for school vending machines in bags that resemble Doritos (both orange, little-finger size, crunchy, so consumers probably won't even notice the difference, right?) (Left, Halloween "Scarrots" 2010). Baby Carrot.Com - The flash website is here A few words of warning, and the viable alternative - Citrox!Baby carrots are not as nutritious as full whole carrots, because a lot of the goodness in carrots is contained in the skin and just below it. This is removed in the baby carrot making process. After harvesting, the carrots are mainly washed in chlorinated water, just like our drinking water, and cleaned to remove dirt and mud. Some finished baby carrots are washed, or dipped, by a further chlorine solution to prevent white blushing once in the store. There is no evidence that this is harmful, but it is worth knowing about!. The truth is that baby carrots are no different from packaged lettuce or any other prepared produce -- like bagged lettuce—you find in the grocery store. However organic growers use a citrus based non toxic solution called Citrox (The ProGarda™), the natural alternative to synthetic biocides for the decontamination of fresh produce, food and beverages. Citrox technology incorporates a truly holistic approach designed to increase the effectiveness and profitability of food and beverage production processes. A brief overview of this product All Citrox products are made from natural extracts or naturally derived compounds. Some of them are permitted for use in organic production (e.g.: fruit & vegetable decontaminant) or certified organic (e.g.: pre-harvest treatment products). All the Citrox derivatives are completely non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, non-corrosive, and non-tainting in use. They can actually be added to foodstuffs. They are formed by the bioflavonoid extracts and a range of completely natural organic acids, this combination having highly synergistic effects in all their many applications. The ProGarda™ decontaminant range has been specifically formulated for the decontamination of fruits and vegetables. These products are viable alternatives to the use of chlorine (or other compounds or systems) for decontaminating fresh fruits and vegetables. More about Citrox here. According to Randy Worobo, an associate professor of food microbiology at Cornell University, you need not worry. As reported in Prevention magazine, he says carrots are not preserved in bleach but rinsed in a chlorine wash that's recommended by the FDA to kill bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli. Most pre-cut produce, including frozen vegetables and fruit salad, is washed with this or similar sanitizers. Baby Cut and Peeled Carrots are treated with chlorine. It is used as an anti-microbial treatment to control potential contamination in the finished product. Carrots that are treated with chlorine are subsequently soaked and rinsed with potable water to remove the excess chlorine before being packaged. Sanitizers that can be used to wash or to assist in lye peeling of fruits and vegetables are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in accordance with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act as outlined in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, Ch. 1, Section 173.315. Chlorine is routinely used as a sanitizer in wash, spray, and flume waters used in the fresh fruit and vegetable industry. Anti-microbial activity depends on the amount of free available chlorine (as hypochlorous acid) in water that comes in contact with microbial cells. The effectiveness of chlorine in killing pathogenic micro organisms has been extensively studied." Also read what Bolthouse, a leading producer in the US has to say, More on the Chlorine scare What about the chlorine? Some carrots are washed with chlorinated water. This water must have a pH (acidity) between 6.0 and 7.0. The concentration of chlorine in the water should be between 100 and 150 ppm (parts per million). The time of contact between the carrots and the chlorinated water should not exceed 5 minutes. This must be removed from the carrots by rinsing with potable water or using a centrifugal drier. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the use of chlorine as a antimicrobial treatment is a current accepted practice in the processing for all fresh cut ready-to-eat vegetables. This ‘Chlorine’ is most likely sodium hypochlorite also known as chlorine bleach. It is used as a disinfectant and antimicrobial in many industries. It is made by reacting a sodium hydroxide solution (also know as caustic soda or lye) with elemental chlorine gas. All of these chemicals are made from sodium chloride, also known as salt. Next time do some research look up cholera if you want a glimpse of what the world was like before the wide availability of chlorine disinfection! Like other ready-to-eat fresh vegetables, baby-cut carrots are rinsed or sprayed with very diluted chlorine to reduce the risk of bacterial contamination, and then thoroughly washed and bagged. This process is approved by the FDA and accepted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, with strict rules for what concentration of chlorine can be used and how long the carrots can be exposed. Chlorine is similarly used as a disinfectant in public water supplies and sometimes in poultry processing. It is toxic at high concentrations, but there is no evidence that trace amounts left on food and in water are harmful to health. Is this dangerous? Chlorination is a well-known and well-tested way to disinfect food products. Our tap water is chlorinated as well. When you disinfect something, that means that you kill the bacteria that are present. Chlorine kills bacteria. It can also kill us, or be very bad for us. The bleach you use to clean and disinfect your toilet, contains chlorine. Do not drink it. This will kill you because it is far more concentrated than we can safely ingest. The diluted chlorine in your tap water and in your baby-carrots, presents no proven danger whatsoever. It is precisely to make the carrots safe that the chlorine is used. As a side-note, it is interesting to know that the term "chlorine" is something of a misnomer. Chlorine, in its natural state, is a highly reactive gas that forms compounds with other products. When chlorine is added to other products, it will react virtually immediately to form compounds such as hypochlorous acid (when chlorine is added to water) and sodium hypochlorite (when chlorine is added to a sodium hydroxide solution). These compounds in turn disinfect the water. When we talk about chlorine, and even about free chlorine, these compounds are usually what we are referring to. Note: there are certain compounds of chlorine that do cause cancer. Does chlorine cause cancer? No. While medical science is not an exact science, and we must always be vigilant, there is at present no evidence whatsoever that chlorine causes cancer or could be a facilitator for cancer. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have not classified chlorine as to its human carcinogenicity. The solution used to wash carrots is NOT the same as in swimming pools. Read this interesting article which attempts to put the record straight. More on White Blush It is caused by drying of the damaged (peeled) tissue as the carrots are exposed to air. During storage air can dry out the surface of carrots due to lack of humidity. The carrots may also shrivel due to the lack of moisture. In contrast, whole carrots retain their protective peel, so it takes longer for this problem to occur in them. It is simply the carrot drying out. Try it out for yourself. Take a fresh, normal carrot and cut it in half. Wait. The same white covering (which is officially called white blush) will appear on the cut. Baby carrots will show a lot more white blush for a very simple reason: their skin has been removed and therefore, the entire carrot dries out. Methods of inhibiting the formation of white blush discoloration on freshly processed carrots. When many fruits (i.e., apples, pears, peaches, avocados, and bananas) and vegetables (i.e., beans, potatoes, mushrooms and many root crops) are bruised, or are cut, peeled, or processed in any other way that causes tissue injury, a black or brown discoloration appears at the site of the tissue injury within a few minutes due to enzymes of the melanosis reaction. This discoloration problem has been the subject of much study, because of its obvious economic importance to the food processing industry. Unlike other fruit and vegetables as detailed above, carrots do not develop black or brown discolorations after suffering tissue injuries due to enzymes of the melanosis reaction. Consequently, the carrot is an ideal vegetable to process shortly after harvest into a form that is ready for consumption. Of the estimated 3 billion pounds of carrots that are marketed in the United States each year, approximately 20% are peeled soon after harvest to be sold as fresh miniature carrots, carrot sticks, carrot coins, carrot shreds, and other forms of fresh processed carrots. Whole, unprocessed carrots may be stored under refrigeration for many weeks without significantly deteriorating. However, freshly processed carrots that have been in refrigerated storage for just a few days begin to develop a whitish, chalk-like appearance on their abraded surfaces. In the carrot processing industry, this whitish, chalk-like appearance is known as "white blush." The rate at which white blush appears on processed carrots is a function of the physiological condition of the whole carrots prior to processing, the degree of abrasiveness that was present in the processing, the chemical treatments that were applied to the carrots, if any, and the humidity levels and the temperatures at which the carrots have been stored. For example, variations in the physiology of the whole, unprocessed carrots caused by different degrees of environmental stresses during the growing period, such as heat stress and drought stress, will result in variations in the onset of white blush formation under given storage conditions. Carrots that were grown in poorly irrigated fields tend to form white blush discoloration more rapidly, than do processed carrots that were grown in well irrigated fields. White blush discolourisation is unsightly and unappetizing. As a result, consumers invariably associate white blush with distastefully old carrots, even though the taste and nutritional value of processed carrots are not affected by the appearance of white blush. This fact leads to significant commercial waste when processed carrots are pulled from the shelf due to the appearance of white blush even though taste and nutrition are not being effected. To date, white blush has been controlled primarily by washing freshly processed carrots with chilled water, usually in a hydro cooler, followed by refrigeration and/or by packaging of the freshly processed carrots in specialised containers, including some that maintain modified atmospheres within the containers. Chlorine has also been added to the chilled water treatments for sanitation purposes, and primarily to control microbial bacteria growth on the processed carrots. However, depending upon the above variables, the onset of white blush may only be delayed for a few days. Therefore baby carrots tend to have a shorter shelf life. Important Note: This website contains information which is for general information purposes only and is given in good faith. Whilst the World Carrot Museum endeavours to keep the information up to date and correct, it operates a system of continuous improvement to this information. Accordingly no warranty is given as to the accuracy, completeness, reliability or suitability with respect to the website or the information, advice or opinion contained on the website for any purpose. Users who rely on the information contained in this website or any part of it do so at their own risk. The World Carrot Museum does not represent or warrant that the information accessible via this website is accurate, complete or current, and has no liability whatsoever in respect of any use which you make of such information.

农业

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With ingenuity, creativity, and a touch of grit, this small North Carolina town cultivated a community garden project to produce healthy food for neighbors in need. By Pat Stone The Lord's Acre giving garden is as beautiful as it is productive. Photo by Susan Sides Several years ago, I was feeling frustrated. “There are so many problems,” I said to myself, “and there’s so much suffering in the world.” Worst of all, I felt that there was nothing I could do about it. Do you know that feeling? Even though I lived an environmentally conscientious life and donated money to worthy causes, I needed to take my own two hands and actually do something tactile to make a difference, no matter how small.It was looking at my hands (well, the dirt on them, anyway) that spurred this thought: I know quite a bit about gardening — so why don’t I help start a community garden project in which people could grow food to give away? What could be a more tangible way to help others than growing fresh food for them?Hunger is a significant problem. One in seven people in the United States relies on local food aid, and more than 14 percent live below the official poverty line. At least one in five children is at risk of hunger. Right where you live, people are going hungry. But food-aid agencies seldom share fresh, wholesome produce when it’s in season. Pretty much everything in food pantries comes in a can or a box. No wonder: Such items are inexpensive and they store well. Thinking of that industrially processed food, I only got more excited about my vision of growing fresh vegetables and giving them away. I knew my plan wouldn’t solve world hunger, but it would be something hands-on that would help right where I lived.Digging InWhen I asked folks in my town of Fairview, North Carolina, what they thought of a community giving garden, enthusiasm spread faster than bees on clover. A lot of people besides me wanted a down-to-earth way to help. Before long, our urban community garden had an advisory group, a great piece of borrowed land for growing the garden, scads of generous donations — from a port-a-potty to a truckload of composted manure — and scores of people eager to pull stones and plant seeds.We named our community garden project The Lord’s Acre after a local Great Depression effort in which people gave away what they grew on an acre to help neighbors in need.Now that our urban community garden is in its eighth growing season, I’m proud to say that our volunteers have grown and given away more than 55 tons of organic produce to neighbors in need. Our beautiful garden has even spawned spin-off efforts, such as a weekly community meal, garden classes, new home gardens, and a program in which interested folks can give or take excess produce. We quickly learned that in addition to produce, The Lord’s Acre grows community.Start Your Own Giving Garden If you’d like to set something like this up in your own community, you’ll first need to find other driven people who want to take part in the garden project. Your team’s first efforts will be organizing and planning. Create a core group and a steering committee that meets regularly, and designate one person as the main facilitator. Next, start asking some key questions. For instance, how many people will be involved, and what will their roles be? At The Lord’s Acre, we have a full-time garden manager, seasonal garden interns, and scores of volunteers. Also, what model of giving garden do you want to create? We give away everything we grow through local food agencies. In other models, everyone who works in the community garden gets a share of the harvest. Some groups help people grow gardens in their own backyards.Likewise, you can garden in a slew of different ways. We use deep-dug raised beds, which build healthy soil and make for extremely high production in a limited space. Others use traditional row gardens or boxed beds.Next, figure out how you’re going to share the food you grow. Contact local agencies to see what they need and what they’d be willing to take. Seek out groups that would welcome donations, such as a veterans center or women’s shelter, as well as food pantries. Grow what they can use.Finally, research whether other giving gardens are already established in your area. You can learn from them and work with them. We’re all in this together!Community Garden Project EssentialsConsider these factors before you break ground on your giving garden:Land. You’re going to need someone to donate the use of good, arable land that gets at least six to eight hours of sunlight a day. Preferably, choose a location that’s convenient for other growers to get to. Consider exploring whether a nursing home, school, park, church, or other organization would be willing to provide the land. If you can work under their auspices, that can also help with paperwork. Otherwise, you’ll probably need to incorporate as a nonprofit.Water. Don’t garden where you don’t have on-site access to the water you’ll need for growing plants. We’ve seen gardens fail that try to get around this necessity by trucking water in.Supplies. You’ll be amazed by your neighbors’ and local businesses’ generosity. Our urban community garden has gotten so many supplies — from fencing to seeds — through donations. People and businesses are quite generous when you personally ask them to fulfill a specific need. It’s incredibly gratifying to see. Sometimes I think the best thing The Lord’s Acre does is make it easy for others to help. So many folks want to assist others, but they sometimes just don’t know how. Indeed, that’s how our own garden grew from a one-person idea to a project that hundreds of people are now involved in, and that last year grew more than 12 tons of fresh produce on just under an acre of land.For me, the surprising reward of this whole community garden project has been the joy of working with others. The gratitude individuals express for our vegetables is a joy to behold. But food donations don’t solve poverty. They’re a Band-Aid, but not a solution. The real solutions come, one little bit at a time, from people working together and getting to know each other, so that eventually we’re all neighbors helping each other. There’s not a single volunteer at The Lord’s Acre who doesn’t feel they receive as much as they give, who doesn’t appreciate the chance to work together and grow friendships as well as food.A MOTHER Connection to This Community Garden ProjectThe Lord’s Acre has an interesting connection to MOTHER EARTH NEWS. Susan Sides (our garden manager), Franklin Sides (Susan’s husband), and I (the founder) all worked for the magazine back in the 1980s. I was the assistant editor/garden editor, and Susan and Franklin were the magazine’s staff gardeners. Susan and Franklin gardened at the long-since-defunct MOTHER EARTH NEWS Eco-Village and, later, in a smaller garden that provided editorial material.When the steering committee for The Lord’s Acre interviewed candidates for our garden manager, it quickly became obvious to everyone that Susan was the perfect choice. She’s not only an incredible gardener, but an incredible person, as well. Plus, Franklin’s dedication, friendliness, and creative handyman talents are a local legend. It’s been an honor to work with them again. As Susan puts it, “Relationships are the primary crop in gardens that give away food. And love is the currency.”

农业

2017-09/0615/en_head.json.gz/3587

Speakout Progressive Picks About Us Submission Guidelines Contact Newsletter Sign-Up Job Openings Donate How to Give Why Donate? FAQ Testimonials Planned Giving More Ways to Give Obama Deregulates GMO Crops Despite Supreme Court Injunction Thursday, June 02, 2011 By Robbie Hanna Anderman, Tikkun | Op-Ed font size Early this spring, while the world was distracted by Egypt’s uprising, President Barack Obama pushed the Secretary of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to deregulate genetically engineered alfalfa and sugar beets in the United States. The USDA came through as he directed, totally deregulating these Monsanto-patented genes in early February. In so doing, Obama and the USDA have chosen to override and ignore decisions and injunctions made by the U.S. Supreme Court that banned planting of genetically engineered alfalfa and sugar beets without consideration of the Environmental Impact Assessments, which showed high risks to organic and conventional (chemical) farmers. So how does this affect you and me? Neither of us remembers seeing alfalfa or sugar beets on our breakfast table or even on our Seder table. Or do we? Sugar beets provide over 50 percent of the sugar Americans use in their coffee, cereals, and desserts. For the moment, let’s not focus on the fact that sugar beets can cross-pollinate with red beets and make our borscht genetically modified. Alfalfa reaches our tables within milk, cream, butter, and meat, as it is used as a major animal feed in the dairy industry. It is also used to enrich soils in organic farming. At this time, no genetically engineered crops are permitted for sale in the European Union (though WikiLeaks has revealed that the U.S. government is exerting strong pressure on the EU to allow them). Thus this new deregulation will potentially close off present markets for organic farmers’ crops. Obama’s push for deregulation potentially also means the end of the organic meat and organic dairy industries as we presently know them. Essentially, he is choosing to favor the profits of big agribusiness over the survival of America’s family farmers, and especially America’s organic farmers. Our democracy has to work for farmers and consumers and not just for multinational biotech corporations. It makes absolutely no sense that the economic risks to farmers are not considered before genetically engineered crops are put on the market. It is farmers who pay the costs of genetic contamination, not the biotech companies. How else does this affect you and me? I’ll defer to Canadian geneticist David Suzuki on this. In an interview with the True Food Foundation, Suzuki said anyone who claims genetically engineered food is perfectly safe is “either unbelievably stupid, or deliberately lying,” adding: “The reality is, we don’t know. The experiments simply haven’t been done, and now we have become the guinea pigs…. I am most definitely not in favor of release of GMOs in the food stream and given that it’s too late, I favor complete labeling of GMO products.” In “More Science Needed on Effects of Genetically Modifying Food Crops,” a September 2009 article for the Vancouver news site Straight.com, Suzuki wrote: Some have argued that we’ve been eating GM foods for years with few observable negative consequences but as we’ve seen with things like trans fats, it often takes a while for us to recognize the health impacts. With GM foods, concerns have been raised about possible effects on stomach bacteria and resistance to antibiotics, as well as their role in allergic reactions. We also need to understand more about their impact on other plants and animals. And in “Experimenting With Life,” an article in Yes! magazine, he wrote: We have learned from painful experience that anyone entering an experiment should give informed consent. That means at the very least food should be labeled if it contains GMOs so we each can make that choice. Like Dr. Suzuki, I think it’s worthwhile to acknowledge that we are also guinea pigs in another big experiment. Ours is the first generation to ever eat food that has been intentionally sprayed with poison before being eaten. While it may be argued that we need greater quantities to “feed the world,” the truth is that we’ve lost quality, we’ve lost fertility in humans and in the soil, and our health care budgets are indicative of the effects of this path. Busy schedule? Click here to keep up with Truthout with free email updates. Maria Rodale’s book Organic Manifesto cites shocking studies that make a strong case against chemical farming, while at the same time highlighting the positive nutritional and environmental benefits of organic farming. And according to a 2009 report from the UN Environmental Program, organic farming may be the only way we can solve the growing problem of hunger in the developing countries. Yes, organic farms can feed the world, and do it sustainably. So why is Obama favoring Monsanto? This is the company responsible for more than fifty uncontrolled or abandoned places where hazardous waste is located (“Superfund sites” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund sites). We also have Monsanto to thank for Agent Orange, PCBs, DDT, and more. Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds already dominate the entire U.S. corn, soy, canola, and cotton crops. About 93 percent of soy, 86 percent of corn, 93 percent of cotton, and 93 percent of canola seed planted in the United States in 2010 were genetically engineered. Phil Angell, Monsanto’s director of corporate communications, explained the company’s regulatory philosophy thus: “Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is FDA’s job.” To assure the Food and Drug Administration and USDA do not regulate genetically engineered crops, biotech has spent more than half a billion dollars lobbying Congress since 1999. If we follow the “historical” pattern of genetically engineered corn, soy, cotton, and canola, we will likely soon see engineered alfalfa and sugar beets, with their wind- and bee-carried pollen, completely taking over the entire seed industry for those crops. This contamination would disallow farmers’ ancient practice of keeping and breeding seeds from year to year, and drive up expenses for all farmers. This is nothing new from the American government, which has historically supported policies favoring the consolidation of U.S. seed ownership in the hands of a few major corporations. So let us remind our children that we were “slaves unto Pharaoh in Egypt.” For surely having one corporation control the seeds gives it unprecedented control. The state of affairs reminds me of how Pharaoh, at Joseph’s urging, took control of the grain supplies of Egypt, causing Jacob’s family to go down into Egypt and eventually become enslaved. Not worried yet? Chew on this: it’s been said that most U.S. cities do not have three days of food supplies on their shelves. Extremes of weather in recent years have shown us how vulnerable this situation is. Meanwhile, the National Farmers Unions in the United States and Canada have advocated support for local family farmers and the implementation of local and national programs to ensure food security and food sovereignty — programs that fail to interest corporate-controlled politicians. The fact that the executive wing of government has chosen to override a recent major decision by the Supreme Court to stop all dissemination of genetically engineered alfalfa until the completion on an environmental assessment of its danger is certainly cause for questioning. What’s going on here? Did Obama betray us? Did Obama, a man, a charismatic politician, betray the people who voted for him, whose spirits were raised high with the slogan “Yes, we can”? Perhaps. Yet I am reminded that to run a presidential campaign requires a great deal of money. And since the Supreme Court Citizens United decision — supported by Clarence Thomas, a former attorney for Monsanto — to allow corporations the unlimited ability to anonymously fund political campaigns, it is becoming obvious that Obama owes something to many rich people. U.S. corporations have gained inordinate power over all our politicians by manipulating the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment was adopted in 1868 to protect the rights of newly freed Blacks, yet by 1886 the Supreme Court had begun recognizing it as a protection of the rights of the “persons” called corporations — persons which do not breath, do not have consciences, and are mandated to make a profit for their shareholders. Which group would you betray? Your funders or your fans? When Obama cried, “Yes, we can!” he obviously was speaking for a different “we” than those who voted for him imagined. Monsanto’s seeds are genetically engineered for use with the company’s chemical herbicide RoundUp. Last year we learned that weeds are growing resistant to RoundUp. Monsanto’s profits and stock prices began dropping. A failed technology is now getting another chance to dance and prop up a failing corporation. Oddly, alfalfa (Arabic for “king of herbs”) does not need herbicides for more than 93 percent of its common applications. Farmers have been growing it for many centuries and know how to do so without herbicides. The push for genetically engineered alfafa is just a game move toward controlling the food supply. After all, what will we eat when America’s family farmers are all driven off their farms and into our cities? We would then be dependent on corporate factory farms, whose managers are far from the soil and lack experience in dealing with the whims of nature and weather. We would also be dependent on oil and the prices of oil to supply us with imported food. WikiLeaks has just revealed dispatches from Saudi Arabia to the United States from 2007–9 stating that Peak Oil is happening now: reports of oil in the ground were exaggerated by 40 percent. Thus shipping prices, and agrichemical prices are soon to rise even further. In the 1970s, the richest 1 percent of American families took in 9 percent of the nation’s total income. Today, the top 1 percent take in 23.5 percent of total income. With median workers earning less than they did thirty years ago, who will be able to afford food, let alone nourishing food? Even in the face of these dire circumstances, however, the consciousness of humans is rising. People are increasingly demanding to know where their food comes from. People are supporting organic production even in the face of recession. People are taking up gardening and shopping at farmers markets. Obama taught us not to look for a charismatic messiah, while also teaching us those magic words, “yes, we can!” The coalitions that came together to elect Obama can be revived, as can the networks, and the social media to keep alive the connections. The Center for Food Safety has already filed a legal brief to halt the actual dissemination of these genetically engineered seeds, and Canadian Organic Growers and several other organizations have joined in on the lawsuit. This struggle needs our support. We all eat; it goes beyond all differences. In addition to supporting the legal struggle for food safety, we can also make our voices heard by refusing to invest in big genetic engineering companies such as Monsanto and Bayer. We can do it. We can craft food security and food sovereignty for the people of America and beyond. To read more pieces like this, sign up for Tikkun's free newsletter or visit us online. You can also keep up with Tikkun on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. Robbie Hanna Anderman Robbie Hanna Anderman co-founded Morninglory Farm in Eastern Ontario in 1969 and is blessed to live there with his family (including four grandsons) and extended family. An organic orchardist, gardener, and cook -- as well as a musician and craftsman -- he is grateful to be alive and at home on Liferaft Earth at this moment. Related StoriesUSDA Approved Monsanto Alfalfa Despite Warnings of New Pathogen Discovered in Genetically Engineered CropsBy Mike Ludwig, Truthout | ReportEl Salvadoran Government and Social Movements Say "No" to MonsantoBy Carlos Martinez, AlterNet | Report Show Comments Obama Deregulates GMO Crops Despite Supreme Court Injunction

农业

2017-09/0615/en_head.json.gz/3643

ABC invests $4.7 million for next gen almond farming, sustainability Feb 16, 2017 California wine grape industry seeks no-touch vineyard Feb 10, 2017 Jimi Valov: a proud ambassador of farming, community and pistachios Feb 13, 2017 Former Ariz. ginner Charlie Owen posthumously awarded Lifetime Achievement Award Feb 14, 2017 California vegetables face China inroads on Pacific Rim Dan Bryant | Mar 15, 2003 China's accession to the World Trade Organization heralded more equitable conditions and new market potentials, but its competition with vegetables and other California crops in Pacific Rim markets is also expected to increase, both in volume and quality. That's one conclusion by Mechel Paggi, director of the Center for Agricultural Business at California State University, Fresno. Paggi, a seminar presenter at the recent World Ag Expo at Tulare, predicted “Competition with California products will intensify in markets such as Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia, where we have already seen that sort of pattern develop.” That will be particularly true for labor-intensive crops destined for Japan, where high quality Chinese produce, at presently low volume, is appearing and is expected to expand. This competition is aside from existing issues of Chinese garlic, apple juice concentrate, and other exports causing serious concern among U.S. producers who have seen their domestic markets collapse. Those in the U.S. who want to do business with China, Paggi said, should think in terms of niche-window markets in developing their strategies. “This could be where production in the U.S. is seasonal and you can see yourself sourcing product out of China to fill that window.” General Mills example One case of how multi-national corporations are moving into China is General Mills' agreement with the Chinese to supply training and cannery facilities to set up an asparagus growing and processing industry to capture markets throughout Asia. “It took six years to do it, but now General Mills sources all its asparagus for Asia from that operation. It's the model we're seeing everywhere, and the speed at which it is occurring will make your head swim. “It will be fairly difficult to maintain competition in these sorts of niche markets that are developing models of foreign investment in China. A lot of them will compete directly with California,” he said. Paggi, whose former assignments include agricultural analyst with the Congressional Budget Office and senior economist with the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization, offered another bit a caution for prospective trading partners with China. “Remember that the focus on everything, worldwide, is quality and safety. One of the things we see from the foreign investment models is complete control of all inputs of production and processing from dirt to can. Quality and food safety are keys to profitability.” In profiling China as a market for U.S. products, Paggi said China operates on a relatively small arable-land base of 52.6 million acres and 1.3 billion in population, in contrast to 70.4 million acres and 282 million persons in the U.S. Irrigation projects “However,” he said, “there is some effort to increase arable land through introduction of massive water projects to bring irrigation to acreage currently unable to grow crops.” The Chinese population is concentrated in the south central and south coastal regions, while the northeast and western portions are vast land masses populated by nomadic tribes. The importance of agriculture is dramatized by the 47 percent of the Chinese population involved in agriculture, compared to only 2 percent in the U.S. Chinese productivity relies on very intensive use of hand labor, irrigation, chemicals, and fertilizers. The disparity of its urban regions earning a per capita income more than double that of rural areas is one of China's most formidable problems, he said. “Most rural people, especially the young, are trying desperately to migrate into the urban areas. One way the Chinese government is trying to close the gap is by attracting foreign investment in agriculture.” Paggi said China, given its land mass and population, is often inaccurately considered a major player in world trade. In agricultural trade, for example, its role is minor, at about 5 percent, or about one-third that of the U.S. That does not preclude, however, the need for western observers to monitor the slow but steady growth of China's trade with the world. “Things are always changing there, but now we think the overall trend is toward trade products that involve processing or labor and away from commodities that are land-intensive. While bulk grains are being imported, vegetables are being exported.” Paggi reminded that when China does import or export certain commodities, such as corn or cotton, it has huge effect on world markets. “In corn, for example, in the last four years they have replaced the U.S. as a major supplier to the three of our key Asian markets: South Korea, Malaysia, and Japan.” Although China's exports may not be alarming in the aggregate, when it comes to specific products, there is much concern by American producers. Among those are garlic, mushrooms, carrots, and apple juice concentrate. Exports of California farm products, such as fresh and processed vegetables, nuts, citrus, wine, and beer, are presently viewed as expanding markets as the Chinese work toward higher incomes, but the Chinese are developing their own industries in those products. The Chinese diet, Paggi said, now relies more on rice and cabbage and is less robust in meats, sugar, fresh fruits, and oils than typical Western diets. “Their emphasis on development of fruits, nuts, and vegetables that are competitive with California is something we cannot ignore.” Although the they are planting some 13,000 acres of walnuts each year as part of a long-range reforestation program, Paggi said the Chinese have yet to approach the success of the California almond and pistachio industries. California, with its high reliance on mechanization, now has a productive edge on China in processing tomatoes. That will not likely be the case for long, he added, since mechanization, although modest, is taking hold and replacing human labor.

农业

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News Prized Black Bengal Goats of Bangladesh Prized Black Bengal Goats of Bangladesh Monday 19 March 2007 0:00 CET Black bengal goats are being studied by Bangladesh scientists participating in an FAO/IAEA research programme in Asia. (Photo: Bangladesh Agric. Univ.) Among the world´s poorest countries, Bangladesh is home to one of the richest treasures - prized black bengal goats. The dwarf-size animals are the source of meat, milk, and leather for families - and a big part of the national economy. But changing patterns of land use are threatening the animals´ future. "Our fallow lands for grazing goats are reducing day by day," says Dr. M. O. Faruque of the country´s Department of Animal Breeding & Genetics at Bangladesh Agricultural University. "It´s because of our growing human population and the need to plant cereal crops." Research supported by the IAEA and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is helping Bangadesh plan and protect the goats´ future. Working with other countries in the Asian region, scientists are looking to learn more about black bengal goats and other livetock. A specific aim is to build up the capacity of national agricultural research systems to conduct research in livestock genetics and breeding using modern methods of molecular science. "The goat is perhaps the most misunderstood and neglected, but nevertheless important species of livestock in the Third World countries," notes Prof. Md. Ruhul Amin, a colleague at the university. "They play an important role in our country's economy." Bangladesh scientists are working with other experts to help goat herders and farmers adapt to the changing environment. About 80% of the country´s people live in the countryside, and raising goats and other livestock is a key part of their livelihood. "Goats have typically been raised as scavengers, but now the traditional rearing system in Bangladesh is under threat," says Dr. Faruque. New approaches to rearing and managing the herds are needed, he says. One government priority is to train tens of thousands of farmers on better ways to raise black bengal goats. Results of the FAO/IAEA research programme are contributing to scientific knowledge about animal health and reproduction underpinning such steps. No one knows exactly how many goats graze in Bangladesh - some estimates run as high as 30 million. Together they provide about 30 thousand tons of meat and 20 million square feet of hides and skins, besides milk and other products families depend upon. "Meat and skin obtained from the Black Bengal are of excellent quality and fetch high prices, even in the local market," says Prof. Ruhul Amin. The FAO/IAEA-supported research, launched in 2004 to run over two phases, is analyzing more that 100 sheep and goat breeds by applying nuclear and molecular tools for DNA analysis. Together, the breeds represent the most important livestock species in the Asian region, numbering nearly one billion animals. See Story Resources for more information about the research. Related Resources Animal Genetics Black Bengal Goats Coordinated Research Project FAO/IAEA Bangladesh Goat Research Goat Rearing in Bangladesh Mar 19 2007 Last update: 24 February 2015 More on the IAEA

农业

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Native Herbaceous Perennials for the October Garden Posted on October 2, 2012 by Reeser Manley Share this:FacebookTwitterGoogleEmailPrint (Author’s Note: The following article is excerpted from my upcoming book, The New England Gardener’s Year. The book is scheduled to be published as an e-book later this year (November) and in print version early next year (February). To see more photographs of the herbaceous perennials discussed in this article, visit the The New England Gardener’s Year Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/negardener). There are several herbaceous perennials that belong in the October garden. Some, like the heleniums, begin flowering as early as August and continue into autumn, while others wait until late September or early October to burst into bloom. Smooth Blue Aster (Symphyotrichum laeve) The smooth blue aster is a native fall-flowering plant throughout New England. It grows 2 to 3 feet tall with a central stem that produces a few flowering side shoots in its upper half. Each flowering stem produces panicles of numerous daisy-like flower heads, each about 1/2 to 1 1/4 inches across. Like most members of the sunflower family, each head has about 15 to 30 lavender or light blue-violet ray flowers surrounding a disk of yellow flowers. These tiny central flowers turn reddish yellow as they age. The common name, smooth blue aster, reflects the lack of hairs on the stem and leaves. Gardeners interested in planting smooth blue aster should look for the cultivar ‘Bluebird’, and improvement over the species. Flowering begins in late September in Zone 5 and lasts 3-4 weeks. During October, the small fruits, called achenes, develop with small tufts of light brown hair that aid in dispersal by the wind. Smooth blue aster has many attractive qualities including adaptability to a variety of soil types, beautiful flowers, attractive foliage, and stems that remain erect during the blooming season. It performs best in full or partial sun, and mesic soils, typically fertile loam or clay loam. Plants withstand drought fairly well. The flowers of smooth blue aster provide much needed nectar for monarch butterflies about to embark on their long flight. They also attract native bees, syrphid flies, and hoverflies. The caterpillars of the silvery checkerspot butterfly feed on the foliage, along with caterpillars of many moth species. Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) By October, caterpillars of the monarch butterfly are munching on the leaves of swamp milkweed as the first ripe seed capsules are splitting open to release their seeds to the wind. Silky hairs at the end of each seed form a parachute-like tuft that aids in dispersal. Swamp milkweed is a tall plant with fragrant clusters of pink and light purple flowers. As its name implies, it prefers moist to wet soils and is ideal for planting in the rain garden or along the edge of a pond. Best grown in full sun, it tolerates heavy clay soils and is very deer-resistant. Stonecrop (Hylotelephium spectabile) Known by several common names, including showy stonecrop, showy orpine, ice plant, and butterfly stone crop, this plant (formerly named Sedum spectabile) is Asian in origin but has escaped cultivation to become naturalized in small areas of Connecticut and Massachusetts. It has an upright habit, reaching 18 inches in height and width with leaves that are bluish-green and semi-succulent. Clusters of pink flowers open in late summer and last until frost. A hybrid between this species and S. telephium led to the introduction of the very popular cultivar, ‘Autumn Joy’. Stonecrops should be grown in full sun and well-drained, neutral to slightly alkaline soil that has been amended with plenty of compost. Divide the clumps every 3 or 4 years. Plants often flop late in the season and may need staking. Beautiful in the October border, stonecrop is very popular among bees as a source of late-season nectar. Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale) Helenium autumnale, common sneezeweed or dog-tooth daisy, occurs in wet meadows, thickets, swamps, and river margins throughout New England. Garden forms of this species also show a preference for damp conditions, although they will tolerate all but the driest of soils. They can be grown on heavy clay that is annually amended with compost. Cultivated forms of Helenium autumnale can be found in a wide array of rich colors from pale yellow to deep red and bronze. Giant Sunflower (Helianthus giganteus) The October flowers of smooth blue aster provide much needed nectar for monarch butterflies about to embark on their long flight. Native throughout New England, the giant sunflower lives up to its name, reaching 12 feet in height when grown in rich garden soil. Without sturdy staking you will go to the garden the morning after an October storm and find some of its tall stems lying on the ground. Not a candidate for the perennial border, it is better suited to stand alone at pond’s edge or where woods and clearing meet. Giant sunflower is not particular about soil type, growing well in sandy, loamy, or clayey soils as long as they are well-drained. It is cold hardy to USDA Zone 4. The flower heads are borne on numerous leafy branches in the top third of the main stem, each head measuring 2 to 3 inches across. The first heads appear in late September, but the main show is reserved until October. Given its size and tendency to be flattened by wind, what gardener would grow this mammoth plant? Anyone interested in attracting wildlife, for sure. The nectar and pollen of the flower heads attract bumblebees, hoverflies, butterflies, and other pollinators. Other insects feed on the foliage and stalks, including numerous species of beetles as well as caterpillars of the silvery checkerspot and painted lady butterflies. The seeds are eaten by mourning doves, white-winged crossbills, goldfinches, black-capped chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, tufted titmice, and various sparrows. This entry was posted in Perennials by Reeser Manley. Bookmark the permalink. About Reeser Manley

农业

2017-09/0615/en_head.json.gz/4719

Follow us on: Farm bill debate to resume in '13; tax laws finalized Issue Date: January 9, 2013 By Christine Souza The new 113th Congress will be asked to complete work on a five-year farm bill, which the outgoing Congress left undone as it completed work on a "fiscal cliff" and farm bill extension package that passed on Jan. 1. California Farm Bureau Federation policy specialists describe the package as a mixed bag for farmers and ranchers, citing treatment of the estate tax as a positive, but failure to pass a five-year farm bill as a negative. Because Congress extended the 2008 Farm Bill through September, CFBF Federal Policy Division Manager Rayne Pegg said farm organizations now have the next several months to educate new members of Congress about programs critical to the success of the state's farmers and ranchers. "We're starting with some new members who are going to have to get up to speed on the farm bill and its impact on California. We hope the progress that was made in the House and the Senate during 2012 is not lost in this new Congress," Pegg said. "Farm Bureau will be meeting with the committees to discuss the importance of these programs for California farmers and ranchers." Because an agreement on a new, five-year farm bill could not be reached, the package approved by Congress, known as the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, was negotiated between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Vice President Joe Biden. That meant that much bipartisan work on a new, multi-year bill by the chairs of the House and Senate agriculture committees was not utilized, Pegg said, adding it's uncertain whether any of the negotiated changes will end up in a bill worked out by the new Congress. The final package extended most provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill, including the Milk Income Loss Contract program through Sept. 30 and the Dairy Product Price Support Program through Dec. 31. But Michael Marsh, CEO of Western United Dairymen, said simply extending existing dairy programs will not help California dairy farmers. He noted that the MILC, which compensates producers when milk prices fall below a certain level, and the DPPSP, which maintains a minimum farm price for milk through government purchases of cheddar cheese, nonfat dry milk and butter, deal only with low milk prices and do not provide adequate protection for dairy farmers when they are faced with high feed costs. What dairy farmers want, he said, is a program in the farm bill that would protect their margins. One proposal, the Dairy Security Act, offers a voluntary margin insurance program, although Marsh said the current proposal favors Midwestern dairies. The failure by Congress to pass a five-year farm bill, he said, may provide more opportunity for California dairy producers to have their voices heard. "We've already been preparing to make another push to see if we could get a margin insurance program that gives Californians some better protection on the Dairy Security Act. So we are going to keep pushing ahead," he said. The Specialty Crop Block Grant, plant pest and disease research, and market access programs have been extended with mandatory funding in 2013, whereas funding for other programs important to specialty crop research will be left to approprirations committees to determine. The fiscal-cliff package also authorized $80 million for livestock indemnity payments; $400 million for the livestock forage disaster program; $50 million for emergency assistance for livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish; and $20 million for trees assistance, which have only been authorized and not funded, Pegg said. CFBF federal policy analyst Josh Rolph said the bill makes a number of changes to tax laws that will apply to farmers and ranchers, including a permanent exemption for the estate tax. "I want to applaud our membership for making their voice heard in Washington. The new change in the context of the last two years is better than it could have been for the family farm," Rolph said. "We got the higher exemption indexed to inflation, along with much-needed planning certainty that hasn't existed for years." But, Rolph added, "We won't rest until we have a workable estate tax solution for family farmers and ranchers." The estate tax exemption now stands at $5 million per person, indexed for inflation—currently $5.12 million—with any unused amount allowed to transfer to a spouse. The maximum rate will increase to 40 percent, up from 35 percent. The estate and gift tax exemptions were unified. Stepped-up basis is already permanent law, Rolph said. Tim Chiala of George Chiala Farms, a vegetable grower and processor in Santa Clara County, said repeal of the estate tax remains the ultimate goal. "Our parents and grandparents worked hard to build a farm operation that not only could be passed on to the next generation, but could provide and intrigue the younger generation to go into agriculture," Chiala said. "These family farms and ranches have been paying taxes from the second they went into operation and will continue to pay as long as they can afford to operate. Elimination of the estate tax is what we need, but an extension of the exemption is better than nothing." The bill also finalized these permanent tax rules: Capital gains tax: The top rate will be 15 percent for taxpayers earning less than $400,000 for an individual or $450,000 for a couple. At the higher income levels, the top rate rises to 20 percent. Income tax rate brackets will be 10 percent, 25 percent, 28 percent and 35 percent for taxpayers making less than $400,000 for an individual or $450,000 for a couple. There are no caps on personal exemptions or itemized deductions. The marriage penalty is eliminated for many taxpayers. Alternative minimum tax: The bill increases the AMT exemption for 2012 to $50,600 for individuals and $78,750 for married filing jointly, and indexes it for inflation. Payroll tax: Each employee pays 6.2 percent in payroll tax and the employer pays a matching 6.2 percent. Those who are self-employed pay 12.4 percent. (Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at [email protected].)

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Environment Auto By mulchkin What Does Sustainable Development Mean? Social, Environmental, Economic Sustainability <?xml encoding="UTF-8"><?xml encoding="UTF-8">"Is that Sustainable?!"Credit: cepolinaP"Sustainable." It's a popular word these days. Want to perk some ears? Use the word "sustainable." Often, the term is applied to the concept of development, though few people seem to be asking "what does sustainable development mean?" Are the two really compatible - development and sustainability? The classic "triad" of sustainability consists of three legs: environmental sustainability, social sustainability, and economic sustainability. An understanding of each and where the triad concept originated will help us understand this basic question: what does sustainable development mean? Sustainable Defined The concept is simple, something sustainable can be sustained. Sustainable Development? For folks who like definitions, here's the most popular: A model that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."[768] This answer to the question of what is sustainable development was given at the United Nation's Brundtland Commision in 1987. Since, the term is popularly applied to many practices and concepts: sustainable building, sustainable forestry, sustainable education, sustainable travel, sustainable tourism, sustainable community, sustainable cites, sustainably transportation, etc. Learning some about sustainable agriculture can help us better understand the question of what is sustainable development. A sustainable agriculture is a model of providing for food and fiber that, theoretically, continually enhances (or at least doesn't degrade) the so called natural resources necessary for growing plants and animals. Tilling, thus, would arguably be an unsustainable agriculture practice because it increases erosion, the leaching of valuable mineral, the decay rates of organic matter, kills earthworms, and much more. So not tilling would be considered a practice in sustainable agriculture systems; well, at least some sustainable agriculture systems, as not all "sustainable farmers" see tilling as inherently unsustainable. A number of prophetic voices have raised much awareness about the need for a more sustainable, ecological, environmentally sound agriculture. Joel Salatin, Virgin writer and farmer at Polyface Farm, is one of these. The investigative food journalist Michael Pollan is another. Among others are Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, Steve Solomon, John Jeavons, and Sally Fallon. Triad of Sustainability As with all triads, the goal is stability. A stool with one or two legs won't stand, three are the minimum. A stool with three legs of unequal length won't necessarily stand, and if it does it won't be stable. The goal: A stool with three equal legs. The three legs of the "sustainability stool" are economic, environmental, and social. The concept that something must be economically viable if it's to be sustainable. How can one continue something if it makes them no money, arguably a necessity these days? Opponents, however, point out the fallacy of trying to develop sustainable systems and practices within the concept of an inherently unsustainable economic system. Basically, if the free market economic system is bound for collapse, why should the "economic leg" exist at all? Regardless of the arguments, the concept economic viability and even profitability within the sustainability movement encouraged many farmers and others to transition to more ecological, environmental practices in the 1980s and 90s. Indeed, such remains the case today. And also, the concept of economic sustainability, in large part, should be thanked for the establishment of government funded sustainability programs such as SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) and ATTRA (Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas), both two incredible resources (links open in new window). While the concept of economic sustainability may be inherently flawed, it nevertheless has and continues to serve as an important motivator for individuals and groups alike to move towards more sustainable practices. The environmental leg of the sutainability triad seems most self explanatory. In the sense that we are all part of the natural world, the environmental leg is really the only one of much importance (after all, trees only have one trunk). So the concept is simple: Anything sustainable must only not harm the natural world but, moreover, must enhance it. Because we humans are part of the natural created world, it seems funny to have an entire leg for "social" sustainability. But think of this leg more as the "social justice" work of the sustainability movement. A sustainable development that marginalizes some while raising up others is not sustainable. Socially just sustainability makes it possible for every persons needs to be met. What does Sustainable Development mean? Now that we've explore some underpinnings of the sustainability concept, readers should have more insight towards the question of what does sustainable development mean. To apply the triad concept , it means it's a model of development that is economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially just. While much of the philosophy and basic assumptions that these understandings are based on seem perhaps a bit short-sighted and even untruthful, chances are that we'd all be much better off working towards greater sustainability in our micro lives and the macro systems and practices we support. May we each find the strength and fortitude to work towards something greater than ourselves. Going Grey is the Green Solution for Saving Water mulchkin 6 Rarest Colors of American Lobsters Australian Wetlands Need Protecting - Birds and Habitat Suffering Why Are the Bees Dying? And What Can We Do? Brooklyn Botanic Garden, A Touch Of Wonder 5 Easy Ways To Help The Environment And Save Money What is Permaculture Landscaping What Happened to the Aral Sea? 6 Step Guide To Making Your Own Compost Elephants, Ivory and Our Kind Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Meeting Report: United Nations, 1987.

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Pineapple Del Monte testing genetically modified pineapple By Coral Beach April 26, 2013 | 4:35 pm EDT Genetically modified pineapple grown in Costa Rica by Del Monte Fresh Produce Co. Inc. gained the approval of the U.S. Department of Agriculture earlier this year. However, according to a statement from Del Monte officials April 26, the new pineapple variety — dubbed Rosé — is “in a testing phase.” “The USDA’s decision does not mean that Rosé is in commercial distribution; it is in a testing phase. Del Monte intends to continue to test Rosé and will communicate more details when appropriate,” according to the statement from Dennis Christou, vice president of marketing in North America for the Coral Gables, Fla., produce company. “Del Monte Fresh Produce has a very active research and development program designed to explore new varieties and new agricultural techniques. The results of these research projects may or may not lead to commercialization depending on many factors including regulatory approvals by the relevant governmental authorities where and when applicable.” Del Monte officials wrote to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in July 2012 seeking approval for its patent-pending Rosé pineapple. Michael Gregoire, deputy administrator of biotechnology regulatory services at APHIS responded with the agency’s OK on Jan. 25, but the response was not made public until late April. Before the new pineapple can be imported to the U.S., Del Monte must complete a food safety consultation with the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA’s website listing approved consultations did not show any pineapple reqults as of April 26. “APHIS confirms that the harvested Del Monte Rosé pineapple as described in your documentation does not require an importation or interstate movement permit under (federal code),” according to Gregoire’s letter. “… fruit from the Del Monte Rosé pineapple cultivar does not have the ability to propagate and persist in the environment once they have been harvested.” In its request to APHIS, Del Monte described the new pineapple variety as having rose-colored flesh. “To achieve its novel fruit color, Del Monte Fresh has altered expression of genes involved in lycopene biosynthesis to increase levels in edible tissues of pineapple fruit,” according to Del Monte’s request. “The genes of interest are derived from edible plant species, pineapple and tangerine.” Various Costa Rican media report the Coral Gables, Fla.-based fresh produce company has been working with Costa Rican growers to develop the new pineapple variety since 2005. When the Costa Rican government OK’d expanded plantings in 2011, some environmental groups in the country expressed concerns. According to its letter to APHIS, 65% of the pineapple Del Monte imports to the U.S. is sold to the fresh sector. Another 15% goes to fresh cut, with the remainder going to juice and frozen products. The new genetically modified variety would be sold in the same channels and at about the same percentages as Del Monte Gold pineapple, according to the letter. The 2012 financial report from Del Monte showed about a third of the company’s fresh produce sales are from commodities grown in Costa Rica. del montegenetically modified pineapplecosta rican growers About the Author: , Staff Writer Coral Beach joined The Packer newsroom in February 2011, bringing more than 30 years of experience at daily newspapers, trade magazines and online publications. Beach earned a bachelor’s of science degree from the University of Kansas School of Journalism in 1982. e-mail: [email protected] phone: 913-438-0781 Follow @@Coral_TheBeach Log in to comment Farm Journal Media

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Farm Subsidies Birds And Fish Would Choose By Dan Charles Oct 17, 2011 TweetShareGoogle+Email This wetland in Iowa was created with money from conservation subsidy programs. Lynn Betts / USDA/Natural Resources Conservation Service With the 2012 farm bill coming up fast, we're taking a closer look at what it is and how it shapes food policy and land use in an occasional series. This is part three. Capitol Hill is a scrum of lobbyists fighting over a shrinking budget these days, and farm subsidies are under attack as never before. Some of those subsidies appear likely to die. I hear cheering. Farm subsidies are wildly unpopular almost everywhere except among the people who receive them. After all, why should taxpayers pump more money into a farm economy that's already flush with profits from high grain prices? But let's talk about one kind of farm subsidy, one that environmentalists are fighting to preserve. Believe it or not, so are the people who run the water systems in American cities. This week, some of these groups wrote a letter to Congress asking lawmakers to keep funding these programs. We're taking about "conservation" subsidies. Some people call them "green payments," and they add up to about $5 billion each year. Under these programs, the government pays farmers to do things that are good for the environment, but aren't profitable. The biggest single source of green payments, the Conservation Reserve Program (which costs just under $2 billion each year), pays farmers to take cropland out of production for ten years or more and instead plant native grasses (or sometimes trees) on that land. At its peak a few years ago, 36 million acres were part of the CRP. That's an area the size of the state of New York. It's been declining in recent years. Now it's more like the size of Indiana. Other programs pay farmers to turn cropland back into wetlands (good for wildlife and water quality), or to introduce farming practices that reduce soil erosion and fertilizer runoff or provide more habitat for wildlife. But why? Consider this: Conservation subsidies may be the most effective way to improve the health of the vast Mississippi watershed (and other, smaller, farming areas on both coasts.) Farmers control the vast majority of the land in such places. Their cumulative decisions can (and do) drive species into extinction by eliminating grasslands and wetlands. Almost inevitably, they pollute streams and lakes. Agriculture dominates this landscape. It's got a major impact on the environment. It's been almost impossible to rein in its environmental impact through regulation. How do you tell a farmer in Iowa that he's not allowed to grow top yields of corn on his own land? So instead of a stick, the government uses a carrot: Conservation payments. Economists at the USDA believe that the public is getting a good deal: In 2007, they calculated that the Conservation Reserve Program buys at least $1.3 billion of clear environmental benefits each year. Think cleaner water, more wildlife, and reduced soil erosion. That's not including some benefits that are more difficult to calculate, such as reducing the amount of greenhouse emissions from agriculture. Now, conservation payments have their problems. As with most government money, the biggest challenge is making sure that payments go to the right places. The farmers who own the fields that would be most valuable as wetlands or grasslands don't necessarily choose to sign up. In other cases, farmers may be getting paid for doing things that they would have done anyway. And in farm communities, there are mixed feelings on conservation payments. When I reported on the CRP back in 2005, farmer Don Teske, of Wheaton, Kansas, told me that "the perception is that you're being paid to do nothing." For many farmers, subsidies for growing food seem more acceptable than a check for leaving land idle. That may be one reason why, in the current battle over farm subsidies, environmentalists seem to be fighting harder for conservation programs than the big mainstream farm organizations, such as the American Farm Bureau. Those organizations are pushing for a bigger subsidy for crop insurance — essentially a safety net for those who want to grow more corn, soybeans, and cotton. These farmers don't want to be part-time park rangers. They want to farm. Stay tuned for more on crop insurance. For more on how the farm bill was shaped, see our previous posts on direct payments and the bill's storied history.Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. TweetShareGoogle+Email © 2016 Public Radio Tulsa

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US crops tell story of future world food prices North America editor From the section US & Canada http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19188333?postId=113383877 High temperatures and little rain have lead to a seriously damaged corn crop Marion Kujawa strips back an ear of corn with disgust. It's a weedy specimen, only a few inches long. Half way up the cob gleams a solitary golden kernel. The farmer's alarm at this measly harvest may soon be shared by consumers around the world, as food prices shoot up.Then next ear he picks is even worse."There's nothing. Nothing. It should be 10 inches long, completely full of grain but the heat was so bad, 110 out here, that means 140 degrees coming off the ground. It's just burned up. I've done everything I can do. The rest is in the Maker's hands. I can't make rain."The spry 73-year-old, kitted out in his John Deere cap and denim overalls has farmed these 2,000 acres (809 ha) in southern Illinois for more than half a century. He's seen drought before. '54 was bad, he says and in the 80s he watched as some good men went under, through no fault of their own. But this past July has been the hottest in American history and he's never seen anything like this. Devastation has come out of a clear blue cloudless sky, the lack of rain parching good ground into a cracked, pale grave for the crops.'It's all gone' You can't sell this. It's all gone. There's nothing thereMarion Kujawa, Farmer We tramp through a landscape of shrunken brown plants, dried husks crunching under our feet as Marion searches for some small sign of fruitful growth. The best we can find is an ear that has produced seven kernels.The corn should be seven feet (2m) high, waving above our heads, green and laden with fat heavy cobs, like the ones you eat slathered in butter. Instead, the tallest plant barely brushes our shoulders. The folk around here don't like to sound defeatist. They will tell you that they've known hard times, got through them in the past and have faith they will again. They are not among life's worriers and moaners. Yet their optimism and their prayers have yielded no rain. There is a realisation that for this year, this is it. "You can't sell this. It's all gone. There's nothing there," Marion says, clutching a bare cob."We're on a downslide going into the middle of August. It's done. It's done. Some is going to be worse than others, but it's going to hurt. You have to be strong, but we got nothing to harvest." His other crop, soya beans, look in a better state. At least the plants are green, and there is some hope for them if there is rain soon. But the pods are so small and tight that he can barely split them open with his penknife blade to show me the bean inside. The sky is still a perfect cloudless blue and the forecasters have dropped their previous prediction of rain by the weekend.It doesn't pay to be too optimistic.Last year Marion sold a $1m (£639,000) worth of crops. This year he will be lucky to make $200,000. Crop insurance and his own prudence, conservatism as he calls it, should mean he will weather the lack of storm. But there is no getting around the fact that two of the staples of the world food industry are about to become scarce commodities. That means they will also become more expensive. Soya beans and corn make oil and animal feed, as well as ethanol, to some controversy. But they also go into products you wouldn't think about. Snacks, fast food, even soft drinks. That means America's drought is going hit us all.World economy fearsAbout 500 miles away from the cornfields of southern Illinois, in Chicago, Ceres, the goddess of agriculture stands atop the city's board of trade, the place that claims to have invented futures trading in in the 19th Century. She has no face, perhaps so as not to show her shame at all the unanswered prayers. Inside, corn traders shout and raise their clenched fists in the air."Seven dollars.""Seven, twenty-one.""Nine, thirty-two.""Take it, backed up."Some gesticulate with both arms, fingers pointing or outstretched. It seems more like a pent-up strike meeting than commerce in action, but the fever will not lessen. Image caption Inside the Chicago trading floor They are all waiting for the crop production report on 10 August, which will set out the situation. As we look at all the activity, Virginia McGathey, president of McGathey Commodities, tells me that she thinks the figures will be even worse than most people have been expecting."The prices are as high as they've ever been," she says. "This was supposed to be the biggest crop ever of corn. The weather was wonderful in the spring and now it looks like we could have lost 50% of the crop. At that point all bets are off."She points out that American farmers are not the only ones who have been suffering through a lack of rain. It's been the same story in Russia, parts of Asia, and earlier in the year, South America."World food prices are definitely going up, and I believe they are going up to stay," Virginia McGathey says. She thinks corn prices could pass $9 a bushel, a price that would be "astronomical"."If you think back in the day you could buy a pair of tennis shoes for $10, now they're like a $110, we're heading that way with grain prices. You're going to see prices go up, minimum 20% at the grocery stores."The world economy doesn't need any more bad news at the moment, but the pathetically shrunken cobs in Marion's fields may be wizened heralds of blows yet to land. View comments Drought in US bakes cattle and crops 3 August 2012 Drought aid hit by US Congress recess 3 August 2012 Video Markets watch Russia for possible grain export controls 8 August 2012 More US & Canada stories

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National Beef to close California slaughter plant The National Beef Packing Co. blames a dwindling supply of available fed cattle for its decision to close its processing plant in Brawley, Calif. The closure will affect about 1,300 jobs. Tim HeardenCapital Press Published on February 3, 2014 1:23PM The National Beef Packing Co. is closing its only West Coast processing facility in Brawley, Calif., affecting about 1,300 jobs and sending shock waves through the already fragile Imperial Valley economy.A declining supply of fed cattle available to the Southern California facility was a key driver in the company’s decision to stop production there after April 4, company general manager and vice president Brian Webb told local officials in a letter Jan. 31.National Beef has not determined the future for the plant, which it acquired in 2006, but its support for affected workers will include help in finding jobs at other National Beef facilities, a company news release stated.“Unfortunately, based on current and projected business needs, the company has made a decision to cease beef slaughter operations in Brawley and close our facility,” Webb wrote.The Brawley plant has the capacity to slaughter about 1,900 cattle per day, mostly Holstein steers, industry experts told the Reuters news service.The closure will leave three National Beef plants in Kansas as the closest facilities available to West Coast suppliers. National Beef’s operations in Liberal, Dodge City and Kansas City, Kan., are joined by facilities in Hammels Wharf, Pa., Moultrie, Ga., and St. Joseph, Mo.The shutdown will also likely have ripple effects through the area’s economy. The plant contributes more than $3.4 million in annual revenue to the city in the form of water and sewer charges and a utility users’ tax – nearly 30 percent of the city’s total water sales and one-quarter of all sewer charges, according to a news release.Imperial County’s unemployment rate was already 22.5 percent in December, the Imperial Valley Press reported. Cattle were the county’s highest valued crop in 2012 at nearly $484 million, according to the county’s latest crop and livestock report.The closure comes as severe drought in the West has prompted many ranchers to trim their herds. Cattle herds nationally are at historic lows, reflecting a calf crop that has declined for 17 straight years, University of Missouri ag economist Ron Plain has said.The Brawley plant has had ongoing issues with the city over its wastewater. In 2008, the Colorado River Basin Regional Water Quality Control Board ordered the city to start a pretreatment program for wastewater from the plant, and the city imposed a surcharge on National Beef based on the amount and contents of sewage it sent to the city’s treatment plant, according to the water board.Still, the city was fined $1.7 million last year for violations of effluent limitations at the city’s treatment plant, many of which resulted from inadequately pretreated discharge from the slaughterhouse, the water board asserted.OnlineNational Beef Packing Co.: http://www.nationalbeef.com/Pages/default.aspxNational Beef Notice to Government Officials: http://www.brawley-ca.gov/media/managed/news/NB_PlantClosure.pdf

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EU Plant Health Regime improved to reduce risk of importing harmful organisms Today the Agriculture Council adopted amendments to Directive 2000/29/EC, which deals with protective measures against the introduction and spread of organisms harmful to plants or plant products in the European Union. The amended Directive improves the transparency of import procedures for plants and plant products and further adjusts the EU Plant Health regime to the conditions of the internal market, responding to risks resulting from increased trade. The overall aim of the EU plant health legislation is to ensure protection against harmful organisms that affect plants or plant products. The benefits of the amended Directive include the strengthening of import clearance procedures for plants and plant products and improved conditions for co-operation between customs authorities and official phytosanitary bodies in Member States. The Directive also ensures better information for importers and the establishment of a harmonised system of fees charged for carrying out import checks. Commissioner David Byrne, responsible for Health and Consumer Protection, said "I welcome this reinforcement of the EU's plant health regime, strengthening the internal market and giving the European Union as a whole an improved capacity to trade safely in plants and plant products." Two examples of diseases caused by harmful organisms that are addressed by the Directive are potato brown rot and potato ring rot, both very damaging to potato crops with the potential to cause crop losses of up to 50%. Another example is pine wilt caused by pinewood nematode, one of the most devastating harmful organisms affecting conifers. Losses occur in natural coniferous forests as well as in artificial forest ecosystems like ornamental conifer plantings, windbreaks and Christmas tree plantations. A final example worthy of mention is fire blight, which can be extremely damaging to fruit trees and ornamental trees. These organisms are not dangerous to the consumer but can cause significant economic losses. In all cases very stringent measures to contain them are already in place under the current Directive. The amended Directive introduces improved clearance procedures for the import of plants or plant products that might harbour these organisms, hence reducing the risk of introducing such organisms. Background The EU Plant Health Regime was established by Directive 2000/29/EC, which contains all measures and actions to be taken to prevent the introduction into and the spread within the European Union of organisms harmful to plants or plant products. Such organisms are currently either not present in the EU or if they are present they are not widespread and they are being kept under control. The amended Directive that was adopted today was originally proposed by the Commission on 5 April 2001. In addition to the improved import clearance procedures and harmonisation of fees for phytosanitary import inspections, the amended Directive aims to complete, specify and update other provisions in the Directive, building on experience gained, new scientific evidence and international instruments. In particular, these provisions include: those relating to the format of the phytosanitary certificates used by Member States under the International Plant Protection Convention, the role of the single authority of each Member State for co-ordination and contact in plant health matters, procedures for the adoption of derogation decisions or of emergency measures and plant health checks organised by the Commission. The amended Directive also adjusts regulatory provisions to clarify procedures for the Commission to exercise the implementing powers that have been conferred on it. Finally, in accordance with obligations under the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, the amended Directive specifies procedures for recognising the equivalence of phytosanitary measures of other parties to that Agreement. The amended Directive will enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal, and requires Member States to adopt and publish the provisions necessary to comply with it before 1 January 2005. The Commission will now focus on preparing various implementing measures such as co-operation between the official phytosanitary bodies in the Member States and the Customs authorities, model forms of documents to be used in that co-operation, and the means of transmission of these documents. Such measures must be taken to maintain the identity of the consignments and to safeguard against spreading harmful organisms during transport until the completion of the required phytosanitary and customs formalities. Side Bar

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Irrigation district working with Odessa landowners The East Columbia Basin Irrigation District is working with landowners in the Odessa Subarea who are eligible to replace groundwater with surface water from the Columbia River. Development coordinator Levi Johnson says the work includes finding financially feasible options for farmers. Construction to widen part of the East Low Canal south of Interstate 90 for water delivery is slated to begin in November. Matthew WeaverCapital Press Published on October 2, 2013 10:13AM The East Columbia Basin Irrigation District recently held a meeting for 100-130 landowners in the Odessa, Wash., area who are eligible to receive water from the Columbia River.Levi Johnson, development coordinator for the district, said he is verifying information with landowners to confirm their eligibility.Roughly 170,000 acres in the Odessa Subarea are irrigated using groundwater. Of that, about 102,000 acres are eligible to receive surface water from the Columbia River. That reliance on groundwater in the region has caused the Odessa aquifer to subside rapidly. More than 35 percent of the affected wells will be abandoned by 2020, Johnson said.“We are reaching farmers who have had to change production systems dramatically because of wells that will only run for a day or two, a couple weeks, a couple months — whereas 10, 20 years ago, they were running to allow them to maximize their production area,” Johnson said.The district is working on contractual issues with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and addressing the fact no secondary use permit has yet been issued to the agency to withdraw the water, Johnson said.The district is beginning to design alternative delivery systems, working with landowners to find financially feasible options.“We’re working with landowners to figure out who’s interested and what makes sense for them economically to participate in the program,” Johnson said.The preferred alternative identified by the Bureau of Reclamation and Washington Department of Ecology would deliver water to 70,000 acres, Johnson said. The district is also working on the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program, which covers 88,000 of the 102,000 eligible acres.The groundwater replacement program includes the 70,000 acres from the preferred alternative, 10,000 acres from Lake Roosevelt incremental releases and 8,000 acres from coordinated conservation programs to landowners currently pumping from the Odessa aquifer.The bureau estimates the cost will be $730 million, the bulk of which will fall to landowners. The district, however, expects the cost to be lower, noting the bureau often estimates construction costs higher than actual costs.“If the total cost of all these systems is out of reach for these farmers, we’re planning on coming up with other alternatives to deliver this water that meets the farmer’s needs,” Johnson said.The district hopes to take preliminary design alternatives to landowners by early 2014, with a rough estimate of the cost per acre. The district hopes to begin delivering water in the next two years.Construction on expansion of 45 miles of the East-Low Canal south of Interstate 90 is slated to begin in November, although Johnson said there are caveats given the governmental shutdown and permitting requirements. The earthwork is slated to be done over the next two winters, he said.

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Wakame, Sea Vegetable 2.1 oz / 60 g Double click on above image to view full picture Case of 6 - $70.90$11.82 each Sun-dried from the environmentally protected national treasure, Ise (ee-say) Bay, Japan. Essential for miso soup and delicious in salads. It turns a happy bright green when soaked. A good source of magnesium. Details Eden Wakame is cultivated off the shores of Ise (ee-say) Bay, Japan where it thrives in cool and mineral rich arctic currents. The sea there is surrounded by National forests and mountains and is known as the 'Ocean by Mountains' area. Rivers nourish the bay adding to a mineral rich environment. This area leads all of Japan in ecology movements. Development is forbidden to ensure future generations the legacy of this famous edible seaweed resource. This wakame is hand harvested from January to the end of April by farmers in boats using long poles with blades attached to cut the fronds loose from the ocean bottom. Long rakes are used to gather the wakame as it floats to the surface. The wakame is taken ashore, washed, hung on ropes and left to sun dry before trimming, grading and packaging. Unlike most commercial wakame, Eden Wakame is not treated with softening agents such as enzymes or monosodium glutamate (MSG). Wakame Undaria pinnatifida is a species of brown algae with long, delicate leaves that resemble feathers. Its size and tenderness varies depending on where it grows as temperature and ocean conditions create a variety of plants. Wakame first became known in the United States as the green in Miso soup, and is one of the most popular sea vegetables in Japan and the United States today. Eden Wakame is quickly restored to tenderness when soaked and is a favorite in soups, stews, marinated dishes, and salads. Eden Wakame is low calorie, fat and cholesterol free, and a good source of magnesium. Like kombu and other brown algae, wakame contains glutamine, a sweet amino acid that acts as a flavor enhancer and softening agent when cooked with other foods. Its alginic acid, a polysaccharide similar to pectin found in land plants, protects the plant from bacteria and fungi. Scientific research conducted by McGill University, in Canada demonstrated that "alginic acid binds with heavy metals in the body, from all sources, renders them insoluble and causes them to be eliminated." Additional Info Wakame (Undaria pinnatifida) Good Source of Fiber Yes, 2.5 g to 4.9 g per serving (10% to 19% DV)

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Honeybees return to Kew Gardens Honeybees are making a comeback to Kew Gardens as part of a campaign to encourage people to grow bee-friendly flowers in their gardens. Beekeepers have reported unusually high losses of honeybees in recent years Photo: GETTY 4:00PM BST 16 Jun 2009 Around 20,000 honeybees have been released into two hives in a wild flower meadow at the world famous botanical gardens in London, marking a return after a year without the insects. Bees in Kew's hives died at the same time as many colonies across the country – with the widespread losses thought to be as a result of problems including disease and environmental pressures. Bees play a vital part in pollinating many of the crops grown in the UK, but have been hit by agricultural changes which have reduced the availability of the wildflowers that are so important in providing food for the insects. Diseases such as the varroa mite have infected hives, killing the bees, while climate change and pesticide use have also been suggested as possible factors in the insects' decline. The number of honeybees has fallen by between ten and 15 per cent in the last two years, according to the Government, but a survey of British Beekeepers' Association members suggests losses could have been as high as 30 per cent between November 2007 and March 2008. Annette Dalton, horticultural manager at Kew Gardens, said: "No English garden is complete without its bees and Kew Gardens is no exception." She said the wild flower display was full of bee-friendly plants such as oxeye daisy and wild clary, with winter and spring flowering trees and shrubs nearby to feed the bees all year round. "We want to do our bit to help the British honeybee and we hope this will show visitors to the Gardens the important interaction between plants and insects. "Without pollinators like bees, plants would not set seed and our food supplies would be under threat," she said. UK News Earth » Wildlife » Gardening »

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Continuing the Green Revolution: Wall Street Journal Op-Ed By Norman Borlaug This op-ed was published in the July 18, 2007, edition of the Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition). Copyright (c) 2007, Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further reproduction of distribution is prohibited without permission. Abstract (Summary) Early crossbreeding experiments to select desirable characteristics took years to reach the desired developmental state of a plant or animal. Today, with the tools of biotechnology, such as molecular and marker-assisted selection, the ends are reached in a more organized and accelerated way. The result has been the advent of a "Gene" Revolution that stands to equal, if not exceed, the Green Revolution of the 20th century. So far, most biotechnology research and development has been carried out by the private sector and on crops and traits of greatest interest to relatively wealthy farmers. More biotechnology research is needed on crops and traits most important to the world's poor -- crops such as beans, peanuts, tropical roots, bananas, and tubers like cassava and yams. Also, more biotech research is needed to enhance the nutritional content of food crops for essential minerals and vitamins, such as vitamin A, iron and zinc. The debate about the suitability of biotech agricultural products goes beyond issues of food safety. Access to biotech seeds by poor farmers is a dilemma that will require interventions by governments and the private sector. Seed companies can help improve access by offering preferential pricing for small quantities of biotech seeds to smallholder farmers. Beyond that, public-private partnerships are needed to share research and development costs for "pro-poor" biotechnology. Persistent poverty and environmental degradation in developing countries, changing global climatic patterns, and the use of food crops to produce biofuels, all pose new and unprecedented risks and opportunities for global agriculture in the years ahead. Agricultural science and technology, including the indispensable tools of biotechnology, will be critical to meeting the growing demands for food, feed, fiber and biofuels. Plant breeders will be challenged to produce seeds that are equipped to better handle saline conditions, resist disease and insects, droughts and waterlogging, and that can protect or increase yields, whether in distressed climates or the breadbaskets of the world. This flourishing new branch of science extends to food crops, fuels, fibers, livestock and even forest products. Over the millennia, farmers have practiced bringing together the best characteristics of individual plants and animals to make more vigorous and productive offspring. The early domesticators of our food and animal species -- most likely Neolithic women -- were also the first biotechnologists, as they selected more adaptable, durable and resilient plants and animals to provide food, clothing and shelter. In the late 19th century the foundations for science-based crop improvement were laid by Darwin, Mendel, Pasteur and others. Pioneering plant breeders applied systematic cross-breeding of plants and selection of offspring with desirable traits to develop hybrid corn, the first great practical science-based products of genetic engineering. Consider these examples: Since 1996, the planting of genetically modified crops developed through biotechnology has spread to about 250 million acres from about five million acres around the world, with half of that area in Latin America and Asia. This has increased global farm income by $27 billion annually. Ag biotechnology has reduced pesticide applications by nearly 500 million pounds since 1996. In each of the last six years, biotech cotton saved U.S. farmers from using 93 million gallons of water in water-scarce areas, 2.4 million gallons of fuel, and 41,000 person- days to apply the pesticides they formerly used. Herbicide-tolerant corn and soybeans have enabled greater adoption of minimum-tillage practices. No-till farming has increased 35% in the U.S. since 1996, saving millions of gallons of fuel, perhaps one billion tons of soil each year from running into waterways, and significantly improving moisture conservation as well. Improvements in crop yields and processing through biotechnology can accelerate the availability of biofuels. While the current emphasis is on using corn and soybeans to produce ethanol, the long- term solution will be cellulosic ethanol made from forest industry by- products and products. However, science and technology should not be viewed as a panacea that can solve all of our resource problems. Biofuels can reduce dependence on fossil fuels, but are not a substitute for greater fuel efficiency and energy conservation. Whether we like it or not, gas- guzzling SUVs will have to go the way of the dinosaurs. Finally, I should point out that there is nothing magic in an improved variety alone. Unless that variety is nourished with fertilizers -- chemical or organic -- and grown with good crop management, it will not achieve much of its genetic yield potential. Mr. Borlaug, the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, was yesterday awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, America's highest civilian honor.

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The Structure of Agriculture Austria Table of Contents Despite the government's efforts to sustain agriculture, by 1991 not one province had as much as 10 percent of the population involved in agriculture and forestry. At the beginning of the 1970s, all but two provinces (Vienna and Vorarlberg) had more than 10 percent of their populations involved in farming. This contrasted markedly to the situation in 1934, when all but those same two provinces had more than 30 percent of their populations working in agriculture. Over this period of two generations, the decline in the Austrian farm population was as fast as any in the Western world. Of Austria's total area of almost 84,000 square kilometers, about 67,000 square kilometers are used for farming and forestry. Roughly half of that area is forest, and the remainder is arable land and pasture. Agriculture and forestry accounted for about 280,000 enterprises in 1986, with the average holding being about twentythree hectares. There were about 4,500 corporate farms. Beyond those farms, however, only a third of all farmers were full-time farmers or farming companies. Over half the farming enterprises were smaller than ten hectares; nearly 40 percent were smaller than five hectares. Just as the number of farmers has long been in decline, so also has been the number of farms. Family labor predominates, especially in mountainous areas and on smaller farms. Only a third of all farm and forestry enterprises were classified as full-time occupations in 1986. A full half of these enterprises are spare-time, that is, less than half of household labor is devoted to farming or forestry. The remainder are part-time. Farms up to ten hectares are more often tended by part-time and spare-time farmers rather than by fulltime farmers. For most farm owners and workers, nonfarm income is as important, if not more important, than farm income. Despite the decline in the number of farmers and agriculture's share of GDP since 1960, agricultural output has risen. As of the early 1990s, Austria was self-sufficient in all cereals and milk products as well as in red meat. This gain was achieved because of the considerable gains in agricultural labor productivity. The value of agricultural and forestry output is heavily concentrated in field crops, meat, and dairy products, with most of it coming from animal husbandry. Because large parts of Austria are mountainous, only the lowland areas of eastern Austria and some smaller flat portions of western and northern Austria are suitable for crop production and more intensive forms of animal husbandry. The remainder of the land is used for forestry and less intensive animal husbandry, most of which takes advantage of mountain pasturage.

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Share: Conservation awards kick off Stewardship Week April 27-May 4 April 28, 2014 The Delaware Agricultural Museum and Village was the setting for the April 23 Stewardship Week proclamation reading and presentation of the annual Governor’s Agricultural and Urban Conservation Awards. On behalf of Gov. Jack Markell and Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Collin O’Mara, DNREC Division of Watershed Stewardship Director Frank Piorko led a ceremony with Delaware Association of Conservation Districts First Vice President Robert Emerson recognizing the honorees. Piorko also read a proclamation signed by the governor officially designating April 27 to May 4 as Stewardship Week in Delaware under the theme Dig Deeper: Mysteries in the Soil. “These honorees are wonderful and diverse examples of how we can all be better environmental stewards by taking thoughtful, important actions to protect and enhance our soil, water and air quality,” said Piorko. “Whether a specific project or a lifetime of conservation, the individuals receiving acknowledgement today possess a continuing commitment to environmental improvement." Delaware Department of Agriculture Secretary Ed Kee congratulated the honorees. “The recipients this year are all excellent stewards of our state. Their daily work proves their commitment to protecting our land and water for future generations,” said Kee. Sussex County honorees were the Seaford School District, which received the Urban Award, and John T. Elliot Jr. of Bridgeville, who received the Agricultural Award. The Sussex Conservation District, the Delaware Nature Society, and the Seaford School District partnered on the design, construction, planting, and outreach effort to construct rain gardens and water features at the four elementary schools in Seaford: Blades, Seaford Central, West Seaford, and Frederick Douglass. Grant funding was provided by DNREC under the Chesapeake Bay Implementation Grant. The intent of the project was to install water-quality practices at the schools while creating a schoolyard habitat that ties into school curriculum and teaches the importance of conservation and stewardship. Delaware Nature Society coordinated with the teachers on incorporating the gardens into the school curriculum as an outdoor classroom, and on the continued maintenance of the rain gardens and ponds. The Seaford School District has been very receptive to taking on the responsibility of maintaining these natural areas, enhancement of the school grounds, and acting as stewards of the Chesapeake Bay. Elliot has been a longtime cooperator with the Sussex Conservation District. He tills approximately 419 acres of corn, soybeans and small grain, of which 80 acres is irrigated. Elliot is a yearly participant in the district’s cover crop program, planting 233.1 acres in 2013. By participating in the cover crop program, He has helped reduce non-point source pollution by allowing the cover crop to utilize the nutrients left over in the soil from the previous crop. These nutrients can be recycled by the following year’s crop. Elliot’s nutrient management plan is written by Sussex Conservation District conservation planners. He also participates in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service programs. He received cost-share assistance for 10 acres of wildlife plantings on his farm and most recently received an irrigation water management cap plan through NRCS to improve his fields and irrigation program. Legislator of the Year The Delaware Association of Conservation Districts also recognized state Sen. Bruce Ennis, D-Smyrna, as the 2014 Legislator of the Year, an annual award which is given to a legislator for outstanding service, loyalty and devotion to conservation efforts in Delaware. Ennis has served in the Delaware Legislature representing Kent County since 1982. Currently, he serves on the Agriculture Committee and Joint Finance Committee, and also works with the Kent County Conservation District to ensure the concerns of his constituents are heard and addressed. Through legislation, Ennis has allocated funds for a number of conservation and drainage projects throughout Kent County over the past year; he has also supported funding for a number of conservation and drainage projects through the Kent Conservation District. Ennis has also allocated funds for 22 completed conservation and drainage projects through the KCD, and an additional nine that are currently in different phases of planning. In the early 1990s as a state representative, Ennis was instrumental in the launching of the Dry Fire Hydrant Program and subsequent installation of the hydrants at sites throughout Kent County through the First State Resource Conservation and Development Council Inc., a program that is still active today. Ennis also supports and educates constituents on the Kent Conservation District’s role in conservation, drainage assistance, and stormwater management throughout his Legislative District, and all of Kent County. A lifelong supporter of the FFA, he attends several FFA functions each year, including the FFA Alumni Barbecue. Most Popular ~~ Townsend Team ~~ Paul & Darlene Townsend, REALTORS® DON'T MISS THIS RARE 2.98+/- ACRE ZONED C-1 ON LONG...Millsboro1,200,000.00 DON'T MISS THIS GEM! NEVER BEFORE LISTED! LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! Rare 2.98+/- Acre...

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Industry Data reveals “mid-size” farms are disappearing By Brett Wessler September 04, 2013 | 3:55 pm EDT Data shows the average farm size has remained steady over the last 30 years, however, a closer look shows fewer “average” farms and considerably more large and small farms. The Agricultural Resource Management Survey, USDA’s primary source of farm financial information shows in a 2011 survey of 1.68 million farms the average farm was 234 acres. More analysis reveals four out of five farms are smaller than the average, and the median farm size, the farm smaller than half and larger than half of the 1.68 million farms, was just 45 acres. A recent article from the USDA’s Economic Research Service says the data is skewed by the growing trend of few farms working more acres. This has increased over the past 30 years with advancements in technology and farm organization. More efficient equipment, precision farming, genetically engineered seeds and a more prominent role for GPS systems have allowed farms to manage larger farms in the same amount of time, and lower their average cost per acre through a better economy of scale. From the chart below, the majority of the farms are between 10 and 49 acres, but the majority of the cropland is owned by farms with more than 2,000 acres. With consolidation and fewer farms owning more cropland, ERS calculations show the midpoint of cropland, the point where half of the acreage is on larger farms and half was on smaller farms, was a farm with 1,100 acres. That average has more than doubled since 1982 when the midpoint acreage for U.S. crop farms was 589 acres. The shift to larger farms shifted mostly in the 20 years between 1987 and 2007. The midpoint for corn acres tripled in that time from 200 to 600 acres. The shift upward could be in farms purchasing more land, or transitioning land from other crops to corn to take advantage of higher prices as the crop could be used as feed or shipped to ethanol plants. Among other crops, the midpoint for soybean cropland also increased from 243 acres for the average enterprise in 1987 to 490 acres in 2007. Click here for the full report. croplandagricultureagcornfarm size About the Author: Brett Wessler

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samsung galaxy s5 review , newest samsung galaxy , the samsung galaxy , samsung galaxy s5 , samsung galaxy s5 phone , the samsung galaxy s5 , new samsung galaxy s5 release date , More Mangos From Costa Rica Uncategorized2016/06/29 Costa Rica News – Sorry guys with a dirty mind we are talking about the fruit not anything else. The effects of El Niño benefited mango exporters this year as they achieved a price differential of up to 50% in international markets and allowed them the opportunity to trade more volume in the global market. This happened because of the changes in harvest in Mexico and Peru, two of the world’s biggest mango suppliers. Peru ended production earlier than usual, and Mexico delayed its harvest, which left a gap in demand that Costa Rica could supply. Costa Rica mainly exports the Tommy Atkins mango variety to the United States. The Tommy Atkins is a red medium sized mango, and a 4.2 kilo-box of this variety was traded for $7 last year. The same box, however, was marketed for about $13 in the harvest that just ended. The European market also reacted positively and paid exporters up to $8 more per box, as they received between $10 and $14 per box, while last year they were paid $6 a box. The mango export season runs from January to May and the production is concentrated in Guanacaste and in Central Pacific areas, such as Atenas, San Mateo, Orotina, and Puntarenas. Last year these areas were severely affected by drought and strong winds that caused the fall of fruit that wasn’t ripe, which reduced harvest volumes by up to 15% in the case of exporter Manga Rica. “Fortunately, we’ve managed to offset the effect of El Niño, which reduced production, with better prices and could take advantage of the window that Mexico and Peru left. We had a good year, “said Andres Medina, general manager of the company. Manga Rica is the only exporter certified by the US to market mangoes in that market because it complies with the inspection agreement to prevent the entry of fruit flies into that market. To do this, the company invests some $90,000 per harvest. The mango is a fruit that has a booming demand, especially in the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, and China, where demand grew by more than 50% in recent years, according to data from the Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer). Europe is the second biggest market for Costa Rica’s mango and it imports the Tommy Atkins and Keitt variety, which is a larger and less colorful fruit that tastes sweet. For several year, England was the main destination in Europe, but it was displaced by Germany and the Netherlands. The country also supplies Portugal, Russia, Belgium, and Spain. Among the major competitors in those markets are Brazil, Mexico, Peru, the Ivory Coast, Senegal, and South Africa. From Fresh Plaza costa rica, costa rica business, costa rica food, costa rica fruit, costa rica mangoes, costa rica news, exporting from costa rica, mango fruit, More Mangos From Costa Rica, news in costa rica Related posts Cancel replyYou must be logged in to post a comment. The Costa Rican Times Costa Rica News More Mangos From Costa Rica

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2016: Reality for producers ‘was pretty grim’ Feb 13, 2017 Cash, other prizes could be yours at Mid-South Farm & Gin Show Feb 15, 2017 Judsons winners in National Outstanding Young Farmer competition Feb 14, 2017 What are Arkansas rice producers considering for 2017 season? Feb 15, 2017 Management Drought likely to persist into 2012 Most of Texas remains in the worst drought category, D-4. Conditions could persist into 2012, or longer. La Nina is to blame. Ron Smith | Oct 20, 2011 If you didn’t like the summer of 2011, chances look pretty good that you aren’t going to be happy with 2012, either. And 2013, ’14, and ’15 could add to your discontent. “This past year we had an unusual drought,” says Texas A&M professor of meteorology and state climatologist Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon. “And we have a strong possibility of it continuing.” Nielsen-Gammon, speaking at the recent Beef Financial Management Conference in Amarillo, said most of Texas remains in the worst drought category, D-4, with only a few areas “around the edge” in less dire straits. He said the drought overall is so bad that the current rating system may not be broad enough to cover it. “We might need a D-5 or a D-6 designation,” he said. “And the longer a drought goes on the worse it gets.” He said average rainfall for the state for the last 6 months was only 5 inches. “We’ve been running from 35 percent to 40 percent of normal rainfall for the past 11 or 12 months.” The drought of 2011 (It actually dates back to last fall.) ranks as the worst in recorded history for much of Texas, eclipsing 1917, 1934 and 1956. And most of the state recorded drought conditions that would be in the top ten worst droughts in history. The difference, so far, between the current drought and the infamous 1956 drought, is duration. Worst in history “In 1956, they were experiencing long-term statewide drought. But 2011 represents the worst short-term drought in Texas history,” Nielsen-Gammon said Analysts have to go back 100 years to find anything close to 2011. “We’ve had 12 consecutive months with below average rainfall. September was the seventh consecutive driest month on record.” He said parts of East Texas remain in a drought that has lasted four years. Recent rains have provided a bit of hope that the drought may be ending but consistent rain will be necessary to break the drought. Nielsen-Gammon said some North Texas Counties had rain last May and that far West Texas had recent “monsoon” rains. “But most of the state is still dry. Some pockets have had less than 10 percent of normal rainfall for the past six months. Most of the state has received less than 25 percent of normal rainfall during that time.” He said intense heat from June through August, “well above what’s been observed before,” added to the problem. Blame La Nina La Nina gets most of the blame for the prolonged drought. “For the past 20 years Texas has fit the pattern of La Nina/El Nino,” Nielsen-Gammon said. That pattern shows that when waters in a specific area of the Pacific Ocean are cooler, the Southern United States experiences warm and dry conditions. That’s La Nina. When those waters are warmer, El Nino comes into play and conditions are cool and damp in the Southern United States. “Most climatologists credit La Nina for the current drought,” he said. But other factors also contribute to Southwestern weather patterns. Tropical storms in the Gulf of Mexico may break drought cycles as may storms coming across the Sierra Madre. Nielsen-Gammon said drought contributed to the unusually high temperatures in the Southwest last summer. “Because of dry conditions, we also had high temperatures,” he said. “Most of the excess heat was due to lack of rainfall and lack of evaporation.” He said evaporation from soil and plants helps cool temperatures. With drought, plant growth is diminished and evaporation reduced. “Solar energy goes into the soil instead of into evaporation, so it gets even drier.” He said temperatures in Texas have been “unusually warm over the past decade. Except for the Panhandle, Texas’ coolest decade was the 1970s.” More drought? He doesn’t predict with certainty that the current drought will persist into 2012, but he says current models indicate the chances are greater that conditions will remain dry than that they will moderate. He refers to various computer models that “predict cooler temperatures in the Pacific” favoring continuation of La Nina and dry and warm conditions across the Southern United States. He showed a graph with a bar divided into four possibilities: driest in 30 years; tenth driest in 30 years; tenth wettest in 30 years; and wettest in 30 years. Under typical circumstance, the two extremes would have about a 33 percent chance of occurring and the middle position also 33 percent. But with current projections, Nielsen-Gammons said the bar tilts toward warm and dry. “We see about a 40 percent chance that Texas will be in a drought period through fall and early winter,” he said. He sees only a 27 percent chance that conditions will be wetter than usual. He said the state had a “reasonable chance” of rainfall for the next two weeks—a prediction that was borne out in some areas of the state from October 7 through 12. “That reasonable chance will be available,” he said, “until we get locked into La Nina.” He also noted that even with a 3-inch rainfall, areas like Lubbock will “still be below average rainfall.” Folks who take advantage of showers to plant wheat have to consider the possibility of getting enough moisture to “get through the winter,” he said. Unfortunately, conditions may not get much better any time soon. “Texas rainfall has been increasing over the long term,” Nielsen-Gammon said. “But it’s been erratic. The extreme far west has been about the same for 100 years. The rest of the state has seen about a 10 percent increase over the last century, so rainfall average is relatively flat and nothing to worry about as far as climate change and rainfall, at this point.” He said since 2000 Texas rainfall has included a series of wet years interspersed with drought. Natural changes, he said, hold the key. In addition to the La Nina/El Nino effect, the Atlantic Ocean also affects Southwest weather. “In the 1950s, warm Atlantic waters and cold Pacific waters created the 1950’s drought period that persisted into the 1960s. That’s the only time those conditions have overlapped.” Until now, perhaps. “We’ve had a warm Atlantic since 1995 with a lot of hurricane activity.” Based on potential for La Nina and other factors, “it looks like a two-year drought at a minimum. But it’s hard to predict. If we’re lucky, we’ll have only two years of drought, but we look at the ’50s and know that long droughts are possible. Sooner or later we will see something worse than the 1950’s droughts.” He said the chance of a five-year drought is about one in four “maybe a little less than that.” Ocean temperature oscillations, he said, have been occurring for thousands of years. “But our ability to forecast has improved. We’re just beginning to have computer power and computer models to forecast on a large scale. In the future, we will probably be able to make more accurate ocean forecasts and more long-term predictions.” He said some factors can’t be predicted, however. Sun spots and volcanoes may reduce temperatures. “We’re in a period now with less solar activity, and fewer sun spots.” He said global temperatures have increased over the last century and “carbon dioxide is causing climate change.” Nielsen-Gammon said the 2011 drought extended from Texas west into Arizona, north into Kansas and eastward to Georgia and South Carolina.

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Citrus greening takes toll on growers It's the most deadly citrus disease ever to threaten Florida's $9 billion citrus industry, but there are ways to detect and treat the menace. ANTHONY DeFEOSTAFF WRITER DELEON SPRINGS — It's the most deadly citrus disease ever to threaten Florida's $9 billion citrus industry, but there are ways to detect and treat the menace known as huanglongbing, or citrus greening. That was the message given to about two dozen master gardeners and members of the public Thursday afternoon during a tour at Vo-LaSalle Farms near DeLeon Springs. The program was organized by the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences extension office in DeLand. Bruce and Steve Crump, the father-and-son owners of the grove, accompanied by agricultural officials, led the group through part of the farm's 65 acres of groves, pointing out some of the signs of citrus greening. "Greening might be a misnomer," said Bruce Crump. "It doesn't make (the plant) green. It makes it yellow." A 2012 University of Florida study estimated that since 2006, greening has cost Florida's economy $3.63 billion in lost revenue and 6,611 jobs by reducing citrus production. The disease, which originated in China in the early 20th century, was first spotted in the U.S. in 1998. It was first detected in Florida in 2005. Since then, growers have been fighting what has generally been a losing battle against the disease. Infected trees might not show symptoms for years. When they do, one of the main symptoms is a yellowing of the plant's leaves, particularly around veins. Affected trees will produce small, lopsided, sour-tasting fruit, before eventually dying altogether. There is no cure for greening, which is caused by a type of bacteria spread by an insect called the Asian citrus psyllid. Currently, growers treat the disease by spraying pesticides to kill the psyllid, in hopes of curtailing their spread. Steve Crump said those efforts, while somewhat effective, have nearly doubled his production costs. "Probably 20 percent of our trees are infected," he said. While there are other diseases, like citrus canker, affecting groves around the state, nothing compares with how severe greening has become, he said. "Greening is the worst — liver cancer to an orange tree. There's no coming out of it," he said. In Volusia County, which had about 815 acres of commercial citrus production during the 2011-12 season, commercial citrus growers follow a coordinated pesticide spraying schedule. Those efforts have been somewhat effective in reducing the psyllid population. "Fortunately, Volusia County has the lowest population of the psyllid out of all the counties that produce citrus," said David Griffis, director of the extension office. But abandoned groves and growers who don't spray pesticides provide a safe harbor for the bugs, which threaten the livelihood of more responsible growers. "I'm trying to dissuade people from planting citrus in their yard for this reason: this man has 65 acres and this is how he makes his living," said Joe Sewards, an instructor and urban horticulture agent for the extension. "He's got a vested interest and most homeowners are growing it for fun. They don't have the tools he has available to properly control this particular disease." The University of Florida and others are still researching ways to deal with the disease. In the long run, he said researchers hope to find and breed citrus trees that are resistant to the disease. "We'll get through it," Bruce Crump said. "There will be orange trees that are survivors. I said it before and I'll say it again, it helps to be a Christian in this business, to have a lot of faith."

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The Scottish Grove Project Oasis Organic Olive GroveThe Scottish Grove Project The Scottish Grove Project The Scottish Grove is a dream come true. It all began with a classic fair trade task – to serve as the missing link between the Arab farmer and the Israeli market. As the story unfolded and we became more involved, we realized this project presented a unique opportunity to make a quantum leap and bring our values full circle. For in this project, we didn’t just help a farmer market his olive oil; we helped farmers reclaim 30 dunams of derelict, uncultivated land in the heart of the Jezreel Valley below Nazareth and transform it into a flourishing olive grove, which will produce extra virgin olive oil that will be sold all over the world. Our partners in this exciting journey are the owners of the land – the Abu Hatum family from Yafi’a (read more about our partnership with the family) and the Church of Scotland. This marvelous olive grove allows us to promote the modernization of traditional Arab farming and agriculture by introducing new techniques, irrigation, and olive cultivars; aid sustainable cultivation and agriculture; invest all future proceeds of the grove in community projects that promote fair employment for Arab women; and oversee the entire value chain, from seed to extra virgin olive oil bottle. In 2012, a new olive grove was planted against the backdrop of the historic scenery of Nazareth on one side and the archeological site of Armageddon (Tel Megiddo) on the other side in the Jezreel Valley. With it, seeds of hope were planted in the hearts of all those involved in, and inspired by, Israel’s new, flourishing Jewish-Arab olive grove. Dedication of the Scottish Grove (December 2011) First planting in the Scottish Grove (September 2012) On September 15th, 2012, Sindyanna of Galilee planted olive trees on unused land belongs to Arab farmers in collaboration with the Scottish church. Most of the volunteers had no previous farming experience before joining the planting but, although it was very hard work, it was very nice experience for all the participants – to feel the soil and the young plants under the blue sky. (Read more about the event) First olive picking in the Scottish Grove (November 2014 / Photos: Yoram Ron)

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Can Wal-Mart Really Make Organic Food Cheap For Everyone? By Dan Charles Apr 19, 2014 TweetShareGoogle+Email Wal-Mart is promising to drive down the prices of organic food by bringing in a new company, WildOats, to deliver a whole range of additional products. Wal-Mart/Flickr Originally published on April 19, 2014 9:40 am It could be another milestone in organic food's evolution from crunchy to commercial: Wal-Mart, the king of mass retailing, is promising to "drive down organic food prices" with a new line of organic food products. The new products will be at least 25 percent cheaper than organic food that's on Wal-Mart's shelves right now. Yet we've heard this before. Back in 2006, Wal-Mart made a similar announcement, asking some of its big suppliers to deliver organic versions of popular food items like mac-and-cheese. A Wal-Mart executive said at the time that it hoped these organic products would cost only 10 percent more than the conventional alternative. Wal-Mart has, in fact, become a big player in organic food, with some remarkable cost-cutting successes. At the new Wal-Mart just a few blocks from NPR's headquarters, I found some organic grape tomatoes on sale for exactly the same price as conventional ones. Organic "spring mix" salad was just 9 percent more expensive than the conventional package. Outside the fresh produce section, though, organic products were hard to find, and those I did spy were significantly more expensive. Organic diced tomatoes were 44 percent higher. The premium for a half-gallon of organic milk was a whopping 85 percent. Now Wal-Mart is bringing in a new company, WildOats, to deliver a whole range of additional organic products, from pasta sauce to cookies, and do it more cheaply. I asked the CEO of WildOats, Tom Casey, how he plans to do it. His answer, in a nutshell: Bigger can be better. The production and distribution of organic food is still highly fragmented, Casey says. Wal-Mart can change that, delivering organic products in through its "world-class distribution system" and giving manufacturers of, say, pasta sauce a chance to operate on a larger, more efficient scale. Charles Benbrook, a long-time proponent of organic agriculture who's now with the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources at Washington State University, thinks that this plan is realistic. Most organic producers have to use other companies' processing facilities, which also handle conventional food, Benbrook wrote in an e-mail. "This requires them to shut down, clean out the lines, segregate both incoming and outgoing product, and this all costs money," writes Benbrook. According to Benbrook, larger production — to supply larger customers — will allow organic food processors to run "100 percent organic all the time" and will cut costs by 20 to 30 percent. This has already happened with packaged salad greens, which is why consumers don't pay very much extra for those organic products. Benbrook does have one warning: Large scale can't be achieved overnight. It takes at least three years for farmers to get their land certified as organic, for instance. "There will be hell to pay if Wal-Mart turns mostly to imports, and they know it." If Wal-Mart sticks with this effort and creates an organic supply chain that's as efficient as the conventional one, the company could help answer an unresolved question about organic food: How much of the organic price tag is because of small-scale production, and how much is inherent in the rules that govern organic production, such as the prohibition on synthetic pesticides, and industrial fertilizer? Benbrook thinks Wal-Mart's experiment will show that organic farmers, if given an honest chance to compete, will out-produce their conventional neighbors, and that organic prices will come down. Others disagree. Todd J. Kluger, vice president of marketing for Lundberg Family Farms, told Rodale News in an interview that Wal-Mart's goal of producing food 25 percent more cheaply is "fantasy. There isn't much you can do to cut the cost of organic ingredients," Kluger said. In the same interview, Mark Kastel, an organic activist who co-founded the Cornucopia Institute, suggested that Wal-Mart's cost-cutting drive could undermine the ethical values of organic farming. "One of the reasons people are willing to pay more is that they think they're supporting a different ethic, a different animal husbandry model, and that family farmers are being fairly compensated," Kastel says. According to Kastel, organic buyers will shy away from the kind of large-scale supply chain that Wal-Mart and WildOats envision. "We want to know where our food comes from, how it's produced, and what the story behind the label is," he told Rodale News. Tom Casey, CEO of WildOats, says that the company has not yet decided whether it will disclose where it is buying its food. (That's pretty typical for supermarket brands.) "We want to be respectful of our suppliers," he told The Salt.Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. Transcript WADE GOODWYN, HOST: It's WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Wade Goodwyn. Organic food has taken another step away from its crunchy alternative routes. Walmart, the king of mass-market retail, says it will sell even more organic food, and it promises to bring down the price tag as well. Now the question is will organic producers be able to keep up with demand? Joining me talk about this is NPR's food and agricultural correspondent Dan Charles. Dan, welcome to the show. DAN CHARLES, BYLINE: Nice to be here. GOODWYN: Dan, Walmart says it's going to sell organic food more cheaply. How's it going to do this? CHARLES: Well, you know, Walmart already sells organic food. But this - they're trying to make a statement saying we're going to set up our own house brand. It's delivered by a separate company actually called Wild Oats. And they're saying we're going to organize this, and we're going to deliver organic food more cheaply. And it's a good question. How are they going to do this? I mean, I actually talked to the CEO of Wild Oats. And he said it's all about logistics. He said Walmart is the king of distribution, right. And so if we organize the production and the processing and distribution of organic foods on a large scale, there's efficiencies to be had. This is actually kind of an experiment, a test. You know, how much of the extra costs that you pay when you buy organic food - how much of that is just the fragmented nature of the business? How much of it is the small-scale aspect? And how much of it is inherent in organic production? GOODWYN: Well, there's no question that Walmart is kind of the king of logistics. But if you talk to some of their suppliers, they'll also complain that Walmart is the king of squeezing them and making them produce the product ever more cheaply at their own expense. CHARLES: Right. So you could say this is a threat to some organic producers who are used to higher margins. On the other hand, I mean, the organic production is expanding, and if Walmart wants large quantities, they may have to outbid other producers. There is a limit right now on the amount of organic food for sale. They say they want to expand that, and there's no reason why they couldn't. There's lots of land out there. Right now, organic is actually a very small part of American food production, people say 5 percent or less. So there's no reason why Walmart couldn't expand organic production if they offered a good price. The question is can they do it cheaply? GOODWYN: Part of this has to do with trust. Are people going to stop going to Whole Foods and go over to Walmart 'cause they can get the eggs $2 cheaper? I'm a little skeptical. CHARLES: OK, so this gets to this question of what is organic really because organic has an actual legal definition. You know, it's set out by the National Organic Standards, laid down by the USDA. And it has to do with how organic food is produced - no pesticides, no industrial fertilizer, certain other rules like... GOODWYN: Chickens can walk around. CHARLES: Chickens can walk around, etc. And you can do that on a large scale, and you can do it for Walmart. But organic, also, for the consumer sometimes, is cultural image. People think small-scale, local, nonindustrial, non-Walmart, right? GOODWYN: Correct. CHARLES: So, you know, so you can see the organic label kind of splitting. You can get organic eggs for $3 a dozen. You can get organic eggs for $6 a dozen. And the companies that sell them for $6 a dozen say we are the true organic. We go beyond the strict requirements of these rules. Our milk comes from small, family farms. Our chickens have lots of pasture, not just, you know, a door in the side of the chicken house. And we'll tell you where we get our products. You know, we're more true to organic roots. And maybe they will get a certain segment of the market, and the $3 eggs will get another segment. GOODWYN: NPR's food and agricultural correspondent Dan Charles. Dan, thanks. CHARLES: Enjoyed it, Wade. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.TweetShareGoogle+EmailView the discussion thread. © 2016 MTPR

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2017-09/0615/en_head.json.gz/14862

HomeNewsToledo Water Crisis Brings New Urgency to Farmers' Efforts to Manage Runoff Toledo Water Crisis Brings New Urgency to Farmers' Efforts to Manage Runoff Markets and News Editor Growers and others in ag community say they’ve been working to address the issue of Lake Erie’s high phosphorus levels. After a weekend of stern warnings to avoid their city’s water, Toledo's 400,000 residents on Monday got the news that it was once again safe to grab a drink or take a shower using city water. The source of the crisis? A bloom of toxic algae that drifted near Toledo’s water intake in Lake Erie, resulting in high levels of microcystin, a toxin that can cause vomiting, poor liver function, and more. But new worries for Ohio farmers may have just begun as people revisit the question of Lake Erie’s water quality and the role of agriculture. Runoff from crops and livestock operations, along with aging septic systems and lawn/garden fertilizer use, are one of the reasons behind the lake’s high phosphorus levels and blue-green algae blooms. According to a 2013 task force report, phosphorus from cultivated cropland represents 61 percent of the total phosphorus load in the Lake Erie basin. As a result, many farmers are fretting that that they now will be unfairly blamed for all of Lake Erie’s problems. "My biggest concern was the situation in the lake, but now that it’s subsided, my biggest concern is that people will have a knee-jerk reaction and start scapegoating," says Wade Smith of Whitehouse Specialty Growers, where he grows vegetables and perennials. Yet Ohio’s agriculture community has been working on the issue for several years. "We started with extensive outreach to our members, telling them, ‘You need to take this concern seriously,’" says Joe Cormely, communications director for the Ohio Farm Bureau. The organization has encouraged farmers to educate themselves about new developments in nutrient application and explore more strategic land management practices Such learning will also soon be mandatory for some. In 2014, the Ohio legislature passed a law requiring farmers with 50 acres or more to attend a class before they can obtain the new license to apply fertilizer to their fields, similar to the requirements for pesticides. Others say they are already using practices designed to reduce runoff and use fertilizer more strategically, from filter strips along drainage ditches, no-till, and more. "I think a lot of us are trying to do the right thing. We are adopting GPS technology and variable-rate fertilizer technology to get it right," says Paul Herringshaw, who farms corn, soybeans, and wheat on 1,500 acres near Bowling Green, Ohio. "We have a lot of concern about what is happening. … I cannot stress enough that Ohio agriculture has been more proactive that we are getting credit for." Herringshaw points to farmer-supported research at Ohio State University, where research scientist Elizabeth Dayton is looking at phosphorus and agriculture with the hope of helping farmers and others find the best ways to manage yields, reduce runoff, and improve water quality near Lake Erie, which supplies drinking water to 11 million people in the U.S. and Canada. "We need to identify the source and figure out what is happening, because nobody knows what is really going on," says Herringshaw, who notes that many farmers have reduced their phosphorus usage compared to the past. "Unfortunately, the research is going to take time." That may be exactly what Ohio farmers do not have, though, when it comes to the question of taking action to improve Lake Erie’s water quality. "When 400,000 people are told not to drink the water, nothing is fast enough," Cormely of the Ohio Farm Bureau says. Will Ohio farmers be under pressure to reduce fertilizer use? Will Toledo's drinking-water crisis be quickly forgotten? Share your thoughts in the AgWeb discussions. Back to news Proposed Ohio Fertilizer Legislation -- Nutrient Certification Requirement 4/9/2013 12:11:00 PM Ohio Environmentalists Propose Quantitative Water Quality Standards 1/2/2014 11:53:00 AM Ohio Legislature Considers Fertilizer Certification for Farmers 1/30/2014 3:25:00 PM Comments

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2017-09/0615/en_head.json.gz/16367

Hydroponics (2) ▼Alternatives/Organics (719) ►Chemicals (2799) WordPress.org « Proposed Rulemaking in Maine Undermines Comprehensive School Pesticide Reform Common Herbicide May Increase Risk of Rare Disorder in Infants » 01 Oct Goats to Join Chicago O’Hare Maintenance Crew (Beyond Pesticides, October 1, 2012) O’Hare International Airport in Chicago is planning to sign on a shepherd and approximately 30 goats and sheep to graze on overgrown brush at the perimeter of the airport later this fall. The animals are expected to clear about 250 square feet of vegetation per day. Airport officials sought out the goats in order to eliminate an overgrowth of poison ivy and poison oak, and reduce the habitat for wildlife hazardous to airport operations, such as birds or deer. Chicago will join a list of other cities, including Atlanta and San Francisco, that use grazing animals to help maintain portions of their airport and a multitude of other cities that use goats as part of their weed management plans. The choice to use goats at O’Hare was made because, according to Department of Aviation spokeswoman Karen Pride, the overgrown property is difficult for machinery and pesticide applicators to reach because of hills and standing water. The area where the goats will be grazing is outside the security fence, so there’s no danger of goats straying onto the runways. “The animals are a more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly alternative for brush removal,”Ms. Pride said. Five potential vendors already have been identified, and the department hopes the three-week pilot program can get started before the weather gets too cold. Beyond Pesticides has long been an advocate for the use of goats and grazing animals as a least toxic solution for weed management. Goats are often more efficient at eradicating weeds, and are more environmentally sustainable than using harmful pesticides and chemicals. When goats are used for weed management the first thing they do when they walk through the pasture is snap off all the flower heads. Then they pick the leaves off one at a time, very quickly, leaving a bare stock. Once goats graze a weed, it cannot go to seed because it has no flower and cannot photosynthesize to take in sunlight and build a root system because it has no leaves. Grasses are a last choice for goats, which means the desirable grass species are left behind with natural fertilizer to repopulate the land. Goats are notorious for eating poisonous plants, such as poison ivy and poison oak, and can handle them without getting sick. Goats can also be helpful in recycling Christmas trees. They will strip the whole tree leaving just the trunk, which can be turned into firewood. Chicago O’Hare is not the only airport using grazing animals to deal with difficult lawn maintenance problems. This year, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport also adopted a pilot project where 100 grazing sheep (plus a few goats) are being used to eat invasive plants such as kudzu. In just two days, a herd ate through nearly half of the waist high weeds in a test acre near the airport. The sheep were hired from Ewe-niversally Green and are part of the “Have Ewe Herd?” program hosted by Trees Atlanta, a nonprofit group dedicated to planting and conserving trees. Goats have been used for eight summers as part of the weed management program at San Francisco International Airport. Goats are used because the property is an environmentally sensitive area that contains two endangered species, the San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog. The goats are used to eat the vegetation along the property lines on the west side of the airport property and can go into places where the airport cannot use heavy machinery or personnel, similar to the situation in Chicago. The goats used in San Francisco come from Goats R Us, which hires out goats to homeowners, private land managers, and public agencies to graze sites ranging from neighborhood yards to 30,000 acre ranches. Goats and grazing animals are being used across the United States for a variety of weed management programs from Hempstead, New York to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Even Google hired 200 goats instead of a mowing crew to manage the weeds and brush growing on their corporate campus in Mountain View, California. Google used them in order to reduce fire hazard, according to Dan Hoffman, Google’s Director of Real Estate and Workplace Services. The company’s hiring of the goats costs about the same as mowing. For more information on natural, non-chemical land management strategies, read “Successfully Controlling Noxious Weeds with Goats: The natural choice that manages weeds and builds soil health” and see Beyond Pesticides’ Lawn and Landscape pages. Sources: The Chicago Tribune , NBC News All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides. on Monday, October 1st, 2012 at 12:01 am and is filed under Alternatives/Organics, Invasive Species, Lawns/Landscapes. = Using the Blog

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2017-09/0615/en_head.json.gz/16911

Environmentalists: Chinese Dairy Demand Could Wreak Havoc on Central Valley Air, Water By KQED News Staff June 13, 2013 Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) By Susanne Rust and Serene Fang, The Center for Investigative Reporting A growing demand for milk and cheese in China has the potential to bring California’s beleaguered dairy industry back to life – and with it, renewed concern about its damaging effects on the environment. China is quickly building its own dairy industry, which experts say is in every way as modern and high-tech as California’s. (Photo: Serene Fang/The Center for Investigative Reporting) As China’s middle class grows, so does its penchant for dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt. U.S. government data show that Chinese demand for dairy products is growing rapidly. For instance, between 2011 and 2012, imports of skimmed milk powder grew by 49 percent and are expected to increase an additional 18 percent this year. And although China is trying to build its nascent dairy industry to meet this demand, it relies heavily on imports of high-protein feed. That includes one of California’s most water-intensive crops, alfalfa. “Exports (of alfalfa) to China are definitely increasing,” said Daniel Putnam, an agronomist at the University of California, Davis. “We’ve seen a pretty dramatic rise since 2006, and I think all expectations are that it will probably increase again this year.” But this news, and the already-documented toll California’s large dairy farms are having on air and water quality in the Central Valley, is making many environmentalists nervous. “Definitely, there’s a carrying capacity for dairy, and it’s air quality,” said Brent Newell, legal director for the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment, an environmental justice organization that focuses mostly on the San Joaquin Valley. “You can’t keep sticking more dairies in the San Joaquin Valley in order to export cheese to China.” Environmental scientists say the California Dairy model has wreaked havoc on air and water quality. California is the nation’s largest dairy-producing state with nearly 42 billion pounds of milk produced in 2011, or 21 percent of the nation’s total milk output, according to the Dairy Institute of California’s most recent economic report in 2012. That success has been attributed largely to the state’s model for dairy farming, which maximizes the number of cattle per farm while minimizing the need for on-site food production. “The traditional dairy farm model in the rest of the country is one where dairy farmers grow a considerable amount of their own feed,” said Bill Schiek, an economist with the Dairy Institute, a dairy processors trade group. In California, he said, dairy operators don’t grow grain or hay on-site but bring it in. “It’s a very specialized operation.” But it’s a model that environmental scientists say has wreaked havoc on air and water quality. Critics and scientists point to studies showing the dairy industry, with roughly 1.8 million cows, is the single largest contributor of smog-forming volatile organic compounds in the valley’s already-polluted air. Government and academic research indicates that gases emitted from fermented feed, cows and cow waste combine with other free-floating particles in the atmosphere to form smog. The dairies also have been implicated in the pollution of groundwater. Research has shown that nitrogen produced by cow waste can seep through soil into groundwater, contaminating water sources and, in some cases, making the water undrinkable. For instance, dairy manure, which is the largest source of animal manure in California, accounts for more than 200,000 tons of nitrogen every year, much of which ends up in groundwater, according to research by Thomas Harter, a hydrologist at UC Davis. Nearly 10 percent of public water wells in California have more nitrogen than the government deems acceptable, while in some areas, more than one-third of private wells exceed that level, according to the UC Davis study. But over the past five years, the once-booming dairy industry has begun to slow. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, more than 300 dairies have gone out of business in that time period. That trend, said UC Davis agricultural economist Leslie Butler, is the result of high feed costs and a vulnerable industry model, which relies heavily on cheap imported grain. In the past few years, feed prices have skyrocketed, the result of competition with the biofuels industry, a severe drought in the Midwest and increased shipping and transportation costs. But not all hope is lost for the battered industry, said Ross Christieson, a consultant for the California Milk Advisory Board, a trade group for the state’s roughly 1,600 dairy farmers. “China has been going through a major economic growth boom over the last 20 years, and that has fueled consumption of dairy products,” he said. “We know a lot of these markets will grow ten- or twentyfold over the next few decades. By being there now, we can be at the start of the growth.” And it’s this potential for growth that has Newell and other environmental activists concerned. “We’re bearing the burden of all this pollution for a product that is being exported,” he said. “It is fundamentally unfair and unjust to burden low-income communities in the San Joaquin Valley with all of this pollution.” And shipping the state’s limited water supply, in the form of alfalfa, is a concern to many as well. Robert Glennon, a professor at the University of Arizona with expertise in water law, argues that it doesn’t make sense to be “using so much water to send such a low-value product to China.” But while Chinese demand for dairy is increasing by double-digit percentages every year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Newell and others say it’s also likely temporary. That’s because Chinese entrepreneurs are trying to meet the growing demand by starting their own dairy farms. That could reduce demand for California dairy products, and because China has a limited amount of arable land and water, Chinese farmers would need to import more feed, including water-hungry alfalfa. And that could bring California’s dairies to the same place they are today – struggling to pay the high cost of feed. This story was edited by Richard C. Paddock and copy edited by Nikki Frick and Christine Lee. This story was produced as part of the Food for 9 Billion series, a collaboration of The Center for Investigative Reporting, Homeland Productions with broadcast partners PBS NewsHour, APM’s Marketplace, and PRI’s The World. For more, visit http://cironline.org/projects/food-9-billion. The reporter can be reached at [email protected]. Explore: Environment, Science Mr. Newell sees the 300 dairies that went out of business as only a good start. He would love to put the remaining 1600 dairies out of business too I’m sure. What would we poor valley folks do without magnanimous San Francisco elitists looking out for us. Dairy Cares Unfortunately, the facts are missing from this piece. Dairy families have long understood their important responsibility to steward the land and natural resources such as air and water. Conservation, preservation, re-use and recycling are fundamental values among farm families, many of whom have operated sustainably on the same land for generations. And their values are backed up by action: California dairy families operate under the nation’s strictest water quality regulations for dairies. Sampling and laboratory testing of manure, soil, irrigation water and harvested crop plant tissue to account for on-farm nitrogen usage is routine and required by the regulations. Central Valley dairy families, at their own expense, have installed a large network of groundwater monitoring wells throughout the Central Valley. A video about dairy families’ work to protect water quality is available on the Dairy Cares homepage at http://dairycares.com/ California dairy families are the only dairies in the world to be regulated to reduce volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Since adoption of the air quality regulations, dairy families have reduced VOCs from their farms by more than 28 percent. Moreover, when it comes to the serious issue of smog and ozone in our Central Valley, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District identifies oxides of Nitrogen (NOx), not VOCs, as the primary culprit in the formation of both smog and harmful Particulate Matter 2.5. NOx is formed by the combustion of fossil fuels, of which the biggest source in the Central Valley comes from motorized vehicles. Thank you for this opportunity to share the facts. For more information about the sustainability work California dairy families are doing, visit http://www.DairyCares.com ~Dairy Cares mmmartym Unfortunately, the “investigative reporters” here did no investigating. They grossly failed to contact air and water quality regulators or air and water quality scientists and bootstrapped unsubstantiated claims by a lawyer notorious for filing frivolous losing actions against farmers and regulators with analysis debunked years ago. Incredible and sad that PBS ran with such shoddy work. Mary Magdalene and Jesus as Lovers in Mark Adamo's New San Francisco Opera Resolution Introduced to Name Part of Bay Bridge After Willie Brown

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2017-09/0615/en_head.json.gz/17060

CARD: Center for Agricultural and Rural Development Products/Output Iowa Land Value Ag Policy Review Iowa Ag Review Winter 2005, Vol. 11 No. 1 Guns and Butter, Crop Insurance Reform, and the Farmer Safety Net Rethinking Agricultural Domestic Support under the World Trade Organization Agricultural Situation Spotlight: Planting Decisions: Corn versus Soybeans Animal Identification Is Key to Restarting Beef Exports to Japan U.S. Sweetener Consumption Trends and Dietary Guidelines Chad E. Hart [email protected] John C. Beghin [email protected] The World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations under the Doha Round are slowly progressing toward an eventual new agreement on agriculture. A new framework for the agriculture agreement was approved by the WTO membership in August 2004. The changes in the guidelines for domestic support could have effects on many countries and many types of support. However, details on the specific regulations of the agreement have yet to be determined. Dramatic reforms in agriculture could take place under the framework, but the decisions made to implement the framework will determine if that potential is realized. If countries lack ambition and commitment to make genuine reforms, changes in support will not happen in this round. Governments provide support to agriculture in numerous ways, for example, direct payments, research grants, loan programs, and storage programs to name a few. Under the current Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (URAA), domestic support programs are divided into three "boxes" that indicate the trade-distorting effects of the programs. "Green Box" programs are considered minimally trade distorting. The agreement sets out specific guidelines for the structure of such programs but does not set limits on these program expenditures by WTO members. "Blue Box" programs are considered more trade distorting but have production limits embedded in them. These programs also are not limited under the current agreement. All other programs are "Amber Box" programs. Amber Box programs are considered the most trade distorting and are limited under the current agreement. Within the Amber Box, programs are classified as product-specific or non-product-specific. These classifications determine the so-called de minimis rules, by which certain Amber Box programs may be exempt from domestic support limits. Support that counts against the limits is referred to as the Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS). The New Framework, Recent Policy Changes, and WTO Rulings The newly agreed upon framework for agricultural domestic support is targeted at achieving substantial reductions in trade-distorting support, the Amber and Blue Box programs. New limits are put in place on de minimis support, Blue Box support, and the product-specific AMS. Total support, as measured by the sum of AMS, de minimis, and Blue Box support, is to be limited. This limit on total support will be tightened during the implementation period. All member states face a 20 percent reduction in the total support limit in the first year of implementation. This reduction is referred to as the "down payment." Recent estimates indicate the United States would have a total support limit of $49 billion per year at the start of the new agreement; a 20 percent reduction would lower the limit to $39 billion. Additional reductions in the total support limit will be based on a tiered formula that is yet to be determined. However, the formula will result in larger reductions for WTO members that have higher levels of permitted support. Total AMS and de minimis permitted levels will also be reduced over the implementation period. The agreement stipulates that product-specific AMS and Blue Box support should only be capped, rather than reduced. However, the framework states that the required reductions in total support and total AMS should also result in reductions in product-specific support. The Blue Box has been redefined to include direct payment schemes that are either production limiting or do not require production at all. A member state's limit for Blue Box support will be based on 5 percent of its average total value of agricultural production over a historical period or the amount of existing Blue Box payments over a historical period, whichever is higher. Green Box guidelines are to be reviewed to ensure that all Green Box programs are minimally trade or production distorting. Both the United States and the European Union have significantly altered their agricultural programs over the last few years. They have moved a great deal of their subsidies to direct payments to agricultural entities. The U.S. direct and counter-cyclical payments and the E.U. Single Farm Payments all fit the description of direct payments. Given the current structure of the Green Box and the new definition of the Blue Box, U.S. direct payments and E.U. Single Farm Payments would be filed as Green Box. U.S. countercyclical payments would go in the Blue Box. These moves give the United States and the European Union a great deal of flexibility in dealing with the proposed reductions. However, the WTO panel ruling on the Brazil-U.S. cotton dispute has concluded that U.S. direct payments "do not fully conform" to the guidelines for Green Box direct payments because of their exclusion of fruit and vegetable production on the payment-base acreage. By the same measure, E.U. Single Farm Payments, too, would not conform to the Green Box requirements. However, it should be relatively easy to fix both issues, so this is probably of minor concern to U.S. and E.U. negotiators. The framework explicitly states that the reductions in total AMS permitted levels "will result in reductions of some product-specific support." But true reductions may not materialize because there are loopholes in market price support (MPS) programs, and member states still have flexibility to provide support through other mechanisms. The change in Japanese rice policy in the late 1990s provides one example of an MPS loophole. Another example would be if the United States made superficial changes to the dairy and sugar programs to fulfill a target in product-specific support reductions without truly affecting actual support. The United States could also lower loan rates in the marketing loan program (reducing product- specific AMS) and augment the countercyclical program to make up the support difference (by changing the target price). Aggregate support would remain the same but would shift from the Amber Box to the Blue Box. The ability of reductions in total AMS permitted levels to force reductions in product-specific support will also hinge on the product-specific AMS limits. These limits have yet to be determined, although the framework does state that the limits will be based on "respective average levels." To guarantee product-specific support reductions, the final level of total permitted AMS must be less than the sum of the product-specific AMS limits. Recommendations for Moving Forward The issues embedded in the current WTO agriculture negotiations are numerous because of the multitude of agricultural programs used by member states throughout the world. Putting all of the programs into categories has allowed negotiators and their advisers to condense this support into manageable points so that further clarifications can be made. Building on the framework for agricultural domestic support, we recommend additional changes. The definition of Green Box policies needs to be re-examined. Given the possible effects of decoupled income support and marketing, transportation, and infrastructure support on world trade, these programs may not truly fit the Green Box target of minimally trade-distorting policies. However, these programs are not directly linked to current production or prices and may have large non-agricultural benefits. Therefore, leaving them in the Green Box but tightening the rules for them may make the most sense. An initially generous Green Box definition may facilitate negotiation of a phase-out of the Amber Box policies, which are the most damaging distortions. Developing countries complain about the large expenditures that sustain E.U. and U.S. farm policies. As these expenditures take place no matter what, competing exporters would be better off with Green Box types of policies than with Amber Box policies. However, this change would mean that net food-importing countries would lose access to cheap food. The export subsidies that keep the costs of food down would disappear with the Amber Box. But trade would be undeniably much less distorted. The current AMS framework for market price support cannot adequately reflect actual support levels. The MPS examples of Japanese rice and U.S. dairy and sugar show the flaws in current AMS calculations for these programs. Moving to an AMS based on current world and domestic prices will better capture the actual level of support and align market price support programs with other Amber Box programs in which actual expenditures are used in the calculations. An alternative would be to remove the MPS programs from both the AMS limits and the current AMS calculations. The way AMS is calculated for MPS in the current agreement has a significant loophole, allowing the possibility that countries can make small changes in official policy (resulting in minimal changes in agricultural trade protection) and provide themselves large cushions from agricultural support reductions. Either of the proposals suggested here would close this loophole. Although the framework has provided the possibility for significant agricultural trade reform in domestic support, the Blue Box cap proposed in the framework is so generous that many programs could be folded into the Blue Box with no effective change in policy. Actually, the MPS loopholes, generous initial AMS bindings, and generous Blue Box caps taken together ensure that no actual change in aggregate support would occur. As the agricultural framework stands now, actual cuts in support may well have to wait for a third round of agricultural negotiations, unless negotiators develop a sudden desire for radical reforms. It may help to remember that it took eight rounds of world trade negotiations to get rid of trade distortions in manufacturing. This article was drawn from a larger working paper of the same name. The full text is available at http://www.card.iastate.edu/products/publications/synopsis/?p=557. ♦ Index of Articles Contact Us · Site Map · RSS News Feed · Links · Staff Intranet Copyright 2017. CARD is a center located within the Department of Economics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University.

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2017-09/0615/en_head.json.gz/17062

Carrot Genome A Complete Genome for the Carrot Photo compliments of USDA Agricultural Research Service, where researchers have selectively bred carrots with pigments that reflect almost all colours of the rainbow. More importantly, though, they are very good for your health. Photo by Stephen Ausmus, USDA. Often the evolutionary history of a species can be found in a fossil record. Other times, DNA and genetic fingerprints replace rocks and imprints. That is the case for the carrot, the richest crop source of vitamin A in the American diet, whose full genetic code has been deciphered by a team led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison in collaboration with the University of California, Davis. Introduction - Vavilov (1951) placed the center of origin of cultivated carrot in Central Asia, and an analysis of molecular diversity in wild and cultivated carrots from around the world demonstrated that wild carrots from Central Asia were more similar to cultivated carrots(Iorizzo et al., 2013), confirming Vavilov’s conclusions. Carrots may have been cultivated as a root crop in the Roman Empire, with extensive cultivation first recorded around 900 AD in Central Asia – Afghanistan in particular (Stolarczyk and Janick, 2011;Banga, 1963). Colour has played an important role in the history of carrot domestication. The first Central Asian carrots were yellow or purple, and in the early 1500s, orange carrots were noted in still life paintings and some written accounts in Europe. Central Asian carrots spread first to the west beginning in the 900s, through the Middle East, North Africa, and then Europe; and to the east to South and North Asia (Banga, 1963). Orange carrots are grown globally today but yellow, purple, red, and white carrot land races, and some modern cultivars, are grown on a more limited scale in several parts of the world. Carrot is among the top 10 vegetable crops globally and is a rich source of vitamin A, thanks to the popularity of orange carrots, which contain vitamin A precursors α- and β-carotene (Simon et al., 2009). The lutein in yellow carrots, anthocyanins in purple carrots, and lycopene in red carrots are also well-documented phytochemicals (Arscott and Tanumihardjo, 2010). Carrot is a diploid out crossing crop and all carrot cultivars were open pollinated before the discovery of the first cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in carrot by Welch and Grimball (1947). The discovery of CMS in carrot triggered an expanded effort in carrot breeding and genetics, with the development of the first hybrid carrot cultivars and the first genes named in the1960s. By the mid-1980s about 20 simply-inherited traits had been reported. Carrot is typically categorized as a cool season crop and most production is in temperate climates, but subtropical cultivars have been developed and have expanded the climate range of carrot production, especially since the 1970s (Simon, 2000). Philipp Simon is a USDA, ARS Research Geneticist and Professor of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. His research in vegetable genetics and breeding has focused on carrot improvement and development of breeding tools. He has developed widely used germplasm, co-led the carrot sequencing project with Allen Van Deynze, and collected carrot, Allium, and other vegetable germplasm in 10 collecting expeditions. May 2016 - Scientists have unveiled the gene in carrots that gives rise to carotenoids, a critical source of Vitamin A and the pigment that turns some fruits and vegetables bright orange or red. The new, high-quality genome assembly, which the researchers established for an orange doubled-haploid carrot (Nantes variety), contains more than 32,000 predicted protein-coding genes. .As the researchers reported they were able to track down a candidate gene involved in orange carrot pigmentation and gained insight into the evolution of plants in the euasterid II lineage, which contains carrots, lettuce, sunflower, celery, and parsley. Formally named DCAR_032551, the star gene emerged from the first complete decoding of the carrot genome, published in the scientific journal "Nature Genetics". The gene which "conditions carotenoid accumulation in carrot taproot," according to the research in the science journal Nature Genetics. The researchers believe the gene "regulates upstream photosystem development and functional processes, including photomorphogenesis and root de-etiolation" of the carrot. The study reveals how the orange colour occurs and which genes are involved, and also shows that carrot colour is not genetically connected to flavour. It is fortuitous that coloured carrots became popular, because the pigments are what make carrots nutritious, and orange carrots are the most nutritious of all. University of Wisconsin–Madison horticulture professor and geneticist Phil Simon, who led the research team, said: "Now we have the chance to dig deeper and it's a nice addition to the toolbox for improving the crop." Co-author Allen Van Deynze, Seed Biotechnology Center director of research at the University of California, Davis, added: "This was an important public-private project, and the genomic information has already been made available to assist in improving carrot traits such as enhanced levels of beta-carotene, drought tolerance and disease resistance. Going forward, the genome will serve as the basis for molecular breeding of the carrot." The study reveals that genes for colour and genes associated with preferred flavours are not connected, and that early breeders' preference for orange carrots was fortuitous as the beta-carotene pigments are what make them nutritious, Simon explained. "The accumulation of orange pigments is an accumulation that normally wouldn't happen," he said. "It's a repurposing of genes plants usually use when growing in light." The researchers also sequenced 35 different types of carrots to compare them to their wild ancestors. They showed that carrots were first domesticated in the Middle East and Central Asia, confirming the Vavilov Center of Diversity theory, which predicts cultivated plants arose from specific regions rather than randomly. Sometime about 1,100 years ago, farmers living in what is now Afghanistan took advantage of a mutation in the Y gene that put it to work down in their carrots' roots. In the process of domesticating the white, wild carrot, they turned it yellow. Six hundred years later in Europe, cultivation took another turn, and carrots deepened in hue from yellow to dark orange. It's obvious that farmers were selecting for the mutation that concentrated carotenoids in the carrot root. It's a good thing they did so, too, since it made carrots much more nutritious. But health can't have been bygone breeders' motivation - no one in the 9th century knew what a carotenoid was, let alone that it was a source of a vitamin that's good for our eyes, immune systems and other organs. So Simon examined flavour, to see if colourful carrots tasted better. Again, no dice: Orange carrots and their white counterparts taste pretty much the same. There are other possibilities - perhaps the gene for colour is linked to one for size, or hardiness. Or perhaps historic humans just liked the way yellow and orange carrots looked. Is it possible that this is one question best answered by people, rather than carrots? Senior author Phillip Simon, a horticulture researcher affiliated with the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service said "The motivation was to get as complete a genome for carrot as we could … for basic knowledge reasons and from the standpoint of crop improvement - It gives us a better handle on genomic regions to track when we're in the plant breeding process, and to get a better handle on the process of gene expression in both basic and applied applications." He also noted that the results are generating interest amongst carrot breeders in the public sector, at academic institutions, and seed companies. Carotenoids were first discovered in carrots (hence the name), but which among the vegetable’s newly tallied 32,115 genes was most responsible for their formation remained a mystery. Daucus carota (the Latin name) now joins a select club of about a dozen veggies — including the potato, cucumber, tomato and pepper — whose complete genomes have been sequenced Laying bare the humble carrot’s genetic secrets will make it easier to enhance disease resistance and nutritive value in other species, the researchers said. Having identified the mechanism controlling the accumulation of carotenoid, it may be possible - through gene-editing, for example — to import it to other staple root vegetables such as the cassava, native to South American and widely grown in Africa. “These results will facilitate biological discovery and crop improvement in carrots and other crops,” said Philipp Simon, senior author and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Interestingly, carrots — along with many other plants — have about 20 percent more genes than humans. This enables carrots to better thrive and develop through changing environmental conditions. Looking back at the plant’s family tree, scientists have been able to determine that it split with the grape about 113 million years ago and from the kiwi about 10 million years after that. The research team traced carrot evolution as far back as the dinosaurs. Sometime between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods - roughly around the time dinosaurs went extinct - carrots, along with other plants of the era, picked up genetic advantages that allowed them to thrive in differing environmental conditions. At 32,000 genes, the carrot genome is a good deal longer than that of humans (somewhere between 20,000 and 25,000 genes). It's not actually surprising that a lowly carrot's DNA would have to be more sophisticated than a human's, after all, plants can't choose or change their environments, so they need to prepare for all contingencies, stocking their genome with traits that can be turned on or off depending on changing environmental circumstances. The Technical Bits To delve into carrot traits and the history of the euasterid II clade, the researchers performed Illumina paired-end sequencing on libraries with a range of insert sizes on an orange, doubled-haploid, Nantes-type carrot called DH1, which has an estimated genome size of 473 million bases. The sequence data was then combined with bacterial artificial chromosome end reads and linkage map data. They also sequenced RNA from 20 DH1 carrot tissues and did genome re-sequencing on representatives from 35 carrot accessions spanning several D. carota sub-species or outgroups. The reference genome assembly spanned 421.5 million bases, with nearly half of assembled sequences stemming from transposable elements and other repetitive sequences. The team's annotation efforts uncovered 32,113 predicted protein-coding genes — including thousands of suspected regulatory genes — along with almost 250 microRNAs, and more than 1,000 more non-coding RNAs. "It's a relatively small genome," Simon said, "and that certainly played into our ability to be able to say that … it's one of the most complete [plant genomes] in coverage and contiguity." From the re-sequencing data, the researchers identified almost 1.4 million high-quality SNPs, which they used to cluster the carrot accessions into groups coinciding with plant geography, origins in Central Asia, and cultivation history. The study confirmed that the “Y” gene is responsible for the difference between white carrots and yellow or orange carrots. It is one of two genes responsible for converting ancestral wild-type white carrots to orange ones. It also identified a new, previously unknown gene that contributes to the accumulation of the colourful compounds. The newly discovered gene is actually a defect in a metabolic pathway that appears to be related to light sensing, the researchers said. Plants derive their own nutrition through light sensing, or photosynthesis, but roots like carrots aren’t normally exposed to light and do not need photosynthetic pigments like carotenoids. The carrot has, in a sense, repurposed genes that plants usually use when growing in light. The researchers also compared the carrot genome to sequences from more than a dozen other plants ranging from potato and tomato plants in the euasterid I clade — which diverged from carrot ancestors around 90.5 million years ago — to more distantly related grape and kiwi plants. They saw evidence of two past whole-genome duplications in the carrot lineage, one taking place roughly 70 million years ago, with a more recent duplication occurring an estimated 43 million years ago. Meanwhile, the researchers' fine mapping search for genes related to key carrot traits led them to a candidate gene called DCAR_032551 on chromosome 5 that appears to influence the accumulation of the carotenoid pigment, turning otherwise white carrots orange. That pigment is mainly found in domestic carrots, Simon explained, and was not documented prior to the 16th century when it first appeared in Europe. In addition to the "generic" carrot genome, the researchers also sequenced DNA from 35 different wild and cultivated specimens and sub-species to shed light on domestication patterns. The carrot genome would assist the identification of other candidate genes behind "healthy" plant compounds such as flavonoids, as well as mechanisms involved in stress resistance, growth, flowering, seed production and regeneration, said the scientists. All these properties were said to be "important traits for sustained agricultural production and improved human health". The team is now following up on this and other leads from the study, including genes that may contribute to the production of anthocyanin, lycopene, and lutein pigments that lend some carrots their purple, red, and yellow colouring, respectively. Simon noted that the researchers are also investigating genes involved in resistance to plant disease or pests such as nematodes, and genes that mediate key plant growth features or response to abiotic stressors such as drought. Reference - Nature Genetics (2016) doi:10.1038/ng.3565 Received 23 September 2015 Accepted 11 April 2016 Published online 09 May 2016 link here Next Page - The History of Carrot Colours Reference material here. Also read the Comprehensive Review of Carrot Colors and their properties here.

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Hydroponics (2) ►Alternatives/Organics (719) ▼Chemicals (2799) WordPress.org « Scientists Determine 99.6% of Lice Resistant to Chemical Treatment Pesticides Linked to 30% Decline in French Men’s Sperm Count » 12 Mar Pesticide Blamed for Deaths of Hundreds of Wild Birds (Beyond Pesticides, March 12, 2014) As many as 700 birds have been found dead in a wildlife reserve in New South Wales, Australia. Preliminary tests reveal that the pesticide, fenthion, was the cause of death for many little correlas, galahs and sulphur-crested cockatoos found over the past two weeks. Certain uses of fenthion for home gardens and a range of agricultural uses were scheduled for suspension by the Australian Government, but a few months ago fenthion use, long associated with bird kills, was extended for another year. For the past two weeks, dead birds have been found all along a mile of Troy Reserve on the Talbragar River, in New South Wales, Australia. Testing of samples from the dead birds indicated fenthion, an organophosphate insecticide highly toxic to birds, as the most likely cause of the deaths. Volunteers helped gather the carcasses to prevent raptors, such as whistling kites and tawny frogmouths, from feeding on the poisoned carrion. About 30 sick birds, including two kites, have been so far been rescued. Locals found the first deaths on February 27 but were initially prevented from collecting the carcasses out of concern about possible bird flu. About 200 dead birds were found on the first day of cleanup alone. The predominantly affected species is the little corella and with the number of deaths so high, ecologists and environmentalists believe this will have an impact on the local population. “We’ve got fantastically beautiful bird populations out here,” said Ann Mara, chairwoman of the Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES) wildlife rescue group. “This is a significant loss.” According to the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), the agency which oversees pesticide registration in Australia, in September 2012 a proposal was announced to suspend the use of fenthion products in certain horticultural situations, as well as in the home garden, on the basis of concerns regarding residues in food crops. Information relating to residues on certain fruit was assessed and it was concluded that the potential dietary exposure resulting from the use of fenthion on peaches and apricots was unacceptable. APVMA issued new instructions for use prohibiting the continued use of fenthion on certain horticultural crops, and modifying or restricting the use of fenthion on other crops including fruit fly treatments of many fruits and vegetables. Use of fenthion on food producing plants in the home garden was prohibited. However, in October 2013 the APVMA delayed the suspension of these fenthion uses until 30 October 2014. Unfortunately, had fenthion been suspended as first initiated in 2012, there may have been a different outcome for these bird populations. Fenthion is very highly toxic to birds and highly toxic to estuarine/marine invertebrates and non-target organisms. In the U.S., fenthion was registered to control adult mosquitoes only. In 2002, American Bird Conservancy, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Florida Wildlife Federation filed a law suit in Federal District Court against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop the continued use of fenthion in Florida. The suit said the registration of the pesticide, sold under the name Baytex to kill mosquitoes in several counties in the state, violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Migratory Bird Treaty Act. In 2003, the registrant, Bayer, voluntarily canceled all its fenthion product registrations. Over the years the chemical was implicated in several bird kill incidents, including bird kills on Marco Island, Florida. According to the American Bird Conservancy, other incidents involving bird mortality from the use of fenthion for mosquito control have been reported. In California, American goldfinch, gulls, ducks, shorebirds, green-backed heron, egrets, and many other species of passerine birds have been found after fenthion sprays for mosquito and/or midge control. In 1970 in Louisiana, more than 1,000 birds were reported dead after a fenthion application. In Massachusetts and Idaho, robins, sparrows, catbirds, and sandpipers have also been killed. With the bird kill in Australia, there is concern about higher-order birds, such as eagles, that may prey on poisoned birds, as well as concerns about long-term effects on bird populations. It is still unknown how the birds came into contact with the pesticide and the local authorities are asking for public information on the possible misuse of pesticides in the region. Water samples from the nearby Macquarie River have also been tested and preliminary results indicate that no pesticides have been detected. Birds face challenges from the widespread use of pesticides. A 2013 study led by a preeminent Canadian toxicologist, Pierre Mineau, Ph.D., identifies acutely toxic pesticides as the most likely leading cause of the widespread decline in grassland bird numbers in the U.S. The report finds that the best predictor of bird declines is the lethal risk from insecticide use modeled from pesticide impact studies. Organic solutions to pest control and land management are the best ways to protect of bird and non-target wildlife populations. Join us and continue the conversation with Dr. Mineau at Beyond Pesticides’ 32nd National Pesticide Forum, Advancing Sustainable Communities: People, Pollinators and Practices, April 11-12, 2013, Portland State University, Portland, OR to discuss organic solutions for protecting our environment. This years’ forum will focus on solutions to the decline of pollinators and other beneficials; strengthening the organic food production system; regulating and right-to-know genetically engineered food; improving farmworker protection and agricultural justice; and creating healthy buildings, schools and homes. Source and Photo: The Sydney Morning Herald All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides. on Wednesday, March 12th, 2014 at 12:01 am and is filed under Chemicals, Fenthion, International, Wildlife/Endangered Sp.. 3 Responses to “Pesticide Blamed for Deaths of Hundreds of Wild Birds” 1 GMOsRFakeScience4FakeScientists Says: The government of Australia appears to be as corrupt as most any anywhere. Come on, Aussies! We all need to fight for your beautiful country and world. March 12th, 2014 at 4:14 pm 2 Jane Peters Says: Birds aren’t pests. Why are they being killed? Jorge Says: AS a result of these birds being killed do you think this may also blame the landscape architects that designed the farming land? August 8th, 2015 at 12:05 am Leave a Reply

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2017-09/0615/en_head.json.gz/19235

Captive Labor The plight of Peruvian sheepherders illuminates broader exploitation of immigrant workers in U.S. agriculture. ALVARO BEDOYA This article is from the September/October 2003 issue of Dollars and Sense: The Magazine of Economic Justice available at http://www.dollarsandsense.org This article is from the September/October 2003 issue of Dollars & Sense magazine. at a discount. On the night of June 25, 2000, Remigio Damián, a Peruvian shepherd, collapsed on the doorstep of a local farmer. Feverish and frail, Remigio had spent the past four days walking through mountains and pastures to escape his employer—a prominent local landowner—who he alleged had thrown him to the ground in a fit of rage. According to Remigio, his boss had housed him in a tent for months at a time, and frequently failed to provide him sufficient food, leaving him half-starved in remote areas of arid highland. One year later, after a slow and bureaucratic government investigation into the matter, Remigio's boss was handed the following sentence: not a dime to be paid in fines, not a day to be spent in jail, just a requirement that he write a manual on how he will treat new hires… Stereotype has it that such abuse and injustice is confined to remote regions of the Third World, but Remigio did not work in the pastures of Cusco, or anywhere near the Andes. Remigio Damián worked in Colorado for Louis Peroulis, a wealthy rancher, and his case is typical of what may be the most exploited group of laborers in America: foreign sheepherders. Beginning in 1957, American sheep ranchers began importing sheepherders, primarily from the Basque country of northern Spain. When the Spanish economic situation improved in the 1970s, the sheep industry turned to a poorer region: the Peruvian highlands. Today, over 2,100 foreign sheepherders work for American ranchers. The sheepherders are almost all from central Peru—with a few exceptions from Chile, Mexico, and Mongolia. With the help of this impoverished (and effectively captive) workforce, American ranchers have been able to keep labor costs at a minimum, actually decreasing herders' real (inflation-adjusted) earnings by 50% to 70% over the past 50 years. Since the passage of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, the federal government has allowed agribusiness to import "temporary guest workers" from abroad to perform agricultural work that U.S. citizens are presumably unable or unwilling to undertake. Known as "H-2A" workers for the statute providing for their immigration visas, these laborers are bound by federal law to work only for the employer that sponsored their entry, and are required to return to their country of origin upon the completion of their contract. Should H-2A workers decide to leave their jobs, they can be imprisoned and eventually deported. Like most H-2A workers, sheepherders toil in remote areas. In the spring and summer months, most sheepherders are given a mule and a tent and are sent to graze their flock—typically consisting of 750 to 1,250 sheep—in high pastures. From November to March, the "lambing season" when new lambs are born, herders return to the ranch—itself typically located in a distant, rural area—to assist in lambing and to facilitate the shearing and slaughter of selected sheep. While lamb meat and wool—the chief products of the American sheep industry—find their way into every supermarket or department store in the country, Americans rarely see the abuse and exploitation that it takes to produce these popular commodities. Sheepherders' suffering is invisible to the �public. In the summer of 2002, I traveled to California to have a closer look at the living and working conditions of these laborers. Over two months, I interviewed industry representatives, government officials, and 32 current and former sheepherders. The suffering and squalor that I found was highly troubling in its own right, but even more unsettling for the implications it had for H-2A workers and for all agricultural labor in the United States. "Even in Peru We Don't Live Like This" Nationally, with the exception of California, Oregon, and North Dakota, sheepherders are not paid more than $750 per month. In California, the pay is higher ($1,200 per month) thanks to the efforts of labor advocates. These income figures can be deceiving, however. Herders are not paid for a month of nine-to-five workdays: sheepherders are on-site, on the job, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whether they are grazing their charges in higher pastures during the summer, or tending to newborn lambs in the winter, most herders are specifically prohibited from leaving their work site. "We can only go into town to shop or visit friends if we escape our camps at night without the rancher noticing," lamented one herder. Their back-breaking labor literally never ends: 80% of herders reported not having a single day of rest in at least the past year, many for much longer. Taking this into account, hourly wages for herders are pitifully low, ranging between $1 and $3 per hour, far lower than the $5.15 minimum wage guaranteed by law to most other workers in the United States. But the sheepherders' wages are not illegal. In fact, each year the Department of Labor (DOL) actually sets wage floors by state for H-2A sheepherders at these subsistence levels. Ranchers respond to these criticisms by noting that all herders are provided room and board free of charge. Unfortunately, for over 95% of the herders I interviewed, "room" meant a cloth tent or a dilapidated trailer. (Some ranchers were more creative, though: two years ago, the Peruvian consulate learned that a group of Arizona herders was housed in a broken down school bus.) Regardless of whether a herder was housed in a trailer, tent, or covered wagon, conditions were abysmal. Though summer temperatures in California's Central Valley can rise up to 110�, not a single sheepherder had air conditioning. Though temperatures can dip below freezing in the winter, not one sheepherder's housing unit was equipped with a heating system. Moreover, not a single herder interviewed was provided with a toilet; every single herder was given a shovel with which to bury his excrement. "Board" was as inadequate as "room." With few exceptions, herders' rations consisted of lamb meat, either salted or slaughtered on-site, and canned goods. The majority of herders reported receiving the same food week after week, and noted that they were rarely given fresh fruit. One herder described his entire food supply for the year as "four lambs and canned food. Nothing else." Another, lacking a way to refrigerate the meat he was given, kept it in a red burlap sack hidden under his cot. "This way the dogs can't get to it," he explained. Herders reported that under these conditions, their meat often rotted in less than four days, forcing them to finish their weekly ration by the middle of the week. While herding sheep may sound safe and easy, herders perform many related tasks that place them at great risk, such as moving 100- to 200-pound coils of fence and driving on treacherous roads to reach new camps. Herders in California and Nevada are exposed to an additional threat—Valley Fever, a fungal infection triggered by Coccidioides immitis spores native to California's Central Valley. Though Valley Fever can be treated if detected, it is almost unknown outside of California, Nevada, and northern Mexico. Doctors in Peru are largely unaware of how to detect or treat it, meaning that afflicted herders returning to their home country often suffer a progression to more advanced, fatal stages. This combination of inclement weather, dangerous and exhausting work, and almost total isolation from the outside world makes sheepherding one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States. Though there are no published fatality statistics for sheepherding, at least six sheepherders—Edgar Estrella, Apolinario Qui�ones, Edmundo Serva Orihuela, Najario Soto, Carlos Aldana, and Jose Manuel Hilario Hinojo—died between 1995 and 1999 in California alone. Even if we only count two of the six deaths as job related—indeed, the deaths of Najario Soto, who died of exposure, and Edmundo Serva Orihuela, who died of Valley Fever, were definitively work related—the annual fatality rate would still be 80 deaths per 100,000 employees, as there are approximately 500 sheepherders in the state. This is a figure four times the average rate for agricultural industries. It's even greater than that of the American industry with the highest reported fatality rate: mining. Ranchers do not match herders' heightened risks with heightened care. Instead, ranchers often abandon workers who complain about their problems. One former worker, Lorenzo Mosquera, spoke of a particularly tragic episode: his employer ignored his repeated requests to see a doctor and left him at a local hotel once he could no longer work. Two days later, due to the employer's information, the Immigration and Naturalization Service arrested the herder for being "out of status." Because his boss had kept his visa and passport, Lorenzo could not prove his status, and spent two months in federal prison before being released on the intervention of the Peruvian consulate. The indifference of Lorenzo's employer is no anomaly. In 2000, Central California Legal Services conducted a survey of sheepherders, and asked what happened when they complained to their employers. Their responses are chilling: "He attacked me and soon he fired me," said one herder. "He fired me from the job, telling me I was a nobody," said another. A third sheepherder was told that he could "die behind the sheep." As one herder noted: "In Peru, I would make less than 500 soles (about $143) per month for this work. But there, we aren't alone—even in Peru, we don't live like this." A Federal Fleecing Perhaps more egregious than the sheepherders' substandard working conditions is the fact that the law facilitates their exploitation: Peruvian sheepherders are legal workers, and it is legal to do these things to them. It is legal to house a herder in a tent. It is legal to give him a shovel instead of a bathroom. It is legal to pay him two dollars an hour and force him to be "on the job" continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Due to a decades-long relationship between ranchers and federal legislators, federal law books are riddled with rancher-friendly exceptions to national labor standards. On the most basic level, sheepherders are exempt from the hourly minimum wage of $5.15 to which most Americans are entitled. Instead, herders receive a monthly minimum wage set by the Department of Labor. With the exception of California, North Dakota, and Oregon, this comes out to either $650 or $750 per month. Herders are also exempt from federal regulations that require workers to take rest breaks every several hours. As Department of Labor regulations state, herders can be "on call for up to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." In California and Nevada, ranchers and officials at state enforcement agencies interpret this to mean that herders can be required to be on-site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Compared to other migrant workers—and even other H-2A temporary agricultural workers—housing regulations for sheepherders are effectively non-existent. While regulations for H-2A and other migrant farm workers go into extensive detail about the structure of their housing—specifying everything from ceiling height to the thickness of window mesh—sheepherders can legally be housed in tents "where terrain and/or land regulations do not permit use of other more substantial mobile housing." While federal regulations for H-2A worker housing require that toilets be constructed if public sewers aren't available, sheepherder regulations state that "pits [can be] used for the disposal or burying of excreta and liquid waste" so long as they are "kept fly-tight when not filled in completely after each use." Ranchers and Department of Labor inspectors typically interpret this provision to mean that herders can be supplied with shovels instead of toilets. While H-2A housing regulations closely regulate farm workers' access to cooking facilities (including food refrigeration), federal law allows ranchers to feed herders "salted" unrefrigerated meat when "mechanical refrigeration of food is not feasible." Not only do H-2A workers lack the right to organize, strike, and bargain collectively—H-2As, like most agricultural workers, are exempt from the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)—they also lack the ability to switch employers or quit their employment. Their H-2A agricultural guest worker visas prohibit them from working for anyone other than the employer who sponsored their entry. If a herder is assigned to an abusive, exploitative employer, he is not free to quit his job to look for better employment. He is not even free to leave his job site. If a herder were to do any of these things, he could be—and many have been—imprisoned and deported. Lance Compa, writing on behalf of Human Rights Watch, summed up their plight: "H-2A workers are caught in the antithesis of a free labor system, unable to exercise rights of association but also unable to move to another employer to seek better terms." The wool industry's push to disenfranchise sheepherders continues to this day. While labor advocates like Chris Schneider, managing attorney of Central California Legal Services, repeatedly fail to get an audience with the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) officials, federal documents show that James Holt, an economic consultant for the Western Range Association (WRA), the leading rancher industry group, has regular meetings and correspondence with ETA officials. This unrestricted access has given the WRA decisive influence over the revision of existing ETA sheepherder regulations. For example, while the WRA was able to convince the ETA to implement a new, streamlined process for requesting additional H-2A sheepherders, archaic provisions—such as those that allow sheepherders to be housed in tents—have remained untouched for decades. The wool industry's influence is not limited to cabinet agencies. Senator Larry Craig of Idaho—who is pushing to expand the current H-2A program—recently proposed a further decrease in the federally mandated sheepherder minimum wage. If his bill were to pass, it would only add to the decades-long erosion of sheepherders' meager earnings. One Sheep in the Flock It is tempting to label the squalor and legal powerlessness experienced by sheepherders as an anomaly, an exception in an otherwise safe agricultural industry with a legally empowered workforce. When we look across American agriculture, however, we can see that exploitation and legal powerlessness are prevailing conditions. Sheepherders form a small subset of all H-2A agricultural guest workers. Like sheepherders, almost all H-2A guest workers work in physically dangerous sectors of American agriculture. In the 1980s and early 1990s, for example, most H-2A workers entered the sugar industry, harvesting long stalks of cane with razor-sharp machetes—a job so dangerous that it was commonplace for workers to lose fingers during the harvest. Today, the two largest importers of H-2A labor—primarily from Mexico, Guatemala, and other Central American countries—are tobacco farmers and fruit growers. H-2A fruit pickers commonly suffer from falls and exposure to pesticides. And a recent study published by the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine revealed that nearly a quarter of all North Carolina tobacco workers surveyed had suffered from nicotine poisoning, or "green tobacco sickness," at some point during the previous harvest. Combined, tobacco and fruit bring in over half of all H-2A workers. The use of heavy machinery, exposure to pesticides, and poor access to health care make agriculture generally a high-risk occupation whether one is an H-2A worker or not. While the average fatality rate for all industries in the United States is 4.3 deaths per 100,000 individuals employed, the fatality rate for agriculture is five times higher. Despite the higher risks associated with their employment, just like sheepherders and other H-2A guest workers, all agricultural workers are subject to a distinctly lower level of legal safeguards than other U.S. workers. Only a minority of agricultural workers—scholars estimate around 35%—are legally entitled to the minimum wage and unemployment insurance, and no agricultural employees receive overtime pay. Also, though agricultural workers are subject to housing standards in the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the work site regulations issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for agricultural jobs are cursory at best, only requiring that bathroom and hand-washing facilities be available at job sites. More importantly, since all agricultural workers are exempt from the NLRA, they all lack the right to organize, strike, and bargain collectively with their employers. While we would normally expect the law to most protect those most in need of protection, with agricultural labor, it does the exact opposite: the more vulnerable the agricultural worker, the less likely he is to be protected, and the more likely he is to be actively restricted by federal standards from taking steps to protect himself. Indeed, when we compare the rights of agricultural workers in general, H-2A workers, and foreign sheepherders, as is done in the table, this pattern is unsettlingly clear. On one of my first days interviewing herders in California, I met a man named Aureliano Figueroa, who told me the following story: One day, I fell sick and my bones ached… and I had a very strong fever. I asked the campero [manager] to visit the doctor. He said, "Go to your tent and don't come out." I asked him [again] and he just gave me three pills and told me, "Go to your tent and don't come out." And I wanted to see the doctor, but the money wasn't enough. I couldn't leave, anyway, not without the campero's permission. I tried to cure my fever with some plants I picked… a friend of mine showed me how… but I just kept on shaking. It didn't stop until [three days later]. Nowadays I try to keep myself warm, but sometimes during the lambing season you have to be up all night, or so early in the morning that it doesn't matter what you're wearing. I just don't want to get sick again. Maybe the campero would take me to the doctor this time. Although some might be tempted to attribute Figueroa's suffering to the cruelty of his employer, his experience could only have occurred in the context of a legal system that permitted and encouraged his exploitation. In the wealthiest nation in the world, in the 21st century, this is unconscionable. Sheepherders' abysmal working conditions should be made illegal. They should be able to quit their jobs without fear of imprisonment or deportation. Moreover, sheepherders must be given the right to organize—a right which, like all agricultural workers in the United States, they are currently denied. Alvaro Bedoya was born in Peru and raised in upstate New York. He recently graduated from Harvard College with a degree in Social Studies, and will enter Yale Law School in the fall of 2004 to study labor and immigration law. Home 2017 archive2016 archive2015 archive2014 archive2013 archive2012 archive2011 archive2010 archive2009 archive2008 archive2007 archive2006 archive2005 archive2004 archive2003 archive2002 archive2001 archive2000 archive1999 archive1998 archive1997 archive1996 archive D&S books About D&S Get involved D&S blog Please note our new address: Dollars & Sense89 South St., LL02Boston, MA 02111 USA © 2017 Economic Affairs Bureau, Inc.

农业

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Pig Farming in Poland By John Feffer I know a bit about dairy farming since I spent my summers growing up in the dairy country of Vermont's Northern Kingdom. But my knowledge of pig farming is all second-hand and comes mostly from Annie Proulx's novel That Old Ace in the Hole, a devastating indictment of industrial farming in Oklahoma. What remains in my memory are the huge holding ponds of pig excrement and the unholy smell. So I was pleasantly surprised to visit the pig farm of Adam and Anna Janeczek, located in the village of Wyborow, a couple hours east of Warsaw. Their neighborhood looked practically suburban, with neat houses lined up one side of the street and well-tended fields on the other side. I didn't smell any pigs, and I certainly didn't see any holding ponds. Behind the Janeczek's house, small enough to be concealed from the road by a few trees, lay their pig operation (pictured above). We sat in their scrupulously clean living room to chat. Theirs is a family farm, which is nothing like the industrial farming that dominates American agriculture. The Janeczeks keep about 90 sows and produce about 1,300 piglets a year that they then fatten up and sell. When Poland entered the European Union in 2004, it became much cheaper for Polish pig farmers to simply buy piglets from countries like Denmark and then raise them for sale. They could then dispense with all the buildings and equipment and expertise needed to produce their own piglets. But the Janeczeks continue to maintain the older traditions that their family have held to for the century or so that their farm has been in existence. It's not easy to be a small farmer in Poland. "It's frustrating, for instance, that the state wants to subsidize sows when you have 150 or more," Anna Janeczek told me. That's for industrial farms. We have 85 or so. So, we'd be interested in seeing subsidies for farms with 50 sows or more. That would be fair for us. But this government that we have only gives advantages to the big farmers. Adam Janeczek agreed. "All the time people talk about healthy food," he said. In my opinion, and this is the great deception, the production of large firms is not possible without drugs, antibiotics and so on. They don't have time to take care of one pig at a time. But if we're talking about small farms, family farms, there's much less risk of illness, so the food is healthier. We have less waste, and we dispose of it properly. But politics is a different matter, as you probably understand. Much has changed since the end of the Communist era. When Janeczek was in Norway in the 1980s, he was shocked when the farmer he was visiting went to a store to buy only two screws. "Why two screws?" he asked. Because with us if there were screws in the shop, if they were available, you'd get a kilo, or two or five. If they were there. But we went to the store in Norway and there was no problem. The screws were there, and he bought just two of them. I came back to Poland and I wanted to buy screws and there weren't any. Today, the stores are full of products, but they're more expensive and people don't necessarily have the money to buy them. "Some farmers think logically and buy the machine only if it's necessary," his wife said. Other farmers see a low price and buy it even if they don't need it. They buy the new tractor even if they can't afford it. That's why there's all this debt. But we don't have that kind of debt. The fact is there's a lot of equipment in the countryside. There might not be a lot of buildings and there might not be a lot inside people's houses, but outside in the yard there's a lot of equipment. It's not a life that is attracting many young people to relocate to the countryside. "My husband's no longer a spring chicken," she continued. He has a combine. At this point it's worn out but my husband still uses it. The young people don't want to work in these conditions. They don't want to work nights. My husband is a born farmer. He works for the idea of it. Sometimes we argue because I'd like some repairs on the house, and he doesn't because it needs work there and there and there: it's a bottomless pit. But the young generation wants something different. They don't want to work all the time because of an idea. They only have to see that it's necessary to harvest, to thresh, and you can't just get it over with quickly and go on vacation. My husband still does it this way. What was the situation like 23 years ago here at the farm? Husband: If we're talking about the economy, before 1989 there was money but no goods in the stores. And today there are goods but no money. It's the reverse. In 1988, I left the country for the first time. I was in Norway. And there was a store with machines, tractors. I thought stupidly, "Damn, they have all these products but no one to buy them!" And now that's the situation with us too. It's a question of money. I'll tell you, before 1989 it was rather common for farmers to be taken care of in some way by the state. There was no room for maneuver. There were no goods, nothing to buy. But now, after all the changes, enterprises developed. Now it's necessary to have a finger on the pulse of what's going on in order to control the situation. Wife: We're farmers, and certainly we don't have influence over the situation. For instance, chemical fertilizers are terribly expensive. The means of production for farmers include tractors, machines. Everything is entrepreneurial. In our example, for instance, we can't increase our landholding even if we want, because everyone wants to buy land and land is relatively expensive and there's none to buy. Now I'm thinking about our son Tomek. He might prefer to grow grain and not raise animals. But that would be very hard to do. So, you see, we don't have a lot of room for maneuver. All the equipment is pretty expensive. If Tomek wants to remain connected to the farm -- and he still hasn't made up his mind -- we don't know if it will even pay to do so. Husband: But you asked what changed. Very little changed. Wife: The equipment got expensive. Before it was cheap, before 1989. Everything was cheaper then. Husband: Yes, but -- Wife: But you got paid right away. Husband: As my wife said, in 1989 goods were produced, they were sold, and you got money at the end. Immediately. And now, after these changes, a bunch of cheaters started to move into agriculture. After two weeks, a month, the payments weren't made and in the end the firm disappeared somewhere and some people declared bankruptcy, and it was just unfair. So, that changed. We would sell goods and not get paid. But now, actually, the situation has changed so that we get a remittance and after two or three weeks, we get paid. The situation has stabilized. But still the main problem is that farmers here in Poland, because of politics, didn't get any stake in meat-processing plants like in Denmark or where farmers are part of cooperatives. We don't have that here. We have dairies where farmers are shareholders and they get dividends. But farmers who produce pork or lamb are not shareholders in the meat-processing firms. And also they don't have any influence over the prices or the bonuses or the dividends. Wife: Especially over prices. We sell where we can get a good price. But there's not a lot of choice. One place is cheaper today, another tomorrow but it's a lot further away. It used to be that old clients were predictable. Now you have to wheel and deal. Husband: When the changes took place and firms collapsed, it was precisely the farmers who suffered. And later it was obvious who was opening things up here: various city slickers who had capital. And we knew all about them. For a farmer in Poland, during those years of Communism or socialism or whatever you call it, there wasn't general poverty. Farming was normal: food was produced normally. We had private producers in Poland. That's why I say that there wasn't anything new with these changes, with privatization. All the time we were working privately. Progress certainly came to the countryside, as in the entire EU. The first thing that came to the countryside were telephones. Wife: That was in 1990. And only the mayor had a telephone. Husband: And now everyone has a cellphone. And that's great. Wife: There's another plus that I'd like to boast about. We work quickly now because we pay our bills electronically. We don't have to involve an accountant because everything is computerized. Through the telephone, we can connect to the Internet, pay our bills, read things on screen, make our sowing plans - all on the computer. Husband: The invoices, the payments: everything is on the computer.That's the way it is in America as well these days in the countryside. When I was a kid, there was no Internet, no cell phone. Husband: Exactly.So it was a completely different situation for agriculture 30 years ago. For the rest of the interview, click here. Follow John Feffer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/johnfeffer Director, Foreign Policy In Focus and Editor, LobeLog; Author of 'Splinterlands' Poland Farming Agriculture Eastern Europe Europe

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Home Gardening Chelsea Flower Show is such a garden inspiration bwatts CompleteInspiration The grounds of the Royal Hospital in London’s Chelsea have been transformed into a floral paradise We’re delighted to tell you two very special garden varieties from Woman’s Weekly’s Shop have been shortlisted for Plant Of The Year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2015. The dazzling dwarf raspberry cultibar Raspberry Ruby Beauty (‘Nr 7’) is perfect for small containers and our climbing Fuchsia ‘Pink Fizz’ is a mass of sugar-pink blooms. Raspberry Ruby Beauty (‘Nr7’) and Fuchsia ‘Pink Fizz’ made the Chelsea Flower Show 2015 Plant Of The Year Short List Our Gardening Editor, Adrienne Wild, is a big fan of Chelsea and is always excited about seeing new varieties on show. ‘Chelsea Flower Show is the highlight of the gardening year. For over 100 years, it’s wowed visitors, from home and abroad, with the best ideas, trends and style that horticulture has to offer,’ she says. ‘Of course, it’s the plants that are the stars. People don’t just admire the amazing variety, but also how the plants are persuaded by their expert growers to be at their best (sometimes out of season) for one week at the end of May. ‘Visit the event and you’ll find over 600 exhibitors competing to show off their horticultural talents and vying for a coveted Gold Medal. You’ll get a first glimpse of gems being launched by plant breeders, and see emerging design trends – giving you inspiration for everything from great plant combos to the latest look for your patio. ‘And if you go on the last day, you could snap up some real bargains, as exhibitors sell their plants from about 4pm.’ The display of plants at Chelsea Flower Show 2015 is breathtaking Here’s what to look else to look out for this year Prince Harry – his charity, Sentebale, will have a garden inspired by the Sentebale Mamohato Children’s Centre. It provides residential camps for children affected by HIV and AIDS in Lesotho, Africa. The garden aims to give visitors a taste of Lesotho with a rock/waterscape feature that represents the area’s mountainous terrain. The main sponsor of 2015 Chelsea Flower Show, the M&G garden has been designed by Jo Thompson. It will be a quintessentially British retreat with a two-storey oak framed building, a large natural swimming pond and a display of tumbling roses and peonies. The triangle garden, which can be viewed from all three sides, has been designed by Dan Pearson for Champagne house Laurent-Perrier, capturing the spirit of Chatsworth estate in Derbyshire. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show runs from 19-23 May. For more info about the RHS, and to book tickets for its Shows, visit rhs.org.uk or call 0844 338 0338. A Japanese garden of contrasting foliage is stunning A potted history 1862 The Royal Horticultural Society’s first Great Spring Show – the forerunner of RHS Chelsea – was held in the RHS garden in Kensington, before moving to Temple Gardens (and becoming known as The Temple Show) in the heart of London, where it ran until 1911. 1912 The great nurseryman, Sir Harry Veitch, secured the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, for a one-off show. It proved such a good site that the Great Spring Show was moved there in 1913 (the start of the Chelsea Flower Show as we know it), and has taken place almost every year since. 1914-1918 Despite the First World War, the event was held in 1914 and 1916, but not in 1917 and 1918. 1926 The Show opened a week late due to the General Strike. 1932 A summerhouse was demolished by torrential rain; this year is often referred to as ‘The Chelsea Shower Flow’. 1937 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth celebrated their Coronation Year, and to mark the occasion, an Empire Exhibition was staged, complete with a prickly pear from Palestine, pines from Canada, and gladioli from East Africa. 1940s Chelsea was cancelled during the Second World War, when the hospital grounds were used as an anti-aircraft site. 1951 The Great Marquee was pitched for the first time. It was the world’s largest tent, measuring 3.5 acres. 1956 Flower-arranging was allocated its very own tent. 1958 BBC coverage of the show began. 1988 Attendance became so popular that a cap of 157,000 visitors was put on the event. 2013 In the Show’s 100th year, the famous ban on garden gnomes, usually deemed too tacky to display, was lifted (for one year only). Sculpture enhances a charming garden at Chelsea Flower Show 2015 Chelsea by numbers There are around 250 stands across the site and 100 exhibits in the Grand Pavilion. It takes 800 people 33 days to build the show from bare grass to glorious displays. In 2014, visitors to the show drank 1,150 glasses of champagne, 6,400 glasses of Pimm’s and 10,560 hot drinks, and ate over 10,000 portions of fish and chips! The Grand Pavilion is roughly 11,775 square metres – big enough to house 500 London buses. The annual cycle of planning lasts 15 months, which means arrangements for next year’s show have already begun. On average, 165,000 people visit the Show each year. Order plants on the Woman’s Weekly Shop Visit our website to order either of our plants that were shortlisted for Plant Of The Year. Whether you would like our Raspberry Ruby Beauty (‘Nr 7’), or our Fuchsia ‘Pink Fizz’, it’s simple to place your order online, and, your plants will be delivered straight to your door. How To Make: A cat cross stitch Learn crochet from the start – how to hold your hook and yarn How To Knit: Lace knitting 15 things you definitely need to know when you’re knitting Clangers How to do Tunisian crochet How To Make A Dress: How to sew a dress with stay stitch How To Make: A tote bag Outtakes: Behind the scenes of Woman’s Weekly’s videos

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June 2013 Weather and Its Impacts on Missouri The cool spring weather began transitioning toward a more seasonable summer-like pattern during June, with below normal temperatures at the beginning of the month climbing to near to above normal conditions for much of the rest of the month, Figure 1. Preliminary temperature data for the state indicate a statewide average June temperature of 73.1°F, or 0.1° above the long-term average. It was the 9th consecutive June averaging warmer than normal, with the last cooler than normal June occurring in 2004, Figure 2. Some record low temperatures were established early in the month when Joplin and St. Joseph dropped to 45 and 44°F, respectively, on June 3rd and Kansas City dipped to 46°F on the 4th. Rolla set a minimum temperature record of 48°F on June 8th. Monthly precipitation was variable across Missouri, but the statewide average was 4.71 inches, or 0.04" above the long-term average. Due to the localized nature of convective activity, precipitation disparities were profound across the state. Regionally, the highest precipitation totals were confined to east central and southeastern sections. Another area of heavier rainfall extended from a 100-mile wide corridor centered in Vernon County, in southwestern Missouri, to Shannon County, in south central sections. Most locations across the northern half of the state received 2-4 inches, whereas the southern half reported 4-6 inches. There were notable exceptions, however. Some of the highest rainfall totals were in Barton, Dade and Greene counties where CoCoRaHS observers reported 10.17, 10.36 and 12.68 inches, respectively. Ironically, driest conditions were also reported in southwestern Missouri, where observers in Stone, Barry and Taney counties reported 1.35, 1.28 and 0.75 inches for the month. As of July 2, there was no official drought designation in the state, Figure 3, but conditions were getting dry in pockets of central Missouri and extreme southwestern sections. A highly localized and unusual extreme precipitation event impacted portions of southwestern Missouri during the morning and early afternoon hours of June 15. Slow-moving, training thunderstorms developed along an outflow boundary just south of Springfield and dropped intense and extreme rainfall totals ranging from 6-9 inches. Flash flooding quickly emerged across parts of southern Greene County and northern Christian County, with inundated roads and numerous high water rescues reported. The Springfield National Weather Service office issued a flash flood emergency for parts of south Springfield due to the extreme flooding. Intense thunderstorms also dropped heavy rainfall over portions of Jasper and Barton counties during this time, resulting in localized flash flooding. Severe thunderstorms developed in eastern Kansas late in the evening of June 27 and impacted the Kansas City metropolitan area before sweeping southeastward into parts of west central and south central Missouri during the early a.m. hours of the 28th. There were numerous reports of tree, power line and property damage due to winds gusting between 50 and 70 mph. According to the Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service, by the end of June crop conditions had improved with warmer weather and scattered showers. Fifty-nine percent of the corn and soybean crop were reported to be in good to excellent condition. More than 90% of the topsoil and subsoil moisture conditions were reported to be in adequate to surplus condition and 76% of the pastures were in good to excellent condition. Hay and stock water supplies were sufficient where 86% and 99%, respectively, were in adequate to surplus condition.

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Sierra Leone Farmers Evicted for Sugarcane Biofuel Plantations by Jennifer Kennedy, CorpWatch Blog Addax sign in Sierra Leone. Photo courtesy Oakland Institute Addax Bioenergy, a Swiss energy company, is jeopardizing the livelihoods of thousands of subsistence farmers in order to export ethanol made from sugarcane grown in Sierra Leone, according to the Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food (SiLNoRF) and Brot Für Alle (Bread for All), an NGO based in Switzerland.The Makeni project in the Bombali and Tonkolili districts of western Sierra Leone was initiated in 2008 on land acquired by Addax, a subsidiary of Oryx, an energy corporation founded by Swiss billionaire Jean Claude Gandur. Sugarcane grown on 10,000 hectares of land will be processed in a neighboring ethanol refinery and a biomass power plant to deliver a total of 100,000 megawatt hours of power for export to Europe once all the infrastructure has been completed later this year.Addax has planted the fast growing sugar cane on large areas of productive land known as the bolilands even though it promised not to, alleges SiLNoRF’s in its 2012 annual monitoring report. “[Addax] has taken away most of the bolilands and the people, they are saying that they have been stolen from them,” Abass J. Kamara, programmes coordinator for SiLNoRF, told CorpWatch. (The company has a 50 year lease for a total of 57,000 hectares of land in Sierra Leone."Now I don’t have a farm. Starvation is killing people. We have to buy rice to survive because we don't grow our own now," one community member told Canadian journalist, Joan Baxter at an April 2012 farmers' conference organized by SiLNoRF and Green Scenery, another Sierra Leonean civil society organization.For Sierra Leone, a small West African nation that ranks as one of the poorest countries in the world, which is slowly emerging from a brutal civil from war that displaced about half of its population from 1991-2002, this issue of food security is a major national problem, according to the Oakland Institute, a U.S. based think tank.The current government headed by President Ernest Bai Koroma has favored the introduction of industrial farming as a way to meet this challenge. For example, in 2009, the government created the National Sustainable Agriculture Development Plan (NSADP), to “increase the agriculture sector’s contribution to the national economy by increasing productivity through commercialization and private sector participation.”The Makeni project, which has been touted as the country’s ‘flagship investment’ for agricultural development, has received €142 million in loans from several European development banks such as the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) and the German Development Finance Institution (DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH). Included in the list is the UK’s Department of International Development (DFID) sponsored Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF).In order to resolve the conflict with local farmers who have relied on the land for generations, Addax ‘lured’ community members into signing away their land to Addax with ‘juicy’ but non-binding promises to build schools, medical facilities, and community centers, alleges Bread for All. Kamara noted that the communities’ right to “free, prior and informed consent” had been violated because Addax had only talked about positive changes, neglecting to mention any of the project’s possible negative impacts.Addax also set up an alternative farming mitigation project called the Farmer Development Program (FDP) but this has failed to provide adequate long-term food security for impacted farmers so far, according to a joint report by SiLNoRF and Bread for All published in September 2012.A key stumbling block is the fact that farmers have to pay the full cost of seeds, harrowing, and ploughing on this new land after just three years which SiLNoRF says will be hard.For example Kamara told CorpWatch that “farmers are confined to smaller portions of land and they are being encourage by Addax to use mechanized methods of farming like fertilizers and other pesticides and these people cannot afford to pay for them.”Although Addax pays compensation of $12 per hectare per year to many of the community members, an “Independent study report of the Addax Bioenergy sugarcane-to-ethanol project in the Makeni region in Sierra Leone” published by SiLNoRF says that this is not a “fair and adequate amount’” as it would not be enough to purchase a single meal in the province’s regional capital of Makeni.Responding to the publication of the SiLNoRF study, Addax said that it “vigorously contests the allegations contained in the strongly biased report which neither reflects the reality on the ground nor takes any notice of the unprecedented efforts deployed on the ground to engage with local communities and improve their daily lives.”NGOs blame the development agencies for having created this conflict. A report titled ‘The Hunger Games' published by War on Want, a UK NGO, alleges that DFID has used taxpayers’ money to support “land grabbing” in Africa by supporting big agribusinesses over millions of subsistence farmers, condemning the latter to poverty.War on Want points out that DFID helped finance the creation of the Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SLIEPA) in 2008, which has been aggressively promoting foreign investment” that has resulted in some 500,000 hectares of land being acquired by foreign corporations, according to SiLNoRF.Addax is not the only company which has been accused of land grabbing in Sierra Leone. In the southern district of Pujehun, land disputes are also simmering between local famers and Socfin Agricultural Company Sierra Leone Limited, a subsidiary of Socfin Group which is majority owned by the French investment and holding conglomerate, Bolloré Group. Despite promised benefits, many families are vehemently opposed to the leasing of their farmland for rubber and oil plantations, according to Green Scenery, a Sierra Leonian NGO.

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> Pacific Northwest Sea Run Forum WSC May 3rd Meeting Pacific Northwest Sea Run Forum No such thing as rainbow trout, only landlocked steelhead jjohnson Location: Sky, North Umpqua WSC News - May 3rd Meeting Speaker: Phil Davis, Hoh River Trust Place: UW Horticulture Center Title: Overview of the Hoh River Trust About the Trust: The Hoh River Trust was formed in February 2004 by Western Rivers Conservancy (WRC) and the Wild Salmon Center to own and manage river lands along the Hoh River on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula with an objective to conserve, restore, and enhance these lands for the benefit of the dependent species, including healthy salmon and steelhead runs along with listed ESA species including marbled murrelet, spotted owl, bald eagle, and bull trout. Within this mission we will also pursue community and educational outreach. This will be a legacy that not only benefits the targeted ecosystem and local community, but contributes to a broader understanding of the viability of healthy river systems elsewhere. Using bridge financing from private foundations, WRC to date has acquired approx. 4,700 acres of commercial timber lands valued at over $8.7mm from Rayonier Corp. within a 10,000 acre corridor extending from the western boundary of Olympic National Park to the Pacific Ocean. Hoh River Trust subsequently acquired from WRC approx. 3,500 of those acres for $6.5mm funded by grants from the State of Washington Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) as a part of their allocation of federal funds under Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act. The Trust is awaiting an additional grant from WDNR of $2.2mm to acquire the remaining 1,200 acres held by WRC. WRC is also actively negotiating the purchase of an additional 2,500 acres which would bring the total acquired lands to approx. 7,200 acres, over 70% of the available land within the 10,000 acre corridor. WRC will need to arrange bridge financing of approx. $5mm to complete this transaction. The Trust has contracted with the Cascade Land Conservancy to develop a comprehensive Land Management Plan on the Trust’s initial ownership of up to 4,700 acres. The plan will be completed in 2006 and include specific strategies to: • Identify and prioritize a list of immediate restoration activities, including tree thinning, replanting, invasive weed control, road and culvert repair and maintenance, access improvements, habitat restoration, and more; • Seek input from local and regional community members; • Begin meaningful restoration activities, utilizing local contractors where possible; • Monitor fish-population responses over time to restoration activities, utilizing baseline data from Wild Salmon Center; • Develop a long term schedule to monitor and assess the effectiveness of restoration and stewardship activities relative to the goal of returning the river and its riparian habitats to their naturally evolving condition. The Hoh River Trust is committed to working closely with local communities on the Olympic Peninsula, meaningfully engaging them in our planning, restoration, and stewardship activities. These are the communities that rely on the Hoh River for livelihood and recreation, communities that know and love the river best. Creating a sense of ownership among local and regional communities will be vital to the success of this initiative. To keep our stewardship grounded in the best science and management practices, we have hired a professional land management and stewardship staff with extensive experience in habitat restoration, forestry, fisheries, and project management, and we are developing dynamic relationships with regional fish and wildlife conservation-organizations, management agencies, and academic researchers. About the River: The chance to preserve the Hoh River is truly a unique conservation opportunity; it is a last great American river. With over 250,000 rivers in the continental US, the Hoh is one of the very few that remains virtually intact from it source high in the Olympic mountain range draining 56 miles into the Pacific Ocean. The upper watershed is pristine; twenty five miles of the river and its upper tributaries are protected within Olympic National Park, flowing cold and clear across gravel bars and under towering old growth forests. Over 140 inches of rain a year feeds the river and sustains one of the planet’s last intact temperate rainforests. The lower mainstem winds for 30 miles through a mosaic of government, commercial timber, private, and Native lands. While some tributaries in the lower watershed have been impacted by timber activities, the mainstem and its broad floodplain have escaped development pressure. No major levees constrain the river, and a network of channels braid back and forth between massive logjams, across gravel bars, through timbered floodplains, and under emerald cathedrals of giant spruce and cedar, furnished in vine maple, hanging mosses, sorrel, and fern. From its source 8,000 feet high on Mt. Olympus to the Pacific Ocean, the Hoh flows its entire length as it has for thousands of years, supporting a remarkable diversity of wildlife. Northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet, and bald eagle nest in snags along the river and its floodplain. Deer, Roosevelt elk, black bear, cougar, fox, and other mammals browse and hunt in the surrounding forest. Thousands of adult salmon spawn in the Hoh’s clean gravel, while countless juveniles rear and feed under logjams and in shaded, rich, sinuous back channels. The Hoh supports populations of resident cutthroat and rainbow trout, Dolly Varden, and Threatened bull trout; the river gathers some of the healthiest native salmon and steelhead runs in the US outside of Alaska. The Hoh has no permanent hatcheries, and almost all the salmon and steelhead returning to the Hoh are wild. The Hoh River Trust can assure that almost 90% of the entire Hoh ecosystem is protected from unwanted development, where the dependent species can thrive in an undisturbed and naturally evolving habitat, and where people can continue to enjoy the ecological bounty, leaving a legacy of pristine wilderness for future generations. Biography: Phil received a degree in Economics from Stanford University in 1980, and followed that with a successful 25-year business career, including tenures at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, and a family ownedregional electrical-supply distributor in Seattle, Stusser Electric Company. In 2000 he joined HouseValues Inc. to lead this early stage Internet start-up as Executive Vice President of Finance & Operations, helping tobuild the organizational and financial foundation for one the region's mostsuccessful new businesses. Phil most recently was Vice President at Savers, Inc., North America's largest for-profit thrift store chain. Phil decided to change course and accept the position at Hoh River Trust in the summer of 2005 by an informed passion for rivers, fish, and wildlife, and by a deep confidence in the mission and strategies of the organization."I'm thrilled to be part of this team," says Phil. "This opportunity to help leave a lasting legacy for the environment and the community is very meaningful to me and my family." Phil will be primarily responsible for development and for the administration and oversight of the Trust's Peninsula based land-management operations. Phil is a fly fisherman and river lover. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife, 3 sons and 2 dogs. Find all posts by jjohnson rich_simms Location: Rivers of North Sound & Oly Pen -Lost poor realitive of the Simms family fishing fortune Visit rich_simms's homepage! Find all posts by rich_simms Wild Steelhead Coalition March 3rd Meeting WSC Meeting Doublespey 3rd Meeting of the WSC-Join Us!!! 3rd Meeting of the WSC-Join Us!!

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Topic: Steve "Chicken" Morris *voted off* Topic: Steve "Chicken" Morris *voted off* (Read 2884 times) Steve "Chicken" Morris *voted off* ChickenAge:47Home Town:Marion, VAOccupation:Chicken FarmerBio Steve "Chicken" Morris was born in Marion, Virginia, and grew up on a commercial farm, where he has worked with poultry since he was 13 years old. After 40 years of marriage, Morris broke ties with his wife and raised his three children (Tyychelle and twins Dee Ann and Jessica) alone.Morris currently manages the farm, where they produce all natural eggs and chickens along with grass-fed beef, pork and turkey. He also runs a store on the property. He previously worked as a bouncer, a fish culturist for the Fish & Game Department, a security officer and a logger. He enjoys hunting, fishing, camping and riding ATVs. He describes himself as outgoing and someone who lives on the edge. He enjoys country and bluegrass music. His favorite sport is baseball. He is a member of the Rich Valley Fair Association and the Abingdon Farmers Market Board.Morris currently resides in Marion, Virginia. He had four dogs, Zek, Cluck, Poke and Eli. His birth date is September 2, 1959.Meet Chickenhttp://video.cgi.cbs.com/vplayer3/play.pl?type=rm&width=480&height=360&feat=vplayer&adtype=pre&arena=video&prod=innertube&id=149106&ord=81894.7049864501 Re: Steve "Chicken" Morris He looks older then he is to me. By discription will be a strong pesonality and will not put up with the laying around doing nothing. Re: Steve "Chicken" Morris *voted off* I’d Already Won Everything I Wanted to Win” – An Interview with Survivor: China’s Chicken by David Bloomberg -- 09/21/2007 Chicken may be the happiest player ever to only make it to the first vote. Why? You’ll have to read on to find out. Plus, why did he go from making suggestions to not even answering questions? What strategy did he try? Chicken talks about all of this and much, much more! Some reality show contestants give short answers to specific questions. Others like to tell their stories. Chicken is definitely in the latter group. In doing so, Chicken was probably the most talkative first-eliminated contestant I’ve ever talked to, and one of the most talkative contestants, period. We might not have seen much of it on the show, but he had his reasons and he made up for it now. Indeed, he answered a number of my questions before I could even ask them. So read on to see what he had to say.RealityNewsOnline: Hello, Chicken, and thanks for taking the time to talk to RealityNewsOnline! What was your strategy coming into the game?Chicken: I’ll tell ya, when I caught the flight out of Charlotte to JFK, I had a game plan. After preliminaries to the day I left, I had a game plan. I watched many many episodes in my chair at home, [thinking] you need to do this you need to do that. But then I said I’m just going to be myself, I’m not gong to fit a piece of the puzzle that a I think would fit in. I was going to be myself, period.Basically, that’s what I did the whole trip until last night, I took one day at a time. But a lot of people were talking about being really disappointed. I’m not disappointed. I’m very proud to be a small part of this for many different reasons. And I’d go back tomorrow.It’s not a money thing, it’s just the people that you meet and it’s hard to talk to these people. They’re basically from a different culture. It’s just like last night, they drug that old frame out of the woods. I had enough sense to know even if we made part of he shelter out of this thing, it’s not going to hold together. They thought they found a flipping gold mine. That’s when I first spoke and said this is not going to work. You can’t make something out of nothing. I just voiced my opinion and that was the last time I did, they wouldn’t listen to me.Then we slept in the rain and walked in the mud, the circumstances were bad for them. For me, I walk in the mud every day. When we’re sorting cattle, we don’t take the day off because it’s raining or because the mud’s a foot deep. When we got into that truck at the first of the show, there was about three or four inches of mud. They said, “oh good gracious, the mud.” I’m thinking to myself, “you ain’t seen nothing yet.”I don’t criticize these people and I hope they don’t criticize me. This cast is absolutely super. Sixteen people from 16 different walks of life. They’ve done an extraordinary job of casting these people. That is what I like about this show. I don’t care where you’re from, rich or poor, you’re all even. And how it plays it out is what’s great about this game. It requires a little bit of luck and depending on who you are, maybe a lot of luck.When I landed in China, I’d already won everything I wanted to win. From that day on, it was just a plus. You take a great journey and you’re at this party, and you really don’t care what happens. People think you’re strange if you don’t care about money. But money’s not the issue for me. This was the greatest trip in the world for me. I’ve never flown, I’ve never rode a boat. I didn’t miss nothing.RNO: Speaking of the experience, what was your opinion of the ceremony at the Buddhist temple and the way Leslie walked out?Chicken: Leslie shouldn’t have done that. This is my opinion. Jeff was very very clear on his instructions – this is not a religious ceremony. He explained more about Buddha than you saw. I was astonished with the temple. I’ll never forget the temple and what Jeff said at the start of the game. This is a way of life for these people and when they invite you in, a perfect stranger, [you should honor it].What you seen last night took about three hours. This is a big part of their culture and they’ve shared it with you. It’d be like bringing 250 Chinese people on the farm – it’s a culture shock. Buddha is not religious, it’s like Confucius. Buddha and farming is not really on the same level but I’m using it as an example.When I took that long walk after the game, I was disappointed. Today I’m not and that temple was extraordinary. It marked me. I’m sure the other 15 people won’t give the same answer. That’s what makes this cast so good and what makes this show.I’ve watched a ton of Survivor. You can play all you want to in your chair. But we’re all very unique people from very unique places with a very unique way of life. Those are the pieces that make a great show. This is a great season, going by the cast and what I’ve seen last night. I think it was a good kickoff to one of the better seasons in the last three or four years.RNO: You mentioned that you gave your opinion and they didn’t listen, so you didn’t give it anymore. I understand why you decided to back off when people on your tribe weren’t listening to you, but why did you appear to go to such an extreme to avoid answering questions when they were asked of you?Chicken: (laughs) It’s like, I made a ton of suggestions at first. I build things. You’ve got all this know-how, but it didn’t show. They went a couple days without water and I didn’t because I was drinking water in 20 minutes and eating kiwis in 20 minutes, and these people did without. I voiced my opinion and they were talking about college days and partying. This goes on all day the first day.Me and Peih-Gee wanted to get it done. We’re in the middle of nowhere playing the greatest flipping game in the world. We want to get stuff done and everybody else wants to sit around talking about parties and music. I can’t relate to that. That’s when the 16 different people from 16 different places come in. Nobody was talking about hunting or fishing or farming.When I came out of that temple and saw the other seven people, I knowed I was in trouble. I thought about it and said, “just be yourself, whatever happens is going to happen.” When I’m trying to tell you something and you don’t want to listen, they just brush it off.On the second day, when they asked me and I didn’t want to answer, then it became an issue. I could have gotten down on my knees and kissed their behind and built their shelter. But that’s not the way I am. Then the next day I’d have to kiss their behinds again. You do something for me and I’ll do something for you.RNO: We saw you talk to Frosti and Dave about votes, but did you try to form a specific alliance with anybody?Chicken: On the first evening, when I was coming back from getting water, I come up on three girls, Peih-Gee, Jaime, and Sherea. They were standing about 70 yards from where I was. I walked up on them and they said, “Chicken come here.” We went into all this conversation. They said let’s stick together, it’s early for an alliance but let’s take that chance. Let’s four hook up.I told them what they wanted to hear. But my word is good as gold, I would’ve stuck to the alliance. On the third day, Dave says your name’s come up and I confronted Jaime. She said it was a little early to build alliances. Then we came back from the immunity challenge and we were on pins and needles.You’re all standing in a circle and the first name that comes up is mine. The others says as long as it’s not me, I don’t care who it is. My name was the first one that come up. It could have been anyone else, but then you go thinking about all these other shows and the way this thing was supposed to be played out. If you go by other shows, Ashley should have been the one to go because she done the least in three days. Whether she was sick or lazy or sprained her ankle – whatever the reason, Ashley done the least. She’s the weak link, she should’ve went first.You know, on down the line, somewhere, I’m sure they will figure it out and miss me. Whether it’s the next day or the next Tribal Council or the next challenge. But it’ll be too late then. They made a mistake and so be it. There’s no doubt about it, I could’ve built the shelter. But why would you want to build a shelter with seven other people standing there looking for you?That [and teaching them to get water and food] wouldn’t have bought you but maybe another week or 10 days maybe even two weeks. But there’s nothing in concrete. When I started building the shelter, me and Dave were doing about 70% of the work. I said, “Dave, why do we want to do this? They’re standing right there and we could reach out and smack ‘em. We’re working our hind ends off, but for what?”I could’ve built the shelter and fed ‘em. Some of my favorite players in past Survivors have been brutal workers. Another disappointing thing about the past Survivors, the guy that does the work and plays the greatest game never wins the money, not the ones I’ve seen. The guy that deserves the money never gets the money.But that’s a great element to this game. One in 16 chance, the adventure. The money is down the list to me. When you’re a guy from Virginia, you never done anything, you’re just astonished with the trip. I’m never gonna be rich, but the first night there were at least five or six people who mentioned a million dollars. That’s not me. You can call me crazy, but I’m travel-shocked by the trip. I’m shocked at the way they [production staff] treat you. You go from nothing to something really quick. It’s a feeling you’ve never had before. Everything is top shelf. Everything matters and it’s just an extraordinary journey.These other people, it didn’t shock in some of our travels. Here we are traveling and I look around so much my neck gets sore. These people are reading books and have their Ipods in, not even looking out the window. I don’t miss nothing. This country, the culture, the people, the temple, I’ll never forget it as long as I live. I don’t think you’ll hear that from the others. Maybe I’m wrong and I’m exaggerating about my trip. But the trip itself was amazing. If you’ve done a lot of traveling, it would have been the trip of a lifetime, but for me it was the trip of 10 lifetimes!Maybe that was my weakness – I was so excited about being there that I lost track of the game. But I’m not the type of guy who’s going to take care of you – you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours. That’s the way I am here. My neighbor, if his tractor breaks down, he can get mine, or I can get his if mine breaks down. It’s a way of life and it’s not for these people. This is what makes great entertainment is bringing 16 people together and making them build relationships.It didn’t happen for us. I was amazed at how quick the other tribe came together. They would congratulate each other, pat each other on the back – you didn’t see that with us. Even in Tribal Council, it’s gonna take something to bring these people together. I don’t believe they’ll ever come together. I don’t know what happens in the game, but going by what I seen, these people are not going to come together. I may be wrong, but that’s just my opinion. The other tribe come together and I guarantee they’re a lot closer than we were.I look forward to when we all get together and we catch up. You hear stories about this game changing people, but I guarantee it didn’t change the others like it did me. Probably because I’ve never done anything or went nowhere. The trip means more to me than the money.RNO: Your exclamation of “Damn!” when you were voted out may have been one of the best reactions to a vote ever – and certainly made a couple of your tribemates jump. Where did the sudden emotion come from?Chicken: I was expressing myself, let me tell you. You just get over the shock and try to reason with it. They’ve got no reason. They were standing around and my name come up. There was five people talking and that’s where the luck comes in. My name was mentioned and there’s people who don’t care for what reason. They’re not thinking I can feed ‘em and take care of ‘em. They’re thinking, “if he wants to take him out I’ll do it too.”I believe my name just come up and four people standing there said we’ll send him home. They’re not thinking of the reasons, my name come up. That’s what makes this game so great. Peih-Gee’s name could’ve come up. Just one of those things about luck. I believe that’s what happened. No one hates me and my name just come up. Maybe I’m wrong too. I’m not the sharpest tool in the tool shed but that’s my own opinion.RNO: Looks like we’ve run out of time. Thanks again, Chicken!http://www.realitynewsonline.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=4&article=article7363.art&page=1 Great article!! Sounds like he really got to enjoy his experience and that is great! Another interview: http://www.realitywanted.net/2007/09/24/interview-with-chicken-from-cbss-survivor-china/Thought this part was interesting...A. Chicken Morris: What you didn’t see was that both Leslie and John and stepped out of the ceremony. You also didn’t see the fact that Jeff asked me what I thought of Leslie and John walking out of the temple. I told Jeff I they shouldn’t have done it since it was bad game play and might leave a bad taste in the mouth of other players. However, they had the right to do so. Jeff did explain clearly that this was not a religious ceremony. Quote from: georgiapeach on September 24, 2007, 04:59:31 PMAnother interview: http://www.realitywanted.net/2007/09/24/interview-with-chicken-from-cbss-survivor-china/Thought this part was interesting...A. Chicken Morris: What you didn’t see was that both Leslie and John and stepped out of the ceremony. You also didn’t see the fact that Jeff asked me what I thought of Leslie and John walking out of the temple. I told Jeff I they shouldn’t have done it since it was bad game play and might leave a bad taste in the mouth of other players. However, they had the right to do so. Jeff did explain clearly that this was not a religious ceremony. OK whos John? Logged That's what I mean! Unless he mis-heard Jean (as in Jean-Robert) as John --then I have no clue! And not so nice either if 2 players went outside and Jeff only called out Leslie--he is getting bad at influencing the game! Honest I had to look at the names and I suppose the writer of the article didn't do his homework . Logged Heres another interview Survivor: China Interview - ChickenExclusive: The chicken farmer tells us why he was the first one who went home.by Eric Goldman September 24, 2007 - Someone always has to be the first person booted off of a season of Survivor, and in Survivor: China, that person turned out to be Steve "Chicken" Morris. The oldest member of Zhan Hu, Chicken wasn't fitting in with his tribe from the start. Despite his knowledge on living outdoors, his tribemates didn't initially listen to the suggestions given by the 47 year old chicken farmer from Marion, VA, and after that he decided to stop giving any suggestions at all, even when asked. This seemed to set him apart as a perceived uncooperative member of the tribe, and while other Zhan Hu members names were floated as possible first boots, it was Chicken who went home, exclaiming "Damn!" when he saw his name ready by Jeff Probst. The day after Chicken's one and only Survivor episode aired, I spoke to him to find out what his experience was like in the game. http://tv.ign.com/articles/822/822494p1.html and TVGuide's Tuesday, September 25, 2007 Survivor-fried Chicken: Oldest Player Is the First to Go by Nina Hämmerling Smith http://www.tvguide.com/News/survivor-china-chicken/070925-03

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Betting the Farm Will the latest crop of B2B farming-oriented Web sites change the way the agricultural industry does business, or will these initiatives die on the vine? By Douglas McWhirter For the rest of the September 2000 issue of CRM magazine please click here Farmers have always practiced their own variety of Customer Relationship Management. Business relationships in this industry are typically just that--relationships--with the majority of deals carried out on a local or regional level, through established, long-standing channels. Whether buying or selling, people in agriculture know the value of personal contact in any deal. This conservative, traditional way of operating presents a unique challenge to a group of newly formed Web companies that hope to redirect some, if not all, business transactions in the agriculture industry to the notoriously impersonal Internet. Their offerings are in many ways a farmer's dream come true: flexible hours, access to international markets, greater transactional control. However, such convenience requires the replacement--or at least alteration--of traditional business methods and some of the seller/buyer relationships upon which they rely. This necessary transformation leads some to predict that migration of agribusiness to the Web will be slow--but inevitable. "The agriculture business is very conservative," says Andre ESteve, a California almond grower who began selling his crops four months ago on Agex.com (see "Farm e-Quipment," this article). "I think you are going to see a slow process of the penetration of e-trade. On the user side, you have people who deny the entire process. They are making a big mistake. It is a question of time, but I think agriculture will ultimately embrace e-trade. It will be a tremendous tool for the future." The operators of these new ag-centric sites are keenly aware of the unique requirements of their target markets and are adjusting their business plans accordingly to accelerate the "penetration of e-trade." In an industry that, for a number of reasons, has yet to embrace fully traditional CRM techniques and solutions, these Web entrepreneurs, many with years of experience in agriculture, are creating a unique variety of CRM practices that use the Internet as their principal tool, and traditional agribusiness relationships as their method. "We are not blind to the fact that one of the most important parts of the agriculture industry is relationships," says Jon Kirkham, customer service manager at Agex.com in Sacramento, Calif. Cash Crop According to Bernie Napolski, manager of customer care for st. Paul, Minn.-based DirectAg.com, there is no shortage of upstart Web companies trying to forge these new relationships within agribusiness. "When this was a new idea last spring, the competitive landscape was virtually flat. Now there are at least 100 of us. Every day another one pops up." Why are there so many new sites trying to fill this niche? Simply put, it has enormous potential. For starters, agriculture in America is a $300 billion, very stable market. Electronic gadgets and sports cars come and go, but food is always in fashion. In a market this size, the potential for B2B online commerce is huge, even with the unique requirements of buyers and sellers. This potential led investment banking giant Goldman Sachs to predict that by the year 2004, agriculture will account for 8.25 percent of the Internet B2B economy--the fifth largest segment--with anticipated sales reaching over $123 billion. There is another factor that leads Goldman Sachs and others to see a rosy online B2B future: connectivity. The agriculture industry does not have the reputation for operating at the technological vanguard, but nothing could be further from the truth. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 1999: • Seventy-seven percent of U.S. farms with sales of $250,000 or more had access to a computer • Seventy-two percent owned or leased a computer • Sixty-five percent used a computer for their farm business • Fifty-two percent had Internet access While smaller farms have slightly lower connectivity rates, it is this market--farms with $250,000 or more in sales--that is the object of all agricultural B2B Web-site desire. "DirectAg.com is targeting the same group of growers a lot of people are," says Napolski. "There are about 154,000 farmers in America that produce 80 percent of all outputs and consume 75 to 80 percent of all inputs. It is a very select group, and their operations grow in size every year." Finally, there is one last point concerning this very select group that leaves Web companies licking their chops: Because of the way they work and the hours they keep, farmers desperately need 24/7 access to markets and suppliers. "Farmers live in rural America," explains Bill Pool, director of brand marketing at Rooster.com in Bloomington, Minn. "It is often not easy to access the information they need. What's more, farmers work extremely long hours. They are doing more and more business management of their farms after hours. Sites like ours provide immediate, round-the-clock access to products and solutions." According to Napolski, these new ag-related Web companies vary in focus, but generally fall into one of three categories: • Trading Floor sites: A "virtual trading floor" where agricultural commodities are bought and sold. Example: Agex.com (which also offers content and services). • Auction/Sales sites: These bring sellers of product together with buyers. Typically used by distributors and farmers who have excess product, or established manufacturers and farmers. Examples: Excessag.com, Powerfarm.com. • Comprehensive sites: These sites provide an online retail space where buyers and sellers come together, plus pertinent information and services. Examples: Directag.com, Rooster.com. Each of these models focuses first and foremost on selling. While some offer information and services, and different sales modes (such as auctions, retail sales and virtual trading floors), each provides an online forum for growers, brokers and vendors to buy and sell inputs (those things required to make a farm produce, like seeds and pesticide) and outputs (the product, like crops). Perhaps the most intriguing--and potentially lucrative--online function is the virtual trading floor. Brian Tormey, president and co-founder of Agex.com, says that an easily accessible, neutral place to trade agricultural products is long overdue, particularly in light of the globalization of markets. "In California, we have over 100 almond processors that ship product to over 90 countries," he says. "You can see a fragmentation out there. There are time differences. What our site does is give processors global access to markets, and they don't have to spend millions of dollars, either." Agex.com's members log on to the almond site (the company is in the process of creating trading floors for every commodity from alfalfa to zucchini) where they can list their crops for sale or where processors and brokers can buy listed crops. "This is a tool for buyers and sellers," says Tormey. "We are trying to create a neutral platform where traders can go to do business." Not all sites are quite so neutral. Rooster.com, for instance, is an online marketplace owned and operated by three of America's largest agriculture companies, Cenex Harvest states Cooperatives, Cargill and DuPont. According to Rooster.com's Bill Pool, the company hopes to leverage existing buyer/seller relationships by helping local agricultural cooperatives increase their Web presences. Other sites focus primarily on selling manufactured goods. DirectAg.com brings manufacturers of agricultural inputs (anything from tractor parts to animal health products) together with farmers. This model follows more familiar e-commerce trends, offering comparison shopping to buyers, and, for sellers, new sales channels in a market that hasn't fundamentally changed its structure in over 100 years. Maintaining Relationships When discussing the role CRM plays in all of this, it is important to understand that traditional CRM solutions focusing on sales, marketing and customer service have, to date, made only limited inroads into agribusiness (see "Seed-RM," this issue). "This is an industry that sells through third parties," explains Judy Andaloro, senior research analyst at AMR research. "The first evolution of CRM focused on internal employees. CRM vendors did not support channels for people outside the organization. "But," she adds, "There's definitely a movement right now toward a much broader application." That "broader application" requires a much broader definition of CRM, one encompassing tools such as B2B or B2C Web sites that complement and enhance existing buyer/seller relationships. In a conservative industry built on long-standing business relationships, the new agribusiness Web sites are using such contemporary Web concepts as community, along with more traditional methods such as customer service, to redefine the way sellers manage their business relationships. "How do you get members of a conservative industry to take their business to the Internet? By making them part of a community," says Tormey. "Loyalty to this site and to one another is accomplished through community." Tormey is referring to a buzzword popular in e-commerce right now. In Internet terms, "community" refers to a place online where people share common ground. The theory is, if a user feels that he or she is a part of a group of like-minded people who gather at the same Web site to do business or socialize or ask each other questions, then these users will return time and time again--and buy things. Since its e-world debut last year, the concept of community as a business tool has, more often than not, failed miserably. What utopian strategists see as common ground for users is often not enough to get these users to spend time on a Web site as a regular part of their business day. But then, most businesses are not like agribusiness. With its reliance upon relationships and clearly defined vertical identities, this industry has pre-established "communities" that appear tailor-made for migration to the Web. Ag Web sites become, then, very convenient tools that enhance existing business methods. Almond farmers will use Web sites to deal with other almond farmers. Growers will use them to buy the same products from the same manufacturers, only rather than driving to town, they will complete the transaction online. Of course, "nothing replaces the face-to-face," says Pool, "and existing relationships will remain very strong." Bountiful Harvest? Companies, both Web-based and traditional, hoping to profit from the enhancement of these relationships face an uncertain future. Agribusiness, with its meandering sales channels, brokers and local focus, does not offer the same fertile business terrain as, say, many types of online B2C industries. "Probably the biggest obstacle these companies face is that there is a lot more channel conflict in agriculture than in many industries," says Ryan Kelly, senior manager of business development at Agribiz.net, a Canadian Internet consulting and design firm that specializes in designing Web solutions for the agriculture industry. "For instance, manufacturers traditionally sell through retailers, and they have a lot of apprehension in going directly to farmers with their products." But, he says, manufacturers themselves are already getting into the business--consider Rooster.com and its major-league partners--and will compete either directly or indirectly with many of the new dot com start-ups. "You will see manufacturers owning the customer relationship more, and they will specifically support a number of models. You will also see a major consolidation of dot com start-ups." As for commodity trading sites, like Agex.com with its planned vertical-specific trading floors, the future looks bright. "You are seeing a lot of niche verticals now," says Kelly. "At the start, Web companies were going for broad coverage, but now you are seeing sites for specific verticals, like cauliflower or tomatoes." Web companies and manufacturers alike hope that online solutions custom-tailored to the needs of those operating within these verticals will provide an effective--and lucrative--enhancement of agriculture's all-important established business relationships. But for these agribusiness Web sites ultimately to succeed, says Napolski, "Users need to know that we are just as committed to the relationship as the people they were doing business with before."

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CKD Galbraith, Stirling Suite C1, Stirling Agricultural Centre, FK9 4RN Agricultural Land At, Gowrie Farm, Stanley, Perth, Perth and Kinross, PH1 12.1 ac. | £80,000 12.2 acres (4.9 hectares) Two arable fields. Short distance from Stanley and Luncarty. Good road access. Approximately 12.16 acres. Predominantly Grade 3(2). LOCATIONThe subjects are located approximately one mile south of the village of Stanley and a mile north of the village of Luncarty. Perth lies approximately 6 miles to the south of the subjects. The subjects benefit from good access from the B9099 public road which leads to the A9 which provides excellent access to the north and south.DESCRIPTIONThe subjects at Gowrie Farm comprise two arable fields bisected by a road laid to concrete that provides access to the field and a housing development. The land extends to approximately 12.16 acres in total. The larger field is bounded to the north by the Gowrie Farm development and agricultural land, to the west by further agricultural land, and to the south by the B9099 public road. The smaller parcel of land is bounded to the north by agricultural land, to the west by the Gowrie Farm development, and to the south by the B9099 public road.The land is scheduled as being principally Grade 3(2) by the James Hutton Institute for Soil Research. The land is of a south easterly aspect and is approximately 40m above sea level. There is a sewage treatment plant and bin stores within the subjects located adjacent to the access and which serves the neighbouring development. The neighbouring development has the necessary rights to access to use and maintain these facilities.The land is accessed from a private road that serves the Gowrie Farm development to the north and is maintained on a user basis. Property reference PER140298. CKD Galbraith, Stirling. 3 Gowrie Farm, PH1

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/ Office of International Research Programs ARS Office of International Research Programs ARS Office of International Research Programs Regional Contacts ARS INTERNATIONAL ACTION ARS Biosecurity Engagement Research ARS Food Security Research ARS International Research Partnerships Office of International Research Programs The Office of International Research Programs (OIRP) is the main contact for international activities in the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Working with the ARS Office of National Programs, our OIRP Regional Specialists work to engage strategic international partnerships that can enhance the productivity, effectiveness, and impact of ARS National Programs, as well as further the goals of the United States government. Food Security Biosecurity International Partnering ARS Celebrates World Soil Day Hold mouse down, or use 'Stop' and 'Start' to control scrolling. For more stories, click here: ARS International Action ARS Celebrates World Soil Day! World Soil Day, declared in 2013 by the 68th United Nations (UN) General Assembly as an official annual event for December 5th, recognizes and reminds us of the critical role of soils to feed and sustain us. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), has a deep understanding of the importance of soil in the everyday lives of Americans, not only to maintain our food supply and a healthy, sustainable environment, but also the role of soil in addressing complex issues such as antimicrobial resistance. ARS scientists are able to bring, not only their own expertise to address the problem, they have the credibility and support of ARS to develop international collaborations to bring the best and the brightest available minds, and global resources together. We asked three of or ARS scientists working internationally on soils, to describe their international collaboration projects, and explain how and why international collaboration impacts their research. Not your grandma’s nutrient recycling – Designer Biochar Jeff Novak, ARS Research Soil Scientist, Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research Unit (Florence, SC) and Kurt Spokas, ARS Soil Scientist, Soil and Water Management Research Unit (St. Paul, MN) are looking into using leftovers from biomass sources like wood chips, plant residues, manure and other agricultural wastes to help trap (sequester) carbon so it may be recycled as a soil nutrient. This helps to increase soil fertility, and can reduce carbon escaping to the atmosphere where it contributes to greenhouse gas. Read Dr. Novak’s responses to questions about his research, and the impact of the international collaborations involved. Soil Bacteria and Limiting Antibiotic Resistance Dr. Lisa Durso, ARS Research Microbiologist, Agroecosystem Management Research Unit (Lincoln, NE) is coordinating a collaborative research project with partners in Canada and Mexico to better understand antimicrobial resistance in soils. The effort is unique among international efforts to address antimicrobial resistance in that limited targets are selected for testing using simple, inexpensive, and readily available tools in a ‘crowd-sourced’ approach. A key component of her work is collaboration and sharing data across locations, and plant or animal species expertise. Read Dr. Durso’s responses to questions about her research, and the impact of the international collaborations involved. Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems – Getting the Big Picture of Soil Health Dr. Alan Franzluebbers, ARS Plant Physiologist, Plant Science Research Unit (Raleigh, NC) truly had an international collaboration evolution to find himself working on soil health in Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems (ICLS). Several connections and shared presentations at international research gatherings dating back to 2007, spawned relationships that led to three special issues in scientific journals to describe ICLS around the world. Understanding the interactions between livestock, plants, and soil are critical to understanding, managing, and sustaining soil health, and ultimately crop production whether it be pasture for grazing animals, or crops for harvesting and sale. The network of collaborators continues to grow, and fostered joint meetings for the International Symposium on Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems, and the first World Congress of Integrated Crop-Livestock-Forestry Systems in 2015. Read Dr. Franzluebbers’ responses to questions about his research, and the impact of the international collaborations involved.

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Apricots Spanish apricots granted access to the U.S. By Tom Karst Fresh apricots from Spain have been okayed for shipment to the U.S. In a regulation that is effective Jan. 30, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said that fresh apricots from Spain will be allowed entry into the U.S. if certain phytosanitary conditions, including inspections of orchards for pests, are satisfied. The harvest season for Spanish apricots is from May 1 to July 15, according to the USDA. The USDA said that Spanish exporters expect to ship, at most, about 10 standard shipping containers of fresh apricot per year to the U.S., which would total about 180 metric tons annually. That amount is about 1% of current U.S. consumption, and the USDA said the market effect from the newly approved shipments will be minor. usdaspanish apricotsproduceops About the Author: Tom Karst Tom Karst is national editor for The Packer and Farm Journal Media, covering issues of importance to the produce industry including immigration, farm policy and food safety. He began his career with The Packer in 1984 as one of the founding editors of ProNet, a pioneering electronic news service for the produce industry. Tom has also served as markets editor for The Packer and editor of Global Produce magazine, among other positions. Tom is also the main author of Fresh Talk, www.tinyurl.com/freshtalkblog, an industry blog that has been active since November 2006. Previous to coming to The Packer, Tom worked from 1982 to 1984 at Harris Electronic News, a farm videotext service based in Hutchinson, Kansas. Tom has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural journalism from Kansas State University, Manhattan. He can be reached at [email protected] and 913-438-0769. Find Tom's Twitter account at www.twitter.com/tckarst. View All Posts

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Industry Scientists creating plants that make their own fertilizer By Washington University Since the dawn of agriculture people have exercised great ingenuity to pump more nitrogen into crop fields. Farmers have planted legumes and plowed the entire crop under, strewn night soil or manure on the fields, shipped in bat dung from islands in the Pacific or saltpeter from Chilean mines and plowed in glistening granules of synthetic fertilizer made in chemical plants. No wonder Himadri Pakrasi’s team is excited by the project they are undertaking. If they succeed, the chemical apparatus for nitrogen fixation will be miniaturized, automated and relocated within the plant so that nitrogen is available when it is needed and where it is needed and only then and there. “That would really revolutionize agriculture,” says Pakrasi, Ph.D., the Myron and Sonya Glassberg/Albert and Blanche Greensfelder Distinguished University Professor and Director of the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) at Washington University in St. Louis. Engineering with biological partsMuch of modern agriculture relies on biologically available nitrogenous compounds (called “fixed” nitrogen) made by an industrial process, developed by German chemist Fritz Haber in 1909. The importance of the Haber-Bosch process, as it was eventually called, can hardly be overstated; today the fertilizer it produces allows us to feed a population roughly a third larger than the planet could sustain without synthetic fertilizer. On the other hand, the Haber-Bosch process is energy intensive, and the reactive nitrogen released into the atmosphere and water as run-off from agricultural fields causes a host of problems, including respiratory illness, cancer, and cardiac disease. Pakrasi thinks it should be possible to design a better nitrogen-fixing system. His idea is to put the apparatus for fixing nitrogen in plant cells, the same cells that hold the apparatus for capturing the energy in sunlight. The National Science Foundation recently awarded Pakrasi and his team more than $2.3 million to explore this idea farther. The grant will be administered out of I-CARES, a university-wide center that supports collaborative research regionally, nationally, and internationally in the areas of energy, the environment, and sustainability. This award is one of four funded by the National Science Foundation jointly with awards funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council in the United Kingdom. The teams will collaborate with one another and meet regularly to share progress and successes. A proof of principleAs a proof of principle Pakrasi and his colleagues plan to develop the synthetic biology tools needed to excise the nitrogen fixation system in one species of cyanobacterium (a phylum of green bacteria formerly considered to be algae) and paste it into a second cyanobacterium that does not fix nitrogen. The team includes: Tae Seok Moon, PhD, and Fuzhong Zhang, PhD, both assistant professors of energy, environmental and chemical engineering in the School of Engineering at Washington University, and Costas D. Maranas, Donald B. Broughton Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at Pennsylvania State University. “Ultimately what we want to do is take this entire nitrogen-fixation apparatus—which evolved once and only once—and put it in plants,” Pakrasi says. “Because of the energy requirements of nitrogen fixation we want to put it in chloroplasts, because that’s where the energy-storing ATP molecules are produced.” In effect, the goal is to convert all crop plants, not just the legumes, into nitrogen fixers. Amazing cycling chemistryAll cyanobacteria photosynthesize, storing the energy of sunlight temporarily in ATP molecules and eventually in carbon-based molecules, but only some of them fix nitrogen. Studies of the evolutionary history of 49 strains of cyanobacteria suggest that their common ancestor was capable of fixing nitrogen and that this ability was then repeatedly lost over the course of evolution. The big hurdle to redesigning nitrogen fixation, however, is that photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation are incompatible processes. Photosynthesis produces oxygen as a byproduct and oxygen is toxic to nitrogenase, the enzyme needed to fix nitrogen. This is why most organisms that fix nitrogen work in an anaerobic (oxygenless) environment. Cyanobacteria that both photosynthesize and fix nitrogen separate the two activities either in space or in time. Cyanothece 51142, a cyanobacterium Pakrasi’s lab has studied for more than 10 years, does it through timing. Cyanothece 51142 has a biological clock that allows it to photosynthesize during the day and fix nitrogen at night. During the day the cells photosynthesize as fast as they can, storing the carbon molecules they create in granules. Then, during the night, they burn the carbon molecules as fast as they can. This uses up all the oxygen in the cell, creating the anaerobic conditions needed for nitrogen fixation. Thus the environment within the cell oscillates daily between the aerobic conditions needed for capturing the energy in sunlight and the anaerobic conditions needed for fixing nitrogen. A single mega transferThe scientists have chosen their proof-of-principle project very carefully to maximize the odds it will work. Cyanothece 51142 is particularly attractive as a parts source for the project because it has the largest contiguous cluster of genes related to nitrogen fixation of any cyanobacterium. Roughly 30 genes are part of the same functional unit under the control of a single operating signal, or promoter. The scientists hope this cluster of genes can be moved to another cyanobacterial strain in a single mega-transfer. The one they’ve picked as the host, Synechocystis 6803, is the best studied strain of cyanobacteria. Not only has its genome been sequenced, it is naturally “transformable” and able to integrate foreign DNA into its genome by swapping it with similar native strands of DNA. But it’s actually the next step in the project that will provide the greater challenge for Pakrasi and his team. The scientists will need to figure out how to connect the transplanted nitrogen-fixing gene cluster to Synechocystis’ clock. “Like every cyanobacterium,” Pakrasi says, “ Synechocystis has a diurnal rhythm. But how to tap into that rhythm we don’t know yet. We have some ideas we’re going to test, but that’s where the challenge lies.” Overcoming the challenge of sustainably producing food for a world population of more than 7 billion while reducing pollution and greenhouse gases will require more than luck. Odds are it will take a daring, “out of the box” idea like this one. nitrogen-fixingreactive nitrogenAgriculturefertilizersynthetic fertilizer About the Author:

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Home News Columnists “The times they are a-changin'” in the food industry “The times they are a-changin'” in the food industry January 24, 2017 tweet By Harwood D. Schaffer and Daryll E. Ray Agricultural Policy Analysis Center One of the themes that has been central to our analysis is consumer preference. Consumer preference has always been central to functioning markets. But, 30 years ago for farmers selling No. 2 Yellow Corn at one of the town’s elevator or hogs at one of the local buying stations, consumer preference was the furthest thing from their mind. In the grocery store, customers could indicate their preferences by switching from one brand to another and there were enough different brands that it didn’t make a lot of difference. The specific preferences of small number of consumers could make a big difference for a given food processor, but made little difference on the market as a whole when there were multiple manufacturers offering similar products. No single processor had to respond to any given preference; they just needed to meet the needs of their customers and everything balanced out. In the intervening years, the number of food processors has declined significantly as repeated mergers and acquisitions have led to a small number of firms controlling a significant portion of the food manufactured in the US. With consolidation and each major brand handling a number of lines that were previously independent, many have complained about the power these firms have over the food market. We have seen a similar trend in the restaurant industry. Where once mom and pop restaurants dominated the scene and if one wanted to find a good one while traveling, the best option was usually to see where all of the truckers pulled in. Today almost every freeway interchange looks the same, with the same half dozen fast food chains at most of them. And, it is true that these food processors and fast food chains have significant power when it comes to advertising and lobbying state legislatures and Congress. But at the same time, we have begun to see that they are more vulnerable to a small swing in consumer demand. Once consolidation of food lines or the number of franchisees gets to a certain point, the resulting firms cannot afford to alienate even a small segment of their customer base. A slowdown in the annual growth rate or a minor loss in market share gets the attention of those at the top. And when that is combined with pressure from a small group of consumers who want their eggs raised a certain way or foods that are non-GMO, changes take place. We have seen those dynamics at work in the last several years. And when that happens it opens up opportunities for farmers who were feeling the lack of ability to influence the prices they receive for the grain and animals they raise. It doesn’t really matter whether the farmer thinks it is a big deal or not. It doesn’t even matter if a thousand studies say that a product is safe. If consumer preferences change, those who pay attention to those signals early-on are the ones who can be ahead of the curve. We sometimes hear from producers and farm groups who wish that we would not talk so much about these issues. They seem to feel if we remain quiet, the problem will go away. Our observation is that it won’t. When it comes to this issue, we believe that it is part of our responsibility to identify changes in consumer expectations as early as possible so that farmers have adequate time to consider the implications for their operations. As all economists know and we repeatedly say: consumers rule! Harwood D. Schaffer is research assistant professor, retired; University of Tennessee; and director of the Agricultural Policy Analysis Center (APAC). Daryll E. Ray is professor emeritus, University of Tennessee, and is the former director of APAC. tweet Previous article72nd Annual Watertown Winter Farm Show Feb. 7-11Next articleMinnesota Farmers Union elects new president FF Editor RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR Columnists The Planted Row: Picking pumpkins about more than Halloween Columnists Column: Be careful what you wish for

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PlantsFruits & NutsNuts Facts About Coconut Trees Facts About Coconut Trees Coconut trees instantly transform an area into a tropical-looking setting. These tall palms exist all over the warmer areas of the world, where they are used for landscape plants and along roads. Many wild populations grow naturally along the ocean shores. In addition to their beauty, these trees are one of the most important agricultural crops in the world. Coconut palms grow pantropically, or all over the tropics. They are primarily found near coastal shores. They thought to have originated in the South Pacific islands, then spread throughout the Pacific and Indian oceans. European explorers spread them to the Atlantic and Caribbean. Coconut seeds can survive many months floating at sea, then sprout on a distant shore, contributing to their wide dispersal. Coconut trees are tall palms. Tall varieties are capable of reaching up to 100 feet, but most stay shorter at 20 to 50 feet. Dwarf varieties stay under 60 feet tall. The leaves reach up to 18 feet long and are are arranged like a feather composed of numerous leaflets, each 12 to 24 inches long. The trunk is smooth and gray-brown. It is sometimes straight, but often bent or curved. The tree grows from a central point at the top called an apical bud. If this bud dies, the whole tree dies. The coconut fruit is encased in a hard protective outer layer. Under this layer is the coir, or thick, fibrous husk that surrounds the brittle and hard thin shell. On the shell are three black spots, often referred to as eyes. Inside the shell is the white flesh and liquid. The flesh and liquid are stored nutrients to later feed a sprouting seed until it can grow its own leaves. Nut Uses The nuts of the coconut tree have many uses. The coir is used as a soil amendment, replacing peat, and is used to stuff mats. The flesh is shredded and used in many confections. The liquid is often consumed fresh or used in mixed drinks. The flesh can be pressed to remove the oil. Coconut oil is used widely in cooking and in processed food. It is also a component in many soaps. Coconuts are a vital crop for many people in developing countries around the world. Most coconuts are still grown on family-sized farms and it is one of the staple food crops in many areas. This plant has been a staple food for a long time in the South Pacific. Coconut, along with the sweet potato and breadfruit, was always taken on long sea voyages by ancient Polynesians who helped establish it on numerous isolated islands. coconut palm, cocos nucifera, coir fiber About this Author Brian Albert has been in the publishing industry since 1999. He is an expert in horticulture, with a focus on aquatics and tropical plants like orchids. He has successfully run an aquatic plant business for the last five years. Albert's writing experience includes the Greater Portland Aquarium Society newsletter and politics coverage for a variety of online journals. New in Nuts Almond Tree Growth How Old Will a Black Walnut Tree Be Before it Produces Nuts? At What Age Does a Pecan Tree Produce Nuts? How Much Water Does a Large Pecan Tree Need for Survival? How to Harvest & Process Black Walnuts How to Prune Black Walnut How to Train Flowering Almond Pecan Tree Fruit How to Plant Pecans From Seeds Habitat for Pecan Trees

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In Europe, A Cow Over Hormone-Treated U.S. Beef Eleanor Beardsley Michel Baudot, who raises cattle in France's Burgundy region, says the cattle industries of the U.S. and the EU are two different beasts. He says U.S. producers look more to profit than quality. Eleanor Beardsley/NPR The U.S. and the European Union recently settled one of their longest-running trade disputes: over beef. Under the deal, the EU agreed to quadruple import quotas for hormone-free U.S. beef, but it still won't import hormone-treated American beef, because many Europeans consider it unhealthy. Farmer Michel Baudot, who raises cattle in France's Burgundy region, says the two cattle industries are run differently: One focuses on profit and the other on quality. For seven generations, his family has bread the stocky white Charolais cows indigenous to the area. In the summer, his herd of 600 cattle grazes freely on his 1,500-acre farm. In winter, the animals are sheltered in his barn, where they eat hay and grain. They live on Baudot's farm until they are slaughtered. Every aspect of each cow's life is meticulously followed. Baudot says European consumers demand this. "Each animal has a 'passport' where every aspect of his life is recorded: where he was born, who his parents were, what vaccines he's had," Baudot says. "And that passport follows him through his whole life." Tracing The Beef Baudot's beef can be found in the supermarket of a small town near his farm. The cow from which the beef came can be traced because every package of meat sold in the EU must list where the animal was born, raised and slaughtered. Every cow has a different ID number, butcher Stephane Dausin says. Article continues after sponsorship "Every piece of meat can be traced from A to Z — from the raiser to the consumer," Dausin says. "We have to have complete transparency, or we'd never be able to sell it." Many shoppers here have heard that in America cows are given hormones. Nathalie Genvier, who is picking up some steaks and lamb chops, says French consumers consider meat with hormones unhealthy and possibly dangerous. "That's why it's important to know where animals are raised, and also to know how they are treated and whether they're eating natural products," Genvier says. Comparing U.S. And EU Industries Baudot also works as a consultant promoting the Charolais breed abroad. His travels take him to the world's top beef-producing countries, including the U.S. Hormones, he says, are not the only difference between American and European beef: The cattle industries are run in distinctly different ways. "In the U.S., producers look much more to profit than quality," he says. "It's the massive industrial production of meat. So there are economies of scale, and meat is obviously cheaper. "Here, we have much smaller, more artisanal operations. And the cuts are traditional, so our costs are higher. We also have a lot of different breeds with different shapes and sizes that aren't always convenient at the slaughterhouse. In the U.S., they seem to have produced a standardized cow." Cow 'Bodybuilders' In the U.S., the vast majority of cattle spend only their first months of life on a farm like Baudot's eating grass. From there, they are transferred, sometimes thousands of miles away, to giant feedlots where they are packed in by the tens of thousands, and fed corn and hormones. American cows wear a patch behind their ear, which releases a synthetic growth hormone. Baudot says European consumers would never accept such a system, but he understands why it is used. "With the hormones you force nature, so you save time and earn quick muscle," he says. "I see a huge difference with our cows. In the U.S., you see cows arrive into the feedlots thin, and two months later, they're bodybuilders that have tripled in volume. So these hormones are very powerful and effective." Baudot says he has nothing against the American cattle farming system. What is not right, he says, is having to compete internationally with a product made using methods that are outlawed in your own country. Using hormones to grow cows is kind of like doping in sports, Baudot says, and that creates an uneven playing field.

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