Sunday, 29 November 2015

The US Environmental Protection Agency has just withdrawn its authorization for a toxic mix of two herbicides, glyphosate and 2,4-D, to be used on GM crops. The move came in response to a lawsuit claiming the initial registration was unlawful.

In a welcome victory for environmental campaigners, the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has announced it is revoking the registration of Dow's 'Enlist Duo'.

The surprise move came in response to litigation by a coalition of conservation groups seeking to rescind the approval of the dangerous herbicide blend.

Approved by the agency just over a year ago, Enlist Duo is a toxic combination of glyphosate and 2,4-D that Dow AgroSciences created for use on the next generation of genetically engineered crops, designed to withstand being drenched with this potent herbicide cocktail.

In a filing of papers to the court, the EPA stated it is taking this action after realizing that the combination of these chemicals is likely significantly more harmful than it had initially believed.

"With this action, EPA confirms the toxic nature of this lethal cocktail of chemicals, and has stepped back from the brink", said Earthjustice Managing Attorney Paul Achitoff, which filed the suit for Center for Food Safety, on behalf of Center for Food Safety, Beyond Pesticides, Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Working Group, the National Family Farm Coalition, and Pesticide Action Network North America.

"Glyphosate is a probable carcinogen and is wiping out the monarch butterfly, 2,4-D also causes serious human health effects, and the combination also threatens endangered wildlife.  This must not, and will not, be how we grow our food."

EPA unlawfully failed to look at impact on endangered species

The agency had approved use of Enlist Duo in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and North Dakota, and had intended to approve it in additional areas in the near future.

Current GMO crops varieties designed for use with the mix include 'Enlist' cotton and soybeans. A group of 35 distinguished scientists wrote to the EPA last July calling on the Agency to refuse authorization citing grave health and environment concerns.

But the coalition challenged EPA's failure to consider the impacts of Enlist Duo on threatened and endangered plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act. The Act requires that every federal agency consider the impacts of its actions on our nation's most imperiled plants and animals and seek input from the expert wildlife agencies before plunging ahead, which EPA had refused to do.

"EPA is taking a step in the right direction, but Enlist Duo shouldn't have been given the green light in the first place", said Judy Hatcher, executive director of Pesticide Action Network. "Too often, GE seeds and the herbicides designed to accompany them are rushed to market without thorough evaluation of their real-world impacts on community health and farmer livelihoods."

Missouri farmer Margot McMillen added: "I applaud the Environmental Protection Agency for this action. For many of us, the right to farm has been lost because there are so many pesticides in the environment. Many acres of crops have been killed by combinations of poisons. I hope the EPA takes this opportunity to re-examine all existing pesticide registrations."

The herbicide treadmill must stop

Dow created Enlist crops as a quick fix for the problem created by 'Roundup Ready' crops, the previous generation of genetically engineered crops designed to resist the effects of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide.

Just as overuse of antibiotics has left resistant strains of bacteria to thrive, repeated use of Roundup on those crops allowed glyphosate-resistant 'superweeds' to proliferate, and those weeds now infest tens of millions of acres of US farmland.

Enlist crops allow farmers to spray both glyphosate and 2,4-D without killing their crops, and they hope the 'double hit' of herbicides will kill weeds resistant to glyphosate alone. In fact, some some weeds have already developed 2,4-D resistance, and its only a matter of time before resistance to both herbicides combines in a single weed.

As the 35 scientists wrote, "If the EPA were to approve Dow's application for 2,4-D-glyphosate herbicide to be used on 2,4-D-resistant crops, USDA estimates at least a tripling of use of 2,4-D by 2020 compared to the present amounts used annually for agriculture in the United States ...

In addition to putting human health at risk, increased 2,4-D spraying would harm the already-vulnerable ecosystems in intensely farmed regions of the United States; affect dozens of endangered species; and potentially contribute to the decline of pollinators and honeybees ... Finally, increased 2,4-D application is likely to accelerate and exacerbate the evolution of yet more 2,4-D resistant weeds."

George Kimbrell, Center for Food Safety's senior attorney, said:"The decision by EPA to withdraw the illegally approved Enlist Duo crops is a huge victory for the environment and the future of our food. We will remain vigilant to ensure industry does not pressure the agency into making the same mistake in the future."

"This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for EPA taking this important action to protect people, rare plants, and animals from Enlist Duo", said Lori Ann Burd, Environmental Health director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

"As we gather with our families for the holiday feast, we can all breathe a little bit easier knowing that EPA has protected our food from being drenched with this poisonous pesticide cocktail."


National Office of Animal Health supports industry over farm antibiotics use


NOAH has supported the animal medicines industry and the responsible use of antibiotics on farms through a letter to The Times published yesterday.NOAH responded to an earlier letter from the President of the Royal Society of Medicine and other academics calling for “political action against the overuse of antibiotics in farming.” (The Times, 23 November 2015).The medical experts made a number of inaccurate points about the use of veterinary medicines which NOAH’s chief executive, Dawn Howard, refuted.Dawn Howard said: “Whilst it is encouraging that Antibiotic Awareness Week has sparked a debate in the national press, it’s important that everyone considers the wider context.“We were particularly keen to point out the danger of quoting ‘total use’ figures for antibiotics on farms. There are significantly more individual animals in a country than individual humans, for example, and antibiotics are prescribed according to weight, which of course will result in a 600kg dairy cow requiring more antibiotic to treat an infection than an 80kg person. The letter from the Royal Society of Medicine failed to mention this.”NOAH’s letter referred to a recent One Health report published by Public Health England and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate which identified that in the UK total antibiotic human prescriptions were 590 tonnes (estimated) in 2013 or 135mg/kg of human biomass. The total antibiotic sales for animal use were 418.7 tonnes (353.6 tonnes in food producing animals) in 2013 or 55.6mg/kg of PCU (population correction unit - a means to take account the number of food animals in a country). Overall human use of antibiotics was 2.4 times that of veterinary based on kg per biomass.Dawn continued: “At NOAH we are always happy to provide reliable information to anybody on the use of antibiotics and the role they have to play in responsible farming and veterinary medicine.“We will continue to stand up for our industry providing the essential medicines that are needed by responsible hard-working vets and farmers to maintain high standards of animal health and welfare, thus contributing to the continued availability of safe, affordable food for everyone.”

Tuesday, 17 November 2015

20 Amazing Honey Bee Facts!


I think we should get ourselves some honey bee facts, after all so many healing and health-promoting opportunities for the humans begin with this little busy creature. As you read the following 20 honey bee facts, you will be so intrigued just like me by this teensy-weensy fellow's extraordinary abilities.
1. The honey bee has been around for millions of years.
2. Honey bees, scientifically also known as Apis mellifera, which mean "honey-carrying bee", are environmentally friendly and are vital as pollinators.
3. It is the only insect that produces food eaten by man.
honey bee facts image 4. Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water; and it's the only food that contains "pinocembrin", an antioxidant associated with improved brain functioning.
5. Honey bees have 6 legs, 2 compound eyes made up of thousands of tiny lenses (one on each side of the head), 3 simple eyes on the top of the head, 2 pairs of wings, a nectar pouch, and a stomach.
6. Honey bees have 170 odorant receptors, compared with only 62 in fruit flies and 79 in mosquitoes. Their exceptional olfactory abilities include kin recognition signals, social communication within the hive, and odor recognition for finding food. Their sense of smell is so precise that it could differentiate hundreds of different floral varieties and tell whether a flower carried pollen or nectar from metres away.
7. honey bee facts imageThe honey bee's wings stroke incredibly fast, about 200 beats per second, thus making their famous, distinctive buzz. A honey bee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast as 15 miles per hour.
8. The average worker bee produces about 1/12th teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
9. A hive of bees will fly 90,000 miles, the equivalent of three orbits around the earth to collect 1 kg of honey.
10. It takes one ounce of honey to fuel a bee's flight around the world.
11. A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip.
12. The bee's brain is oval in shape and only about the size of a sesame seed, yet it has remarkable capacity to learn and remember things and is able to make complex calculations on distance travelled and foraging efficienc.
13. A colony of bees consists of 20,000-60,000 honeybees and one queen. Worker honey bees are female, live for about 6 weeks and do all the work.
14. The queen bee can live up to 5 years and it's role is to fill the hive with eggs. She is the busiest in the summer months, when the hive needs to be at its maximum strength, she lays up to 2500 eggs per day. The queen bee has control over whether she lays male or female eggs. If she uses stored sperm to fertilize the egg, the larva that hatches is female. If the egg is left unfertilized, the larva that hatches is male. In other words, female bees inherit genes from their mothers and their fathers while male bees inherit only genes from their mothers. Click here to learn more about the Honey Bee Life Cycle,
15. Larger than the worker bees, the male honey bees (also called drones), have no stinger and do no work at all. All they do is mating. In fact, before winter or when food becomes scarce, female honeybees usually force surviving males out of the nest.
16. Each honey bee colony has a unique odour for members' identification.
17. Only worker bees sting, and only if they feel threatened and they die once they sting. Queens have a stinger, but they don't leave the hive to help defend it.
18. It is estimated that 1100 honey bee stings are required to be fatal.
19. Honey bees communicate with one another by dancing. More on their awesome sense of time, communication of distance and direction in "The Awesome Honeybee Dance".
20. honey bee facts imageDuring winter, honey bees feed on the honey they collected during the warmer months. They form a tight cluster in their hive to keep the queen and themselves warm.
The more I learnt about honey bee facts; honey's great creator -the honey bee itself, its highly organized society, how it acts with such intricate cooperation, and the various bee products, the more I admire and respect this amazing creature. It is no wonder why sometimes the colony is called a superorganism.
"Unique among all God's creatures, only the honeybee improves the environment and preys not on any other species."
~ Royden Brown

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live?"
~ Albert Einstein


The differences between bumblebees and honeybees

There is often confusion about the differences between bumblebees and honeybees and even some of our top media channels will publish pictures of bumblebees when they are discussing/ writing about honeybees. On this page we hope to clarify things a little.
Bumblebee

Honeybee

  • Fat and furry appearance.
  • Smaller and slim appearance, like a wasp.
  • 24 different species of bumblebee in the UK.
  • Only one species of honeybee in Europe.
  • Different species have different lengths of tongue. This means they feed from different shaped flowers.
  • All honeybees have short tongues so they prefer open flowers.
 
  • Bumblebees live in nests with 50-400 bees.
  • Honeybees live in hives of up to 50,000 – 60,000 bees.
  • Only the queen hibernates, in a hole in the ground.
  • The queen and many of her daughters live in the hive all year
  • The queen lives for one year, but the other bumblebees only live for a few months.
  • The queen can live for three - four years.
  • They live in the wild, e.g. in gardens and the countryside.
  • Most honeybees are looked after by beekeepers, but there are some wild colonies.
  • Bumblebees only make small amounts of a honey-like substance to eat themselves.
  • Honeybees make lots of honey, which beekeepers can harvest to eat or sell.
  • Bumblebee populations are declining due to a shortage of flowers to feed from and places to nest in the countryside.
  • Honeybees are mainly declining due to diseases and mites, such as the Varroa mite.
  • They can sting more than once but only sting if aggravated.
  • Honeybees die after they have stung as their stinger is barbed and sticks in the skin.
  • Don't dance but may communicate by passing pollen between worker bees.
  • Use a 'waggle dance' to communicate - passing on information about flower locations.

Thousands of honey bees killed at Lincolnshire Marriott Resort

someone snuck onto the grounds of the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort earlier this month and used pesticides to kill thousands of honeybees, officials said.

Kristin Duncan, the resort's general manager, said Monday that when her executive chef, Pierre Daval, went out to the hives on Nov. 6 to collect that day's honey, he found 10 of the 12 hives completely devoid of life and three cans of Raid bug spray lying on the ground.
Whoever sprayed the hives did not damage any of the structures, Duncan said, but she estimated that the attack killed thousands of bees. She said she had no idea what the person's motive might have been.
"We were all very disappointed and saddened that someone would make that effort to do this," Duncan said. "These are not attacking bees. These are bees that are just around to make honey."
Lincolnshire police said they are investigating the matter but offered no further details.
The colonies began as a group of about 80,000 bees in 2013, and operated under the direction of then-executive chef Joe Plucinski. The hives are located at the south end of the resort's vegetable garden — a location purposefully placed a golf cart's drive away from the resort and the golf course, Duncan said.
Before the attack, the bees produced enough honey to be used in the restaurant's food and make a few bottles as gifts for guests, with enough left over to sell bottles of it in the resort's gift shop, Duncan said. Plucinski said in 2013 that his worker bees made a "wildflower" honey blend similar to that found commonly on grocery store shelves.
The two Marriott hives that remain are still churning out a little honey, Duncan said, and she and Daval hope to eventually repopulate the other 10 hives. The hives and garden have no fence around them, a fact that she said is now up for discussion.
"We obviously need to consider that," Duncan said.


Honey bees facing a tough winter, Bayer researcher says

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2015 - U.S. honey bee colonies could be in for a bad winter.
That's the word from Dick Rogers, the principal scientist with the Bayer Bee Care Center in North Carolina, who's been studying honey bees for decades. In a blog post, Rogers says he conducts hive evaluations during late summer and early fall, often involving up to 150 samples from hives across the country, and this year he's alarmed by the prevalence of a hive parasite called the Varroa mite.
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Rogers found through his research that a hive containing three Varroa mites for every 100 bees can mean serious trouble for a honey bee colony. That fraction may not seem significant, Rogers says, but a typical colony may contain 40,000 bees - and that equates to more than a thousand parasites, which weaken bees through their feeding and disease transmission activities.
“This year I'm finding at least two-thirds of the hives I've examined contain mite counts above that threshold and many have exceeded seven mites per 100 bees, a level that is almost certain to result in colony failure this winter,” he writes.
Recent presentations at several scientific conferences indicate that two organizations - the Bee Informed Partnership and USDA - are estimating infestation levels between seven and eight mites per 100 bees as a national average this fall, he said.
Why should we care? According to USDA, bee pollination is crucial to U.S. agriculture, responsible for more than $15 billion in increased crop value each year. About one mouthful in three in our diet directly or indirectly benefits from honey bee pollination, the department says on its website, and commercial production of many specialty crops - like almonds and other tree nuts, berries, fruits and vegetables - depend on pollination by honey bees.
The Varroa mite is one of several possible factors that scientists blame for Colony Collapse Disorder, a phenomenon that began about a decade ago in which overwintering honey bee populations experienced dramatic die-offs. Other possible factors include the increased use of potentially toxic insecticides, called neonicotinoids, as well as habitat loss. From 2006 through 2011, about a third of U.S. honey bee colonies were lost each year, USDA says, with a third of these losses attributed to CCD by beekeepers. The winter of 2011-2012 was an exception, when total losses dropped to 22 percent.
In his blog, Rogers notes that since 2013, U.S. beekeepers have been doing better at reducing winter honey bee colony losses, and he attributes part of that to better management of the Varroa mite. Rogers' research also suggests the most effective treatment against Varroa infestation, a pesticide called Apivar, may be losing its efficacy, however.

“Since there are few effective treatments for Varroa and these mites are prone to develop resistance, the potential loss of this acaricide (a substance poisonous to mites or ticks) from our management toolbox is very concerning,” Rogers writes. 
While scientists are testing new pesticides and looking to improve honey bee genetics to increase the bee's tolerance to the Varroa parasite, “for now, there is little beekeepers can do to change the hand they've been dealt.”
“Winter normally is a stressful time for colonies, but high mite infestations make this year's situation particularly challenging and I am expecting the worst,” he says, adding, “I hope I'm wrong about the consequences associated with the levels of Varroa we're seeing.”or more news, go to, www.Agri-Pulse.com


3 Big Things Today, November 17

 
 

Corn, Soybeans May Rise as Low Prices Likely to Attract Bargain Hunters
Corn and soybean futures may rise on speculation that low prices will attract bargain hunters.
Both overseas buyers and investors seeking a bargain purchase likely will, at the very least, consider U.S. corn and soybean supplies because prices are historically low.
Soybeans yesterday reached a fresh six-year intraday low while corn neared, but did not touch, contract lows set last week after the USDA upped its forecast for production and yield.
Corn futures for December delivery gained 1 ½ cents to $3.61 ½ a bushel overnight on the Chicago Board of Trade. 
Soybean futures for January delivery rose 1 ½ cents to $8.61 a bushel on the CBOT. December soymeal futures declined 30 cents to $288.50 a short ton. December soyoil rose 0.11 cent to 27.40 cents a pound.
Wheat futures may fall as favorable weather improves prospects for parts of the U.S. and other exporting countries, which could add to global supplies.
December wheat futures in Chicago fell 2 ½ cents to $4.91 ½ a bushel on the CBOT. Kansas City wheat for delivery the same month declined 1 ¼ cents to $4.66 ¼ a bushel.
**
Fund Managers Cut Ag Bets, Which May Be Good For Prices
Hedge fund managers in the week that ended November 10 turned sour on agricultural commodities after the U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its outlook for corn and soybean production last week, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/index.htm)
Positions on corn went from a plus-19,860 futures contracts to a net-short of 53,164 contracts, meaning the number of money managers who are betting on a price decline increased considerably from the prior week. Soybean investors on November 10 were net-short 48,930 contracts and wheat traders were net-short by 22,914 contracts.
Needless to say, large investors don’t seem to have much faith in the ags.
But that actually may be a good thing. When positions are extremely short, like they are now, investors begin to see two things: a bargain and oversold conditions.
The low prices we’ve seen recently could draw overseas buyers who need to fill immediate needs. It also may give sellers pause to think prices are oversold, and that now may be a good time to buy. As we’ve seen in the past, fund managers get spooked easily and given any bullish news whatsoever, the shorts could potentially begin buying back contracts and bumping prices.
Now, we just need some bullish news.
**
Crazy Day of Weather With Floods, Blizzards
It’s going to be a bit of a crazy day of weather across the U.S.
A wide swath of land from east Texas to central Illinois is still at risk of flooding, while a blizzard is hitting part of the High Plains, according to the National Weather Service (weather.gov).
Flash flood advisories are in effect for several states including parts of Illinois, Missouri, all of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. A strong storm could dump several inches of rain in a short time, causing flooding. That, of course, is bad for farmers in those states who have any crops left to harvest.
A blizzard warning has made its way into western Nebraska and Kansas, which could benefit winter wheat that’s recently emerged. Ahead of that is a winter weather advisory creeping east into central counties in both states.
Get involved in the discussion in Marketing Talk at http://community.agriculture.com/t5/Marketing/bd-p/marketing.
 

FMC Launches Insect and Disease Control Product


FMC announced the launch of Ethos XB insecticide/fungicide. Ethos XB insecticide/fungicide is an integrated in-furrow product for insect and disease control. Formulated with the patented Liquid Fertilizer Ready technology from FMC, Ethos XB insecticide/fungicide combines the at-plant insecticide with a broad-spectrum preventative biofungicide, the first corn biopesticide offering from FMC, according to a company report. Ethos XB has the same active ingredient as Capture LFR insecticide.
Ethos XB insecticide/fungicide offers corn seedling defense against soil pests and diseases. It protects seedlings from corn rootworm, wireworms, grubs, seed corn maggots, cutworms, and common stalk borers. The biological fungicide in Ethos XB insecticide/fungicide aids in control of Fusarium, Pythium, Phytophthora, and Rhizoctonia.
“The Ethos XB product provides early, integrated protection to create an environment where seedlings emerge more uniformly and with the vigor to optimize productivity,” says Rick Ekins, fungicide and insecticide portfolio manager for FMC.
Ethos XB insecticide/fungicide contains a specific strain of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, a naturally occurring organism with fungicidal properties. Used in-furrow, Ethos XB insecticide/fungicide complements seed treatments by extending protection beyond the critical time when most of the problematic soil pests and soil pathogens threaten yields, according to a company report. Beneficial rhizobacteria rapidly colonize root surfaces building a defensive barrier to infection from fungi and pathogens. Root colonization continues as long as roots are actively growing, extending disease protection well beyond typical seed treatment protection. It also produces antimicrobial metabolites that kill pathogenic fungi and bacteria by destroying cell membranes and walls.

Corn Plant Stand Assurance Program

The extended early protection of Ethos XB insecticide/fungicide pays off in more uniform stands leading to higher yields. FMC is offering a corn plant stand assurance program. If Ethos XB insecticide/fungicide at planting time does not show a stand increase of 1,000 plants per acre compared to the untreated check, FMC will return the plant stand count difference up to the product cost or re-treat with an FMC product where applicable.
“Growers spend a lot of money on seed and they expect a vigorous stand. We are confident that Ethos XB insecticide/fungicide will not only increase stand, but provide every emerged seedling the opportunity to become a productive plant,” says Ekins.

European Regulators Affirm Glyphosate Safety


European Union regulators have concluded that the widely used herbicide glyphosate is unlikely to cause cancer, a ruling that runs counter to a controversial assessment issued recently by an arm of the World Health Organization. 
The European Food Safety Authority and the EU member countries announced Thursday that they had finished a reassessment of glyphosate, best known as Roundup. In addition to deciding that the chemical was unlikely to be carcinogenic, the agency also proposed a new safety limit for glyphosate residues in food. 
“This has been an exhaustive process - a full assessment that has taken into account a wealth of new studies and data. By introducing an acute reference dose we are further tightening the way potential risks from glyphosate will be assessed in the future,” said Jose Tarazona, head of EFSA's pesticides unit.
The European Commission will use the finding in deciding whether to keep glyphosate on the EU's list of approved active substances. EU member governments also will use the decision in reassessing the safety of herbicides used in their countries. 
A peer review expert group made up of EFSA scientists and representatives from the risk-assessment groups in the EU member countries set a new limit, or “acute reference dose,” for glyphosate of 0.5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. An acute reference dose is the estimated amount of a chemical substance in food that can be ingested during one meal or one day without posing a health risk.
Charla Marie Lord, a spokeswoman for Monsanto Co., which developed the herbicide, said the new limit is in line with a new, higher limit for life-time dietary exposure. A person would have to eat 880 pounds of fruits or vegetables or 40 bowls of porridge a day to reach the limits, she said. 
The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer's (IARC) earlier this year classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic” to humans, a decision that has been widely used by opponents of agricultural biotechnology to attack the use of glyphosate-tolerant crops.
Under the IARC classification of substances, glyphosate is in Group 2A, which suggests there is “limited evidence” of carcinogenicity in humans and sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals. Group 2B, “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” includes cell phones and coffee. Group 1 substances are considered “carcinogenic to humans.”
The EFSA said its analysis covered a “large body of evidence” that included some studies the IARC did not consider, which is one of the reasons the agencies reached different conclusions, the EFSA said. 
All but one of the member-country experts in the EU review agreed that neither human nor animal studies showed that glyphosate would cause cancer in people, the EFSA said. 
The Center for Food Safety, an advocacy group critical of biotechnology, believes that the EFSA review was less rigorous than the IARC.
“The cancer experts at the World Health Organization got it right – glyphosate is probably carcinogenic – because they took an unbiased look at the science. EFSA got it wrong because they bent the rules for assessing studies and rejected valid studies from consideration,” said Bill Freese, science policy analyst for the group.
EFSA will use the new limits in the agency's planned review next year of the maximum residue levels for glyphosate in food.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is undertaking a comprehensive review of glyphosate, said Thursday that it will publish in the next several months the agency's draft human health and ecological risk assessments. The agency plans to take comment on the review for 60 days. 
EPA plans to issue a proposed interim decision for glyphosate in 2016 and an interim final decision in 2017. The final decision will not be made until after the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service finish a consultation on the impact of glyphosate on endangered species, EPA said in a statement to Agri-Pulse.

On-Farm Storage Eases Elevator Business


Even though it's a big crop year, and outside piles of grain can be seen in some locations, grain elevator operators are downplaying worries about running out of space. Why? Because a lot more farmers are holding onto grain in storage bins on their own properties this year as prices waver.
With harvest wrapping up in the western Corn Belt, elevators in the northwestern areas are seeing plenty of grain. In south-central Minnesota, elevators saw record bean yields and impressive corn yields. Plenty of storage and the moving of some trains has helped them to stay on top of the grain flow. 
“Every year you see more people building on-farm storage. The expansion of on-farm storage doesn’t always get recognized,” said a grain buyer in south-central Minnesota who hasn’t seen a lot of ground piles in his trade area. However, the elevator he works for had a somewhat overwhelming soybean intake that required them to pile beans outside for two weeks. The elevator is currently holding a tarped corn pile outside.
The West Central Co-op in Adair, Iowa, has also had to pile grain outside this fall. A fast and early harvest combined with record soybean yields forced the elevator to throw together a temporary soybean pile outside to allow members to continue to progress through harvest. 
“We’ve had to take measures that we’ve never had to take in the past 84 years of company history,” said regional manager Brad Woodward.
The company has had to do some shifting to other co-op elevators to make room for more grain in certain areas. Of the 35 million bushels of corn they’ve brought in across the company, between 15% and 18% of that is outside in covered piles, which is pretty standard. In some areas, there is still 30% to 40% left to go.
In Battle Creek, Nebraska, Jesse Weidner of the Farmers Pride Co-op has seen a heavy flow of grain, but has plenty of space available still. “I do believe a lot of farmers are going straight to their bins because this is not a very enticing selling point,” Weidner said.
The co-op hasn’t had to run its dryer once this year, which is a positive change according to Weidner. They’ve taken in 950,000 bushels of corn at the Battle Creek location and 600,000 bushels of soybeans at this point. Those numbers are on track with their normal rate. 
Over on the eastern part of the Corn Belt, harvest is complete and elevators are feeling underwhelmed. In West Mansfield, Ohio, the Heritage Cooperative reported that soybean yields were a bit better than expected, but corn yields were much less impressive. The elevator saw less grain than they normally do this year, which a representative attributes to low yields and farmers having more on-farm storage.
In neighboring Indiana, Custer Grain Company, Inc. is optimistic that if higher prices come along, farmers may be more willing to bring their grain in. The Garrett, Indiana, elevator found beans were “decent” and corn was variable. Most elevators in northeast Indiana aren’t full at this time.
Last year grain elevators were struggling to find railcars, but this year has been painless in terms of grain transportation.

On-Farm Storage Eases Elevator Business

The Best Time to Test Soil Is Now


It’s the season for soil testing. The best time to collect soil samples is before fall fertility applications when soil is in a depleted nutrient condition.
“Now is a great time to do it with the crop off and no rush to get tillage done,” says Dave Mowers, a consulting agronomist based in Illinois.
Farmers are able to specify which nutrients or micronutrients they want to test for with their laboratory. Tests should tell farmers their soil PH, and the levels of phosphorous and potassium in different areas of the farm. Knowing whether soil fertility is high, medium, or low can be a “fantastic money management tool” in terms of fertilizer purchases, Mowers said.
“Why would you spend large dollars on an expensive crop input without a guideline on what you really need to have?” Mowers said.
Although Mowers believes there is more soil testing being done than is realized, he is confident that not enough farmers are taking the time to test their soil. Exactly 70% of farmers that responded to an agriculture.com poll reported that they are soil testing this fall.
Soil samples should be made up of a solid column of soil that collects from the soil surface to nearly 7 inches in depth. To get the most accurate results, Mowers suggests stratification testing.
The most convenient way to take a sample is with a soil probe. However, it’s important to check for any clogs or air pockets that would return less accurate results.
“It’s important that they take denser samples and more from the area to get a better soil fertility reading and recommendation,” Mowers said.
A shallow sampling can provide inaccurate results since nutrients tend to be brought up to the topsoil layers through plant foliage. Also beware of soil compaction when collecting samples. It’s crucial to collect a full column of soil, and compaction can hinder a farmer’s ability to get the proper depth needed.
Over the last few years, Mowers has seen lower levels of potassium in soil samples in his trade area. Growers should know that with crops that are very resilient to decomposition, sometimes it’s hard for those nutrients to escape the plant and get back into the soil. Test results may reflect some nutrients coming up short, which is helpful for farmers to understand what they need to apply to compensate.
The lab Mowers works for suggests taking one sample for every 2.5 acres. Their fee is $8.25 per acre, but that cost can vary with whether or not a farmer wants fertilizer recommendations made.
“If I were farming, I would be sampling more,” said Mowers. “I would collect one sample for every acre knowing what I do now.”
In the future, Mowers hopes research will lead to farmers taking deeper samples — up to 1 foot in depth. By testing more of the rooting medium, he believes farmers will benefit from more data about their soil.

Saturday, 14 November 2015

About Biochar and Benefits for Soil Fertility and Organic Farming

Essential Nutrients List For Plants

HOW TO MAKE FERTILIZER MATERIALS WITH LIQUID COCONUT FIBER

In the environment around us a lot of waste materials that seem useless, but its function there if we are to seek to know and want to initiate a change.

Cocopeat Liquid Organic Fertilizer
Cocopeat Liquid Organic Fertilizer
One is like the title of this discussion, it turns out that the material is a waste of a coconut in the form of coconut fiber. Generally, only the coconut husk is used as fuel to cook in the kitchen. Yet besides coconut fiber also can be used as organic fertilizer. Coconut fiber contained in the materials needed by plants such as potassium and chloride crate discussion about the "BENEFITS OF COCONUT FIBER OR COCOPEAT". The function of the potassium and chloride for the plant is to strengthen plant roots. The construction is also quite easy so you can definitely make yourself at home. How, you interested in making? Here's how it's done:

Tools and materials

1. Coconut coir 25 kg
2. Drum former 1 piece
3. Water 40 liters

Ways of making

  • Clean the coconut husk of the outer skin.
  • Coco fiber that has been cleaned put into drums.
  • Fill the container with water until half filled.
  • Cover tightly and place it in the shade drum.
  • Avoid sunlight and rain water and let stand for 15 days.
  • Every morning / afternoon drum lid is opened so that the fermentation gas can come out and stirred.
  • Checks on day 16, when the soaking water color changed to yellow-black color, the liquid manure from coconut husk ready to be used to fertilize crops.
  • The use of bacterial decomposition can accelerate results manufacture of liquid fertilizer.

Description: The highest nutrient content in manure is potassium.

The use of liquid fertilizer with a ratio of 1: 15 (1 liter of liquid fertilizer: 15 liters of water) and adjusted to the type of plant, the larger the plant the more their liquid fertilizer use.


Eating sweets forms memories that may control eating habits


Pumpkin pie.
Credit: © olyina / Fotolia
Eating sweet foods causes the brain to form a memory of a meal, according to researchers at Georgia State University, Georgia Regents University and Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center.
The findings, published online in the journal Hippocampus, show that neurons in the dorsal hippocampus, the part of the brain that is critical for episodic memory, are activated by consuming sweets. Episodic memory is the memory of autobiographical events experienced at a particular time and place.
In the study, a meal consisting of a sweetened solution, either sucrose or saccharin, significantly increased the expression of the synaptic plasticity marker called activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (Arc) in dorsal hippocampal neurons in rats. Synaptic plasticity is a process that is necessary for making memories.
"We think that episodic memory can be used to control eating behavior," said Marise Parent, professor in the Neuroscience Institute at Georgia State. "We make decisions like 'I probably won't eat now. I had a big breakfast.' We make decisions based on our memory of what and when we ate."
That possibility is supported by the researchers' previous work, which showed that temporarily inactivating dorsal hippocampal neurons following a sucrose meal--the period during which the memory of a meal forms--accelerates the onset of the next meal and causes rats to eat more.
Forming memories of meals is important to a healthy diet. A London-based study shows that disrupting the encoding of the memory of a meal in humans, such as by watching television, increases the amount of food they consume during the next meal. Researchers have found that people with amnesia will eat again if presented with food, even if they've already eaten, because they have no memory of the meal.
To understand energy regulation and the causes of obesity, scientists must consider how the brain controls meal onset and frequency, Parent said.
Studies have found that increased snacking is correlated positively with obesity, and obese individuals snack more frequently than people who aren't obese. Research also shows that over the past three decades, children and adults are eating more snacks per day and deriving more of their daily calories from snacks, mostly in the form of desserts and sweetened beverages.
In the future, the research team would like to determine if nutritionally balanced liquid or solid diets that typically contain protein, fat and carbohydrates have a similar effect on Arc expression in dorsal hippocampal neurons and whether increases in Arc expression are necessary for the memory of sweet foods.
Collaborators for the project include Almira Vazdarjanova of Georgia Regents University and Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center, Rebecca Nalloor of Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center and Yoko Henderson of Georgia State.
The study was funded by the National Science Foundation, Veterans Affairs Merit Award and Georgia State's Brains and Behavior Program.

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The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Georgia State University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

A warmer world will be a hazier one

Using a suite of computer models, study finds most aerosol species will increase under climate change associated with greenhouse-gas-induced warming

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A hazy Hong Kong. A new study using the newest and state-of-the-art computer models shows that under climate change associated with GHG-induced warming most aerosol species will register a robust increase, with implications for future air quality.
Credit: © Stripped Pixel / Fotolia
Aerosols, tiny solid and liquid particles suspended in the atmosphere, impact the environment by affecting air quality and alter the Earth's radiative balance by either scattering or absorbing sunlight to varying degrees. What impact does climate change, induced by greenhouse gases (GHGs), have on the aerosol "burden"--the total mass of aerosols in a vertical column of air?
Past research done on climate models has found inconsistent results: Depending on the model, climate change was associated with an increase or decrease in aerosol burden. But a new study using the newest and state-of-the-art computer models, published today in Nature Climate Change, shows that under climate change associated with GHG-induced warming most aerosol species will register a robust increase, with implications for future air quality.
"Our work on the models shows that nearly all aerosol species will increase under GHG-induced climate change," said climatologist Robert J. Allen, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of California, Riverside and the lead author of the research paper. "This includes natural aerosols, like dust and sea salt, and also anthropogenic aerosols, like sulfate, black carbon and primary organic matter. Stricter reductions in aerosol emissions will be necessary for attaining a desired level of air quality through the 21st century."
Allen explained that an increase in GHGs will not only warm the planet, but also affect climate in many different ways. For example, GHGs will lead to changes in the hydrological cycle and large-scale atmospheric circulation. These changes, in turn, will affect air quality and the distribution of aerosols--irrespective of changes in aerosol emissions.
"Changes in the hydrological cycle and atmospheric circulation are complex, however, and could lead to opposing changes in the distribution of aerosols," he said. "The models show that GHG warming will lead to more global-mean precipitation, which should reduce aerosol burden because the aerosols are rained out; however, GHG warming will also lead to a decrease in precipitation in certain regions, as well as a global mean decrease in the frequency of precipitation. These latter two changes, which would be expected to increase the burden of atmospheric aerosols, outweigh the former change. The result is more aerosols in the atmosphere."
Allen and his team found their results using a multi-model data set: the Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Model Intercomparison Project (ACCMIP), which is supplemented with the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project version 5 (CMIP5). The researchers analyzed the ACCMIP and CMIP5 data bases, using model experiments with fixed aerosol emissions (based on the year 2000), but different climates--one based on 2000, the other based on 2100, with the difference of the two experiments indicating the aerosol response to GHG induced warming.
The researchers also conducted similarly designed experiments using the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) versions 4 and 5. Results from these models showed that even when emissions are held fixed, GHG-induced warming by 2100 drives an increase in aerosol burden and elevated concentrations of aerosol species on the Earth's surface.
"The surprising finding is the consistency of the increase in aerosols over all the different models," Allen said. "We associate this increase in aerosols to a decrease in aerosol wet removal, the primary removal mechanism, which is driven by a decrease in large-scale precipitation over land--particularly during the Northern Hemisphere summer months of June-July-August."
Future research avenues for his research team include a deeper understanding of the mechanism by which climate change drives an increase in aerosol burden. Specifically, the team is interested in investigating why models project a decrease in large-scale precipitation in the Northern Hemisphere during June-July-August.
Allen was joined in the research by William Landuyt at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering, NJ; and Steven T. Rumbold at the University of Reading, the United Kingdom.
The research was supported by grants from NASA and the National Science Foundation.

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The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Riverside. The original item was written by Iqbal Pittalwala. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Increased meat consumption, especially when cooked at high temperatures, linked to elevated kidney cancer risk


Meat on the grill.
Credit: © francescodemarco / Fotolia
Diets high in meat may lead to an increased risk of developing renal cell carcinoma (RCC) through intake of carcinogenic compounds created by certain cooking techniques, such as barbecuing and pan-frying. As part of a new study from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, published online this week in the journal CANCER, researchers also discovered that individuals with specific genetic mutations are more susceptible to the harmful compounds created when cooking at high temperatures.
Renal cell carcinoma, the most common form of kidney cancer, is expected to be diagnosed in over 60,000 new patients this year and claim approximately 14,000 lives, according to the American Cancer Society. The incidence of RCC has been rising for several decades, and many suggest that a Western diet is partially, to blame.
One of the proposed culprits of a Western diet is higher-than-average meat consumption, which has been linked to increased cancer risk. However, it has not always been clear why eating more meat elevates cancer risk, explained Stephanie Melkonian, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, Epidemiology and lead author of the study.
A possible mechanism could be ingestion of meat-cooking mutagens, harmful compounds created when the meat is cooked in certain way. Cooking meat at high temperatures or over an open flame, such as when barbecuing or pan-frying, is known to result in the formation of carcinogens, including 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenyl-imidazo(4,5-b) pyridine (PhIP) and amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo(4,5-f) quinoxaline (MeIQx).
The kidney is a biochemically active organ responsible for filtering many harmful toxins from the body, and therefore it make sense to investigate the effects of dietary intake, including carcinogens, on kidney cancer risk, said Melkonian.
To better characterize factors contributing to kidney cancer risk, the researchers surveyed the eating patterns and collected genetic information from 659 MD Anderson patients newly diagnosed with RCC and 699 healthy subjects recruited from the community. Based on survey responses, the researchers estimated meat consumption and exposure to meat-cooking mutagens with the help of a National Cancer Institute database.
"We found elevated RCC risk associated with both meat intake and meat-cooking mutagens, suggesting independent effect of meat-cooking mutagens on RCC risk," said Xifeng Wu, M.D., Ph.D, professor, Epidemiology and senior author of the study.
Specifically, the results show that kidney cancer patients consumed more red and white meat compared to healthy individuals. Additionally, the researchers identified a 54 percent increased risk associated with PhIP intake and a nearly twofold increase associated with MeIQx intake. This is the first study to identify an association between kidney cancer risk and dietary MeIQx.
The results suggest that cooking method is an important factor contributing to the elevated RCC risk associated with consuming more meat, as both red and white meat resulted in increased risk, explained Wu.
This study was also the first to investigate connections between genetic risk factors and intake of meat-cooking mutagens for RCC. "By analyzing genes known to be associated with RCC risk, we found that high intake of these carcinogens may be particularly meaningful for a certain subgroup of the population," said Melkonian.
Individuals with variations in the gene, ITPR2, were more vulnerable to the effects of consuming PhIP. As this gene has previously been associated with kidney cancer and obesity risk, the results suggest this association may be partially explained by exposure to meat-cooking mutagens. Future experiments will seek to clarify the mechanisms linking mutagen intake and genetic susceptibility.
The researchers cannot make specific recommendations regarding acceptable amounts of meat intake or exposure to meat-cooking mutagens, based on the current study. Exposures and consumption were analyzed on a relative, rather than absolute scale, and future studies will be needed to determine appropriate dietary intake.
"Our findings support reducing consumption of meat, especially meat cooked at high temperatures or over an open flame as a public health intervention to reduce RCC risk and burden," said Wu.
The researchers do not suggest that individuals should remove meats completely from their diets, but rather consume it in moderation, as part of a well-balanced diet, complete with fruits and vegetables. When grilling or pan-frying meat, try to avoid charring it as much as possible, suggest the researchers.

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The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.