" I heard it through the AgLine"

January 6, 2010

 

 

·        Leafy green regulations may threaten wildlife

·        China, Europe, US endure monster Arctic blast

·        Plant collection helps safeguard future crops

·        AgraQuest set to market new soil fungicide

·        Endangered species vs. Calif. food production

 

 

Leafy green regulations may threaten wildlife

 

(Santa Cruz Sentinel) – Wildlife and the environment may suffer unnecessarily if the Department of Agriculture decides to take the California food safety regulations nationwide in 2010, local farmers and officials say.

 

The food safety regulations, termed the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, were put in place after an outbreak of E. coli in spinach in 2006. Three people died in the outbreak, and more than 200 people were hospitalized.

 

While the roots of the contamination were traced to a farm in the Salinas Valley, just how a field of leafy greens became contaminated with E. coli was less clear.

 

Scientists found the same strain of E. coli in cow and pig feces near the field of contaminated spinach, and officials at the California Department of Health Services eventually thought wild boars were responsible. Boars had traipsed across the field and officials believed they carried the E. coli on their hooves.

 

Consequently, a focus of the regulations has been on making some of the local environment inhospitable to wildlife. Farmers have been encouraged to remove the natural vegetation surrounding fields of leafy greens that provides food or habitat for wildlife.

 

Now, farmers across the country are waiting to see whether the USDA will institute a National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement based on the Californian model. The decision, expected to be made soon, may involve similar regulations on farms throughout the nation.

 

Jo Ann Baumgartner of the Wild Farm Alliance questions those regulations.

 

"There has definitely been an impact on the environment," Baumgartner said. "And it's counterproductive for food safety."

 

Baumgartner points to research by scientists at UC Davis that states that the surrounding grasses and wetlands have the ability to filter up to 99 percent of E. coli when it rains.

 

"There is science to support that these strips of vegetation prevent the movement of pathogens," said Andrew Gordus of California Fish and Game. "If you keep filtration systems in, you help prevent those pathogens from moving downstream."

 

Dale Coke, owner of Coke Farms in Watsonville, notes that it is not just E. coli that washes downstream.

 

"If you've sprayed your fields, it goes into the water system," said Coke, who chose not to sign the agreement and abide by its rules. "All these pesticides and fertilizers will just end up in the streams and in the oceans."

 

Eighty-nine percent of farmers in the Central Coast have removed vegetation around fields destroying animal habitat, according to a survey by the Resource Conservation District of Monterey County. Gordus believes they have been pressured to do so by buyers who have signed onto the agreement.

 

"They don't tell them go cut that tree down," Gordus said. "They'll tell the farmers, I'm not going to buy your crop because you have got those trees there.'"

 

Wildlife isn't all that suffers from such actions, Gordus said.

 

"That tree was a spot where owls and raptors can roost and protect the farmer's fields from rodents," Gordus said.

 

Moreover, wildlife such as deer don't pose any risk of contamination, Baumgartner said. In April 2009, the California Department of Fish and Game released a preliminary report stating that only 0.5 percent of wildlife carry E. coli and no deer were carriers.

 

But Coke's main reasons for not signing the agreement were not only a consideration for the environment. He believes the regulations are simply an attempt by the major processors to market a perception of food safety and capture a larger share of the market.

 

Coke believes that it is the cutting and bagging of lettuce that leads to the spread of contamination: cut surfaces of greens are like a seeping wounds that invite infection and the bags are like incubators for the pathogens, he said.

 

Any food safety regulations that fail to address bagged lettuce is severely missing the mark, said Coke.

 

"I didn't sign it because it just didn't make sense," he said.

 

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China, Europe, US endure monster Arctic blast

 

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil traded near a 14-month high, Florida citrus growers fought to protect their crops and Beijing endured its coldest morning in almost four decades as winter weather gripped China, Europe and parts of North America.

 

In central and south Florida, AP reports farmers were trying to salvage citrus and vegetable crops by spraying them in protective layers of ice and covering them in plastic. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist signed an executive order Wednesday that gave the state's Division of Emergency Management and other agencies the authority to provide farmers with assistance.

 

In the U.K., snow from the longest cold snap since 1981 blanketed most of southern England, stranding drivers on roads, disrupting rail service and forcing airports including London’s Gatwick and Luton to suspend flights to clear runways.

 

AccuWeather.com predicted the worst U.S. winter in 25 years. Temperatures in northern China may drop as low as minus 32 degrees Celsius (minus 26 Fahrenheit) from this evening to tomorrow night, the China Meteorological Administration said.

 

“Cold weather is affecting the major populated areas of the Northern Hemisphere largely at the same time,” Dave Britton, a meteorologist with the Met Office, the U.K. government’s forecaster, said today in a telephone interview.

 

Crude oil traded today at more than $81 a barrel in New York after reaching $81.90, near yesterday’s $81.77 settlement figure, which was the highest since October 2008.

 

Aluminum jumped to almost a 15-month high as the freeze in China boosted speculation that output of the metal used in cars and airplanes may be disrupted. Aluminum for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange gained as much as 1.6 percent to $2,338.50 a ton, the highest since Oct. 14, 2008.

 

‘Europe Getting Walloped’

 

“The bad weather in China is raising concerns of power shortages and delivery problems,” said Wang Zhouyi, an analyst at China International Futures (Shanghai) Co. Energy accounts for as much as half the cost of making aluminum. “We haven’t heard about production cuts” yet, Wang said.

 

Temperatures were at or below freezing across most of northern and central France, sinking as low as minus 4 degrees in Paris, according to the French forecaster Meteo-France.

 

“The weather is cold everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, with Europe getting walloped and China as well,” said Anthony Nunan, an assistant general manager for risk management at Mitsubishi Corp. in Tokyo.

 

French electricity demand may reach a record next week as temperatures are expected to drop as much as 7.7 Celsius below average, the grid operator Reseau de Transport d’Electricite said today on its Web site.

 

Power Prices

 

Power for delivery in Germany tomorrow advanced 19 percent to 51.50 euros ($73.98) a megawatt-hour, according to broker prices on Bloomberg. The corresponding French contract jumped 25 percent to 65 euros.

 

Temperatures in the U.S. Northeast, responsible for four- fifths of the country’s heating-oil use, are forecast to remain below normal through Jan. 15, the National Weather Service said. Even so, less-populated parts of North America including swaths of Canada and Alaska were warmer than normal, Britton said.

 

“If you look at the whole picture of the Northern Hemisphere, it’s not that much colder than normal at this time of year,” the Met Office meteorologist said today.

 

Orange-juice futures jumped by the most allowed by ICE Futures U.S. for a second straight day on concerns that freezing weather may damage citrus groves in Florida, the largest producer of the fruit after Brazil. The contract for March delivery climbed 10 cents, or 7.5 percent, to $1.4355 a pound.

 

‘Nerve-Wracking Night’

 

Andrew Meadows, a spokesman for Florida Citrus Mutual, a trade organization based in Lakeland, said in an interview yesterday it would be “a nerve-wracking night” for growers.

 

The U.S. National Weather Service issued a freeze warning for parts of Florida including Orlando, where Pennsylvania-based Accuweather.com said temperatures may fall to 27 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking the record low of 31 degrees for the day set in 1999.

 

A cold front in China will move south today, lowering temperatures by as much as 8 degrees Celsius, the China Meteorological Administration said. Temperatures in Beijing dropped as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius last night and this morning was the coldest for this time of year since 1971, according to the agency.

 

Natural gas demand in Beijing has climbed “dramatically,” the city government said yesterday, and it plans to curb supplies to industrial users and public buildings to ensure residential deliveries.

 

U.K. Freeze

 

Up to 40 centimeters (16 inches) of snow fell in parts of southern England, stranding drivers on roads in Hampshire during the night, the Met Office said. Freezing conditions are likely to persist today, with more snowfall possible in London, where 5 to 10 centimeters fell overnight, Britton said.

 

London’s Gatwick airport suspended flights to clear runways of snow. Luton’s airport reopened after a similar closure. Some school closures were reported, with local U.K. governments saying some were running short of de-icing sand and salt.

 

The U.K. is experiencing its longest period of “widespread” freezing and snowy conditions since December 1981, Sarah Holland from the Met Office said. Hundreds of U.K. travelers were rescued from stranded cars and trucks today, the Associated Press reported, with the British military called in overnight to evacuate some motorists to nearby rescue centers.

 

Scottish and Southern Energy Plc reported about 20,000 properties were without power in southern England. The majority of those affected are in Petersfield, Basingstoke, Aldershot and Portsmouth, spokeswoman Morven Smith said.

 

In the U.S., the northern Great Plains and upper Midwest may receive 4 to 8 inches of snow through today, said Mike Tannura, president of T-Storm Weather in Chicago. Another “big Arctic blast” may occur Jan. 8 to Jan. 9, Tannura said.

 

Reprieve Possible

 

The Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service forecast a reprieve from the cold for the U.S. Midwest in the next six to 10 days, with normal to above-normal temperatures from Michigan to Nebraska.

 

The outlook calls for below-normal temperatures east of the Mississippi, with the southeastern U.S. getting the brunt of it. Temperatures will also remain below normal in Oklahoma and Texas, according to the agency.

 

“The intensely cold weather pattern experience across the country will essentially peak this week,” said Jim Rouiller, a senior energy meteorologist for Planalytics Inc. of Wayne, Pennsylvania.

 

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Plant collection helps safeguard future crops

 

(USDA-ARS) – In the months ahead, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists plan to collect walnuts from Kyrgyzstan, grasses from Russia, and carrots and sunflowers from fields across the Southeastern United States in efforts that will enhance one of the nation's most effective tools for protecting the food supply.

 

Researchers will make the trips to collect plants with useful characteristics. The collected material will become part of the U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS), a network of gene banks that plays an integral role in preserving genetic traits that can be used to combat emerging pests, pathogens, diseases and other threats to the world's supply of food and fiber.

 

The NPGS collections are made up of approximately 511,000 samples of seeds, tissues and whole plants kept at more than 20 ARS gene banks around the country. Many of the gene banks also receive support from universities and state agricultural experiment stations.

 

ARS scientists use collection materials for research and mail out thousands of samples of materials free of charge each year to researchers and educators in the United States and countries throughout the world.

 

ARS also funds approximately 15 expeditions every year to search for new samples of crops and crop relatives with unique traits, such as drought tolerance and pest resistance. The trips, coordinated by the ARS National Germplasm Resources Lab (NGRL) in Beltsville, Md., are conducted with collaboration from host countries and include benefits for these countries.

 

Useful traits in the samples added to the NPGS may be incorporated into crop cultivars, often many years later. For example, a peanut found in a Brazilian market in 1952 is a source for resistance to a wilt virus for most of the peanuts grown in the Southeastern United States and in many other nations. A wheat plant collected in Turkey in 1948 effectively resisted a fungal pathogen that emerged as a major threat 15 years later. Its genetics are now incorporated into virtually every wheat variety grown in the Pacific Northwest.

 

Requests for material are filed through the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), an online database (www.ars-grin.gov) that identifies and keeps track of every sample in the collection.

 

Read more about this and other ARS collections in the January 2010 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

 

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's principal intramural scientific research agency. The research supports the USDA priority of promoting international food security.

 

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AgraQuest set to market new soil fungicide

 

(Wire Services) DAVIS, CA – AgraQuest Inc. announced today the launch of SERENADE SOIL, the first soil fungicide based on its patented active ingredient Bacillus subtilis strain QST 713. In 2010, SERENADE SOIL fungicide will be available in the U.S. for growers needing protection against profit-robbing soil diseases such as Rhizoctonia, Fusarium, Pythium and Phytophthora in potatoes, tomatoes and cucurbits.

 

Applied at planting, SERENADE SOIL quickly builds a disease protection zone around the seed. As the seedling grows, the beneficial bacteria in SERENADE SOIL continue to grow, attaching themselves to the roots of the plant, expanding the disease protection zone, resulting in higher-yielding fields and better quality fruits and vegetables.

 

"Proven over the past several years in numerous lab studies, field trials and large-scale grower demos, SERENADE SOIL delivers on our commitment to bring growers unique tools that deliver on AgraQuest's promises: performance, flexibility and value," said Ashish Malik, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing.

 

Three years of investigation have demonstrated that plants treated with SERENADE SOIL fungicide are stronger, healthier, and are shown to deliver average yield increases of two to four tons of potatoes per acre. The strong yield results delivered by SERENADE SOIL are based on the diverse and unique activities of the B. subtilis strain QST 713 in the soil.

 

When SERENADE SOIL is applied at planting, the beneficial bacteria quickly attack soil diseases, while rapidly colonizing the seedling and root. Once colonized, the bacteria produce compounds that not only continue attacking soil diseases, but also trigger metabolic pathways to activate the plant's natural defenses and modulate growth.

 

Products based on AgraQuest's patented B. subtilis strain QST 713 have been protecting crops from foliar diseases for nearly a decade, since the first SERENADE product was introduced in the U.S. in 2000. Registrations have been obtained in more than 26 countries, including several countries in the European Union, Latin America, Japan and Canada. SERENADE SOIL fungicide is the first product in the SERENADE line designed and tested for use in the soil. In April 2009, AgraQuest announced a license, supply and distribution agreement with BASF for SERENADE for agriculture applications outside of NAFTA.

 

"We see such dramatic yield and quality effects because SERENADE SOIL brings so many distinct modes of action to the battle," said Malik. "And, as with other products in the family like SERENADE ASO and SERENADE MAX, growers who use SERENADE SOIL can count on its ease of use with 4-hour REIs, broad tank-mix compatibility, and exemption from residue tolerances."

 

Investment in new products like SERENADE SOIL are part of the $130 million spent by AgraQuest on research and development designed to revolutionize the way we produce food globally.

 

About AgraQuest, Inc.

 

AgraQuest is a biotechnology company that focuses on discovering, developing, manufacturing and marketing highly effective pest management products for agricultural, institutional and home markets. As a leader in the emerging low chem sector, AgraQuest works to provide growers with solutions that offer best in class control while reducing the chemical load on the environment. The Agrochemical division of AgraQuest offers a global portfolio of products -- recognized as safer to beneficials, workers, and the environment -- that includes SERENADE®, SERENADE® Garden, RHAPSODY®, SONATA® and BALLAD® fungicides and BARITONE® and REQUIEM® insecticides. AgraQuest's BioInnovations division provides the company an avenue to take biological and low-chemical technology created for the agriculture industry and discover innovative uses for it in related markets. The BioInnovations division identifies both appropriate market segments and opportunities for AgraQuest's intellectual property, while seeking industry leaders in ancillary markets to partner in the commercialization and distribution process. AgraQuest has received several environmental awards including the Presidential Green Chemistry Award from the U.S. EPA for the discovery and commercialization of SERENADE. For more information visit www.agraquest.com.

 

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Endangered species vs. Calif. food production

 

Manhattan, KS (AgPR) – Judging from the varied reactions of viewers watching last Sunday's 60 Minutes TV segment, "California: Running Dry," the state's three-year-drought is more complicated than simply the weather, according to the president of a national coalition of farm and ranch women. "If you look at comments on the CBS website, you can see how emotional people are," said Chris Wilson, president of American Agri-Women (AAW). "But if people studied the facts of this case, they would see the devastating effects of the Endangered Species Act on not only rural people but Americans everywhere, not just California, because these farmers feed the world."

 

In a 2006 lawsuit environmental groups demanded that the pumps in the Delta be shut off to protect a small minnow-smelt. Protectors of the smelt claim it can be sucked into the pumps that distribute water to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. In August 2007, U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger ordered curtailing of the pumping of water that supplies the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta until a new biological opinion could be written, which it was in December 2008, resulting in more pumping restrictions. San Joaquin Valley water agencies challenged the ruling. As a result, in May 2009, Judge Wanger agreed the original restrictions on pumping needed to be revisited with the water agencies' compelling argument that people are being harmed by unreasonable concern over the welfare of a tiny fish.

 

According to one Californian, the drought was just as severe last year and farmers cut back on planting, but received from 10-30% of their water allocation through the Delta, depending on where their land was located. This year, because of the Delta smelt ruling, the allocation is 0% (zero percent). Hundreds of thousands of acres have been fallowed, almond trees pulled, and more than 60,000 jobs were lost.

 

The Obama administration has addressed the California water crisis by releasing a coordinated interim action plan of six federal agencies with their list of actions to be coordinated with the state. But some say it is too little, too late.

 

Carol Chandler, past president of California Women for Agriculture, stated, "There is a lot of rhetoric about conservation and restoration without addressing the need for water storage and temporary suspension of the Endangered Species Act. To improve our situation, growers in California need more water storage, conveyance capabilities around the fragile Delta so water can travel south, repair of the Delta levees to prevent salt water intrusion and flooding (salt water intrusion comes into the Delta during drought when the water seeps in from the Pacific Ocean), and suspension of the Endangered Species Act during severe drought conditions." Chandler added that many people would like to see a review of the biological opinions declaring that the pumps were the reason the smelt were dying.

 

AAW president Wilson stated, "A fish has been put above the needs of human beings who rely on the fresh products that come out of one of the most bountiful breadbaskets of America. We depend on California production of over 300 crops. Just one example is that 90% of almonds come from California. Without an adequate water supply, we risk shortages of our food supply here at home. United States farmers produce the most plentiful and safest food supply in the world so why risk growing it elsewhere? We all believe in conservation of the species but families must come first."

 

For more information about AAW, contact Chris Wilson, President, president@americanagriwomen.org,or visit the web site at http://www.americanagriwomen.org. American Agri-Women is the nation's largest coalition of farm, ranch and agribusiness women, with 50 state, commodity, agribusiness affiliate organizations and collegiate chapters throughout the country. AAW is a volunteer organization, working to provide true information about agriculture to the public since 1974.

 

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