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Home » Simple Fruits » Dry Fruits DRY FRUITS Dried fruit is a fruitthat has been dried, either naturally or artificially by a machine, such as a dehydrator.Examples of dried fruits are Raisins, Plumsor Prunes and Dates. Apples, Apricots, Bananas, Cranberries, Figs, Mangoes, PawPaw, Peaches, Pineapples, Pears and Tomatoes are the other dried fruits. A good dried fruit has a long shelf life and therefore it can be used as a good alternate to fresh fruit, which allows out of the season fruits to be available. Drying is a very well-known way to preserve fruit when there is no refrigerator. Dried fruit is mostly used in baking mixes, breakfast cereals and making cake. Dried fruit is a healthy snack and since the public is ready to pay more for the snacks than staples, the quality is improving all the time. Indehiscent Dry Fruits CaryopsisAchene NutsSamara Dehiscent Dry Fruits FollicleLegumeCapsule Caryopsis The caryopsis is widely called as a grain. A very small, one-seeded dry, indehiscent fruit in which the actual seed coat is completely merged to the pericarp. The outer layer of pericarp or husk is referred to as the bran, while the inner, seed layer is referred as the germ. Caryopsis is the featured fruit of the large grass family . This is truly a fruit and not a seed because it came from a ripened ovary inside the grass inflorescence. Corn (maize), wheat, rice, rye, barley, oats, Johnson grass, Bermuda grass and many more species are the other examples of this type. In corn grains, the major white material that bursts when the grains are heated is endosperm tissue within the seed. Grain type fruits are generated by members of the grass family which comprises main food crops such as rice, corn and wheat. It develops from a single carpel and therefore seed(s) are in one locule. The fruits produced in Columbine and milkweed plants are known as a follicle. Magnolia is an example of follicle fruit. The Follicle fruit develops from a single ripened ovary and split only once to release their seeds in to the environment. The discharging seeds is always along. Follicles may occur individually, example - milkweed. When the fruit splits it looks like a dry leaf and that carpels are modified and the leaves first produce spores, then gametes and finally seeds. The cone-like magnolia tree fruit is an aggregate of many small follicles, each has single bright red seed. The term apocarpous refers to flowers that has separate and distinct carpels, such as delphiniums and columbines of the buttercup family. Achene The achene contains a single seed that stick to the wall of the ovary. Seed coat is not merged with ovary wall. The matured ovary wall is thin and immature, so when it dries, the fruit will developed as a seed-like appearance. Sunflowers,dandelions are examples for achenes.Buttercup and buckwheat fruits are the typical achenes. Sunflower "seed" is not a seed actually a fruit. They are tiny and one-seeded fruit, generally produced in clusters. At maturity the pericarp is dry and not attached to the internal seed, except at the placental attachment. An achene is a type of simple dry fruit that is developed by many species of flowering plants sometimes called as akene, and rarely called as achenium or achenocarp. The legume splits into two lines of dehiscence subsequent to maturation and drying. The legume fruits are derived from a simple ovary that has one carpel with two rows of ovules. Peas, beans and peanuts are the examples of legume type. A peanut is not a nut, it is one of the indehiscent legumes that will not split open when ripe. This is possibly because the peanut fruit is produced in the soil rather than in the air. A legume is a plant or a fruit in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae). "Pod" is the common name for this type of fruit, even though pod is also applied to a few other fruit types. Nuts are same in structure as like achene and the ovary wall is tough and woody. The shell of this nut covers as the coat for fruit. The coat is developed from the ovary wall after fertilization. Some nuts have a husk that covers the hard shell. The husk is developed from the outer layer of the ovary wall and the hard coat from the inner layer of the ovary wall. The examples of this type of nuts as follows. (1) Acorn of oak (Quercus): The actual nut lays in a cup-shaped involucre of imbricate (overlapping) scales. (2) Chestnut (Castanea), beech (Fagus) & chinquapin (Castanopsis): One or more nuts lies in a spiny, cup-shaped involucre. (3) Hazelnut or filbert (Corylus): Nut that is in a leafy (C. americana) or tubular (C. cornuta) involucre. 4) Walnut (Juglans) and pecan (Carya) are grouped in the drupe category above, although some botanists maintain that they are true nuts. The outer green layer (husk) of the walnut is part of the pericarp and the hard shell that surrounding the seed is truely the endocarp. The capsule is also a type of dry dehiscent fruit. The capsule is composed of more than one carpel. For example, lily fruits split length-wise into several sections corresponding to the number of carpels. The Sweet Gum fruit which is a cluster of capsules discharge winged seeds as each ovary splits open at maturity. A capsule is composed of two or more carpels, which splits apart (dehisce) to release the seeds, at maturity. In some capsules, the split happens between carpels, and in others each carpel splits open. In some others, seeds are discharged through openings or pores that form in the capsule. In the Brazil nut, a lid on the capsule opens, but it is very small to discharge the dozen of seeds within. These germinate within the capsule after it falls to the ground. Cotton (Gossypium), Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus), Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), Jimson Weed (Datura), Mahogany (Afzelia), Witch Hazel (Hamamelis) are the plants that have capsule type fruit. A samara is a simple dry fruit in which a flattened "wing" of fibrous, papery tissue is produced from the ovary wall. A samara is bicarpellate (two carpels) and indehiscent (not opening along a seam) type. The shape of a samara allows the wind to carry the seed from the parent tree. A special form of samara is sometimes called a key, where the papery sheath widens far out to one side so that the seed spirals as it falls. Trees with the extended keys include the maples (genus Acer) and the ashes (genus Fraxinus). The Samara is a wind borne fruit that contains single seed. It is much similar to achene except for the paper-like wing which is produdec from the ovary wall of the flower. Samaras is similar to the winged seeds of a pine, but they are one-seeded fruits with a pericarp layer surrounding the seed. The leguminous tipu tree (Tipuana tipu) contains a winged fruit certainly looks like a samara, although it belongs to the legume family (Leguminosae or Fabaceae). Ash, elm are the examples of this type.

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dansk Deutsch español Français italiano Nederlands norsk português suomeksi svenska Sakuma Brothers Farms Opts Out of Guest Worker Program from Sakuma Brothers Farms BURLINGTON, Wash., June 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite a worsening labor shortage in Washington State, Sakuma Brothers Farms announced today that it has decided to not participate in the federal government's H-2A Guest Worker program in 2014. The company had applied for the program but notified the federal government over the weekend that it has decided to not participate. "The last year was a very difficult year for our family, our family business and our community. Since the season ended, our family met with a number of community leaders and we decided it was best for our community to see if we could meet our farm labor requirements by hiring domestic workers for the upcoming season," said Steve Sakuma, of Sakuma Brothers Family Business. He added, "We recognize that it is a risk to go in this direction given that the H-2A program provided us a safety net for securing a labor force but we are hopeful that working with local community farm worker advocates we will be able to hire the work force we need." Washington State agriculture is facing continued shortages of able, willing, qualified and eligible workers. Sakuma Brothers had to leave more than 900,000 pounds of berries unpicked in the fields in the last two years because it did not have enough labor to pick the highly-perishable berries which necessitated its decision to participate in the federal government's H-2A guest worker program. While the Guest Worker program provided the company with a stable supply of workers last year, it caused some unrest in the community. Even though Sakuma Brothers accounted for less than one percent of all the guest workers employed in the State of Washington in 2013, people who opposed the H-2A program protested Sakuma's involvement. "It was sobering to witness the protests against our family-owned business and hear calls for a boycott against our berries," said Sakuma. He added, "But, even though we have been in business for nearly 80 years, we listened to our critics and we recognized that we could do better." Since the end of harvest last year, Sakuma Brothers has taken a number of steps to improve the way it does business as part of its commitment to continuous improvement including: Improved Housing – The Company has invested thousands of dollars to upgrade its worker housing units, centralized shower/restroom facilities and worker housing grounds. Supervisor Training – The Company trained every supervisor and farm manager to ensure they can communicate effectively and manage responsibly. Enhanced Food Security – The Company has improved security throughout all its properties to protect the safety of its food and keep its employees safe and secure. By far, the biggest news to many in the community is Sakuma's decision to not participate in the H-2A program in 2014. Given the compressed time period to identify and hire employees, Sakuma Brothers will work with various Skagit County community groups to help recruit local workers to apply for employment to pick berries. The minimum wage for all berry pickers will be $11.87 per hour for those who do not exceed this per hour guarantee through piece rate calculations, as workers will be paid the higher of the two calculations. The $11.87 minimum wage is the same wage set by the federal government for Washington State for all H-2A foreign and domestic workers in corresponding employment. It is also higher than the Washington State Minimum Wage, currently at $9.32. "Our family hopes the community appreciates the efforts we have made to respond to our critics. It is the right approach for local farm workers, the community and one that will enable our family to remain in business," said Sakuma. He added, "The reality is that farmers, farm workers and our community must come together and focus our energies where they are needed most and work together to secure the passage of real comprehensive immigration reform by our leaders in Washington, D.C." The Sakuma family business is committed to working with local farm worker support groups to engage the Washington State Congressional Delegation to seek a solution for a legal and stable workforce. SOURCE Sakuma Brothers Farms View Table Fullscreen

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2017-04/2289/en_head.json.gz/18006

Norman Borlaug: The Man Who Saved A Billion People September 13, 2009 Doug Mataconis History There are very men in history who we can say truly saved the world, but surely Norman Borlaug, who died yesterday at 95, counts as one of them: Norman E. Borlaug, the plant scientist who did more than anyone else in the 20th century to teach the world to feed itself and whose work was credited with saving hundreds of millions of lives, died Saturday night. He was 95 and lived in Dallas. The cause was complications from cancer, said Kathleen Phillips, a spokeswoman for Texas A&M University, where Dr. Borlaug had served on the faculty since 1984. Dr. Borlaug’s advances in plant breeding led to spectacular success in increasing food production in Latin America and Asia and brought him international acclaim. In 1970, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was widely described as the father of the broad agricultural movement called the Green Revolution, though decidedly reluctant to accept the title. “A miserable term,” he said, characteristically shrugging off any air of self-importance. Yet his work had a far-reaching impact on the lives of millions of people in developing countries. His breeding of high-yielding crop varieties helped to avert mass famines that were widely predicted in the 1960s, altering the course of history. Largely because of his work, countries that had been food deficient, like Mexico and India, became self-sufficient in producing cereal grains. “More than any other single person of this age, he has helped provide bread for a hungry world,” the Nobel committee said in presenting him with the Peace Prize. “We have made this choice in the hope that providing bread will also give the world peace.” The day the award was announced, Dr. Borlaug, vigorous and slender at 56, was working in a wheat field outside Mexico City when his wife, Margaret, drove up to tell him the news. “Someone’s pulling your leg,” he replied, according to one of his biographers, Leon Hesser. Assured that it was true, he kept on working, saying he would celebrate later. Borlaug’s achievements are hard to understand as we sit here removed from time and space from when they happened, but they were truly remarkable: In the late 1960s, most experts were speaking of imminent global famines in which billions would perish. “The battle to feed all of humanity is over,” biologist Paul Ehrlich famously wrote in his 1968 bestseller The Population Bomb. “In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now.” Ehrlich also said, “I have yet to meet anyone familiar with the situation who thinks India will be self-sufficient in food by 1971.” He insisted that “India couldn’t possibly feed two hundred million more people by 1980.” But Borlaug and his team were already engaged in the kind of crash program that Ehrlich declared wouldn’t work. Their dwarf wheat varieties resisted a wide spectrum of plant pests and diseases and produced two to three times more grain than the traditional varieties. In 1965, they had begun a massive campaign to ship the miracle wheat to Pakistan and India and teach local farmers how to cultivate it properly. By 1968, when Ehrlich’s book appeared, the U.S. Agency for International Development had already hailed Borlaug’s achievement as a “Green Revolution.” In Pakistan, wheat yields rose from 4.6 million tons in 1965 to 8.4 million in 1970. In India, they rose from 12.3 million tons to 20 million. And the yields continue to increase. Last year, India harvested a record 73.5 million tons of wheat, up 11.5 percent from 1998. Since Ehrlich’s dire predictions in 1968, India’s population has more than doubled, its wheat production has more than tripled, and its economy has grown nine-fold. Soon after Borlaug’s success with wheat, his colleagues at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research developed high-yield rice varieties that quickly spread the Green Revolution through most of Asia. Contrary to Ehrlich’s bold pronouncements, hundreds of millions didn’t die in massive famines. India fed far more than 200 million more people, and it was close enough to self-sufficiency in food production by 1971 that Ehrlich discreetly omitted his prediction about that from later editions of The Population Bomb. The last four decades have seen a “progress explosion” that has handily outmatched any “population explosion.” Borlaug, who unfortunately is far less well-known than doom-sayer Ehrlich, is responsible for much of the progress humanity has made against hunger. Despite occasional local famines caused by armed conflicts or political mischief, food is more abundant and cheaper today than ever before in history, due in large part to the work of Borlaug and his colleagues. Forty years later, there are entire generations that are alive thanks to the work that Borlaug did. I’d say that’s a pretty damn good accomplishment. Reason did a great interview with Borlaug that you can read here. And, here’s a short video describing Borlaug’s role in the “Green Revolution:” Like this:Like Loading... Lawrence Thiagarajan I was party of Green Revolution in India . I just graduated from Agricultural College, Coimbatore (1964)and was posted in a delta area to introduce high yielding Rice varieties and modernize traditional ways with intensive cultivation. YES the yields were 3 or 4 times higher. With that more industries sprouted in the region for producing more Fertilizers, more pesticides and more Rice mills and more ware houses.New Dams were built across rivers to supply water to fields. 35 years later I look at what we created in these years. We poisoned the soil with chemical fertilizers, large amount of pesticides leached into our rivers and reached our oceans. Machine processed rice was responsible for the high incidence of Diabetics in these parts of the world. Increased Rice cultivation was responsible for drastic reduction in production and consumption of other cereals like millets and pulses. And most of all, the farm workers are poorer than in 1964! Yes we fed more people, but at what cost?. Is it not better to reduce and arrest human imprint on this world rather than trying to increase the population of the world? We need a new revolution on Sustainable Agriculture and sustainable level of population. Dr. K.K.Kalariak I’m a participant of his green revolution programme to be implimented in India from 1965 onwards.We made resesarch in our universities on his principles and with local traits we developed many suitable varieties in Indian environments in wheat, millets,maize,cotton and sorghum. We are so much thankful for Dr. Norman Borlaug an eminant agricultural scientist that I can’t describe with words. May God help him in his peaceful journey to heaven. Dr.K.K.Kalaria,Ph.D in Agricultural Science( Gujarat Agri. University, India) 47 Gilbert Taylor Rd., Cherokee, NC28719. http://www.toughestschoolsintheworld.com JohnScott A shame that this could not have been published when he was ill and not gone. It would be nice if the world could show some appreciation. I’m sure he didn’t do it for this reaason, but this obviously enabled a lot of destructive population growth. The world would be a lot better off had the countries mentioned below been limited by their food production capacity. We can only imagine now a better world with less people in it. What kind of science will someone need to do, to figure out how to get the world population to shrink down to maybe 1B people? http://Google Linda Powers Yes, increased surviving populations would increase other problems, but many problems are not necessarily the direct result of increased life spans. Some are endemic to the cultures saved by greater food production and coincidentally developed along side Borlaug’s contribution. Yes, we need a new revolution but it has a lot to do with cultural norms and expectations among all strata of any given society. The world is stupid though when the likes of Al Gore now get the Nobel Prize instead of worthy contributors like Borlaug. Ben Gorman How ironic that Borlaug’s achievements, laudable for their tremendous benefit to humanity, simultaneously set the stage for humanity’s downfall. The Green Revolution (whether he liked the term or not) cemented the present agribusiness death spiral. Our present food production system, which, thanks in large part of Borlaug, et al., now feeds a world population nearly double that of 1970, has effectively sterilized millions of acres of formerly fertile topsoil. Now dependent upon regular, heavy infusions of chemical fertilizers to meet ever-increasing yield demands, these acres are no longer ecologically sustainable, but dependent on massive nutrient inputs to function. Add in the concomitant economic pressures squeezing out small farmers, promoting monoculture farming, and relying upon an ever-shrinking variety of GMO crops, and we’re now on the brink of a new global disaster a quantum order more deadly than the one Borlaug averted in the 60s and 70s. It would take only one one wrench in the works to bring modern commercial agriculture to its knees– and humanity along with it. And there is no lack of wrenches poised to fall: a pest vector or unforeseen GMO failure in either of our two main food crops, corn and soy; global climate change disruptions of crop cycles (per study: http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/crop-yields-could-wilt-heat/); or the little-discussed but imminent effects of Peak Oil, which could effectively cripple modern fossil-fueled agribusiness. One wonders about Mr. Borlaug’s thoughts on what became of his gift to humanity. HYLAND DELL HYLAND IT IS DIFFICULT TO COMPREHEND THAT AMIDST THE NANOSECOND BY NANOSECOND TRIVIAL NEWS UPDATES. THAT A SINGLE MAN CAN REMAIN SO FOCUSED AS TO ACHEIVE THE GREAT! PERHAPS IF WE COULD SHIFT THE FOCUS OF JUST A FEW !! WHAT WONDERS WOULD WE FIND???? GODSPEED TO YOU SIR!! Pingback: Mannen som räddade en miljard människor död « Ministry of Truth() http://biosystemsamerica.com GK Paul Batra, Ph.D. I am profoundly saddened by the untimely (yes, it is still untimely, even at the hoary age of 95, when the world needs you as badly as it did Dr. Norman E. Borlaug) death of Dr. Borlaug. I too am a scientist of Indian origin, was inspired by Dr. Borlaug to go into agricultural research, came to the US during the sixties to receive my doctorate in plant pathology and genetics from University of Georgia, and have never regretted it. In part, I agree with Dr. Thiagarajan’s thesis that the abuse of agricultural pesticides and fertilizers has somewhat tarnished the achievements of modern farming practices and that we need a more balanced, environmentally sensitive and sustainable agriculture worldwide, but this has nothing to do with the achievements of Dr. Borlaug. In my opinion, it is unwise and even irresponsible to associate the misuse of agricultural chemicals with Dr. Borlaug’s achievements in agricultural genetics and international development Extending the argument, for example, should we similarly blame Dr. Alexander Fleming for his discovery of penicillin just because some short-sighted people have misused antibiotics, which have led to the development of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) type of super bugs? I think not. Dr. Borlaug, unquestionably, remains the father of green revolution and perhaps also of modern agriculture, and the import of his achievements will remain with us in the annals of modern agriculture as long as humans and their domesticated animals need food and feed. Pingback: The Shotgun() http://franklinsvirtues.blogspot.com silvermine jj — I guess it’s easy to call for the death of millions of people when they are far away and not you. But the idea of it disgusts me. Actually wishing for millions of people to starve to death? Lawrence Thiagarajan To set the record straight. I have a great respect and admiration for Norman Borlaug. But for him many millions would have starved to death. It is what we, the Agricultural Scientist did with his lead. If we have known what we know now we would have focused our research towards genetically pest-disease resistant varieties and drought resistant plants, microbial fertilizers and the like. That is why I want the new young Agricultural Scientist to concentrate on these and not towards finding more pesticides and chemical fertilizers and chemical enhancers. We should also spend our energy in educating the world on environment and the effect of population explosion. L R A Narayan–India I have met him several times and he is really ajolly good man.He is very unassuming and mixes freely with all who is interested in enhancing production in agriculture Pingback: “Norman Borlaug: The Man Who Saved A Billion People”() http://pith-n-vinegar.blogspot.com/ Quincy Talk about perfect being the enemy of good. No one has the knowledge to create a perfect solution to any major world problem. Human beings just ain’t that smart. Every generation of human technology is imperfect. Improvements to address the most immediate of those are introduced, creating the next generation of technology. In this particular case, Borlaug was the one who came up with a solution that was good enough to save billions of lives. Not a perfect solution, though, as it comes with a new set of problems. What’s needed is people of this generation looking for solutions to make this level of agriculture sustainable. Not whining, bitching, or recriminating. On the subject of reducing the world population, I’m a big proponent of leading by example. I believe each and every person calling for a reduced world population has the duty to reduce themselves from the population first. Wait, what’s that? You’re too valuable a human being to commit suicide? What makes you, o population reduction advocate, more valuable than someone else? Well, if you’re not going to do your moral duty and commit suicide, at least take the paltry measure of not having kids. Wait, you still want two kids? You need to make sure that there are some educated people in the world? Fine. Then who should be prevented from having children so you can have your kids. Really, I’m interested in some answers to these from population reductionists. It’s so easy for them to declare that things should be done to other people. Why shouldn’t they apply to you? J. Rahmani Dr. Borlaug did the world a great service by giving us an additional half-century to solve the problem of population control. It is not his fault that we did not address the problem in the time he gave us. His projects were carried out with the noblest of intentions for humanity. Now, unfortunately, we find ourselves back at square one, needing another Dr. Borlaug. Over the next fifty years, we may have one last chance to increase food production yet again with genetic modification, and along with those gains, one last chance to get a handle on population growth. But I do not foresee another chance after that. Food crops can only be pushed so far. We are already seeing dramatic diminishing returns from our biotechnology efforts. -Jayant “John” Rahmani Quincy, I agree with you and you were able to say it much better than I could have. Funny how the comments stopped once you gave them a solution. I too would like to know why it is okay for them to continue living and having kids while elsewhere it shouldn’t be allowed to happen. Aimee – Yeah. It’s funny what happens when you offer these nuts both a solution and the opportunity explain why they’re more special than those “other” people. Beyond Quincy’s solution, there is another solution and it is called the free-market. Every country that has tried it has gotten richer and generally when they become richer they have less kids. Now we just need to try and get all the poor countries in the world to try something that we are turning our back on in this country. TerryP – My solution was more a caustic calling out of those who call for reduced population but expect the pain to be borne by others than themselves. I completely agree that the freedom to innovate and cooperate that the free market brings will be the real solution. Have I lost my marbles or is this uniquely a “home of the free” USA syndrome, where some idiots who can push keys on a computer, say whatever they please, even shout “fire’ in a crowded theater, if deemed necessary by them, without any sense of responsibility, relevance, reason or rhyme? Yes, some are even free to be ignorant and commit suicide; in fact, many do! Long live freedoms of America… The news supposedly (and subsequent comments) was about the passing away of Norman E Borlaug, an iconoclast of green revolution, and not about overpopulation, or whose point of view is more valid, cockeyed, or not for a possible solution to the perceived problem? Extending the argument, for instance, will American jurisprudence hold johns accountable for ruining countless lives of young prostitutes, or do drug addicts take any responsibility for their addiction or only the farmers of Colombia or Afghanistan are to be entirely blamed for producing cocaine and heroin? Similarly, do American drivers of fossil fuel (gas) guzzlers take any responsibility for their excesses, or must we blame only the Arabs for their supposed price-gouging or the expansionist Brazilians for depleting “their” rain forests and, thus, supposedly causing global warming? Finally, are editors of Liberty Papers awake and monitoring all this nonsense and, if so, can we expect this madness to end any time soon? http://www.belowthebeltway.com Doug Mataconis Dr. Batra, We’re around, but the comment section is generally an area for free-form discussion. Dr. Batra – Have I lost my marbles or is this uniquely a “home of the free” USA syndrome, where some idiots who can push keys on a computer, say whatever they please, even shout “fire’ in a crowded theater, if deemed necessary by them, without any sense of responsibility, relevance, reason or rhyme? Yes, some are even free to be ignorant and commit suicide; in fact, many do! Long live freedoms of America… You’ve not lost your marbles, sir. The comment threads on this particular blog are filled with some of the most varied and colorful opinions and rhetoric that can be found on the internet. Often, they drift completely off-topic into areas of conversation that are sometimes illuminating, sometimes frustrating, and sometimes frightening. As an editor, I rather enjoy this free-wheeling aspect of the comment section as it gives me the chance to challenge ideas I disagree with. Sometimes, I’ll admit to using colorful implementations of logical arguments like I did earlier in the thread. With regards to your challenge on taking responsibility, if you want the collected viewpoints of the editors, please feel free to view the archives of this site. Don’t get me wrong, I loved your “solution” and the reasons you put it out there. That solution could be taken to many other areas of life where we really like something when someone else is paying for it and we receive the benefits, but it is not so nice when we have to pay for it or take the responsibility for it.

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By By Doris Maricle / American Press An ongoing legal battle between some rice growers in Jefferson Davis Parish concerning rice research and promotion check-off programs, could be doing more harm than good for rice research and promotion. “The rice industry is a $2 billion industry in Louisiana and this is a threat to everyone in the industry,” Louisiana Rice Growers Association President John Owen of Rayville said. The rice research and promotion check-off programs and boards have served Louisiana’s rice industry well for over 40 years and have been functioning as they were designed to benefit every rice producer, Owen said. “Forty years ago rice growers in this state saw the need for research and promotion,” he said. “They drafted legislation that created governing boards for research and promotion made up of growers chosen democratically by their peers.” Having each farmer say where their money is spent results in “chaos” and eliminates the function of the promotion board, which represents grower organizations in the state, Owen said. The boards are audited by the state, bound by ethics laws and are completely open and transparent, he said. “Their existence is dependent on a referendum vote held every five years,” he said. “The referendum has always been approved by a significant majority and the program has served the rice industry extremely well.” A 1992 referendum vote included a provision that made the check off program “equal assessment.” The referendum was passed by the state’s rice growers. Prior to the referendum’s passage, rice producers had an option to ask for these funds to be returned to them. “Equal assessment means that everyone contributes to research and promotion , based on the amount of hundred weights of rice grown,” Owen said. “With equal assessment, there are no free rides. Everyone who benefits from the research and promotion programs pay his or her fair share and every grower in Louisiana is a beneficiary.” That program is now being challenged after a state district court judge declared it unconstitutional. The case is now headed to the state Supreme Court. “It’s frustrating that after passing the referendums by a margin of 85 percent for research and 75 percent for promotion, after defending an assault on the check-off referendum in the legislature, that we are now facing a lawsuit brought by a small group of producers who refuse to respect the vote and recognize the will of the vast majority of producers within the state,” Owen said. Those with concerns about the way the money is spent could work to get nominated by their peers and confirmation from the governor to serve on one of the research and promotion boards, he said. Owen contends that the research and promotion boards have been effective and have made wise choices with how the monies are Rice farmers pay three cents for every 100 pounds of their crop for promotion, with a nickel per hundredweight paying for research. Promotional funds are used to gain market access for and promote greater consumption of all types and forms of U.S. grown rice in the domestic and international markets. USA Rice Federation utilizes professionally directed promotion activities that best leverage the the funds available . Research funds are used to find new varieties, study disease and insect control and fertility. Much of the research is done at the LSU Rice Research station in Crowley, which Owen credits as “one of the finest in the U.S., if not the world.” “Our check-off dollars are the lifeblood of that institution and without it we would be dead in the water,” he said Research is also conducted on how to make rice farming more profitable and sustainable, he said. Advances in rice agronomy funded by check off dollars have increased average rice yields from 38.2 CWT in 1972 to nearly 67 CWT in 2010 - a 75 percent increase, he said. Owen said U.S. rice export values have increased from $665 million in 1972 to $2.36 billion in 2010 - a 255 percent increase due to promotions and knocking down trade barriers to U.S.rice. Domestic consumption has also increased from 7 pounds per capita in 1971 to 26 pounds per capita in 2010 - a 271 percent increase Owen does not know how long the appeal will take, but hopes it will be settled by the end of the year and that both sides can work together. “It’s a lot of wasted energy fighting each other when we could be working together to promote the rice industry,” he said. “It’s not in any one’s best interest. We should be figuring out how to increase sales and grow more rice.” The decision affects nearly 1,050 rice growers in Louisiana, as well as associates including the merchants, rice driers and mills, Owen said.

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USDA Encourages Americans to Know Their Farmers By Michelle Greenhalgh | August 19, 2010 The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a new video this week in an effort to create economic opportunities in rural communities by promoting local and regional food systems. The video provides commentary from USDA Under Secretary Kathleen Merrigan encouraging the American public to research where their food comes from. “Very few people now are connected directly to a farm. My grandparents. Farmers. My children are not connected to my grandparents. They’ve lost that string. And so few people understand how food and fiber is produced in this country and we want to make that reconnection,” said Merrigan in the video. The video is the latest effort by the USDA to promote the Know Your Farmer Know Your Food Initiative launched in September of 2009. The initiative, chaired by Merrigan, was announced on Sept. 15 and has already received $65 million in funding. Other recent efforts by the USDA include a website that highlights local and regional food systems while also noting the multiple connections between farmers and consumers. In addition, the website provides a page where consumers can search for their local farmers markets. © Food Safety News More Headlines from Government Agencies »Tags: Kathleen Merrigan, Know Your Farmer Know Your Food, USDA

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Cattle markets adjust to larger supplies: Outlook Jan 13, 2017 Crop protection industry needs to stay united to protect products Jan 12, 2017 OUTLOOK 2017: Ag economists explore the best options for producers Jan 12, 2017 Texas Ag Commissioner hopes to talk trade initiative with Israel Jan 10, 2017 Crops>Corn Time’s one-sided food ‘expose’ Forrest Laws 1 | Oct 23, 2009 We may not admit it, but writers like to be recognized for their work. Even the most jaded of us get a thrill when we see our byline. But I doubt we would enjoy the attention Time’s Bryan Walsh received in a speech by Iowa’s Sen. Grassley on the Senate floor Sept. 29. “I rise today in response to Bryan Walsh’s recent article, ‘The Real Cost of Cheap Food,’” said Grassley. “Unfortunately, this is one of the most skewed and one-sided articles I’ve ever had the opportunity to read, particularly in the mainstream media.” Grassley, one of the few senators to list his occupation as farmer, said he supports organic and sustainable agriculture, both featured prominently in the Aug. 31 article. He noted that fellow Iowa native, Norman Borlaug, created one of the first sustainable agriculture systems. “That being said, I am disappointed that an information source, previously known to be a news magazine, has resorted to an inaccurate, incomplete and unfair reflection of family farmers. The author totally missed the point on a number of fronts.” Item: Walsh implies the only family farmers in the U.S. are those who live on 30 acres. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” says Grassley who farms 710 acres of corn and soybeans with his son, Robin. “Family farmers can operate small farms, but they can also operate large farms.” In contrast to Walsh’s claims, producers are becoming more efficient, growing more bushels of corn with less fertilizer. “In 1915, 90 million acres of cropland in America were used to ‘fuel’ our agricultural production,” said Grassley. “If you add up all the land being used to grow corn, wheat and soybeans now, it’s about 224 million acres. So, less than 100 years ago, we were using nearly half our acres just to feed our work animals.” Item: The hypoxia zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Agriculture is only one of several sources of nutrients that are washed into the Mississippi River, and farmers, including Grassley, are using tools such as minimum-till, buffer strips and wetlands to reduce that contribution. Item: Biotechnology. “The author clearly views this as a bad thing,” says Grassley, “when, in fact, traits such as drought resistance and nutrient efficiency are actually improving corn’s performance with less inputs.” The senator also defended modern animal agricultural production from criticism of the use of antibiotics. Besides making food “less safe to eat,” their loss would also drive up food costs when many Americans are struggling financially. “It’s time for Time to start being honest with their readers. The next time the magazine wants to run a story that clearly reflects the author’s personal views they should identify it as such. The next article should be better researched and present a more balanced view.” email: [email protected]

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Government of Bihar Notification |Citizen Charter | Contact Us | Tel Directory | Search Farmer Bihar, with its bountiful natural resources of fertile soil, abundant water, varied climate and rich cultural and historical heritage is one of the most fascinating states of India. The farmers are intelligent and hard working. Therefore agriculture has been described as the core competence of Bihar by the Hon'ble President of India. Agriculture is the vital source of wealth in Bihar. 76% of its population is engaged in agricultural pursuits. Bihar's productive contribution in food grain, fruit, vegetables, spices and flowers can increase manifold with improved methods and system management. Bihar has a total geographical area of about 93.60 lakh hectare, out of which only 56.03 lakh hectare is the net cultivated area and gross cultivated area being 79.46 lakh hectare. About 33.51 lakh hectare net area and 43.86 lakh hectare gross area receive irrigation from different sources. Principal food crops are paddy, wheat, maize and pulses. Main cash crops are sugarcane, potato, tobacco, oilseeds, onion, chillies and jute and. Bihar has notified forest area of 6,764.14 sq km, which is 7.1 per cent of its geographical area. Bihar is located in the eastern part of the country (between 83°-30' to 88°-00' longitude). It is an entirely land–locked state, although the outlet to the sea through the port of Kolkata is not far away. Bihar lies mid-way between the humid West Bengal in the east and the sub humid Uttar Pradesh in the west which provides it with a transitional position in respect of climate, economy and culture. It is bounded by Nepal in the north and by Jharkhand in the south. The Bihar plain is divided into two unequal halves by the river Ganga which flows through the middle from west to east. Bihar with a geographical area of about 94.2 thousand square km is divided by river Ganges into two parts, the north Bihar with an area of 53.3 thousand square km and the south Bihar having an area of 40.9 thousand square km. Based on soil characterization, rainfall, temperature and terrain, four main agro-climatic zones in Bihar have been identified. These are: Zone-I, North Alluvial Plain, Zone-II, north East Alluvial Plain, Zone-III A South East Alluvial Plain and Zone-III B, South West Alluvial Plain, each with its own unique prospects. The principal agricultural crops are rice, paddy, wheat, jute, maize and oil seeds. Cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, radish, carrot, beat etc. are some of the vegetables grown in the state. Sugarcane, potato and barley are some of the non-cereal crops grown. The entire agricultural operations is divided into two crop seasons Kharif and Rabi. The Kharif season starts from the third week of May and lasts till the end of October followed by the Rabi season. Though endowed with good soil, adequate rainfall and good ground water availability Bihar has not get realized its full agricultural potential. Its agricultural productivity is one of the lowest in the country, leading to rural poverty, low nutrition and migration of labour. This road map is aimed to trigger processes of development in agriculture and allied sector. The state is endowed with rich biodiversity. Agriculture provides ample supply of raw materials for the establishment of Agro based industries. Bihar is the third largest producer of vegetables and fourth largest producer of fruits in the country. It is the largest producer of Litchi, Makhana, Guava, Lady’s finger in India. The state already exports Litchi, Basmati rice and snow pea. It has competitiveness in maize, rice and fruit such as banana, mango, litchi and vegetables like onions, tomato, potato and brinjal. High, stable and regular supply of agricultural produce provides adequate opportunity for marketing and food processing industries. Farmer’s willingness to accept modern cultivation technologies and contract farming practices provide encouraging trends for investment in Agriculture sector. Necessary legislative changes to promote contract farming and private investment in marketing are being undertaken. Agricultural growth in the state is supported by institutional infrastructure of Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa (Samastipur) and its network of KrishiVigyan Kendra, ICAR eastern zone complex at Patna, National Research Centres for Litchi, Makhana and Pan. Small Farmer’s Agri-business Consortium (SFAC) and Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) are others institutions supporting Agricultural growth in the State. Public sector Agricultural extension system is creating enabling ground for Public–Private partnership for rapid Agricultural growth in the state. Agri-clinics will be encouraged to carry standard seeds, fertilizers, agricultural information to the farmers. They will be the carrier of the public programs to the farmers. Extension system will forge relationship with agri-clinics for creating synergy of the extension efforts. The expert services of the agri-clinics will be gainfully utilized in conducting training/demonstration and their services will be treated at par with the services of agriculture scientists. To make the program of agri-clinics viable for the banking sector and to make them more attractive for agriculture graduates convergence of all programs will be created there. They will get preference in allocation of seed/fertilizer shops, outsourcing of block level soil labs, etc. KrishiVigyanKendras will continue to receive prime attention in view of their utility as centre of excellence in spreading agricultural knowledge to the rural masses. They will also be encouraged to cater to post harvest handling of the agricultural products and develop entrepreneurial skill among the rural youth. The KVK’s will function in FIVE MISSION MODE, viz. on honey bee, seed production including seed villages, conservation agriculture, integrated farming and vermi-compost. Extension reforms will receive attention through Agriculture Technology Management Agency. ATMA will be established in all the districts of Bihar. The objective of convergence, farming system, group extension approach and increased use of ICT in agricultural extension will be pursued. Sustainability of the agriculture extension will also be explored. Public-private partnership in agriculture extension will be encouraged. Effort will be made to bring every farmer into the ambit of agriculture technology training in 5-year period. The strategy will be to reach information, technology and services to the farmers in the quickest possible time. The emphasis of ICT will be more on developing application software and providing useful services to the farmers in the villages. Farmer useful services will be integrated with information and non-agricultural services and emphasis will be laid on one point solution to the farmers’ problems. Use of quality Seed. Seed is the most critical input in modern agriculture. It is the carrier of the modern technology. There is an apparent need to step up investment in both public & private sector .The prevailing seed replacement rate which is less than 10% in case of rice and wheat cannot sustain higher productivity growth rate. Therefore the objective of the seed production programme involve increase the seed replacement rate, promotion of hybrid seeds and crop varieties, which are new and adapted to the agro-climatic conditions of the state. Seed production on Government farms will be revived. Bihar RajyaBeej Nigam will be encouraged to undertake seed multiplication for recently released public sector varieties to make them timely available to the farmers at reasonable cost. Pusa Seed Society will be encouraged to improve supply of quality seed to the farmers. While the seed production under public sector will be revived, seed production through farmers’ direct participation under seed-village program will be the corner stone of the strategy during 11th’ plan. Bihar RajyaBeej Nigam and Pusa Seed Society will be encouraged to buy-back seeds produced under seed village and provide processing & marketing support. Private seed companies will be encouraged to ensure availability of latest technology to the farmers and also to ensure fair competition with public sector seed companies for the benefit of the farmers. Marketing and Processing. Any target for production can be achieved only if the farmers get proper price for their produce. Hence the success of this agriculture development strategy is dependent upon taking appropriate measures in the fields of marketing and processing. Agriculture marketing has been in the public domain with explicit limitations. Therefore the Agriculture produce market committee act has been abolished. Private sector and cooperative sector will be encouraged to establish market, enter into buy-back arrangement and purchase directly from the farmers. Contract farming will be encouraged, particularly for fruits and vegetables. The expansion of market facilities and better realization to the farmers will be the core of the market reforms. Farmers will be organized along the enterprises to establish economy of scale and to act as collective voice to safeguard their interest. This will include excursions into processing and marketing centres of excellence in the country, formation of farmer interest group and federating them at the various levels. Co-operative marketing shall be encouraged in the area of fruits and vegetables on lines of milk or dairy. Efforts will be made to make farmers aware of the market demand of the agricultural commodities Extension will be made market oriented and efforts shall be made to make crop planning market oriented. Agriculture market information regarding price, arrival will be widely disseminated. Market yards and rural hats will be let to farmer groups for organized marketing in the state. Private sector participation in the development of modern and specialty market will be encouraged. Terminal market will be established in strategic locations. Agriculture is prone to natural disasters, particularly flood in north Bihar and drought in south Bihar. Risk of natural disasters will be minimized through use of appropriate crop technology and extending crop insurance to all farmers. Insurance cover will be extended to horticultural and cash crops. Seed bank will be maintained to quickly restore supply of seed material. Human resource will be developed to quickly react and restore normalcy in case of a natural disaster. Seasons : Cold weather season (December to February), Hot weather season (March to May), Southwest monsoon (June to September) and Retreating southwest monsoon - October to November. Soil : There are three major types of soil in Bihar i.e. Piedmont Swamp Soil - found in northwestern part of West Champaran district. Terai Soil - found in northern part of the state along the border of Nepal. Gangetic Alluvium - the plain of Bihar is covered by gangetic alluvium (both new as well as old). Fertile Land : The topography of Bihar can be easily described as a fertile alluvial plain occupying the Gangetic Valley. The plain extends from the foothills of the Himalayas in the north to a few miles south of the river Ganges as it flows through the State from the west to the east. Rich farmland and lush orchards extend throughout the state. Following are the major crops: Paddy, Wheat, Lentils, Sugarcane, Jute (hemp, related to the marijuana plant, but a source of tough fibers and "gunny bags"). Also, cane grows wild in the marshes of West Champaran. The principal fruits are: Mangoes, Banana, Guava and Litchis. This is one the very few areas outside China which produces litchi. Powered by CSM Technologies Copyright © 2014 Department of Agriculture, Government of Bihar.

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Search By Location Birch / Betula Key Lime (Citrus aurantifolia) Home « Citrus « Citrus aurantifolia Family: RUTACEAE Genus: Citrus Species: Key Lime (Citrus aurantifolia) Key Lime Species Description These plants are from foreign areas (those that occur outside of North America north of Mexico) that have been released intentionally or unintentionally. Plants that have been disseminated or escaped as a result of human activity, and become established somewhere within the United States, Canada or Greenland. Allergenicity: Key Lime (Citrus aurantifolia) is a mild allergen. Pollination: Occurs in following seasons depending on latitude and elevation: Spring. Tree: A large plant, not exactly defined, but typically over four meters in height, a single trunk which grows in girth with age and branches (which also grow in circumference with age). Shrub: A woody plant smaller than a tree, and usually with several stems from the same root. Perennial: Living for many years. Woody Stem: Non-herbaceous. Lignified. Evergreen: Retaining leaves throughout the year including changing seasons. Key Lime Species Usage Dye: Used as a colored dye. Hummingbird Plant: A plant that is known to attract hummingbirds, usually brightly colored. More Key Lime (Citrus aurantifolia) imagesby Jessie M. Harris from BONAPMore on Key Lime (Citrus aurantifolia) in Wikipedia Advertisement Key Lime Species Location

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Almond industry puts bee health front and center Jan 05, 2017 Duvall: Agriculture gains clout to address over regulation, labor needs Jan 10, 2017 Western food supply safer since 2006 E. coli outbreak in spinach Jan 04, 2017 New HLB positive tree found in urban Cerritos, Calif. Jan 02, 2017 From left: Pat Ricchiuti, who heads P-R Farms in Clovis, Calif.; Greg Calistro, executive director of produce and floral with Save Mart Supermarkets; and Mechel S. Paggi, director of the Center for Agricultural Business at Fresno State University. Equipment>Irrigation Systems Ag leaders differ on mandatory nitrogen budgets Joel Nelsen, president and CEO of California Citrus Mutual in Exeter, critical at a Fresno agribusiness conference of how state regulators and the University of California have handled the issue of nitrates in Central Valley groundwater. Dennis Pollock | Nov 13, 2012 A leader of California’s citrus industry was sharply critical at a Fresno agribusiness conference of how state regulators and the University of California have handled the issue of nitrates in Central Valley groundwater. Joel Nelsen, president and CEO of California Citrus Mutual in Exeter, also blasted fellow panelists who favor growers keeping “nitrogen budgets” to document how much nitrogen is applied and how much is used to grow a crop. “The term nitrogen budgets has to be removed from the vocabulary,” Nelsen said. “In the citrus industry, it’s not going to occur.” Nelsen shared a panel on nitrates at the 31st Annual Agribusiness Management Conference with Parry Klassen, executive director of the East San Joaquin Water Quality Coalition, and Stuart Pettygrove, a UC Cooperative Extension soils specialist. Leaders of water quality coalitions have insisted that the so-called budgets, individual nitrogen management plans, would not be made available to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. In an interview after the conference, Nelsen said his concern is that state regulators could insist on reviewing those individual documents, but he believes producers should analyze application and use. During the discussion that drew some 300 growers, bankers, students and others, Klassen and Pettygrove stood by their position that nitrogen management plans are a good way to document use of nutrients. Pettygrove responded to Nelsen’s suggestion that use of “best management practices” could pose a better alternative. “The difficulty is that there is not agreement on what so-called best management practices are best in a given environment,” he said. Pettygrove also said, “I don’t know that it helps a lot to go into defense mode.” Nelsen characterized a UC report on contamination of drinking water as “showboating” and repackaging of old material that created “an adversarial environment” in which the blame for contamination was laid “at the foot of agriculture.” He said the state legislature, the governor and the agriculture industry became aware of nitrates in groundwater in 1988, and that agriculture has worked with researchers at various educational institutions to address the problem for nearly a quarter century. Nelsen said the state has neglected to allocate available money to address the issue outside the agriculture arena, for example to pay for filtration systems in homes. “We need to step away from onerous mandates,” he said. A water board meeting on the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program will be held Nov. 30 in Bakersfield. The agribusiness conference was sponsored by Fresno State’s Center for Agricultural Business, the California Agricultural Technology Institute and Bank of America. It opened with observations on the nation’s economy, significant changes around the globe, what the nation’s election could bring and agriculture’s outlook. It closed with a look at the changing grocery retail industry. Speakers included: Charles Grimes, director of global export trade services for Citibank. Grimes said it is expected fiscal 2013 exports from the United States will reach a record $143.5 billion. He said Asia is set to overtake Western Europe to become the world’s largest trading region by 2015. China, already the world’s largest exporter in 2010, will become the world’s largest trading nation by 2015, overtaking the U.S., he said. Africa is expected to double its share of world trade from 3 percent in 2010 to 7 percent in 2050. On the matter of trade pacts, Grimes expects more bilateral regional agreements and some movement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Aging agriculture industry, election results Terry N. Barr, senior director, Knowledge Exchange Division of CoBank. Barr said “a lot is riding on China,” where a new leader is stepping forward and growth is expected to slow. “The double digit growth rate is over,” he said. Worldwide, he expects a lack of confidence in the United States will keep growth at 2 percent. Globally, he predicts 3 percent in 2013. In the U.S., Barr said, “investment is on hold” due to a number of uncertainties around topics that include the energy sector, immigration, health care, regulatory oversight and deficit reduction. Barr said a drought has helped spike grain prices and there has been a steady trend upward in prices for fruits, nuts and vegetables, and all crops have moved up by 63 percent in the past five years. But he cautioned that not all of agriculture is benefiting. Dairy and beef producers, for example, have struggled with high feed costs and export challenges. Barr expects major changes in North America’s search for energy with development of new technologies and use of shale oil and gas. He predicts oil will be in the $90 to $100 range per barrel. Corny Gallagher, senior vice president and food, ag and wine executive with Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Global Commercial Banking. Gallagher said agriculture is challenged by aging on many fronts, including farmers themselves, workers, researchers and teaching staff. On the positive side, he said, demand for farm commodities has been growing because of populations and per capita income growth. He said water use continues “to define California agriculture.” And he called for an emphasis on “water retention” rather than water storage. Robert Guenther, senior vice president for public policy, with the United Fresh Produce Association. Guenther talked of the impact of the presidential election as a tale of “the good, the bad and the ugly.” He said it’s good that “we know what happened.” “The bad is that nothing has changed,” he said. And the ugly is an expectation that there will be a stepped up “regulatory environment.” As to a 2012 farm bill reauthorization, he said that would likely require leadership action by a lame duck House of Representatives. It could take the form of a year’s extension, he said. There have been a total of six farm bill extensions. Greg Calistro, executive director of produce and floral with Save Mart Supermarkets. Calistro said the 60-year-old supermarket chain headquartered in Modesto is seeing significant changes that include tougher competition that includes on-line shopping and big box stores like Target and Costco. Consumers want more in the way of convenience, he said. Among categories that are growing is pre-cut fruit and vegetable sales. He said an interest in healthy snacks is spawning vending machines with fresh fruit. Other trends include interest in organics, shopping locally and using social media. Calistro said 68 percent of moms use smartphones and 64 percent scan QR (quick response) codes. Younger shoppers — as young as 3 to 17 — “are the most sophisticated ever,” Calistro said. They are comfortable navigating the “social media landscape” and that helps drive awareness of recipes and specialty foods. Buyers of herbs, he said, are likely to spend a minimum of $50 in the store, making purchases that also include lamb or other products. TAGS: Legislative 1 comment Hide comments

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Conclusions and the Way Ahead "A new economic vision for Africa's agricultural transformation— articulated at the highest level of government through Africa's Regional Economic Communities (RECs)—should be guided by new conceptual frameworks that define the continent as a learning society. This shift will entail placing policy emphasis on emerging opportunities such as renewing infrastructure, building human capabilities, stimulating agribusiness development, and increasing participation in the global economy. It also requires an appreciation of emerging challenges such as climate change and how they might influence current and future economic strategies.Climate Change, Agriculture, and EconomyAs Africa prepares to address its agricultural challenges, it is now confronted with new threats arising from climate change. Agricultural innovation will now have to be done in the context of a more uncertain world in which activities such as plant and animal breeding will need to be anticipatory. 1 According to the World Bank, warming "of 2°C could result in a 4 to 5 percent permanent reduction in annual income per capita in Africa and South Asia, as opposed to minimal losses in high-income countries and a global average GDP loss of about 1 percent. These losses would be driven by impacts in agriculture, a sector important to the economies of both Africa and South Asia." 2 Sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by fragile ecosystems. Nearly 75% of its surface area is dry land or desert. This makes the continent highly vulnerable to droughts and floods. Traditional cultures cope with such fragility through migration. But such migration has now become a source of insecurity in parts of Africa. Long-term responses will require changes in agricultural production systems. 3The continent's economies are also highly dependent on natural resources. Nearly 80% of Africa's energy comes from biomass and over 30% of its GDP comes from rain-fed agriculture, which supports 70% of the population. Stress is already being felt in critical resources such as water supply...." Please contact Science, Technology, and Globalization Juma, Calestous. “Conclusions and the Way Ahead.” January 2011. 204-217. Share - Breakthrough Revolution in Africa Newsletter Article - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center Newsletter Spotlight on John P. Holdren Josh Burek | Fall/Winter 2016-2017 Sustainability science

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Commission pushes Idaho dry bean fee hike The Idaho Bean Commission plans to increase the state's dry bean assessment fee, IBC members told growers and other industry representatives Feb. 12. The increase is needed to help fund a $1 million endowment with the University of Idaho. Sean EllisCapital Press Published on February 12, 2014 12:47PM NAMPA, Idaho — The Idaho Bean Commission is moving forward with a plan to increase Idaho’s dry bean tax from 12 cents to 24 cents per hundredweight.The current assessment fee is 8 cents per hundredweight for growers and 4 cents for bean dealers. The money generated by the assessment, about $200,000 a year, is used to fund the commission’s research, promotion and education efforts.The commission plans to increase both the grower and dealer assessment fees to 12 cents each.Much of the money generated from the increase would be used to fund a $1 million IBC endowment with the University of Idaho that will fund bean research in the state of Idaho.Some of it could also be used to help fund a potential regional bean research program being discussed by public and private entities in Idaho, Colorado, Nebraska and WyomingIBC members plan to ask Idaho lawmakers in 2015 for permission to increase the assessment and, if it’s approved, the increase would be effective later that year.IBC Chairman Doug Carlquist, a farmer from Eden, told about 200 growers and other industry folks Feb. 12 that commissioners want input from growers on the plan.“Without grower support, this will not go forward,” he said during the 2014 Treasure Valley Bean School.Based on average yields, growers’ portion of the increase would equal an additional 96 cents an acre, up from $1.92 now.Carlquist said the decision to fund the endowment and increase the bean tax was made after a lengthy discussion about the best way to move the industry forward and ensure bean research occurs in Idaho forever.“We came to the conclusion that it was important for us to establish a long-term relationship with the University of Idaho,” he said.IBC commissioner Don Tolmie said reduced federal funding for research has resulted in research funding for land-grant universities being pared down as a result.“We as an industry are going to have to step up to the plate if we’re going to continue to have research funds available for our universities,” he said.The endowment is contingent on the IBC receiving permission from lawmakers to raise the assessment.Tolmie said the proposal is to keep the bean tax at 24 cents for four years until the endowment is fully funded. Then it would drop back down to the 16- to 18-cent range.The current 12 cent amount is not sufficient to fund the IBC’s promotion, education and research efforts, he said.The tax hasn’t been raised since 1992 and the commission would need to raise the assessment to 20 cents just to maintain the purchasing power that money had in 1992, said IBC Administrator Lacey Menasco.Because of the decreased purchasing power of that money, “the ability of the commission to fund research and promotion efforts has decreased significantly,” Carlquist said.Comments can be submitted at the IBC website at www.bean.idaho.gov

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"If you want to protect your seed, if you want to protect your food, join the movement of the Center for Food Safety" -Vandana Shiva Internationally renowned Indian environmental activist, founder of Navdanya, and prolific author. GE Alfalfa: Why Did USDA Ignore Environmental and Economic Harms? Center for Food Safety Sues USDA Over Missing Documents Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed a lawsuit late yesterday demanding the release of federal documents which may uncover undue political pressure over USDA’s decision to approve genetically engineered alfalfa. The lawsuit seeks 1179 documents from USDA’s Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which may explain why the agency abruptly reversed its position and granted unrestricted approval for Monsanto to sell Roundup Ready Alfalfa. “USDA determined Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa posed significant environmental and economics harms and initially proposed placing restrictions on it. Yet the agency went ahead and granted full unrestricted approval one month later. Did the White House intervene? Did Monsanto pressure the agency? The fact is we don’t know, and unless the court orders USDA to hand over these documents we may never know,” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director for Center for Food Safety. In 2005, APHIS granted Monsanto permission to sell genetically engineered alfalfa under the brand name Roundup Ready. In 2006, CFS led a coalition of farmers and public interest groups to challenge the agency’s approval. Although Monsanto intervened, the courts sided with Center for Food Safety and vacated APHIS’s approval and ordered APHIS to prepare a robust analysis of the engineered crop’s impacts on farmers and the environment and then make a new decision. Monsanto appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, but the Court upheld the ruling halting the crop’s sale and use. When APHIS undertook the court-ordered analysis, the first time it had so analyzed any GE crop, it acknowledged significant environmental, agronomic, and economic harm from the planting and sale of Roundup Ready alfalfa. The report recommended restrictions to help mitigate transgenic contamination. Yet, in January 2011, APHIS reversed its position and announced it had no choice but to grant unrestricted approval. Members of the media questioned the abrupt reversal, raising questions of undue influence. Center for Food Safety originally filed a Freedom of Information Act request to release documents detailing the agency’s decision-making process on January 31, 2011. The agency continues to illegally withhold nearly 1200 documents without explanation. Center for Food Safety appealed the withholding, which the agency ignored. Center for Food Safety today asked the courts to compel APHIS to turn over the documents. “APHIS’s sudden change of heart on the approval of Roundup Ready alfalfa has led to the contamination of organic and conventional alfalfa to the detriment of U.S. farmers, and threatens the health of our environment and the survival of sensitive species,” said Sylvia Wu, attorney for Center for Food Safety. “The public deserves an explanation from the agency. APHIS cannot be allowed to disregard the public’s right to access governmental records guaranteed by the Freedom of Information Act.” Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the United States behind corn, soybeans and wheat. The third largest crop in terms of value, alfalfa is grown in every U.S. state and is the key feedstock for the dairy industry. Foods such as sprouts, dietary supplements and herbal medicines are also derived from alfalfa. Roundup Ready alfalfa is genetically engineered to withstand the repeated applications of the herbicide ingredient glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide roundup. USDA data show that 90% of all the alfalfa planted by farmers in the U.S. was previously grown without the use of any herbicides. Due to the planting of GE alfalfa USDA estimates that up to 23 million more pounds of toxic herbicides will be released into the environment each year. View the complaint here. Farmers warn of threats to farm economies posed by Dow's new genetically engineered corn and soybean varieties Read More Kroger, Safeway join trend away from GMO food Read More  http://bit.ly/1dULOQL

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"The opposition had Monsanto, Syngenta, DuPont and Dow on their side and the largest campaign budget in our county's history, but with the expertise and support from the Center for Food Safety our group of 150 family farmers beat the chemical corporations and won a precedent-setting win that will protect family farmers from genetically engineered crops for decades to come." -Elise Higley Farmer and Director of the Our Family Farms Coalition in Jackson County, Oregon New Report: Widely-Used Neonicotinoid Seed Treatments Are Unnecessary in Most Cases Study Reveals that Costs Outweigh Benefits of Toxic Insecticides Implicated in Bee Kills Center for Food Safety today released a scientific literature review which reveals that neonicotinoid insecticide seed treatments offer little benefit, do not increase crop yields, and cause widespread environmental and economic damage. In particular, neonicotinoids have been implicated in bee population declines and colony collapse. While some fear that crop yields will suffer without the use of neonicotinoids, the study released today demonstrates that their benefits do not outweigh the costs. The authors examined 19 peer-reviewed studies of the relationship between neonicotinoid treatments and actual yields of major U.S. crops. Eight studies found that neonicotinoid treatments did not provide any significant yield benefit, while 11 studies showed inconsistent benefits. The studies corroborate evidence from European countries that were able to maintain crop yields even after neonicotinoid bans. The review cites the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failure to conduct a thorough cost-benefit analysis and calls on EPA to suspend seed treatment product registrations. “The environmental and economic costs of pesticide seed treatments are well-known. What we learned in our thorough analysis of the peer-reviewed science is that their claimed crop yield benefit is largely illusory, making their costs all the more tragic,” said Peter Jenkins, co-author of the report and consulting attorney for Center for Food Safety. Read the report HERE. Seeds of commercial crops in the U.S., particularly corn and soybeans, are widely treated with neonicotinoid pesticides, ostensibly to protect emerging seedlings from pests and thus improve yields. Almost all of the corn seed and approximately half of the soybeans in the U.S. are treated with neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids are a class of pesticides known to have acute and chronic effects on honey bees and other pollinator species and are considered a major factor in colony collapse. Neonicotinoid pesticides are also slow to break down, so they can build up in areas where they are applied. They contaminate surface water, ground water, and soil, endangering not only pollinators, but also other beneficial species that inhabit these ecosystems. Pesticide seed treatments are regulated by EPA under the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), which directs the agency to evaluate whether the use of any pesticide proposed for registration presents “any unreasonable risk to man or the environment, taking into account the economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits.” “Their impact on honey bees, other pollinators and on the nation’s beekeepers is especially troubling. Because the available scientific studies show little if any benefit, EPA should suspend all neonicotinoid seed treatment product registrations as required under FIFRA until the costs and benefits are adequately reviewed,” said Jenkins. “Although there is no doubt that neonicotinoids are highly toxic to insects, this does not mean they are routinely effective in pest management. In many contexts they provide no benefit, and in others they are not a cost-effective option. The bottom line is these toxic insecticides are being unnecessarily applied to seeds in most cases, while harming pollinators and the environment,” said Sarah Stevens, researcher and co-author of the report. “The economic costs of neonicotinoid seed treatments are real. In addition to paying for unnecessary treatments, the overuse of these pesticides has led to significant costs to society at large,” added Stevens. According to USDA, 10 million bee hives have been lost since 2006, representing a two billion dollar costto beekeepers. Honey bees are responsible for much of the pollination required for agricultural production. USDA estimates pollinator services to be worth $20-30 billion annually. Further, honey and bee products have also suffered with 2013 the lowest U.S. honey production ever recorded. That was a $38 million drop since 2012. The most significantly decline in honeybee production has occurred in the Corn Belt where neonicotinoid use is highest. Dr. Christian Krupke of Purdue University, a top bee scientist and reviewer of the report, will be speaking at a briefing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, 3/20/14, to discuss his own research on this topic. He will be joined by UK expert Dr. David Goulson of the University of Sussex, whose background research is relied on in the report. Dr. Goulson is an outspoken bee expert who made major contributions to the EU decision to suspend many neonicotinoid uses for a minimum of two years. Interviews with them about the topics in the CFS report and their statements to Congress and regulators can be arranged through Center for Food Safety. Half a Million Demand Action from EPA to Save Bees Read More Coalition of Civil Liberties, Animal, Consumer Groups Head to Court Over Controversial Idaho "Ag Gag" Law Read More  http://bit.ly/1jwv02K

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Home Travel Little Stinker Little Stinker by Erin Parkhurst June 10, 2013 The stink bug has moved in, and it’s in no hurry to leave. × Expand Forget the Year of the Snake, 2013 is the year of the brown marmorated stink bug. If you haven’t heard, the odiferous critters, which were first detected in the U.S. in 2001, are predicted to make an appearance this spring and summer in record numbers. “All indications from the fall of 2012 are that the size of the over-wintering population of the brown marmorated stink bug is bigger than last year,” says Chris Bergh, professor of entomology at Virginia Tech and one of five from VT working on a team of more than 50 researchers from around the U.S. to find solutions to the proliferation of the invasive pest. Established in 2010, the group, funded through the USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Research Initiative, has set up its own website—StopBMSB.org—to educate the public about the insect named by the USDA in January as its top “invasive insect of interest.” While a nuisance for most, the stink bug, which is originally from Asia, is a serious threat to farmers because it feeds on more than 300 varieties of crops—everything from berries and peppers to fruit trees and soybeans. And, oh, how it loves the Old Dominion. Virginia is one of seven states in which the bug has caused severe agricultural and nuisance problems. Unfortunately, it’s too late to stop the stinkers from getting into your home this spring. “In the fall, they look for over-wintering sites, and they’ll go anywhere they perceive to be hospitable, including cars and even doorjambs,” explains Bergh. (Which means they've been with you all winter.) To prevent Stinkvasion 2014, seal up cracks and crevices to block access to your house. And what of their famous smell? “It’s a defensive secretion,” says Bergh. It’s like a Do Not Disturb sign for insects. Subscribe to Virginia Living magazine

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Agricultural Bacteria: Blowing in the Wind Released: 9-May-2012 9:00 AM EDT Source Newsroom: American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) Journal of Environmental Quality CHANNELS Agriculture KEYWORDS soil erosion, Pyrosequencing, bacterial diversity, Agriculture, dust storms, Soil Conservation + Show More Credit: USDA-ARS Dust storm near Lubbock, Texas USDA-ARS post-doctoral researcher, Matt Baddock, stands next to a portable wind tunnel used to simulate wind erosion. Newswise — It was all too evident during the Dust Bowl what a disastrous impact wind can have on dry, unprotected topsoil. Now a new study has uncovered a less obvious, but still troubling, effect of wind: Not only can it carry away soil particles, but also the beneficial microbes that help build soil, detoxify contaminants, and recycle nutrients.Using a powerful DNA sequencing technique, called pyrosequencing, a team led by USDA-ARS scientists Terrence Gardner and Veronica Acosta-Martínez analyzed the bacterial diversity in three Michigan agricultural soils, and in two eroded sediments generated from these soils during a wind tunnel experiment: coarse particles and fine dust. Not only were the microbial assemblages on the coarse particles distinct from those on the dust, report the scientists in the current issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality, but the two types of eroded sediments were each enriched in certain groups of microbes compared with the parent soil, as well.The findings suggest that specific bacteria inhabit specific locations in soil—and thus different groups and species can be carried away depending on the kinds of particles that erode. “It’s important to know which microbes are being lost from soil,” says Acosta-Martínez, a soil microbiologist and biochemist at the USDA-ARS Cropping Systems Laboratory in Lubbock, TX, “because different microbes have different roles in soil processes.”For example, the Proteobacteria—a diverse group critical to carbon and nitrogen cycling—were more associated in the study with eroded, coarse particles (those larger than 106 microns in size) than with the fine dust. Similarly, the dust housed its own community, in this case Bacteroidetes and other bacteria that are known to tolerate extreme dryness, gamma radiation, and other harsh conditions that may develop on dust particles as they float through the air, says Gardner, a postdoctoral researcher who is also affiliated with Alabama A&M University.What this means is that wind erosion can both reduce the overall microbial diversity in farm fields, as well as deplete topsoil of specific groups of essential bacteria, say the researchers. At the same time, certain important groups, such as Actinobacteria that promote soil aggregation, remained in the parent soil despite the erosive conditions generated in the wind tunnel. And while fine dust can travel extremely long distances, coarse particles rarely move more than 20 feet, suggesting that they—and their associated microbes—should be fairly easy to retain with cover cropping and other soil conservation measures, Acosta-Martínez notes. Helping farmers and land managers adopt practices that better conserve soil is one of the main goals of the USDA-ARS team’s work, which also includes Ted Zobeck, Scott Van Pelt, Matt Baddock, and Francisco Calderón. In the Southern High Plains region, for example, intense cultivation of soil combined with a semi-arid climate can result in serious wind erosion problems. In fact, last summer’s drought brought Dust Bowl-like conditions to the area, says Acosta-Martínez.But “wind erosion is a national problem,” she adds, with significant erosion occurring even in places where the growing season is humid and wet. Organic histosol soils in Michigan and many other parts of the country, for instance, are very susceptible to wind erosion when dry, especially since they’re usually intensively farmed and often left bare in winter. Cover cropping or crop rotations not only help keep these soils in place, but can also build soil organic matter, which in turn promotes soil aggregation, water penetration, and general soil health.It can take years, however, for farmers who’ve adopted new management practices to detect noticeable changes in levels of soil organic matter and other traditional soil quality measures. This is why Acosta-Martinez and Gardner have been analyzing soils with pyrosequencing, a method that yields a fingerprint of an entire microbial community, and well as identifies specific groups and species of bacteria based on their unique DNA sequences. In this study, these microbial signatures told the researchers what’s potentially being lost from soil during wind erosion events. But the fingerprints can be early indicators of positive outcomes, too. “The microbial component is one of the most sensitive signatures of changes in the soil,” says Acosta-Martínez, because of microbes’ involvement in soil processes, such as carbon accumulation and biogeochemical cycling. “So, we’re looking for any shifts in these signatures that could lead us to think that there are benefits to the soil with alternative management.”# # #The full article is available for no charge for 30 days following the date of this summary. View the abstract at https://www.agronomy.org/publications/jeq/abstracts/41/3/744.The Journal of Environmental Quality is a peer-reviewed, international journal of environmental quality in natural and agricultural ecosystems published six times a year by the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). The Journal of Environmental Quality covers various aspects of anthropogenic impacts on the environment, including terrestrial, atmospheric, and aquatic systems. Permalink to this article

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- Online Maps - VirtualVisit to UCSD - Visitor Parking - Campus Tours - UCSD Infopath ---------- Getting Around San Diego - Dining & Lodging Guide - News & Information - - Calendar of Events - UC TV Online - Showcase Calendar - UC Newswire ---------- - Stuart Collection - Birch Aquarium - Preuss School - UCSD Bookstore - UCSD Libraries - UCSD Annual Report - UCSD Catalog Joining In - Chancellor's Associates - - Scripps Oceanographic Society - Student Foundation Becoming A Student - Admissions & Outreach - Student Affairs Other News Web sites - Engineering - International Relations & Pacific Studies (IRPS) - Health Sciences - Scripps Institution of Oceanography Visitors & Friends > UCSD News > Releases > Science & Engineering UCSD Study Reveals How Plants Respond to Elevated Carbon Dioxide By Sherry Seethaler An important source of uncertainty in predictions about global warming is how plants will respond to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Now biologists at the University of California, San Diego have made significant advances toward understanding the mechanism plants use to regulate their carbon dioxide intake. The study, published in the May 1 early on-line edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere controls the opening and closing of leaf stomata—pores through which plants “breathe” in carbon dioxide. The researchers say that their findings provide important insights into the cellular and genetic mechanisms through which increasing carbon dioxide emissions will impact the world’s vegetation. The study will be published May 9 in the print edition of PNAS. “As human activity continues to raise atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, a better understanding of how plants respond to carbon dioxide is becoming imperative,” said Julian Schroeder, a professor of biology at UCSD who directed the project. “Our results provide new insights into how an increased concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide leads to changes within a plant cell that trigger the closing of the stomata—the breathing or gas exchange pores in the leaf surface.” Microscope image of a pore (stomate) in a plant leaf. Credit: Jared Young, Mills College One of the standard arguments against taking action to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels is that the elevated carbon dioxide will stimulate plants to grow faster. The assumption is that plants will take up excess carbon dioxide to produce carbohydrates—their stored energy source. However, studies have shown that, contrary to expectations, increased carbon dioxide does not accelerate plant growth. Previous research has also shown that the doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide expected to occur this century can cause leaf stomata to close by 20 to 40 percent in diverse plant species, thus reducing carbon dioxide intake. Little was known about the molecular and genetic mechanisms controlling this response. Schroeder and colleagues discovered that in the cells surrounding the leaf stomata calcium ion “spikes”—or rapid increases and then decreases in calcium ion concentrations within cells—changed in frequency according to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. As the carbon dioxide concentration was increased, the rapid drum roll of calcium spikes within the cells changed to a slower beat. The cells responded by reducing the size of the pores in the leaf. In the presence of low carbon dioxide, a quick drumbeat was induced, but the stomata opened, rather than closed. Therefore, high carbon dioxide seems to prime the calcium sensors in the leaf. Jared Young, an assistant professor of biology at Mills College, who completed the study while he was a graduate student working with Schroeder at UCSD, likened this priming to removing ear plugs from someone at a rock concert. Stomate with color indicating calcium ion concentrations. Credit: Jared Young, Mills College “With very good ear plugs, someone might be able to sleep through the concert, but without the earplugs one would respond to the changes in the rhythms of the music,” said Young. “Similarly, our findings suggest that carbon dioxide primes the calcium sensors to respond to the calcium spikes in the cell. Since changes in calcium concentration are used in other communication processes within cells, the need for sensor priming makes certain that the stomata don’t close for inappropriate reasons.” The researchers speculate that narrowing the stomata in response to increased carbon dioxide may have an advantage for the plant. “Even if a plant closes its pores a little in response to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide, it would still have access to carbon dioxide,” said Schroeder. “On the other hand, less water would be escaping through the pores, so the response might help plants use water more efficiently. Each plant species shows a different carbon dioxide responsiveness, and understanding the underlying mechanisms may make it possible to engineer improved water use efficiency in some crop plants or trees that will be exposed to higher carbon dioxide levels in the future.” In the paper, the researchers also report the discovery of the first known plant with a genetic mutation that makes it strongly insensitive to increased levels of carbon dioxide, which will provide additional information about the mechanism of plants’ response to carbon dioxide levels. However, the researchers caution that a number of factors in addition to future atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, such as temperature, precipitation and available nutrient levels, will need to be considered before it will be possible to thoughtfully predict plant behavior based on molecular mechanisms. “These molecular mechanisms are like fundamental parts of machinery,” explained Young. “It's hard to predict what an instrument will do, if you don't even know anything about the parts that it is made from. Identify and characterize the parts, and you can figure out how they fit together to generate the structure of the machine, and from there you can figure out what it will do when you push button A or pull lever B.” Other UCSD contributors to the study were Samar Mehta, a graduate student in the Department of Physics, Maria Israelsson, a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Biological Sciences and Jan Godoski, a graduate student in the Division of Biological Sciences. Erwin Grill, a biology professor at the Technical University of Munich also contributed to the study. The study was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy. Media Contacts: Sherry Seethaler, (858) 534-4656 Comment: Julian Schroeder, (858) 534-7759 Schroeder Group Web Site -->" /> -->"> E-ma E-mail Janet Howard for any comments regarding this webpage. Updated daily by University Communications Office Copyright ©2001 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Official web page of the University of California, San Diego

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For media inquiries contact: [email protected] "If you want to protect your seed, if you want to protect your food, join the movement of the Center for Food Safety" -Vandana Shiva Internationally renowned Indian environmental activist, founder of Navdanya, and prolific author. Center for Food Safety Files Groundbreaking Legal Action to Protect National Wildlife Refuges CFS and Allies Seek Nationwide Refuge Ban of Genetically Engineered Crops and Neonicotinoid Pesticides Latest Step in CFS Campaign to Protect Wildlife Refuges Center for Food Safety (CFS) today filed a formal legal challenge demanding that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) protect our wildlife and their habitat by prohibiting the use of genetically engineered (GE) crops and neonicotinoid pesticides in National Wildlife Refuges. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), Center for Biological Diversity, and Beyond Pesticides have all joined CFS in the challenge. The legal action also calls on FWS to comply with the mandates of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in order to ensure that America’s most imperiled plants and wildlife are protected from these dangerous activities. “National Wildlife Refuges are vital sanctuaries of our natural heritage, for present and future generations. Allowing chemical companies to profit by poisoning these important ecosystems violates their fundamental purpose and mission,” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director for Center for Food Safety. GE crops genetically contaminate related wild plants and natural crops. GE crops are overwhelmingly engineered for one function - to be resistant to pesticides - dramatically increasing pesticide release into the environment, including wildlife refuges. Massive pesticide exposure from pesticide-promoting GE crops has also caused weeds to mutate, creating an epidemic of herbicide-resistant “superweeds.” “According to federal policy, GE crops are forbidden unless their use is essential to accomplishing refuge purposes. The fact that refuges in the Northeast and Southeast have stopped using GE crops without any ill effects belies the notion that they are ever ‘essential’ for managing wildlife refuges,” said PEER executive director Jeff Ruch, noting that litigation by CFS and PEER had forced refuges in those two regions to stop GE planting. “Permitting GE crops and neonicotinoid pesticides in Natural Wildlife Refuges threatens one of the few places that pollinators should be able to find shelter from the onslaught of toxic poisons threatening their existence and all that depend on them,” said Jay Feldman, executive director for Beyond Pesticides. “Pesticides and genetically engineered crops are not part of America’s precious natural heritage,” said Jonathan Evans toxics and endangered species campaign director for the Center for Biological Diversity. “National wildlife refuges were founded to be sanctuaries for America’s wildlife and not laboratories for agricultural experiments.” Neonicotinoid pesticides are highly toxic to pollinators and one of the leading causes of the current bee collapse. Widespread pollinator loss threatens native plants and the species that rely on them for survival, as well as our nation’s food supply. Over 80% of flowering plants rely on pollination services from these critical species. Nearly all GE corn seed is treated with neonicotinoids, as well as the majority of canola and soybeans. Growing treated seeds in wildlife refuges means these chemicals, which have proven detrimental to critical pollinator species, are invading and polluting public lands set aside to protect wildlife. These chemicals are extremely persistent, and can remain in the soil for years after their original planting, and have been found to contaminate water supplies. Over the past six years, CFS and its allies have repeatedly stopped FWS from permitting the growing of GE crops on numerous National Wildlife Refuges across the country (Northeast and Southeast). CFS has previously litigated cases protecting wildlife refuges in the Northeast and the Southeast United States. CFS is currently litigating FWS’s allowance of industrial agriculture practices on Midwest Wildlife Refuges. View Executive Summary View Full Petition About National Wildlife Refuges: The National Wildlife Refuge System is an important part of the natural heritage of all Americans. Congress created wildlife refuges to ensure that present and future generations benefit from the national network of lands set aside for the conservation, management, and restoration of fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats. Wildlife habitat is disappearing at an alarming rate. National wildlife refuges contain a diverse array of protected habitat types, including rare and ecologically significant lowland grasslands and wetlands. Protections for these habitat types are crucial because wildlife refuges often exist in the very ecosystems most threatened by development. These ecosystems face threats that continue to grow. The National Wildlife Refuge Act requires that all activities in wildlife refuges further its conservation mission, and where a use is incompatible with that mission, it is prohibited. About Center for Food Safety: Center for Food Safety is a national, non-profit, membership organization founded in 1997 to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture. CFS maintains offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, California and Portland, Oregon, and has over 400,000 members across the country. More information can be found at www.centerforfoodsafety.org. About PEER: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility is a national, nonprofit service organization dedicated to assisting federal, state and local resource professionals who fight to uphold environmental laws and ethics within their organizations. PEER’s headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. and PEER has field offices in seven states. About Center for Biological Diversity: The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 675,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. For more information visit www.biologicaldiversity.org. About Beyond Pesticides: Beyond Pesticides is a nonprofit organization that works with allies in protecting public health and the environment to lead the transition to a world free of toxic pesticides. The founders, who established Beyond Pesticides as a nonprofit membership organization in 1981, felt that without the existence of such an organized, national network, local, state and national pesticide policy would become, under chemical industry pressure, increasingly unresponsive to public health and environmental concerns. Beyond Pesticides is headquartered in Washington, D.C. GE Foods Genetically Engineered Crops Read More Standing up to Corporate Bullies: Kauai Community Moves to Defend County's Pesticide Disclosure Law Read More CFS-Backed GE Food Labeling Bill Introduced in California Read More  http://bit.ly/1htQ3SD

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Death Beds Killer mold strikes impatiens Tahree Lane ALTERNATIVES TO IMPATIENS: Impatiens may be at risk this season from impatiens downy mildew, an aggressive mold triggered by cool, moist weather, that can quickly destroy them. Impatiens should not be planted where impatiens downy mildew occurred last year. Here are suggestions for shade-tolerant flowers that can be used in place of impatiens. BLADE The shade garden’s best friend, impatiens walleriana, is at risk from a deadly spore that wiped out some area beds last summer but left others unscathed. Experts expect the aggressive mold, impatiens downy mildew, to be ruthless again this summer, but whether, where, and when it will strike is up for grabs. “Everybody agrees we should educate the public. From an ethical standpoint, people should know what’s going on,” said Walter Krueger, owner of Lakewood Greenhouse in Northwood and a member of Maumee Valley Growers. Last fall, he decided against planting flats of impatiens for 2013. “It’s pretty much a death sentence, as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “Nobody can afford to give customers a money-back guarantee. And we don’t want unhappy customers.” But when it’s Mother Nature’s game, outcomes can’t always be predicted. Across the Maumee River, longtime Hill Avenue grower Tom Strain made a different call. He planted 14,000 flats of impatiens (down from 20,000 in 2012) and took pains to ensure they’re disease-free by treating them with a fungicide every seven to 10 days and regularly inspecting the undersides of leaves and the roots for any trace of the mildew. A state inspector spent hours walking up and down the aisles of the greenhouses. But once flats of impatiens exit the Strain’s controlled environment, they’ll be susceptible to the vagaries of wind and water. TIPS FOR GARDENERS ■ If you buy impatiens, purchase them from a reputable grower. Look on the underside of leaves and at roots. Plants should be vigorous and green with no yellowing or yellow dots on stems or leaves. Ask what measures the grower took to protect them from the impatiens downy mildew mold. ■ Do not plant impatiens if your 2012 impatiens died from downy mildew. If you discover impatiens downy mildew on your plants, carefully bag up all the debris, seal the bag, and dispose in the trash. Do not put in compost. ■ Other shade-tolerant plants include New Guinea impatiens, sunpatiens, fibrous begonias, dragonfly begonias, coleus, lobelia, torenia, bedding vinca, polka dot plant, and some salvias. ■ For more information: The American Floral Endowment’s Web site, www.endowment.org/impatiens. The most popular impatiens sold, impatiens walleriana includes varieties such as double impatiens, fusions, and some butterfly impatiens. Impatiens were estimated to be a $105 million-a-year crop for American growers in 2007 (the most recent year for which a figure is available), said Mary Hausbeck, a plant pathology professor at Michigan State University Extension. She enjoyed beautiful impatiens at her Lansing-area garden last year and intends to replant this year. “People should always take a good look at the health of the plant they’re buying,” said Ms. Hausbeck, who’s part of a multi-university team studying downy mildew. Stems and leaves should be solid green and sturdy, roots should be vigorous, and the plants should be a good size. She recommends buying from a reputable grower. Impatiens downy mildew (Plasmopara obducens), thrives in cool (about 59 to 73 degrees), damp conditions and appears as a white, downy coating on the undersides of leaves. It’s easy to miss but by the time it appears, it’s too late to cure. It was seen in Michigan in 2004, said Ms. Hausbeck, but seemed to go away. It is not the same variety of downy mildew that damages other plants such as cucumbers or sunflowers. In Florida, it was identified it in 2011, and by 2012, it was taking out impatiens in dozens of states. Cedar Point planted 100 to 125 flats last spring and lost them all by midsummer, said Martha Beverick, landscape supervisor at the amusement park. Replacing them were Big Red begonias, which did so well in shade, sun, and hanging baskets that the park will use them again. Last summer’s warm, dry weather in our area kept the mold latent in many places until mid-August when two key factors woke it up: overnight temperatures cooled and dew became heavier. Tom Creque of Creque’s Greenhouse in Sylvania was disheartened so see the devastation at beds he’d put in at Lourdes University and two golf courses. This year, he grew a small number for use in baskets, which seemed to have more resistance than those flowers in the ground, he said. “The disease is here but we’ve taken measures to protect our plants,” said Mr. Creque, adding that there is not yet a fungicide available to consumers to protect against the mold in their gardens. Having spent 25 years building a strong reputation, his family didn’t want to risk selling sick plants. “Gardening is tough enough as it is. We want to eliminate the chances of you failing,” he said. He’ll lead a free program for customers at 7 p.m. May 2 at the greenhouse, 9700 Sylvania Ave., about downy mildew and alternatives to impatiens, similar to one he gave in March. After planting more than 100 flats of impatiens a year for more than a decade, Bob Lubell can’t put them in this year because the mold killed thousands of flowers on his three Sylvania acres in August. It’s almost certainly lurking in his soil, where it may survive for several years. “This year I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said Mr. Lubell, a photographer who employs his beautiful landscape as a backdrop for photo shoots. Consumers should expect to see informational signs in stores about impatiens downy mildew and other plants that can tolerate shade. Contact Tahree Lane at: [email protected] or 419-724-6075. gardening, flowers, Tahree Lane, mold

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The Grain and Grain Processing Information Site World Grain News Wire Service News Supplier Update Departments Home Country Focus Grain Market Review Grain Operations Feed Operations Milling Operations Supplier Info Home Videos/Photos Home Photos: People Photos: Products Departments > Country Focus Focus on the United Kingdom Chris Lyddon The International Grains Council (IGC) puts the U.K.’s total grains crop in 2016-17 at 22.5 million tonnes, down from 24.1 million the previous year. The United Kingdom has an efficient farming sector with larger farms than its neighbors. Its grains crop is largely feed wheat, with imports traditionally used to make up quality for milling, while its oilseed production is dominated by rapeseed, widely grown as part of a narrow rotation that has created agronomic problems for many farmers. The country’s recent referendum vote to leave the European Union has left the industry in a policy vacuum, with no clear picture of when the E.U.’s Common Agricultural Policy will cease to apply, what will replace it or how the wider political and economic landscape will change. The vote did trigger a sharp fall in the U.K. currency, the pound, making exports from the U.K. cheaper. The International Grains Council (IGC) puts the U.K.’s total grains crop in 2016-17 at 22.5 million tonnes, down from 24.1 million the previous year. It puts the wheat crop at 14.9 million tonnes, down from 16 million. Barley production in 2016-17 is put at 6.8 million tonnes, down from 7.2 million in the previous year. Exports vary by year. For 2015-16, wheat exports are put at 2.75 million tonnes, according to figures published by AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds, the industry body funded by a levy on grain. Wheat imports are put at 1.45 million tonnes. It estimates barley exports at 1.9 million tonnes. The IGC puts 2016-17 rapeseed production at 2 million tonnes, compared to 2.4 million in 2015-16. Thriving milling industry The industry body for the flour milling industry is the National Association of British and Irish Millers (nabim), which operates a system of groups for wheat, based on variety, with Group 1 those expected to reach the highest milling specification down to the pure feed varieties in Group 4. “In 2016, it is estimated that over 1.8 million hectares of wheat will be harvested in the U.K.,” nabim says in its “U.K. Flour Milling Industry 2016” publication. “Approximately 40% of this area is varieties with bread or biscuit-making potential (nabim groups 1-3).” It explains that most of the wheat used by millers is grown in the U.K., but that supplies of milling wheat also are sourced from other countries, with Germany, Canada, France and the U.S. being the leading suppliers. “In recent years the industry has seen an expansion in capacity with several new mills being built,” it said. “There continues to be consolidation so that there are now 30 companies operating 49 mills. The four largest companies account for approximately 65% of U.K. flour production with a further 10 companies producing significant quantities of flour.” Its estimate for U.K. flour production in 2015-16 is 4.996 million tonnes. “In 2016, the proportion of U.K. wheat used by flour millers will exceed 80%,” nabim said. “An all-time high of 87% was reached in 2011, with the remaining 13% being imported mainly because it has different qualities used to produce stronger flours that are required by our customers.” Source: nabim Low grain prices Martin Grantley-Smith, strategy director for cereals and oilseeds at AHDB, said U.K. producers have little effect on the price they receive. “The U.K. is a pretty small player in the world,” he told World Grain. “We produce about 1.5% of the world’s grain, so we can’t influence the market price very much. Therefore, we have to think about what we can do to improve the profitability of the industry. “This year with the harvest just coming, we are coming off the back of two very good harvests for ourselves, and that led to quite a surplus of grain in the U.K., a lot of it feed quality grain. The presence of that grain for most of the year has meant that prices have been kept low along with the fact that the world had a lot of grain as well.” The U.K.’s 2015-16 wheat ending stocks reached 2.7 million tonnes, compared to 2 million a year earlier. “What can you do with that grain? The livestock industry isn’t going to expand suddenly to take it off our hands,” Grantley-Smith said. “There was always the hope that the energy industry would take a lot of it. If the big players like Ensus and Vivergo were running flat out they would take something like 2 million tonnes of feed quality grain off the market every year, but neither of them have worked flat out up to now.” Ethanol production in the U.K. has not lived up to expectations. Until it re-opened in July, the Ensus plant in northeastern England had been shut down for 17 months. The third way of disposing of surpluses is exporting, Grantley-Smith explained. “The sort of grain we are talking about is feed quality grain, and therefore the point at which it is exported is very much down to its price and that is very much influenced by the strength of the pound,” he said. “Prior to the Brexit referendum, the pound was relatively strong and it wasn’t possible to export very much of our grain. Post-Brexit, the pound weakened considerably and grain exports went at levels that I certainly have never seen before.” He expected the current rate of exports to clear the surplus in the next few months. The U.K. industry has worked hard to build a quality assurance system to back its grain sales, but, given that it is selling a commodity on the world market, price is of vital importance. “An awful lot of it is actually driven by the strength of the pound,” Grantley-Smith said. “It is commodity traded and as the pound remains weak we have a good opportunity to trade more of that grain away. France’s poor crop could give U.K. exporters an extra chance as the new season gets under way.” To achieve high levels of exports, it’s been necessary to bring more ports, in addition to the traditional shipment locations, into use. Grain is moved internally by truck. “The problem we have is that our trade isn’t consistent, unlike places like Canada and the U.S., where they have sales every year and therefore they can invest in infrastructure,” he said. “A couple of years ago we didn’t export anything. That’s the problem. “It’s not just getting the grain to the port that is the challenge, it is finding the grain in the stores in the country. We don’t have a system that regularly allows exporters to find out where the grain is and get ahold of it because it is just not a regular trade.” Even so, traders do manage to fill the big ships and they do get the grain supplies in. He cited Southampton as an example of a port that may get several hundred truckloads of grain put through and loaded on board ship quickly. With no influence on prices, and the likelihood that E.U. subsidies will disappear, Grantley-Smith stressed the importance of farmers staying in control of input costs. “One of the things we have been saying to people is to look at the way you’re buying things like fertilizer and think about what is happening there with that,” he said. “Are there alternative sources at lower cost? You don’t need to go for maximum yield; you need to go for optimum yield. Most farms that are really run as businesses these days are on top of their input costs and where they market and they do make that sort of decision, but there are a lot of farmers still with mixed enterprises where they don’t have the time or the wherewithal to get down to that level of detail, and then they will continue to do what works best for the farm rather than necessarily for the business.” World Grain take World Grain with you follow us on Twitter friend us on Facebook network on LinkedIn Focus on Japan Focus on Iraq ©2017 Sosland Publishing Co. instorebuyer.com

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Building Better Energy Crops Seeds will play a vital role in the advancement of the crops needed to produce second-generation biofuels. Biomass Magazine talks to Ceres Inc., a seed plant genomics firm, about the switchgrass seed it is offering for the 2009 planting season.By Kris BevillReferring to his slender 6-feet-6-inch frame, Ceres Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Hamilton says that he personifies two of the traits his research team would like to perfect in switchgrass and other energy crops. The taller and skinnier each plant is, the more yield farmers will be able to coax out of every acre. So short plants beware-if Hamilton and his staff have their way those plants' days are numbered. That's the gist of genetic engineering. Got floppy plants? Make them more rigid. Need them taller, shorter, greener, disease or drought-resistant? No problem. Well, it's not quite that easy. However, when listening to Hamilton talk about the work of the 120 employees at Ceres' laboratory in Thousand Oaks, Calif., it's all in a day's work. Researchers in the Los Angeles suburb spend their time examining specimens and altering genes with the goal of making significant changes to the way crops grow and respond to environmental factors so that farmers can grow more productive crops-and in turn provide the world with more efficient, cost-effective fuel. During a tour of the laboratory, Hamilton explains that by applying the same technology used in the Human Genome Project, Ceres researchers have sequenced more than 70,000 plant genes since the company was founded in 1997. New technology continues to speed the process of gene sequencing, allowing for ever-increasing numbers of genes to be sequenced on a daily basis. Gary Koppenjan, Ceres corporate communications manager, says there are machines available today that can sequence 1 million base pairs per day, compared with the 1,000 base pairs per week that Hamilton was able to sequence as a graduate student two decades ago. That means ethanol producers have a better chance of one day having a constant supply of the perfect energy crop. Hamilton says that the perfect crop has optimized architecture (the tall and skinny part), and is a deep-rooted perennial that is easily propagated. He's confident Ceres is close to producing seed for the perfect energy crop. Ceres' modified Human Genome Project process begins when researchers sequence the plant DNA. After discovering the plant's genes and their functions, scientists can then determine the gene's potential use. Improvements can then be made to the plants genetic make-up-one gene at a time. It's a painstaking process, but "we're scientists," Hamilton says. "We like to control everything." Since 1997, Ceres researchers have discovered genes that boost biomass yields, reduce nitrogen applications and increase tolerance to drought, cold and salt. The company owns exclusive rights to more than 40 U.S. and foreign patents and has applications pending for hundreds more patents. Focus on Energy A healthy international debate has been waged for some time now concerning the use of genetically modified crops. Hamilton is not bothered by skeptics because he believes the public can draw a distinction between modified plants that are grown for food and those that are grown for fuel. When confronted with that skepticism, Hamilton argues that gene modification is necessary. No agriculture is natural, he says. It's a uniquely human activity that has been under development for only the past 10,000 years. Considering that land plants first appeared 400 million years ago, Hamilton makes his point that agriculture is a recent phenomenon that should be continually improved. At Ceres the focus is on energy, but that's not to say the company has never worked with traditional row crops. In the beginning, researchers at Ceres worked with more traditional crops such as corn and soybeans and served as a gene and trait provider for traditional row crop seed companies. But Ceres' specialty has always been developing technology, Koppenjan says. The focus of that work has shifted toward the development of seed for energy crops. "We've always been more of the technology development platform company," Koppenjan says. "Now we're taking that same technology and applying it to crops that historically haven't received a lot of plant breeding and technology." Switchgrass, miscanthus and sorghum are the energy crops that Ceres' researchers believe have the most potential and are the focus of current studies. The advancements made by Ceres' researchers will contribute greatly to the advancement of energy crops and second-generation biofuels. Hamilton's resolution and commitment to the matter is clear when he speaks about the future of biofuels in the United States. He compares the establishment of cellulosic biorefineries to the flat-screen TV market. "The first few are going to be very expensive, but the key is to get the first few built so we can work to drive down the cost," he says. If comparing biorefineries to televisions, then a steady supply of feedstock would be the electricity needed to turn them on. What Comes First? The balancing act between creating a new feedstock supply and building a new biorefinery poses the "chicken and egg" question. Which comes first? Ceres employs the philosophy that "seed in the ground" and "steel in the ground" happen simultaneously. According to its plan, identifying the location for a cellulosic ethanol production facility and feedstock should be done in conjunction. The first year of a plant's existence will consist of the construction of the facility, while the growers are establishing the perennial feedstock. Year two will be the start-up. The plant will run start-up phases while the growers harvest the first year of feedstock, which will amount to approximately 50 percent of the crop's potential. By year three, the operation should be up and running on both ends. The biorefinery will be able to reach its full capacity and growers will be able to harvest the top yields available from their crops. That's the plan anyway. Questions remain on both sides of the cellulosic production chain. Biorefineries want to be reassured that ample feedstock supplies will be available. Farmers want a signed contract to supply a business with the crop before they invest their efforts and bankroll into planting and harvesting. One possible solution to the stand-off could be the Biomass Crop Assistance Program. This new program is part of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, more commonly referred to as the Farm Bill. The program aids in the establishment and production of crops that will be used to produce energy. After the producer's potential BCAP project area has been approved, funding will be provided to the producer on an annual basis and will cover up to 75 percent of the cost of establishing a perennial crop, including the cost of seeds and planting. BCAP contracts will be valid for five years for perennial and annual crops, and 15 years for woody biomass. However payments to the grower will be reduced once the producer begins delivering crop to a biorefinery, or uses the crop for anything other than energy production. Koppenjan says BCAP could certainly help Ceres' business and the sale of its seeds. At press time, the company was preparing to debut its Blade Energy Crops seed business. Koppenjan says Ceres expects to sell its energy crop seeds to growers who "want to get ahead of the curve" as well as to biorefineries interested in testing the product. The company is offering five seed varietals of switchgrass this fall so that crops can be planted during the 2009 growing season. The EG 1101 and EG 1102 varietals have been bred to prosper in lowland ranges, while the Blackwell and Trailblazer varietals are intended for the southern upland range. One varietal, Sunburst, is a winter hardy switchgrass seed that was designed for the northern Great Plains region. In addition to providing seed, Ceres plans to establish a grower's guide to assist its customers as they establish these new crops. It will take two years for switchgrass stands to become fully mature, but Hamilton says they do expect some commercial harvest to occur in the fall of 2009. At press time, a selling price for the seed had not been established. Kris Bevill is a Biomass Magazine staff writer. Reach her at [email protected] or (701) 373-8044.Related ArticlesDOE jobs report features data on bioenergy, biofuels employment Business BriefsEIA releases 2018 bioenergy forecasts Dual-purpose biofuel crops could extend productionDrax: 2016 renewable energy makes it UK’s greenest Christmas yetEurope’s ‘Clean Energy for All Europeans’ Proposals Join Our Mailing List

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What is the "breadbasket of the world"? "Breadbasket of the world" has historically been a moniker attached to the United States based on its position as a leader in global food production. A 2013 Economy in Crisis article noted that increased food production in other parts of the world mitigates the meaning behind this label. What are some advantages and disadvantages of commercial farming? What do farm animals eat? What are some common solutions to food shortages? Some high food-producing states in the United States also have claimed recognition as the "breadbasket of the world," including California and Kansas. As of 2014, California is the fifth-leading supplier of food and agriculture goods, such as grapes, fresh fruits and vegetables. Kansas agricultural agencies sometimes refer to their state as the world's "breadbasket" based on its leadership in wheat production. Learn more about Agriculture economyincrisis.org kshs.org eb5northerncalifornia.com What are advantages of technology in agriculture? Advantages of technology in agriculture include expediting crop production rate and crop quantity, which in turn reduces costs of production for farmers an... What state produces the most wheat? Kansas produces the most wheat in the United States, with a production of 276.5 bushels in 2011, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center. T... What state produces the most oranges? Florida produces more oranges than any other state in the United States, and it also boasts high rates for the production of other citrus fruits, such as l... What natural resources does Texas have? Texas leads the United States in production of oil, cattle, sheep, hay, goats and cotton. Other agricultural products include poultry, eggs, milk, wheat, r... How are wheat prices charted? What are some of the valuable sports teams in the world? What is the tallest volcano in the world? When is grape planting season? How many TVs are there in the world? Where can you find the latest market prices of beef for livestock dealers? Map of the Breadbasket States Colonies Were Known as the Breadbasket Colonies Breadbasket Colonies Canada Is Limited in Its Agricultural Production Because The Interior Plains of Canada Are Important Because They Canada Has a Population Density of What Drives Energy Flow and Chemical Cycling on Earth What is the difference between monoculture and polyculture? What is mixed farming? What is farm mechanization? How is cotton picked?

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As California citrus growers continue to invest in needed research to aid the state's more than $2 billion citrus industry and battle threats such as the Asian citrus psyllid, citrus industry veteran Ken Keck will join the California Citrus Research Board as its new president on June 1. Mr. Keck brings deep industry knowledge, including experience in fighting the Asian citrus psyllid and Huanglongbing in Florida, having served as general counsel and executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus from 2006-12. Prior to that, he served as the organization's director of government affairs and general counsel from 2002-06, and director of legislative and regulatory affairs with Florida Citrus Mutual from 1999-2002. Having served in these roles, Mr. Keck has deep-rooted expertise representing citrus growers in a governmental, legal and regulatory framework. Mr. Keck will replace Ted Batkin, who served as the organization's president since 1993 and who will retire from this role in September. Under Mr. Batkin's leadership, the organization increased its research investment to a current level of more than $5 million. The primary focus of the program is detection of HLB disease and vector management of the Asian citrus psyllid. "We thank Ted for his tremendous leadership and efforts on behalf of California citrus growers," said Earl Rutz, chairman of the CRB. "And while there are big shoes to fill, we believe Ken's track record, enthusiasm and alignment with the perspective of California growers will make him an excellent asset to the CRB. As an industry, we are facing some serious threats, most notably the continued spread of the Asian citrus psyllid and identification of HLB in our state. It's a complex and challenging time, but we believe Ken has the skills to take us forward." Among Keck's accomplishments with the Florida Department of Citrus, he secured an average of $7 million annually of federal and state appropriations for programs; commissioned a National Academies study, resulting in the establishment of a dedicated $10 million annual disease research, development and commercialization foundation; and achieved a range of $3-5 return to growers for every marketing dollar expended. Mr. Keck has achieved these results not only because of his tireless work ethic, but also from his understanding of what citrus growers face. "I am a third-generation grower in Florida, so I know the nature of the business. I know what it means to depend on the harvest each year. I know what it feels like to have your livelihood threatened, and I want to use this understanding ‹ and my experiences in Florida ‹ to benefit the California industry." Mr. Keck holds a bachelor's degree in Spanish from Stetson University, and a juris doctorate degree in law from Widener University School of Law. The Florida Citrus Department is a state agency charged with promoting Florida citrus products and is financed largely through a tax paid by growers on the annual citrus harvest. The Citrus Research Board administers the Citrus Research Program, a grower-funded and directed program established in 1968 under the California Marketing Act as the mechanism enabling the state's citrus producers to sponsor and support needed research. Videos

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Home Home Return of a Rose Return of a Rose by Erin Parkhurst April 6, 2011 The Schenkel nursery is gone, but its root stock lives on. × Expand Return of a Rose "Laser," a variety of Schenkel rose In 2004, when Michael Van Ness first surveyed nine abandoned, 100-year-old greenhouses in downtown Lynchburg, he was met by a wall of thorns—literally. Van Ness, an attorney, was looking for new digs for Lynchburg Grows—the urban farm organization he and Dereck Cunningham co-founded in 2003 to help the disadvantaged enjoy the healthy benefits of gardening. “We had these two acres of buildings,” Van Ness explains, “and in them we found close to 100,000 rose bushes which were 20 feet tall and growing through the rafters.” The shuttered rose farm had been the site of the Schenkel nursery, which for nearly 50 years, starting in the early 1950s, had been one of the largest rose growers in Virginia. At its peak, the Schenkel nursery was producing 1.3 million roses a year, or about 23 percent of the state’s flower industry. Schenkel roses have graced the White House and adorned Kentucky Derby winners. But the business closed in 1999 following a dramatic fall in the wholesale price of roses caused by a sharp rise in South American rose imports. When the Schenkel nursery shuttered its doors, the greenhouses fell into disrepair and the roses were left to fend for themselves. That is, until Van Ness and Lynchburg Grows came along and purchased the farm from the Schenkel family. At the time, Van Ness estimated it would take more than nine years to clear the debris and rescue the roses. He was wrong. Today, after just five years (work began in 2005) and over 42,000 hours put in by more than 3,400 volunteers, Lynchburg Grows has cleared the last greenhouse and rescued 14 varieties of roses, the oldest—an heirloom English tea rose—dating to the 1820s. On the first Saturday in May, at the Lynchburg Grows annual Family Fun Fair, the organization will be selling plants propagated from what Van Ness describes as this “hardy and vigorous root stock” for the first time. Nearly 900 one-year-old rose bushes will be available to purchase starting at around $20 each. Van Ness plans to have nearly 4,000 bushes ready to sell by spring of 2012. “We want Virginians to be able to have a piece of this history,” says Van Ness, who left full-time legal practice in 2006 to run Lynchburg Grows as its Executive Director. “We will be devoting most of our greenhouses to this program.” He explains that they have kept more than 1,000 of the original “mother plants,” and says that the rose business will support the farm, which brings together at-risk youth and disabled youth to work and learn about sustainable food production. And, says Van Ness, “That’s what it’s all about.” LynchburgGrows.org

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News Inspiring farmhand born with no hands, arms, or legs By Lucas Sjostrom June 13, 2014 | 1:06 am EDT Chris Koch considers himself to be just another farmer. That’s how his dad raised him; no different than any other child. With that attitude, it’s no wonder that Chris, born with no arms or legs, has gone on to inspire so many. He has inspired even more through a video released by the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) in late May. Chris was raised on a farm in Nanton, Alberta, Canada. The OWN video, shot at the picturesque Apricot Lane Farms in California, owned by filmmaker John Chester, shows him driving a tractor, pitching hay, and even older footage of him showing cattle. Chris continues to work as a farmhand and motivational speaker with the message “If I can…” His Twitter account (@IHopJRWalks) shows pictures of him with calves in southern Alberta and at the helm of John Deere planter and combine near Torquay, Saskatchewan. He has climbed both the Calgary Tower and CN Tower in Toronto (tallest freestanding structure in the Western Hemisphere) for charity, swam in the Amazon River, and even skydived. He drives (although he can’t legally), skateboards, and wakeboards. But, he notes that he can’t swim or run a chainsaw. The Calgary Herald recently interviewed him on another farm where he works, Mesabi Ranch. It’s the kind of story that makes you want to make the most out of every day, because Chris does. The dairy industry is an important economic engine in America. The farm value of milk production is second only to beef among livestock industries and is equal to corn. Milk is produced in all 50 states, with the major producing states in the West and North. Dairy farms, overwhelmingly family-owned and managed, are generally members of producer cooperatives. USDA’s Economic Research Service finds that major trends in U.S. milk production include a fairly slow and steady increase in production as gains in milk output per cow outweigh declines in the number of cows, and a consistent decline in the number of dairy operations, matched by a continual rise in the number of cows per operation. The USDA Census of Agriculture, released earlier this year shows four of the top five “milk cow counties” are in California with Tulare County leading the way with a reported 490,000. (The other top county is Gooding, County, Idaho). According to the International Dairy Foods Association, National Dairy Month started out as National Milk Month in 1937 as a way to promote drinking milk. It was initially created to stabilize the dairy demand when production was at a surplus, but has now developed into an annual tradition that celebrates the contributions the dairy industry has made to the world. After the National Dairy Council stepped in to promote the dairy industry June effort, the name changed to “Dairy Month.” Now, many states including California, Vermont and Wisconsin have special events and observances in honor of dairy farmers and the industry. Dairy is important to health. Through programs like Fuel Up to Play 60, the National Dairy Council provides cutting-edge nutrition information that can be used by people of all ages. You can learn more about the innovative research and promotion activities by visiting the Agricultural Marketing Service website. So no matter where your dairy comes from, thank a farmer. Dairy farming is a labor of love, but it is hard labor, and we thank everyone involved in producing the milk you drink. - See more at: http://blogs.usda.gov/2014/06/12/june-is-dairy-month-a-time-to-say-thank... chris koch inspiring farmhand About the Author: Lucas Sjostrom Lucas serves as Assistant Editor. Sjostrom and his wife, Alise, are partners in her family’s dairy farm and cheese plant near Brooten, Minn. Jer-Lindy Farms is a 200-cow dairy farm that grows alfalfa and corn for the cows, and apples for bees and humans. He and his wife have a daughter, Lucy. Follow @lucas_dairyherd

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Monday, November 4, 2013 - 3:45pm Why Are Pig Farmers Still Using Growth-Promoting Drugs? Dan Charles Updated: 3 years ago. Hogs at a farm in Buckhart, Ill. in June 2012. In recent years, pork producers have found ways to keep the animals healthy through improved hygiene. Tweet NPR — It's one of the most controversial practices in agriculture: feeding small amounts of antibiotics to animals in order to make them grow faster. But what if the drugs don't even work very well? There's some good evidence that they don't, at least in pigs. They used to deliver a boost in growth, but that effect has disappeared in recent years or declined greatly. The reason for this is interesting and even paradoxical. Researchers think the antibiotics used to work by suppressing low-grade infections. In recent years, however, pork producers found other ways to accomplish the same thing through improved hygiene. This has occurred even while swine operations grow. As a result, the drugs have become largely superfluous yet many farmers still use them. To understand how this happened, you have to step back in time, says Steve Dritz, a specialist in swine nutrition at Kansas State University. Sixty years ago, when antibiotics were new, "people started treating animals, and feeding [the antibiotics], and finding that they had increased growth rates and feed efficiencies," he says. Nursery-age pigs, for instance, grew 12 to 15 percent faster with antibiotics. The animals also needed less feed to reach full weight. Other studies showed similar results in chickens and cattle. In the 1980s, a new set of studies found similar effects. So the growth-promoting effects of antibiotics became standard practice among meat producers. Fast forward to the 1990s. Dritz was starting his career as a scientist at Kansas State University, and pork production was changing dramatically. "We instituted this thing called multisite production," says Dritz. Previously, pigs were born and raised in one barn or in several barns close together. This meant infections could easily pass from one generation to the next, the way that kids share germs between their friends on the playground and their parents at home. Under the new system, when piglets are weaned, they move to a whole different place. That new site is carefully scrubbed and free of disease. Craig Rowles, who runs a large swine operation in Carroll, Iowa, shows me one such room. There's not a piglet in sight. "This room just got completely washed and disinfected, and now it's going to sit here and dry for a while," he says. A whole group of pigs will come in here together, and later they will move out together to yet another site. "That group of pigs will stay together until they go to market," Rowles says. The groups are kept strictly separated from each other. If workers move between the groups, they first have to change their boots. When farmers adopted multisite production, it cut down on disease and pigs actually grew faster. So Dritz wondered whether improved hygiene was delivering exactly the same growth-promoting effect that farmers used to get through antibiotics. If so, did they still need to use the drugs? Dritz carried out some studies on pigs in these multisite systems, comparing animals that received antibiotics with others that didn't. "Lo and behold, in these studies, there wasn't nearly the magnitude of the growth response," he says. In the "finishing" stage, the effect of antibiotics disappeared. Younger pigs grew a bit faster with antibiotics, but the effect was smaller than had been observed earlier. Dritz started telling pork producers that most uses of antibiotics for growth promotion or feed efficiency really did not make sense anymore. Many farmers took his advice. But he was surprised and a little discouraged to see how many did not. They weren't convinced by the evidence. "It's very hard to change people's perceptions," he says. Even among veterinarians, his professional colleagues, there was reluctance to change. Many continue to recommend using the drugs. Dritz thinks that this is partly rooted in psychology and the professional culture of veterinary practice. Veterinarians "are action-oriented people, most of them. They want to do something. Not doing something just doesn't seem right, as a professional, you know?" Once upon a time, this would have been left for farmers and their vets to hash out, but the use of antibiotics on the farm now is the focus of intense controversy. Critics of the meat industry say using these drugs to promote growth is irresponsible because it increases the chances that bacteria will develop resistance to antibiotics, and some of these bacteria can infect humans. The Food and Drug Administration now says that medically important antibiotics should not be used for this purpose. It is trying to persuade drug companies to stop selling drugs for growth promotion. Within a few years, such uses of antibiotics may no longer be legal. Among farmers, there's some grumbling about this. But at least for pork producers, dropping the drugs may actually save money.

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Garlic prices expected to stay generally strong by Rand Green | August 05, 2014 With a similar acreage planted to last year and normal yields expected, the 2014 California garlic crop should be up a little from last year, when yields were off somewhat, according to Bill Christopher, president of Christopher Ranch LLC in Gilroy, CA. At the same time, the amount of Chinese garlic in the market this year should be down, as China has a lighter crop, according to Jim Provost, managing partner of I Love Produce LLC in Kelton, PA, who had just returned from visit to China when The Produce News talked to him July 24. Garlic prices are expected to stay strong due to the California crop being up a bit and China being down a bit. The net effect is expected to be a little lighter supplies in the U.S. market than in 2013, when China had a larger crop. The two producing areas have corresponding seasons, and the harvest in both areas was well under way as of late July. "Size is good on the California garlic this year," said Christopher. "We are hoping for a good year. There should be a little bit more demand. I think there is going to be a little bit less Chinese garlic this year, and the price is going to be a little bit higher." Some importers who "had not been bringing garlic in legally got caught," and as a consequence "I don't think there will be as much Chinese" this year, he said. "So there may be a little bit more push toward California garlic." In spite of the sizeable Chinese crop in 2013, garlic prices overall held fairly well according to Christopher. However, the Chinese garlic "comes in waves, then goes away, and then comes in waves." That obviously affected the market. "I think a lot of the retailers, especially, want a steady supply, and they want a steady price," he said. "I think more and more customers in the United States are starting to go with that" wanting to have "a secure supply month in and month out. We are seeing that trend, and they are willing to pay a little bit fore for that, so that has worked out well." According to Provost, new crop Chinese garlic was just beginning to arrive in the United States in late July. Quality was excellent but sizing was down a little, contributing to the lighter crop. Provost confirmed that there is an ebb and flow" to the Chinese imports, with temporary oversupplies being followed by a correction. So far this year, "it has been a strong market," said Louis Hymel, director of purchasing for Spice World Inc. in Orlando, FL. "There hasn't been as much Chinese garlic around, and the California demand seems to be as strong as ever, so the market has been strong." Many factors justify strong prices for California garlic, Hymel said. Growers have "so many increases in costs that never seem to stop increasing," including those associated with California agriculture's water shortage. "This year has been a challenge," and next year will be even more challenging, he said. David Grimes, proprietor of David E. Grimes Co. in Hollister, CA, which brokers garlic and also grows garlic marketed through several different California garlic companies, said this year's California Early garlic is "one of the nicest crops I have seen in a long time." It has nice size and nice color, and "yields are going to be pretty decent from what I have seen in the fields around here." The harvest was just beginning on the California Late variety. "I think the Late garlic is going to be a very nice crop as well," he said. Some growers will have good size; some will be a bit smaller. But "overall, I think it is going to be a good crop of garlic with good packouts." The garlic out of Central Mexico this year did not size well, "and a lot of the crop was way down" on both red and white varieties, Grimes said. Currently, sizing "still seems to be an issue coming up into the Mexicali region as well." As for Chinese garlic, "that is the big question right now," he said. "We are hearing" that the Chinese crop may be down a little bit, said Michael Layous, who is in sales and marketing with The Garlic Co. in Bakersfield, CA, noting that the Chinese imports have a major effect on the market. "If they send a lot of garlic, the market is flooded." If they send less, "it has a significant effect on market pricing," he said. But "none of us really know how much they have or how much they are going to send over here." If Chinese imports are short for whatever reason, "there could be quite a void" in the U.S. garlic market" and I will be important for California growers to manage their inventory in order to keep supplying customers "until next June or July." Videos

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You are at:Home»Environment»Biodiversity»Agriculture»30 funding resources for sustainable food advocates Danielle Niremberg 30 funding resources for sustainable food advocates 0 Agriculture, Columns, Finance Danielle Nierenberg Farmers are the backbone of resilient local and regional food systems, yet many are aging or retiring. The FarmLASTS Project at the University of Vermont estimates that 70 percent of farmland in the United States will change hands over the next two decades. The age of the average U.S. farmer is 58.3 years old, and rural populations are declining as a percentage of the national population, according to U.S. Census Data.To create a sustainable food system, we need to cultivate young farmers. Supporting beginning farmers needs to be a collaborative effort—one that connects young people with both financial and technical resources and provides the knowledge necessary to develop a successful business. New farmers also need sustainable funding and mutual partnerships with investors, which are increasingly found outside of traditional investment models. “When starting a business, it is very important to have accurate information that feeds into your business plan,” says beginning farmer Dan Berube. “Expectations are everything in life. Many beginning farmers are coming from families that haven’t farmed for a few generations now, so it is hard for them to know what they are getting themselves into.” Researchers from Tufts University note that new farmers are more likely to face financial hardships than veteran farmers. Beginning farmers lack access to land, capital, and established marketplaces for their products. Moreover, new farmers often lack the technical expertise and business knowledge needed to run a successful farm. Fortunately, food incubators and accelerator programs can offer business support from industry experts, technical assistance, introductions to markets, mentoring, and training, thereby helping new and existing farmers to overcome barriers to entering farming. These initiatives help beginning farmers to launch new businesses, expand existing operations, and increase their incomes. Food Tank is highlighting 30 resources available for producers who are working to create food sovereignty and sustainable farm business models, ranging from food and farm incubators to sources of grant money and microloans: ACDI/VOCA—a private, nonprofit organization—envisions a world in which empowered people can succeed in the global economy. To achieve this vision, ACDI/VOCA promotes “economic opportunities for cooperatives, enterprises, and communities through the innovative application of sound business practice.” Programs specific to agriculture include Farmer-to-Farmer, the Cooperative Development Program II (CDPII), and implementation of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID)Feed the Future. AgDevCo is a social impact investor and agribusiness project developer that aids in the financing of sustainable agricultural business opportunities in Africa. Additionally, AgDevCo supports the development of agriculture-supporting infrastructure, such as irrigation and bulk storage. Once commercially viable, AgDevCo transfers the businesses to primarily national ownership and then reinvests funds in other early-stage agriculture development projects. AgriBusiness Incubator (ABI) at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics(ICRISAT), founded in 2003 in India, promotes agricultural technologies developed by ICRISAT and other research and development institutions. ICRISAT focuses on five strategic areas: seeds, biofuels, ventures to develop particular innovations (products or services), farming (high-value crops), and agricultural biotechnology. Additional outreach strategy includes collaborative business incubation. AgroEcology Fund is a “collaboration of donors working to coordinate and sustain agricultural systems that build on the existing skills and practices of local farming communities.” The Fund awards grant money to eligible projects; in 2012, the AgroEcology Fund awarded US$1 million to six partners for a two-year grant period. Supported by an advisory board of global experts, the Fund is currently working on its second round of grantmaking. Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) Incubator Farm Project understands that access to land is one of the biggest obstacles new farmers face. To address this problem, CEFS works with communities in North Carolina to repurpose land into new farm incubators. These farmers “pay” for their land with services to the community and fresh farm products. Participants also have access to training and technical assistance opportunities in farm business and production. Consortium for Enhancing University Responsiveness to Agribusiness Development Limited (CURAD) is one of six agribusiness innovation incubator programs in Africa aimed at generating jobs and boosting incomes within the agricultural sector. CURAD’s target clients include student startups, as well as small and medium wholesale and retail, coffee processing, and agribusiness enterprises. Dirt Works, an incubator farm in South Carolina, provides farmers launching a new business with infrastructure and support for up to three years. For a minimal fee, participants receive acreage, access to a tractor, packing facility, walk-in cooler, tool storage, irrigation, and assistance from a mentor farmer. After farmers’ three years are up, Dirt Works helps match these farmers with prospective land on which to expand businesses. FamilyFarmed works to increase the production, marketing, and distribution of food that is produced locally and justly. To achieve this goal, FamilyFarmed offers trainings in farming, wholesale success, and food safety; provides access to food hubs; helps expand markets for farmers and food artisans; brings together financing and innovation partners at its Good Food Conferences; and offers a Business Accelerator program that provides selected fellows with mentoring, support, and access to capital. Farm Aid helps build a family-farm-focused agricultural system through a variety of resources. The online Farmer Resource Network allows farmers to “access new markets, transition to more sustainable and profitable farming practices, and survive natural disasters.” The Grant for Family Farm Agricultureprogram provides family farm organizations from across the country with grants ranging from US$500–US$20,000 annually. Food and Farm Communications Fund (FFCF) facilitates the strategic communication needed to create robust and resilient regional food systems. FFCF offers grants to a variety of programs, which the organization assesses for viability in market strategy and communications. Funding ranges from US$10,000–US$100,000. Food+Tech Connect is an online platform for good food innovators that uses technology and data to improve the food system. Through resources like its weekly newsletters, Food+Tech Connect helps to launch, grow, and transform companies committed to revolutionizing the food system. Additionally, Food+Tech Meetups and Hackathons discuss and undertake “some of the food industry’s greatest challenges.” Food-X helps companies tackling major challenges that affect the food sector through mentorship and education. During three-and-a-half-month programs, as many as 12 businesses meet in Food-X’s New York City office and receive intensive business mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs. Additionally, Food-X provides companies with US$50,000 to support them during this training and beyond. Grameen Bank has developed a new type of banking. Instead of traditional monetary deposits and other forms of collateral, the bank relies on accountability, mutual trust, creativity, and participation to provide credit to the poorest Bangladeshis. Grameen Bank uses a small-scale microcredit lending program (usually providing a few hundred U.S. dollars) to small enterprises in a variety of industries, including agriculture. Loans are only available to the poor, with a focus on women. GlobalGiving is a charity fundraising site that provides a fundraising platform for social entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations from all over the world. Donors can search for different projects—focusing on causes such as education, feeding the hungry, building houses, training women with job skills, and many more meaningful objectives—to make contributions. Since its creation in 2002, GlobalGiving has over USD$184 million to help support close to 13,000 projects. Global Greengrants Fund has provided over USD$45 million in grants to people, foundations, and businesses supporting community-based projects that aim to make the world safer, healthier, and more just. These grants have addressed pressing issues—including biodiversity, climate change, energy and mining, food and agriculture, fresh water, sustainable livelihoods, marine and coastal conservation, and youth leadership—in 163 countries. Headwaters Farm Incubator Program leases out sections of Oregon’s East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District’s (EMSWCD) land to individuals looking to launch a new farming endeavor. Headwaters Farm hopes to develop qualified, experienced young farmers to reverse the trend of the aging farming population while also keeping good farmland in production and adding to the diversity of the “farmscape.” Hot Bread Kitchen, located in New York City, offers two culinary workforces and business incubation programs, Project Launch and HBK Incubates. These initiatives give low-income men and women access to the food industry. Hot Bread Kitchen encourages immigrants in the incubation programs to provide recipes for “multi-ethnic” bread. The organization uses the recipes for training and sells the unique bread at retail and farmers market locations. Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD) promotes ecological agriculture based on local inputs and improved natural resources management in Ethiopia. The organization works to raise crop yields for local food security and improve ecosystem services for farmers, their families, and local communities. Initiatives include soil fertility enhancement (compost), push-pull technology, agroforestry, supporting innovative farmers, and adapting to the effects of climate change. La Cocina is an incubator kitchen based in San Francisco, CA. Focusing mainly on women from immigrant and minority communities, La Cocina aids in breaking down barriers—such as high cost of entry, fees for licensing and insurance, and availability of kitchen space—by providing commercial kitchen space and technical assistance to low-income women launching, growing, and formalizing food businesses. National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program(BFRDP) is the only federally funded program dedicated exclusively to training the next generation of farmers and ranchers. BFRDP awards grants to academic institutions, state extension services, producer groups, and community organizations to support and train new farmers and ranchers across the United States. National Young Farmers Coalition works to secure the success of young farmers by supporting practices and policies that enable new farmers to create thriving businesses. The Coalition offers a variety of resources that help farmers overcome barriers and create strong, prosperous farming operations, including connecting farmers with land and jobs, training opportunities, a guide to findingcredit and capital, and information on the organic certification. Navdanya Farmers Network has trained farmers across 17 Indian states in food sovereignty, seed sovereignty, and sustainable agriculture for two decades. Navdanya has set up over 100 community seed banks across India and taught food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture to over 500,000 farmers. The organization continues to promote nonviolent farming that protects biodiversity, small farmers, and the Earth. Opportunity International Agriculture Finance Program recognizes Africa is home to 25 percent of the world’s arable land, yet generates only about 10 percent of the world’s food output. Opportunity International is looking to change that by improving African agriculture through micro-financing. By providing farmers with loans, Opportunity International can aid farmers in gaining the resources, training, and knowledge necessary to create thriving agribusinesses. Pangea Giving for Global Change awards grants to small grassroots, community-based organizations throughout Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Grants are given to organizations working with community members to address pertinent issues, from children’s education and women’s rights to agricultural improvements, with solutions designed to have lasting social impacts. Funding ranges from USD$1,000–US$10,000, with a maximum award of USD$5,000 for first-year grants. Root Capital has helped grow prosperous rural economies in Latin America and Africa since 1999 by “lending capital, delivering financial training, and strengthening market connections for small and growing agricultural businesses.” Thus far, Root Capital has distributed over USD$740 million to over 530 businesses working towards building sustainable livelihoods. RSF Social Finance Seed Fund provides grantees with small gifts, ranging from US$500–US$5,000, to provide financial support for initiatives that address specific focus areas, one being food and agriculture. RSF seeks grant proposals that are credible, feasible, and sustainable; that foster collaborative work; that provide intended results and outcomes; and that have beneficial economic, ecological, and social impacts. Southern Oregon Farmer Incubator is a collaborative effort to train new and beginning farmers. The incubator has a three-year program with several components, including a program known as Growing Agripreneurs, which uses a one-acre teaching farm to train nine beginning farmers in designing and managing a new farm business. While working on the incubator, farmers sell their produce to the local Rogue Valley community. Small Planet Fund supports “courageous movements bringing to life citizen-led solutions to hunger, poverty, and environmental devastation around the world.” Each year, the fund awards grants to core grantees, a select group of organizations that receive annual funding, as to organizations at a critical point of development that are dedicated to social change. The Garden Project—based out of San Francisco and originally created to provide job training and support to former offenders—has its participants work in an intensive program learning organic horticulture and landscaping skills, preparing them for future agriculture-based jobs. The Garden Project donates all produce grown to local food pantries. Turing Foundation offers a Nature Conservation grant, which provides money to organizations working towards marine conservation, sustainable organic agriculture, and sustainable livestock production in Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Most grants are awarded to organizations proposing to work with local partners. Funds are usually over USD$33,000 (€30,000) per year, with some organizations receiving multi-million Euro grants over several years. Know of any programs in your area that are working with beginning farmers to build sustainable business models? Share your ideas with me at [email protected]! (Danielle Nierenberg is President, Food Tank, foodtank.com) Related Posts January 20, 2017 0 Four-day international confce on bio-statistics begins at RU January 19, 2017 0 NCTB textbooks full of errors, what should we do? January 19, 2017 0 Cabinet approves Summit LNG terminal for $1.6 billion-a-year

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Cattle markets adjust to larger supplies: Outlook Jan 13, 2017 Crop protection industry needs to stay united to protect products Jan 12, 2017 OUTLOOK 2017: Ag economists explore the best options for producers Jan 12, 2017 Texas Ag Commissioner hopes to talk trade initiative with Israel Jan 10, 2017 Concert to benefit wildfire victims The man who sang his way into the hearts of Americans with a song about a pony named “Wildfire” soon will be singing about wildfire in another way. Cowboy singer and country performer Michael Martin Murphey has announced a benefit concert to help heal the hearts of people affected by this month’s devastating wildfires that flashed across the Texas Panhandle. The benefit concert is set for 2 p.m., Saturday, April 15, at the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts in Amarillo, Texas. Murphey and the Texas Farm Bureau will be teaming up with NPR Commentator and Cowboy Poet Baxter Black, Texas Poet Laureate Red Steagall, Walker, Texas Ranger Co-Star and singer R.J. Vandygriff, and other performing artists. Additional details are available at www.michaelmartinmurphey.com . Texas Forestry Service officials said the Panhandle fires killed 11 people, and claimed nearly 1 million acres of land. Officials said the fire was the single largest mobilization of firefighters in Texas history, with more than 700 professional and volunteer firefighters lending their services during the week-long blazes. There are also reports of around 10,000 head of livestock being killed by the flames. Dozens of homes, barns and outbuildings were laid to waste, and miles of fence lines and power lines were in ruins. “Hearing about the devastation and how these fires swept through to change the lives of numerous families in the Panhandle area, really touched my heart,” Murphey said. “When agriculture people are hurting, other rural people are always quick to step forward. This concert also will provide a venue and a relief vehicle for all Americans to help make a difference.” Tickets for the concert go on sale at 10 a.m. (CST) Saturday, March 25, through www.Panhandletickets.com and all regular ticket outlets in Texas. Tickets are $30 plus service charges. A limited number of seats are available for this meaningful Easter weekend concert, according to Murphey, a member of the Texas Farm Bureau and a devoted advocate for agriculture. Murphey also performs the theme song for the new PBS agriculture series, America’s Heartland. In addition, if you cannot attend the concert you can also make donations in several other ways. If you’d like to help provide hay, fencing materials, personal items and even financial contributions, phone or e-mail your pledge to Texas Farm Bureau’s Gene Hall, (254) 751-2246, [email protected] , or mail checks to Gene Hall at: Texas Farm Bureau, P.O. Box 2689, Waco, TX. 76702-2689. Make checks payable to Texas Farm Bureau Research and Education Foundation. All monetary donations are tax deductible. Additional information can also be found at the Texas Farm Bureau Web site ( http://www.txfb.org ).

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Seth Teter - Jan. 24, 2013 The Farmer and the Fisherman Leave a Comment Some of it is more than a dollar and cent thing. A whole bunch of it is just a plain love of what you’re doing. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to do that. ~ Don Ralph on farming Don Ralph walks down a path where he planted native grasses to prevent runoff from his fields into nearby stream. At his Lake Erie cottage, he’s not Don or Mr. Ralph. He’s simply the farmer. “I’ll go up and down the street and the kids will holler at me ‘Hey farmer,’” Ralph said with a smile as he pulled into the gravel driveway between his barns and his Marion County home. If he’s not here, there’s a good chance he’s at the lake, catching walleye, in a boat that shares his moniker. “I don’t boat. I only fish. And this is a fishing boat,” he said. But being “the farmer” put Ralph in an interesting position last summer. A large bloom of toxic algae formed on the lake. Many pointed to phosphorous from agricultural fertilizer as the culprit—the type of fertilizer that Ralph and other farmers use to grow grain. It was the worst algal bloom Ralph had seen in his 40 years on the water. One word described it: “disgusting.” He also saw the impact on his friends who make a living from the lake. “For me to go there and look at those guys and say ‘I’m the guy that messed up your livelihood,’ I never want to be able to say that,” Ralph said. “Ever.” That’s why he hopes people will follow his story from Lake Erie back up the Sandusky River through the Tymochtee Creek to a stream that runs along his land. This is where he and his family make their living on a farm started by his father that now spans four generations. A connection to the landPulling off the highway, Ralph’s red pickup truck creeps along a recently mowed swath of grass. “I can’t sit in the house sometimes, so the other day I mowed down through here,” Ralph laughed. With each rut, his keys jingle in the ignition. “Do you know what that weed is there, that real funny looking one that grows up real tall?” he asked, pointing out the window. “That’s called teasel. We’re an old Plains area here and that’s a Plains plant.” He turns off the engine. On his right: a cornfield. On his left: a 120-foot wide grass strip running along the creek. There is rustling in the chest-high vegetation, then the bobbing antlers of a deer. “Water that would wash down here, it goes through this area of tall grass,” Ralph explains. “And that filters and slows the water down and allows sediment to settle here in this grass strip and not go rushing right into the creek and right down into the drainage system.” Years ago, his family took nearly 200 acres of land out of production to plant these protective filter strips. More recently, he and many of his neighbors partnered with a local company to test their soil and create detailed maps that will help them use the minimum amount of fertilizer. Ralph is also on the board of Ohio Farm Bureau, giving leadership to the group’s efforts to help farmers share information on improving water quality. He notes that agriculture is not the only source of phosphorous—there are wastewater treatment plants, septic systems, suburban lawns and golf courses. And last year, there was unusually hot, wet weather that encouraged algal growth. But rather than assign blame, he says he and fellow farmers want to do their part. “We’re all players in this whole scheme of things,” he said. At the same time, he worries about the impact that new regulation could have on his family. He cautions that it may take years to solve water quality challenges. But above all, he struggles when he hears someone imply that farmers don’t care. “Because I know that’s not true,” he said, noting that clean water is essential to sustainable farming. “How could it be true?” That becomes evident as Ralph explains his choice to become a farmer, pointing to the joys of working with family and a love of nature. Now, he’s putting his energy toward a solution that will protect his way life—both on the farm and on the water. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world,” Ralph said of farming. “In fact I like it so well, I can only be at the lake so many days and then I have to get back down here and look at the farm. And then I can go back, but it’s hard for me to stay away very long.” Watch a video of Don Ralph. Farmers Care Seth Teter

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There are between 180 and 200 species of honeysuckle (genus Lonicera), most of which are native to Asia, although some originate in Europe and North America. They vary widely in form - some species grow as vines, others as bushes;most are deciduous, but some keep their leaves year-round - but they all have small, sweet-smelling trumpet-shaped flowers. Honeysuckle is valued by gardeners for its scent and because it attracts butterflies, bees and hummingbirds, but the plant has a reputation of being aggressively invasive unless kept well-pruned. Many species are cultivated for their flowers or as ground cover, but the most commonly found are Italian (L. caprifolium), European or English (L. periclymenum) and Japanese (L. japonica). Honeysuckle is also sometimes referred to as woodbine. The plant occasionally called Meadow honeysuckle is actually from a different genus, Trifolium pretense.Honeysuckle has a long history in traditional Chinese medicine, in which stems of the plant were used to make a tea to detoxify the body. In Europe, and later in America, the flowers were dried to make a tea or flower buds were crushed and mixed with honey for a syrup;these treatments were used to relieve sore throats. The leaves and berries were avoided as they can be mildly toxic and cause irritation.Currently, honeysuckle oil is steam distilled from the flowers and flower buds. Used in massage and aromatherapy, the oil is considered to have a relaxing and calming effect and, conversely, has the reputation of causing very romantic dreams. When applied topically, products containing honeysuckle oil have been found to have anti-inflammatory benefits, particularly for treating contact dermatitis. The oil also has some antibacterial effects on the skin, although this has not been proven in clinical tests. Honeysuckle oil is primarily used commercially in perfumes and as a scent in soap, body washes, shampoos (particularly baby shampoos) and candles.

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Tomatoes Joseph Procacci takes on added duties in his 80s By Don Schrack Having the time to dream was a luxury for 8-year-old Joe Procacci. Between school and selling produce from pushcarts on the streets of Camden, N.J., the son of Italian immigrants had little time for anything else. Selling fruits and vegetables was not then a professional goal, however. The word “career” may not paint a true picture of Joseph Procacci’s achievements in the more than six decades since he and his brother, Michael, set up a tomato repacking business in the cellar of their parents’ home. What became Procacci Bros. Sales Corp., Philadelphia, is a tribute to Procacci’s work ethic and integrity. “We saw an opportunity to meet the demand for repacked tomatoes, and we took advantage of it,” he said of the basement operation. The business soon moved to the old Dock Street Market and also served retailers on a direct delivery basis, he said.“That’s how we founded our wholesale business,” Procacci said. In those days, the tomatoes marketed by the Procacci brothers came by train from Florida, Mexico and Cuba. “We didn’t buy train loads,” Procacci said. “When we first started, we bought a minimum amount in the auction in New York or in the Philadelphia Terminal Market.” The company’s role as a wholesaler would change dramatically in the early 1960s when Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba, an event that would forever change Procacci Bros. and a wide swath of the East’s fresh produce industry. A Cuban grower who had supplied Procacci Bros. before Castro made his way to Florida, but lacked the funds to resume growing tomatoes. “He needed backing, and that’s when my brother and I became growers, too,” Procacci said. “I think my greatest achievement is growing tomatoes.” His son, chief operating officer J.M. Procacci, tends to disagree. Joe Procacci is responsible for so many achievements that it is difficult to choose just one, J.M. Procacci said. For instance, it was Joe Procacci who in 1995 went before a Senate subcommittee and single-handedly prevented the demise of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, said J.M. Procacci. “I think the greatest accomplishment, though, was making the grape tomato popular,” J.M. Procacci said. “It was probably the biggest shake-up of any category in the produce department.” Joe Procacci did more than popularize the grape tomato, but it wasn’t easy. After finding the variety, the company discovered supplies of seed were limited. “I went direct to Taiwan and secured an exclusive on all of the Santa Sweet seed in the world,” Joe Procacci said. Today, in addition to marketing “everything from apples to zucchini,” as Joe Procacci puts it, the company also sells its santa F1 grape tomato seed to customers in Europe, South America, Australia and New Zealand, he said. Another Procacci Sales heirloom tomato variety is marketed as UglyRipe. A little recognized Procacci Bros. fact is that the company is the nation’s largest importer of chestnuts, J.M. Procacci said. “We source only from Italy, where they grow the very best chestnuts, and my father negotiates all of those contracts directly with the Italian growers,” he said. From that cramped Camden basement to the sprawling seven warehouses of today’s Procacci Sales — and its other divisions — Joe Procacci’s approach has not changed. “You have to be honest with your customers, and it pays off in the confidence the customers put in you,” he said. “We just kept our nose to the grindstone and kept doing what was honest and fair, and it has paid off.” Yet another constant is Procacci himself. “I still come in here anywhere from five to seven days a week,” he said. “If I’m not here I’m doing business outside the office.” Joe Procacci admits to a diversion, however. He will on occasion play hooky to get in a round of golf, he said. A temporary diversion is the upcoming opening of the new Philadelphia Produce Market. “We have a wonderful association here, and most of that is because of my father,” J.M. Procacci said.Now in his 80s, backing away from the stress of the business he built is not in Joe Procacci’s plans. A recent restructuring of company management found the title of chief marketing officer added to Joe Procacci’s duties as chief executive officer. In the face of business pressures, Joe Procacci still finds time for numerous civic affairs and causes. “It’s an important part of being a good citizen,” he said. “I’m very grateful for the position I am in in life, and I’m glad to participate in charity work.” For J.M. Procacci, there’s a sliver of selfishness to keeping dad — the man he said he loved working alongside as a kid — on board. After all, there is only one Joe Procacci. The admiration J.M. Procacci has for his father is obvious as evidenced by his reaction when The Packer honored Joe Procacci with its 1995 Produce Man of the Year award: “If there’s a hall of fame in produce, my father would be Babe Ruth,” J.M Procacci said at the time. It still holds true today, he said. J.M. Procacci is not the only Procacci offspring to play a role in the family business. His sister, Rita Neczypor, is a key member of the marketing staff.No longer just a repacker, the volume of fresh produce and flowers marketed by Procacci Bros. annually is approaching 300,000 tons, and the company has more than 12,500 employees. joe procaccipotatoestomatoeswholesalemexicoitaliangrapeswatermelonsprocacci bros. sales corp. About the Author: Don Schrack

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Towards a thematic strategy on the sustainable use of pesticides This summary is archived. The Commission lays the foundations for a thematic strategy to reduce the impacts of pesticides on human health and the environment and, more generally, to achieve a more sustainable use of pesticides as well as a significant overall reduction in the risks and uses of pesticides consistent with the necessary crop protection. Communication of 1 July 2002 from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee - Towards a thematic strategy on the sustainable use of pesticides [COM(2002) 349 final -Not published in the Official Journal]. 1. The 6th environment action programme (6th EAP), adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 22 July 2002, provides for the development of a thematic strategy on the sustainable use of pesticides. The legislative framework referred to in the 6th EAP, in particular Directive 91/414/EEC and the Directives on residues in food, mainly concentrates on the start and end-of-life stages of pesticides, i.e. the authorisation of substances for use in plant protection products (PPP) before they are placed on the market (prevention at source) and maximum residue levels (MRLs) for food and feedstuffs. Revision of these Directives is under way. The thematic strategy will therefore complement the existing legislative framework by targeting the use-phase of plant protection products. Definitions and scope of the communication 2. The term "pesticides" is a generic name, which encompasses all substances or products that kill pests. In this connection, a distinction should be made between: plant protection products: these are active substances and preparations containing one or more active substances that are used to protect plants or plant products against harmful organisms or prevent the action of such organisms. PPPs are used in particular in agriculture; andbiocides. These are active substances and preparations containing one or more active substances that are used in non-agricultural sectors, e.g. for purposes such as wood preservation, disinfection or certain household uses. 3. It is clear from the decision of the European Parliament and the Council adopting the 6th EAP that, although the term "pesticides" is used, the main concerns are related to PPPs. Consequently, the communication is focused on the use of PPPs. Should, in the future, comparable measures be considered necessary for biocides, they will be incorporated in the thematic strategy. Use of PPPs quantities, benefits, costs and risks of using them 4. Quantity. Agriculture is by far the biggest PPP-using sector. With approximately 320 000 tonnes of active substances sold per year, the European Union currently accounts for one quarter of the world market of PPPs. The major types of product are fungicides (ca 43% of the market), followed by herbicides (36%), insecticides (12%) and other pesticides (9%). The European PPP producing industry is a major employer in Europe (around 35 000 workers). 5. Advantages. There are significant economic benefits associated with the use of PPPs. They are used by farmers to improve or safeguard yields by eliminating or reducing competition from weeds and attacks by pests and to minimise labour input. PPPs also play an essential role in ensuring reliable supplies of agricultural products each year at prices which make them affordable for all consumers. The use of PPPs also reduces demand for land for food production. It therefore makes land available for other uses, e.g. amenity, nature parks or protection of biodiversity. There are however no figures available for the whole of the EU on which to base an evaluation of these benefits. 6. Risks and costs associated with their use. Pesticides are chemicals that require particular attention because most of them have inherent properties that make them dangerous to health and the environment. The risks for human and animal health stem from the extreme toxicity of certain PPPs. They may occur through direct exposure (industrial workers producing pesticides and operators using them) or indirect exposure (consumers and bystanders). The chronic effects of exposure to PPPs which might affect the fitness of exposed populations include those due to bioaccumulation and persistence of substances, irreversible effects such as carcinogenicity, mutagenicity and genotoxicity or adverse effects on the immune or endocrine systems of mammals, fishes or birds. As regards risks for the environment, spray drift, leaching or run-off are diffuse sources of uncontrolled dissemination of PPPs into the environment leading to pollution of soil and water. PPP use may also have additional indirect effects on ecosystems, e.g. loss of biodiversity. In practice it is extremely difficult to quantify the actual adverse effects resulting from the use of pesticides. Therefore, it is not possible to give a figure for the overall costs of the use of pesticides in the EU. Objectives of the thematic strategy 7. The communication represents an important step in the preparation of the thematic strategy on sustainable use of pesticides. The objectives fixed by the Council and Parliament are presented below: the communication suggests ways and means of achieving each objective, with a view to initiating discussion at this stage of the consultation: 8. Objective 1. Minimising the hazards and risks to health and environment from the use of pesticides, through: establishment of national plans to reduce hazards, risks and dependence on chemical control;reducing particular risks, such as pollution of watercourses, ditches and water catchment areas and the introduction of chemical control measures in environmentally sensitive areas;improving knowledge of risks by monitoring the health of users at particularly high risk, such as agricultural workers and more sensitive consumers; collection of data on incidents having consequences for the health and environment of workers and private users; collection and analysis of economic data on PPP use and alternatives;further research and development work on less hazardous methods of application and handling of PPPs. 9. Objective 2. Improved controls on the use and distribution of pesticides: reporting of production and import/export quantities of PPPs by producers and distributors to national authorities;reinforcement of ongoing work on the collection of data concerning use (quantities of PPPs applied per crop, product, area, date of application, etc.);reinforcement of the system based on Article 17 of Directive 91/414/EEC (inspections, monitoring of use and distribution of PPP by wholesalers, retailers and farmers) in a coordinated way;introduction of a system of regular and safe collection, possible reuse and controlled destruction of PPP packaging and unused products;introduction of a system of regular technical inspection of application equipment (sprayers);creation of a system of mandatory education, awareness raising, training and certification for all PPP users (farmers, local authorities, workers, distributors, traders and extension services). 10. Objective 3. Reducing the levels of harmful active substances by replacing the most dangerous with safer (including non chemical) alternatives: This objective will be achieved basically through faster implementation of Directive 91/414/EEC, in particular through its programme of reevaluating old active substances and through the introduction of this principle in the text of the Directive itself as a result of its revision, planned in the near future. 11. Objective 4. Encouragement of the use of low input or pesticide-free crop farming particularly by raising users' awareness, promoting the use of codes of good practices and consideration of the possible application of financial instruments: promotion and development of alternatives to chemical control; examining the potential of the use of GM technology when its application is considered as safe for health and the environment; promoting good practices by further developing codes of good farming practice incorporating integrated pest management concepts; further encouraging the allocation of funds by Member States and the adoption by farmers of rural development measures and training and other relevant measures;imposing penalties on users by reducing or cancelling benefits under support schemes;introducing special levies on PPPs to raise awareness of the detrimental effects of over-intensive PPP use and further reduce reliance on chemical inputs in modern agriculture;harmonisation of the value added tax rates for PPPs (these vary between 3% and 25% in the various Member States). 12. Objective 5. A transparent system for reporting and monitoring the progress made, including the development of suitable indicators: regular reporting on national risk reduction programmes;development of suitable indicators for monitoring and definition of quantitative targets. Candidate countries 13. The management of stockpiles of obsolete pesticides in a number of candidate countries has been mentioned repeatedly as an important problem in the context of EU enlargement. Sizeable quantities of pesticides still in use in several candidate countries might become obsolete at the moment of accession. In addition, there are already considerable stocks of obsolete pesticides at the moment. If no appropriate measures are taken, candidate countries might not have adequate incinerators which respect the required emission limits; this will necessitate upgrading of incineration facilities or require transport of pesticides. A proportion of the obsolete pesticides will be covered by the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) but there will probably be a need for further support for the candidate countries. International aspects 14. The Community and the Member States should contribute to the safe use of PPPs in developing countries and the newly independent States (NIS) by better monitoring and assessing their exports and donations of chemicals, training and stewardship of the use, handling and storage of PPPs and the management of stockpiles of obsolete PPPs, by supporting capacity building and information exchange. Full implementation of the Rotterdam (PIC - prior informed consent) and Stockholm (POPs) Conventions will be major steps in that direction. It also includes strengthening the integration of environmental objectives into development policy and contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety. Implementation of the strategy 15. On the basis of the analyses developed in the communication and the outcome of the consultation process currently under way, the Commission will propose at the beginning of 2004 all necessary measures setting out a Community thematic strategy on the sustainable use of pesticides. 16. The Community and the Member States, in implementing such a strategy, could use many different instruments: legally binding measures, economic incentives, research or voluntary measures. Combination of all types of instruments is also possible. Many of these measures could most effectively be integrated into already existing or currently developing related policy areas, such as water protection, health and consumer protection and the common agricultural policy. RELATED ACTS Commission Communication of 12 July 2006 entitled " A Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides " [COM(2006) 372 final - not published in the Official Journal].The strategy comprises, firstly, measures which are incorporated in existing legislative instruments and current policies and, secondly, measures which cannot be incorporated in existing instruments and are the subject of a proposal for a Directive presented in parallel. The measures are intended to meet the five objectives identified above in the 2002 communication.

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ERC/04/6 TWENTY-FOURTH FAO REGIONAL CONFERENCE FOR EUROPE MONTPELLIER, FRANCE, 5-7 MAY 2004 Agenda Item 8 THE STATE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE IN THE REGION: FOCUS ON RURAL POVERTY Table of Contents I. SUMMARY II. Country Coverage A. Introduction B. Rural Poverty in the CEE/CIS Region in a Comparative Context C. Assisting Countries to Address Rural Poverty 1. For most countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), poverty is a major problem and one that the international community must not neglect. While, on average, poverty in the region is less than that in other regions, this average disguises the extent of poverty in some countries where it is as widespread as it is in many of the poorer countries in other regions. What is of particular cause for concern is that, in stark contrast to other regions, there have been substantial increases in poverty and inequality since the beginning of the 1990s in the CEE/CIS region. For many countries the poor are concentrated in rural areas, and rely on agriculture as a source of employment and income. Reversing the backward trend of increasing poverty will require focused efforts on development in rural areas. 2. The survey covers: the Central and Eastern European Countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) and the CIS countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan Ukraine and Uzbekistan). These 27 countries are referred to collectively as the ‘CEE/CIS region or countries’. In general, they are often referred to as “countries in transition” in order to underline their transformation from centrally planned to market economies, which has had substantial implications for the performance of agriculture and food security. As the country coverage is very broad, comparisons are often made in groupings, or specific country examples are drawn on to elaborate on certain points or characteristics. Country-by-country coverage is not intended to be comprehensive, merely illustrative in nature. 3. Since its inception, FAO has worked to promote agricultural development and improving nutrition in the pursuit of food security - defined as the access of all people at all times to the food they need for an active and healthy life. In the Central and East European and Commonwealth of Independent States countries, the primary reason for food insecurity is poverty. 4. The purpose of this paper is to describe the specific character of poverty in the CEE/CIS region of the world and to propose an approach to addressing the problem, particularly in the rural sector, in consultation with member governments. On average, the CEE/CIS region has a lower level of poverty than in other regions of the world. This is to be expected of a region in which 8 countries are members of the European Union. However, it is not often recognized that a number of countries of the Balkans, the South Caucasus and Central Asia are as poor as some of the poorer countries in other regions. A second specific to this region, the CEE/CIS region is the only region of the world where there has been a dramatic increase in poverty rates over the past decade. In most countries a sizeable portion of the population experienced a substantial drop in living standards in the 1990s. Thus, despite having a lower level of poverty overall when compared to other regions of the world using an internationally comparable poverty line, the subjective level of poverty (shaped by living standard expectations) in this region continues to be quite high. Third, though the region as a whole is less rural than many developing regions of the world—more rural than Latin America and about on the level of the Middle East and North Africa—a number of countries of the region are fully as rural as many of the poorer countries in other regions of the world. In the poorest countries of the region rural poverty is more severe than urban. A last distinguishing trait of poverty in the CEE/CIS region concerns non-material poverty. In even the poorest countries of the region, infrastructure services, such as access to clean water, transportation services, education, health, electricity and other services, are higher than in other developing areas of the world. This is to a great degree a positive legacy of the socialist system. However, government budgets are now insufficient to fund the upkeep of these systems, and they continue to decline as a result of neglect. Based on this description of poverty in the CEE/CIS region, the CEE/CIS region can be divided into five subregional groups of countries. Four of these five subregions have countries with rural poverty problems as severe as in a number of poor countries in other regions. 5. At the FAO Regional Conference for Europe held in Porto in July 2000 poverty reduction through support to sustainable rural livelihoods and food security was listed as one of four short and medium term priorities for the region through 2007. FAO works to alleviate rural poverty by assisting governments to improve the policy environment for private agriculture, forestry and fisheries. In addition, FAO assists farmers directly through the introduction of new and promising technologies, formation of farmer marketing associations, upgrading of irrigation facilities, advising on pest management, etc. 6. Beyond these actions, FAO advocates rural and agricultural growth as a means of overall growth and poverty reduction. In the CEE and CIS region agriculture has an incommensurately low share of resources under aid programmes. This may be short-sighted, because there is a well-established correlation between growth in agriculture and in the economy as a whole. Low agricultural growth may act as a significant constraint to overall growth and poverty alleviation in the economy. FAO is committed to addressing rural development and rural growth as an important means of poverty alleviation in rural and urban areas. 7. While there are many definitions of poverty, it generally relates to a lack of ability to obtain specific commodities or consumption goods and a lack of capability to function in society. It can be defined not only in terms of income poverty, but also vulnerability, voicelessness and powerlessness, and low levels of education and health (World Bank, 2001). In this regard, there are multiple dimensions of the concept, including both material and non-material elements, and as a result a range of various measures of poverty (i.e., summary statistic on the economic welfare of the poor in a society) have been developed. Such measures are important for making poverty comparisons for an overall assessment of a country's progress in poverty alleviation, and/or the evaluation of specific policies or projects. 8. There is no universally accepted single measure of poverty, and there are many different measurement approaches that vary according to the emphasis placed on the individual's own judgment of well-being, versus a concept of welfare decided upon by somebody else. Two important measures of poverty are (1) the poverty headcount ratio, based on the national poverty line and (2) the 1 and 2 dollar per day international poverty lines. The poverty headcount ratio is the proportion of the national population whose incomes are below the official threshold (or thresholds) set by the national government—the national poverty line. Household income (or consumption) and its distribution are estimated from household surveys that collect data on household income, consumption and expenditure, including income in kind. This measure is specific to the country in which the data are collected and where the poverty line is established and is thus used to assess the level of development. 9. Because different countries have different definitions of poverty, consistent comparisons between countries can be difficult. National poverty lines tend to have greater purchasing power in rich countries, where more generous standards are used than in poor countries. For this reason, international poverty lines were developed. The population below $1 per day (typical of poverty lines in low-income economies) and population below $2 per day (typical of poverty lines in middle-income economies) are the percentages of the population living below those levels of consumption or income at 1993 prices, adjusted for purchasing power parity. International poverty lines attempt to hold the real value of the poverty line constant between countries. The indicator allows for comparing progress across countries in reducing the number of people living in poverty, and for monitoring trends at the global level. 1. How does overall poverty in CEE/CIS countries compare to poverty in other regions? 10. A comparison of poverty in the main regions of the developing and transition country world (using international poverty lines) show three outstanding trends: First, on average, poverty in the CEE/CIS region is lower than in other regions, particularly severe poverty (Table 1). Using the severe poverty threshold of one dollar per day, the incidence of poverty for the CEE/CIS region (4 percent) is slightly less than that of Middle East/North Africa, but substantially smaller than in other regions.1 The poverty rate at the 2 dollar per day level (21 percent), though, is similar to that found in Middle East/North Africa (24 percent) and Latin America (26 percent). These three regions have a much smaller portion of their populations in poverty than the other regions - East Asia and the Pacific (48 percent), Sub Saharan Africa (77 percent) and South Asia. (78 percent). 11. Second, the gap between the CEE/CIS region and other regions is narrowing, because poverty is increasing in the CEE/CIS region and constant or decreasing in other regions. Over the past decade the $2 per day headcount index in the CEE/CIS region has been steadily increasing, while for other regions it remained constant or fell (Table 2). Since 1988 the headcount index has increased dramatically for Estonia, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Turkmenistan and Ukraine (Table 3). Measures of inequality2 for countries of the region have also increased. Table 1. Poverty rate and number of poor by region, 2000 Poverty Rate (% below...) Number of poor (1,000,000) $1.08/day East Europe & Central Asia East Asia/Pacific Source: World Bank GPM, 2003 12. Third, there is substantial variation between countries within the CEE/CIS region. Some of the poorest countries are as poor as the poorest in other regions. Incomes vary significantly with measures of GDP per capita ranging from around 10-15,000 dollars per capita (Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), current international dollars) for some of the EU accession countries (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia), to as little as 1,500 dollars for some of the CIS countries (Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan). Removing the more developed countries in the region, the poorest countries are equally as poor as countries in other regions (Table 4). For instance, six of the poorer countries in the region have poverty rates that are over twice that of the regional average. These poverty rates are comparable to averages for other regions, including the average for all low and middle-income countries. Table 2. Population living below $2.15 per day at 1993 PPP (headcount %) Eastern Europe/Central Asia Latin America/Caribbean Source: World Bank GPM, 2003; Chen and Ravallion, 2001 13. The UN’s Human Development Index (HDI) ranking is quite similar to the World Bank poverty rankings. Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Albania, and Azerbaijan (with a year 2000 HDI ranking of 112, 102, 95 88, and 87 respectively) have lower HDI values than countries such as Colombia, Mauritius, the Philippines, Thailand and Venezuela (UNDP, 2002). Table 3. CEE/CIS Poverty headcount and gini index headcount gini index Source: World Bank GPM, 2003. Table 4. Poverty in poor countries in CIS and other regions Rural Pop below Poverty line (%) below $1 a day % gap at $2 Notes – Data are for the most recent survey year 2. Differences in the national and international poverty lines for CEE/CIS countries 14. With few exceptions, the prevalence of poverty using national poverty lines in the CEE/CIS region is quite high, substantially higher than the prevalence using the $1 and $2 measures (Table 5). The discrepancy between measures of poverty according to national poverty lines and international poverty lines is not unreasonable, since national poverty lines are based on what it means to be poor in that particular country, and the perceived minimum standard of living can be expected to be higher in richer countries. Moreover, particularly in the CIS countries, many people feel that poverty is quite high, because per capita income, government services and employment fell for nearly a decade. It is only natural that the poverty measure should reflect this perception of falling living standards. Table 5. National Poverty Line versus International Poverty Line National% Populationbelow $1a day % Undernourished in total population (%) 1998-2000 Source: World Bank GPM, 2003; FAO, 2003 15. The percentage of undernourished people in the population further illustrates that poverty is a problem. Even for the countries with a smaller proportion below the national poverty line (Bulgaria and Georgia), there still exists significant numbers of undernourished people. Overall, poverty remains a critical problem in the region, and CEE/CIS countries should not be neglected in favour of other regions for which international poverty line data, averaged at the regional level, indicate that poverty is a more serious problem. 3. Rural versus urban poverty in CEE/CIS countries3 16. As a country develops, the agriculture sector becomes less important relative to other economic sectors in terms of employment and its contribution to GDP (Figure 1). This is because economic development brings higher incomes, and greater relative demand for non-food products and services. Associated with this reallocation of labour from the agriculture sector to the industrial and service sectors, is a relocation of people from rural to urban areas. On average, the proportion of population located in rural areas in CEE and CIS countries is less than that for other regions, because average per capita incomes are higher there (Table 6). The rural population as a proportion of total population is significantly smaller than that in the Asia regions and in sub-Saharan Africa, and is second only to Latin America. Source: WB WDI, 2003. 17. There is a long-established strong statistical correlation between growth in agricultural production and growth of GDP. Few countries have achieved high overall growth and poverty reduction without undergoing solid growth in agriculture, as well as in the rural non-farm economy. Over the decade of the 1990s for the CEE/CIS region as a whole both GDP and agriculture fell by nearly 30%, while rural-urban migration was nil (Table 6). While there have been significant reductions in the proportion of people in rural areas for all other regions, the percentage in rural areas in CEE/CIS countries has remained stagnant. This stagnation does not reflect the region having reached a point of high overall development and stabilization of rural populations.4 It seems more a result of overall poor economic performance. For the CEE and CIS countries the stagnation in both GDP and agriculture over the decade of the 1990s most likely contributed to a lack of rural-urban migration. Table 6. Rural population as a % of total (by Region) Low & middle income Source: World Bank WDI, 2003 18. There is considerable diversity among CEE and CIS countries with respect to the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the relative poverty levels in rural and urban areas (Table 7). Countries with higher national poverty levels generally have a higher proportion of their population living in rural areas and typically have poverty rates in rural areas that are higher than in urban areas (as indicated by the difference between the rural and national poverty rates). That is, the poorer the country, the greater the proportion of people in rural areas, and the greater the likelihood that rural poverty is worse than urban poverty. Table 7. Population concentration in rural areas and rural versus national poverty (by country) % of Population in Rural Areas 1992 2002 Rural Poverty(%) National Poverty (%) Note: Poverty rates are from the most recent survey year Proportion of population as rural for Georgia is 1999 data Source: World Bank WDI, 2003 and World Bank GPM, 2003 4. Material versus non-material poverty 19. The discussion thus far has revolved around material poverty - that is, poverty related to income and/or consumption poverty. Yet a comprehensive understanding of poverty in the region can only be developed with an assessment of non-material poverty. Such non-material elements of poverty relate to health, education and literacy, social participation (exclusion/inclusion), insecurity, access to social infrastructure, freedom and political voice, and a general feeling of emotional well-being. The importance of these is reflected in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which set goals not only for the reduction of material poverty, but also for primary education, maternal health, and gender equality. 20. The countries identified previously as having lower material poverty, also have less non-material poverty (Table 8). For instance, improved sanitation facilities and water sources for rural people are almost universal in Bulgaria, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia, whereas they are much lower for the countries that have greater rates of material poverty (e.g. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Tajikistan). Romania stands out as a striking exception to this generalization. Non-material poverty is comparatively far higher there than material poverty indicators. Table 8. Non-material Poverty in selected CEE/CIS countries Population below the national poverty line (%) Improved sanitation facilities, rural (% of rural population with access) Improved water source, rural (% of rural population with access) Labour force with secondary education (% of total) Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament (%) latest survey year Average of all Low and middle income countries Source: World Bank GPM, 2003; World Bank WDI, 2003 21. Access to livelihood services such as clean water and sanitation systems in CEE and CIS countries is often, though not always, higher than the average for low and middle-income countries. This is partly a reflection of the large state investments made under the former socialist systems. While literacy is largely universal, many water and sanitation systems, particularly in rural areas, are in a state of decline as a result of neglect. Neglected infrastructure represents a major constraint to rural development. If information, transportation, sanitation, communication and irrigation systems are left to degenerate, the prospects for expansion of the rural non-farm economy remains severely limited. Thus, the public sector must focus on ensuring that these systems are appropriately supported and maintained. They must also prioritize public spending, targeting the areas and systems in greatest need first. 5. Subregional groups based on poverty in the region 22. Drawing from the observations thus far, countries can be classified according to levels of poverty, GDP per capita, the importance of agriculture in GDP and the portion of rural population. The five categories below help to further explain diversity and rural poverty in the region. Those countries with lower poverty rates tend to be those that are further along in the reform process, have populations that are concentrated in urban areas, and have an agriculture sector that is of relatively less importance to the domestic economy. The ten accession countries fall into this category. This sub-region boasts by far the highest per capita GDP (averaging $3,700 per capita (constant 1995 US dollars)), and while there is considerable variation ($1,600 to $12,000 per capita), the lowest levels are about the same as the highest in other sub-regions. The poverty rate is less than half that of the regional average, yet the sub-region, because of its overall size (i.e. with over 100 million people it is the second largest in terms of population) is home to about 10 percent of the region’s poor. Agriculture’s contribution to GDP is small relative to its contribution in other sub-regions; but at 7 percent, it is only 3 percent below the regional average. Nonetheless, employment in agriculture continues to remain high at 19 percent of total employment, and again, this is only slightly less than the region-wide average. Perhaps the fact that employment in agriculture is much greater than agriculture’s contribution to GDP indicates that there is major poverty reduction potential from boosting returns to labour (and thus wages) by improving institutions and access to capital in the agriculture sector, particularly the non-farm subsector. Serbia and Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia (FYR), and Croatia are lower income countries that tend to be less advanced in the transition process. Urban migration has been high, yet a significant proportion of the population remains in rural areas (e.g. 41, 48, and 56 percent for Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Albania respectively), and agriculture remains a significant contributor to GDP (at 10 percent, this is the same as the regional average). Aside from Serbia and Montenegro, these countries have relatively small populations, this sub-region being the second smallest after the Caucasus. Average GDP growth rates have been relatively high in the region over the past decade (almost 5 percent for Serbia and Montenegro, and over 20 percent for Bosnia), and future development initiatives must focus on ensuring that the poor participate in the benefits of growth. Agriculture will remain important in these countries, though its impact will increasingly be indirect through its linkages with industry (e.g. value adding, diversification to high value production to supply nearby export markets, and expansion of support/service industries). With over 197 million people, Belarus, Moldova, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, as a sub-group have by far the largest population - they also have the largest number of poor (over half of the poor in the entire region). The poverty rate of this subregion (30 percent) is considerably higher than the regional average (21 percent), yet it is significantly lower than that for the Central Asia group. The average annual rate of GDP growth over the past decade has been negative for all countries other than Belarus (which averaged 1.2 percent per annum), though for each, the average for the last five years has been considerably higher. What is interesting is that the poverty rate is considerably higher than might be expected given an average per capita GDP level of over $2,000. This could possibly be due to higher than average inequality measures for the region. Indeed, the gini index for the Russian Federation, Moldova, and Ukraine is 39, 34, and 33 respectively. A second notable feature of this group is that there is considerable variation within it - the poverty rate for Moldova is over 60 percent, yet that for Belarus is 2 percent. The countries in this group face similar political and economic challenges in the future as the transition process continues. Despite relatively low populations in rural areas (while Moldova is 58 percent rural, the Russian Federation, Belarus, and Ukraine are all about 30 percent), agriculture will remain an important avenue for poverty reduction as the sector employs 16 percent of the total labour force, and contributes 10 percent of total GDP. Rural development initiatives must take a broad approach that includes the strengthening of agriculture’s linkages to other sectors. The Caucasus countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) are among the poorest in the region. Per capita incomes range from about $ 1,500 for Armenia to about $ 500 for Azerbaijan. It is interesting that international ($2) poverty rates also vary significantly, but that Armenia with the highest GDP/capita, also has the highest poverty rate (49 percent) and Azerbaijan with the lowest GDP/capita has the lowest (9 percent). There is a discrepancy here in that national poverty line data shows that poverty rates are similar - about 50 percent - for the two countries. Overall, the poverty rate (using the international line) is a little less than the regional average. The contribution of agriculture to GDP in these countries is over twice the regional average (21 percent), while the portion of employment in agriculture is quite high. In Azerbaijan, for instance, 42 percent of employment is in agriculture. The percentage of people living in rural areas is also high (over 40 percent) with the exception of Armenia. The five Central Asia countries account for almost 60 million of the 400 million people in the region (about 15 percent). Further, they account for a correspondingly larger share of the poor people in CEE/CIS countries (208 million - or about 20 percent of the regional total). The proportion of people living in rural areas ranges from over 70 percent in Tajikistan, to 44 percent in Kazakhstan. Aside from Kazakhstan, which has the highest per capita GDP ($1,900) and the lowest poverty rate (15 percent), all countries in this sub-region have poverty rates considerably higher than the regional average (the average poverty rate for this sub-region is 37 percent, almost twice the regional average). In this respect, poverty in Central Asia is as prevalent as in other regions such as Latin America and East Asia and the Pacific. Agriculture is very important relative to other sub-regions of the CEE/CIS region, and relative to other sectors in the economy, contributing almost 30 percent of GDP and employing between 20 and 50 percent of the working population. The international community must not neglect such ‘isolated pockets’ (that in fact present major threats to meeting the MDGs) of concentrated poverty, which regional averages might hide, such as Central Asia. C. ASSISTING COUNTRIES TO ADDRESS RURAL POVERTY 23. Agriculture remains a substantial part of most economies in CEE/CIS countries (particularly the poorer ones), and efforts toward poverty reduction must be commensurate in scope to the potential of agriculture and the rural non farm economy’s potential for poverty reduction given its growth and market linkages. Aid flows to agriculture, while having increased over the latter part of the 1990s remain below 4 percent of total flows. This reflects a major incongruity given that agriculture in the region contributes 10 percent to GDP and employs over 20 percent of the work force (these figures being substantially higher in the poor countries). 24. Members of the international development community are now orienting their development support according to the Millennium Development Goals that set out specific targets for the developing world, agreed in the Millennium Summit in New York, 2000. Achieving these goals, especially halving the share of the population living in poverty and suffering from hunger, depends heavily on agricultural sector growth and specific efforts to reduce rural poverty. 25. Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) have become the framework for poverty reduction in the poor countries of the CEE/CIS region. They provide a blueprint for domestic policies and programmes to reduce poverty in these countries. They also provide a basis for coordinating development assistance. Because they are prepared by the countries themselves, and thus reflect the input of a wide range of domestic and external partnerships, the PRSPs translate development principles into a specific plan of action. FAO is committed to work through the Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme (PRSP) framework in the low income countries of the region to address rural development as an important means of poverty alleviation. 26. Poverty alleviation efforts of FAO in the region have concentrated on emergency assistance after conflicts and natural disasters, and on rehabilitation and development assistance. In the Balkan and Caucasus countries FAO has delivered short term assistance to internally displaced persons and refugees in cooperation with the World Bank and other UN agencies. These projects are usually aimed at supplying beneficiaries with agricultural inputs and training for the next crop year. The underlying logic is that it is better to supply farmers with inputs than food aid. FAO continues to work with these groups in projects to rehabilitate agricultural land and train them after conflict and natural disaster. In some countries this has meant land surveys through remote sensing, in others, rehabilitation of irrigation facilities and formation of water user groups. FAO also delivers assistance to farmer self-help organizations, such as marketing cooperatives, for training in producing new cash crops and finding new markets. FAO also builds capacity within government institutions for protecting borders, and detecting, and controlling plant and animal diseases. While these interventions are traditionally seen as agricultural assistance, they are simultaneously efforts toward alleviation of poverty in rural areas. REFERENCESChen, S., and M. Ravallion, (2001). “How Did the World’s Poorest Fare in the 1990s?” Review of Income and Wealth, Series 47, Number 3, September 2001. FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2001. The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2002. FAO, Rome. OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). 2003. CRS Database. Accessible at http://www1.oecd.org/dac/htm/online.htm. UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). 2002. The World Development Report; deepening democracy in a fragmented world. Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York. World Bank (2003). The World Bank Group Global Poverty Monitoring Website: http://www.worldbank.org/research/povmonitor/ (World Bank GPM, 2003). World Bank (2003). World Development Indicators. World Bank, Washington, D.C. (World Bank WDI, 2003). World Bank (2002). World Development Report 2002: Building Institutions for Markets. Oxford University Press, New York. World Bank (2001). World Development Report 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty. Oxford University Press, New York. 1 For the purpose of simplicity, the World Bank’s ‘East Europe and Central Asia’ classification is used as a proxy for the CEE/CIS region. The main difference between the two definitions is Turkey - the inclusion or exclusion of which is likely to have a somewhat neutral effect given that Turkey can be considered ‘not too different’ from the ‘average’ CEE/CIS country. 2 The Gini index can be used to indicate inequality - if all people had equal incomes, the index would be zero, while if only one person had all the income the index would be 100. 3 Care must be taken in comparing the extent of rural poverty relative to urban poverty. Different poverty lines are sometimes used to assess the two due to factors such as different living costs, different economies of scale in consumption, different perceptions of the meaning of poverty, and differing preferences and relative prices. For instance, in the 1994 assessment of poverty in Armenia, two different poverty lines were used for assessing rural and urban poverty because of large differences between the two groups in terms of expenditure levels—that is, the lines differed to reflect differences in the cost of a given level of welfare. While the cost of living is typically higher in urban than in rural areas (and so the urban monetary poverty line is typically higher than the rural monetary poverty line) it is not always clear that the difference between the two poverty lines found in practice properly reflects the difference in the cost of living (for more information, see World Bank, 2002). 4 This is further supported by the proportions of people in rural areas being as low as 10 and 22 percent for the UK and US respectively.

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Advanced Search Close See more news releases in Biotechnology Agriculture Chemical Environmental Products & Services Personnel Announcements Stockton Strengthens Senior Management Team with New Vice President of Research and Development To develop, strengthen and build a robust, well-balanced sustainable pipeline PETACH TIKVA, Israel, Aug. 19, 2015 /CNW/ -- The Stockton Group (STK), an international crop protection company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Yaakov (Kobi) Inbar as Vice President of Research and Development. In his new role, Kobi will be adding his expertise and knowledge to further the development of STK's pipeline, leading our efforts on a global scale, new growth opportunities and commercialization. Dr. Inbar holds a Ph.D. in Plant Protection (specializing in biological control of plant diseases) Biochemistry and Microbiology from the Faculty of Agriculture from the Hebrew University. Among his many experiences, Kobi brings many years of extensive managerial, R&D and business experience in the areas of Agri and Pharma. He was Co-founder and COO of Genaphora and lecturer on Biotech management in the university. "We are pleased to have Kobi join our executive team. He possesses a wealth of knowledge and experience in the crop protection market and we look forward to his future contributions to the business." said Ziv Tirosh, CEO of the Stockton Group. "I am confident that Kobi will continue to strengthen our strategic plans and continue to drive the development of our internal pipeline." The appointment of Dr. Inbar reflects on STK's efforts to continue building a strong and competent research and development organization, delivering innovative agro products and addressing the unmet needs to modern agro technology. About the Stockton Group The Stockton Group (Stockton) specializes in the development and marketing of plant extract-based bio-pesticides. Its core focus is on the incorporation of these bio-pesticides into conventional agriculture spraying programs that use conventional chemical products, thus creating a balanced, cleaner and sustainable agricultural environment. Stockton has an active R&D program for the development of future natural products for crop protection. Its unique research and development center in Israel invests substantial resources in developing 'green' products. Stockton has a variety of products adapted to different agro ecological areas, biological parameters and regulatory guidelines, and is active in more than 35 counties worldwide. Stockton's flagship product Timorex Gold® is used to control a broad spectrum of diseases in diverse crops. The product demonstrates an efficacy equivalent to chemical fungicides, and is suitable to be use in conventional and organic agriculture. Timorex Gold® is registered and sold in over 30 countries. Stockton is a global company established in 1994 as a privately owned company and has a staff of 40 employees in Israel and around 120 employees worldwide. The company has offices in 20 countries and operates in over 40 countries. Contact: For more information, please visit our website: www.stockton-ag.com or contact Judy Jamuy at: +972-52-7599242 or [email protected]. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150818/259238 SOURCE The Stockton Group (STK) The Stockton Group (STK)

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The original publication of Our Vegetable Travelers appeared in the August, 1949 issue, Volume 96(2) of National Geographic Magazine and is copyrighted by National Geographic Magazine. Reprinted as a special feature in the PLANTanswers section of Aggie Horticulture by permission of the National Geographic Society. February, 2000. Our Vegetable Travelers By VICTOR R. BOSWELL Principal Horticulturist, United States Department of Agriculture My friend's garden was only a tiny one in his back yard, but he was as proud of it as if it had been a farm. Noting my surprise at the uselessly small amounts of dozens of kinds of vegetables, he explained that, being a city dweller, he never had seen vegetables except in stores and on the table and had been curious to see "how all those things grow." "So far, I’ve grown only American vegetables," he said. "Next year I want to go in for foreign things. Do you know a good place where I can get seeds of foreign plants?" Glancing over his jumble of plants and making a tough mental calculation, I said: "Those tomatoes, snap beans, peppers, lima beans, and potatoes are the only truly American vegetables you have. All the others are foreign-onions, radishes, lettuce, spinach, beets, chard, cabbage, broccoli, collards, carrots, parsley, turnips, peas, asparagus, soybeans, mustard, eggplant, and the rest of them. "The foreign plants in your garden outnumber the native ones by about five to one." "What do you mean, ‘foreign’?" he asked. I bought the seed for all these right here in town, and I’ve always eaten most of these things. They’re common." "Yes, they’re common to us," I agreed, "but their ancestors were foreigners to America, the same as your ancestors and mine." Thus my friend became interested in the origins as well as the growing habits of plants, and now he includes plant history as part of his hobby. When Dr. Grosvenor, Editor of the National Geographic Magazine, asked me if I would help in presenting this story, I welcomed the chance to answer a few of the most often-asked questions about the origin, nature, behavior, and travels of the vegetables now most commonly grown in the United States. More Vegetables Eaten than Ever Before Americans have become great vegetable eaters. We eat more "store vegetables" than ever, and the growing of vegetables in home and community gardens has become more extensive than at any time in our history except during periods of national emergency. We like our vegetables fresh from the garden; we like many of them raw; and we want them the year round. Our use of fresh, canned, and frozen vegetables-except potatoes and sweet potatoes-has increased, per person, steadily for 25 years and more, while our use of potatoes and grains has steadily decreased. "Truck crops" we call our vegetables. The expression has no connection with the fact that they are commonly hauled to market in motor trucks (formerly in wagons or carts), but it reveals an interesting bit of history about the early vegetable business. One old meaning of the word "truck," derived from the French word troquer, is "to barter or exchange." In the United States the word developed a special meaning as a synonym for vegetables in general because of the practice of bartering or dealing in small lots of them in the market. Vegetable growing in America today has come far from the days of small items that were commonly bartered; it has become big business. The truck gardeners who worked small areas near towns and cities are being displaced by truck farmers who grow huge fields of vegetables farther and farther away from the centers where they will be used. What is a vegetable, exactly? What is the difference between a fruit and a vegetable? Is a tomato a fruit or is it a vegetable? These questions are asked many times in our work, not only from curiosity but often for business reasons. We can give some very confusing answers because there are no definitions that will hold without qualifications or exceptions. In 1893 the Supreme Court of the United States rendered a decision to the effect that the tomato is a vegetable! An importer had argued that tomatoes were fruit and hence, at that time, not subject to duty. The court held the tomato to be a vegetable because it was usually served at dinner in, with, or after the soup, or with fish or meats that constitute the main part of the meal. In the last few years in the United States a much larger part of our tomato crop has been canned in the form of juice than as whole tomatoes. Apparently we now drink a major proportion of our tomatoes before the main part of any meal, as we drink a large share of our crops of oranges and grapefruit. Many tomatoes today are also made into preserves with sugar, or eaten raw, like fruits. Still, the tomato is "legally" a vegetable. Of course all botanists know that by botanical definition the tomato is a fruit. They also know that the snap or green bean, the pod of peas, the garden pepper, the okra pod to name a few-also are fruits, botanically. Still, no one doubts that they are vegetables. Muskmelons and watermelons, too, botanically are fruits; they meet the Supreme Court’s implied definition of fruits, and still they are grown by truck farmers, and agricultural students in America study melons in courses on vegetable culture. The cucumber and the muskmelon are rather closely related; they belong to the same genus, Cucumis. They are similar in habits of growth and in structure; both are grown by truck farmers by similar methods, and both move through the same channels of trade. The fruits of both are eaten raw. Yet we say that cucumbers are vegetables and that muskmelons definitely are fruits! Thus it is evident that there is no clearcut distinction be plants called vegetables and those called fruits. Specific plants are arbitrarily placed in one of these two categories as a matter of custom. Here we shall be consistent with the inconsistencies of our American language and customs, and deal with melons along with other truck crops. Melons are truck crops, yet they are fruits. Generally speaking, however, we classify as vegetables those annual plants of which the immature succulent roots, bulbs, stems, blossoms, leaves, seeds, or fruits are eaten; also those perennial nonwoody plants of which the roots, stems, leaf stalks, or leaves are eaten. Scientific Detectives Trace Plants’ Origin The ways archeologists, historians, geographers, botanists, and others have tried for centuries to find out where our vegetables came from makes an interesting story in itself. Shrewd scientific detectives are still at the job, trying to fill the gaps in our knowledge and to define with ever-increasing exactness where this or that species originated.1 Nowadays these investigators are driven on by a practical purpose. If we know the origin of a plant, we know where to look for different forms having characteristics that might be valuable in present-day crop breeding. Plant-hunting expeditions are sent to the supposed region of origin of a species in the hope of finding cultivated or wild forms, or even closely related species, that may help improve our crops. The early students of plant origins had only folk tales, sketchy records of travelers, and old writings to help them. Such sources gave a few valuable clues, but most vegetables came into use as food long before there were any known written records. As prehistoric peoples moved about, even from one continent to another over land bridges or short stretches of water, they sometimes carried with them seeds of plants they had learned to use for food. By the time the oldest known records were written or carved, many plants were known over relatively vast stretches of the earth, particularly in Eurasia and parts of Africa. This wide scattering of vegetable plants at the very dawn of history complicates the task of determining the exact region where they were first used as food. Because some vegetable has been known from the beginnings of history in widely separated lands, the people in each of those lands believed the plant to have been there "always," to have originated there. Modern research has shown many of those beliefs to be wrong. Exploration and archeological search have uncovered many new clues. One of the best evidences of origin of a cultivated plant is finding the place where its ancestral form is still growing in the wild. But finding wild forms as weeds in a particular place, or finding cultivated plants that have escaped into the wild, proves nothing about their origin. Wild carrot grows over much of the United States, but it is not native here. Botanists now rather generally accept the theory that the region having the greatest diversity of forms of a given kind of plant is the probable center of origin of that plant. Of many important crops, however, no one has ever been able to find a wild form anywhere in the world. Maize (Americans call it "corn") is an important example. Either its wild parent has vanished from the earth or it has become isolated in some areas of the South American lowlands where literate man has never penetrated. Number of Tribal Names Gives Clue Plant names help the plant historian. Finding numerous names for a single plant among widely scattered tribes in a primitive country indicates antiquity of the plant in that area. If there is no such multiplicity of names in languages of other lands, the plant is suspected of being native to the land where it has many. When the white man first came, he found our present common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) widely scattered in North, Central, and South America, with each tribe that grew it having its own name for the bean. For example, it was called sahe or sahu by the Indians on the St. Lawrence River; ogaressa by the Hurons; tuppuhguam-ash by the northern Algonquins; malachxil by the Delawares; okindgier by Indians on the Roanoke River; ayacotle and etl by the Aztecs. Each tribe had grown this bean "always," meaning as far back as their folk tales could tell them. Many kinds of beans were known in the Old World, but for this particular one there were no descriptions or names in Old World languages until after 1492. During the 450-odd years since Columbus’s discovery of America, our American type of bean has become spread all over the globe and has long been grown in many lands-China, for example. The Chinese have grown such a diversity of forms of this species that China has been designated by one authority as a "secondary center of origin or distribution." Nevertheless, other available evidence points to a strictly American origin. Other American vegetable species, too, were so quickly scattered over the earth after about 1500 and were grown so extensively that for many years their American origin was overlooked. Some-peppers, for instance-were believed to be of 0riental origin. Former confusion over the bean, the garden pepper, and the sweet potato show how easy it has been to lose sight of the hemisphere of origin of certain plants even within recent historical times. Imagine the difficulty of tracing back the history of Old World plants to the country of their origin after they had been shuttled about over Eurasia and parts of Africa for thousands of years! Findings of Archeologists Help The archeologists, too, have made their contributions to plant history. Ancient carvings, records in stone, ornaments, and decorated utensils describing or depicting food plants have been found in tombs and remains of dwellings in many parts of the world. Even seeds of very ancient varieties of vegetables have been found. We should say "remnants" of seeds, because the life had long since gone out of them when found. Fragile shapes of matter that would crumble with little more than a touch were often all that remained. The seeds could be identified, but, contrary to recurring tales, they would not grow. Many sincere persons have been victims of one hoax or another involving seeds alleged to have been found in an Egyptian tomb or some other very ancient repository. In the best of faith, enthusiastic recipients of such seeds have planted them, and then, amazed by their growth, shouted their discovery to the world. On one occasion seeds of a grain were found in the wrappings of an Egyptian mummy. They were planted and they grew. This appeared to be a most unusual case until it was discovered that the seeds came from incompletely threshed straw of a recent crop used in packing the mummy for shipment. Microscope Helps Show Corn’s Ancestry In recent years the microscope has been used successfully in technical studies in heredity in trying to ferret out obscure characteristics of different species that may be native to different, regions. It is now possible with some plants to confirm their supposed origin with reasonable certainty by the shapes of the chromosomes, those minute structures within the cell which are the seat of the hereditary mechanism of the plant. For example, although maize almost certainly originated in South America, our North American types have chromosomes more like those of the maize of Central America than that of Peru. Thus it appears that our North American kinds of corn are directly descended from Central American forms, which in turn are the result of prehistoric hybridization between South American maize and a closely related wild species of Central America having the same ancestor as maize. This remarkable piece of genealogical detective work required many years of investigation by many men and a 315 page monograph to bring the whole story together. Much human progress had been made even before history began. Some civilizations, including sizable cities, rose, flourished, and disappeared with only circumstantial evidence today as to what happened to them. How were the people of those cities fed? What did they eat? Where did their food plants come from? Were those plants wild or cultivated? There must have been an agriculture, since cities cannot feed themselves on wild plants and game alone. Agriculture, the purposeful rearing of animals and the cultivation of plants, began to develop in the last part of the Stone Age, along with man’s learning how to make pottery and how to sharpen tools by grinding instead of chipping. Agriculture did not come about all over the inhabited parts of the earth at the same time. In some parts of the world there are primitive cultures, even today, that have developed little if any beyond the Stone Age.2 Man’s first efforts at agriculture doubtless were directed to those plants which produced a good yield of palatable seeds that could be stored easily for food, or which produced large, fleshy, underground parts that would persist in the soil from one season to the next and could be dug up when wanted. Many highly perishable leafy vegetables and fleshy fruit vegetables came into cultivation later. Eastern Mediterranean Contributed Most Of the eight or ten main centers of origin of vegetables and other economic plants, the lands about the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea and well inland are credited with the largest number of vegetables now grown in America. Among them are asparagus, beets, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, endive, kale, lettuce, parsley, parsnips, and rhubarb. This area, from Asia Minor to Egypt, includes the world’s most heavily traveled corridor of prehistoric migrations and also a wide range of climatic and soil conditions. We cannot be sure that all plants apparently originating there actually did so. Many kinds may have been carried there by migrants from farther east or north. Several vegetables of supposedly primary origin in the Mediterranean, such as cabbage, lettuce, beets, and parsley, show other centers of origin or distribution in the Near East, and vice versa. Likewise, many kinds of vegetables show centers in both the Middle East and the Near East, such as peas, Indian mustard, carrot, onion, and muskmelon; or in both the Middle East and India. The Mediterranean center, the Near East center, including the trans-Caucasus area and Mesopotamia; and the Middle East center, including Afghanistan and adjacent areas, tend to make a large geographic unit from west of the Himalayas to the Mediterranean. Although there were barriers to movement of prehistoric peoples within this area, those barriers were less formidable than those to the east and south. The migrating peoples certainly carried seeds with them. Early inhabitants of Mesopotamia, the non-Semitic Sumerians, had developed an advanced civilization, with important cities and trade with other lands, even before 4000 B.C., when most of the world was far less advanced. Where they came from we don’t know, but they doubtless brought seeds of crop plants. By about 2750 B.C. they had touched the Mediterranean. Then Semitic peoples from the west invaded Mesopotamia, and later the Aryans from the east shoved into it, each doubtless carrying seeds of their favorite food crops. Still later the Aramaeans, a people from the northwest, invaded the country. In 539 B. c. the Persians took over. Thus there was a gradual crossing and recrossing, infiltration and transportation of peoples from west, north, and east that can be traced vaguely for thousands of years. Peoples, animals, and doubtless plants, as well as ideas, religions, and cultures, became distributed. So it is not surprising that many species have more than one center of development and that it is not possible to say finally which center developed first. About the time the New Stone Age man of the Near East was pushing to the eastern Mediterranean, in the third millennium B.C., he was also moving through Asia Minor, across the Dardanelles, along the coast of the Black Sea, and into the Danube Basin of Europe. His arrival appears to have coincided with the first agriculture in eastern Europe. The plants first cultivated in Europe are Asiatic in origin, and archeological finds indicate that their culture in Europe is less ancient than in the Near East and middle Asia. Migrations into the Aegean and middle Mediterranean, both by water and by land, further distributed a large number of Asiatic plants into southern Europe. Early peoples of the Near East either dominated or influenced the whole of Eurasia in prehistoric times, and indirectly, therefore, the rest of the world. Recent botanical evidence of western Asiatic origin of so many of our present vegetables is accordingly in no conflict with the archeological evidence of the rise of civilizations all over the globe. Plant Immigrants from the Orient The Far East has given the world more cultivated plants of all kinds than has any other large area. Among these are many vegetables now grown in America, including various mustards, radishes, Chinese cabbage, soybeans, cucumbers, eggplant, and cowpeas. The Chinese center of plant origins, chiefly in central and western China, was the most prolific, and that of middle and eastern India next. While Malaya and Indochina have contributed many economic plants, few are classed as vegetables and none is important in America. Despite the evidence of contact between China and western Asia in prehistoric times, there is less evidence of diffusion of plants back and forth between China and middle Asia than between the Mediterranean and middle Asia. Geographic barriers have tended to keep isolated these cultural and biological areas of China, seat of one of the oldest continuous cultures now in existence. Abundant evidence of late Stone Age man has been found in China. He lived in rude villages, hunted, fished, farmed, had domestic animals, and presumably used several of the vegetables cultivated today. India has contributed many of the world’s cultivated plants, but of these only three are important as vegetables in America: cowpeas (black-eyed peas), eggplant, and cucumbers. In the hazy prehistory of India there is far less evidence of numerous large migrations of peoples and cultures-and plants-than in the areas to the west. This may be one reason why the numerous vegetables and related crops originating in India are not more important outside India today. Africa has contributed only two vegetables common to us, okra and watermelons, and Australia not a single one. New World Enriched Old’s Larder Perhaps the least ancient, but not the least important, agricultural civilizations were developed in the New World, chiefly in mountain valleys of Central America and in the Andean and neighboring areas of South America. These civilizations had developed so recently and had been so completely isolated from Eurasian and African cultures that they had made no evident contributions to Old World agriculture, arts, customs, thought, or racial composition before Columbus. Very soon, however, after the voyages of Columbus and the Spanish explorers, the world was enriched by many important new food plants from the Americas, including maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, squash, common beans, and lima beans. By the time of the early American explorations, Eurasian civilizations were highly developed, with means of travel and methods of disseminating ideas and goods. Thus the finding of valuable New World food plants was followed by their world-wide exploitation at an almost explosive speed. Within a couple of hundred years many American plants, previously unknown elsewhere, were becoming important foods on every continent. Archeological and racial evidences suggest that man first reached the Americas far back in the Stone Age by slow migration from eastern Asia. He came either by way of a land bridge then connecting Asia and North America where the Bering Strait now narrowly separates Alaska from Soviet Russia, or by rafts or skin boats across that strait.3 At that stage of his development man was no farmer. He subsisted by hunting, fishing, and harvesting whatever food the wild plants might offer him. It is thus improbable that this early migration involved any transport of Asiatic species of plants to America. After untold generations this thin stream of man had trickled along the length of North America, through Central America, the Isthmus of Panama, and ultimately the full length of South America. Groups stayed behind along the way, as in Central America, and ultimately evolved distinct tribal* characteristics and cultures. Others pushed on toward somewhat different destinies. As these American Indians in different regions-even in the two different continents-became better adjusted to the environments into which they were going, they learned to take advantage of and even to depend upon the wonderfully productive native plants that they found in their respective parts of the Americas. Two distinct civilization centers developed, and both became main centers of origin of our present important native crop plants. One was in Central America, the other on the slopes and plateaus of what is now southern Peru, Bolivia, and northern Chile.4 The Central American area was probably mainly dependent first upon beans, sweet potatoes, squash, and pumpkins, while the early Andean people grew maize, potatoes, and tomatoes. Before the white man reached the Americas, however, further diffusion of the people had rather thoroughly distributed most of the crops over those parts of all the Americas where they could be grown successfully. "Taming" Wild Vegetables The difference between our cultivated varieties and the wild forms from which they came is due only in part to the fact that the cultivated kinds are sown in rows, fertilized, weeded, and otherwise given favorable growing conditions. If wild forms are planted and given the best of care, the plants might grow somewhat larger than in the wild or make somewhat larger yields, but they would still be "wild" plants. Merely continuing to plant all the seed from such plants year after year, and tending the plants carefully, would not make "cultivated" plants of them. What, then, did prehistoric man do to improve wild plants? And how are our plant scientists any better at the job of improving plants than our prehistoric ancestors were? The important distinction between "wild" and "cultivated" plants is that wild plants perpetuate themselves under conditions of chance pollination and natural selection only. Our cultivated plants are the result of innumerable generations of either purposeful or unwitting selections by man. Man adds nothing to the hereditary make-up of the world of plants, but does take advantage of the endless diversity that Nature provides. Prehistoric man noticed that some plants were better for his use than others; so naturally those were the ones he chose, century after century. Since he planted seeds of plants or fruits that he had chosen to use, he more or less automatically practiced plant selection of a sort. Geneticist Speeds Plant Improvement Thousands of years of discarding what is undesirable to man and propagating what is desirable to him developed our cultivated plants. For man’s needs they are considered highly superior to their wild ancestors, but in getting certain qualities desired by man we have unwittingly sacrificed other qualities for example, the ability to survive under adverse conditions. By choice of parent plants, controlling pollination, and wise selection and testing of the plant offspring through successive generations, the modern plant breeder may obtain, in a few years, especially desired combinations of existing hereditary factors that might not be found in the wild in hundreds or even thousands of years. But he must first find somewhere in the world the parent plants that already possess the hereditary factors needed. The geneticist creates no new factors, but he does invaluable rearranging of existing factors. He is rapidly finding factors that no one has known about, and learns how they are inherited, so that plant improvement can be carried forward speedily. The art and practice of plant improvement goes back to prehistoric times, but the science of how specific characters are inherited was born since the birth of many men now living. We could still make plant progress without the science of genetics, but it would be too slow and costly. Plants Shown in Countries of Origin In the 32 paintings that accompany this article, the backgrounds typify the general regions in which each of these vegetables originated. They illustrate those areas, or well-known features of them, as they appear in modern times. Most crops illustrated are far older than any signs of civilization that can be seen in those lands today. The fruits, pods, and even the leafy edible parts of many of the vegetables are so hidden by luxuriant leaves that they cannot be seen without pulling the leaves aside. Roots and tubers are, of course, obscured by the soil. The fruits of melons and vining squashes are so large and so far apart on the vines that the illustrations cannot show the details of the way they grow. Few vegetables can be shown in detail as they grow in the garden. To show the principal features of some crops, Mrs. Bostelmann had to remove a part of their leaves; to take only a branch of this kind or a piece of vine of that kind; to harvest the fruits of others and put them in a pile, omitting details of their natural habits; to harvest others from the soil; or to show some of the less common varieties that have growth habits convenient to our purpose. Some of the vegetables, or parts of them, are painted about half natural size, while others, because of their large size, had to be greatly reduced. Different stages of development, such as the harvest stage of some of the leafy salad plants and the flowering or seed-bearing stages of the same plants, are sometimes shown on the same plate, although these different stages of development actually occur months apart. Only by such devices can the artist condense such a wealth of form and color into so little space and in such a beautiful manner, as she has done previously with flowers.5 1The work of numerous scientists has been drawn upon freely in preparing this article, especially: Origin of Cultivated Plants, by A. de Candolle; Sturtevant’s Notes on Edible Plants, edited by U. P. Hedrick; Botanical-Geographic Principles of Selection, by N. I. Vavilov; and The Origin of Indian Corn and Its Relatives, by P. C. Mangelsdorf and R. G. Reeves. 2 See "Earth’s Most Primitive People," by Charles P. Mountford, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, January, 1946. 3See "Exploring Frozen Fragments of American History," by Henry B. Collins, Jr., in the May, 1939, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE. 4 See, in the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE: "Further Explorations in the Land of the Incas," by Hiram Bingham, and "Staircase Farms of the Ancients," by 0. F. Cook, May, 1916. 5See "The World in Your Garden," by W. H. Camp, with 24 paintings by Else Bostelmann, National Geographic Magazine, July, 1947. The many articles on plants and plant hunting which have appeared in the National Geographic Magazine include the following by David Fairchild: "Hunting Useful Plants in the Caribbean," December, 1934; "Hunting for Plants in the Canary Islands," May, 1930; "New Plant Immigrants," October, 1911; and "Our Plant Immigrants," April, 1906; also "Peacetime Plant Hunting About Peiping," by P. H. and J. H. Dorsett, October, 1937; and "Hunting the Chaulmoogra Tree," by Joseph F. Rock, March, 1922.

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Related Program: Talk of the Nation on KUER 1 The Consequences Of A Short-Term Farm Bill Fix By editor Jan 7, 2013 Related Program: Talk of the Nation on KUER 1 TweetShareGoogle+Email Listen Listening... Transcript ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Ari Shapiro in Washington. Neal Conan is away. Well, Congress averted the milk cliff. A five-year farm bill was set to expire, and it could have doubled the price of milk if that had happened. But instead of passing a new five-year plan, Congress extended parts of the old farm bill. That renews subsidies for grain, cotton and soybeans; it cuts budgets for some organic and environmental initiatives. Since the extension only lasts nine months, many farmers are left with uncertainty. They're wondering what to do before Congress revisits the issue next September. Well, this hour we have a Cabinet secretary and a senator who are at the heart of the debate, and we want to hear from farmers. If the farm bill affects your decisions about what to plant, what to buy, how large your herd should be, call us. What choices are you making today because of the choices that Congress made last week? Our number is 1-800-989-8255. Our email address is [email protected]. And you can join the conversation at our website. Go to npr.org, and click on TALK OF THE NATION. Later in the program, the Opinion Page with President Obama's new choices to run the Pentagon and the CIA, but first the farm bill. Secretary Tom Vilsack is former Democratic governor of Iowa. He is now the secretary of agriculture, and he joins us here in NPR Studio 3A. Welcome. SECRETARY TOM VILSACK: It's great to be with you. SHAPIRO: So in the week since Congress passed this nine-month extension, what are you hearing from farmers? VILSACK: Well, I think farmers are expressing some frustration about the fact that they were close to getting a five-year program that would have been comprehensive, that would have had a series of reforms, that would have assisted in dealing with the fiscal challenges the country is faced with. They're now faced with uncertainty in terms of what the policies are going to be, and they're faced with uncertainty in terms of how much support there will actually be once a five-year bill is ultimately passed by Congress. A new Congress, a different fiscal challenge because of the sequester discussion, so it's the uncertainty of it all and the frustration. SHAPIRO: Why does America need a farm bill? Why not just let farmers plant what's profitable and let the chips fall where they may? VILSACK: Well first of all, this is more than a farm bill. It's an energy bill. It's a jobs bill. It's a food bill. It's an entrepreneurial, research bill. SHAPIRO: What do you mean when you say all of those components? VILSACK: Well, the farm bill basically has a number of different titles. So for example there's an export assistance title, which talks about the importance of agricultural trade to other countries. About a million American jobs are dependent upon on our agricultural trade. It's one of the great success stories of American agriculture and one of the great success stories of trade. There's a rural development title, which basically talks about how much assistance we provide to small towns that were interested in creating small manufacturing facilities that helped create jobs. There is a specialty crop and organic title that basically allows us to do a better job of increasing domestic markets, niche markets in a very fast-growing aspect of agriculture that needs assistance. There's a research title that is very important to land grand universities and any university that's involved in agricultural research and energy research and climate change research. So this bill is far more than just simply the commodity title that provides assistance to producers. To your question why do we need it, we need it because rural America is a very important part of America and a very underappreciated part of America. It not only supplies almost all of America's food and most of its water but also is providing an ever-increasing amount of the energy that we consume. Whether it's renewable energy or from traditional sources, most of it is obtained from rural areas. It is a job-creator; one out of every 12 jobs connected to the agricultural economy in this country. And frankly it's also, in my view, one of the centers of American values. So it's an extraordinarily important place, and the people who live, work and raise their families there provide a tremendous service to this country, and one service is to make us a food-secure nation, a nation which basically can provide its own food needs. SHAPIRO: And so given that Congress has extended the 2008 farm bill for nine months rather than passing another five-year farm bill, who benefits from that? VILSACK: Well, I would say producers in the Southern crops, rice and cotton, certainly benefit in terms of the continuation of a support system which they like. Obviously those who are in the organic and specialty crop areas, fruits and vegetables, may not be as well-supported by this extension as they would have been under the new proposal. The grain, corn, soybeans are pretty much - it's sort of a break-even proposition. Dairy producers I think are very much frustrated by all of this because in place was a new system to provide support for dairy farmers when they had difficulty, when they were in financial trouble. They lost that opportunity, and now they have to work their way back to a different system. SHAPIRO: Let's hear from a farmer. We have Clay in Loyal, Oklahoma. Hi, Clay. Tell us your story. CLAY: Well, I was just going to call and say that, you know, from our perspective, we're in the middle of a, you know, second of, you know, two or three years of a record drought. And just the uncertainty of whether or not the programs in the conservation title, what situation they're going to be in, especially the conservation stewardship program. You know, is there going to be enough acres to do an additional sign-up? You know, what's the life, you know, what's the life expectancy of the program path to sign-up? Because, you know, making investments to protect the soil and the water and wildlife habitats, that's something that's important to us, but it also affects our bottom line. And so just whether or not those initiatives are going to be there and help us to maintain the protection of the land, especially when we're facing something that, you know, at least in my part of the world is comparable to what we saw in the 1930s with the Dust Bowl. But we haven't seen the dust storms because of the programs. But what happens if those go away? I mean, that's a real concern in my part of the world. SHAPIRO: And Clay, had you been expecting or hoping to get some kind of finality in an answer from Congress last week? CLAY: Oh goodness, gracious, well, I was hoping we were going to have some kind of answer back in the summer when the House acted on the farm bill. The Senate had already passed one. You know, you get a bipartisan bill out of the House Agriculture Committee, and then it just sits there and hangs in limbo. I was hoping we would have something before Thanksgiving, let alone wait until the end of year. But yeah, I mean, it's just insane, especially when there was - hell, we were saying we would cut our budgets. I mean, we were willing to put money on the table but still have something that worked for us and just got it threw back at our face. SHAPIRO: So Clay, I've got to ask, you've obviously followed this issue very closely. Is that because you're a political junkie who loves watching Washington, or is it just because your bottom line as a farmer depends so heavily on what lawmakers are doing? CLAY: If you're farming for a living in the Southern Plains, you almost have to be a political junkie because, like I said, when you're in this part of the world, especially talking about conservation. I mean, I'm from the heart of the Dust Bowl. We've got to have the ability to protect our soil and our water and the rest of our habitats and still provide food and fiber. And it's a big issue. SHAPIRO: And so what decisions are you making now with only a nine-month bill on the table? CLAY: Well, I mean, obviously we're concerned about what's going to - I mean, we got a little bit of time just where we're wheat producers, we won't be harvesting, winter wheat producers, until later in the summer. But yeah, I mean, you're looking at what we're going to do whether or not those resources are going to be there to take some additional steps that we need to be looking at, you know, things just like - we're in the middle of a drought, and water for livestock is very critical in my part of the world. But, you know, are we going to be able to make the investments to go ahead and have programs like EQIP or, you know, continue on what we're doing with CSP to deal with some of the critical problems that we've got to get through this mess that we're in right now, let alone what we're looking at in the first title when it comes to, you know, when it comes to what's going to happen with the wheat program. SHAPIRO: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, you're nodding your head as though this is a familiar story. VILSACK: Clay has done a great job of expressing concerns. The good news is the extension does provide for continuation of EQIP and CSP, the conservation programs that he alluded to. SHAPIRO: Explain - EQIP and CSP are terms... VILSACK: Well, these are programs that basically provide financial assistance from the federal government to land owners to install or to develop conservation practices on their land either to meet some regulatory responsibility or to go above and beyond some regulatory responsibility, just simply because it's in the best interest of their particular operation to conserve soil and to protect water resources. There's also a continuation of the Conservation Reserve Program, which is essentially idling land. It creates good habitat for wildlife, helps to expand outdoor recreational opportunities. Those programs are still intact. What isn't intact is some of the smaller conservation programs, the grassland reserve program, things of that nature. Those programs were not continued and were not funded in the extension. So they're small conservation programs impacted. But what Clay's concern is is whether or not, in light of the fiscal circumstances and conditions we face, whether or not Congress is going to have to cut even more deeply than they were anticipating last year in order to make things work fiscally. And one place you go is where the money is, and in the farm bill, there is a great deal of resource in conservation. So there's obviously concern and frustration about not knowing what the long-term implications are for those programs. SHAPIRO: All right, thanks for the call, Clay, and let's hear from another farmer. This is Norman(ph) in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Hi Norman, you're on the air. NORMAN: Hi. Mr. Secretary, I have a cow-calf operation and allied parts of the cow-calf business, and I'm very dissatisfied with the participation of the government in this mandatory ethanol program, which has driven up the cost of corn and other feed grains that are used to finish cattle. And the government has interfered in the marketplace and created winners and losers and favored one segment of agriculture over another, but this program that does not need any longer any kind of government involvement. I don't oppose people taking corn and making ethanol from it, if they can do that in a free market. But to have the government create that market, as it did, and then penalize one segment of agriculture, that's the animal sector, chickens and pigs and cattle, to the advantage of another one is just not something that the government ought to be doing. And I think the government ought to be out of all stimulus and involvement in production agriculture on the marketing side and on the production side. SHAPIRO: So Norman, if I'm correct, you're saying you raise cows and calves, and you would like to see all the subsidies go away no matter what, just let the free market completely run its course. NORMAN: It could easily do that. I'm not opposed to the research and all the protection of the environment and those issues that the government does. But let the markets set the price and let supply and demand work as they have for centuries. SHAPIRO: Thanks for the call, Norman, and Secretary Vilsack, is that feasible? Is that plausible? VILSACK: Well, there are a couple things. First of all, the country benefits from a strong, renewable fuel portfolio in industry. There are jobs created by that industry. There is consumer choice, resulting in a lower cost at the pump. Depending upon what study you look at, it's somewhere between 25 cents a gallon, maybe as much as a $1 gallon savings to consumers. There is a benefit to the livestock industry from ethanol production because about a third of the crop that's placed in ethanol production comes back out as a feed supplement that allows that farmer and other farmers to actually use less grain in order to make reasonable gain. And frankly, it is about an environmental opportunity, as well. Renewable fuel is certainly benefitting the environment. So when you take a look at what we have, you also look at the fact that many of the cash subsidies, the cash support for this industry, have gone away. There was an extension of one of the tax credits, but most of the tax credits are gone. The only thing that's in place now is the renewable fuel standard that requires a certain level of ethanol to be blended into our supply. We're really focusing on trying to move away from corn-based ethanol and basically complement it with nonfood feed stock, advanced biofuels, and that's going to take place. SHAPIRO: Stay with us. We're talking about the farm bill extension with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. And in a moment, we'll bring in Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa. Farmers, we want to hear from you. If the bill affects how you decide what to plant, what to buy or how to grow your herd, call us. The number is 1-800-989-8255. Or email us at [email protected]. We'll have more in a minute. I'm Ari Shapiro. This is TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) SHAPIRO: This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Ari Shapiro. And today we're talking about the farm bill extension, how it's affecting farmers as they make decisions about how to run their businesses. The farm bill has been around since 1933, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House. It was originally created to subsidize farmers enduring the Great Depression. Since then, it's expanded to include provisions on food stamps, livestock and disaster assistance, among other things. Today we want to hear from the farmers in our audience. If the bill affects your decisions that you're making today, about what to plant, what to buy, what to build or how you manage your livestock, call and tell us: What choices are you making because of the extension? The number is 1-800-989-8255. The email address is [email protected]. And we're joined now by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who is a family farmer himself, joining us by phone from his home state of Iowa. Thanks for being with us. SENATOR CHUCK GRASSLEY: I'm glad to be with you, and to be fair to my family, I should say that my son Robin and grandson Patrick do most of the work, and I'm kind of a hired man lately. (LAUGHTER) SHAPIRO: Well, has the failure to get a new five-year bill affected your family's farm? GRASSLEY: The answer is the extent to which the federal government is going to be involved in agriculture, and you know what that program is for certainty over a five-year period of time, it would be better to have a five-year farm program. SHAPIRO: Sure. GRASSLEY: The one-year extension is obviously better than nothing. With prices the way they are now, the safety net that's there for farmers isn't as much of a concern whether or not you have a farm bill otherwise, but... SHAPIRO: Although the government ends up subsidizing crops that are making record profits. GRASSLEY: ....seven-dollar corn or $13 beans for a long period of time. So what the farm program is is very important for long-term planning. SHAPIRO: Well, how do you get the parties to come together to accomplish something like this? President Obama has been pushing for it, as has Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, who is here in the studio with us. You clearly would have liked to get something done, and yet it didn't happen. GRASSLEY: Well, when you say get the parties together, if that's a division between Republicans and Democrats, we did a very good job of that in the United States Senate because we had very large bipartisan support for the farm bill. And by the way, the farm bill that we passed in the Senate would have saved $23 billion. It would have done away with the direct payments, which farmers don't need anymore, and it would have been a whole new direction of farm program and less dependency of the farmer on the government. SHAPIRO: You know, we're hearing from some farmers today who are frustrated at their financial uncertainty as a result of this extension. But there are also farmers who are flush with cash and getting more of it from the government through this short-term extension, correct? GRASSLEY: Yeah, that would be - for most crops, that would probably what we call the direct payment. And the farm bill that passed the Senate last year, the five-year farm program that obviously didn't get through the House of Representatives, would have done away with the direct payment. SHAPIRO: And so as a result, you know, part of the objection to this bill was wasteful use of government money, but it sounds as though the fix has created more waste of government money. GRASSLEY: Well, if your point is should there be any support for agriculture at all, it's a legitimate question. I heard the previous farmer talk. He thinks the government ought to be out of it entirely. I come from a generation where it was considered to be patriotic to join other farmers in being part of the farm program and working together. I accept his judgment. But the point is why do we have a farm program at all? Number one, it's pretty essential to our national defense. All you've got to do is ask Germany and Japan why they support farmers? Because they didn't want to starve to death during World War II, and they want to be ready for their national defense for the future. So having a ready-made food supply is very important to our national security. The second one is having a certainty of food supply, which we're used to in America, but a lot of places, they have riots, you're only nine meals away from a revolution. So if you want social cohesion, you've got to have certainty of food supply. So there's a very good reason for supporting the family farmer. SHAPIRO: Senator Grassley, I want to put to you a specific question that we just got via email from Joe in Kansas, who writes: I have land in southwestern Kansas that has been under a Conservation Reserve Program, CRP, contract until the end of this year. He writes: I'm needing to know whether it will be renewed or if I need to find another tenant to farm it. The CRP is a powerful conservation program, but it also stabilizes the crop revenues for crop producers. It seems very important. And he ends: Will the CRP program continue, and when will I know if my contract will be renewed? What can you tell Joe in Kansas? GRASSLEY: Well as of right now, the farm program for the 2013 crop year will be the same as it has been for the last five years. So his eligibility under the 2008 farm program would carry over until 2013. In the new five-year farm bill that we wrote in the Senate that passed the Senate that didn't get through the House, in regard to that we would have cut back the CRP program to I think about 22 to 24 million acres, as I recall, but there would still be a program around, and he would have - he would still have an opportunity to offer his land for - to be put in the conservation program. SHAPIRO: That was if the Senate bill had passed, you're saying. GRASSLEY: Yeah. SHAPIRO: Well, Senator Grassley, thank you for your time. I appreciate your being with us on the program. GRASSLEY: OK, goodbye. SHAPIRO: Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, joining us by phone from his home in Iowa. And let's go to caller number - this is a caller named Nick(ph) in St. Augustine, Florida. Hi Nick, thanks for being on the show. NICK: Hi, thank you for taking my call, first of all, and I'll take my comments off the air. I'm a first-generation farmer. I'm just starting. I'm trying to start my own farm. And farming being as difficult as it is, I want to know. I've got a degree in business. Is this a losing battle? Should I just go ahead and... SHAPIRO: Nick, not to put too fine a point on it, but why start a farm in a situation like this with governmental uncertainty, drought? I mean, what makes you want to start a farm right now? NICK: Because people need quality food. Everybody needs food to live, and we need quality food. And right now, America is not producing quality food. SHAPIRO: What kind of farm are you talking about? NICK: I'm actually working - this is one of the things I'm talking about is I was able to find an organic farmer in the area that has offered to let me use some of his land, let me use some of his knowledge and kind of help me get going. If it weren't for farm owner Francisco at KYV Farms, it would be a pipe dream. SHAPIRO: That's the name of the farmer who's helping you. NICK: And it would never be able to happen. SHAPIRO: Yeah, well... NICK: And I just want to know if I'm facing a losing battle or not. SHAPIRO: Thanks for the call, Nick, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, you're the man to ask. Is Nick facing a losing battle? VILSACK: Absolutely not. I think Nick is the face of a new type of agriculture, certainly not exclusively, but the new entrepreneurial, innovative markets that are opening up in local and regional food systems. This is basically Nick being connected to a farmer's market, to community-supported agricultural activity, to a school or an institutional purchaser that's looking for a product that's being produced locally. There are an enormous number of markets that have opened up recently in the last three years. We've made a major effort to expand farmer's markets, a 67 percent increase in farmer's markets. We now have food hubs, which is aggregating all of this produced food locally and being able to sell it to a school or to an institutional purchaser. So there is enormous opportunity here. He's an organic producer. There's also a new equivalency agreement with Canada and the E.U. So we have trade opportunities, as well. SHAPIRO: But my understanding is that the farm bill the Senate passed and the House did not pass would have increased funding for organic farms, farmer's markets and the like, and that the renewal does not. Is that correct? VILSACK: The extension does not, but with a five-year program, I'm fairly confident with Chairwoman Stabenow in the Senate that you're not going to see a five-year program without continued support for specialty crops, for organic production, for local and regional food systems, because she realizes that this is one of the four cornerstones to rebuilding the rural economy. You know, candidly, the biggest problem we have in rural America is the loss of population and poverty. And one way we can address both of those issues is by having more entrepreneurial opportunities. That means local and regional food systems, it means production agriculture and export opportunities. It means conservation and outdoor recreational opportunities that are attached to it, and it also it means this bio-based economy that we've talked a little bit about. SHAPIRO: Let's go to another caller. This is Jay in Rifle, Colorado. Hi, Jay. JAY: Hello. SHAPIRO: Tell us about your experience. JAY: Yeah. Well, you know, I'm out of business now. I've got no drought - I have not gotten any drought relief. SHAPIRO: You're out of business as a farmer. What kind of farm did you run? JAY: I was - I had cattle. I had hay, had a drought this - have had an ongoing drought for many years now. No assistance from the government. Had to sell all the cows this year because I couldn't afford to feed them. Everything is gone. SHAPIRO: Wow. Who did you sell them to? Is there another farmer operating on your land now? JAY: No. Well, I was leasing the land. I took - and I took them to market and got rid of them, paid off my debts as best I could. SHAPIRO: And how many years had you been in the cattle business? JAY: I've been doing cows off and on for about 30 years. SHAPIRO: And now that you've sold your herd? JAY: I don't know. SHAPIRO: That must be incredibly difficult. JAY: It's terrible, and I don't see anything - see, the passage of this farm bill, this passage of this extension, they didn't do any work. They could have passed it last year. They could have taken care of some of us last year, but no, they're too lazy to actually go in and do the work in Washington, is all I can see. SHAPIRO: Do you blame one party or another, one person or another? Do you - where do you point the finger? JAY: If you take all of the entire circumference of the Washington, D.C., area and all the people that work there, I throw it directly into their lap, along with the people who are the middlemen who are raking all the profit right off the top of grains, of hay, selling grains and hay to other countries when we need it here. SHAPIRO: Jay, hang on if you will. And Secretary Vilsack, how do you feel hearing from these farmers who have had to abandon, you know, a decades-long career, selling their herds because Washington wasn't able to get it together? VILSACK: Well, I certainly feel for him. It's one of the reasons why we express the need for a five-year program, because we knew that with the five-year program, particularly that which passed the Senate, there would have been disaster assistance, financial assistance for those livestock producers, for those dairy producers that were faced high feed costs that just couldn't make ends meet. The disaster assistance programs under the 2008 farm bill expired last year, in 2011. They actually expired in 2011. We articulated the need for a continuation of those disaster programs and a retroactive continuation so that we would have been able to provide help and assistance. That could still come if Congress acts quickly to get a five-year bill. They could resurrect, if you will, those disaster assistance programs. In the meantime what we did do at USDA to try to provide some help and assistance to folks impacted by drought was to open up CRP land, provide additional hay and grazing opportunities. We also provided some additional conservation dollars to make it a little bit easier. We also allowed the CRP land that was used. We reduced the rental repayment that you have to make. We gave the ability to barter and exchange, more flexibility. So we tried administratively to do what we could, but what they needed was financial assistance, and that was not forthcoming. SHAPIRO: Well, Jay, I'm very sorry for what you had to go through, and I appreciate your calling and sharing your story with us. JAY: Oh, thank you for your time, sir. SHAPIRO: Let's go to another caller. This is - oh, actually, hang on. You know, before we do that, Secretary Vilsack, I wanted to just sort of play devil's advocate with you. If we are facing the worst drought in decades, that may continue for years if not decades - should the U.S. government really be subsidizing people farming on this drought-stricken land where it may be very, very difficult to farm for many years to come? VILSACK: Well, one of the reasons that the new bill was so important is because it moved away from the direct payment system which a lot of people had concerns about, including the president, including myself, and put more focus on a crop insurance effort. Basically, producers would purchase insurance coverage. And if for reasons of drought or some other natural disaster they weren't able to produce what they would normally produce, they were able to buy protection, buy coverage. We would see in the long term that as a critical component to any kind of new farm legislation that we have, a functioning crop insurance system in which people can essentially partner with the government and reduce their risk. It seems to me that's a logical way to approach it. The second thing is to make sure that we continue to support conservation practices, because there may be opportunities for the government and for the private sector to encourage landowners to put land in conservation practices that would benefit the soil, provide income for the farmer and also increase habitat opportunities, which also stimulates more economic opportunity in rural areas. SHAPIRO: We're talking about the farm bill extension, and you're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. This is Devin in Ashview(ph). Hi, Devin. You're on the air. DEVIN: Hi. I was calling in because I heard one of the previous commentators was talking about how, you know, one of the people was talking about how corn is now being subsidized, particularly by the government, because it's a source of bioethanol fuel. And unfortunately, for like local farmers that are just trying to produce, you know, corn and good vegetables and, you know, and good basic stuff like that for our region, the prices have just skyrocketed, and local people cannot purchase it anymore. It's just not economic for the people around us. And I kind of feel like the implementation of certain funds with a farm bill like this - I think that there should be disaster relief, but with a farm bill subsidizing certain farms or certain things, I think that we could be putting the money into other resources, other things that would help farmers across the entire nation really establish themselves without hiking up prices of certain things, like grains, so that local people can't buy them, and so that, you know, cattle farmers can't buy them. And I think there's a better way to put our resources into things. SHAPIRO: Thanks for the call, Devin. Secretary Vilsack, what I'm hearing from so many of these callers is that the farm bill is an opportunity for the country to re-establish its priorities for the next five years, and then everyone can adjust their decisions appropriately. But now there's just nine months of treading water because the House of Representatives never got around to passing the bill the Senate passed that readjusted those priorities. VILSACK: Well, it's House leadership, basically. I think the House would have passed the bill if they had been given the opportunity, but the speaker, majority leader, made the decision not to put the bill up for a vote and not to give Chairman Lucas, who's on the House Agricultural Committee and ranking member Collin Peterson, an opportunity to negotiate with their Senate colleagues to try to come up with a resolution. Now, you know, I think it's important to note that - that this is an important opportunity for rural America. It's not just farming. As important as that is, that's a part of this bill. Really what we're talking about is a strategy, a vision, a plan for rural America. And rural America provides and contributes so much to the rest of the country that it's the reason why this should be a priority, and it hasn't been. And I think one of the reasons it's not a priority is because we've seen a shrinking political relevance of rural America because of shrinking populations. It only represents now 16 percent of America's population. That 16 percent is the lowest figure in the country's history, and when you reapportion and develop legislative districts the way we do every 10 years, it means fewer and fewer members of Congress have an understanding or appreciation for the rural contribution. And it becomes easier to disregard the need for a farm bill, in an election year in particular. SHAPIRO: That's Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, former Democratic governor of Iowa, joining us here in Studio 3A. Thanks for your time. VILSACK: Good. Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.TweetShareGoogle+EmailView the discussion thread. © 2017 KUER

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Running on Empty Here’s something that has just come over the wires. It’s a statement from some of the most important social movements in Latin America, and it’s a deep indictment of biofuels. The Brazilian ‘biofuels’ miracle has been powered by sugar cane. All along, those in the fields have known the cost of the biofuel venture.It’s often forgotten that biofuels need to be grown somewhere. And when they are, they’re not grown in a mom-and-pop scatter-a-few-seeds-on-the-ground-and-soon-you’ll-have-a-gas-tree sort of way. It’s big, industry and monoculture. It’s a multimillion dollar affair. And, in Brazil, it’s an engine of exploitation and environmental destruction. Here’s the text. Full Tanks at the Cost of Empty Stomachs:The Expansion of the Sugarcane Industry in Latin America We, representatives of organizations and social movements of Brasil, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic, gathered at a forum on the expansion of the sugarcane industry in Latin America, declare that: The current model of production of bioenergy is sustained by the same elements that have always caused the oppression of our peoples: appropriation of territory, of natural resources, and the labor force. Historically the sugar industry served as an instrument to maintain colonialism in our countries and the creation of dominant classes that have controlled, through today, large extensions of land, the industrial process, and commercialization. This sector is based on latifundio ownership, on the overexploitation of labor (including slave labor) and the appropriation of public resources. This sector was created upon intensive and extensive monocropping, provoking concentration of land, profit, and wealth. The sugarcane industry was one of the main agricultural activities developed in the colonies. It allowed sectors that controlled production and commercializaction to continue accumulating capital and with this contribute to the development of capitalism in Europe. In Latin America, the creation and control of the State, beginning in the 19th century, continued to service the colonial interests. Currently, control of the State by this sector is characterized by so-called “bureaucratic capitalism”. The sugar industry defined the political structures of national States and of Latin American economies. In Brasil, beginning in the 1970s, during the so-called world oil “crisis”, the sugarcane industry began to produce fuel, which justified its maintenance and expansion. The same was repeated in 2004, with the new Pro-Alcohol program, which principally serves to benefit agribusiness. The Brasilian government began to stimulate the production of biodiesel as well, principally to guarantee the survival and expansion of large extensions of soy monoculture. To legitimate this policy and camouflage its destructive effects, the government stimulated the diversified production of biodiesel by small producers, with the objective of creating a “social certificate”. The monocultures have expanded into indigenous areas and other territories of native peoples. In February of 2007, the United States government announced its interest in establishing a partnership with Brasil in the production of biofuels, characterized as the principal “symbolic axis” in the relation between the two countries. This is clearly a phase of a geopolitical strategy of the United States to weaken the influence of countries such as Venezuela and Bolivia in the region. It also justifies the expansion of monocultures of sugarcane, soy, and african palm in all Latin American territories. Taking advantage of the legitimate concern of international public opinion on global warming, large agricultural companies, biotechnology companies, oil companies, and auto companies now perceive that biofuels represent an important source for the accumulation of capital. Biomass is falsely presented as the new energy matrix, the ideal of which is renewable energy. We know that biomass will not actually be able to substitute fossil fuels, nor is it renewable. Some characteristics inherent to the sugar industry are the destruction of the environment and the overexploitation of labor. The principal workforce is migrant labor. As a result, processes of migration are stimulated, making workers more vulnerable and attempts at organization more difficult. The rigorous work of cutting sugarcane has caused the death of hundreds of workers. Female workers who cut sugarcane are exploited even more, as they receive lower salaries or, in some countries such as Costa Rica, do not directly receive salaries. Payment is made to the husband or partner. Child labor is commonly practiced in the industry throughout Latin America, as well as the exploitation of youth as the main labor force in the suffocating process of cutting sugarcane. Workers do not have any control over the total amount of their production and as a consequence over their salary, as they are paid according to the quantity cut and not for hours worked. This situation has serious implications for the health of workers and has caused the death of workers through fatigue and the excessive labor that requires cutting up to 20 tons per day. The majority of contracts are through third party intermediaries or “gatos”. This complicates the possibility of achieving workers’ rights, as formal work contracts do not exist. The figure of the employer is hidden in this process, which negates the very existence of labor relations. The Brasilian State stimulates the use of resettled lands under agrarian reform and lands of small producers, currently responsible for 70% of the production of food, for biofuel crops, compromising food sovereignty. As a result, we assume the commitment of: Expanding and strengthening the struggles of social movements in Latin America and the Caribbean, through a network among existing workers’ organizations and support groups. Denouncing and combating any agrarian model based on monocultures and concentration of land and profit, destructive of the environment, responsible for slave labor and the overexploitation of the working force. Changing the current agrarian model implies a full realization of a profound Agrarian Reform that eliminates latinfundios. Strengthening rural workers’ organizations, salaried workers, and farmworkers to construct a new model that is closely cemented to farmworker agriculture and agroecology, with diversified production, prioritizing internal consumption. It is important to fight for a policy of subsidies for the production of food. Our principal objective is to guarantee food sovereignty, as the expansion of the production of biofuels aggravates hunger in the world. We cannot maintain our tanks full while stomachs go empty. São Paulo, February 28, 2007 Grito dos Excluídos Movimento Sem Terra (MST) Serviço Pastoral dos Migrantes (SPM) Rede Social de Justiça e Direitos Humanos Previous Previous post: Is All Flesh Corruption?Next Next post: The Myth of Biofuels

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slow session: screening of farmaggedon with post-film discussion, 8/15/2012 Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2012, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm Location: The RGK Center at the LBJ Library on the UT campus (parking info provided with RSVP) RSVP: Please email Chelsea Staires at [email protected] Americans’ right to access fresh, healthy foods of their choice is under attack. Farmageddon tells the story of small, family farms that were providing safe, healthy foods to their communities and were forced to stop, sometimes through violent action, by agents of misguided government bureaucracies, and seeks to figure out why. Join us in the refreshing air conditioning of the RGK center at UT’s LBJ Library to see one of the most important films highlighting the challenges facing America’s small farmers today, especially those producing raw milk. Following the screening of FARMAGEDDON at this Slow Session, we’ll have an opportunity to discuss comments, concerns, ideas, and inspirations from the film. More About FARMAGEDDON: Filmmaker Kristin Canty’s quest to find healthy food for her four children turned into an educational journey to discover why access to these foods was being threatened. What she found were policies that favor agribusiness and factory farms over small family-operated farms selling fresh foods to their communities. Instead of focusing on the source of food safety problems — most often the industrial food chain — policymakers and regulators implement and enforce solutions that target and often drive out of business small farms that have proven themselves more than capable of producing safe, healthy food, but buckle under the crushing weight of government regulations and excessive enforcement actions. Farmageddon highlights the urgency of food freedom, encouraging farmers and consumers alike to take action to preserve individuals’ rights to access food of their choice and farmers’ rights to produce these foods safely and free from unreasonably burdensome regulations. The film serves to put policymakers and regulators on notice that there is a growing movement of people aware that their freedom to choose the foods they want is in danger, a movement that is taking action with its dollars and its voting power to protect and preserve the dwindling number of family farms that are struggling to survive.

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Halve catches or lose Pacific bluefin tuna, WWF tells fishery managers Pacific Bluefin Tuna auction in local Japanese fishing port © (c)WWF Japan. Lima, Peru: The long term sustainability of the Pacific Bluefin Tuna fishery can only be guaranteed by following the science and halving catch limits, WWF will tell the two Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) covering the Pacific. The 21 country and European Union members of the Inter American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) meeting next week in Lima, Peru will be faced with findings that measures of Pacific Bluefin tuna breeding stock have declined from their unfished levels by more than 96 percent. Also concerning is the fact that about 90% of the fished species are young fish that have not yet reproduced. The advice from experts of the International Scientific Committee (ISC) for tuna on how overfished Pacific Bluefin tuna must also be taken to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in Samoa in December. Japan, Mexico, the United States and South Korea are the major countries fishing Pacific bluefin, while the main market is Japan. “Management measures in the Eastern Pacific and Western and Central Pacific are totally insufficient to preserve the Pacific Bluefin tuna stock. Only a 50% reduction of catches and stringent measures to protect juveniles can ensure a long-term sustainability of this fishery,” said Pablo Guerrero, Eastern Pacific Ocean Tuna Coordinator for WWF’s Smart Fishing Initiative. Fleet capacity one third more than recommendation In June 2012, the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission set a quota for the tuna catch in the eastern Pacific for the first time ever. Last year the IATTC established that commercial catches in the Eastern Pacific Ocean should not exceed 5000 metric tons in 2014, but only the significant reduction of this quota might help Pacific bluefin tuna biomass to recover. “Delegates to the Lima meeting need to agree to a catch limit of 2750 metric tons to be consistent with the ISC’s recommendation of a 50% reduction of catches“, said Guerrero. For tuna fisheries generally, WWF is highlighting “a clear fishing overcapacity in the Eastern Pacific that undermines the economic performance of the fleet and if not properly controlled, can lead to overfishing of the main tuna stocks”. WWF is calling on IATTC for an urgent reduction plan to meet the purse seine fishery capacity levels set out in its 2005 Plan for Management of Regional Capacity, given that current recorded capacity levels exceed these limits by more than a third. “We are hoping that the Pacific Ocean tuna fishers will see it is in their best interests to address this issue of too many boats chasing too few fish and avoid more draconian management measures such as extended closed seasons and areas.” The IATTC should also adopt conservation measures to reduce fishing mortality of silky sharks in order to rebuild the stock of these sharks in the EPO, and also totally prohibit the removal of fins at sea and to require that sharks be landed with their fins naturally attached. IATTC members should adopt the scientific recommendations on best practices for handling mantarays aboard purse seiners. Other measures which could make tuna fisheries more sustainable include: mandatory IMO (International Maritime Organization) numbers for all purse seiners and long liners greater than 20m in length operating in the Convention area to monitor and control existing fishing capacity; to provide additional data on movement of FADs (Fish Aggregated Devices) to the Commission, and to mark and identify these devices. And finally, that fishing fleets using FADs avoid the use of any entangling material deployed beneath them in order to reduce by catch of sea turtles and sharks. Tuna is one of the most valuable fisheries in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, supporting a billion dollar industry that sustains the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people and contributes to economic growth and social development in the region. “It is vital that the member states of the IATTC expand their commitment to the responsible management necessary for sustainable levels of tuna stocks while ensuring a healthy long-term shark population at the same time,” added Pablo Guerrero. Note to editors [1] The IATTC is responsible for the conservation and management of tuna and other marine resources in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The members of the IATTC are: Belize, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, European Union, France, Guatemala, Japan, Kiribati, Korea, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Chinese Taipei, United States, Vanuatu, Venezuela. For more detailed information: • Pablo Guerrero, Eastern Pacific Ocean Tuna Coordinator – WWF Smart Fishing Initiative [email protected] , Cel+593 9 99204171 • Julio Mario Fernandez, Communications Director, WWF-LAC [email protected], Cel + 593 9 83356421 / Office + 593 2 2554783, About WWF WWF is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with over 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. More information: panda.org/news Pacific Bluefin Tuna factsheet

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Parijat Tree of Mahabharata Age at Kintur Village in Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh A Parijat Tree located at Kintur Village in Barabanki District in Uttar Pradesh in India is believed to belong to the age of the Mahabharata. It is mentioned in the Mahabharat that Sri Krishna uprooted the Parijata Tree from the kingdom of Indira, the god of Devas, and presented it to his wife Rukimini. Another legend in the Puranas suggests that Arjuna of Mahabarat brought the Parijata Tree for his mother Kunti, who offered to Shiva. It is believed by many people that the Parijat Tree mentioned in the Mahabharata is the one found at Kintur Village in Barabanki District. Kintur Village is named after Kunti, the mother of Pandavas. The village is located around 40 km east of Barabanki Town. But sadly now experts have raised concern about the survival of the tree. Times of India reports After concerns being raised over its survival from different quarters, a 5-member panel of experts from the Narendra Deo University of Agriculture and Technology (NDUAT), Faizabad, surveyed the tree on Monday. Leading the panel, head of department of crop physiology, NDUAT, Akhtar Hussain Khan, said: "We travelled to Barabanki to assess the tree and the extent of damage it has suffered due to various reasons. Now we will compile a report citing the problems that plague the tree and ways to protect and preserve the plant variety.'' Khan added: "It is believed that this is the only tree of this variety that exists. We will also try to see whether saplings of the tree can be planted elsewhere.'' More Information about the Parijata Tree at Barabanki It is mentioned in the Harivansh Purana that Parijat is a type of Kalpvraksh and whosoever makes a wish under this tree gets it fulfilled. Parijat Tree at Kintur Village in Barabanki District is the only tree of this variety that exists. The tree has been kept in a special category because it does not produce fruits and neither does it reproduce from branch cuttings. Some experts are of the view that it is a unisex male tree and that there is no other such tree in the world. The leaves of this tree in the lower portion have five tips like the fingers of a hand, while at the upper reaches it has seven. Its flower is very beautiful and white in color, on drying out it gets a golden tinge. The flower has five petals. The tree blossoms very occasionally, with very few flowers, but when it does in June/ July, it spreads its fragrance far and wide. The age of this tree is said to be 1000 to 5000 years. The perimeter of the trunk of this tree is around 50 feet and height of around 45 feet. There is another popular saying that, its branches do not break or dry out but shrink and disappear into the original trunk. It must be noted that different varieties of the Parijat Tree are found in different parts of India. But none of them have the characteristics of the one found at Barabanki.

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The global gene pool of the goat seriously under threat January 23, 2013 in Biology / Ecology Credit: SERIDA Amongst the range of domestic livestock species, the goat is not just the 'black sheep' but a resource of survival in impoverished countries, and many breeds are at great risk of disappearing. This is the case according to researchers of the Regional Service of Agro-Food Research and Development in their first monographic study tackling the global impact of this species. A study from the Regional Service of Agro-Food Research and Development (SERIDA) has analysed the situation of the global goat population. The study took into account the state of different breeds, the multiple implications of their conservation, the interaction with other animal species (wild and domestic) and the consequences of goat grazing from an environmental point of view. "The risk of the gene pool of the goat disappearing has increased due to intensive animal husbandry systems that use a very limited number of breeds. Strangely enough, the biggest loss in the genetic resources of indigenous animals has been observed in Europe, although the situation is unknown in many areas," as explained to SINC by Rocío Rosa García, researcher at SERIDA and coauthor of the study. The bad reputation given to goats stems from one of its main virtues: it has an extraordinary capacity to adapt to the most difficult of environmental conditions in places where other domestic livestock species would not survive. "It is a reality that the grazing of these animals can cause damaging effects on the environment but ecosystems become overloaded because of inadequate practices of handling," ensures the scientist. According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), nowadays the largest number of goats can be found in the poorest of countries and especially those which have difficult environmental conditions and mountainous, desert and semi-desert regions. "In poor regions, poor communities are commonplace and often the goat is the only source of animal protein in their diet," explains Rosa García. The team led by Koldo Osoro Otaduy, manager of the Animal Production Systems Area at SERIDA and centre director, undertook a large part of the field work in areas in which the role of the goat is very relevant and have certain similarities with hostile environments in other parts of the world. "Many national and international projects have been carried out in less-favoured areas, like the Asturian mountains which are home to steep slopes, poor soil, an aging population and a high risk of depopulation and abandonment of traditional activities," ensure the researchers. The goat: its virtues and defects Poor handling of grazing, which does not consider the livestock species and their most fitting habitat, is the main cause of the damaging effects that goats can cause on the environment. For example, the uncontrolled growth of the cashmere goat to increase production of its prized wool has meant in some cases that the ecosystems have become overloaded. This has not only affected vegetation but also certain indigenous species in India, China and Mongolia. To counteract this, the study also considers a large number of cases in which the species plays an important role in environmental conservation. These include their use in the fight against fires in areas dominated by bushes and in controlling exotic vegetation plagues that could put ecosystems at risk. "We wanted to perform a global review, taking into account very different regions of the world, from the Himalayan peaks to tropical areas, and analysing to what extent the goat competes with local fauna in each region and whether it interferes with the survival of the most sensitive species," outlines Rosa García. Garcia, R. et al. Goat grazing, its interactions with other herbivores and biodiversity conservation issues, Small Ruminant Research 107 (2012) 49- 64. Provided by Plataforma SINC "The global gene pool of the goat seriously under threat" January 23, 2013 https://phys.org/news/2013-01-global-gene-pool-goat-threat.html

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News » Business » State catfish farmers look to level the playing field State catfish farmers look to level the playing field Posted on June 30, 2013 by Sarah Robinson in Business, News By Sarah Robinson/NEMS Daily Journal EGYPT – Unlike many Northeast Mississippi farmers, Brent Wedel didn’t get into the business because of family ties. “I just got this brainwave to try it,” Wedel said. And he’s not a typical grower, either. Wedel is a catfish farmer. Not growing up in the industry, he learned much of what he knows today through trial and error. “I started with 10 acres in ’95 and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Wedel said. Today, he routinely produces more than 1 million pounds of catfish a year from his 26-pond farm in Egypt in Chickasaw County. Wedel’s success is noteworthy in an industry that as a whole, has declined steeply over the past decade. The Mississippi catfish industry peaked in 2002, with more than 113,000 acres of ponds statewide. Today, that acreage is down to about 45,000, according to Mississippi State University aquiculture expert Jim Steeby. “Half of the industry is gone,” Steeby said, “We’re struggling to save a good bit of what is left.” Catfish require high-quality feed primarily made from corn, the price of which has risen sharply in recent years. Meanwhile, cheap imports from China and Southeast Asia have flooded the market, driving catfish prices down. Legislation aimed at leveling the playing field for U.S. catfish farmers was passed in the 2008 farm bill. The program would transfer the responsibility of inspecting imported seafood from the Food and Drug Administration to the USDA. “It makes the standards very high,” said Steeby. “It would be a similar situation to the way meats are inspected in the U.S.” INSPECTION PROGRAM U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., is one of several lawmakers that has called the USDA into question for its continued failure to implement the program. In a statement released last month, Cochran expressed concern for the health of the catfish industry and consumers. “There is concern that not much has been done even though Congress has authorized the Food Safety and Inspection Service to inspect and grade catfish supplies to ensure they are safe to eat,” Cochran said. According to a 2011 report from the Government Accountability Office, only 2 percent of imported seafood is properly inspected under the current program. The report found that “there were health and safety violations found in 482 shipments of imported catfish products between 2002 and August 2010.” Cochran, the ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture committee, has attributed the delay in implementing the program due to the inability of the USDA to settle on a scientific definition for catfish. The narrow standard currently applied requires domestically grown catfish to face stricter regulatory standards than imported fish. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has said the agency is on track to begin the new inspection program later in 2013. For catfish famers, it may be too little, too late. At this point, Wedel said, the legislation has taken so long to enact that “most people have lost interest.” Prices in the past few years have recovered to about 95 cents per pound, an improvement from the low of 70 cents but still far below the industry high of $1.35 per pound. In the meantime, Wedel and other catfish farmers in the state will combat the problems they can like disease, heat and algae. Steeby said Americans can help the industry, and their health, by eating more fish. “Our diet doesn’t include enough seafood,” he said. “If we did get enough seafood,” according to Steeby, farmers would hardly be able to keep up with demand. He said retail products are supposed to be labeled by country of origin and buying domestic seafood is the biggest way to help the industry. [email protected] ← AP photographer describes 128-degree heat Green Street Mile Thursday in Tupelo →

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Governor's 2012 Trade Mission to Mexico Leads to New Rule, Expanding Opportunity for Colorado Potato Farmers By: John Hickenlooper Date: April 19, 2014 Location: Denver, CO Gov. John Hickenlooper and the Colorado Department of Agriculture announced today Mexico has published new rules that permit expanded access to the Mexican market for U.S. fresh potatoes. This will allow producers in Colorado, particularly those in the San Luis Valley, to increase potato exports to Mexico. "Agricultural exports have become increasingly important to our state's economy," Hickenlooper said. "We have a strong partnership with Mexico and we are excited about the continued growth of these export markets." Colorado agricultural exports continue to grow, nearly doubling since 2009. Mexico is Colorado's second-largest agricultural export market. This step by Mexico will further strengthen that relationship, not only increasing exports of Colorado fresh potatoes to that country, but also potentially opening more opportunities for Colorado agriculture in general. Expanded exports of fresh potatoes could have a positive economic impact of $30 million for Colorado. "This is great news for Colorado and for potato producers in the San Luis Valley," Commissioner of Agriculture John Salazar said. "We have been working to expand this market since 2003. I especially want to commend Gov. Hickenlooper on his leadership in helping make this day happen." Hickenlooper led a trade mission to Mexico in 2012 that focused on opening Mexico's interior market for potatoes. To date, only areas along the border have been accessible to U.S. potatoes. During the 2012 visit, the governor and Salazar met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon to press the case for potato market expansion. The trade mission supported ongoing industry efforts to promote Colorado products in Mexico and helped to lay the foundation for this significant action by Mexico. Shipments of Colorado potatoes increased 26 percent between 2012 and 2013. In addition, the export value of Colorado potatoes sold to Mexico grew to $23 million in 2013 from $17 million in 2012. The release of this new rule comes at an opportune time as the Colorado Department of Agriculture, which recently exhibited with several Colorado potato companies at the 2014 ANTAD trade show March 12-14 in Guadalajara, Mexico. "Our presence at ANTAD will help us continue to develop market opportunities for potatoes and other Colorado agricultural products," Salazar said. "We will be able to network with buyers from some of the largest retail outlets in Mexico." Source: http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=GovHickenlooper%2FCBONLayout&cid=1251651832529&pagename=CBONWrapper

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Heifers ended up on the A272 after gates left open Following the storms, we are now in a period of calm weather; unusually mild for January it must be said, and we have dispensed with almost half of it already. I find that the first half of January passes in a blur, with New Year taking care of the first week as people get back into some semblance of normality. Getting used to putting 2012 on paperwork and cheques, planning our maize planting strategy, fertilizer requirements, grass silage and grazing planning; have been issues to grapple with over the last week or so. We have also been discussing our herd health, fertility performance and feeding strategy recently, and discussing what changes to make. One change that happened suddenly was our young-stock feed supplier at Tillington, following a delivery made between Christmas and New Year by the company we have dealt with for many years. The lorry driver duly arrived, unloaded his delivery of nuts into the feed-bin, and then promptly drove off, leaving both gates open (we have two in series for security). Our 45 young heifers were on the way down to the A272 when luckily, a friend met them in their car, holding them up whilst Gwenan ran ahead to turn them back. I can forgive the company a rogue driver, but what I cannot forgive is not returning my call after my leaving a very angry message. That has cost them the business.n We went to the cinema to see ‘The Iron Lady last week. Margaret Thatcher became Leader of the Conservative party when I was working for Brigadier Charles Hilary Vaughan in North Wales; a very interesting man. We spent a lot of time together, both on the Nannau Estate, and privately when I used to drive him to visit his daughter Trish (a very good friend of Lorayne’s) during her illness. ‘Watch out for this woman’ he said. ‘Things are going to be very different now’. I must admit that his views were at odds with not only people on the street, many of whom had not heard of this woman, but the media, who were not particularly kind at the time. Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in the same year as I arrived in West Sussex, and ‘The Brigadier’, who had sadly died before I left Wales, was proven to be absolutely right; whatever one’s views were. The audience in Guildford cinema last week were very different to the usual cinema audience; not least in the way they were dressed. There was no chatting, pop-corn, or rustling of sweet papers during the film, and afterwards there was silence as people made their way out. The film has no new content to speak of historically, and I can understand why many believe that it would have been much better and kinder, not to release such a film whilst Lady Thatcher is still alive. It is an interesting perspective, sympathetic, and very sad. The characters and acting are pretty average apart from Meryl Streep who is truly outstanding, and it is one of the best performances I have ever seen, totally overshadowing everyone else and the story itself. Jim Broadbent is also very good as Dennis Thatcher. It’s not a great film, a triumph of make-up over substance, but I am glad I saw it. n I attended the Oxford Farming Conference last week, where many distinguished and interesting people spoke about agriculture and its place in the world. Dr Joseph Glauber Chief Economist at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) spoke of tight and volatile world markets in the near term, but (if allowed), with science and technology, increased yields over the next ten years should allow stock rebuilding. He said Government should foster policies which allow consumers and producers to make decisions based on market prices. He also said that maize can be turned to ethanol with no subsidy at an equivalent oil price of $130 a barrel, adding that wheat would not be far behind.George Magnus, Senior Economic Adviser to UBS Investment Bank told us that whilst we see the current financial crisis as ‘global’, China sees it as a Western financial crisis. He spoke of the ‘demographic dividend’ (discussed in this column last year), at play in Asia, where the ageing population has yet to become a real burden, and productivity is benefitting from previous birth rates. China however, is the fastest aging population on the planet, and will by mid century be the most ancient population. The UK had its demographic dividend in the 1980’s and early 1990’s (Thatcher’s time), but it took both the UK and USA 70-100 years to double its aged population; China and emerging countries will do so in 20 years, which is very significant.Professor Sir Bob Watson, Defra’s Chief Scientific Advisor told us that reform of the Common Agricultural Policy is critical, and that ecosystem services need to be properly paid for. Consumers will need to see the benefit of GM before they will accept the technology. Science only informs, it does not give answers; government makes the decisions, and all he asks is for them not to distort the results.Terry Hehir, a fellow Nuffield Scholar who spent time in Sussex during his studies, and whose farm I visited during my travels through Australia, spoke powerfully about the report ‘Power in Agriculture’; with particular reference to Transnational Corporations (TNC’s). Terry farms in the Golden Valley in Northern Victoria, where temperatures were 40 c last week! The area depends on irrigated pastures, and that water is seriously threatened as urban demand continues to rise. ‘Power in Agriculture’ is a study commissioned by the Oxford Farming Conference, and shows where Global power in agriculture lies; be that political, economic or natural resources. The only thing left out of this study is science and technology, which is something we would have scored highly in this country. Power at present is concentrated in North America and Europe; Brazil and New Zealand are the largest exporters of some commodities (dairy and beef). There is no suggestion that this will change in the next 10 years, although Europe has already retreated from world markets; a position which is likely to continue without major policy change. When it comes to corporate power, it is the same story with huge TNC’s in both Europe and the USA. On the political front, China, Brazil and India are the leaders in the shift of political power towards developing countries and their emerging economies. When it comes to the critical natural resources, it’s a grim picture. Many of today’s powerful agricultural economies in the world including Europe and the USA are poorly endowed with the critical resources used in agriculture; land, water, potassium, phosphate, oil and natural gas. The UK punches above its weight in terms of trade, corporate and political power, but is lowly rated in the report in terms of natural resources. This puts us behind countries such as Russia and China (vastly bigger of course) in terms of overall power; the EU 27 however are much stronger overall as a trading block, only bettered by the good ‘ol US of A; top-dog for the time being.Farm Diary - Gwyn Jones

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Weird Winter Has Gardeners Itching To Plant, Despite The Risks By Nancy Shute Feb 28, 2012 TweetShareGoogle+Email Plant now, and in a month your spinach might look like this. It's a hardy plant that can survive late frost. Right about now, gardeners are aching to get out and plant. Usually, in the February dregs of winter, that desire is dashed by cold, wet, maybe even frozen soil. But this year is different. Here in Washington, D.C., snowdrops came up almost a month ago, and the daffodils have been blooming for two weeks. It's tempting to think that if these harbingers of spring showed up three weeks ahead of schedule, it's safe to plant early, too. I called up Scott Aker, head of horticulture at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Arboretum, for some wise advice. "Nobody ever thought we'd have this kind of weather," he said. "It's kind of crazy." But he's ready to throw caution to the wind. "You could sow right now," he said. "[That would] be rolling the dice a bit. But you could sow arugula, winter cress, and even give lettuce and carrots a shot." Aker says that soil temperature is one big reason that gardeners can push the envelope this spring. The astonishingly warm winter across much of the country means that the soil temperature may be up in the 50s during the day - warm enough to germinate seeds. Aker says he's already seen grass seed sprouting at the arboretum. Cold isn't the only issue. Late winter soils are often too wet to till and sow, because the cold slows evaporation. But this year's warm temperatures mean drier soils, too. Still, February gardening isn't for the faint of heart. The last frost dates — after which it is safe to start planting tender crops like beans — are not until April for the D.C. area. For now, Aker says, hardy crops like arugula, kale, and spinach are the best bets, because they can handle a bit of late frost. "Even some of the cole crops," he adds. "Broccoli, cabbage, things like that." This year's warm spike is separate from the gradual increase in temperatures that have been charted over the past few decades. That trend prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture to issue a new version of its "Plant Hardiness Zone Map" last month. Those zones are widely used by gardeners to figure out what plants will survive in the yard, and when to plant. For guidelines on when to plant specific crops, seek out charts from the Cooperative Extension office for your state. The guidelines for my home state of Maryland warn against planting kale before April 1. But I'm ready to roll the dice. "You're fingers are getting itchy," Aker says, laughing. He knows that feeling all too well. And he also knows that gardening is a gamble, no matter what the winter. I know, I know. The warm spring may mean an early, scorching summer, or more bugs and fungus. "You're really having to contend with everything nature can throw at you. Sometimes that's things on four legs. Sometimes it's weather. The gardener has to adapt."Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. TweetShareGoogle+EmailView the discussion thread. © 2017 KALW

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Horticulture & Home Pest News is filled with articles on current horticulture, plant care, pest management, and common household pests written by Iowa State University Extension specialists in the Departments of Entomology, Horticulture and Plant Pathology. ISU Entomology / Horticulture and Home Pest News / Effects of Record Cold April Temperatures on Horticultural Plants Notify me when new issues are published! Search Search articles from 1992 to the present. Past Issues Browse through our back issues by author, date, or topic. Directory of extension specialists Effects of Record Cold April Temperatures on Horticultural Plants This article was published originally on // Byline: by Richard Jauron, Department of Horticulture In Iowa, the weather in spring is often erratic. The weather in 2007 has been no exception. Record cold temperatures have followed the unseasonably warm weather in late March and early April. The cold April temperatures have affected plants in gardens and home landscapes. The good news is that the cold temperatures shouldn't have a long-term effect on most plants. The prognosis for trees, shrubs, perennials, vegetables, and other plants are provided below. Woody Plants The extent of plant damage is dependent on several factors. These factors include temperature, plant species, and stage of plant growth. The most noticeable effect on trees and shrubs has been on the early blooming plants, such as magnolias and forsythias. The cold temperatures have destroyed the flowers on early blooming trees and shrubs. The cold temperatures may also have damaged the flower buds on later blooming trees and shrubs, such as crabapples and lilacs. As a result, they may not bloom as well as normal. Newly emerged foliage is also susceptible to damage from below freezing temperatures. Symptoms of freeze damage include shriveling and browning or blackening of damaged tissue. Damaged growth often becomes limp. Eventually, damaged or destroyed leaves and flowers may drop from the tree or shrub. Fortunately, trees and shrubs have the ability to leaf out again if the initial growth is damaged or destroyed. Healthy, well-established trees and shrubs should not be greatly harmed and will produce additional growth within a few weeks. Good care during the remainder of the year, such as watering during dry periods, should aid the recovery of trees and shrubs planted within the past 3 to 5 years. Perennials The record cold temperatures have drastically affected the flowering of tulips, daffodils, and other spring-flowering bulbs. The cold temperatures have damaged or destroyed many of the flowers of early blooming varieties. Those varieties that were developing more slowly may still bloom. The foliage of the spring-flowering bulbs has been damaged. Portions of the leaves have turned white. The damaged leaves of many tulips have collapsed onto the ground. Despite its poor appearance, the foliage should not be cut back until it turns completely brown. The undamaged portions of the leaves need to be able to manufacture as much food as possible in order to bloom next spring. The record cold temperatures have also damaged bleeding heart, daylily, astilbe, hosta, and other emerging perennials. While the freezing temperatures may have damaged or destroyed the emerging new growth, the roots and crowns of established perennials should still be alive. (Perennials planted within the last year are most at risk of serious damage.) The damaged perennials should send up a second flush of growth in a few weeks. Good care this spring and summer should help the perennials recover. Vegetables Asparagus spears that were damaged or destroyed by the cold temperatures should be cut off and discarded. Damaged or destroyed rhubarb stalks should also be cut off and discarded. Rhubarb stalks that emerge later this spring will be safe to eat. Cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower set out in late March or early April will probably need to be replanted. The cold temperatures may have damaged or destroyed some plants. Those plants that have survived the cold temperatures will probably not form usable heads. Exposure to prolonged periods of cold temperatures cause cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower plants to form heads prematurely (referred to as "buttoning"). Plants that button do not form usable heads. Radish, lettuce, and spinach seeds and potatoes that were sown/planted in late March or early April should emerge in the next few weeks with the arrival of warmer temperatures. Small Fruit For best yields, strawberry plantings are mulched in fall to protect the plants from cold temperatures. Many of the flower buds on strawberry plantings that were prematurely uncovered in March were probably damaged or destroyed. Flower bud loss on plantings covered with a protective straw mulch should be far less. Yields of summer-bearing red, purple, and black raspberries may be reduced because of the record cold temperatures in April. The yields of fall-bearing raspberries that are pruned back to the ground in late winter will not be affected as the canes produce fruit on the current year's growth. Tree Fruit The cold temperatures may have damaged the flower buds of fruit trees. If the flower buds have been damaged, this year's fruit crop may be smaller than normal. The extent of damage is determined by the plant species, stage of plant development, and temperature. An illustrated chart of critical temperatures for apple, pear, peach, cherry and plum can be found in PM 1282, 2007 Midwest Commercial Tree Fruit Spray Guide. The chart is on pages 62 and 63. A pdf version is available at the Iowa State University Extension Online store. Turfgrass The turfgrass has temporarily stopped growing, but little or no damage has occurred. Growth will resume with the return of warmer temperatures. Page References: 30-31 Year of Publication: 2007 Issue: IC-497 (7) -- April 11, 2007 by Richard Jauron, Department of Horticulture Horticulture and Home Pest News Copyright © 2017, Iowa State University of Science and Technology. All rights reserved.

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In the Mid-Summer Swing: July at Quail Hill Farm A Year In the Life of a Farm Cambria Bold "It was so magical," Scott told me, as we drove from the train station to the farm. "A tempest was literally happening! [The actor playing] Prospero, the magician, was talking about his art and magic, and as he waved his hand, there was a flash of lightening outside! It couldn't have been better." That's the first thing Scott Chaskey, poet-farmer of Long Island's Quail Hill Farm, wanted to talk about when I made my mid-summer visit to him earlier this week. For the second year in a row, six actors performed a play on the grounds of Quail Hill—this year was, obviously, The Tempest—and Scott went to all four performances. Shakespeare performances on a farm? Well, that's just one element of this farm's mid-summer swing. The farm stand chalkboard - the first place a member visits when they come to the farm on harvest days. Farm life moves quickly, and documenting seasonal changes (as I've been doing) is hardly adequate, since things change on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis. When I last visited the farm, the crew was in the midst of spring seeding in the greenhouses, mulching the garlic fields, and preparing the soil for planting. Most of the fields across the 30 acre farm land still had the winter cover crops on them. But now, the landscape had dramatically changed. The garlic—which took a full week to harvest in late June—now hung from the rafters of the farm clubhouse and took over the long tables in the greenhouses, drying (or "curing" as Scott said). The early spring crops—peas, spinach, early greens, early radishes—had been planted, harvested, and were now gone. Lettuce (because it grows so fast) was on its sixth seeding. In fact, Scott and the crew were focused on late Summer and Autumn harvest crops. "You start the seed in June for the crops you plan to harvest in October," he told me. The brassica family of plants—cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts—were just transplanted from the greenhouses to the fields, and the hot weather crops, like tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers, were in the ground and would be ready for harvest in a couple weeks. Scott in the greenhouse surrounded by garlic, his favorite crop. However, the season didn't kick off without a few hiccups: in mid-June Scott's farm manager abruptly quit. There was no way to start a search for a new farm manager with the season in full swing, so Scott took on some of the responsibilities and effectively promoted a younger apprentice, Calvin, to help with the rest. It's also been an uncomfortably hot and dry summer. "We've had a longer hot spell than I can ever remember," Scott said. "It's just weeks of hot weather!" But thankfully they have had some rain and are not in a drought like the Midwest. Scott helping a young mother and her daughter dig for potatoes. The CSA season for members officially opened in early June, and the summer share runs through the end of October. Quail Hill differs from other CSAs in that members come to the farm and harvest their own vegetables instead of picking them up at another location. Each field has a sign in front of it detailing what the crop is, and how much each member is allowed to harvest for their share. Harvest days are Tuesday and Saturdays. On Saturday the line of cars from the main field stretches all the way down the dirt road, but Tuesday (when I was there) was calmer. We ran into members all over the land—an elderly couple bent over in the summer squash patch, a young mother and her child digging for potatoes in another field. (They seemed to be having trouble finding the potatoes, so Scott walked into the field and dug up a few with them.) Flowers are planted all over the farm, too, which members pick at their leisure. "This one is called Irish Poet," Scott said. "It's basically planted so I can recite Yeats when people ask me what it is!" Scott and Kate, the market manager, dropping off broccoli at the farm stand. The farm stand is the first place a member visits when they come to the farm to harvest their share. The chalkboard details what crops are ready for harvesting, and where to go. Members don't quite harvest everything themselves, though: for a few crops, like winter squash, broccoli, melons, and sweet potatoes (which aren't harvested until October) it's easier for the crew to pick them and drop them off at the farm stand where members can pick them up. Every farm needs to diversify, I'm told, so on Thursdays and Saturdays Kate, Quail Hill Farm's market manager, heads to two farmers' markets in neighboring towns. The revenue from selling at the markets is pretty small, but it's important because it's PR for the farm. This is also the first year Quail Hill is providing produce to a few local restaurants. When asked how the market visits were going and what the interaction with people was like, Kate laughed: "Someone made a comment about how dirty my nails were at the market the other day... in a good way. She was like, I can tell you're a farmer!" She beams at the appreciation for what is clearly a hard day's dirty work - literally! The Colorado Potato Beetle, which can wreak havoc on crops. "I don't have a lot of sympathy for those guys," Scott said, after smushing it. After checking out the tomato vines (not ready till late August, most likely) and wheat fields (the first year they've planted wheat), Scott and I ended up back in the melons field, which is primarily covered in black netting to ward off the crows. But unfortunately, the crows had poked through the netting, which riled Scott to no end: "They're such devils! If they can get in there, they'll get in there. Aw, look! Such devils! They're just sitting right on top of the netting and going right through. They're so annoying!" (Perhaps Scott's insult of choice - 'devils' - was inspired by his recent Tempest experience: "A devil, a born devil, on whose nature nurture can never stick; on whom my pains, humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost...I will plague them all..." - The Tempest, 4.1.) Are there any options to keep them away, I asked? Well, scarecrows don't work, he responded. Some people rig up a gun machine that shoots off a round every ten minutes. "But, yeah, we're not likely to do that," Scott deadpanned, in a tone that clearly meant he thought that was a ridiculous idea. I guess time will tell if the melons survive... something to check for the next time I visit Quail Hill Farm. Related: Spring Seeding: March at Quail Hill Farm (Images: Cambria Bold) More posts in A Year in the Life of a Farm Spring Seeding: March at Quail Hill Farm Late Summer at Quail Hill Farm: A Chat With Its Young Farmers

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PSU Survey Shows Interest for N.H. State Licensed Meat Processing Plants May 29th, 2014 by blyndes Plymouth State University’s Center for Rural Partnerships (CRP) and N.H.'s Agriculture Department have surveyed a number of Granite State residents who are raising their own livestock and may be considering selling their meat to consumers. PLYMOUTH, N.H. – A new survey shows more than two-thirds of New Hampshire meat producers that were queried are interested in creating state certified meat processing plants as an alternative to a federal licensing program. The survey was conducted by Plymouth State University’s Center for Rural Partnerships (CRP) on behalf of the states’ Agriculture Department, in response to a number of Granite State residents raising their own livestock, including beef, pork and chicken, who may be considering selling their meat to consumers. Rachelle Lyons of CRP said there appears to be a market for locally produced meat in New Hampshire, but it’s not clear whether a state certified processing facility would be a viable business opportunity. “We are now up to four U.S.D.A certified meat processing facilities within the state, and we wanted to see where there is opportunity for growth,” Lyons said. “This is testing of the waters to see if the producers, processors and the market would be receptive to a state-level certification as an alternative to the U.S.D.A.” 75 percent of the producers who responded to the survey said they agree with the statement, ‘I am interested in the development of a State Inspection Program in New Hampshire as an alternative to a USDA Inspection Program.’ More than half of producers who responded are interested in having some or all of their livestock processed through a State Inspection Program. they believed a state level certification would be a benefit for producers and consumers, although processors were less supportive. Lyons also cited a recently released agricultural census showing rising support for local foods. “The public is becoming more aware of how their food choices make a difference in regard to economic, social justice and environmental issues here in the state of New Hampshire, as well as regionally and globally,” said Lyons. “This would open up opportunity for smaller scale operators. In New Hampshire, it’s being looked at as an economic development opportunity.” The biggest hurdle for aspiring meat processors is the high cost of starting a plant, due to federal regulations. “It’s really hard to start-up, because of the initial capital investment; it’s a huge risk to try and establish a processing facility when there is a question whether there’s enough production to keep that processing facility viable.” Lyons noted that a drawback to a state-approved facility is the limitation of selling the meat within the state of New Hampshire. “It reduces your consumer base but it also really targets the consumers who want to know their farmer, where their food is coming from and take a more active role in their food system. We are not sure what share of consumers are aware of this locally-grown market– and we’re not sure if they are motivated to support it.” Lyons said consumers will be surveyed in the coming months about the state-licensed processing idea. She added that in other states that have started their own certification program for meat processing plants the federal government has not tried to block their efforts. The survey was conducted earlier this year, with 39 producers and processors responding to the query. Plymouth State faculty involved with the survey include Lyons and CRP Director Ben Amsden, as well as undergraduate student Taylor Dillingham, Social Science, and graduate student Jess Wilhelm, Environmental Science and Policy. For more information about this release, contact Bruce Lyndes, PSU News Services Mgr., or call (603) 535-2775. Posted in | « Pamela Clark, ‘85G, Receives Plymouth State University’s 2014 Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award Kathi Smith of Center Harbor is 2014 Distinguished Teaching Lecturer at Plymouth State University »

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Print Story at-a-glance - Earlier this year, the Illinois Department of Agriculture allegedly stole and destroyed a beekeeper’s hives and bees after inspectors claimed the hives had foulbrood, and that the beekeeper, Terrence Ingram, had failed to dispose of the hives as instructed. However, Ingram feels he could prove his hives did not suffer from the contagious disease, and that the Department acted without due process Mr. Ingram suspects the destruction of his bees may be more related to his research on Monsanto’s Roundup and his documented evidence that Roundup kills bees One of the forerunning theories of colony collapse disorder (CCD) is that it’s being caused by genetically engineered crops—either as a result of the crops themselves or the pesticides and herbicides applied on them, such as Monsanto’s Roundup Ingram has studied the effects of Roundup on honeybees for the past 15 years, and believes he had acquired sufficient amounts of data to show that Roundup not only causes bee die-offs, but may be the cause of CCD Most Popular 1 Next Article What's Behind Illinois Stealing Local Hero's Bee Hives? By Dr. Mercola An Illinois beekeeper whose bee hives were stolen and allegedly destroyed by the Illinois Department of Agriculture has stirred up a hornet's nest with his questions on why the state did this, and most importantly, what they did with his bees. The state claims the bees were destroyed because they were infected with a disease called foulbrood. But when the 58-year apiary keeper had his hearing—three weeks after the removal of his bees without his knowledge—the state's "evidence" had disappeared, leaving more questions than answers about the raid on the beekeeper's hives. Some people, including the beekeeper, Terrence Ingram, suspect the raid has more to do with Ingram's 15 years of research on Monsanto's Roundup and his documented evidence that Roundup kills bees, than it does about any concerns about his hives. Interestingly, the state's theft targeted the queen bee and hive he'd been using to conduct the research. The Ingram Case A recent article by Tom Kocal in the Prairie Advocate retells the full story of how Terrence Ingram's bees and hives wound up being taken by the Illinois State Department of Agriculture (IDofAG)i. While the state claims the removal of the property was due to Ingram's failure to comply with the Department's notice instructing him to burn the affected hives, they have been less than open about why the inspectors came in and took the bees and hives without due process. At a time when the Ingram's were absent from the property. Ingram claims the Department also conducted three out of four inspections on his private property while no one was home. While Department inspectors claim his hives had foulbrood—an allegedly highly contagious disease—Mr. Ingram believes he could prove that this was not the case. As reported by the featured Prairie Advocate article: "Ingram knew that the inspectors could not tell what they were seeing and had warned the Department that if any of them came back it would be considered a criminal trespass. Yet they came back when he was not home, stole his hives and ruined his 15 years of research." Ingram initially reported the missing bees and hives as having been stolen on March 14, unaware that they'd been removed by the IDofAG. News of the theft was published in the Prairie Advocate on March 21. As a result of that article, an area County Farm Bureau manager called the reporter, stating he knew the equipment hadn't been stolen, but that it had been "destroyed" by the Department of Agriculture because they were infected with foulbrood and Ingram hadn't disposed of them as instructed. The most nonsensical part of this story is that Ingram didn't get a hearing to determine whether his hives were affected by the disease until three weeks after they were removed and destroyed. Kocal quotes Mr. Ingram as saying: "I own four businesses. I am here all the time. Yet they took our bees and hives when we were not home. What did they do, sit up on the hill and watch until we left? We had not yet had our day in court to prove that our hives did not have foulbrood!" Making matters worse, during that April 4 hearing, the Department couldn't produce any evidence of what they'd done with the bees and the hives. Meanwhile, Ingram ended up being ordered to pay the $500 fine for violating Sections 2-1 of the Illinois Bees and Apiaries Act. According to Kocal: "There are 2 questions that Ingram wants answered: 1) Did the IDofA, a state agency, have the right to enter Ingram's property and confiscate a suspected "nuisance," before Ingram had his day in court? 2) Where are his bees? The "evidence" has disappeared, and the IDofA refuses to tell Ingram where they are, before, during, and after the hearing. "I have been keeping bees for 58 years," Ingram said during an interview at his home and apiary. "I am not a newcomer to beekeeping, and I definitely know what I am doing. I have been teaching beginning beekeeping classes for 40 years..." At the April 4 hearing, Ingram said he felt he was able to show the court that the inspector could not tell the difference between "chilled brood" and foulbrood. He also proved to the court that the inspectors did not know the symptoms of foulbrood." 15 Years of Research Destroyed Ingram believes the destruction of his bees and hives is more likely to be related to his research into the effect of Roundup on honey bees. He claims some 250 of his colonies have been killed off over the years by Monsanto's broad-spectrum herbicide, used in large quantities on both conventional- and genetically engineered crops. Ingram's research shows that Roundup can lead to what's called chilled brood, which is an entirely different scenario. According to Ingram, quoted from Kocal's article: "When Round-Up kills the adult bees there are not enough bees left in the hive to keep the young bees (brood) warm, and the young bees die from the cold (chilled brood). I tried to prove that just because foulbrood can be detected once the hive has been disturbed, doesn't mean the hive has foulbrood. Inside a honeybee hive is one of the cleanest places you can find. Anything that is a problem, if the bees can't remove it, they cover it with propolis, which is an antiseptic... When you go into the comb and cut it up, disturb it like the investigators did, then send it to a lab, it exposes foulbrood to the world. In the beehive, it's covered up. The bees aren't affected by it. But you can find it by sending it in to a lab." Ingram has studied the effects of Roundup on honeybees for the past 15 years, and he believes he had built up sufficient amount of data to show that the herbicide causes not just bee die-offs, but also Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)—a mysterious phenomenon that has decimated an estimated one-third of all honey bees since 2006. While some bees inexplicably die, many simply vanish and never return to their hives. Ingram told Kocal that: "CCD is a calamity that is affecting honeybee colonies across the nation. In fact, I had one queen, which had survived three summers of spraying and three winters. I was planning to raise daughters from that queen to see if she may have had some genetic resistance to Roundup. But she and her hive were taken during the theft. I don't even know where the bees and my equipment are. They ruined 15 years of my research." ... "I asked Rep. Sacia to take the teeth out of the current law, preventing untrained inspectors from doing sneak inspections without the beekeeper present, killing their bees and burning their equipment, or forcing organic beekeepers out of business, telling them that they have to use chemicals to keep bees in Illinois. Are the chemical companies really running our food supply?" ... "Is Illinois becoming a police state, where citizens do not have rights?" Ingram asked in desperation. "Knowing that Monsanto and the Dept. of Ag are in bed together, one has to wonder if Monsanto was behind the theft to ruin my research that may prove Roundup was, and is, killing honeybees. Beekeepers across the state are being threatened that the same thing may be done to their hives and livelihood. I was not treated properly, I don't want to see this happen to anyone else in this state, and I want this type of illegal action to end." Monsanto is the New Owner of Leading Bee Research Firm Ingram is quite correct about chemical companies like Monsanto—they are seeking to take nearly full control of the food supply by controlling virtually every aspect of crop production. So he has cause to be suspicious when it comes to the question of who ordered the theft and destruction of his bees. It wouldn't be the first time the biotech giant has used questionable tactics to get rid of its adversaries. And research implicating Monsanto as the cause of CCD could definitely cause some harm to the company's bottom line. One of the forerunning theories of colony collapse disorder (CCD) is that it's being caused by genetically engineered crops—either as a result of the crops themselves or the pesticides and herbicides applied on them, such as Roundup. Ingram's research could potentially have strengthened this theory. Monsanto's Roundup herbicide is one of the most widely used herbicides there is. As a result, Monsanto has received increasing amounts of bad publicity over their potential role in the devastating demise of bees around the globe. There's no doubt that CCD is a serious problem. To get an idea of the magnitude of the importance of bees, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) estimates that without bees to act as pollinators, the United States alone could lose $15 billion worth of crops.ii Research into the phenomenon is therefore absolutely crucial, to identify the sources of the problem. Monsanto however, keeping true to form, appears to have taken measures to control the direction of the research into their products' effect on bees. As I recently reported, Monsanto has purchased one of the leading bee research firms – one that, conveniently, lists its primary goal as studying colony collapse disorder! Monsanto bought the company, called Beeologics, in September 2011, just months before Poland announced it would ban growing of Monsanto's genetically modified MON810 maize, noting, poignantly, that "pollen of this strain could have a harmful effect on bees."iii The ongoing blight of genetically engineered crops has been implicated in CCD for years. In one German study,iv when bees were released in a genetically engineered rapeseed crop, then fed the pollen to younger bees, scientists discovered the bacteria in the guts of the young ones mirrored the same genetic traits as ones found in the GE crop, indicating that horizontal gene transfer had occurred. But Roundup is not the only herbicide that has come under scrutiny. Newer systemic insecticides, known as neonicotinoids, two prominent examples of which include Imidacloprid and Clothianidin, are also frequently used on both conventional- and genetically engineered crops and have been implicated in CCD. In fact, bee colonies started disappearing in the U.S. shortly after the EPA allowed these new insecticides on the market. Even the EPA itself admits that "pesticide poisoning" is a likely cause of bee colony collapse as these pesticides weaken the bees' immune system. What Can You do to Help the Honeybees? If you want to learn more about bees and CCD, I highly recommend watching the documentary film Vanishing of the Bees. The film recommends four actions you can take to help preserve honeybees everywhere: Support organic farmers and shop at local farmer's markets as often as possible. You can "vote with your fork" three times a day. [When you buy organic, you are making a statement by saying "no" to genetically engineered foods] Cut the use of toxic chemicals in your house and on your lawn, and use organic pest control. Better yet, get rid of your lawn altogether and plant a garden. Lawns offer very little benefit for the environment. Both flower and vegetable gardens provide good honey bee habitats. Become an amateur beekeeper. Having a hive in your garden requires only about an hour of your time per week, benefits your local ecosystem, and you can enjoy your own honey! If you are interested in more information about bee preservation, the following organizations are a good place to start. Pesticide Action Network Bee Campaignv The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Beesvi American Beekeeping Federationvii Help the Honey Beesviii 0 Prairie Advocate April 27, 2012 1 Prairie Advocate April 27, 20122 National Resources Defense Council, Vanishing Bees3 The Raw Story April 4, 20124 The Observer May 7, 20005 Pesticide Action Network Bee Campaign6 Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees7 American Beekeeping Federation8 Help the Honey Bees

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Charging for irrigation water by volume-electricity would conserve water resources in Greece A.G. Panoras and I.G. Mavroudis, National Agricultural Research Foundation, Land Reclamation Institute, Thessalonika, Greece Most of the area of the Greek plains, which account for 80% of the total irrigable area, is irrigated by collective irrigation networks. The charge for water is based on the area irrigated. This practice results in water and energy losses and other secondary problems like salinity and alkalinity. This paper aims to persuade Greek farmers to accept being charged for water according to the volume or electricity consumed, as this practice saves water resources and energy, improves distribution and application efficiency, increases crop production, and decreases operation and maintenance expenses. To achieve the above-mentioned goal, the case of a collective irrigation network located in north-eastern Greece has been studied. The irrigated area of this network is 7 830 ha and the payment for the irrigation water is based on the electricity consumed for pumping the irrigation water. Comparing the current practice of charging for the water by the electricity consumed with the one used some years ago of charging by area, it is clear that the land reclamation organizations all over the Greek plains, which are responsible for operating and maintaining the irrigation networks, should adopt the system of charging for irrigation water by volume or electricity. The noticeable reduction in precipitation in the Mediterranean zone in the last ten years (Maheras, 1988; Maheras and Pitsoulis, 1989; Mavroudis and Panoras, 1992; Vafiadis, 1991) along with the increase in the area of land under irrigation has resulted in most of the water resources in Greece being utilized. The search for new water resources of good quality has become a difficult task. The rational management of irrigation water can reduce the losses so raising the potential for irrigating more land and for supporting the existing irrigation networks in periods of water shortage. Irrigated agriculture, which is the main consumer of good quality water resources, can substantially reduce water losses, especially in surface irrigation where the losses exceed 50% (Bos and Nugteren, 1983). The main presuppositions for achieving this goal are: (i) knowledge of crop water requirements; (ii) the measurement of water distributed to the network or applied over the field; (iii) the good application over the field; and (iv) the charge for the irrigation water consumed. This paper aims to demonstrate to Greek farmers and to the land reclamation organizations, through an existing application in north Greece, how charging for the water consumed results in water economy. For this purpose, the case of a collective irrigation network is studied. ANALYSIS OF EXISTING SITUATION In the Greek plains, crop water requirements are satisfied from collective irrigation networks. The management, operation and maintainance of these networks are the responsibility of the local land reclamation organizations. The total annual cost of the above-mentioned activities is allocated to each farmer served by the networks on the basis of the area cultivated and not on the water volume consumed. In the case of rice, the farmers pay more per hectare because they use more water. The irrigation network studied is located in north-eastern Greece and consists of 293 deep wells irrigating 7 830 ha (LRO, 1994; Land Reclamation Service, 1994: pers. comms.). Each well is used by a group of farmers owning neighbouring fields. The sprinkler irrigation system is semi-portable, having fully portable hand-move laterals or travelling machines and permanent buried mains. A pumping plant has been constructed at each well to provide the pressure necessary for sprinkler irrigation. The members of each group irrigate their fields whenever they want. Each well serves 20-30 ha. Until 1981, the water charges was based on the area irrigated. This meant that the actual overall operation cost was divided by the above-mentioned area without taking into account the volume of water consumed by each farmer. As a result of this system of charging, farmers used to irrigate their fields in a way that resulted in extremely high water losses, especially from runoff. In 1982, after the Land Reclamation Organization's (LRO) proposal, the charge for water was based on the volume consumed. There were two problems: (i) the flow meter readings were strongly influenced by sand coming from the wells; and (ii) the maintenance cost of the flow meters was pretty high. So, the LRO decided to charge for the volume of water consumed on the basis of the energy needed to operate the pumping stations. More specifically, each pumping plant has a register where the energy consumed by each farmer is recorded. The LRO writes down the readings of the electricity meter at the beginning of the irrigation period. The first farmer to irrigate his field writes down his name, community, the date of irrigation and the readings of the electricity meter at the beginning and the end of the irrigation. The following irrigators of the same group do exactly the same whenever they want to irrigate their fields. In this way, the energy consumed per irrigation is recorded and each farmer of the group checks the written entries of the farmer before. At the end of the irrigation period the LRO checks and analyses the written data and charges each farmer for the total energy consumed by him during the irrigation period. This means that the actual overall operating cost is allocated to each farmer on the bais of the energy consumed. Although the practice of charging for water on the basis of the energy consumed was applied all over the LRO's area, only a small part of this area (Chimonion village) had reliable data for evaluating the effect of this system of charging on the water economy from 1981 to 1994. For this period, a comparison between the 1981 data (year of charging by area) and the 1982-94 data (years of charging by energy consumed) was conducted. To have a reliable comparison, the net irrigation requirements of the crops (In) have been calculated in Chimonion village for the 1981-94 period using the field water balance In = ETc - (Pe + Gw + ÄWs), (1) where ETc is evapotranspiration, Pe is rainfall, Gw is groundwater and ÄWs is the decrease in soil water that can be used during the period. The variable Gw is zero because the groundwater table is deeper than three metres. Moreover, the variable ÄWs is considered zero for practical purposes. The use of combined equations (Doorenbos and Pruitt, 1977; Jensen et al., 1990) to estimate reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is not applicable in this area because the available climatic data are for air temperature and rainfall only. So, the Blaney-Criddle equation (Blaney and Criddle, 1950, 1962) was used: ETo = (0.46 T + 8.13) p, (2) where T is the mean daily temperature in degrees Celsius for the month under consideration, p is the mean daily percentage of total annual daytime hours obtained from tables for a given month and latitude. The ETc was calculated using the appropriate crop coefficient (kc) for the area (Papazafiriou, 1991): ETc = ETo * kc, (3) The crop coefficient of potatoes has not been calculated by Papazafiriou (1991), so it has been estimated on the basis of crop characteristics, sowing data, stages of crop development, length of growing season and climatic conditions (Doorenbos and Pruitt, 1977). The mean monthly effective rainfall was estimated by the evapotranspiration/precipitation ratio method (USDA, 1967). The crop area data was obtained by the Land Reclamation Organization at Orestias (LRO, 1994). TABLE 1 - Consumption of electricity in an irrigation network of northeastern Greece during the irrigation period Irrigation period Consumption of electric energy kWh Consumption of electric energy per hectare kWh/ha Percentage of energy consumed in terms of 1981 (%) 1981 = Charge according to area irrigated1982-94 = Charge according to energy consumed The energy consumed per hectare (Table 1, column 3) shows that since implementing the charging for irrigation water by volume, energy consumption has decreased by from 5 to 51%. The mean reduction was in the order of 23%. It should not be said that the energy reduction is due to the new way of payment without taking into account the net irrigation requirements of the crops during all these years. The data of Table 2, column 6, show that for most of the years a relationship exists between the consumed energy (Table 1, column 4) and the net irrigation requirements (Table 2, column 5). The case of 1992 and 1993 is a typical one. The net irrigation requirements are almost the same (Table 2, column 4) while the energy consumption differs significantly (Table 1, column 3). This fact is not due to the amount of effective rainfall, which was almost the same (Table 2, column 3), but to the dates of rainfall during the irrigation period. So, in 1992 88% of the rainfall during the irrigation period was recorded during the peak period of crop water demands, whereas in 1993 this percentage was only 34%. Comparing the data of Tables 1 and 2 shows that the electricity (volume of water) consumed during the 1982-1994 irrigation periods was less than in 1981 in spite of the fact that the net irrigation requirements of the crops in the same time period were greater or slightly smaller (1992, 1993) than those of the 1981 irrigation period. Even in 1983 and 1989, when the net irrigation requirements were significantly lower (22 and 13% respectively) than in 1981, the reduction of the energy consumed was so intense (51 and 39% respectively) that a part of it may be attributed to the new way of charging for water. TABLE 2 - Net crop irrigation requirements in an irrigation network of north-eastern Greece Crop water requirements Effective rainfall Net irrigation requirements (NIR) Net irrigation requirements per hectare Percentage of NIR in relation to 1981 m3/ha The new system of charging resulted in a rational use of irrigation water. More specifically, the farmers started using low pressure sprinklers instead of gun sprinklers and laser technique for field leveling in order to improve distribution and application efficiency. Some of them started irrigating during the night to avoid the wind effect during the day. The rational use of irrigation water, resulting from the new system of charging, reduced water losses, energy consumption and the maintainance cost of the pumping plants because their operating time was significantly less than before 1982. The reduction in the operating cost of the irrigation network led to a reduction in the cost per hectare charged by the LRO. Finally, it should be said that the new system of charging had a good effect on crop production (LRO, 1994), both because the problems associated with an uncontrolled water table within one to two metres of the ground surface and with soil erosion were eliminated and, above all, because the farmers started to become professional irrigators. CONCLUSION-PROPOSAL The study of the Chimonion irrigation network showed that charging for irrigation water by the electricity consumed for pumping the irrigation water reduced the quantities of water used for irrigation. This reduction had a positive effect on soil erosion, water table, crop production and the operating cost of the irrigation network. For all the above-mentioned reasons, the land reclamation organizations should adopt charging for irrigation water by volume or electricity on all the collective irrigation networks in Greece. Before implementing this practice, the farmers need to be thoroughly informed about the new system of charging and the benefits it will bring. Furthermore, in pressurized collective irrigation networks, charging by electricity is better than charging by volume because the latter method needs a lot of water measurement equipment which would increase the cost. Blaney, H.F. and Criddle, W.D. 1950. Determining water requirements in irrigation areas from climatological and irrigation data. USDA, SCS-TP 96. Blaney, H.F. and Criddle, W.D. 1962. Determining consumptive use and irrigation water requirements. USDA Tech. Bull. 1275, USDA, Beltsville, Md. Bos, M.G. and Nugteren, J. 1983. On Irrigation Efficiencies. 3rd edition. ILRI, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Doorenbos, J. and Pruitt, W.O. 1977. Guidelines for predicting crop water requirements. FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 24. Revised edition. Rome. Jensen, M.E., Burman, R.D. and Allen, R.G. (eds.). 1990. Evapotranspiration and irrigation requirements. ASCE Manuals and Reports on Engineering Practice 70. Maheras, P. 1988. Changes in precipitation conditions in the western Mediterranean over the last century. J. Climatol. 8: 179-189. Maheras, P. and Pitsoulis, N. 1989. Man, environment and climatic changes. Panhellinic Research Congress for Environmental Protection and Agriculture Production. Thessalonika, Greece. Mavroudis, I.G. and Panoras, A.G. 1992. The distribution of rainfall in the Loudias river watershed. Hydrotechnica 2 (1): 69-80. Papazafiriou, Z.G. 1991. Experimental application of new irrigation methods: Estimation of crop water requirements in Greece. Ministry of Agriculture. USDA Soil Conservation Service. 1967. Irrigation water requirements. Tech. Release No 21, Eng. Div. SCS. Vafiadis, M. 1991. Study of rainfall in different spatial and temporal scales. Application in the valley of Central Greece. PhD Thesis.

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Thomas Keller and Alice Waters Get Their Honey Here. You Should Too. Lee Klein Wednesday, December 22, 2010 at 7:30 a.m. By Lee Klein Spencer Marshall, beekeeper These famed San Francisco Bay Area restaurateurs get theirs from Marshall's Farm Natural Honey. And so do lucky souls such as my wife and I, who took a short drive south from Napa to tour the property. It was a rainy weekday afternoon, so we were the only visitors -- which meant we got a private showing from the beekeeper himself, Spencer Marshall. On certain set days each month, you can call ahead and arrange a private walk around as well; most of the time, there are group tours set up. Marshall's Farm is a cool place to be with bees because you can get up close and get to wear one of those netted masks.Spencer, born in McMinnville, Oregon, comes from a long line of family farmers. While working on a ranch in California's central valley, he became immersed in the effects of bees and pollination. He saw that the almond crop, for instance, was totally dependent on honey bees for pollination. He signed some pollination contracts and moved his bees to the almond groves -- and then to cherry and apple orchards, and the clover fields of the San Joaquin Valley. He now has apiaries in several locations, and takes advantage of the Bay Area's ever-changing seasonal blooms: eucalyptus, star thistle, wildflower, and blackberry, to name but a few. The floral nectars and pollens of each differ greatly in taste and texture, which was obvious as we sampled squeezes of each from variously labeled plastic honey bears. Lee Klein ​Helene Marshall does not fit the profile of the beekeeper's wife. She was born and raised in San Francisco, has a degree in Sculpture from UC Berkeley, taught Junior High in Syracuse, N.Y. and raised two daughters in Massachusetts. Helene is the Farm's marketing maven. She packages the nectar in jars, squeeze bottles, straws, and combines it all in innumerable gift baskets. Helene and Spencer have been making sweet honey together since 1990.Marshall's Farm Honey is raw, 100% pure, unheated, uncooked, unfiltered, natural, organic, and certified kosher."We don't use any pipes, pumps, or filters in the extracting process," Spencer told us, "and all bottles are hand-filled." After watching the bees, who were quite busy at work considering the inclement weather, he showed us the rather rickety machines used to process it all. He has a small staff of workers helping out, and it's rather amazing just how much honey they are able to produce. Spencer is a humble guy, too; he didn't mention that he sold his honey to famous chefs until I brought it up after noticing an invoice for Thomas Keller's The French Laundry posted on a wall. "Yeah, we sell to Alice Waters's place [Chez Panisse] and some other restaurants too" he admitted.If you go to northern California, consider stopping at Marshall's. But I'm not telling you about some delicious commodity that you can't get unless you head west. Just head to the website, and you'll find that Marshall's ships everywhere.Marshall's Farm Honey159 Lombard Rd., American Canyon, CA1-800-624-4637Follow Short Order on Facebook and Twitter @Short_Order. Miami New Times' restaurant reviewer for the past decade, and the world's indisputable master of disguise. The Salty Donut and Knaus Berry Farm's Sticky-Bun Doughnut Collab...

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Cucumbers J&J using private equity firm to expand production By Doug Ohlemeier July 26, 2012 | 12:57 pm EDT Looking to help it expand production throughout the Northern and Southern hemispheres, J&J Produce Inc. is employing a private equity firm. The Loxahatchee, Fla.-based grower-shipper is entering into a partnership with Sequel Holdings LP, a Dallas-based private equity firm. Sequel specializes in the food and agribusiness industries and the partnership should provide J&J growth capital and strategic support as it broadens its North American sales and marketing operations, according to a news release. “We have dynamic plans for growth of the company into new markets by expanding farming and developing relationships with additional growers in North and Central America,” Chris Erneston, J&J’s president, said in the release. “This new partnership with Sequel will provide the resources to allow us to expand rapidly and fully realize our competitive advantages in the marketplace.” Lynn Rundle, Sequel’s operating partner, said he liked J&J’s commitment and said Sequel plans to support J&J’s management as it builds on its legacy and creates new opportunities increase sales, he said in the release. J&J grows and ships a variety of vegetables including bell peppers, cucumbers, squash, eggplant and cabbage in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and the Dominican Republic. j&j producesequel holdingsagribusiness industriesprivate equity firms in food About the Author: Doug Ohlemeier Doug Ohlemeier, who has written for The Packer since 2001, serves as eastern editor, a position he has held since August 2006. He started at The Packer as a staff writer after working for nearly a decade in commodity promotion at the Kansas Wheat Commission, where he was a marketing specialist. Doug worked in radio and television news writing, producing and reporting for seven years in Texas, Missouri and Nebraska. He graduated from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, in 1984, with a bachelor of science degree in broadcast journalism and a minor in history. He earned a master’s in corporate communications from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in 1991. In college, he served as a news editor of the daily O’Collegian newspaper and interned in radio and television news departments. View All Posts

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In Monterey Bay, an Agricultural Tech Cluster Blossoms Senior Entrepreneurship Writer at CNBC Editor's Note: This series takes a close-up look at the SBA's economic "clusters" designed to aid regional businesses. Read installments on Minnesota and the Carolinas. In Silicon Valley, entrepreneurs grow countless iPhone apps. A few miles to the south, in the Monterey Bay, Calif., area, the harvest is just as plentiful, if a bit more nutritious: Large farmers grow huge quantities of leafy greens and berries. Sprouting from those fields is the Project 17 Agricultural Technology cluster, which aims to bring both sides together -- the small tech entrepreneurs and the region's big farms -- to keep the agriculture industry thriving. Project 17 is part of a two-year-old Small Business Administration pilot program designed to spark innovation and get small businesses growing again. Related: 9 Cities You Wouldn't Think Are Hubs for Tech Startups The region's $8 billion agriculture industry, which produces in excess of 80 percent of the nation's fresh greens every year, is ripe for innovation, says Susan Barich, the cluster's director. Large growers like Dole, Driscoll’s, Monterey Mushrooms and Chiquita, which have farms in the area, have been forced to sell produce at lower prices over the past decade, putting a squeeze on profits, she said. As a result, more growers are looking to tech entrepreneurs to come up with ways to make the industry more efficient. In a sense, "we are helping to create an industry," she says. Related: Innovators: An Entrepreneur Special Report Project 17, which has received $1.2 million worth of funding from the SBA over the past 2 years, is perfectly situated to bridge the agriculture and technology gap. The Monterey Bay region is a short drive away from Silicon Valley, and home to a smattering of heavyweight research institutions, including the University of California at Davis’s agricultural research programs. The cluster is named for a trifecta of local "17s," including nearby Highway 17, its 17th Congressional District, and a scenic 17-mile route through Carmel and the Pacific Grove. In its first year, the Project 17 cluster provided more than 5,000 hours of business mentoring to small businesses in workshops and one-on-one consulting. It also produced a business-plan competition with 62 small-business participants; created two “think tank sessions” where small agriculture-technology businesses met with the large agricultural businesses in their market; and helped four small businesses sell technologies to companies in their industry. In its first year, Project 17 reported that its regional economic development partners helped small businesses in the region and industry gain access to nearly $48 million of capital, create 285 new jobs, and retain 114 jobs. For example, Chris Malençon, the founder and CEO of Spyglass BioSecurity, a Marina, Calif., water management and research company, says his connection with Project 17 helped him understand the specific water needs of the agriculture industry. He says he's also used Project 17 to network with “key stakeholders” in the industry, according to the cluster's annual report. Jack and Catherine Goldwasser, the owners of Watch Technologies, an agricultural-water technology company that designs, manufactures and installs water-canal gates, also credit Project 17's connections with growing their business, according to the report. They're expecting a projected profit of $300,000 in 2012 after being nonprofitable just a couple of years earlier. Watch Technologies has hired 4 new employees and Jack Goldwasser says he has had to work 18 to 20 hour days to keep up with growing demand. Related: 5 Technologies Changing the Restaurant Industry Catherine Clifford is senior entrepreneurship writer at CNBC. She was formerly a senior writer at Entrepreneur.com, the small business reporter at CNNMoney and an assistant in the New York bureau for CNN. Clifford attended Columbi... Entrepreneur Ecosystems

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YOU ARE HERE: Home > news Subcommittee Exposes Harmful Impact of Non-Tariff Barriers to Farm Exports and Rural Economic Growth f t # Washington D.C., July 26, 2012 | DJ Jordan, Joel Hannahs (202-225-5821) | comments The Small Business Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade, under the chairmanship of Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO), today held a hearing on the impact of foreign sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures on small family farms and agriculture exports. SPS measures are non-tariff food requirements from foreign nations intended to protect the health and safety of their populations and environments. While SPS measures permit all nations to ban products that are unsafe, in too many instances foreign nations have imposed SPS measures that have little to do with scientifically-based safety concerns and have instead become the preferred means to protect their own agriculture industries from competition. “U.S. farm exports reached a new record of $136.3 billion in the 2011 calendar year, making America the world’s largest agricultural exporter,” said Chairman Tipton (R-CO). “On top of an historic drought, many exporting small farms, including potato farmers in my district, are dealing with a barrage of problems that are making it harder for them to do business. Unfair trade barriers shouldn’t be another hindrance to the international marketplace for the agriculture community. SPS measures can be used by foreign governments to manipulate trade practices in violation of their treaty commitments, even though the EPA and FDA and many international organizations have used scientific methods to certify American products as safe. These barriers are hurting jobs. Every $1 billion in agricultural exports supports over 8,000 American jobs, therefore we must make fair trade a higher priority. This hearing provided valuable insight on this issue and we pledge to work to ensure that American exports, agriculture products and otherwise, receive fair treatment in international markets.” Materials for the hearing are posted on the House Small Business Committee’s website HERE. Notable Witness Quotes: James Boyer, Owner of Jim Boyer Hogs in Ringstead, IA, said, “To fully appreciate the significance of unfair foreign SPS measures, it is essential to understand the importance of exports to the U.S. pork industry and the considerable value they add to both the agriculture economy and the overall U.S. economy. An estimated $21 billion of personal income from sales of more than $97 billion and $34.5 billion of gross national product are supported by the U.S. hog industry. Iowa State University economists estimate that the U.S. pork industry is directly responsible for the creation of nearly 35,000 full-time equivalent jobs and helps generate an additional 515,000 indirect jobs such as in veterinary services, input supplies and other local business support.” Jason Hafemeister, Vice President of Allen F. Johnson and Associates in Washington, DC said, “Thanks to trade agreements that have lowered tariffs and the competitiveness of U.S. farmers and ranchers, ag exports continue to make a positive contribution to the U.S. economy and balance of payments. Promising fundamentals, such as growth in international demand for agriculture and food products, the strong competitive position of the United States, and the process of greater economic integration, all suggest exports will continue to create opportunities for the farm and ranch families and food processors that are at the backbone of our agriculture system. “However, the persistent use of unjustified import restrictions related to health or safety concerns, sometimes sincerely but also sometimes disingenuously, is one of the most serious constraints on U.S. exports. These measures threaten, if they remain unchecked, to close entire markets to U.S. products. This threat is a particular problem for small businesses – farm and ranch families, small food processors, brokers, and others that lack the resources and the contacts with foreign governments to complete a sale when a government official makes an arbitrary decision to reject a shipment.” Roger Mix, Owner-Operator of Mix Farms in Center, CO said, “Many of the obstacles raised by Mexico to justify their failure to honor commitments in the 2003 agreement have been phytosanitary in nature but were not based in sound science and did not justify trade restrictions. For example, Mexican potatoes produced in areas of the country with identical pest profiles as those in U.S. production areas have been allowed to move throughout Mexico if they are washed or brushed and labeled for consumption only. Yet U.S. fresh potato exports to Mexico are not allowed to move in a similar manner. The application of a different standard for domestic production than for imports clearly violates the globally accepted principle of “National Treatment.” Carl T. Shaffer, President, of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau in Mifflinville, PA said, “Trade matters to Pennsylvania and America’s farmers. As you well know, more than 95% of the global population lives beyond our borders. As such, the agriculture industry is constantly mindful of global markets, the opportunities they present and the numerous trade barriers that exist. Trade barriers to U.S. farmers come in many forms. The most challenging trade barriers that are facing agriculture today are the unscientific sanitary standards and other non-tariff trade barriers.” Rural America, Chabot Announces Committee Leadership for 115th Congress Posted in Press Releases on Preview rr Better Broadband for Small Businesses Overregulation Killing Jobs and Growth in Rural America September 8, 2016 | A Better Way to Grow Our Economy

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San Bernardino County and Riverside County J. JAQUET was born in Switzerland, possesses the Swiss talent for agriculture and horticulture, and as a pioneer of Southern California has done a great deal of actual and supervisory work in the planting, development and landscape beautification of Ontario and vicinity. He was born in Canton Neuchatel, Switzerland, January 14, 1860. He was one of six children, had a common school education, and at the age of sixteen left his native land and went to Canada, settling at Kingston, Ontario. He worked on the farm there three years. Being homesick, he returned to Switzerland and remained a year. He then went back to Canada and six months later arrived at Riverside, California, in 1882. At Riverside he entered the service of the Chaffey Brothers, who were then engaged in sub-dividing the colony of Etiwanda. Mr. Jaquet was with the Chaffey s, planting and irrigating orange trees. In the meantime the Chaffeys had bought the site of Ontario, and in the spring of 1883 Mr. Jaquet moved to that colony, at Chaffey's Camp, located at what is now Fourteenth and Euclid Avenue. This land was then being prepared for settlers, and the foreman of the work was Andrew Rubio, a native Californian of Mexican stock. Mr. Jaquet worked with a man named Daniel Nicholl, a landscape gardener. During the year 1883 he helped grade part of Euclid Avenue, planted the ornamental trees along that thoroughfare to Fourth Street, and the following year completed grading and tree planting on the avenue to Twenty-fourth street. This expense was borne by the Chaffey Brothers, who were then transacting the sale of this land to individual buyers, Chaffey Brothers agreeing to plant and care for the developing young orange orchards at a charge of so much an acre for the service. Mr. Jaquet was put in charge of this special part of the work, superintending the planting and irrigating as well as the care of the young trees. In 1886 the Chaffeys left Ontario to do some pioneer work in Australia, and the following year Mr. Jaquet followed them and became their planting manager in Australia. He remained there five years, and when he left Australia he went back through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, lived with his father in Switzerland for six months, and reached America in time to visit the World's Fair at Chicago in 1893. From Chicago he returned to California, and at Ontario was associated with the Lyman Stewart interests, orange growers, for six years. For three years he was ranch foreman for A. P. Griffith at Azusa. On returning to Ontario Mr. Jaquet was in the service of E. H. Richardson as foreman of planting and irrigation work in the new colony of Adelanto for five years, and during the last three years of this time had entire charge of the enterprise. He gave up that position on account of his wife's failing health and has since lived at Ontario, though he has done much outside work as adviser and special pruning expert. On March 17, 1897, Mr. Jaquet married Rosie Gisin, who was born at Basel, Switzerland, in 1860, and in 1882, as a young woman, came to America. For a time she lived near Chicago and in 1883 came to California and secured work with the Chaffeys. She was first married in Los Angeles, and was a widow when she became the wife of Mr. Jaquet. Her daughter by her first husband, Pearl, is the wife of Hellman Cornelius, of Hollywood. Mr. Jaquet in 1900 bought property on Euclid Avenue and retained it until recently. Ten years ago he bought two and a half acres of fine ground on East I Street, which he set to oranges seven years ago, and in July, 1921, he completed his modern bungalow home there. Mr. Jaquet is an old time member of Ontario Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He has been instrumental in the advancement of this colony's interests as a landscape artist, and his skill and industry have provided some of the most distinctive artistic beauties that adorn the natural advantages of this section. History of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties By: John Brown, Jr., Editor for San Bernardino County And James Boyd, Editor for Riverside County With selected biography of actors and witnesses of the period of growth and achievement. Volume III, the Western Historical Association, 1922, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL

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China struggles to meet surging demand for dairy January 16, 2012 by Sebastien Blanc Despite a major safety scandal in 2008, China's demand for milk is surging as people grow wealthier, but the country's poorly kept and often undernourished dairy herds are struggling to keep pace. Mass milk consumption has grown rapidly in China over the past three decades and today yoghurts and dairy smoothies -- particularly with an Asian twist, such as green tea or peanut flavours -- are hugely popular. More than three years after the melamine scandal dealt a major blow to confidence in the dairy industry, the country's appetite for milk continues to grow. Milk has not traditionally formed part of most Chinese people's diets. But rapid rises in income, greater exposure to Western products and improvements in storage and distribution capacity have driven a rapid growth in demand. One study showed urban Chinese consumers' spending on dairy products as a proportion of their budget had jumped by 40 percent since 2006, while industry analysts Euromonitor predict the dairy market will nearly double between 2010 and 2016. As a result, the country's annual production of around 35 million tonnes of milk per year -- much of it UHT, or longlife milk, which is easier to store and transport -- is failing to meet demand. China imported a record 406,000 tonnes of powdered milk in 2010, a figure that is expected to rise to 550,000 tonnes -- equivalent to a year's production from 900,000 cows -- when 2011 figures are compiled. Experts say the low quality of China's dairy herds and poor standards of care means that milk yields are often much lower than in the West, although the growing industrialisation of dairy farms is bringing improvements. The average cow in China produces just 4,000 to 4,600 kilogrammes of milk per year, one third of the standard yields in the West, according to Ezra Shoshani, an Israeli specialist who advises Chinese producers. Karen McBride, head of sales and marketing at Wondermilk, a large American-owned dairy farm near Beijing with 7,000 cows, said the industry had suffered from inbreeding and over-use of antibiotics. "There are no minimum standards for anything, or when there are, the government will move them around to suit the circumstances," said McBride, whose Wondermilk product is marketed on its antibiotic- and hormone-free credentials. Around 30 percent of cows in China suffer from mastitis, an infectious udder inflammation, which McBride said was typically treated with antibiotics. "A lot of that probably just goes into the milk," she said. "The idea of a foreign investment or foreign ownership provides to everybody a degree of safety and security and trust." Many Chinese people remain suspicious of domestically produced milk after the 2008 melamine scandal in which six children died and 300,000 others fell ill. The industrial chemical was found to have been illegally added to dairy products to give the appearance of higher protein content. There have also been accusations the government, keen to ensure China's growing demand for milk is catered to, is giving in to an increasingly powerful dairy industry, dominated by dairy giants Mengniu and Yili. Critics say the hygiene standards China's dairy farms must adhere to are among the world's lowest, with the levels of bacteria permissible in milk four times as high as in most Western countries. In December, the health ministry was forced to deny that it had been taken hostage by the dairy industry, as a series of fresh scandals emerged, including the discovery of potentially cancer-causing toxins in Mengniu milk products. Nonetheless Alastair Pearson, who managed the first of China's new wave of large-scale dairy farms, says there has been substantial progress as the industry moves from small family-run operations to industrial-scale farming. In 2004, 90 percent of cows in China were in herds of less than ten. Today this has fallen to 40 percent, and already eight percent of cows are in herds of more than 1,000. "In the last four or five years things have come on quite a bit in terms of quality," he said. "There's been a quantum leap in progress as the industry has gone from the small homes where animals were not well looked-after to these new farms where animal welfare is light years ahead of what it was." Underscoring the recent progress, US food giant General Mills will soon launch a locally produced version of its Haagen-Dazs ice cream, using Chinese milk. And Swiss food giant Nestle announced last week it would invest 2.5 billion yuan (around $400 million) in a new dairy institute in Shuangcheng in northeast China's Heilongjiang province that will offer professional training to the farmers that supply it with milk. Explore further: Toxin found in Chinese milk Toxin found in Chinese milk China has discovered excessive levels of a cancer-causing toxin in milk produced by one of the nation's leading dairy companies, the firm said, in the latest in a series of food safety alarms.

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Contributors Chipotle & Panera: Food for thought By Wyatt Bechtel Fear and misinformation. That is the easiest way to describe the advertising tactics of the popular restaurant chains Chipotle and Panera Bread. Both chains have been actively pushing non-hormone, antibiotic free, ethically raised meat and poultry products. They’ve both promoted their preferred types of animal protein through artistic, animated videos meant to alter consumer perceptions of conventional agriculture products. Chipotle’s most recent YouTube slap in the face to farmers and ranchers debuted this past week. It’s a video called “The Scarecrow” that was meant to promote a free video game app where the main character serves Chipotle to consumers “on a journey to bring real food back to the people.” Unfortunately, the video has painted a negative and untrue picture of agriculture. Cattle, chicken and pigs are run on conveyor belts in a factory straight into a machine that liquefies them before turning the slurry into a more recognizable cut of meat. Other chickens can be seen given a shot with a syringe that instantly makes them balloon up. Dairy cows are milked in boxes stacked on top of one another in a dark building. This video has just been the tip of the iceberg in a long line of corporate posturing by Chipotle. Last year, Chipotle created a video promoting their campaign “Meat Without Drugs.” That “science-” based video has only received 65,000 views, while “The Scarecrow” is approaching 5 million views in just six days on YouTube. The video endeavor that really took the cake for Chipotle was “Back to the Start.” It has well over 7 million views and features a claymation farmer who is doing well for himself. He’s built several large dairies and hog barns, making a really nice operation for he and his family. But after seeing the side-effects that pumping his livestock with antibiotics and a green slime in a “factory farm,” he decides to tear down the barns and sell products to Chipotle. I believe that example will happen when pigs fly. Panera also jumped into the farmer foray in July with its “EZ Chicken” campaign. The Panera advertising effort fell flat on its face after outcry from agriculture producers. Farmers and rancher were troubled by the assertion that producers utilizing antibiotics were lazy, especially when a series of pictures featuring the pill shaped EZ Chicken made their way around social media. I’ve got no “beef” with marketing free range, organic, or natural meat and poultry. As long as consumers are supporting animal agriculture by choosing a cut of meat rich in protein, vitamins and minerals, I see nothing wrong with it. However, these promotions have been made on false pretenses that their products are healthier and taste better. There is no hard evidence or facts to back up these claims. If Chipotle and Panera were trying to inspire farmers and ranchers to produce the type of products they are selling, I’d say it was a failed attempt. It just made me not want to eat at those establishments and support their fear-mongering agenda. How about thanking farmers and ranchers, instead of alienating the producers who work their tails off everyday making sure Americans and the rest of the globe are provided with a safe, healthy and abundant food supply? Culver’s is a restaurant chain that is making sure that agriculturists are recognized with their “Thank You Farmers” program. With any luck maybe more restaurants will take a page out of Culver’s playbook and avoid the poor examples set by Chipotle and Panera. About the Author: Wyatt Bechtel | Wyatt Bechtel grew up on a ranch in the Flint Hills of Kansas where his days were spent caring for livestock and the land. The formative days of his youth instilled in him great pride and appreciation for agriculture. From the ranch, he went to Kansas State University where he majored in agricultural communications and journalism with a dual in animal science. During his final year at K-State, he served as editor of the National Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow. He graduated in the spring of 2012 with honors. He spends his weekdays “writing for the brand” at Vance Publishing, but on weekends you can find him “riding for the brand” at the Bechtel Ranch. View All Posts

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Tech & ScienceHow Can We Feed Billions More People? By Victoria Bekiempis On 7/17/14 at 3:58 PM Storm clouds pass over a soybean field on October 2, 2013 near Salem, South Dakota. Scott Olson/Getty Tech & Science Farming AgricultureOne out of every eight people in the world goes hungry. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, which calculated this figure, has also reported that 852 million of these 870 million hungry people live in developing countries. Worse, the world population will likely balloon from its present 7.1 billion to 9.6 billion by 2050. Scientists say this will be coupled with a projected doubling in demand for crops by that same year.Researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment now argue in a Science paper, however, that it is possible to feed at least 3 billion more people—with existing cropland. These researchers claim that a “small set of regions, crops, and actions” could “provide strategic global opportunities to increase yields, reduce the environmental impact of agriculture, and deliver food more efficiently from what is already grown.” The researchers identify where these changes should be made for maximum impact, including ways of reducing agricultural impact on climate, water quality and consumption."It’s one thing to say 'Make farms more efficient,'" James S. Gerber, an author of the study, tells Newsweek, but "we want to make sure that the improvements are implemented in the best possible place. We want people to get the biggest bang for their buck." Try Newsweek for only $1.25 per week This they do by identifying “leverage points”—specific places where farmers should start implementing efficiency-improving techniques. Their research focuses on 17 “key global crops” that cover 58 percent of global cropland and comprise 86 percent of the world’s crop calories, according to the study.Some things that can significantly improve world hunger seem pretty obvious but have not been implemented on a wide scale. For example, much of the world’s farmland yields a lot less food than it could. If this “yield gap” could be filled by just 50 percent—that is, if all farmlands worldwide produced just half of what they could produce—it would provide “enough calories to meet the basic needs of [approximately] 850 million people,” according to the study and Gerber.Diet can also play a key role in food supply. When crops are used to feed animals rather than for direct consumption by humans, there is a “substantial loss of calorie efficiency,” the researchers note. “If current crop production used for animal feed and other nonfood uses (including biofuels) were targeted for direct consumption,” they reason, approximately “70 more calories would become available, potentially providing enough calories to meet the basic needs of an additional 4 billion people.”And then there’s the issue of food waste. The researchers cite “Global Food Losses and Food Waste: Extent, Causes and Prevention,” a study by Jenny Gustavsson, Christel, Cederberg, and Ulf Sonesson, all of the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, that claims between some “30 to 50 percent of food production is wasted.” If this level of waste was reduced in the United States, China and India, this “alone could feed [some] 413 million people per year.”If all of these inefficiencies were addressed, the researchers estimate that present cropland could feed an additional 5 billion people. Though the researchers recognize that this is the ideal outcome—and as such, unlikely—they approximate that present cropland could feed more than 3 billion if problems were addressed in key areas, such as the U.S. and China.Explains Paul C. West, the study’s lead author: “It’s obvious that we have to figure out how to grow more food to feed all the people now and in the future. What we’ve really aimed to do here is create a roadmap—which areas in the world, what crops, and what types of action—could have the greatest impact…across the globe.”Request Reprint or Submit Correction Most Read

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2017-04/2296/en_head.json.gz/7692

Pooling resources for local development: Tanzanian women take matters into their own hands Mushroom farmer Batuli Massawe has become a respected entrepreneur thanks to training and a local women's trust fund. Photo credit: UN Women, Laura Beke. “You need to join forces if you want to stand strong, explains Batuli Massawe, a 46-year-old mushroom farmer who has become a respected entrepreneur due largely to training and solidarity lending in the community of Morogoro, 190 km west of Tanzania's capital. In a country where agriculture provides the main source of livelihood for a large majority of the population — accounting for more than two-thirds of employment and almost half of Tanzania's GDP — the the agricultural sector is particularly ‘feminized', with up to 80 per cent of rural women[1]taking part in agricultural activities. Although women form the backbone of Tanzania's economy, they often are excluded from the decision-making process which affects their everyday lives. To address this situation, UN Women and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) launched the Gender Equitable Local Development (GELD) pilot programme in partnership with government authorities. The Municipality of Morogoro was chosen to pilot the initiative, where UN Women has been advising on gender-responsive budgeting - a tool to ensure that Government resources are being spent on the needs of both women and men. The Municipal Council of Morogoro having undertaken gender mainstreaming training asked women's groups to participate in several community consultations in order to identify which gender-related issues should be addressed in its budget. Esther Nathai Mufui (left) is Treasurer and Emmy Kiula (right) is Chairperson of the Tanzanian Women in Food Processing Trust, through which more than 200 women have pooled their resources to spur local agribusiness. Photo credit: UN Women, Laura Beke. “When we first attended the consultations, it was very difficult to point out one problem in particular, because women are being held back on so many levels here, recalls Emmy Kiula, a 47-year-old mother of five with a family farming business in mango pickles. A former Municipal Ward councilor for five years, she has had to overcome many societal barriers. In fact, Emmy says she felt unsure whether her input in the consultations would be taken seriously, because “some people simply do not think women are worthy of being listened to. In Tanzania, women are still denied the right to own land, access credit or even receive an education. As a result, 60 per cent of Tanzania's women live inabsolute poverty[2]. To Emmy's pleasant surprise, the consultations resulted in Morogoro's first food processing business development project. “By bringing together people from different communities, everyone was given the opportunity to speak up and identify the pressing needs in society, including food processing said Emmy. “As a result, we decided to pool our resources into a Trust Fund to support women involved in this precarious sector. Combining their own finances, the 228 members of the newly founded Food Trust, investing more than US $3,000 (5 million TSH), which has since been used to support women by granting loans and organizing workshops on agribusiness practices. With better agricultural skills and more knowledge of agri-business, the women farmers assure the quality of processed food has markedly improved in the area. Better quality has generated more demand for products at a higher price, and has enhanced women's access to markets. “We are making such a difference in the community because we directly respond to women's needs, says Emmy, Chairperson for the Trust. “We hold quarterly meetings to measure the progress made and decide collectively how to re-invest the proceeds of the Trust. And by deciding collectively, we all hold each other accountable for our actions. Salome Nyoni, a member of the TWIFPT, says that prior to training, one kilogram of mushrooms sold for 4000 TSH (US $2.50). They now go for 6000 TSH (US $3.70). Photo credit: UN Women, Laura Beke. It is precisely this sense of ownership which goes to the heart of community development. Morogoro's local authorities have responded to the real challenges of their community and have institutionalized women's leadership by drawing up an inclusive, gender-responsive budget. With greater income, women are now respected as established contributors to the household. In turn, they feel more encouraged to make sure their voices are heard, reinforcing the cycle of empowerment. “The beauty of it all is that we did not reinvent the wheel, TWIFPT treasurer Esther Nathai Mufui adds, smiling. “We were already processing food. We already dreamt of standing on our own two feet. We just needed that extra push to take matters into our own hands. [1] FAO and ILO (2010). ‘Gender dimensions of agricultural and rural employment: Differentiated pathways out of poverty'. http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1638e/i1638e.pdf [2] http://www.tanzania.go.tz/gender.html Share 13/10/2016 Stepping out of the Boma: Maasai women of Tanzania take charge of their own lives and livelihood 10/08/2016 Empowering young women entrepreneurs in Tanzania 09/03/2016 From where I stand: Eisha Mohammed 01/06/2015 Income empowers Kilimanjaro women to seek justice 06/11/2013 Property and inheritance rights key to empowering women living with HIV, say grass-roots groups More news » Get involved

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From Paternalism to Adversarialism: Labour Relations in the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool By Larry Hubich Saskatchewan Federation of Labour Presented at an MMCCU Symposium The Co-operative and its Workers Saint Mary's University In preparing to write this paper and to put together the presentation for this conference I read a bit, and analyzed some ofthe history of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool (SWP), and some of the history ofthe Grain Services Union (GSU). But for the most part, I confess, I cast my mind to my own personal experience with both of these organizations. And also, to thoughts of my own childhood. Because you see, my roots in Saskatchewan Wheat Pool run very deep. And I think, while this paper and accompanying presentation will not be steeped in research and will not be replete with references and citations, as is often customary with more scholarly efforts, it will be informative, and accurate. Much of it is a personal reflection of a company over a period of approximately 50 years. In order to set the context, I think you should understand a bit about the author. I was born the son of a Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevator agent in small town Saskatchewan in 1954. My dad, Bill, worked his entire working life for "The Pool". He ran country grain elevators in small town Saskatchewan for approximately 20 years from the late 1940's to the late 1960's. In 1969 he was promoted to an "out-of-scope" supervisor position (first-line). He was one of what the company called Country Elevator Area Managers also known as Traveling Superintendents, and he was in charge of elevators and the staff employed in them at about 20 -25 towns/communities or shipping points. He subsequently promoted to the company's corporate Head Office in Regina in about 1975 or 76 into a position at the next level up the corporate ladder, in what was then called "Regional Management". At that time, under the company's operational structure, the province was divided geographically into 4 Regions and each Region covered and included about 100 shipping points (towns). My father continued in this position until his death in 1980 at the age of 56. I too, worked for SWP. I started working for the company in 1973, and worked there for approximately 8 years, primarily in their Information Technology Division. Following my stint at The Pool, I worked as a full time Union Representative with GSU from 1982 until 2002. As a result, I observed, over a period of nearly 50 years, a company as it transformed from Paternalism to Adversarialism. Growing up, I remember the sense of pride in the company, pride in the cooperative movement, and pride in community. In the small town I grew up in, co-operatives and the co-operative principles and philosophy played a significant role. There was the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. There was the retail Co-op Store, which included a food store, hardware, and petroleum (consumer and bulk). There was the Credit Union. It seemed almost everybody in town subscribed to the Western Producer weekly newspaper (which was wholly-owned by the SWP). Some of my parent's closest friends where the managers of the Credit Union and the Co-op Store and their families. In fact, we often went on summer vacations together, camping, swimming, and enjoying the great out-doors. It was that typical romantic prairie vision of small town Saskatchewan. Of community. Of a sense of belonging. Of really mattering. Of really participating in democratically controlled institutions. Co-operatives. In addition, I was well grounded in these same co-operative principles and philosophy having attended Co-op Youth Camp in my early teens. Indeed, one summer I even went on an Advanced Co-op Youth exchange program to a camp in Nordeg, Alberta. When I was growing up there wasn't much talk about "the union" in my home. Maybe that's because the union was still an "employees' association" until 1973 when Manitoba Pool country elevator employees joined the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Employees' Association (SWPEA) and the organization became Grain Services Union in 1974. Or maybe it was because my Dad really wasn't much of a "union man" in the first place. After all, he did end up in management -so maybe he was really more of a "company man". I do remember my Dad toiling for hours over those company floats he used to build to put in the Canada Day Parade on July 15t each year. Completely decorated in hand-made plastic flowers and adorning corporate logos and slogans such as "Buy Pool/Co-op Flour" or "We Sell Pool Hail Insurance". I also remember farmer/customers bumping into my Dad at the beach on a sunny summer Sunday afternoon, and my father agreeing to interrupt a family outing to go back to the elevator in town to dump a load of grain, or sell a pail of chemical. And finally, I remember my mother (out of frustration) telling my Dad that he might as well take a fold-up cot over to the elevator during seeding and harvest seasons because he was always there anyway. "He might as well just sleep over there too", she would say. I do know, that the company and the union had their struggles and disagreements back then too. Like hours of work, and grain dust elimination, and staffing policies. But I don't ever remember the slightest hint of a strike, or a grievance, or an all out union/management confrontation. Not at least while I was growing up. But then again, I probably wasn't paying that much attention to it anyway. The attitudes were more collegial. Kind of like "the company will look after the workers". People really believed that, and SWP was a good company to work for. A brief History of GSU Grain Services Union was founded in 1936 by elevator agents and office staff when they formed the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Employees' Association (SWPEA). Back then there was concern about decent wages and working conditions, and employees wanted to gain assurance against unjust discipline. Also, employees were determined to establish a pension plan and that was one of the union's first major projects. More on the pension plan issue later. Over the years, SWPEA expanded to include all workers in Saskatchewan Wheat Pool's head office, elevator construction and repair division, terminal offices, livestock division, and publications division. As mentioned before, in 1973 the country elevator and construction employees of Manitoba Pool Elevators joined the union, and in 1974 the name was changed to Grain Services Union. Over the years, numerous other groups of workers also organized to join GSU, including employees of wholly-owned subsidiaries like Ag-Pro Grain, Bear Hills Pork Producers, to name just a couple. There are never slow times in the life of a union. Members and staff are always working to improve conditions on the job and in society as a whole. That can mean challenging the employer to win a better contract or challenging government to change laws and regulations. Bill Gilbey GSU has played a key role in fighting for better health and safety laws. In 1974, then General Secretary Bill Gilbey helped write Saskatchewan's Occupational Health and Safety Act. This was ground-breaking legislation that gave workers in Saskatchewan three fundamental rights: • the right to know about potential hazards in the workplace, • the right to participate in monitoring and improving workplace safety, • and the right to refuse dangerous work without fear of reprisal. Saskatchewan's OH&S law was, and in many ways continues, to be the model other governments and labour movements try to duplicate. The GSU also campaigned against the health problems caused by exposure to grain dust. After years of lobbying by the Union, in 1971 governments recognized that grain dust was a health hazard and resulting illnesses would be covered by workers' compensation. Elevator companies were forced to install dust elimination systems to protect workers. GSU representatives have had input in drafting other pieces of labour legislation, too. In 1996 GSU General Secretary Hugh Wagner represented the labour movement in negotiating improvements to the Saskatchewan Trade Union Act. The 40-hour work-week and paid overtime may be long-standing terms and conditions of employment in other industries, but the GSU fought for decades to implement them for elevator workers, unionized as well as nonunionized. As a result of GSU lobbying against completely unregulated hours of work, the federal government established a commission of inquiry in 1978. In 1979, Commissioner Gunn created the 1, l20-hour, six-month averaging system for elevator managers and assistant managers as a temporary measure on the road to the 40-hour week. In 1997, after 18 years of no further progress, the GSU launched a second, major lobbying campaign involving members, their families, and elected officers of the Union. The federal government reacted favourably to the pressure, calling a commission of inquiry that heard presentations from the GSU and grain companies in November 1997. In early 1998 the federal government adopted the Inquiry's recommendations and stated that the eight-hour-day would become the grain-industry standard on February 1, 2001. The GSU regards achieving modem hours-of-work standards as one of the Union's greatest victories. A brief History of SWP Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was founded as an official cooperative organization in 1924 after a number of years of farmers organizing producer co-operatives under various names and structures. Farmer/producers had been struggling since the tum of the century to win a fair price for their wheat. The Pool grew quickly and by 1929 it owned 970 operating elevators at various locations around the province of Saskatchewan. By 1949 the Pool operated 1162 elevators and was generating over $500 million in product sales. For the next two decades the SWP continued to modernize its existing operations, and its farmer members continued to enjoy escalating prosperity. The 1970s were even better for SWP. The Pool had bought out a large and significant competitor, Federal Grain Company in 1972. The company then embarked on a process of rationalization, consolidation and closure of older less efficient facilities. In the 1980-81 crop year the SWP posted their best ever profit of $72.7 million. By 1982, the pool had 624 operating elevators,down 49 percent from the 1,224 it had in 1971 -prior to the take over of Federal Grain. The 70's and 80's also proved to be the some of the most politically active for the Pool. Specifically, the Pool battled Ottawa in an attempt to keep the Crow Rate. The Crow Rate had been in place since 1897 when the Federal Government negotiated a special shipping rate for grain and flour with Canadian Pacific Railway in exchange for tracts of land in British Columbia through the Crowsnest Pass. Eventually the Crow rate was eliminated after the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT) put the onus on governments to re-evaluate the protection of marketing systems and farm subsidies. The end of the Crow Rate marked a significant turning point in the corporate mind-set of the Pool. During the 1980's and 1990's the SWP had diversified significantly and invested in a number of subsidiary companies including Mohawk Oil, Dawn Foods Products, Robins Donuts to name a few. In fact, by 1994 these companies had accounted for nearly one half of the Pool's profit of$40.4 million during 1994. The Pool had an equity or ownership position in some 30 different companies. Then, in 1996 the SWP (without submitting the decision to a vote of the Pool's membership) converted itself to a publicly traded company in a desperate attempt to deal with an anticipated run on equity from future retiring farmers and to fund the ongoing aggressive expansion plans of the company's senior management. Take a look at the Pool's Net Earnings over a 14 year period from 1992 - 2005. Table of SWP Net Earnings for 14 year period: Year Net Earnings 1992 26,861,000 1999 (13,765,000) The above chart of the Pool's financial situation is a stark illustration of the financial backdrop under which the company currently operates. In 1995 the Company expected that 46 percent of their members would be retiring within 10 years, and withdrawing their member equity in the co-operative. The senior management thought that becoming a publicly traded company would be the best vehicle to raise capital to deal with an impending cash crunch. In addition, the company was continuing to rationalize, consolidate and close facilities. At the time SWP went public, they had only 564 operating grain elevators. The dismal financial situation and serious miscalculation of the impact of a member backlash against the management's corporate strategy accelerated the closure of facilities even further. By the time SWP reported to their Annual Meeting at the end of 2004 they had reduced the number of operating elevators and supply stores to a total of 142 (a reduction of 422). In other words, a reduction of 334 Elevators and 88 Farm Supply Outlets. They had exited from 29 different businesses. The number of unionized staff at the SWP has been cut to less than 1/3 of its peak. The Shift and the Industrial Relations Overview Now the perceived cordial and collegial approach ofthe "Early Pool" seemed to start a slow drift towards confrontation in about 1974 or 1975 (at least according to my observation). I'm sure the dye was cast long before that, but the pace of change in their industrial relations strategy and approach started to accelerate. There were some interesting and significant political dynamics at play. Like impending federal government legislated wage and price controls and a fight-back campaign being organized across the country by labour centrals including the Canadian Labour Congress and Federations of Labour. The Pool was certainly less than neutral around this issue. For example, during the 1976 -February 2nd and October 14th National Days of Protest against Wage and Price Controls -the SWP tried to stop employees from participating. The Pool was one of the only companies across Canada who reprimanded and suspended employees for participating. The GSU members were defiant of Pool management's interference in their right to express an independent political opinion. Over the years, the SWP's -Father Knows Best attitude surfaced from time to time. There were also some other very contentious issues at play in the relationship between the Company (SWP) and the Union (GSU). The Union's lobby for regulated hours of work, and the 8 hour day 40 hour week for Country Elevator employees was vigorously opposed by the company. As a number of different conditions converged -it is my view that the SWP simultaneously began to hire and/or promote people into the very senior levels of their corporate management team who did not support the philosophy, principles, and fundamental democratic underpinnings of the cooperative movement. The department of Human Resources continued to expand, and a culture of more hard-nosed, aggressive, and a quiet disregard for the collective agreement began to emerge at all levels of the SWP management. But the real aggressive anti-union posture surfaced in full in 1990. This anti-unionism continued to grow and culminated in the first ever strike of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool employees in September of 1994. Grain Services Union members fought back as SWP management attempted to gut their collective agreement. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool had embarked on a campaign of concession bargaining, that continues to persist today. Albeit, in a bit more subtle and different forms. Any arguable corporate benefits of the company's anti-union posture where short-lived as the company showed a very brief and modest upward profit improvement blip for the years 1995 -1997. As illustrated earlier in the chart of Net Earnings, since that date the company's financial performance can only be described as a disastrous and dismal. Looking back, during the period from 1972 -1982, SWP had managed to reduce the number of grain elevators in its country network from 1224 to 624. And they did so with relatively little pain, public protest, and/or employee and producer/member backlash. This occurred, in large part, because the company had involved its members, through a communications and education strategy, to participate in the decisions to rationalize and consolidate operations. With respect to the employees, while there was some difficult bargaining, worker displacement was kept to a minimum through a series of negotiated settlements, which included: • Technological Change Protection • Early Retirement Incentives • Training and Re-Training, and • Attrition related measures It was the presence of a strong and committed union that ensured workers rights and interests were respected and protected. The balance of the 80's resulted in a relatively stable period in the Pool's industrial relations climate. An analysis will reveal that the 1990s was truly the decade that saw the SWP totally abandon any social responsibility the co-operative may once have had towards its employees and its farmer members. Because it was during that decade the Pool ridded itself of any management who had an allegiance whatsoever to the concept of co-operative enterprise. Collective bargaining became protracted. Management demands for concessions intensified. Corporate buzzwords like: competitiveness, flexibility, shareholder value, new paradigm, and grow the company echoed in the boardroom. Employee morale went into the tank. And the company ultimately started to hemorrhage 'red-ink'. Hundreds of Wheat Pool Employees lost their jobs and became the victims of bad management decisions. SWP management openly fought with producer/owners who wanted to keep the company they had built. And the company adopted meaningless slogans like "We're Here to Help" and "Growing Global ... Growing Together". Larry Hubich Things are not much better at SWP today. The company and union are currently embroiled in a long-standing and entrenched battle over the workers' pension plan. In spite of the fact that, by law, employers are obligated to fund any pension shortfall, the SWP is proposing to abandon its corporate responsibility to the employees' pensions and to leave it up to the current and future retirees to pay for under funding of the pension plan by reducing their pension entitlements. Hardly the model of a good co-operative enterprise, I'd say. But then again, SWP ceased to be a co-operative the day it sold it's first share on the stock market at the TSE, back in March of 1996. cooperatives, Little MuddySeptember 5, 2011 at 2:27 PMIt's interesting to "follow the money". The present ownership of SWP/Agricore/United Grain Growers is Viterra Inc headed by Mayo Schmidt, which gobbled up Australia's ABB after the Australian government killed their Wheat Board. The publicly traded Viterra listed its major shareholder as Alberta Investment Management Corp, which holds 17 per cent of Viterra’s common shares. View the entangled corporate make-up of it's board and their associations.http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/people/relationship.asp?personId=8287514ReplyDeleteHeather BrownOctober 10, 2011 at 7:10 PMMy step-grandfather worked for the SWP during its heyday in the late 70's and 80's. He was the head of construction building elevators like crazy and forever on the road. His name was Nels Sondergaard. He loved and took pride in his job and enjoyed many collegues who worked there as well.ReplyDeleteAdd commentLoad more...

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Search Archive Illinois planning rust surveillance upgrade By TIM ALEXANDER Illinois Correspondent DECATUR, Ill. — An upgrade to state-of-the-art cameras, memory cards, and other technical equipment is part of a $93,000 project by the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) and the University of Illinois (UOI) Extension that will provide much-needed upgrades to the state’s ability to rapidly diagnose Asian soybean rust and other plant diseases. According to a recent press release, the project will upgrade Extension’s Distance Diagnostics System (DDDI), described as an internet-based tool that enables UOI plant pathologists to analyze leaf samples dropped off at local Extension offices by producers. “This upgrade is essential to help protect our valuable soybean crop,” said Chuck Hartke, IDOA Director. “The Distance Diagnostics System gives us the ability to quickly screen suspect plants and provide an early warning to farmers if rust is ever diagnosed so they can promptly begin treating their fields.” DDDI was started as a pilot project in 1999 and was expanded statewide in 2000. The system utilizes digital cameras to photograph soybean plant samples microscopically. The photos are posted to a secure website, where pathologists examine the samples and decide whether they merit forwarding to the UOI Plant Clinic for testing. DDDI project coordinator Dennis Bowman called the upgrade vital to ensuring the best available defense against the encroachment of rust, which has not yet been confirmed in Illinois. “The system has proven its ability to rapidly diagnose biologic farm and home problems, but the original equipment is still in use. While the microscopes remain functional, the cameras have become technologically obsolete, and the low resolution of the images they capture limits the system’s potential,” Bowman said. “This project will replace the outdated equipment.” The equipment upgrade for all 95 county Extension offices will cost $93,000, of which $36,000 will be provided by the Extension. The remainder will be paid by the IDOA through a Homeland Security grant, according to the press release. “The planned upgrades only will make (DDDI) an even better resource for Illinois producers,” said Ken Dalenberg, chair of the Illinois Soybean Assoc., whose organization is in partnership with the UOI and IDOA in organizing the rust detection network. This farm news was published in the May 3, 2006 issue of Farm World.

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Africa|World Bank Report Puts Agriculture at Core of Antipoverty Effort Africa World Bank Report Puts Agriculture at Core of Antipoverty Effort By CELIA W. DUGGEROCT. 20, 2007 Farmers assisted by the aid organization CARE weighing their pineapple crop in Kenya. Evelyn Hockstein for The New York Times For the first time in a quarter century, the World Bank’s flagship annual report on development puts agriculture and the productivity of small farmers at the heart of a global agenda to reduce poverty. Three-quarters of the world’s poor still live in the countryside.The World Development Report, released yesterday, is the first on agriculture since 1982. Just a week ago, an internal evaluation unit chided the bank for its neglect of agriculture in Africa and its plummeting financial support for that sector over the past 15 years — support that did not begin to grow significantly until last year.More broadly, the report crystallizes an emerging consensus among wealthy countries, philanthropists and African governments: Increased public investment in scientific research, rural roads, irrigation, credit, fertilizer and seeds — the basics of an agricultural economy — is crucial to helping Africa’s poor farmers grow more sorghum, corn, millet, cassava and rice on their miniature plots.Foreign aid for agriculture has plunged as support for global health and primary education has surged. The fight against AIDS and other diseases is keeping millions of people alive, and rising elementary school attendance is lifting literacy rates. But most poor Africans make their living in agriculture and need to grow more to feed themselves and earn their way out of destitution, many analysts say. Continue reading the main story “We’re not saying health and education aren’t important,” said Alain de Janvry, one of two authors of the report, “Agriculture for Development,” who has taught agricultural economics at the University of California, Berkeley, for 40 years. “But if you look at Africa, there’s no alternative to agriculture as a source of growth.” The World Bank is not the first to reach this conclusion. African governments, at a 2003 African Union summit, promised to more than double their own very low public spending on agriculture. In 2005, the United Nations Millennium Project, led by the Columbia University economist Jeffrey D. Sachs, advocated major investments to increase the productivity of poor farmers in Africa.Last year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation joined the Rockefeller Foundation to help bring a green revolution to Africa. The Gates Foundation, known for its work on global health, was motivated in part by an awareness that extreme poverty and malnutrition were underlying causes of much of the sickness and premature death plaguing Africa.But the bank, the world’s leading development institution and financier of antipoverty programs, plays a unique role in advising poor countries, and its return to agriculture is likely to influence practical policies across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where hundreds of millions of farmers and landless laborers are still mired in poverty.The 365-page report was conceived before the arrival of the bank’s new president, Robert B. Zoellick, but he embraced its themes yesterday in Washington, while acknowledging the recent critical evaluation of the bank’s own performance.“To make this successful, we’re going to need to increase investment,” he said at a forum that was shown live on the Web. Robert S. McNamara, an earlier World Bank president, initiated the last period of ambitious investment in African agriculture, in the 1970s. Internal evaluations found that many of those projects and subsequent ones failed for a variety of reasons. Often, they were complex, devised and run by professionals from outside the countries being helped and not adopted wholeheartedly by poor countries that had little capacity to carry them out independently and, sometimes, little commitment to poor farmers.In the 1980s, in the era of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, the World Bank increasingly withdrew its support from agriculture and expected private markets to spur growth through competition. Bank officials even thought profit-seeking companies would build toll roads in remote parts of Africa.But, as the recent internal evaluation found, private markets often failed to deliver a range of goods and services farmers needed, including improved seeds, fertilizer and credit.In India’s green revolution, which began in the 1960s with the introduction of new high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat, the World Bank, the United States and the Rockefeller Foundation encouraged the Indian government to play a pivotal role in the provision of seeds, fertilizer and credit, said Uma Lele, an agricultural economist who worked at the bank for 35 years and evaluated many of its agricultural programs before retiring. The Indian state also set floor prices for wheat and rice to ensure farmers a return on their investments. In the effort to bring an agrarian revolution to Africa, much of the debate from now on will focus on the role that African governments should play in spurring farm productivity. Economists who have read the World Development Report said there was clearly still a great deal of ferment and disagreement within the bank about many of the particulars. For example, should African governments give farmers subsidies to buy fertilizer, and under what conditions?The report notes that agricultural subsidies have a way of becoming deeply entrenched politically long after their original purpose has been served.The report found, for example, that if European countries, the United States and other wealthy nations removed all tariffs and subsidies for cotton, soybeans and other oilseeds — practices that reduce the world price of those commodities and make it harder for unsubsidized farmers in poor countries to compete — developing countries’ share of world trade in cotton and oilseeds would be more than 80 percent in 2015 instead of only about half.Derek Byerlee, an agricultural economist with the bank who wrote the report with Professor de Janvry, said at a panel discussion yesterday that the United States’ subsidies to cotton growers were “directly and negatively impacting African farmers.”Professor de Janvry said the report was not meant to settle the complicated and difficult policy questions, but “to change the conversation.” A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: World Bank Report Puts Agriculture at Core of Antipoverty Effort. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe World Bank Neglects African Farming, Study Says

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0 Praying for rain- we’re all in this together July 23 2012 | By: Roger Thurow The farmer fell to his knees, landing hard on the parched soil, and raised his arms to heaven. “God, have mercy on us,” he prayed, opening his palms to his field. “Provide us with the rain, for when it rains enough, the dirt will easily break. And the seeds will germinate and push up through the soil. Hear my prayer, dear God.” An American farmer this summer? It certainly could be, as the worst drought in decades chokes the U.S. farm belt. But this particular prayer came from Francis Wanjala Mamati, a Kenyan farmer whose worries mounted by the day as drought spread across his country and all of East Africa. I remember it clearly, for it was on my birthday in March of 2011. An intense sun, shimmering in a clear blue sky, scorched everything below. The temperature was nearing 100 degrees. And Francis, one of the farmers I portray in The Last Hunger Season, was about to begin turning the soil with his jembe, his hoe, in anticipation of the start of the rainy season. He knew his work would be wasted if the rains didn’t come — and come in a hurry. Francis was consumed by the same anxiety plaguing American farmers this year. Oh God, where are the rains? In many places, their work – their plowing and planting and nurturing – has been wasted, with the drought ruining crops and spreading financial woe. More than 1,200 counties have been declared disaster areas. Weather concerns unite farmers all across the world. Be they in Iowa, tilling the richest soil in the world, or in Ethiopia, scratching at some of the poorest, all farmers look to the skies. And the consequences of weather that harms their crops effect consumers all around the globe; commodity prices have now begun their inexorable rise as field after field in the U.S. farm belt withers. This year’s droughts in the Sahelian countries of West Africa and in the states of Middle America remind us that we’re all in this together. We’re all part of the same global food chain. To succeed in our great challenge – nearly doubling global food production by 2050 to meet the demands of a population growing both in size and prosperity – we need both the mighty farmers of America and the smallholder farmers of Africa to be growing as much as possible. But they don’t all have the same chance to succeed. There are many differences between farmers in the U.S. and Africa, but one of the greatest, and gravest, is their ability to survive a crop disaster. In the U.S., thankfully, there is a safety net for much of the damage; insurance and government disaster relief will largely compensate farmers for their losses which will allow them to plant again next year. In Africa, the farmers, at best, will get some food aid. The national safety nets, if there are any at all, are very thin and riddled with holes. In most cases, there is no monetary compensation for crop loss, no support to help farmers bounce back the following season. The consequences of one bad season can be felt for years. It comes down to this: When a crop fails in the U.S., someone writes a check, either the government or an insurance company. When a crop fails in Africa, people die. The farmers fall deeper into poverty, their children deeper into the abyss of malnourishment and physical and mental stunting. Francis Mamati knows the feeling. When he was born, his mother gave him a second name: Wanjala. Wanjala is the local word in western Kenya for hunger. Francis was born during the hunger season, the time between harvests when food stocks run low and meals are skipped. When the new crop is ruined, wiping out the harvest, the hunger season has no end. After his prayer for rain, Francis “Hunger” Mamati rose to his feet and attacked the soil with his jembe, trusting that the weather would turn in his favor. From radio reports, he knew the misery that was spreading across his country and all of East Africa as the drought took hold. “So much crying, so much hunger,” he said. Then he looked at me and asked, “I think in the U.S.A. there is no drought.” Oh, there’s drought I told him. At that time in 2011, Texas in particular was suffering a lack of rain. Francis shook his head and declared a kinship for the farmers on the other side of the world. “We must pray for them, too,” he said. And we must do the same for Francis and all the farmers of Africa. We need to raise the clamor and support the burgeoning efforts of governments, development agencies and the private sector to boost agricultural development in Africa – to widen the access to the essential elements of farming, like seeds, soil nutrients, training and financial credit, and to promote resilience through safety nets. Yes, there are pressures on budgets everywhere, but this is not the time to retreat on the promise of ending hunger through agricultural development. Look upon the parched fields. Hear the prayers of farmers in America and Africa. And know: We’re all in this together. Roger Thurow July 23 2012 Topics

农业

2017-04/3231/en_head.json.gz/19761

South Carolina cotton, peanut meetings set for Jan. 24, 26 Jan 12, 2017 Should we rethink fertility for new, higher-yielding cotton varieties? Jan 12, 2017 Big farm-related tax changes proposed by Republicans, Trump Jan 10, 2017 Peanuts versus enough off-target dicamba can cost yield, timing matters Jan 10, 2017 Crops>Cotton Chinese cotton production: From hand labor to ultra-modern equipment • The result of his two-week trip abroad was a collection of observations — views of farming practices and other insights — that will serve as aids in forecasting cotton trends for Texas and U.S. farmers, plus help determine potential worldwide demand. By Blair Fannin, Texas A&M University | Jan 17, 2013 Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service cotton economist John Robinson recently toured what he calls ‘the West Texas of China,’ trekking to southern Xinjiang to get a first-hand look at farming and harvesting practices. The result of his two-week trip abroad was a collection of observations — views of farming practices and other insights — that will serve as aids in forecasting cotton trends for Texas and U.S. farmers, plus help determine potential worldwide demand. “Cotton is obviously king there,” he said. “They’re trying to diversify the region’s agriculture by growing more ‘jujubee’ orchards — sort of like a date, potatoes and other (crops).” He said there is little transportation system in place, observing carts that are typically used for onions and other commodities being hauled. “If I had to guess I’d say that Xinjiang is probably like West Texas in that it will be the last bastion of domestic Chinese cotton production,” he said “They have to overcome problems with saline soils, and lack of labor, and the cost of hauling cotton bales from there to the eastern portion of China. One way they’re dealing with the latter is trying to establish more cotton spinning and cloth/apparel (towels) manufactured locally in Xinjiang.” In Xinjiang, it is “incredibly dry and is much like West Texas,” Robinson said. “Everything is irrigated, and the irrigation system appears to be a system of canals tapping into reservoirs of snow-melt water from the nearby mountains,” he said. “I saw a few instances of visible white salt on the soil surface; it was obvious they have a soil salinity problem.” Most of the fields he viewed had been harvested, mostly by hand. Preventing sand damage “The fields themselves look like nice 10 to 20 acre rectangles, bordered by a row of trees,” he said. “I think the purpose of the border is like a Rolling Plains shelter belt to mitigate sandstorm damage. They harvest seed cotton and dump it at the edge of the field in a pile. I guess that works as long as it doesn’t rain… I don’t get the impression that it rains very much.” Robinson said at some point, a tractor pulling a trailer showed up and the seed cotton is thrown in and hauled to a gin. “In terms of marketing, that’s where the growers sell their cotton to the gin-buyer,” Robinson said. “I think that’s the same model just about everywhere else (except the U.S., Brazil, and Australia where growers retain ownership of ginned bales).” Robinson said when the group visited a gin on a Saturday, it looked like a normal gin operation on the inside. “There were piles of seed cotton outside, covered with tarps,” he said. “From what I saw of the hand- harvested cotton, it was pretty clean looking. I’ve heard things about hand-harvested cotton in Africa and India where there is lots of human hair contaminant, plus rocks, etc. “But this stuff looked pretty clean to my uneducated eye. This gin had one line that was ginning hand-harvested cotton. It had a separate line that was ginning machine-picked cotton.” Robinson said the finished pressed bale was wrapped in the normal looking ties and then a plastic wrap. The finished bales were stored outside in big stacks. Some of the stacks had huge tarps over them and some did not. “I was told these bales were heading north, presumably to some warehouse owned by the quasi-military, quasi-government agency which everybody just calls the Corps. This is the historical legacy of this place. There were a bunch of Chinese military out there and when they were retired from military service, they got retrofitted into cotton farmers.” He also toured a custom harvest business run by a father-and-son team. “They had quite a collection of equipment, which they admitted was financed in part from the Chinese government, some sort of borrowing subsidy,” he said. “They have 37, six-row Case pickers. These were stored in a huge compound of garage bays that either housed the pickers or housed piles of machine parts, oil, etc. you name it. “The compound also had fuel tanks and fuel trucks, and quite a number of ‘living boxes,’ which were big trailers that could accommodate a harvest crew. The system is geared for mobility — they haul around the machines, the crews, the fuel, etc. to wherever they’re picking.” Robinson said, the university faculty there have a favorable view of Texas A&M and he did his best to enhance that view. “I think their goal generally is to increase the quality of their faculty by exposing them to the U.S., e.g., delegation trips and visiting scholars,” he said.

农业

2017-04/3231/en_head.json.gz/19763

Cattle markets adjust to larger supplies: Outlook Jan 13, 2017 Crop protection industry needs to stay united to protect products Jan 12, 2017 OUTLOOK 2017: Ag economists explore the best options for producers Jan 12, 2017 Texas Ag Commissioner hopes to talk trade initiative with Israel Jan 10, 2017 Livestock In Oklahoma: Cotton faces significant challenges Vic Schoonover 1 | Apr 06, 2006 Coming off two successive record crops in 2004 and 2005, cotton is becoming established again as a major agricultural commodity in the Rolling Plains of north Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, but Oklahoma cotton farmers face significant challenges in 2006, says Bob Collins, secretary of the Oklahoma Cotton Council. “I have been a cotton farmer for years,” Collins said. “If someone had told me 20 years ago cotton would no longer be one of the major sources of income to farmers in this vicinity, I would have laughed at them.” But it happened. Like a lot of other people who relied on cotton, Collins knew the boll weevil was a serious threat. In the 1990s, the boll weevil made it too expensive to farm cotton in many areas. Each year, farmers needed more and more insecticide applications to fight the weevil, Collins said. “I accepted the responsibility of being executive secretary of the Oklahoma Cooperative Cotton Ginners Association in 1981,” he explained. “There were 54 cooperative cotton gins and 30 gins owned by the Chickasha Cotton Oil Co. and other independent owners in this area. Now there are 18 cooperative gins and two independently owned gins.” The boll weevil put 64 cotton processing centers permanently out of business. Another example of the negative effect of the boll weevil took place in 1997 in Tillman County, once the leading Oklahoma cotton producing county, when three farm cooperatives were dissolved to become one cooperative. Three cotton gins closed forever. The new cooperative, Tillman County Producers Cooperative, reopened the Red River gin southwest of Frederick to take care of the cotton being produced. That gin expects to process more than 48,000 bales for the 2005 season. “What saved the cotton industry across the United States, not just in the Rolling Plains, was the boll weevil eradication program,” Collins said. “The boll weevil is no longer a problem for cotton farmers.” But other challenges remain. A battle has been joined between the Bush Administration and members of Congress who represent cotton producing states, Collins said. “Negotiators who are working with the World Trade Organization and other cotton producing nations think U. S. cotton farmers have to give up important government production incentives so the United Sates can compete effectively in world markets. On the other hand, Congress has told administration representatives they don't intend to make big changes in the 2007 farm bill.” Also, dry weather, some call it a drought, is making cotton farmers uneasy right now, Collins said. “If you drive north past Hobart, Okla.,” he said, “winter wheat doesn't look too bad. Although it probably hasn't been enough, farmers up there have had more rain than farther south. If we don't get good rains this month, there won't be much wheat to harvest.” Without a wheat crop to harvest, Collins believes more farmers will be planting cotton so they can put money in the bank before wheat planting starts next fall. “There will be more cotton planted this year,” he said. “And if we get good rains in the next two months, I believe there will be even more cotton planted. A lot of farmers will plant more cotton than ever. An indication is that all of the cottonseed available for 2006 spring planting is spoken for. We could see shortages in certain varieties.” With these challenges on international and local stages looming, Collins is riding a new horse. In August, 2005, the Cooperative Ginners Association of Oklahoma, the Cotton Cooperative Foundation Inc. and the Oklahoma Cotton improvement Association faded away to become one group, the Oklahoma Cotton Council. Collins, who had been executive secretary of the cotton ginners group, accepted the challenge of leading the new organization. “We needed to regroup and put all our effort into one organization that would not only serve the cotton farmer, ginner and warehouseman, but also be a leader in pushing for more cotton research and legislative help.” Collins said. “We are going to be more active in seeking legislation that will assist cotton production in Oklahoma and we are going to help Oklahoma State University and other entities in cotton research.” Collins, who at one time only worried about his cotton farm and the responsibilities of being Tillman County Schools superintendent, has seen cotton production in the good times and when it almost failed completely. Now, he sees a new awakening. Developments like transgenic cotton varieties and no till cultivation are helping cotton regain its place in agricultural production. But some of these practices have not been tested in times of drought. Cotton marketing companies are worried about the loss of American textile mills. Cotton can be exported to China or South Korea, milled into shirts and then sold back to U. S. consumers cheaper than if produced entirely in this country. These are exciting times for cotton production in this country, but there is a lot of uncertainty. “One thing is for sure,” Collins said, “the future won't be dull. When I started working with cotton people, I had to learn fast. And I am still learning. Cotton is on its way back and I am happy to be along for the ride.”

农业

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Uploaded: Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 11:20 am Can this orchid be saved? Filoli class offers basics of home care and rescue Kathy Cordova / Palo Alto Weekly A Phalaenopsis orchid for sale at Brookside Nursery in Menlo Park. Photo by Veronica Weber. Subscribe for unlimited accessRead FAQFor centuries orchids have been a hobby of the very wealthy. Orchid collectors, like the Rothschilds in Europe, have mounted expeditions to far-off places like Africa, Asia and South America in search of the finest, most exotic specimens. Now, with the advent of cloning and decades of commercial breeding, orchids are one of the best-selling plants in America. A search for orchids today will likely lead you to the aisles of Trader Joe's or Home Depot. But, like too much of any good thing, accessibility and popularity have a downside. "We figure that probably 90 percent of the orchids that are bought in the big-box stores end up in the trash," Mark Pendleton, orchid aficionado and managing grower of Brookside Nursery in Menlo Park, said. As anyone who has tried to keep an orchid alive knows, orchids are complicated plants. You can't just stick them in a sunny corner with a little water and expect them to flourish. "It's relational," says Pendleton said. "They're the plants that are most like people. If you want to see them grow and bloom, you have to get to know them." The desire to rescue orchids from the trash bin and to teach people the art of science of caring for them are the reasons that Pendleton teaches the class, "The Basics of Home Orchid Care" at Filoli in Woodside. Pendleton has spent more than half his life growing orchids, first as a hobbyist and then for 27 years in a commercial environment. Pendleton's fascination with orchids began many years ago in Los Angeles when he took a different route home from high school and happened upon the greenhouse of an old, mainline orchid grower. The exotic looks and wonderful smells of the orchids captivated him. He began collecting and experimenting with orchids, attending orchid society meetings and reading books to educate himself about the plants. Pendleton got a job at an orchid nursery, but soon quit and for several years made orchids his hobby. He later returned to commercial orchid growing, where he has worked for most of the last three decades. In that time, Pendleton has published photographs of orchids in journals and books, created and registered more than 200 new orchid hybrids and given talks to orchid societies across the United States and Canada. "I try to acquaint people with guidelines, not with a formula. My personal view is that we are addicted to formulas. With our emphasis on science, we believe a formula will take care of everything and orchids aren't that way," he said. "There are so many different types of orchids and hybrids that each person has to invest themselves and find out how the guidelines can be met for their particular location and their particular plant. One of the reasons that growing orchids should appeal to people in this area is you have to think about it." Pendleton suggests a catchy mnemonic, "A Little Wine Makes Friends Talkative," to recall his six guidelines for orchid care: air, light, water, medium, fertilizer and temperature. The biggest cause for orchid death at home is over-watering. "Over-watering is not a quantity issue, it's a frequency issue," he said. The signs of over-watering, including shriveling leaves, make it look like the plant has dried out. "If the leaves are shriveling up, it's because the roots have died and they have no way to pick up water. Better to make a mistake on the dry side, because the cure is water. If you make a mistake on the other side, the cure is usually to start over again." When is it best to re-pot an orchid? "Just as it begins to put out new roots, but that isn't always the most convenient time," Pendleton said. "Often the most convenient time is when it has stopped blooming. The best rules are to re-pot a plant when it reaches the edge of the pot or the medium it's planted in becomes broken down -- probably no longer than a year or two. There are a few orchids that seem to dislike being disturbed, but many actually seem to benefit from being given a fresh start." Pendleton's class provides a hands-on experience, including guidelines for different types of orchids and a re-potting kit. Here's the short version of what he'll be covering in class: * Find out what kind of orchid you have. That will give you a general idea of the conditions the plant requires to thrive. * Gently knock the pot off the roots. Trim off any roots damaged in the process above the point of damage. * Remove the old medium (often moss or a mix of moss and bark) from the plant with your fingers and by rinsing with water. * Examine the roots for overall health. What really counts are healthy roots, not flowers. * Clip dead and damaged roots (either very thin and fibrous or soft, brown and mushy) with sterile shears. * Select a pot that is an adequate size to hold the plant and one with lots of drainage holes. * Layer the bottom of the pot with foam packing peanuts for increased drainage. * Select a planting medium that will allow both moisture retention and excellent drainage. This will depend a great deal on the type of orchid you have. * Plant the orchid in a medium, such as large bark, that will allow lots of air to circulate around the roots. * If using bark, tap the edge of the pot to settle the bark around the roots. * Fertilize as needed. The orchid should be ready to go and may bloom again as quickly as in a couple of months. And if it doesn't, that's all part of the process. "When I teach a class I tell people to consign themselves to killing a few to learn how to grow the rest," Pendleton said. "If you're the kind of person who can learn from your mistakes, that's great. Find out why you killed it and just don't do that again." What: The Basics of Home Orchid Care Where: Filoli, 86 Canada Road, Woodside When: Saturday, Oct. Oct. 15, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Cost: $50 for members, $65 for non-members Info: www.filoli.org

农业

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2012: Drought and development in final quarter The area benefited from some development in and around Pratt during the fourth quarter of the year; an elk created a stir when it wandered across a Pratt County road, and another year ended with a lack of rainfall. OctoberThe Blythe Family Fitness Center named its basketball court in honor of the late E.W. "Red" Wade, after a months-long Honor Red Wade campaign by friends and former students.Area grain cooperatives reported good yields, due to the prevalence of irrigation in the county; however, statewide, grain production was down substantially from 2011, which was also a drought year. Food prices are expected to rise as a result.Results from a survey by Great Plains Development, Inc., that Pratt city officials hoped would qualify them for a Kansas Department of Commerce grant to upgrade fire equipment, proved disappointing. Only 9 percent of survey respondents reported an income in the low- to moderate-income range. The rate of return was good, but City Manager Dave Howard speculated that the survey did not reach its target audience.Leadership changed at South Central Community Foundation, when Angela Runnion resigned to pursue other interests, and Lynn Perez was hired as director.The Pratt County Planning and Zoning Board invited small towns to join in forming a joint city/county planning commission. A concern was the development of so-called crew camps that follow oil and gas exploration and wind energy development.Wind speeds reported at 40 to 45 miles per hour on Oct. 18 caused some damage to a young wheat crop already struggling to survive in dry conditions.A state-operated sting resulted in charges of selling alcoholic beverages to minors at four Pratt businesses. A patron in one of the businesses was charged with attempting to provide marijuana and beer.NovemberArrowhead West, a not-for-profit organization serving people with developmental delays, announced plans to build a combination office and activity area in the Prairie Parkways Business Park north of Pratt Community College.Pratt Feeders general manager Jerry Bohn said the company would close its feedlot at Hays, citing back-to-back drought years that increased grain prices and reduced pasture grass.In the only two local contested races, Glenna Borho defeated write-in candidate Dwight Adams for a seat on the Pratt County Commission, and County Attorney Ken Van Blaricum handily defeated Democratic challenger Tom Black. County voters gave overwhelming support to the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and running mate Paul Ryan.Pratt County had several confirmed sightings of wild elk. A Wichita driver was involved in what she assumed was a deer vs. vehicle accident east of Pratt on U.S. 54. A Haviland photographer caught an elk in the camera lens in western Pratt County, and a custom harvester reported having seen an elk in the Preston area. Still, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism said elk are rare in the county, although habitat is favorable.In mid-November, volunteers gathered to set up the annual Lemon Park Lights display and a new 12 Days of Christmas display in Sixth Street Park.City officials announced intentions of moving forward with development in the Sandy Creek addition and requested exploratory bids for utility bids in the proposed housing area.Irrigated cotton produced a good crop in the county, but dryland fields were hit or miss, according to Roger Sewell at High Plains Cotton Gin.A fire in the popcorn popper closed the Barron Theatre for a few days in late November.City officials announced the construction of a walking trail around Green Sports Complex beginning in 2013 that will connect the sports complex the the Green Walking Trail along the Ninnescah River, east of Country Club Road.DecemberWalt Stockwell, founder and CEO of Pass It Forward Charities, reported that he was helping three homeless families in Pratt.The Pratt City Commission approved $50,000 to replenish funds for the Pratt Airport Authority, which had taken money from its reserve for construction of a warehouse for airport tenant McJunkin Redman, a pipe and supply company.City sales tax revenues were projected to top $2 million for the year, with a healthy increase over previous years due to oil exploration in surrounding counties. Pratt's hotels and restaurants have benefited from workers in the area. Two local paving projects also brought additional workers who stayed, ate and shopped in town.The Pratt City Commission was asked to repeal its ordinance against pit bulls and other dangerous breeds of dogs, but held firm.Pratt Community College trustees approved the creation of a new Wildlife Enterprise Management program, only the second in the nation for two-year colleges. Students may begin enrolling during the spring semester and will be prepared to transfer to a four-year school — Kansas State University has the only program in the nation — or work in the industry.Pratt County United Fund coordinators reported they were $6,000 short of the goal to help 11 programs benefiting the Pratt community, but were hopeful the additional funds could be raised. Donations are tax deductible.Toys for Tots and the Angel Tree programs wrapped up another successful year, helping more than 300 children in 147 Pratt County families.Law enforcement officers were posted in local schools, when a text message sent to a Kiowa County resident contained a threat against schools. No incidents were reported in either county.Kansas gas prices averaged $3.06, 18 cents lower than a week ago and 2 cents higher than for the same period of 2011.

农业

2017-04/3232/en_head.json.gz/18

Home Crackdown on migrant workers worries local farmers strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 1118. August 16, 2007 By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — Local farmers this week sharply criticized new federal rules calling for large fines to be levied on employers who do not fire foreign workers who present them with inaccurate Social Security information. Farmers argued that the new rules — unveiled late last week by the Department of Homeland Security — will further stem a vital source of foreign labor that has kept many Vermont dairy operations afloat. An estimated 2,500 migrant laborers, many of them with dubious work and immigration credentials, currently toil in anonymity on dairy farms throughout the state, performing jobs that Vermonters increasingly don’t want to take. Approximately 500 migrant laborers, hailing primarily from Mexico, are believed to be working on farms in Addison County. “It was just starting to get better, and now this happens,” said Cheryl Connor, a Bridport farmer and member of the Addison County Migrant Workers Coalition (ACMWC), a group that advocates for the needs of guest farm laborers. “(Farmers) will now be more apprehensive about hiring,” she added. “I’m not sure how many workers we are going to have in this area.” Federal law has required farmers to view and record their migrant workers’ green cards, Social Security numbers and I-9 immigration forms. Still, some migrant workers are willing to take the risk of entering the United States illegally to work at steady jobs paying $7 to $8 per hour, a wage they could not hope to make in their native lands. Employers have not been under the gun to check the veracity of the migrant workers’ paperwork, which sometimes proves to be fake. Under the new rules, federal authorities will send “no-match” letters to employers with workers who have presented Social Security numbers that do not match up with government records. Employers will be given 90 days to reconcile the records discrepancies — or show good faith in doing so. Employers must fire migrant workers who have unreconciled records at the end of the 90-day period or face fines, according to the new rules. As an added enforcement “stick,” the new rules call for a 25-percent hike in fines for employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. Those fines are currently $2,200 on first offense and $10,000 for each infraction thereafter. Area farmers said the prospect of investigations and fines will undoubtedly force some operations to take a pass on migrant laborers and therefore put them in the age-old bind of scouring the region for American workers who have not been as willing to work long hours for basic wages. Other farmers who have grown dependant on migrant workers will likely pay their help under the table — or keep them more cloistered on farms than they already are — in order to maintain what has been a vital workforce. “A lot of people will get groceries for them and not take them off the farm,” said Connor, who said she heard comments on the new migrant worker rules from several farmers at Addison County Fair & Field Days last week. Tim Buskey, administrator for the Vermont Farm Bureau, said he has not yet heard a lot of comments on the new federal rules, which are likely to take effect this fall. “I’m not sure it will change the way people do their hiring,” Buskey said, “but I think they will be a little more careful in checking documents.” Vermont Agriculture Secretary Roger Allbee, reached at a meeting in Quebec on Tuesday, said he was aware of the new rules and is committed to helping farmers understand them and comply with them. He acknowledged the federal government’s new emphasis on enforcement and fines has been disconcerting to the state’s farmers who employ migrant workers. “We will do our best to work through this with the industry,” Allbee said. It was just last week that Allbee and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., visited a Bridport farm to discuss the issue of migrant labor. “It was clear that this farm had tried to hire local help, but had to rely on guest workers because” Vermonters didn’t want the jobs, Allbee said. Ultimately, Allbee said Vermont farmers and guest workers could see relief through pending legislation called the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits And Security Act Of 2007, which has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairs that committee. The legislation, also known as the “AgJOBS Bill,” would create a two-step “legalization” or “earned adjustment” program under which undocumented farm workers who have been performing work in agriculture in the U.S. could gain temporaryresident immigration status and then earn permanentresident immigration status upon completing additional employment in U.S. agriculture during the ensuing three to five years. It would also expand the nation’s H-2A agricultural guest worker program, which allows agricultural employers to employ foreign workers on temporary, nonimmigrant visas, based on claims of labor shortages. “We need to address this issue not only in Vermont, but throughout the country,” Allbee said. Erica Chabot, spokeswoman for Sen. Leahy, said Vermont’s senior senator remains committed to the AgJOBS bill. The legislation failed earlier this year as part of a comprehensive immigration package, but members of Vermont’s congressional delegation vowed to resurrect the bill. “Senator Leahy is an original co-sponsor of the (AgJOBS bill), authored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D-Ca.) and Sen. Larry Craig, (R-Idaho),” Chabot said. “This bill, which has wide bipartisan support, would provide tremendous benefits to America’s farmers and would be a good starting point for the broader reform of federal immigration law. Ultimately, it is critical that the legislative and executive branches work together to reform existing immigration law so that no employer is put in the position of having to choose between obeying the law and maintaining their livelihood. If congress and the president work together, we can create an immigration system for the future that strengthens border security, treats all individuals with dignity, protects American workers and keeps our national economy healthy.” Chabot said Leahy will carefully watch to see how Homeland Security’s new rules will affect employers and their guest workers. “The new Department of Homeland Security rules will inevitably impact businesses and employers, many of whom have been acting in good faith and are complying with existing law,” Chabot said. “These actions from the Department of Homeland Security further highlight the critical need for federal legislation to ensure that employers have the workers they need to keep their businesses vital, while at the same time preserving opportunities and livable wages for domestic workers.” Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., is also a fan of the AgJOBS bill. He was candid in his criticism of the new Homeland Security rules. “This new Bush administrative policy is illustrative of a failure of leadership to balance the necessity of enforcement with the real-world needs of our farmers,” Welch said. “With all of the burdens faced by our family farmers, they shouldn’t have to act as enforcers of what is a failed immigration policy. This problem highlights the urgent need to address farm-labor issues with a sensible Ag-jobs program Vermont farmers so badly need.” Susannah McCandless, a ACMWC member and scholar who has been studying the migrant worker phenomenon in Addison County, said federal legislation should recognize that the large majority of people who enter the country are doing so out of economic necessity, to take jobs that might otherwise go unfilled. “I’m concerned that we increasingly conflate or confuse the motives of … hard working folks who intend to mind their own business with those few individuals trying to get into our country to cause people living in the United States harm,” McCandless said. EYES ON IMMIGRANTS She agreed with others who believe the new Homeland Security rules will simply take migrant workers further out of the mainstream of the society in which they are working. “Vermont dairy farmers have been clear that they have already been pushed to the margin economically, by a host of factors — low prices, high costs,” McCandless said. “I believe many dairy farmers feel an absolute need to contract with migrant laborers who are available, who desire to work long hours, and who are willing to do so at lower wages than many U.S. workers. I don’t know that that will change, with the potential for new enforcement. “I am concerned that working conditions for farm workers and for farmers — and their ability to provide good working conditions for their laborers — will be negatively impacted by laws that cause a need for more secrecy and more hiding and less connections between farm workers and services in the community.”

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Effects of Food Processing on Dietary Carbohydrates Dietary guidelines for developed countries are consistent in recommending an increased carbohydrate intake, corresponding to at least 55% of total energy. Correspondingly, the carbohydrate content in diets typical for developing countries should be maintained at a high level. The nutritional quality of the carbohydrates and the effects of processing on that quality then becomes a concern, because both the content and the nutritional quality of food carbohydrates can be altered by processing in a number of ways. Carbohydrate loss through leaching Low molecular weight carbohydrates During wet heat treatment, as in blanching, boiling and canning of vegetables and fruits, there is a considerable loss of low molecular weight carbohydrates (i.e. mono- and disaccharides) as well as micronutrients, into the processing water. For example, in the blanching of carrots and swedes (rutabagas) there was a loss of 25% and 30%, respectively of these carbohydrates. With subsequent boiling another 20% was lost. In peas, green beans and Brussels sprouts the loss was less pronounced - about 12% following blanching and another 7-13% at boiling (52). The loss of glucose and fructose at boiling was higher than that of sucrose (53). The losses of low molecular weight carbohydrates in carrots have also been shown to differ between various cultivars, and also to be different at harvest and in storage. After storage the loss of low molecular weight carbohydrates increases following boiling, most probably due to the higher water content and therefore also a higher diffusitivity (54). The loss of low molecular weight carbohydrates, at least in carrots, seems to be relatively easy to predict by knowing initial concentrations and process conditions of the raw material. No leaching of dietary fibre into the processing water has been reported with blanching, boiling and canning of carrots, green peas, green beans and Brussels sprouts (52). With swedes, however, there was a 40% loss of dietary fibre (mainly insoluble) with boiling. Also with canning there was a leakage of insoluble fibre into the processing water. Alterations of low molecular weight carbohydrates Production of resistant oligosaccharides The production of resistant oligosaccharides by enzyme technology is an expanding area. More than half of the "functional foods" on the Japanese market contain prebiotic oligosaccharides as active component, with the aim of promoting favourable gut microflora. Fructo-oligosaccharides synthesized from sucrose (55) and galacto-oligosaccharides synthesized from lactose are the most extensively used types of resistant oligosaccharides. Alternatively, fructo-oligosaccharides can be produced by hydrolysis of inulin. Maillard reactions Non-enzymatic browning reactions (Maillard reactions) occur between reducing sugars and ammo groups in foods at processing and in storage. These reactions are temperature dependent and most extensive at intermediate water activities. They are important nutritionally as they may diminish the bioavailability of amino acids, especially lysine, thus diminishing the protein nutritional value. The carbohydrate content and availability is influenced only marginally. When a non-reducing disaccharide such as sucrose is replaced by, for example, high fructose corn syrup containing glucose and fructose, Maillard reactions occur much more rapidly and extensively. This has to be kept in mind in selecting processing procedures and storage conditions. Starch - heat-induced effects Gelatinization Gelatinization refers to the irreversible loss of the crystalline regions in starch granules that occur upon heating in the presence of water. The temperature range during which the crystalline structure of the starch granule is lost is dependent on the water content, and on the type of starch. The gelatinization dramatically increases the availability of starch for digestion by amylolytic enzymes. Usually, the starch granules are not completely dissolved during food processing, and a food can be regarded as a dispersion in which starch granules and/or granular remnants constitute the dispersed phase. The degree of gelatinization achieved by most commonly used food processes, however, is sufficient to permit the starch to be rapidly digested. Consequently, even food processes which result in a low degree of gelatinization (e.g. steaming and flaking of cereals), produces a postprandial blood glucose and insulin increment similar to that with completely gelatinized foods (56,57). Retrogradation Gelatinized starch is not in thermodynamic equilibrium. There is, therefore, a progressive re-association of the starch molecules upon ageing (58). This recrystallization is referred to as retro gradation, and may reduce the digestibility of the starch. The retrogradation of the amylopectin component is a long-term phenomena occurring gradually upon storage of starchy foods. Amylose, however, re-associates more quickly. The crystallinity of retrograded amylopectin is lost following re-heating to approximately 70°C, whereas temperatures above 145°C are required to remove crystallinity of retrograded amylose. This is a temperature well above the range used for processing of starchy foods. This implies that retrograded amylose, once formed, will retain its crystallinity following re-heating of the food. Par-boiling During par-boiling of rice, the kernels are subjected to a pre-treatment involving heating and drying. This process reduces the stickiness of the rice, possibly by allowing leached amylose to retrograde and/or form inclusion complexes with polar lipids on the kernel surface. Parboiling also affects the final cooking properties of the rice. Starch - texturization In pasta products, gluten forms a viscoelastic network that surrounds the starch granules, which restricts swelling and leaching during boiling. Pasta extrusion is known to result in products where the starch is slowly digested and absorbed (59,60). Available data on spaghetti also suggest that this product group is a comparatively rich source of resistant starch (61). The slow-release features of starch in pasta probably relates to the continuous glutenous phase. This not only restricts swelling, but possibly also results in a more gradual release of the starch substrate for enzymatic digestion. Pasta is now generally acknowledged as a low glycemic index food suitable in the diabetic diet. However, it should be noted that canning of pasta importantly increases the enzymic availability of starch, and hence the glycemic response (62). Milling and peeling During milling of cereal grains to refined flours the outer fibre-rich layers are removed, resulting in a lower content of total dietary fibre. This reduction is due mainly to a decrease of insoluble fibre. The dietary fibre composition in both whole-grain and refined flours is different. Refined flours of oats, barley, rice and sorghum contain mainly glucans, while arabinoxylans dominate in refined flours of wheat, rye and maize. Whole-grain flours all contain considerable amounts of cellulose. The husk which surrounds barley, rice and oats also contains considerable amounts of xylans. This fraction is generally removed before consumption, but oat and rice husks are used for fibre preparation to enrich foods. Heat-treatment Processes involving heat-treatment may affect the dietary fibre in different ways. An increased temperature leads to a breakage of weak bonds between polysaccharide chains. Also glycosidic linkages in the dietary fibre polysaccharides may be broken. These changes are important from analytical, functional and nutritional points of view. A decreased association between fibre molecules, and/or a depolymerization of the fibre, results in a solubilization. If the depolymerization is extensive, alcohol soluble fragments can be formed, resulting in a decreased content of dietary fibre with many of the currently used fibre methods. Moderate depolymerization and/or decreased association between fibre molecules, may have only minor influence on the dietary fibre content, but functional (e.g. viscosity and hydration) and physiological properties of the fibre will be changed. Other reactions during processing that may affect the dietary fibre content and its properties are leakage into the processing water, formation of Maillard reaction products thus adding to the lignin content, and formation of resistant starch fractions. Also structural alterations in the cell wall architecture are important to follow during processing as these are highly correlated to sensory and nutritional characteristics. The architecture of the fibre matrix in the cell wall differs between various types of plant material. The cross-linking of constituent polysaccharides and phenolics within the cell wall is important in determining the properties of the fibre matrix, as the solubility of the fibre is highly dependent on the type and amount of cross-links present. During heat-treatment the cell-wall matrix is modified and the structural alterations that occur may be important not only for the nutritional properties of the product but also for its palatability. With extrusion-cooking of wheat-flour, even at mild conditions, the solubility of the dietary fibre increases (63). The solubilization seems to be dependent on the water content used in the process, and the lower the content of water, the higher the solubilization of the fibre, at least for whole-grain wheat flour and wheat bran (64). The screw speed and the temperature had minor effects in those experiments. An increased solubility of the fibre has also been obtained with 'severe' popping of wheat (52), whereas baking (conventional and sour-dough baking), steam-flaking and drum-drying had only minor effects on dietary fibre components (65). One reason why popping caused an increased solubility of the fibre was that the outer fibrous layers were removed and the content of insoluble fibre decreased. Considerable amounts of Maillard reaction products were also formed during this process. A loss of insoluble dietary fibre has also been reported with autoclaving of wheat flour, which was attributed to degradation of the arabinoxylans (65). Hydration properties (swelling, water-holding and water-binding capacity) Most raw materials containing cereal fibres are ground for better acceptance of the final product and this process can affect hydration properties. Swelling and water-binding capacity of pea hull fibres are decreased by grinding, whereas the water-holding capacity was slightly increased (66). The kinetics of water-uptake was also different, and the ground product hydrated instantaneously in contrast to the unground product, which reached equilibrium only after 30 minutes. This was related to the differences in surface area. Heat-treatment can also change hydration properties. For example, boiling increased the water-binding capacity slightly in wheat bran and apple fibre products, whereas autoclaving, steam-cooking and roasting had no significant effects (67). The kinetics of water uptake, however, was different for steam-cooking and roasting. Thus, both products exposed to steam-cooking had a very rapid water-uptake, whereas the roasted sample had a slow uptake. Extrusion-cooking of pea-hulls, sugar-beet fibres, wheat bran and lemon fibres had only slight effects on the water-binding capacity. Processing of foods affects carbohydrate and micronutrient content and bioavailability in different ways with either desirable or adverse effects on the nutritional value. Losses of water-soluble nutrients at blanching and boiling can be minimized by use of small amounts of water and by adding back the processing water. The bioavailability of starch is affected dramatically through processing, regarding both rate and extent of small-intestinal digestibility. This permits optimizing the digestion of starch by choice of raw materials and processing conditions. Processing effects on dietary fibre include solubilization and depolymerization, that can influence physiological effects both in the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract. Formation of resistant starch and use of resistant oligosaccharides as food ingredients provide new opportunities to increase the amount of carbohydrate available for colonic fermentation.

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Farm Bill opinions still iffy Most farmers are taking a wait-and-see approach to the new Farm Bill. By Candace KrebsContributing Writer Most farmers are taking a wait-and-see approach to the new Farm Bill.“It looks workable,” said Randy Wilks, a wheat farmer from Burlington. “We’ll have to see how it turns out. The main thing we wanted was a functioning safety net.”Dave Cure, a corn farmer from Stratton, was less enthusiastic.“It’s the worst Farm Bill since 1996,” he said. Known as Freedom to Farm, the 1996 Farm Bill decoupled farm payments from the crops farmers grew, giving them more flexibility, but also eliminating some of the mechanisms that controlled production and supply to help stabilize prices.“If prices crash, you are going to see a heck of a lot more screaming for disaster payments,” he said. “Nobody knows what the corn price is going to do.”Future prices are highly dependent on whether the government backs away from its commitment to renewable fuels, namely ethanol, Cure said.Randy Traxler, a wheat farmer from Otis, was concerned that farmers would have to choose a program without having a chance to change it later if it wasn’t working like they expected.“When we make a selection, we’re locked in for the life of the bill,” he said.Doug Melcher, a corn farmer from Holly, said the program’s implementation would be almost as important as the bill itself. “We have a Farm Bill, but we still have a long way to go in this process,” he said.

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Farmhouse Biella, the best farmhouses in Biella Expand All Province Alessandria Asti Torino Verbano Cusio Ossola Farmhouse Piedmont Discover Biella Guide to vacation Biella To the north of Piedmont, bordering the Valle D'Aosta region and the Piedmont provinces of Vercelli and Turin is the province of Biella, established by law in 1992. Many pilgrims visit Biella’s sanctuaries. The Sacred Mount of Oropa has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Also worth visiting are the sanctuaries of Graglia and San Giovanni d'Andorno. The landscape in the province of Biella is characterized in the north by the mountains of the pre-Alps, to the west by the "Serra" chain of hills, and to the east and south by plains planted with maize and rice. The Biella territory is rich in water. The main rivers are the Cervo, Sessera, Oropa and Elvo. Lake Viverone lies between the provinces of Turin and Biella. The province of Biella almost entirely part of the Baragge – Bessa – Brich Zumaglia - Mont Prève Regional Nature Reserve. This strong attachment to nature provides local products of high quality, such as dairy produce and cold meats. To the north of Biella one of the best Italian cheeses is produced: the cylindrical Toma Maccagno or Toma di Sordevolo. Among the most important wines are Erbaluce and Bramaterra, and Ratafia liqueur. Polenta is a traditional part of the mountain culture, seasoned with locally produced melted butter and cheese. The “Ricetto” in the town of Candelo, is one of the greatest testimonies to Biella farming life. The “Ricetto” was built by the local population between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and was used as a warehouse for agricultural products and as shelter in times of danger. Among the greatest traditions of Candelo is the celebration of Carnival. Tasting the local confectionery is not to be missed. Due to its mountain peaks, the province of Biella is famous for skiing. Wool processing is an important Biella tradition that can be discovered by following the "wool route", a scenic road named after the wool industrialist, Ermenegildo Zegna. The "wool route" passes through Pray and Trivero to reach Valsesia. Biella is also renowned for producing hats, which are exported worldwide.

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Brewster farmer joins trade mission to Vietnam By Julie Buntjer on Dec 6, 2011 at 9:21 p.m. Ron Obermoller (center) of Brewster is joined by Charlie Poster (left) and Kurt Kruger in examining soybean meal at a crush plant in Vietnam.BREWSTER -- With more than 10 percent annual growth in gross domestic product (GDP), Vietnam is quickly becoming a country that relies on partnerships throughout the world to supplement its economy, and agriculture is vital to its future. For years, the people of Vietnam have slowly been developing relationships with farmers, agricultural processors and companies right here in Minnesota, and a trade mission to Southeast Asia last week helped strengthen those ties.Ron Obermoller, a crop producer from rural Brewster and board member of both the Minnesota Soybean Processors and Minnesota Soybean Growers Association (MSGA), was among more than 20 Minnesotans to travel to Vietnam Nov. 26 through Dec. 4 on what was to be a Governor's Trade Mission. Gov. Mark Dayton was not a part of the trip, although there was representation from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. MSGA helped sponsor the mission trip."The purpose of the trip was to promote commodity trade with Vietnam," Obermoller said on Tuesday. The group visited half a dozen feed mills, toured a soybean processing plant quite similar to the MnSP plant at Brewster and had face-to-face meetings with nearly 30 different importers.Among the Minnesota contingent were feed manufacturers, processors, representatives from animal health companies and commodity groups, exporters and University of Minnesota researchers."They would like to get away from being held hostage by the ADMs and Cargills of the world," Obermoller said of the Vietnam people. "They would like to have their own contacts -- a face of who is growing their beans for them. Quite a few of the buyers have gone to school in the U.S. or taken training with the U.S.D.A. (U.S. Department of Agriculture). They are quite familiar with the U.S. and our technology."In his first visit to Vietnam, Obermoller said he was struck by the size of the emerging market in Vietnam. The Minnesota group spent most of their time at stops in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi."They're not near the size of China, but they are growing much faster," he said. "We went over there with the idea of helping their feed industry so they could export meat to China. As fast as their consumption is growing, they're going to have a hard time keeping up with consumption within their country. I guess that's good news."Vietnam's import market is still in its infancy, and Obermoller said its potential is far greater than its actual impact on the U.S. market at this time. Meanwhile, its growth on the landscape is fairly impressive, with new homes and new businesses continually under construction. A soybean crush facility on the tour was constructed with the use of Minnesota-grown technology"I'm involved in the local plant, so I knew what I was looking at," Obermoller said. "It's probably a little more crude than that in Minnesota, but it's pretty much the same size and same equipment that goes in there."Soybeans are shipped into the facility from a port 100 kilometers away, and all of the grain arrives in bags. The plant supports approximately 300 employees, compared to MnSP, which has a workforce of nearly 50, said Obermoller.Because the people of Vietnam use palm oil for cooking, the country is most interested in importing soybean meal and dried distiller's grain to support their livestock sector. Most of the feed mills they toured marketed to farmers in aquaculture, poultry and pork production.Farm tours were not a part of the excursion because of the Foot and Mouth Disease that is prevalent in Vietnam. Still, Obermoller had an opportunity to talk to a farmer who, with his dad, had found jobs in town to help support the farming operation maintained by the man's mother."It was a very small farm, but they're getting up to three crops a year from it," Obermoller said. Many of the farmers are rice producers, although bananas and pineapple are grown for local use. They grow very little corn."Their biggest crop is aquaculture. A lot of the shrimp you eat comes from Vietnam -- they market the huge, jumbo shrimp," he added.During one of their excursions, Obermoller said they traveled to Ha Long Bay in the Indian Ocean. The bay is considered one of the seven natural wonders of Asia with its towering limestone cliffs that stretch out for about 50 square miles. While there, they saw fishing villages set up, complete with banks and grocery stores.The cluster of house boats included walkways with openings where they can pull up their catch of king crab, blue claw crab, oysters, shrimp and other seafood.Obermoller described the Vietnam people as very friendly and industrious, interesting and independent."They are very proud of their country and very curious of Americans," he said. "They're a communist country, but they've opened up for free trade. Most companies (there) started in 1997 or 1998 -- they're just getting their feet underneath them."Through the connections made during the trade mission, Obermoller sees expanding partnerships between Minnesota and Vietnam."We've invited them to come, especially in the fall," he said. "(The relationships) will be continuing back and forth now. There's been a lot of contact in the past, but this (trip) gave them companies to work with, names, email addresses and faces."Some of these (Minnesota) companies are planning to go back in a few weeks," he added. "I'd be surprised if there isn't quite a bit of business (generated). This is kind of the start of it." Explore related topics:NewsNewsnewsnewsnewsnewsnewsnewsbrewsterFarmerjoinsTradeMissionVietnamJulie BuntjerJulie Buntjer joined the Daily Globe newsroom in December 2003, after working more than nine years for weekly newspapers. A native of Worthington and graduate of Worthington High School, then-Worthington Community College and South Dakota State University, she has a bachelor's degree in agriculture journalism. At the Daily Globe, Julie covers the agricultural beat, as well as Nobles County government, watersheds, community news and feature stories. In her spare time, she enjoys needlework (cross-stitch and hardanger embroidery), reading, travel, fishing and spending time with family. Find more of her stories of farm life, family and various other tidbits at www.farmbleat.areavoices.com. [email protected]

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dansk Deutsch español Français italiano Nederlands norsk português suomeksi svenska Kingsman Launches New Outright Price Assessments for Raw and White Sugar Now One-Stop Source for Outright Physical Assessments and Futures Differentials from Platts LONDON and LAUSANNE, Switzerland, March 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Kingsman, a specialist provider of sugar and biofuels information and analytics and a unit of Platts, today announced the expansion of its suite of price references for the global sugar market to include nearly a dozen outright price assessments for raw and white sugar exported from Brazil, Thailand and the European Union. The new outright price assessments supplement Kingsman's existing offering of raw and white sugar premiums, which reflect the price differential between the spot cash value and front-month futures contracts. "By offering the sugar industry a choice of reference, we're making it easier for them to address various workflow needs with a single, independent source of both outright price assessments and futures differentials," said Jonathan Kingsman, founder of Kingsman and now Global Director for Agriculture at Platts. Kingsman, a leading source of commodity price references for more than two decades, was acquired in 2012 by Platts, a leading global provider of energy, petrochemicals and metals information. The new offering includes four new outright price assessments for raw sugar and seven new outright price assessments for white sugar. Raw SugarThere are two new price assessments reflecting raw sugar loaded free on board (FOB) from Thailand ports, each valuing a different quality grade of sugar. There are also assessments for raw granulated sugar from Brazil, loaded FOB from both southern and northern ports. The assessments capture parcel sizes ranging from 12,000 to 50,000 metric tons and will be quoted in U.S. cents per pound. White SugarThe new outright assessments for white sugar include values for both breakbulk and containerized cargoes for two grades of Brazil white sugar and one grade of Thailand white sugar, and containerized cargoes for one grade of European Union white sugar. The Brazil and Thailand assessments capture FOB breakbulk cargoes ranging from 12 to 14 metric tons, and as containerized cargoes, ranging from 10 to 50 containers. The EU assessment captures FOB ten-container loadings from Europe. The assessments are expressed as U.S. dollars per metric ton. View the methodology document for information on sugar quality, specific loading location and more. The new outright price assessments, as well as the pre-existing raw and white sugar price differentials to futures, are published daily in Kingsman's Daily Sugar Market Report. Kingsman price assessments, like those of Platts, are underpinned by structured methodologies containing numerous quality requirements to maintain the integrity of the assessments. Founded in 1990 and based in Lausanne, Kingsman employs analysts, researchers and report writers to serve the informational needs of the sugar, ethanol and biodiesel markets and the related global community of producers, traders, refiners, financial institutions and other interested parties. Platts and Kingsman provide complementary biofuels services spanning Asia, Europe and the Americas. For additional news and price information on sugar and biofuels, visit www.platts.com or www.kingsman.com. About Platts: Founded in 1909, Platts is a leading global provider of energy, petrochemicals and metals information and a premier source of benchmark prices for the physical and futures markets. Platts' news, pricing, analytics, commentary and conferences help customers make better-informed trading and business decisions and help the markets operate with greater transparency and efficiency. Customers in more than 150 countries benefit from Platts' coverage of the carbon emissions, coal, electricity, oil, natural gas, metals, nuclear power, petrochemical, and shipping markets. A division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), Platts is headquartered in New York with approximately 900 employees in more than 15 offices worldwide. Additional information is available at http://www.platts.com. About The McGraw-Hill Companies: The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), a financial intelligence and education company, signed an agreement to sell its McGraw-Hill Education business to investment funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC in November 2012. Following the sale closing, expected in early 2013, the Company will be renamed McGraw Hill Financial (subject to shareholder approval) and will be a powerhouse in benchmarks, content and analytics for the global capital and commodity markets. The Company's leading brands will include: Standard & Poor's, S&P Capital IQ, S&P Dow Jones Indices, Platts, Crisil, J.D. Power and Associates, McGraw-Hill Construction and Aviation Week. The Company will have approximately 17,000 employees in more than 30 countries. Additional information is available at www.mcgraw-hill.com. SOURCE Platts RELATED LINKS http://www.platts.com Preview: Platts' Megawatt Daily Expands Analytical Focus with BENTEK Energy Data Preview: Platts Survey: Power Utilities Cited Regulatory Risk, Weak Wholesale Prices as Greatest Challenges Ahead

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Cattle markets adjust to larger supplies: Outlook Jan 13, 2017 Crop protection industry needs to stay united to protect products Jan 12, 2017 OUTLOOK 2017: Ag economists explore the best options for producers Jan 12, 2017 Texas Ag Commissioner hopes to talk trade initiative with Israel Jan 10, 2017 Industry leaders say: WTO rules should not single out cotton sector Hembree Brandon Farm Press Editorial Staff | Jan 19, 2006 The continuing efforts of the World Trade Organization to single out cotton from broader agricultural negotiations is a concern for U.S. cotton, says Woods Eastland, chairman of the National Cotton Council. “We were extremely disappointed” with the declaration approved by participants of the WTO ministerial meeting held in Hong Kong last month, he told those attending the annual Beltwide Cotton Conferences at San Antonio, Texas. “The council believes the declaration text is not consistent with the concept of a single undertaking for agriculture and establishes an unwise precedent for WTO trade negotiations,” said Eastland, who is president of the StaplCoton cooperative at Greenwood, Miss. Council leadership will continue to meet with U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials to assess the current text and evaluate future implications, he said. Council leaders have been intensively involved in the WTO Doha negotiations in Washington, Geneva, and Hong Kong in efforts to reinforce the U.S. position regarding a comprehensive agricultural agreement and to insure that the U.S. cotton program isn't singled out for separate treatment from other commodities. “Our meetings in Geneva also provided us an opportunity to review with U.S., WTO, and West African officials the council's cooperative efforts with the USDA and US-AID in helping the Africans to address their rural quality of life and cotton production problems,” Eastland said. Charges that small acreage cotton growers in African nations are being deprived of marketing opportunities because of government subsidies to U.S. growers has been an ongoing issue of contention in the WTO discussions. The “unpredictability and unwillingness” of China to fully comply with all its trade obligations continue to be a concern to the council, he said. China has become the world's largest importer of U.S. cotton, with 5.1 million bales of American cotton already sold in the 2005 marketing year. “We've worked with the administration in conducting numerous meetings with Chinese officials about the way that country allocates its import quotas,” Eastland said. “An additional concern is the variable duty announced by China on imports in excess of their WTO commitment.” The duty, he noted, pushes the price of imported cotton higher than that of Chinese domestic polyester. While farm program defense and trade issues have been a primary focus in 2005, the council has continued to be active in several regulatory areas to insure that the U.S. cotton industry isn't burdened with rules or denied access to products that would compromise its ability to compete in the world marketplace, Eastland said. Based on research sponsored by the Cotton Foundation and testimony by the cotton industry, the council's proposed changes to the International Code Council's fire code were approved. “As a result of these efforts, densely-baled cotton is no longer listed as a high hazard, and ginning is considered an agricultural process and not a commercial or industrial operation.” Following a cotton industry orientation on cotton bale phytosanitary issues conducted by the council for APHIS personnel, a national compliance agreement was developed in an effort to harmonize the phytosanitary and accreditation process. Eastland pointed out 2006 marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of Cotton Council International and its successful programs for developing international markets for U.S. fiber and cotton products. “For the 2005-06 marketing year, the U.S. is projected to export 16 million bales — about 70 percent of this country's production. This is a huge change from the 2.2 million bales and 15 percent of exports in the year CCI was founded,” he said. “U.S. exports of cotton yarn and fabric have also grown strongly during the period, thanks to the promotion efforts of CCI, Cotton Incorporated, the U.S. mills.” Despite those gains, however, Eastland said cotton's market share in the U.S. has experienced a decline due to intense competition from man-made fibers. Though the last few years have shown improvement, “Our efforts for global cot ton promotion must continue and must be further strengthened.” CCI programs got a boost late last year with the announcement of an additional market access program (MAP) allocation that boosted its 2005-06 MAP funding to $15.2 million, well above the previous year's $11.5 million. “If we had been able to hold our global market share at the 1990 level, the world would be consuming an additional 26 million bales annually, according to USDA baseline data,” Eastland said. “That translates into an extra 20 percent in demand — think what that would mean to U.S. cotton growers and to prices worldwide.” e-mail: [email protected]

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Bolthouse Farms Heading Into Convenience Jeffrey Klineman Jul. 22, 2013 at 2:30 pm More Now that it’s a Campbell’s property, Bolthouse Farms is starting to flex some multi-channel muscle. Behind a new, mainstream tagline “A Force of Nature,” the juice and smoothie operation linked to the baby carrot pioneer has agreed to work with national broad-line c-store distributor Core-Mark Holding Co., Inc. to distribute smoothies and juices to convenience stores. Up to 10 different juice and smoothie flavors will be available to Core-Mark’s 30,000 convenience accounts, according to a press release published today on CSP Daily. The move by Bolthouse into the convenience marketing mix is a big step for the company, which is a strong competitor to PepsiCo-owned Naked Juice as the largest supplier of super-premium juices in the U.S. Long known as a vegetable supplier, Bolthouse’s move into the juice category more than a decade ago prompted a growth surge and product diversification strategy that created a windfall both for the family that owned it and eventually for Madison Dearborn, the venture capital firm that sold it to Campbell’s last year for $1.55 billion. Just as it has moved from Whole Foods into conventional produce aisles, the company has also diversified its RTD lines into fresh juices, smoothies, and even protein-enhanced products. Much of the convenience push will be behind Bolthouse’s Protein Plus smoothies. The chase for convenience accounts may also put Bolthouse into competition with another Pepsi ally, Muscle Milk, in that channel, where Muscle Milk’s RTD protein-enhanced smoothies have been big sellers. Muscle Milk is distributed through Pepsi Beverages Company http://www.bevnet.com The BevNET.com web site reviews non-alcoholic, ready-to-drink beverages and provides comprehensive, up-to-the-minute information about the beverage industry. It has the highest traffic and most content of any web site dedicated to the non-alcoholic b... Update / Edit Listing Colorado State University Offers a Certificate ...

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NAFTA 23 years later Climate cost of free trade Rural communities Trade winds of change Home » Think Forward blog » 2014 » September Recognizing food sovereignty Posted September 23, 2014 by Dr. M. Jahi Chappell Food security Community to Community Development, one of the co-winners of the 2014 Food Sovereignty Prize. IATP, as a member of the U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance, is excited to join our partners and allies in congratulating the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) of Palestine and Community to Community/Comunidad a Comunidad, as co-winners of the 2014 Food Sovereignty Prize. Food sovereignty, which demands that the shape of food and agricultural systems must be designed by and responsive to the needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food, rather than by the demands of markets and corporations, is very much part of the values and objectives of IATP. It calls for a democratization and decentralization of food systems—two vital principles that UAWC and C2C are both striving for in their own work. As the USFSA states in their press release announcing the winners: Their stories of continuous struggle to defend the rights of their communities – farmers and fishers in the occupied Palestinian territories and migrant Mexican farm workers in Washington State, both seeking to produce their own food, on their own land, in their home communities – stand in stark contrast to the storylines coming from agribusiness: that technological changes to crops can meet human needs and resolve hunger. Palestine has been under Israeli occupation for decades and this summer faced heightened pressure, including thousands killed and many more injured from bombings, destruction of homes, schools, hospitals, farms, and fishing boats, and hundreds of arrests without due process, and the continued building of settlements on Palestinian farmland. UAWC builds farmers cooperatives and seed banks, and supports women’s leadership, while continuing to seek its members’ human rights to food, land, and water. “This important prize inspires UAWC to carry on its work in defending Palestinian farmers' rights against the brutal Israeli violations, both through supporting small-scale farmers and fishermen toward their food sovereignty and rights to land and water, and also through coordination with local and international movements for social justice and human rights," said Khaled Hidan, General Director of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees in Palestine. In Washington State, amid failed immigration policies that criminalize working families, Community to Community Development has supported and worked with immigrant farm workers to develop farm worker-owned cooperatives, organize a successful nutrition education project called Cocinas Sanas, and promote domestic fair trade in regional assemblies and meetings. Most recently, C2C has supported an emerging farm worker union, Familias Unidas por la Justicia, and organized a national boycott of Sakuma Farms, their employer, who withheld pay, provided poor housing, and has since retaliated against the workers. Familias Unidas por la Justicia recently won a settlement for wage theft and had a Superior Court Judge rule uphold their right to organize – but their fight is not over. “In honoring Community to Community, the USFSA honors indigenous farmworkers in the U.S. Displaced by NAFTA, these peasant farmers from Mexico are practicing a tradition of struggle for justice. Together, C2C and Familias Unidas are promoting food sovereignty in rural Washington State and challenging the corporate agricultural interests that are controlling our food system,” said Rosalinda Guillen, Executive Director of Community to Community Development. The Food Sovereignty Prize, founded in 2009, “spotlights grassroots activists working for a more democratic food system.” Honorees are groups that have raised public awareness, organized on-the-ground action, and/or developed and implemented programs and policies recognizing the importance of collective action in bringing about social change; who have built global linkages into their work, and prioritized the leadership of women, indigenous peoples, people of color, migrant workers and other food providers marginalized by the global food system. As opposed to the World Food Prize, which honors individuals and emphasizes increased production through technology, the Food Sovereignty Prize “champions solutions coming from those most impacted by the injustices of the global food system. In honoring those who are taking back their food systems, the Food Sovereignty Prize affirms that nothing short of the true democratization of our food system will enable us to end hunger once and for all.” The Food Sovereignty Prize ceremony, which I will be attending as a representative of IATP, will take place at the Iowa Historical Building in Des Moines, Iowa on the October 15, 2014. It will be refreshing to join groups focused on the key elements of providing sustainability and food security—scientifically validated factors like women’s rights, social change and social and economic justice—and not just on agricultural production: a factor that, without justice, means little for helping people rather than simply profits. Read more about this year’s winners here and the U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance here.

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Evaluation of three fungicides for control of soilborne diseases of lettuce seedlings Kalonji Kabengele Muzela, J B Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) seedlings diseases caused by soilborne pathogens are characterised by root rot, stem rot and damping-off of the seedlings that can occur at any time during growth. Fusarium solani, Pythium ultimum and Rhizoctonia solani are known to be the important destructive pathogens of lettuce, causing severe yield losses in South Africa. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effects of three selected fungicides to control these pathogens on lettuce seedlings. In this study the fungicides metalaxyl (Apron®), fludioxonil (Celest®) and mefenoxam (Subdue®) were applied at two concentrations as single and double doses on lettuce seedlings to determine their efficacy to control the pathogens Fusarium solani, Pythium ultimum and Rhizoctonia solani after significant reduction of mycelia growth was observed in vitro. Cultures of P. ultimum (UPGH024), R. solani (UPGH122) and F. solani (UPGH122) were obtained from the culture collection of the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of Pretoria and cultivated on PDA for 2 days at 25ºC. Pasteurised soil was artificially inoculated with these pathogens. For the first experiment lettuce seeds were planted in polystyrene seedling trays at a depth of 1.0 cm. There were four replications of 50 seeds per treatment. In Experiment 2 pots (12 cm x 7 cm) were filled with pasteurised growing medium and 3-week old seedlings were transplanted. There were three replications of six pots containing three plants each. Seedling trays and pots were drenched with fungicides and placed in a randomised block design in a controlled environment room at 20- 26°C with a 12h-light/dark regime. The seedling trays and pots were rotated daily in the room. Seedling trays and pots were watered daily to maintain field capacity. The seedlings were able to grow larger in the pots than in seedling trays. It was confirmed that the treatment with fludioxonil (Celest®) at double and single dose inhibited the growth of the three fungi F. solani, P. ultimum and R. solani on lettuce seedlings without causing phytotoxicity. All three fungicides significantly reduced the diseases caused by the three pathogens. These findings are consistent with previous reports that fludioxonil, metalaxyl and mefenoxam can control oomycete fungi. There are few registered fungicides for the control of Fusarium solani, Pythium ultimum and Rhizoctonia solani on lettuce, therefore further work will aim to confirm these results in the field. Dissertation (MInstAgrar)--University of Pretoria, 2011. Theses and Dissertations (Microbiology and Plant Pathology)

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BC Cherries to China Ragnar Haagen - Jun 17, 2014 / 1:57 pm | Story: Photo: Thinkstock.com It's just a few days into Norm Letnick’s federally led trade mission to China, but the provincial agriculture minister says they're already seeing positive results. He is currently touring China with Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and other industry and government leaders from across the country, as they attempt to sign more trade agreements with Asia. "An agreement was signed between the governments of Canada and China that will lead to full, unimpeded access for fresh BC cherries into China. As a result BC cherry growers stand to generate millions of dollars a year in new revenue,” says Letnick. "The BC government has worked closely with cherry growers, the federal government and Chinese importers to reach this agreement. We look forward to building on this momentum and playing the same role in helping gain access for fresh BC blueberries, as well as working to expand the markets for BC pork, wine, seafood and other products.” Letnick says progress has also been made between the two governments on the possible sale of BC blueberries, which could result in up to $65-million worth of exports each year. “The opportunities in China are huge. We've set record agrifood exports to China in each of the last four years, and we want that to grow." The far east, especially China, is extremely important to BC's rapidly expanding cherry industry, says David Geen, Chair of the BC Cherry Association's Market Access Committee. "Cherries are a highly perishable fruit – with a lot of competition in the markets. Expanding the marketing options strengthens sales and returns to producers". BC cherries are already exported to over 20 countries around the world, but China represents an enormous new market opportunity with very strong demand. Inspectors from China are expected to be in the Okanagan for two weeks in early August. Agriculture and seafood exports to China have increased more than five fold to total $5.6 billion annually, since 2006. Top Canadian agriculture exports to the China already include canola, canola oil, soybeans, dried peas, wheat and pork.

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U.S. farmers see how their employees live back in Mexico Save for later As a backlash against immigrants grows, one group aims to build understanding by sending Midwestern farmers south of the border for 'cultural immersion.' By Sara Miller Llana, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor Howdy! Wisconsin dairy farmer Stan Linder visits an employee's family members in Mexico. Rafael Rivero View Caption New skills: During a recent trip to Mexico, Minnesota herdsman Walter Laumb gets a lesson on how to make corn tortillas from relatives of one of the migrant workers he employs back in the US. Rafael Rivero / Special to the Christian Science Monitor View Caption About video ads of San Juan Texhuacan, Mexico — On a recent day Stan Linder drives around town in a white Ford pickup truck, pointing out where corn is grown and where his friends live. Locals pile into the back to avoid the steep walk up dirt roads.But he's nowhere near his own home, 2,000 miles north on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. He's in the remote mountains of Mexico as part of a cultural exchange to see how life is for the families of the migrant workers he employs.As hostility to immigrants seems to be rising in the US – a recent survey by the Inter-American Development Bank shows that 68 percent of Latino immigrant respondents now say discrimination is a major problem, up from 37 percent in 2001 – former Wisconsin high school Spanish teacher Shaun Duvall is trying to boost cross-cultural understanding with 10-day "cultural immersion" trips for US farmers. "That's the magic moment, when you get to connect two different worlds," Ms. Duvall says. "Many [locals] never dreamed someone in the US would care enough to come here." While Mexican migrants have been heading to the US for decades, they didn't show up on farms in upstate New York or Wisconsin or Minnesota until relatively recently, generating the kind of culture shock that played out long ago in California or Texas. According to US census data, the overall population of Latinos in Wisconsin counties, for example, grew by 40 percent from 2000 to 2007.It is not a trend expected to let up any time soon, as dairy farms have had to expand to become competitive at the same time that the population is declining, says Carl Duley, who teaches management classes to farmers and helped Duvall start the cultural exchange called Puentes/Bridges in the late 1990s.At the time, Duvall was teaching Spanish in the K-12 school, the only one in her tiny town of Alma. She was asked to be a translator on about 30 different farms, and provided basic Spanish classes for farmers, many of whom had never stepped foot outside the US. But it wasn't enough. "A lot of them don't know how to manage people. Throw in a whole other culture, socioeconomic class, language, they didn't know what to do," Duvall says. "For some, you have to pull about 14 teeth to get them out of there."Nevertheless, the first group headed to Mexico in 2001. And since then, some 70 farmers have made week-long trips here to learn Spanish and then visit their employees' towns, mostly up the side of the mountains of Zongolica, where it is often faster to walk between towns than drive the pot-holed roads cut at the far edges.It's not the kind of region accustomed to visitors. It is more used to emptying out, as men head north for jobs. "It is hard to be separated, but when the [Americans] come it makes us feel like we are with them," says Maria de los Angeles, who, in this most recent Puentes/Bridges trip, hosted the daughter of the farmer who employs her husband. "We look forward to their visits every year."Linder has come here four times, often bringing medicine and other goods like sewing machines to migrant workers' relatives. This time he forwent a flight, and drove a truck down for the neighbor of an employee. It took three days to get down here from Wisconsin.The dairy producer makes jokes in the Spanish he picked up from his employees as he walks around snapping photographs of family members to bring back. He is called "George" – he's not sure why – and "Abuelito," which means "grandfather" in Spanish. "It's interesting to see where people come from so you can relate better," says Linder.But this is not a charity mission, he says. As dairy producers have been forced to expand – and farms are no longer the family concerns they once were – showing employees that they care is a way for farmers to generate loyalty and maintain a family feel. "It's a way to develop trust," says Linder. "When we come back, it makes them want to work for us."The program has become an inspiration for other groups.Tom Maloney, a senior associate in the department of applied economics and management at Cornell University, modeled a program after Puentes/Bridges and in the past two years has brought two groups of dairy producers from New York state to Mexico. That program requires participants to take lessons learned in the towns of Mexico back to their communities in the US – one way to avoid some of the friction that occurred years earlier between the US citizens and migrant fruit and vegetable workers. "My motivation was, we don't have to make all the same mistakes of the past," he says. "[Having them on dairy farms] is new, I thought, so let's start from the beginning."He says he knows a handful of other farmers from Kentucky and Pennsylvania who have made similar trips. And Duvall's program has since expanded. Last year, she started bringing teachers and university students to Mexico's Veracruz state, to teach the community English. Now, she and John Rosenow, a Wisconsin dairy farmer who helped start Puentes/Bridges with Duvall and Mr. Duley, are hoping to offer business classes to Mexicans in the US, so that when they return home they have more than just money – and can contribute to the long-term development of their communities."One of my employees, unbeknownst to me, was building a bakery back home," says Mr. Rosenow, by phone from Wisconsin. "I had no idea. When I walked into his village that first evening, I was beside myself. I could have been helping him to be a business person."While Rosenow and Linder have become familiar faces in these towns over the years, other farmers are just getting to know a new way of life in Mexico.For two years, Walter Laumb, a herdsman from Minnesota, has patiently taught his new Mexican personnel all the facets of mechanized milking on his dairy farm in Minnesota.But on a recent day, it is Mr. Laumb who is learning an unfamiliar task in a foreign land – as his workers' wives and sisters show him how to make corn tortillas from scratch."When you first come, you realize immediately why they left," says Mr. Laumb. "And then 10 minutes later you realize why they all want to come home." New pressures force U.S. farmers south of the border How a freak blizzard wrecked Texas's dairy industry Why dairy farmers dumped 43 million gallons of milk this year

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OSU pollination study relies on backyard gardeners WOOSTER (AP) — Thousands of seeds have been planted, and amateur scientists across the state are stepping into their laboratories, also known as their backyards. About 2,400 sunflowers, tomatoes, cucumbers and banana peppers were set to sprout in this study onpollination. Interest in pollination has grown as bee colonies continue to suffer mass deaths across North America and in Europe. These die-offs could mean disaster for farmers. Ohio beekeepers lost 50 to 80 percent of their honeybees this past winter, according to the state Department of Agriculture. Nationwide, honeybees pollinate more than $14 billion in crops each year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But what about small-scale agricultural endeavors, such as suburban backyards and urban community gardens? That's what Mary Gardiner and her colleagues at Ohio State University's Agricultural Research and Development Center are interested in learning. "We know very little about how bees use flowers in cities and people's backyards," said Scott Prajzner, an OSU graduate research associate working on the study. "Are they getting enough pollination?" To find answers to that question and others, Gardiner's lab relies on help from volunteers across Ohio, who attend a workshop before getting their seedling kits. When the plants begin to bud in their gardens, volunteers are asked to tie "pollinator excluder" bags around half of the buds, Prajzner said. That will keep bees and other pollinators from reaching them. They'll also record other data from their gardens. "For instance: What percentage of your backyard is in sunlight at a certain part of day?" he said. "Because sunlight will not only affect how many flowers are in your backyard, but also what parts of the yard are warm enough for bees to be flying around." When it's time to harvest, volunteers will compare size, weight and number of seeds in the fruits and vegetables they grew. "People have asked me why we're not measuring numbers of bees or types of bees," Prajzner said. "Insect identification, especially while they're flying around your backyard, is really hard. "We're trying to skip a step and make it easier for your average citizen to become a scientist and collect data." Many plants can self-pollinate, but additional pollination from bees and other insects often can increase fruit and vegetable size, quality and seed count. Looking at backyard factors will help answer questions about how environment affects pollination. Urban agriculture projects, such as community gardens, are gaining popularity, with about 15 percent of the world's food now grown in urban areas, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. About 70 percent of the global population is expected to live in urban areas by 2050. State apiary inspector Barbara Bloetscher said the makeup of people's gardens and yards is more likely to affect bee behavior than the urban setup as a whole. "If there is food, (bees) will find it, whether there are buildings or roads or not," she said. Larger bees, such as honeybees and bumblebees, will fly 3 to 5 miles to find food, Bloetscher said. They're attracted to sunlight, bright colors and weedy areas. And they love cucumber nectar, she added, so the cucumber plants in Gardiner's study should attract more bees and benefit surrounding plants. This isn't the first time Gardiner's lab has used citizen scientists. An ongoing study, known as the Buckeye Lady Beetle Blitz, also relies on volunteers across Ohio. The ladybeetle project is Gardiner's statewide census — there are more than 100 species. For that project, participants place sticky cards in their gardens for one week to catch passing beetles (and other bugs) and report their findings. "It's very interesting to help with the research and data collection," said Tammi Rogers, an Ohio State Extension agent in Coshocton County who has participated in the ladybeetle study since it began five years ago. "It's been very beneficial not only professionally, but personally in my own gardens." Using volunteers such as Rogers allows researchers to collect data in ways that would be impossible to do in a lab, Prajzner said. "I personally think the greatest advantage is allowing people who might not have a scientific background to do experiments, be part of the research process, and get a better understanding of how difficult it is to answer scientific questions," he said.

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PORTRAIT & BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM OF MORGAN AND SCOTT COUNTIES, ILLINOIS Chicago: Chapman Bros., Publishers1889 JOHN R. PHILLIPS is one of the leading farmers and stock-raisers of township 16, range 10, and is especially noted far and wide as a breeder of fine Percheron horses. He has a large farm on section 35, that in respect of cultivation and improvement is conceded to be one of the most valuable as well as one of the most desirable estates in the vicinity. Mr. Phillips represents well-know pioneer families, who were among its early settlers. He was reared here in those primitive times, and has a distinct recollection of the country when its broad, rolling prairies scarcely knew cultivation, and the fine old primeval forest trees along the water courses had been but little disturbed by the ax of the bold frontiersmen of fifty or more years ago. From this beautiful region, which but a short time before had been the home of the Indian, bears, wolves, deer, wild turkeys, and other wild game had not yet fled before advancing steps of civilization. In the great changes that the years have wrought since then our subject has played an important part, and he is now numbered among the wealthy and substantial agriculturists that are the mainstay of the prosperity and high standing of the county. Our subject comes of good New Jersey stock, his grandfather, Titus, and his father, Spencer phillips, having been born and bred in that State. It is thought that all of the grandfather's children were born in that State, and in 1816 he moved from there to Hamilton County, Ohio, with his family, and thus became a pioneer of that part of the country. He remained there until 1831, and then disposing of his property he once more became a pioneer, removing still further westward and in the spring of 1832 he located with his family on the farm now owned by our subject; the parents and maternal grandparents of the latter coming here at the same time. His grandmother Phillips died a few years later, and the grandfather died, perhaps fifteen years after their settlement here. The father of our subject was among the younger ones of his parents' family, and was born May 8, 1800, and was a lad of sixteen when his parents emigrated to Ohio. In that State he was reared to a vigorous manhood, and was there united in marriage to Miss Hannah Robison, a native of New York, who had accompanied her parents to the Buckeye State in its pioneer days. After coming to Illinois he bought 160 acres of wild land jointly with his father, the old homestead now being included in the farm owned by our subject. In the comfortable home that was built up by their united labors the parents passed their remaining days, enjoying the respect and regard of their neighbors, among whom they numbered many warm friends, and when they were gathered to their fathers leaving to their descendants, by whom their memory is held in reference, the precious legacy of lives spent in well-doing and guided by the highest Christian principles. The mother was a consistent member of the Baptist Church, but the father never identified himself with any Church, although he was converted at the age of sixteen and ever after led a true and Christian life, dying firm in the faith. In his politics, he was a good Democrat. To him and his wife were born fourteen children, ten of whom grew to maturity, as follows: Wilson, Allen, Francina, Elizabeth, John R., Sarah, Titus, Robison, William, Martha E. and of these five survive. The subject of this sketch was born in Ohio, Oct. 15, 1830, and as we have seen was reared on the farm where he still makes his home, having been a mere infant when his parents brought him here. In the years that have passed since he attained man's estate his energetic and persistent toil have brought him due reward in the handsome property that he has accumulated. His farm comprises 480 acres of choice farming land, well fenced, and provided with an excellent set of well-appointed buildings and with an ample supply of modern machinery for various agricultural purposes. During the last few years he has made a specialty of rearing Percheron horses of fine breed, and he has some fine blooded horses of that blood, among which we may mention, Arthur, registered No. 5,546; and Frank, registered No. 6,520, a fine gray, imported from France, foaled April 25, 1885, and brought to this country by M. W. Dunham in 1886. In the month of May, 1868 Mr. Phillips and Miss Margaret E. Berry were united in the holy bonds of matrimony, and in their pleasant home five children have blessed their wedded life, all of whom are members of the household yet, as follows - William H., Spencer L., Charles E., John H., David E. Mrs. Phillips is a daughter of William and Margaret (Sharp) Berry of this township. She is in every respect all that a true wife and devoted mother can be, and all who come under her influence hold her in high estimation. In her Methodist Episcopal Church finds one of its most valued members. During the many years that Mr. Phillips has lived in this county as a boy and man he has made an extensive acquaintance and all who come in contact with him either in a business or social way unite in testifying to his integrity of purpose and never failing honesty in action. In all the years of his manhood he has walked the undeviating path of honor, justice and right, and is looked up to with respect by all in the community. He is one of the influential members of the Baptist Church, and always actively cooperates with his pastor and fellow-members in all its good work. He may be said to have inherited his political beliefs from his Democratic ancestry, and ever stands firmly by his party in success or defeat. 1889 Index MAGA © 2000-2011. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data and images may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or for other presentation without express permission by the contributor(s).

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Almond industry puts bee health front and center Jan 05, 2017 Duvall: Agriculture gains clout to address over regulation, labor needs Jan 10, 2017 Western food supply safer since 2006 E. coli outbreak in spinach Jan 04, 2017 New HLB positive tree found in urban Cerritos, Calif. Jan 02, 2017 Veneman sees non-traditional help Forrest Laws 2 | Jun 06, 2001 Veneman, an attorney, has spent much of her career working on farm policy and trade issues with government agencies like USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service and the California Department of Food and Agriculture. But, five minutes into a conversation with the secretary, you realize that this is a lady who cares about farmers, and, while she may have different ideas about how to do it, wants to help them pull out of the deep economic crisis too many find themselves in. Shortly after she boarded the airplane taking her from Cleveland, Miss., to her next appearance in Stuttgart, Ark., Veneman wanted to know how her speech at the 66th annual meeting of the Delta Council in Cleveland had gone over with the audience of 1,500, many of them producers. "I know farmers are looking for help because of the economic problems, and this administration is looking at providing more assistance," she said. "But, there are other areas where we can help farmers become more competitive and help them return to profitability." While the secretary remains an unknown quantity across much of the farm belt, she earned a reputation as someone who would work closely with and fight for farmers during her tenure as California Secretary of Agriculture. When questions were raised about bacterial infections on strawberries destined for the school lunch program in 1998, she had several cartons of strawberries brought into a press conference and proceeded to eat them while answering questions from the news media. "This was in Sacramento where the news media is very liberal," said an observer. "It wasn’t in Fresno or Bakersfield, which are agricultural areas. So, she really went into the lion’s den for growers." She has also worked with California farmers on new programs like the Ag2020 project, an industry/government partnership that she referred to in her speech to the Delta Council in Cleveland. She noted that Kenneth Hood, last year’s Delta Council president, was also a participant in the project. In California, Ted Sheely, a 1999 Cotton Foundation High Cotton award winner from Lemoore and an Ag2020 participant, has helped test such new technologies as a Global Positioning System guidance mechanism for tractors. "We saw some truly amazing things with this system in California," said Veneman. "Ted Sheely had a field that had typically taken 36 hours to plow. With the new guidance system, he was able to reduce that to 22 hours. Those 30 percent increases in efficiency can make a difference over the long term." Veneman was raised on a peach farm in California’s Stanislaus County, which is the seventh largest agricultural producing county in the nation. She didn’t spend much time working on the farm — her father became a member of the California Legislature while she was a teenager. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science and public policy, she received a law degree from the University of California Hastings School of Law. In 1986, she came to Washington to work for the Foreign Agricultural Service as a protégé of then-Secretary of Agriculture Richard Lyng, who came from the same hometown, Modesto, Calif. She rose to the rank of associate administrator at FAS, and, in 1989, was named deputy undersecretary of agriculture for international affairs and commodity programs when the first President Bush took office. In 1991, she became deputy secretary of agriculture. You might think it would create strange feelings to come back to USDA after leaving involuntarily during the change in administrations eight years ago. "Really, things have been happening so fast that I haven’t had much time to think about it," the secretary said. "It’s almost like we’ve been in a fog, responding to one crisis after another since January 20." (Among those: The outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in livestock in Europe, the Starlink transgenic corn controversy, new mandatory price reporting requirements for livestock sales, rising energy costs and falling prices for most of the major row crop commodities.) Although she was frequently mentioned as a candidate for secretary after the Bush election was a certainty, Veneman said she didn’t expect to receive the call to come to Washington to interview for the position on Dec. 17. "After I met with the president at the White House on a Monday and told him I would take the job, he said ‘Good. I need you to be in Austin on Wednesday for a two-day meeting. I had only brought two outfits, but I managed to work through that." She went home to California over the Christmas holidays, made arrangements to sell her house and returned to Washington to begin the process of FBI background investigations, meetings with the transition team and preparation for her Senate confirmation hearings the week before the inauguration. She returned briefly to California to oversee the packing of her belongings, came back to Washington to be sworn in the day of the inauguration and hasn’t been back to California since. "I didn’t sell my house when I left Washington to take the job with CDFA in 1995 because the real estate market had taken a downturn," she said. "When I found out I was coming back to Washington, I told my renter to make other arrangements, and I moved back in. "So, I’m in the same house and in the same suite of offices that I occupied in the last Bush administration, and it’s almost like nothing’s changed." During her speech to the Delta Council, Veneman referred to the fact that she had been "home alone" through much of the first four months in office because of the slow pace of filling her sub-cabinet level political appointments. "That won’t be the case now because of the confirmation of five of our appointments by the Senate Monday night," she noted, as she asked former state senator and producer Bill Hawks to come to the podium and be sworn in as undersecretary of agriculture for marketing and regulatory programs. "I had originally intended it to be a surprise for Bill," she said later. "But, I had to tell him because at one point it looked like I might swear in all of the new appointees in my office before we left to come to the Mid-South." She said she has already been impressed with Hawks’ agricultural experience and willingness to tackle problems and the similar abilities of another Mississippi-related product, Hunt Shipman, who has been "on loan" from Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran’s staff. "I’m grateful to have the talents and expertise of Bill Hawks and Hunt Shipman at USDA," she said, adding that she was glad that Shipman, a native of Dyersburg, Tenn., had agreed to remain at USDA as deputy undersecretary for farm and foreign agricultural programs. Veneman’s actions following her speech in Cleveland indicated some new directions since she drew criticism from Washington ag media for failing to stay and take questions following her first speaking engagement at the USDA Outlook Conference back in February. The secretary held an impromptu press conference for local media in Cleveland and then signed autographs for children of Delta Council members and members of the Mississippi Boys Choir from Greenville. "I’ve never been much on seeking the limelight, but I’ve realized that many people never have a chance to be around someone at my level," she said. "So, I have begun to take time to shake more hands and talk to people."

农业

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Industry Koch Nitrogen to build new urea plant By Koch Nitrogen Koch Nitrogen Company, LLC is moving forward with plans to build a new urea plant at its Enid, Okla., facility. In addition, the company is revamping existing production processes at the facility. Combined, the investments are estimated at $1 billion and are expected to increase fertilizer production at the facility by more than 1 million tons per year. The improvements to existing processes will be implemented in stages from 2014-2016. Construction on the new plant, which will include additional storage and enhanced loading facilities, is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2014. The plant is projected to be operational in 2016. “The investment we are making through Koch Nitrogen underscores our confidence in the future of our overall fertilizer business and our commitment to customers for the long-term,” said David Robertson, president and chief operating officer of Koch Industries, Inc. “In addition to the significant increase in capacity, this investment will serve to improve our operational efficiency and competitive position in North America.” “We are pleased Koch Industries is once again expanding its presence with a new investment in Oklahoma,” said Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, “Koch is well acquainted with our favorable business climate, with three separate companies already operating in the state, employing nearly 1,800 Oklahomans and generating more than $146 million in annual compensation and benefits for our economy. This substantial investment in Enid by Koch Nitrogen to build a new ultra-modern fertilizer production plant is further proof that our commitment to keeping business taxes low and regulations reasonable is paying dividends in the form of quality jobs for our state.” Governor Fallin also congratulated officials with the city of Enid and Garfield Country and referred to the plans as a model of public and private cooperation. “We are thrilled with Koch Nitrogen’s investment plans,” said Eric Benson, Enid City Manager. “They are an excellent corporate citizen and outstanding community partner. They have worked closely with us to address the pressing needs of our community, including recent efforts to find a solution for our community’s water situation. Koch’s expanded presence in Enid will resonate positively throughout our economy for a long time.” Koch Nitrogen has selected the following companies for the project: • Black & Veatch, a global engineering, consulting and construction company, will provide project planning, engineering and procurement services. • KBR, a global engineering, construction and services company, will provide urea engineering and procurement services. • Stamicarbon, the global market leader in licensing of urea technology and services, will provide urea synthesis and granulation technology. “As crop production increases throughout North America, we are seeing an increasing demand for fertilizer from our customers,” said Steve Packebush, president of Koch Fertilizer, LLC. “With this additional production, we’ll be in a much better position to meet that demand. We look forward to breaking ground on this project, while continuing to evaluate enhancements at our four other North American facilities.” The positive economic impact to the city of Enid and surrounding communities over the next three years will be substantial. During the 18-24 months of construction, 500 to 800 new construction jobs are projected to be created. In addition, a total of 20-30 permanent employees will ultimately be added to support the new plant. Enid Facility The Koch Nitrogen facility in Enid is one of the largest fertilizer production plants in North America, producing ammonia, UAN (liquid fertilizer) and granular urea. It was built in 1974 and purchased by Koch Nitrogen in 2003. The site employs 143 people in the fields of engineering, operations and maintenance with annual compensation and benefits totaling nearly $14 million. In the last five years, Koch Nitrogen has invested more than $100 million into the Enid facility, including the construction of a 10,000-square-foot control facility in 2011, which improved operational reliability and overall plant efficiency. At the facility in Enid and at all Koch Nitrogen facilities, employees are committed to a safe work environment and strive to manage operations in a manner that protects the health and safety of employees, customers, contractors, the public and the environment. The fertilizer industry is highly regulated and Koch works with numerous federal, state and local regulatory agencies to attain compliance with all laws and regulations at all times. At the federal level, those agencies include the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Transportation. At the state level, Koch works with the departments responsible for environmental quality and natural resources as well as the Department of Agriculture. Koch also meets periodically with Local Emergency Planning Committees to discuss hazardous materials safety and appropriate responses to emergency events. urea fertilizerfertilizeroklahomakoch nitrogen About the Author: Koch Nitrogen

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Containers & PackagingHarvestingIrrigationLettucePestsPotatoesRegulationsResearchSafetySweet CornTechnology FDA Seeks Comments on New Produce Safety Proposals Dorothy Noble — April 1, 2013 On January 4, 2013, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed the two food safety rules that FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg recognized as the first concrete step toward implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). In the first FSMA public meeting on February 28, 2013, Hamburg said, “They really lay the foundation for a modern, science-based food safety system that will work to prevent foodborne illness, including the large-scale outbreaks of the type that have so plagued our nation in recent years.” Annually, foodborne illness sickens one in six people, hospitalizes more than 100,000 and kills 3,000, according to Hamburg. Michael R. Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, said, “Our first obligation is to do everything we can to reduce these numbers.” Hamburg said, “I encourage Americans to review and comment on these rules.” Taylor stressed his desire for “as much input from the public as possible before we finalize the rules.” The new proposed rules are part of a suite of rules mandated by FSMA. Both domestic and foreign farms are covered by the “Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption,” often referred to as the produce rule. The preventive controls rule, “Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food,” establishes standards for food facilities. Any operation that was required to register with FDA will likely be subject to this rule. This proposed rule is not limited to produce; it applies to food facilities in general. Depending on its activities, an operation may be subject to both rules. For example, a mixed-type facility engaged in growing produce may also be packing or selling for another farm, or in processing its own or another farm’s produce. Brian Snyder, executive director, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, commented that implementation of the rules must be clear regarding federal-state boundaries and build upon state-based food safety authority structures.Photos by Bob Ferguson. Produce rule exemptions The proposal does not apply to personal or on-farm consumption. The Tester-Hagan amendment to FSMA provides for exemptions and modified requirements. If a farm’s average annual value of food sold during a three-year period is $25,000 or less, it is not subject to the rule. Also, if a farm has sales averaging less than $500,000 during the last three years and the majority of the sales are to qualified end users, it is exempt. A qualified end user is either the consumer of the food or a restaurant or retail food establishment located in the same state as the farm or not more than 275 miles away. Such farms, however, would be required to label produce with their name and complete business address. In addition, under the current Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the FDA has authority to withdraw an exemption in the event of an outbreak, or if material conditions warrant withdrawal to protect public health. Dr. David Gombas, senior vice president, food safety and technology, United Fresh Produce Association, said that United’s board advocated mandatory standards in 2007, and in 2010 lobbied Congress for provisions to support that goal. While commending the FDA on the produce rule, Gombas expressed concern that exempt small producers can sidestep food safety. “After all,” he said, “pathogens don’t know what size operation they’re on.” Brian Snyder, executive director, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, noted in the hearing that every farmer he works with feels responsible for food safety. Snyder pointed out that the new generation of farmers is far more knowledgeable about food safety than its predecessors, and they are stepping up. But he added that their greatest worry and concern on behalf of the general public is that improperly applied rules will have a dampening effect on the enthusiasm and success of newer farmers in particular. “Let’s get the Tester-Hagan provisions right, and prevent that from happening,” he urged. David Gombas, senior vice president, food safety and technology, United Fresh Produce Association, told the FDA that the industry appreciates its transparency and communication in drafting the produce rule. Produce rule coverage The proposed produce rule does not apply to produce that undergoes commercial processing, such as canning, that adequately reduces microorganisms with a “kill step.” Documentation must be kept. Also, the proposal would not apply to certain specified produce that is rarely consumed raw. The FDA developed this list of non-covered produce, which includes beets, collard greens, eggplant, kale, parsnips, potatoes, sweet corn and more, by analyzing consumption data. At USDA’s Agricultural Outlook Forum on February 21, 2013, Sarah Klein, senior staff attorney, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), questioned noncoverage of kale, which is now being used raw more frequently, plus the potential for cross-contamination in produce such as potatoes. Sandra Eskin, director of the food safety campaign for the Pew Charitable Trusts, explained during the February 28 hearing, “We are concerned that the potential for cross-contamination has not been factored into the exemption for agricultural commodities that are rarely consumed raw.” Also at the hearing, Scott Horsfall, CEO, California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, concurred that kale is increasingly consumed raw and should be covered. Produce rule requirements The general requirements for growing, harvesting, packing and holding activities include keeping covered produce separate, taking measures not to harvest any covered produce that is reasonably likely to be contaminated, protecting covered produce from hazards when handling, not distributing covered produce that drops to the ground prior to harvest unless it is destined for commercial processing, using packaging to prevent hazards, and using adequate packing materials and refraining from reuse unless they are cleaned and sanitized. The proposal includes detailed standards dealing with possible routes of microbial contamination of produce. These are agricultural water, biological soil amendments, health and hygiene, domestic and wild animals, and equipment, tools and buildings. Special requirements are also set for sprouts. Syed Hassan, food safety, PepsiCo, and Gurmail Mudahar, vice president, Tanimura & Antle, confer with Michael Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner. Mudahar, whose company produces lettuce, commented that the FDA should consider environmental factors such as flying birds, wind and dust, as well as educate consumers regarding food safety. Agricultural water in the proposal is water used in covered activities where it is intended to, or is likely to, contact covered produce or food-contact surfaces. It includes directly applied irrigation water, crop sprays, and washing or cooling water. The standards require inspection, maintenance, monitoring and follow-up actions or treatments, with documentation. For example, if a test of sprout irrigation water detects any generic E. coli in 100 milliliters (mL), the grower must discontinue that source and take action, including retesting. For growing activities using direct water application, if there are more than 235 colony-forming units (CFU) of generic E. coli per 100 mL for any single sample, or a rolling geometric mean (n=5) of more than 126 CFU per 100 mL, corrective action must be taken. During a teleconference hosted by the Produce Safety Alliance, several growers pointed to the difficulties presented by the lack of time for testing when frost abatement becomes critical in a matter of hours. The FDA representatives urged making comments on the situation, with grower suggestions. Biological soil amendment standards depend on the source and the timing. Amendments of animal origin consist of manure or non-fecal byproducts, or table waste. The standards note that compost safety is not regulated by any federal agency, but some state and local regulations provide oversight. Depending on the amendment used and the application method, the crop harvest time interval is zero days, 45 days or nine months. For example, untreated manure must be applied in a manner that does not contact covered produce and minimizes the potential for such contact, and the interval is nine months. With compost treated in accordance with the microbial tolerances set forth in the proposal’s standards and applied so as to minimize contact during and after application, a crop can be harvested after 45 days. The zero-day interval has a higher microbial standard. Human waste may not be used, except for sewage sludge biosolids consistent with Environmental Protection Agency standards. Health and hygiene standards for personnel focus on food safety training, hygienic practices such as proper hand washing, maintaining personal cleanliness and items such as gloves, avoiding contact with nonworking animals and minimizing contact with working animals. Measures to prevent contamination from any person with an applicable health condition are included, plus measures to ensure that visitors do not contaminate covered produce. Domesticated and wild animal standards do not require fencing, habitat destruction or clearing of farm borders. If grazing is allowed, or if working animals are used in produce fields, the standards require waiting an adequate amount of time to harvest any growing area. Also, measures must be implemented to prevent introducing hazards to covered produce. For example, establish horse paths to segregate the animals from the produce. The FDA has indicated that it recognizes the problems associated with wild animals. Nevertheless, if there is a reasonable probability of animal intrusion, the standards require monitoring and evaluation of whether covered produce can be safely harvested. Equipment and tools that contact covered produce, such as knives, harvesters, cooling and sizing equipment, containers and bins, must be designed for adequate sanitation and maintenance, and be prevented from attracting and harboring pests. Instruments for temperature control and measuring sanitizer efficacy must be precise and adequate for their designated uses. Buildings must be suitable for maintenance and sanitary operations, and include sufficient space for equipment and storage. Precautions must be taken to reduce the potential for contamination, with design and construction that can be sanitized and maintained in good repair. Adequate, readily accessible toilet and hand washing facilities, proper plumbing systems and drainage must be provided. Trash, litter and waste must be disposed of properly. Measures to protect against animals and pests must be implemented. Sprout requirements are more specific, because their warm, moist and nutrient-rich production environment is ideal for pathogen growth. The seeds and shipment packaging must be inspected for potential contamination. All production must be in a fully enclosed building. All contact surfaces must be sanitized. The producer must treat the seeds with a scientifically valid method immediately before sprouting. The growing, harvesting, packing and holding environment and the spent irrigation water for each production batch must be tested for Listeria spp. or L. monocytogenes, E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella species, and appropriate follow-up actions must be taken. Sprout growers need to keep written plans for monitoring and sampling. Farms may establish alternatives to certain requirements of the agricultural water and biological soil amendment provisions. However, it must be scientifically established and documented that any alternatives provide the same amount of protection without increasing the risk of adulteration. In presentations, FDA officials have noted that academic journals and cooperative extension sources may be able to provide data. At the Washington, D.C., hearing, CSPI’s Klein urged the FDA to strengthen the documentation on alternative methods, require farm users to notify the FDA, and maintain a database on their effectiveness so other farms can learn from them. Sarah Klein, senior staff attorney for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said the FDA should require more records. Variances A state or a foreign country may petition the FDA for a variance from some or all provisions of a proposed rule if the state or country determines it is necessary for local growing conditions. As with alternatives, the practices in a proposed variance must provide the same level of public health protection. Records must be dated and signed, and include documentation as noted. They may be electronic and need not be duplicative if existing records include the required information. Sprout producers must document actions taken. The proposal does not require records to be submitted to the FDA; however, they must be available during an inspection. At the FDA’s first public hearing, numerous officials explained the analysis and scientific data review processes to develop the produce safety proposals. From left, Donald Kraemer, senior adviser; Dr. Jim Gorny, senior adviser; and Dr. Samir Assar, director, produce safety staff. Each works for the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. The proposal is effective 60 days after publication of the final rule. However, the compliance dates are staggered. Very small businesses, defined as average annual sales of no more than $250,000 during the previous three years, would have four years from the effective date to comply, and six years for some of the agricultural water requirements. Small businesses, with average sales of no more than $500,000 annually, would have three years, and five years for some of the water requirements. All other businesses need to comply within two years after the effective date, and four years for some of the water requirements. In assessing the cost of the produce rule, the FDA estimated the benefit of foodborne illness prevention at $1.04 billion annually. The annualized cost to domestic farms covered was estimated to be $459.56 million, and $170.62 million for foreign farms. The projected average annual cost per farm ranges from $4,697 for a very small farm to $12,972 for a small farm and $30,566 for a large farm. In addition to the produce and the preventive controls proposed rules, the FDA’s proposed rules on imports and on product tracing will be forthcoming. During the first public hearing, Taylor said they would be released soon. Scott Horsfall, CEO, California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, told the FDA that they were happy that the standards closely reflect the food safety practices fundamental to the group. Throughout the public meetings, webinars, presentations, teleconferences and published materials such as fact sheets, the FDA has urged public comments. Both proposals are lengthy and complex. Because producers may be concerned about particular applications, the FDA solicits comments that can include helpful suggestions and solutions. In addition to the issues raised by the public, the FDA requests comments on specific issues, including non-covered produce, dropped produce, sprouts, testing protocols, postharvest handling and more. These are set forth in a produce rule fact sheet at www.fda.gov/fsma. Comments may be submitted electronically at www.regulations.gov. Written comments may be faxed to 301-827-6870, or mailed to Division of Dockets Management, Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061, HFA-305, Rockville, MD 20852. The docket number (FDA-2011-N-0921) must be on all comments. Comments on both the produce safety and the preventive controls proposals must be submitted by May 16, 2013. After that, the FDA will review and consider the comments, and then develop the final rules. Note: This article highlights the proposed produce safety rule; the preventive controls rule will be covered in a later issue. Growers should review the complete standards, which are accessible, along with fact sheets, FAQs and other explanatory information, at www.fda.gov/fsma. A subscription for updates is available as well. Questions for FDA staffers should be directed to [email protected]. The author is a writer/researcher specializing in agriculture. She currently resides in central Pennsylvania. The Key to Employee Success Previous post Look What's Growing! About the Author Dorothy Noble is a writer-researcher specializing in agriculture. GROWING OFFERS Videos 2015-05-05T19:49:41+00:00 http://www.growingmagazine.com/testimonials/mechanical-transplanter/ © 2017 Grand View Media. All rights reserved. | About Us | Advertise | Reprints | Privacy

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South Carolina cotton, peanut meetings set for Jan. 24, 26 Jan 12, 2017 Should we rethink fertility for new, higher-yielding cotton varieties? Jan 12, 2017 Big farm-related tax changes proposed by Republicans, Trump Jan 10, 2017 Peanuts versus enough off-target dicamba can cost yield, timing matters Jan 10, 2017 Batten down the hatches, road ahead's looking rocky It's sorta like a combination Willie Nelson song and The Wizard of Oz: the world's spinning out of control and nobody seems to know who's behind the curtain turning the knobs and pulling the strings. Energy prices in the stratosphere (fill the tank today because tomorrow it'll cost more), rampant food price inflation, a housing market that's on the ropes, a financial system beset by one mismanagement scandal after another, a U.S. dollar that's taking a drubbing from other major currencies, and everything touched by oil (just about everything in daily life) more costly — it's a grim scenario, with no relief in sight. Corn, wheat, rice, and soybean prices are at levels farmers couldn't have imagined in their wildest dreams three years ago, but at the same time growers are confronted with sharply rising costs for every input needed to produce, harvest, and transport those crops. Toss in planting-time rains/floods in the Midwest, water curtailments in the West that will keep 200,000 acres or more out of production, spring flooding and other weather problems over much of the Mid-South, and a mixed bag of problems in the Southeast, and it's not a pretty picture for the start of a season when world stocks of major commodities are shrinking and demand is burgeoning. And despite the man behind the Federal Reserve's curtain saying recently that a major downturn in the U.S. economy was less likely (two days after gasoline had shot up 15 cents or more overnight), Joe and Jane citizen are reduced to watching helplessly as the purchasing power of their stagnant salaries spirals downward. Even more desperate are those with fixed incomes, such as Social Security or pensions, or “safe” investments such as CDs and money market accounts — the meager interest from which is gobbled up by inflation. Like ostriches with their heads in the sand, it's only within recent months that the Fed and the administration have even acknowledged the existence of significant cost-of-living inflation, continuing instead to publicize the relatively minor increases in inflation for the core Consumer Price Index, which doesn't include energy or food. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, faced with a public whose pocketbook knows all too well the impact of skyrocketing prices, is now talking tough about inflation and a concern for the public's growing expectation that inflation is becoming the norm. Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said of the organization's May report: “The Consumer Confidence Index now stands at a 16-year low. Weakening business and job conditions, coupled with growing pessimism about the short-term future, have further depleted consumers' confidence in the overall state of the economy. “Consumers' inflation expectations, fueled by increasing prices at the pump, are now at an all-time high, and are likely to rise further in the months ahead,” Franco says. “As for the short-term outlook, the Expectations Index suggests little likelihood of a turnaround in the immediate months ahead.” Toss into all that the billions of dollars being poured into the folly that is Iraq, and the road ahead appears pocked with economic land mines.

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Cacti and Succulents Site BellaOnline's Cacti and Succulents Editor The Common Purslane Guest Author - Connie Krochmal Common purslane is one of those succulents that many gardeners just love to hate. It is pretty much considered a worthless weed. Yet, that doesn’t tell the full story behind this plant, which goes by the Latin name, Portulaca oleracea. Culinary Uses Despite the fact that gardeners today view it as a weed, this was not always so. Actually, it is still cultivated in some countries of the world. It is most appreciated by kitchen gardeners for the plant is used most frequently as a vegetable throughout the world. As a fresh green, it is often used in fresh salads—especially bread salads in the Middle East. Often prepared as a cooked vegetable, it is used in sautés and stir frys. Purslane is also added to other cooked dishes, such as soups, casseroles, and stews. At one time, it was commonly pickled for use during the winter. This was commonly done before we had so many other means of preserving vegetables. Some folks use purslane as a substitute for okra in gumbo and other dishes. Purslane seeds are useful as a flavoring, and can be used pretty much used just like we use caraway and poppy seeds. Varieties Available So far as its use as a vegetable, there are actually several varieties of the plant that are specifically grown by gardeners. A golden form was known in France as early as 1612. This variety has a vivid red stem and yellow leaves and leaf stalks. With an upright growth habit, this has a very mild flavor. It is often preferred for salads. Golden Tall purslane is noted for its goldish-green leaves and gold stems. Jade Green purslane is more upright than the species plant. Green Garden purslane tends to be upright, and is much larger than the species. In the classic vegetable book by M.M. Vilmorin-Andrieux, which was published in English in 1885, the author describes one variety called Large Leaved Golden purslane. He said this has a slower growth rate than others. This compact variety has leaves that are easily twice as large as those of the species and of most other varieties. These are held closely together on the stalk. Medicinal Uses In a number of countries, purslane is used for various medicinal purposes. It is recognized for its cooling effect, and is noted for its high Vitamin C content. For that reason, purslane was used by sailors to treat scurvy. In China, purslane is used for its skin softening qualities and is a favorite for treating various kinds of skin conditions, such as skin ulcers and wounds. It is also used as a diuretic. The seeds are also used in various dishes. For example, they are ground as a flour or meal and added to breads, griddle cakes, baked goods, and porridges. Culpepper’s herbal lists many medicinal uses for purslane. He reported it was good for coughs, vomiting, shortness of breath, excessive thirst, as a sleep aid, and a sedative. Besides using the herb, he also recommended the seed as a vermifuge and for other purposes. Nutrient Some reports indicate the plants have a high content of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids. When compared to some cultivated salad plants, purslane compares very favorably when it comes to nutrient content. According to the USDA food composition tables, raw purslane is especially high in iron, calcium, Vitamin A and Vitamin C. The leaves and stems are much more nutritious than leaf lettuces. This site needs an editor - click to learn more! | Editor's Picks Articles | Top Ten Articles | Previous Features | Site Map For FREE email updates, subscribe to the Cacti and Succulents Newsletter Content copyright © 2015 by Connie Krochmal . All rights reserved. This content was written by Connie Krochmal . If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact BellaOnline Administration Aloes - an introductionMother of ThousandsJade Plant

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Food Market Watch: A new tack in farmers market regulation Santa Monica farmers market David Karp Thompson Seedless and Red Flame grapes grown by Peacock Family Farms in Dinuba. Thompson Seedless and Red Flame grapes grown by Peacock Family Farms in Dinuba. (David Karp) David KarpSpecial to the Los Angeles Times A plan earlier this year to ensure the integrity of farmers markets went nowhere, but now the California Department of Food and Agriculture is forming an advisory group to consider a variety of topics related to the direct marketing of fruits and vegetables — not only farmers markets but also farm stands and community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs.Last week California Secretary of Agriculture Karen Ross sent out 21 letters to people inviting them to join a Direct Marketing task force. The group, which includes members from a range of agriculture-related organizations, will meet monthly starting in early October. A report with their recommendations should be ready by July. According to Rick Jensen, director of Inspection Services for the CDFA, the committee will be looking at a wide variety of direct-marketing topics, including the possibility of improving access to fresh fruits and vegetables in so-called food deserts that are under-served by regular markets, as well as developing possible new direct-marketing regulations and finding ways to fund, support and enforce them. The group may also consider topics such as whether the term "locally grown" needs to be legally defined, whether to define CSAs in law and whether farmers at markets should continue to be allowed to sell produce to restaurants and distributors.Meanwhile, a bill that extends the CDFA's supervision of the state's certified farmers market program, SB 513, awaits signing on the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown. He has until Oct. 9 to sign this bill, which extends the state-certified farmers market program, which is facing "sunset" at the end of 2011. Previous extensions of the program's authority were for periods of five years, but the bill's sponsor, Sen. Anthony Cannella (R-Ceres), amended it to shorten this term to two years (through 2013) in order to encourage the farmers market industry to develop an integrity plan during that time. In the unlikely event that Brown were to veto the bill, certified farmers markets would continue to exist in California, but the state's supervision of the program would cease, says Jensen. That would include funding and coordination of the Certified Farmers Market Advisory Committee, state enforcement activities and civil penalties for violations of market rules.Last autumn, in the aftermath of media reports alleging cheating by vendors at Southern California certified farmers markets (including selling of purchased produce and misrepresentation of conventional produce as unsprayed or organic), the CDFA held public listening sessions and appointed a technical planning committee, which offered a farmers market integrity plan last March. This plan proposed to fund enforcement by raising the cap on the fee paid by farmers each time they sell at a farmers market, from the current 60 cents per market to as much as $4.If the maximum fee had been adopted, it would have raised approximately $1.5 million to hire additional state inspectors, boosted funding for county inspections, and developed a training program for managers, as well as enforcement-related databases.Although many Southern California farmers market managers and stakeholders supported the plan, other industry participants around the state thought it was too expensive or would not result in effective enforcement. Raising fees of any sort is particularly problematic in the current political environment, and because of the lack of consensus in the farmers market industry, Cannella did not include language increasing the fee in the bill.One of the most potentially significant items in Jensen's brief of the direct-marketing task force's purview is "determining whether buying and reselling is an acceptable method of direct marketing." The exact meaning of this phrase is unclear, but Noelle Cremers, a governmental affairs director at the California Farm Bureau Federation and a member of the direct-marketing task force, says that a representative of agricultural interests, whom she declined to name, wanted to reexamine whether farmers at certified farmers markets should continue to be allowed to sell to restaurants and food-service purveyors. (This technically was not allowed until 2008.)The task force is expected to address the farmers market integrity issue, although it is not clear what new ideas will be brought to the table. As one possible alternative to the technical planning committee's enforcement plan, Leah Smith, director of programs at the Agricultural Institute of Marin, has suggested that third-party organizations, similar to the agencies that inspect organic growers, might be able to certify farmers market vendors. Such agencies might be able to do the job at a lower cost than the CDFA and county employees, she said.Currently only the CDFA has the statewide power to gather information about market vendors' production and sales and to penalize violators of market rules. Redrawing the basic structure of farmers market enforcement would require a lot of heavy lifting in terms of legislative change. Also, because county agricultural commissioners have the primary responsibility for enforcement but lack adequate resources to do the job, any realistic integrity plan will have to address that shortfall.Partly in frustration at the lack of effective state and country enforcement, several groups of market operators recently have beefed up their own farm audit programs. Agricultural Institute of Marin, which runs eight certified farmers markets, employs 11/2 staff members for its program, which involves an unannounced inspection of a farmer's stand at the market, closely followed by a visit to the farm. Of the approximately 65 vendors surveyed so far, the great majority appeared to be honest, AIM's Smith said, but two have been removed for selling purchased produced.Such a locally based program has the potential to be nimble and effective, but in Southern California, competing groups of farmers market operators do not always share information about production and sales that is needed to catch cheaters. Moreover, customers of small independent farmers markets, which often lack the resources for inspections, would not benefit from such an approach.Farmers market integrity issues have been studied and debated by industry organizations for more than a decade, and so far conflicting opinions have doomed attempts to boost statewide enforcement. Typically, a lot gets discussed but nothing happens. It remains to be seen if the task force will find a way forward through the morass of farmers market politics. [email protected] Restaurant and Catering Industry Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (tv program) Market Watch: Chiles, pomegranates and more Map: Explore your local farmers markets Market fresh: Cooking through the seasons

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CARD: Center for Agricultural and Rural Development Products/Output Iowa Land Value Ag Policy Review Iowa Ag Review Summer 2009, Vol. 15 No. 3 Costs and Benefits to Agriculture from Climate Change Policy Measuring Unmeasurable Land-Use Changes from Biofuels Agricultural Situation Spotlight: Odds of an ACRE Payment for Corn and Soybean Farmers Bruce A. Babcock [email protected] Consideration and subsequent passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 by the U.S. House of Representatives focused attention on whether agriculture would be helped or hurt by the policy's objective of reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Even though Collin Peterson, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, sought and obtained changes to the legislation that were favorable to agriculture, many farm groups came out in opposition to the bill. One example is the American Farm Bureau Federation, which estimated that U.S. net farm income would decrease by at least $5 billion per year by 2020. Other farm groups supported the legislation, including the National Wheat Growers Association, which found that the Peterson changes helped shape a policy that will "…ensure that agriculture has a place in any climate change legislation and that producers are able to reap potential benefits rather than just accept coming costs." Whether agriculture will be a net winner or loser from climate change policy will depend on the details contained in any final piece of legislation. But the sources of agricultural costs and benefits are well known, so it is possible to identify how agriculture could be affected. For example, to the extent that climate change policy leads to increased energy costs, farmers will have to pay more for diesel, electricity, fertilizer, and pesticides. The effects of these cost increases on production levels and market prices will ultimately determine the extent to which farm income is negatively affected by higher energy costs. Another source of costs to agriculture would arise if agricultural emissions of greenhouse gases were subject to a cap. Such a cap could force crop farmers and livestock producers to limit emissions of methane and nitrous oxide, much as the electricity-generating sector will have to meet a cap on carbon dioxide emissions. The House bill explicitly treats agriculture as an uncapped sector, and it is likely that the Senate will follow suit in any bill that they pass. In the House bill, a capped sector would be able to offset excess greenhouse gas emissions by buying emission reductions from uncapped sectors, such as agriculture. This possibility, of farmers selling emission credits, explains why there are supporters of climate change policy within agriculture. Why a Carbon Cap-and-Trade System Will Increase Farm Production Costs Currently, U.S. companies face no limits on their emissions of greenhouse gases. A lack of any constraint means that U.S. industry has been able to choose manufacturing methods and technologies that minimize their costs without consideration of their impact on atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. In economic terms, greenhouse gas emissions have been external to the internal decision-making processes of companies. Having companies put a non-zero weight on emissions is the first step in cutting emissions. The fairest policy would seem to be one that requires all companies to reduce their emissions by the same percentage. But economists have shown that such a uniform policy can greatly increase the total cost of meeting a target reduction. It makes more sense for companies that can most easily reduce greenhouse gas emissions to do the greatest share of the cutting, thereby allowing other companies to continue to emit, as long as the overall target is met. Two policies can achieve efficient emission reductions: a carbon tax and a cap-and-trade program. Under a carbon tax (or a carbon dioxide equivalent tax for nitrous oxide and methane), companies choose to either emit and pay the tax or cut emissions. A straightforward calculation will reveal the best alternative. Companies that can easily cut their emissions will do so. Those that cannot easily cut emissions will pay the tax. The tax is set at a level that increases the price of carbon enough to induce companies to cut their emissions enough to meet the overall targeted reduction. Under a cap-and-trade program, overall emissions are capped. Companies are free to emit as much as they want as long as they have a permit for each ton of emissions. The trade part of the program allows companies to buy and sell the permits. Those companies that can easily reduce emissions can make money by cutting their emissions and selling their excess permits. Companies that find it too expensive to cut emissions can buy permits and continue to emit. The key for either policy option is to increase the price of emission, which automatically creates a profit incentive for companies to figure out whether it is better to cut emissions or pay to emit. Thus, it doesn't really matter which option is adopted. What does matter is increasing the cost of emitting greenhouse gases, which in turn will automatically increase the cost of producing those goods that currently result in large greenhouse gas emissions. The industries that are targeted by the House bill are electric utilities, oil refiners, natural gas producers, and some manufacturers that produce energy on site. This means that the price of electricity, gasoline, diesel fuel, home heating oil, and natural gas will increase. It naturally follows that products that rely heavily on these energy sources will also become more expensive. Although agriculture contributes about 6.7 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, it faces no future emissions cap under the House bill. This does not mean that agriculture will be unaffected by the cap-and-trade program in the energy sector. Higher energy costs will translate directly into higher prices for electricity, propane, and diesel fuel, and domestically produced fertilizer and pesticides. The cost of producing fertilizer and pesticides in other countries will not be directly affected by U.S. legislation, but if other countries limit their greenhouse gas emissions, then their production costs will also increase. Magnitude of Cost Increases The amount by which farmers' costs will increase depends on the quantities of energy-intensive inputs they use, the amount of flexibility they have in moving away from more expensive inputs, and the price at which carbon settles. An example for Iowa corn and soybean production illustrates an analysis of energy costs under cap and trade. Iowa farmers who plant both corn and soybeans use approximately four gallons of diesel per acre to cultivate, plant, and harvest their crops. They also use about 60 pounds of nitrogen fertilizer, 50 pounds of phosphate, and 65 pounds of potash across the two crops. And corn farmers typically use propane to dry their corn. The carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from using a gallon of diesel fuel is 10.1 kilograms. Thus, Iowa crop farmers emit about 40 kilograms (0.04 metric tons) of CO2 per acre in diesel. If the price of CO2 is $20 per ton, then farmers will have to pay $0.80 per acre extra for their diesel fuel. Natural gas is the primary source of energy used to produce fertilizer. One source (Gellings and Parmenter, 2004) estimates that the energy used to produce, package, and transport different fertilizers is approximately 33,000 British thermal units (Btu) per pound for nitrogen, 7,000 Btu per pound for phosphate, and 5,500 Btu per pound for potash. Natural gas emits 117 pounds of CO2 per million Btu. This adds up to about 0.14 tons of CO2 per acre across corn and soybeans. At a price of $20 per ton of CO2, this amounts to $2.85 per acre. To dry a bushel of corn from 19 percent moisture to 15 percent moisture uses about 0.088 gallons of propane. With a yield of 180 bushels per acre, this amounts to 15.84 gallons of propane per acre for corn drying costs. Emission of CO2 from burning a gallon of propane is 5.525 kilograms. Thus, at a CO2 price of $20 per ton, propane costs would increase by $1.75 per acre of corn, or by $0.87 per acre across corn and soybeans (assuming no drying costs for soybeans). Adding up the extra costs from diesel, fertilizer, and propane at a price of $20 per ton of CO2 results in a cost increase of $4.52 per acre for Iowa's corn and soybean farmers, assuming that farmers make no adjustments to their operations. A different price for CO2 would change this cost estimate proportionately. To put a cost increase into perspective, the variable cost of producing corn and soybeans in Iowa in 2009 is somewhere around $300 per acre. Thus even a $10.00 increase in the cost of production represents a 3.3 percent increase. To add more context to this increase, Iowa corn and soybean farmers receive approximately $20 per acre in direct payments as part of the 2008 farm bill. In addition, most farmers receive between $5.00 and $20.00 per acre in crop insurance subsidies. Livestock farmers would also be affected by energy cost increases. According to livestock enterprise budgets put together by John Lawrence at Iowa State University, fuel, repairs, and utilities account for about 5 percent of total costs in swine when hogs are produced in confinement. Thus a 20 percent increase in this cost category would increase Iowa's average cost of producing hogs by about 1 percent. Magnitude of Benefits from Agricultural Carbon Offsets The price of emission permits in a cap-and-trade program will be determined by the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from capped sectors of the economy, or by the cost and availability of offsets from uncapped sectors, such as agriculture. The Peterson amendment to the House bill identified offset activities that agriculture could provide. Some of these include conservation tillage, reduced nitrous oxide emissions caused by fertilizer use, increased biomass sequestration from use of winter cover crops and reduced use of fallow, and reductions in methane emissions from livestock production. In addition, crop producers could convert their land from crop production to tree production. Benefit for Crops Conservation tillage has been advocated for years as a way to reduce costs and increase soil health. And it is now the rare farmer who does not try to keep tillage operations to a minimum. But adoption of no-till has stagnated. A widely used estimate of the annual amount by which soil carbon can be increased from adoption of no-till farming is one ton of CO2 per hectare, or about 0.4 tons per acre. At a $20-per-ton carbon price, this amounts to $8.00 per acre. The costs of no-till must help explain the stagnation in the number of farmers willing to adopt this method. Some of these costs in Iowa are the cost of a no-till planter, the perceived benefit of fall tillage after corn to help break down the corn stover, and, for farmers who plant continuous corn, the delay in planting and/or germination caused by late-to-warm soils. Despite these costs, a significant number of farmers would likely move to no-till with an offer price of $8.00 per acre. Farmers obtain large benefits from nitrogen fertilizer, and there is uncertainty about how to control nitrous oxide emissions from crop production. Therefore, the only prescription for low-cost reduction of nitrous oxide emissions is to increase the efficiency with which nitrogen fertilizer is used. But this prescription holds true with or without energy policy incentives, particularly with the high fertilizer prices recently, so for now it is unclear how much crop farmers can benefit by trying to reduce nitrous oxide emissions. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, planting trees can sequester between two and nine tons of CO2 per year (see www.epa.gov/sequestration/rates.html). In the Corn Belt, sequestration rates are about four tons per acre. At a price of $20 per ton, this can generate between $40 and $180 per acre per year ($80 for Corn Belt land). Of course, to obtain this revenue, a farmer must quit growing crops and put up an investment to establish a forest. It is unlikely that crop farmers on productive land will increase profits by swapping cropland for forests. Even if the CO2 price were to double, the returns to growing crops would quickly rise if a lot of prime cropland were taken out of production and put into forests. It is more likely that owners of land that is more suitable for forests than crops will find it worth their while to establish trees as a carbon offset. But most of this type of land has already been taken out of crops over the last 30 years, so the amount of U.S. land that can be converted in response to the cap-and-trade policy is probably quite limited. Benefits for Livestock Livestock producers can reduce methane emissions by covering their anaerobic lagoons or by investing in anaerobic digesters to stabilize their manure. Estimates of the reduction in methane emissions vary dramatically across types of operations and adopted mitigation technologies. There are examples of dairy farms that produce the equivalent of five tons of CO2 reductions per year per cow. At a price of $20 per ton, this generates $100 per cow per year. Of course, any net benefit or net cost of using and capturing the methane must be added or subtracted from this $100. For comparison, the same cow may produce 20,000 pounds of milk per year, which generates perhaps $1,000 per year in milk revenue in excess of feed costs at a milk price of $15 per hundredweight. Is Agriculture a Net Winner or Loser from a Carbon Cap-and- Trade Policy? If the United States adopts a cap-and-trade policy to combat climate change, the negative impacts on agriculture will likely be relatively small, particularly if agricultural emissions remain uncapped. Once companies here and abroad have a profit incentive to find low-cost ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is doubtful that carbon dioxide prices will rise high enough to dramatically increase agricultural production costs. If other major agricultural producers also face increasing production costs because their countries adopt carbon-reducing policies, then U.S. producers will not lose their competitive advantage. Furthermore, if production costs do rise significantly, and if most of the world's farmers face these higher production costs, then most, if not all, of the higher costs will soon be reflected in higher commodity prices that will compensate farmers for their higher costs. Similarly, the benefits from providing carbon offsets to capped sectors of the economy will be modest as well. Benefits will accrue as more crop farmers will move to no-till farming, and a price for carbon will enhance the economics of methane recovery systems in livestock operations. Given the likelihood of modest costs and benefits from a cap-and-trade system, perhaps agriculture should look at whether a cap-and-trade policy will change growing conditions for the better or worse as a deciding factor in whether to support a change in policy. Given how much irrigated agriculture in the West relies on consistent mountain snowfall and Corn Belt agriculture relies on warm summers with abundant rainfall, any disruptive change in climate will have a far greater impact on livelihoods than will the price of carbon. ♦ Work Cited Gellings, Clark W., and Kelly E. Parmenter. 2004. Energy Efficiency in Fertilizer Production and Use, in Efficient Use and Conservation of Energy (Eds. C. Gellings and K. Blok), in Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), UNESCO, EOLSS Publishers, Oxford, UK. 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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Michigan Produce Economy takes toll on Michigan's local program By Ashley Bentley BYRON CENTER, Mich. — The state’s Select Michigan program to promote locally grown and produced products didn’t make it through another round of budget cuts at the Michigan Department of Agriculture this year.The program’s funding was cut off, and Christine Lietzau, program manager, was let go before the start of the year. However, the logo may still make its way onto some retail shelves this year.If a company already had an existing Memorandum of Understanding with the department to use the Select Michigan trademark prior to the program being mothballed, they may still use it, said Jennifer Holton, public information officer for the department.“We’re disappointed the state budget pressure caused that to be unfunded,” said Frank Bragg, chief executive officer of MBG Marketing, Grand Junction. “But they made the logo available, and we will continue to use it.”The department is not licensing the logo for any new use.Agriculture has a strong hold as the No. 2 industry in the state of Michigan, and the economic recession’s effect on the automobile industry has brought agriculture as close as it’s been to the No. 1 spot in recent history. Growers and shippers in the state are having a hard time seeing the logic in cutting funding to one of the state’s leading sources of revenue.“When I graduated, you could go to work in any of 50 industries in this area,” said Russell Costanza, owner of Russell Costanza Farms, Sodus.The agriculture industry is one of the few that has stuck around, even though it’s lost many of its participants. Costanza said there used to be 13 farms on the country road he lives and farms from, but that he is the only one left.“There has certainly been a lot of frustration with everything from our inspection programs to promotion programs,” said Jamie Zmitko-Somers, international marketing program manager for the department. “The Michigan economy is not in the best situation.”Zmitko-Somers said the department’s executives are still working hard with the state’s legislature and with its governor, Jennifer Granholm, to secure funding and represent the agriculture industry.Granholm is in her last term as governor, and many of the state’s growers are looking forward to a change in the political scene.“Our governor is not very pro-ag,” said Dave Miedema, president of E. Miedema & Sons Inc. “That’ll all end this fall.”New programsDespite cuts in some areas, the department is actually expanding its reach in others. In August, the department is hosting an education session on exporting to the Caribbean for interested growers, packers, shippers, processors, brokers and anyone else along the way. Representatives from the region will be in the state to speak at the session and meet suppliers.“The Caribbean is a big market for Michigan apples, and there may be some new potential in that area,” Zmitko-Somers said. Michigan’s export access is through Miami, she said.The department plans to do a follow-up trade mission to the Caribbean in 2011.Before all of that, though, the state is bring back a bi-annual event that brings more than 20 international buyers to the state to meet with suppliers. The event — set up through the Food Export Association of the Midwest, Chicago — should bring 24 buyers to East Lansing July 26 to participate in 30-minute meetings with interested suppliers.In years past, processors have been the main participants in this program, but there are opportunities for the fresh side, as well, Zmitko-Somers said.A few new trade shows are on the department’s schedule this year, too. In October it’s using specialty crop block grant funding to participate in the Americas Food & Beverage Show in Miami. The Michigan Apple Committee plans to exhibit in the booth, along with a number of fruit processors, and possible some representatives from the Michigan vegetable industry, Zmitko-Somers said.The show brings in buyers from the Caribbean, South and Central America and Mexico, all emerging markets for Michigan fruit and vegetables, she said.In Michigan, the department is also hosting a booth at the Michigan Grocers Show for the first time this year. It is continuing its participation in the Michigan Restaurant Show, but is trying to do more chef demonstrations than it has in the past.“Last year, we brought chefs in to use different types of fruits and vegetables to prepare some different food items,” Zmitko-Somers said. “We’re trying to show attendees and chefs some different options of how they can incorporate Michigan produce into their menus.”Both of those shows are open to produce companies that would like to participate. There is a cost, but the department is giving discounts to fruit and vegetable companies to try to expand their participation.The Select Michigan logo remains on some of the department’s signage and promotional materials, but Zmitko-Somers said it is not being used on any new materials.In addition to continuing its use of the Select Michigan logo in certain cases, MBG Marketing is a strong supporter of retailer-specific locally grown programs and works with Wal-Mart, Meijer and Kroger, specifically, on their campaigns.“From a promotion perspective, it’s one of the newer trends in the last few years,” Bragg said. select michigan programmichigan local produce programselect michigan logo About the Author: Ashley Bentley

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Follow @thepigsite News & Analysis Features Markets & Reports Knowledge Centre Business Directory Events Our Shop Forums News US and Canada Pork Exports Fall13 November 2015 GLOBAL - US pork exports for the first nine months of 2015 declined by less than 1 per cent year on year to 1.1 million tonnes. Canadian pork exports recorded a larger fall of 4 per cent year on year in the first nine months of 2015, to 620,000 tonnes.The decrease in US exports, of 42,000 tonnes, comes as a surprise given its pork production is running 8 per cent higher after the continued recovery from PEDv, leading to the expectation that exports would rise. However, the strong US dollar has hindered growth. Higher volumes of pork exported in the second and third quarter of 2015 offset the much lower figures recorded at the beginning of the year, resulting in the overall small decline. Mexico retained its position as the largest market for US pork, with exports to the country rising by 10 per cent. The Asian market became unbalanced for the US, with shipments to both Japan and China during the months of January to September down on the previous year, by 4 per cent and 22 per cent respectively. In contrast, trade to South Korea significantly increased, ahead by 40 per cent. Unit prices of pork have trended below last year’s levels throughout 2015, leaving the total value of pork exports at just over $3billion, down by 18 per cent. Canadian exports have declined throughout the year, with the lowest volumes being seen in the third quarter. The US remained the dominant destination for Canadian pork, taking nearly 19 per cent more than the same time period in 2015, whilst Mexico also recorded an increase of 34 per cent. Volumes destined for Japan and China declined by 6 per cent and 24 per cent in turn, whilst trade with Russia ceased altogether as sanctions remain in place. In line with the US, the total value of Canadian exports for the first three quarters of 2015 fell by 15 per cent to just under C$2 billion. ThePigSite News Desk Top image via Shutterstock Production Management, Markets and Economics Share This

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Growth and Recovery in a Time of Default: Lessons from the Role of the Urban Sector in Argentina Cohen, M. International narratives on Argentina’s recovery from the crisis of 2001-02 tend to emphasize the role of rising commodity prices and growing demand from China. Argentina is said to have been ‘lucky’, saved by global demand for its agricultural exports. The international narrative has also been used by local agricultural exporters to justify their objections against higher export taxes during periods of high commodity prices. These narratives are not correct. Data on the country’s recovery show that it was not led by agricultural exports but was fuelled by urban demand and production. When the Convertibility period ended and the peso was devalued in 2002, price increases for imports stimulated the production of domestic goods and services for consumers. This production in turn generated multiplier effects which supported small and medium-sized firms and helped to create many new jobs. This later produced a revival of the construction and then the manufacturing sectors as well. The contribution of the campo (rural sector) to the recovery came later in 2004 and thereafter, as the prices of commodities increased and the planting of larger and larger areas to grow soya and other crops had huge payoffs. These exports certainly helped build up the country’s reserves and fiscal strength, but they cannot be credited with playing the key role in stimulating the recovery. Agricultural exports later generated much additional income and eventually public revenue, but Argentina’s recovery was largely a ‘demand-led recovery’, located in urban areas where 80 per cent of Argentines work and live. The Argentine case is significant because it suggests that the urban locus of macroeconomic phenomena in Latin America deserves much more research and appreciation from policymakers. The historical foci in Latin American urban studies have included squatter settlements and infrastructure deficits, social exclusion, civil society mobilization, decentralization, and the ‘right to the city’ claimed by excluded groups. But these bodies of work have ignored the central fact that more than 60 per cent of GDP in all Latin American countries comes from urban-based economic activities. The economic and social futures of Latin America lie in urban areas which are at once the sites of productivity and the loci of urban poverty. The impacts of high intra-urban inequality are key factors in undermining needed improvements in productivity. The capacity of Latin American economies to withstand the impact of global economic crises and other exogenous events will depend on how economic policy takes into account the constraints and opportunities in urban areas. Citation Cohen, M. Growth and Recovery in a Time of Default: Lessons from the Role of the Urban Sectorin Argentina. UNU-WIDER, Helsinki, Finland (2011) 16 pp. ISBN 978-92-9230-373-0 [WIDER Working Paper No. 2011/10] Authors: Cohen, M.

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Obama offers California farmers money but no water President Obama promised monetary aid to California farmers and ranchers suffering from drought, but no water. The president made it clear he'd veto any bill that reduce allocations to endangered salmon and smelt. Our ViewPresident Obama visited drought-stricken California last week and promised Golden State farmers and ranchers millions of dollars in aid, but not a drop of water.In an event with farmers and other ag interests near Fresno, Obama on Feb. 14 promised $100 million in livestock-disaster aid. He also offered $60 million to support food banks, and $13 million for conservation projects and assistance to rural communities.California farmers said the money is appreciated, but what’s wanted is more water — water now allocated to endangered salmon and smelt.The drought is real, but California’s long-term water woes are as much man-made calamity as natural disaster. The demands placed on California’s water resources are a human construct.In the long run, California farmers and ranchers need more storage capacity, and want some of the water now diverted for endangered species to fill new reservoirs for use in future droughts.Last month farmers learned they wouldn’t be getting their allocations from the State Water Project. It’s unlikely they’ll get much, if any, from the federally operated Central Valley Project.As a result, California farmers are expected to leave fallow up to 500,000 acres this season. Producers will use what water they do have on the most high-value crops.Obama acknowledged the politics are difficult.“We’re going to have to figure out how to play a different game,” Obama said. “If the politics are structured in such a way where everybody is fighting each other and trying to get as much as they can, my suspicion is that we’re not going to make much progress.”Environmental interests, part of the president’s base, litigate any and all attempts to reduce allocations for endangered species. Obama has signaled his call for compromise doesn’t extend to changes in environmental policy.Earlier in the week the White House said Obama would veto a bill passed by the House of Representatives that would relax environmental protections for the endangered fish and provide more water for farmers.We agree with the president that the California drought will have implications across the country. Any national concern for California’s water woes are more hyperbole than reality at this point. But consumers will take notice when their favorite foods become more expensive, or are increasingly imported from South America. Will they see the value in allowing the nation’s salad bowl to wither?California farmers have made great strides in water conservation, and have demonstrated every interest in pushing further. They’re also willing to look at every proposal, and hammer out a deal that saves a $30 billion industry while serving other interests. Obama says it’s time for a different game in California. He’s right. But that means everything has to be on the table, including the water allocations for endangered species.

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Agricultural Expansion In Amazon Will Only Decrease Productivity Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Widespread agricultural expansion in Brazil destroys equally as much rainforest, negating any benefits for the region. In fact, researchers, publishing a paper in the journal Environmental Research Letters, have called the practice a “no-win situation.” The research, led by Dr Leydimere Oliveira of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), shows that deforestation will not only reduce the capacity of the Amazon´s natural carbon sink, but will also lead to climatic shifts that will decrease productivity of the region´s pastures and soybeans. Oliveira and colleagues used two models to assess how agricultural yield would be affected in the Amazon. The first scenario was a “business-as-usual” simulation based on recent deforestation trends where new protected areas have not been developed. The second scenario was a governance simulation which assumes environmental legislation is implemented for the region. Under the governance scenario, the model predicted pasture productivity would be reduced by 30 percent by 2050 due to a decrease in precipitation caused by deforestation. In the other scenario, pasture productivity would be reduced by 34 percent. Also, a temperature increase could lead to a reduction of soybean yields by 24 percent in the governance model and 28 percent in the business-as-usual model. "The more agriculture expands in the Amazon, the less productive it will become “¦ In this situation, we all lose," wrote the study authors. Furthermore, the researchers calculated that biomass on the ground could decline by up to 65 percent between 2041 and 2060 due to a combination of forest removal and climate change. Brazil is facing major challenges in its efforts to convert forest to croplands and pasturelands in the Amazon. The researchers explain that a fine balance must be met to work for agriculture and the climate. With less rainforest, natural ecosystems will not be able to sustain food production, maintain water resources, regulate climate and air quality, and thwart of infectious diseases. "We were initially interested in quantifying the environmental services provided by the Amazon and their replacement by agricultural output,” said Dr. Oliveira. "We expected to see some kind of compensation or off put, but it was a surprise to us that high levels of deforestation could be a no-win scenario — the loss of environmental services provided by the deforestation may not be offset by an increase in agriculture production." "We now have a very strong economic argument (against deforestation of the Amazon), in addition to the environmental ones," study coauthor Marcos Heil Costa at Federal University of Vicosa (UFV) told The Guardian´s Jonathan Watts. He said the study´s findings would be presented to the Brazilian government. The researchers, who also include those from Federal University of Pampa and Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) in Massachusetts, explained in their paper that the effects of deforestation will be felt most in the eastern Pará and northern Maranhão regions. In these regions the local precipitation depends strongly on forest cover, and land conversion could drastically affect the local climate and lead to unviability of the land for any and all agricultural practices, they wrote. "These simulations strongly suggest that the act of deforestation, which is being done to increase agricultural production, may perversely lead to changes in climate that reduce crop and pasture yields" noted Dr. Michael T. Coe, senior scientist at WHRC and co-author of the study. "In some cases these decreases in yield may be large enough to make agriculture economically unattractive." "The consequences for global food security are, at first thought, worrisome. However, many scientists, including myself, believe it is possible to increase agriculture productivity in the Amazon (and in Brazil in general) through increases in productivity, without increasing planted area or additional deforestation," Costa said in his interview with Watts. "Demonstrating how this can be done and actually implementing it is the biggest challenge of agricultural science in Brazil for the next 40 years."

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The red-flowering poinsettia, a common sight as Christmas approachesThe poinsettia normally grows to a height of about 2 meters (left), making it unsuitable for indoor growing. When infected by phytoplasma, the poinsettia plant is shorter and has numerous small branches (right). © 2016 Laboratory of Plant Pathology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo. Elucidating the mystery of phytoplasmas, the ultimate idler bacteria Basic research and fieldwork go hand-in-hand at the world’s oldest plant pathology laboratory phyllogen phytoplasma Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences / Faculty of Agriculture Always avoid being trapped by conventional wisdom. Professor Shigetou Namba smiles as he says, “Methods that everyone once thought heretical have, over the decades, become mainstream.” This spirit of inquiry has guided the Laboratory of Plant Pathology in the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Biology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, since it was founded in 1906 as the first such institution in the world. Today, that spirit underpins the laboratory’s research on tiny pathogenic microbes known as phytoplasmas, which cause disease in more than a thousand plant species and affect agricultural productivity worldwide. The discovery of mycoplasma-like organisms, later referred to as phytoplasmas Figure 1: Phytoplasma infection cycle When a leafhopper inserts its piercing stylet into the vein of a plant infected with phytoplasmas and draws up the sap from the phloem, the phytoplasmas are transferred into the leafhopper’s body, where they multiply. Next, when the leafhopper feeds on sap from a healthy plant, phytoplasmas are introduced into the plant and the plant becomes infected. © 2016 The University of Tokyo. Once disease caused by phytoplasma is established, entire fields of crops might be wiped out. From cassava, the staple food of Southeast Asia, to grapes, the source of wine in Italy, and mulberry trees, the food for silk moths in China, these tiny micro-organisms are responsible for devastating damage to agricultural crops across the globe. “However, there are still no proven measures to address this problem,” says Namba. Phytoplasmas are tiny bacteria about the size of a virus, one ten-millionth of a meter in length, but, unlike normal bacteria, they lack a cell wall. Transported by leafhoppers, close relatives of the cicada that are about two to three millimeters in length, phytoplasmas parasitize the phloem of leaves, stalks, and roots of plants, causing damage such as yellowing or death (figure 1). Because they obtain all their nutrients and energy from their host plants, these bacteria are also known as the “ultimate idlers.” First discovered by electron microscopy in 1967 by Emeritus Professor Yoji Doi, then a research student at the Laboratory of Plant Pathology, they were initially named mycoplasma-like organisms (MLO) because they resembled mycoplasma, a pathogenic bacterium of humans and other animals that also lacks a cell wall. Molecular analysis resulted in a name change, from MLO to phytoplasma Looking back on his choice of a research career, Namba recalls, “I chose the Laboratory of Plant Pathology because it was the most exciting place to be, with the discovery of MLOs and other activities there.” He later studied at Cornell University in the United States, where he acquired cutting-edge knowledge and expertise in rapidly-developing techniques in the life sciences, such as genetic analysis. Returning to Japan, he applied molecular biological techniques to the study of MLOs, taking research in this area to a new level. Figure 2: Classification of the Phytoplasma genus Molecular phylogenetic classification of the Phytoplasma genus into 38 species, nine of which are found in Japan. © 2016 Laboratory of Plant Pathology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo. Research on MLOs had previously relied on examining diseased tissue with the naked eye or an electron microscope. It was nothing more than a conjecture that each particular form of disease was due to a unique MLO. A usable classification system was lacking. Beginning his studies of MLOs as an invited researcher with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Namba used a laser to sever the stylets of leafhoppers that fed on phloem sap of rice plants infected with MLOs. He developed a fluorescent probe technique to detect the MLOs in the sap that oozed from the plants. Confident in his ability to succeed where others had failed, he purified the sap and devised a method to identify MLO genes and characterize them at the molecular level. Namba next went on to identify nucleotide sequences of the MLO genes, in terms of their hereditary molecular differences. In 1993, he showed that the nucleotide sequences were different from those of mycoplasma. In 1995, he proposed the creation of the Phytoplasma genus as a new category of bacteria, and simplified the more than 1,000 phytoplasma species that had been defined according to the type of plants they infected to just 38 species (figure 2). Metagenomic sequencing of the phytoplasma genome A major obstacle stood in the way of continuing to sequence the entire genome. Because phytoplasmas were difficult to cultivate, routine techniques for their isolation, large-scale cultivation, and genome sequencing could not be utilized. Namba adopted a completely different approach. Rather than trying to purify a phytoplasma organism, he decided to extract the DNA from each infected plant, determine its nucleotide sequences, and then subtract the genome data for a healthy plant from that to derive the genomic sequences of the phytoplasma. Figure 3: Electron micrograph (left) and genome map of phytoplasma (right) (Left) Phytoplasmas (the roughly circular membrane-enclosed particles) are approximately one-ten millionth of a meter in size, only about one-tenth that of the giant virus known as pandoravirus. (Right) Its genome consists of approximately 870,000 base pairs, and has about one-third or one-quarter the number of genes of the pandoravirus. Nowadays, this technique, known as metagenomic analysis, is used to sequence genomes of organisms such as gut flora and soil micro-organisms. At the time, the usual approach was to isolate and cultivate the target organism before sequencing the genome. “We decided on a strategy in which one genome would be subtracted from the other. When you stick to the conventional approach, a task can look impossible, but sometimes the only way to solve a problem is by tackling it head-on,” emphasized Namba. In the midst of fierce competition from other research groups, Namba and his team led the world in 2004 by decoding the entire phytoplasma genome (figure 3). Next, his group elucidated the genes and their mechanisms of host specificity—how or why phytoplasmas colonize specific plants and insects—and identified the gene clusters and their functions that cause yellowing, death, and witches’ broom disease in plants. In short, by elucidating the pathogenic genes and their mechanisms, the group successfully answered many questions about phytoplasmas. Plant research to benefit humanity “I have always wanted to do research that benefits society. Rather than doing something to satisfy my wants, society’s needs are the topics of my research,” says Namba. The study of plant pathology was initially an academic discipline for solving problems that arise from this enormous field that affects society. The discovery of problems in the field, the solution of problems through basic research, and tackling new problems thereby discovered in the field; this has been the tradition of the laboratory that Namba continued, leading to multiple important discoveries. Figure 4: Diagnostic kit for phytoplasma disease Namba and his colleagues have developed a highly sensitive diagnostic kit that permits phytoplasma to be detected rapidly and easily that is now used for applications such as diagnosing witches’ broom disease of cassava, a major agricultural problem in Southeast Asia. One of the results of this research was to develop a simple kit to diagnose the presence of a phytoplasma-borne disease. Namba and his colleagues developed and launched in 2011 a phytoplasma diagnostic kit that uses loop-mediated isothermal amplification, which is the highest-performing, ultra-sensitive gene amplification assay technique (figure 4). Using this kit, anyone can check whether a plant is infected with phytoplasma simply by cutting off a leaf, placing it in a tube containing special reagents, and heating to a boil. Next, adding 1 microliter of supernatant to the reaction tube and floating it on hot water allows one to determine, within 30 minutes, whether the plant is infected with phytoplasmas, with a sensitivity 100 times greater than the conventional polymerase chain reaction assays. The kit could be used even in developing countries with inadequate experimental facilities. With support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Namba’s team has taken the technology to the local level. The kit is being used to assess coconut palm in Papua New Guinea. In 2015, the kit has been used as a diagnostic tool for cassava as a foodstuff and in bioethanol manufacturing in Southeast Asia. Training and professional development were also undertaken in tandem to establish the technology in each individual region. Using pathogenicity to an advantage: enhancing our enjoyment of plants Do plant pathogens such as phytoplasmas always have to play the role of the villain? Laboratory of Plant Pathology researcher Dr Misako Himeno remarked that “There is no doubt that phytoplasmas are pathogenic microorganisms that cause significant damage to agriculture, but if we can identify and successfully control their virulence factors, we can utilize them for good.” Take the hydrangea, for example. Did you know that the hydrangea flower can turn into a leaf and become green in color? Because of their rarity, such hydrangeas are valuable and much sought after by enthusiasts (figure 5). However, this phenomenon is actually due to infection by phytoplasmas. The inspiration for Himeno’s laboratory research, the development of a flower into a leaf-like structure is called phyllody. In 2014, her colleagues discovered the protein secreted by phytoplasma that held the key to this process, naming it a phyllogen. As phyllogen degrades the protein that causes plant leaves to change into flowers, the flower is unable to develop normally, and reverts to a leaf structure. Figure 5: A healthy hydrangea (left) and a hydrangea showing phyllody due to phytoplasma infection (right) In research conducted by Himeno into the gene expression that occurs on the plant side when phyllody occurs, she found that the plant gene that changes leaves into flowers was only weakly expressed, and conjectured that phytoplasma causes phyllody by blocking the effect of this gene. This conjecture subsequently led to the discovery of the phyllogen protein. While there are lovers of such phyllody-affected hydrangeas, there is the concern that the disease may spread into plants in agricultural areas, green spaces, or residential areas, because phytoplasmas are plant pathogens. Himeno counters that “If we can utilize the phyllogen protein to induce phyllody without causing disease, we may be able to readily grow ornamental green lilies and other flowers.” For younger researchers such as Himeno, the traditions of the laboratory continue to unbroken. Initially interested in environmental issues, she entered the Faculty of Agriculture in the senior division. She became interested in the interactions between plants and micro-organisms, and this led to her involvement in phytoplasma research. Himeno continued her research while raising two children, but says, “As research is a team effort, we’ve been able to complete our experiments by helping each other.” For example, Himeno and her colleagues substitute for students who are unable to do lab work during the day because they are attending lectures. In turn, Himeno is supported by students in the lab when she cannot work in the evening, because she has to pick up her children from daycare. Phytoplasmas cause agricultural damage across the globe, but the time might soon arrive when we can purchase vegetables and other plants that are made environmentally friendly, safe, and disease-resistant, thanks to the use of their pathogenic genes. Interview/text: Katsue Nagakura Translation: Tony Atkinson Professor Shigetou Namba Dr. Misako Himeno Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences Laboratory of Plant Pathology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences Laboratory of Clinical Plant Science, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences (Japanese) The University of Tokyo Plant Clinic (Japanese) Japan Association of Clinical Plant Science (Japanese)

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Almond industry puts bee health front and center Jan 05, 2017 Duvall: Agriculture gains clout to address over regulation, labor needs Jan 10, 2017 Western food supply safer since 2006 E. coli outbreak in spinach Jan 04, 2017 New HLB positive tree found in urban Cerritos, Calif. Jan 02, 2017 Regulatory>Legislative Endangered Species Act gets clarification upgrade A new federal policy proposed will help clarify which species or populations of species are eligible for protection under the Endangered Species Act and will provide for earlier and more effective opportunities to conserve declining species. FWS | Dec 20, 2011 A new federal policy proposed will help clarify which species or populations of species are eligible for protection under the Endangered Species Act and will provide for earlier and more effective opportunities to conserve declining species. The public is invited to comment on the policy, proposed by the Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries), the two federal agencies responsible for administering the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Comments will be accepted for the next 60 days. The proposed policy will define the key phrase “significant portion of its range” in the ESA and provide consistency for how it should be applied, aiding the agencies in making decisions on whether to add or remove species from the federal list of threatened and endangered wildlife and plants. The phrase is not defined in the ESA, but appears in the statutory definitions of “endangered species” and “threatened species” in the ESA. The policy would clarify that the FWS and NOAA Fisheries could list a species if it is endangered or threatened in a “significant portion of its range,” even if that species is not endangered or threatened throughout all its range. Under the proposed policy, a portion of the range of any given species would be defined as “significant” if its contribution to the viability of the species is so important that, without that portion, the species would be in danger of extinction. While the services expect this circumstance to arise infrequently, this policy interpretation will allow ESA protections to help species in trouble before large-scale decline occurs throughout the species’ entire range. “This proposed interpretation will provide consistency and clarity for the services and our partners, while making more effective use of our resources and improving our ability to protect and recover species before they are on the brink of extinction,” said Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. “By taking action to protect imperiled native fish, wildlife and plants, we can ensure a healthy future for our communities and protect treasured landscapes for future generations.” “A clear and consistent policy will help our partners and improve the process of evaluating species status under the Endangered Species Act,” said Eric Schwaab, NOAA’s Assistant Administrator for Fisheries. Uncertainty about the meaning of this important phrase has led to debate and litigation. A formal opinion developed by the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior (known as the “M-Opinion”) had been applied by the FWS since March 16, 2007. But the M-Opinion was withdrawn on May 4, 2011, after two courts rejected key aspects of it. NOAA Fisheries has never applied the FWS interpretation, nor did it issue separate guidance, instead relying on a general understanding similar to the policy interpretation in the proposal. Substantial differences This proposed policy differs substantially from the DOI’s M-Opinion interpretation. The new proposal requires that if a species is found to be threatened or endangered in a significant portion of its range, the entire species must be listed and protections of the ESA applied throughout its range. However, if the significant portion of the range is the exact same area inhabited by a “distinct population segment” of the species, only the distinct population segment would be listed. A distinct population segment is a vertebrate animal population or group of populations that is discrete from other populations of the species and significant to the overall species. In contrast, under the M-Opinion, only individuals of a species found within the “significant portion of its range” were protected under the ESA. Today’s proposed policy also establishes a more specific and stringent standard to evaluate whether a portion of a species’ range would be considered “significant” than the standard applied under the M-Opinion interpretation. This higher bar will ensure that the species being evaluated for ESA protection on the basis of threats to only a significant portion of its range are truly in need of conservation. Before finalizing the policy, FWS and NOAA are seeking public comments on the proposal for 60 days beginning on the date of the proposed rule’s publication in the Federal Register. All comments will be posted on http://www.regulations.gov. You may submit written comments and information through: Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments to Docket No. [FWS–R9–ES–2011–0031]; U.S. mail or hand delivery: Public Comments Processing, Attn: [FWS–R9–ES–2011–0031]; Division of Policy and Directives Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS 2042–PDM; Arlington, VA 22203. Until the policy is final, FWS and NOAA Fisheries have an obligation to meet statutory timeframes and make determinations in response to petitions to list, reclassify, and delist species. During this interim period, FWS and NOAA Fisheries will consider the interpretations and principles in this proposed policy as nonbinding guidance in making individual listing determinations. As nonbinding guidance, FWS and NOAA Fisheries will apply these interpretations and principles only as the circumstances warrant, and the agencies will independently explain and justify any decision made in this interim period in light of the circumstances of the species under consideration. In preparing a final policy, FWS and NOAA Fisheries will consider all comments and information received during the comment period on this proposed policy, as well as experience gained during the interim period.

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Western Seed's Hybrid Seeds Improve Farmer Productivity in Kenya The agriculture sector in Kenya employs 24 million people, with 17 million farmers holding plots of less than 2 hectares of land each. Maize is Kenya’s staple crop. It serves as a primary food source and accounts for 14% of rural household income. Most smallholder farmers, though, use farm-saved seed (seed saved from last year’s crop), which often leads to small and irregular yields. Hybrid seeds that produce higher yields have existed for years. But adoption rates are low due to insufficient supply and a lack of appropriate marketing and distribution strategies. Western Seed’s hybrid maize varieties, which are designed for local conditions, can generate a 300% increase in yield over farm-saved seed. Western Seed is using Acumen’s investment to cultivate, store and distribute hybrid maize seeds and triple its seed production in five years. The company’s pioneering Direct Access Sales program markets the hybrid varieties directly to rural farmers in Kenya’s mid and lowland areas, where most farms use farm-saved seed. Western Seed currently reaches over 300,000 farmers and has the potential to reach over 1 million farming households annually, and more than 5 million people by 2017.The use of Western Seed’s hybrid seed varieties will allow smallholder farming households to increase crop yields and income from maize crop sales.

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IPM1019, New February 2003 Caterpillars in Your Yard and GardenOrangedog Swallowtails Orangedog caterpillars (Papilio cresphontes) are present from July to October. They produce two generations per year. They are considered a pest to citrus trees. Orangedog caterpillars look like bird droppings throughout their development. Full-grown larvae are dark brown and white. The head has a white lateral collar that extends to the sides of the thorax. The third thoracic and first abdominal segments are swollen and arched with brown and black marbling. The third and fourth abdominal segments have a white saddle-like area that extends laterally. The last three abdominal segments are almost entirely white. Dorsally, from the thorax to the tip of the abdomen there are small, irregularly shaped blue spots. Primary host plants in the Midwest are the hoptree and pricklyash. The name "orangedog" comes from the fact that the caterpillar is a pest of citrus trees in the southern states. The adult is called the giant swallowtail butterfly. Swallowtail caterpillars of the Papilionidae family are usually smooth-bodied and vary in color from green or yellow-orange with black markings to a color pattern that gives them the appearance of a bird dropping or the head of a vertebrate with conspicuous "eyes." All swallowtail caterpillar species possess a scent gland called an osmeterium that is located just behind the head. When disturbed, this fleshy-looking, forked, orange-red gland is everted from its pouch and releases a disagreeable odor. Because the caterpillars are relatively large and very colorful, they too (with royal and silkworm caterpillars) are quite noticeable. Very few species would be considered important pests. Many adults from this family are colorful and beautiful medium-size to large butterflies. Their name is derived from the presence of tail-like projections on the hind wings. IPM1019 Caterpillars in Your Yard and Garden | University of Missouri Extension Related MU Extension publicationsG7110, Corn Earworm in Missourihttp://extension.missouri.edu/p/G7110G7112, Black Cutworm in Missourihttp://extension.missouri.edu/p/G7112G7115, Managing the Armyworm Complex in Missouri Field Cropshttp://extension.missouri.edu/p/G7115G7250, The Bagworm in Missourihttp://extension.missouri.edu/p/G7250G7270, Insect Defoliators of Missouri Trees: Colony Feedershttp://extension.missouri.edu/p/G7270G7271, Insect Defoliators of Missouri Trees: Web Producershttp://extension.missouri.edu/p/G7271M163, Managing Insect Pests in the Home Vegetable Gardenhttp://extension.missouri.edu/p/M163

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Maine’s 72nd Agricultural Trades Show set for Jan. 8-10 AUGUSTA – More than 5,000 farmers, woodland owners, livestock breeders, equipment suppliers and interested visitors will gather at the Augusta Civic Center next week for the 72nd annual Maine Agricultural Trades Show, one of the state’s largest agricultural events.Hosted by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (ACF), the show runs from January 8-10 and is free to attend. Governor Paul R. LePage will be on hand for the show’s opening to meet Maine farmers and recognize agriculture’s vital contribution to the state’s economy. “Food producers are some of our most valuable economic and community assets,” the Governor said. “Agriculture has always been a major pillar of Maine’s economy, and this show does a great job of showcasing the importance of our land-based agriculture and forestry enterprises. Thousands of Maine jobs are involved in the growing, transporting, processing and marketing of the widest array of produce in the Northeast.”This year’s show will feature dozens of lectures, demonstrations and meetings involving some 40 major agricultural organizations and agencies, as well as more than 150 exhibits featuring the latest in agricultural and forestry products, equipment and services.“The Trades Show provides an excellent opportunity for farmers, foresters and trade groups to stay current on a wide variety of issues, from cheese-making to the federal Farm Bill to maple syrup production to farm business management,” said ACF Commissioner Walt Whitcomb. “The additional assets of the now-combined departments of agriculture, conservation and forestry give us more resources as we widen our expertise in the continuously growing fields of food and fiber production.”The show also offers a wealth of knowledge for non-farmers to learn about agriculture and how locally grown food is harvested and processed. As more Mainers look to grow their own gardens and raise animals, workshops will be available for these beginning farmers to understand what it takes to start a small farm and get assistance in creating a plan. The main auditorium will feature a stage with periodic floral design demonstrations presented by the Maine State Florists Association as well as the annual finals competition for the best home-baked pie as selected by agricultural fairs during the previous summer. The State Pie Baking Contest will be held on Wednesday night.The show also provides an opportunity for growers, pesticide applicators and pesticide distributors to get up to speed on the latest developments in pest management and earn credits required for pesticide license recertification. The Maine Board of Pesticides Control and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension will offer 11 one-hour training sessions.Additional pesticide credits will be available at workshops run by the Maine Christmas Tree Association, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), the Maine Florists Association, the Maine Vegetable and Small Fruit Growers Association and the Maine State Pomological Society.At the Commissioner’s Luncheon on Tuesday, which will feature Maine-grown food, Commissioner Whitcomb will honor the legacy of this year’s recipient of the Commissioner’s Distinguished Service Award. The 2013 award was presented to Russell Libby, longtime executive director of MOFGA, before he passed away in early December. The Governor is scheduled to offer remarks at the luncheon.The show will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Tuesday, Jan. 8; from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., on Wednesday, Jan. 9; and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., on Thursday, Jan. 10. The complete program and schedule are available at: http://www.maine.gov/acf. For more information, contact ACF by telephone at 207-287-3419 or email [email protected]. About Us © Copyright 2006-2017 GateHouse Media, LLC. Some rights reserved • GateHouse Gjbusiness 01

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brief Income diversification and poverty in the Northern Uplands of Vietnam Nicholas Minot, Michael Epprecht, Tran Thi Tram Anh, Le Quang Trung research report abstract 2006 international food policy research institute (ifpri) PDF (341 bytes) Library Record Since the mid-1990s, Vietnam has sustained high rates of economic growth, reducing poverty from 58 percent in 1993 to 37 percent in 1998. Despite these gains, Vietnam is among the 30 poorest countries in the world. In the poorest region, the Northern Uplands, provincial poverty rates range from 55 to 78 percent. In recent years, government efforts to reduce rural poverty and raise rural incomes have focused on income diversification, especially into high-value crops. In general, the Northern Upland region is hilly to mountainous, infrastructure is poor, and the population density is low. The region is less urbanized and more dependent on agriculture than any other region. A large share of the population consists of ethnic minorities. Rice is an important source of income, accounting for 46 percent of the net value of crop production, but it is less important than in the lowland regions of Vietnam. This study addresses a number of questions about income diversification in the Northern Uplands and its contribution to poverty reduction: How much diversification is occurring, and which households are participating? How much does diversification contribute to income growth? How do farmers perceive government efforts to encourage crop diversification? The authors analyze three types of data to gather information relevant to income diversification: (1) secondary data from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam provide evidence of the broad economic trends and differences from province to province; (2) data from three nationally representative household surveys carried out in 1992–93, 1997–98, and 2002 allow analysis of changing income patterns for different types of households; and (3) interviews with farmers and local government officials in the region, conducted in 2002 as part of a survey called the Qualitative Social Assessment of Income Diversification (QSAID), provide insights on their perceptions of diversification. The study uses regression analysis to examine the characteristics that best explain variation in five measures of income diversification. In addition, the study decomposes income growth to assess the relative importance of yield growth, area expansion, price changes, diversification into higher-value crops, and diversification into nonfarm activities. Regression analysis using the household survey data suggests that livelihood decisions are strongly affected by family land and labor endowments. Households with many members but small farms are more likely to have multiple income sources, a large share of nonfarm income, a higher crop value per hectare, but a smaller share of output that is marketed. Good market access facilitates larger marketed surplus and more specialization. Electrification appears to enable households to diversify into nonfarm activities. Although ethnic minorities are sometimes viewed as “traditional” and less market oriented in Vietnam, the analysis suggests that ethnic minorities are no different from others in their livelihood choices, after taking farm size, education, market access, and other factors into account. Comparing the 1992–93 and 1997–98 surveys, all sources of income grew roughly proportionally, on average, but the patterns differed across income groups. For example, crop income growth accounted for 45 percent of income growth across all rural households but 69 percent among the poorest households. Poor farmers earned more by increasing their yields, while richer households expanded the area cultivated. Farmers in the Northern Uplands have diversified into high value crops, gradually shifting from rice and cassava cultivation to fruits and tea production. The analysis indicates, however, that diversification into higher-value crops accounted for just 6 percent of the crop income growth. In other regions of Vietnam, such as the coffee-growing Central Highlands and the highly commercialized Southeast, crop diversification accounted for more than one-quarter of crop income growth. In the interviews, farmers confirmed that their standard of living had risen. Eighty percent attributed improvements to higher crop yields, 62 percent to livestock income, and 47 percent to new, more profitable crops. More than four-fifths of the farmers said they had tried at leastone new crop. Farmers complained, however, that the new crops promoted by extension agents were not always profitable—sometimes the market became flooded and the price fell. More than 50 percent said that rice was still their most important source of income. Local authorities noted that the pace of diversification is greater where market access is better. For example, in provinces close to Hanoi and the delta, farmers tend to diversify into fruit crops, such as litchi, while farmers who are farther from markets diversify into tea, sugar-cane, and tobacco. And in the most remote provinces they diversify into maize or cattle. Local governments are deeply involved in promoting adoption of new varieties and use various policy tools to encourage diversification, including input subsidies, transportation subsidies, technical assistance, and low-interest loans. Traders, however, do not seem to play an active role in promoting new crops. The strong growth in household income in the Northern Uplands almost 6 percent a year—confirms the positive impact of the economic reforms of the past 15 years. The main criticism is that these reforms may have widened the gap between the rich and the poor. But this study finds that inequality in rural areas increased only slightly and that poverty, although high, has declined. Since crop production is the most important source of income growth, particularly among the poor, rural development strategy should focus on ways to increase labor and land productivity of crop production, especially for the poor. Nonfarm income is concentrated among the high-income households in the Northern Uplands, so that assistance to existing small enterprises would have only minimal impact in reducing poverty. The gradual shift from staple food crops to higher-value crops means that the share of land allocated to rice has decreased. Because of higher yields and greater cropping intensity, however, per capita rice availability has actually increased. Thus, in Vietnam, rice intensification and crop diversification may be complementary. All three of the analyses carried out for this study indicate that yield increases are the most important source of income growth in the Northern Uplands, especially for the poor. This result highlights the pro-poor impact of yield increasing investments in agricultural research and extension. Some subsidies to encourage innovation may be justified to help farmers over- come risk associated with new crops, but fertilizer subsidies for rice cultivation are difficult to justify and are unlikely to be targeted to the poor. Although farmers appreciated the help of the extension service, less than half of them had had contact with an extension agent in the past year. Increasing the number of agents in some areas and evaluating the results could be worthwhile. Given the marketing problems in the promotion of some crops, however, greater attention must be paid to marketing research and assessments of the profitability of new crops before they are promoted. Related Publications Income diversification and poverty in the Northern Uplands of Vietnam In many ways, Vietnam is in an enviable position among developing countries. Since the mid-1990s, it has enjoyed macro-economic stability and sustained high rates of economic growth. According to the Vietnam Living Standards Surveys, the incidence of… Read More titled Income diversification and poverty in the Northern Uplands of Vietnam. Country Strategies Links Full Report Division: Markets, Trade and Institutions (MTID) IFPRI HeadquartersInternational Food Policy Research Institute2033 K St, NWWashington, DC 20006-1002 USAPhone +1 202-862-5600Fax +1 202-467-4439 Email to IFPRISkype ifprihomeoffice All IFPRI offices © COPYRIGHT AND FAIR USE | PRIVACY POLICY Latest Tweet

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Cattle markets adjust to larger supplies: Outlook Jan 13, 2017 Crop protection industry needs to stay united to protect products Jan 12, 2017 OUTLOOK 2017: Ag economists explore the best options for producers Jan 12, 2017 Texas Ag Commissioner hopes to talk trade initiative with Israel Jan 10, 2017 Doubling urged for research funds Hembree Brandon Farm Press Editorial Staff | Jul 19, 2001 The government's investment in food, nutrition, agriculture, natural resource, and fiber research, Extension, and education research programs “should be doubled over the next five years,” the president of a national coalition says. And while “the best research in the world” has helped to make U.S. farmers the most efficient and productive anywhere, the country can't afford to be complacent about maintaining that pre-eminence, Rep. Frank D. Lucas, R-Okla., said at a hearing by his Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, and Rural Development. American consumers spend only about 9 percent of their income on food, he said during testimony on the research title of the new farm bill. “That's lower than most developed nations, and we need to concentrate on using our agricultural research programs to get more dollars into the producer's pockets.” Ag research programs, Lucas said, help farmers to reduce production costs and increase profits, while helping provide consumers with lower prices and safer foods. “We need to determine how increased research funding can best be directed — whether through discretionary or mandatory funding.” Grain producer Terry Wolf, president of the National Coalition for Food and Agricultural Research, which encompasses some 90 food, agriculture, nutrition, conservation, and natural resources organizations nationwide, told the subcommittee that the doubling of federal support for food and agricultural research over the next five years should be “a key component of developing a sound food and agricultural policy.” And, he said, it should be “net additional funding, on a continuing basis, that complements, not competes with or displaces the existing portfolio of federal programs for research and education.” It should be done for three reasons, he said: “(1) Despite past progress and contributions, many challenges remain; (2) federal funding has been essentially flat for decades, putting at risk the scientific base on which food/agriculture advances have been achieved; and (3) opportunities will be lost and innovations will not occur without increased support.” While the private sector is extensively involved in agricultural research, federal funding is needed for research areas where the private sector lacks incentive, Wolf said. “Agricultural research and education have provided a high return on investment and enormous benefits to the American people.” More than 300 studies, spanning a half century, showed a median annual rate of return on public investment in food and agricultural research and education was 44 percent, “an extremely high rate of return using any benchmark.” Over the last 50 years, it has amounted to an annual savings of $3,400 on the food bill of an average American family, he said. Agricultural productivity has increased by 1.9 percent annually, nearly double that of the 1.1 percent recorded by the non-farm business sector. “In fact, over the last half century, agricultural production has more than doubled, while the aggregate of all tangible inputs has declined by about 10 percent. In other words, all the increase in U.S. agricultural production for the past 50 years has been due to increased production, not more inputs. Research and education, both public and private, have been the prime driver of this phenomenal growth.” These advances, Wolf said, have also enhanced the environment and our quality of life. He quoted Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug: “Had the U.S. agricultural technology of 1940 persisted until today, we would need an additional 575 million acres of agricultural land of the same quality to equal the 1996-97 production of 700 million tons for the 17 main food and fiber crops produced in the U.S. Imagine the environmental disaster that would have occurred if hundreds of millions of acres of environmentally fragile lands — had been plowed up and brought into production. Think of the soil erosion, loss of forests, grasslands, and biodiversity, and extinction of wildlife that would have ensued.” Discoveries from diet and nutrition-related research have also helped to minimize health care and disease prevention costs, Wolf noted. “Research helps to justify or minimize the risk of the investment that will produce the next generation of solutions.” e-mail: [email protected]

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