" I heard it through the AgLine"

January 28, 2010

 

 

·        Honeybee colony collapse losses declining

·        Old machinery plant now a farm of the future

·        Arizona storms hamper winter veggie harvest

·        Obama’s food safety nominee surprises many

·        Climate science survives stolen Email ordeal

 

 

Honeybee colony collapse losses declining

 

(AP via Yahoo! Finance) – STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Fewer beekeepers are reporting evidence of a mysterious ailment that had been decimating the U.S. honeybee population.

 

But losses due to colony collapse disorder remain high enough to keep beekeepers on edge, and longtime stresses on bees such as starvation and poor weather add to the burden.

 

A survey of beekeepers for the January issue of the Journal of Apicultural Research found that the percentage of operations reporting having lost colonies but without dead bees in the hives -- a symptom of colony collapse disorder, or CCD -- decreased to 26 percent last winter, compared to 38 percent the previous season and 36 percent the season before that.

 

Also, the percentage of colonies that died that displayed the CCD symptom was 36 percent last winter, down from 60 percent three winters ago, the survey found.

 

The earliest reports of CCD date to 2004, and scientists still are trying to find a cause.

 

"The story is really complicated. We thought we'd have a simple explanation," said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, Pennsylvania's acting state apiarist. "CCD drew our attention, but there are lot of things" affecting the bees.

 

More than 90 crops, from almonds to tomatoes, rely in large part on bees for pollination.

 

Richard Adee, who owns one of the largest commercial beekeeping operations in the country, Adee Honey Farms, based in Bruce, S.D., has bees in California now ready to pollinate the almond crop. At peak season, during the summer, he has about 80,000 hives for honey production in the Midwest.

 

He said that after losing 40 percent of his colonies over the winter of 2008, losses are down to a more expected 12 percent.

 

"We're not seeing as big a hit," Adee said, "but I still talk to beekeepers who are losing bees."

 

Bees rely on stored honey to survive the winter. Beekeepers can wrap colony boxes to provide extra warmth or try to provide sugar syrup for food if supplies are light, but they generally don't work with bees in the cold.

 

That means the winter months can be worrisome for some beekeepers, such as beekeeping hobbyist Tom Jones, of Carlisle.

 

"I don't know what's going to happen this year, but I'll be anxious to see ... when I go check them," Jones, 66, said before his demonstration at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg earlier this month.

 

This winter has been particularly brutal, with storms producing record snowfalls and chilling winds in many parts of the country. Freezing temperatures that swept in on an Arctic front from Canada plagued as far south as Florida.

 

Despite the apparent decline in colony collapse losses, the industry continues to be hit hard -- an estimated 29 percent of all U.S. colonies died last winter, about 11 percentage points higher than what beekeepers consider normal, acceptable losses, according to the survey.

 

Colony collapse was ranked as the eighth most important cause of bee mortality last winter, down from fourth the previous winter.

 

"Losses are shifting. There are fewer operations with CCD, though they still lost a lot of colonies," said vanEngelsdorp, the lead author on the study. "But other factors are killing bees."

 

Starvation, typically a top cause of mortality, was first, followed by poor quality queen bees and weather. The percentage of beekeepers citing weather as a leading winter concern jumped from 9 percent to 18 percent.

 

The study noted many of the top causes of mortality can be countered with better management, such as wrapping colonies over the winter or providing supplemental food.

 

VanEngelsdorp sees a positive in the results -- heightened concern over CCD in recent years has led beekeepers to become more aware of other problems plaguing the buzzing winged insects.

 

Another offshoot has been more interest in beekeeping as a hobby. Some small beekeepers, like Jones, have enough hives to sell their own honey.

 

"We're paying attention to research and approved management" techniques, said Lee Miller, president of the Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association. "We think beekeeping is going to improve, but we don't know how fast."

 

Colony collapse disorder information:

 

http://maarec.psu.edu/ColonyCollapseDisorder.html

 

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Old machinery plant now a farm of the future

 

(expressmilwaukee.com) – With the heavy residue of industry still tattooed on its landscape, Milwaukee might not seem like a window into the future of American farming. But it is.

 

Demand for food is growing with the swelling world population, while natural fish populations diminish and farmland disappears under the tread of development, making it necessary to adjust the way we grow our food. Milwaukee is the headquarters for several visionaries in today’s urban agricultural movement who are using a system of cultivation called aquaponics to raise fish and grow vegetables.

 

Step over the threshold of Sweet Water Organics in Bay View, and a massive manufacturing plant that once produced heavy machinery for Harnischfeger Industries reveals its new purpose as an experimental commercial urban fish and vegetable farm.

 

“If the Sweet Water experiment can prove commercially viable,” says James Godsil, who co-owns the business with Josh Fraundorf and Steve Lindner, “that would be cause for great hope for our Great Lakes Heartland cities of 10,000 under-used or unused vintage factory buildings.”

 

Aquaponics is an efficient, compact food production method that combines fish farming (aquaculture) with hydroponics, the cultivation of plants without soil, in one integrated system. In many ways, it mimics Earth’s natural ecosystems. Fish digest food and excrete waste in the water they’re living in. A beneficial form of bacteria converts the fish waste to nutrients used by plants growing in the same water. When they consume these nutrients, the plants purify the water, keeping the water healthy enough for the fish to live in. In this mini-ecosystem, both fish and plants thrive.

 

What makes aquaponics perfect for the empty industrial buildings littering America’s old manufacturing cities is that soil isn’t required. Aquaponics systems can be set up virtually anywhere fresh food is needed. In most climates, a greenhouse (or basement, garage or abandoned warehouse) is necessary to protect the delicate system from environmental factors like fluctuating temperatures, wind, snow, rain and insects. Since the dawn of agriculture, farmers have been at the mercy of the elements. Now the technology to control the environment within which their crops are being grown is a reality.

 

When Godsil, Fraundorf and Lindner began construction on their aquaponics system last February, they modeled it after MacArthur genius-grant-winner Will Allen’s pioneering three-tiered, biointensive fish-vegetable garden at Growing Power on Silver Spring Drive. The owners applied their skills—Lindner is a home builder and property owner (including the building Sweet Water Organics leases), and Godsil and Fraundorf run a roofing company—to the demolition and renovation needed to transform the 11,000 square feet of space into a suitable urban farm. They repaired the roof and replaced the grimy clerestory glass near the 50-foot ceiling with clear polycarbonate insulating windows. They cut 4 feet below the concrete floor to construct four parallel channels that will each hold an 11,000-gallon water raceway for the fish. Above the raceways, they built an impressive lumber structure to hold the plant beds.

 

When Sweet Water Organics was ready for fish, they looked to Fred Binkowski, a senior scientist at Great Lakes WATER Institute, a University of Wisconsin System research facility on the Milwaukee harbor. He coordinates outreach programs through WATER’s Aquaculture and Fisheries Research Center and the UW Sea Grant Advisory Services Program, and offered his research results from raising yellow perch in a commercially scaled recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). On July 8, 1,200 small yellow perch left the institute for their new home at Sweet Water. On July 22, another 1,200 perch were added, as well as 33,000 tilapia fingerlings from AmeriCulture Inc. in New Mexico.

 

As Jesse Hull, Sweet Water Organics’ lead horticulturist, explains it, water from each raceway is pumped up to two stacks of gravel. The water flows across the gravel, where bacteria breaks down the toxic ammonia from fish waste and converts it to nitrite and then to nitrogen, a key nutrient for plant development. In the middle bed, watercress is grown as a secondary means of water filtration. In the top bed, the water fertilizes hundreds of green plants, such as basil and lettuce, thriving beneath water-cooled grow lights. Finally, the filtered water flows from the growing beds back into the fish tanks. The “outside” inputs include oxygen from an aeration system, commercial fish food and swimming pool heaters that warm the water to 70 degrees for the perch and 85 degrees for the tilapia.

 

The nutrient-rich water of the fish tanks can support dense plant spacing, allowing urban growers like Sweet Water Organics to produce a substantial plant yield using a fraction of the water, machinery and labor required to cultivate crops on an open field. Because herbicides and pesticides aren’t needed in the controlled setting of an aquaponics system, consumers can enjoy their fish and vegetables knowing they haven’t been exposed to harmful chemicals.

 

Godsil says Sweet Water Organics will derive income from the sale of its fish, greens, cereal grains such as wheat grass, worms, worm castings and compost. They also hope to expand to include tours, training programs and installation of aquaculture systems. The owners plan to expand their operation in the coming months by adding three more fish tanks. Dec. 23 saw Sweet Water Organics’ first fish auction, and the lucky buyers will be picking up their newly purchased perch in February, when the fish are big enough to harvest.

 

Because Milwaukee is the headquarters for several visionaries in today’s urban agricultural movement, we, the residents, get to reap the rewards. Local urban agriculture, specifically aquaponics, reduces the use of fossil fuels for food production and transport; provides jobs for a ready workforce; produces fresh foods for underserved populations; and finds new uses for old buildings—preserving the memory of the heavy industry that Milwaukee was built on, and starting a new legacy on which to build its future.

 

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Arizona storms hamper winter veggie harvest

 

(TheCalifornian.com) – Storms have delayed harvesting for many Salinas-based lettuce growers — in Yuma, Ariz.

 

Since the start of the year, at least 3 inches of rain have fallen in the desert. Normally, the area gets less than an inch of rain in January, according to the National Weather Service.

 

For those who have weathered the Central Coast's storms — 10 straight days of rain, including at least one that dumped an inch in 24 hours — Yuma's rain might not seem like much. But, the Arizona desert is drier and has different soil. A little rain can create problems, especially in the middle of lettuce harvest.

 

"Last Thursday and Friday, we didn't harvest," said Gary Tanimura, executive vice president of Salinas Farming for Tanimura & Antle, which has operations in both communities. "Last Saturday, we tried to harvest, but our equipment sank down about 3 or 4 feet. It's been tough going out there."

 

The director of Yuma County Cooperative Extension, Kurt Nolte, says some fields were like swamps.

 

The Salinas-based Nunes Co., better known as its brand Foxy Fresh Produce, also had to delay harvest in its Yuma fields last week, said Mark Crossgrove, vice president of sales.

 

Workers are trying to make up for lost time.

 

"As long as we don't get any more rain, we'll be OK," Crossgrove said. The product will need to land on shelves quickly, he added, because exposure to water could speed up wilting.

 

The National Weather Service's five-day forecast for Yuma predicts clear skies and highs in the 70s. Salinas residents can expect another storm in time for the weekend.

 

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Obama’s food safety nominee surprises many

 

(The Washington Post) – Soon after taking office, President Obama highlighted food safety as a domestic priority. A string of national outbreaks of food illnesses were a "troubling trend," the president said. He called the problems "critical" and said they presented a "risk to public health."

 

But the Obama administration has had a difficult time filling the post of chief food safety official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and it wasn't until this week -- one year into his term -- that the president nominated someone to assume that role. The choice of Elisabeth Hagen, 40, a physician with four years' experience in food safety, surprised food safety advocates, who said they knew little about her.

 

"Consumer advocates who work closely with [the Department of Agriculture] on policy issues have had limited direct experience with Dr. Hagen," said the Consumer Federation of America, which is part of a group known as the Safe Food Coalition.

 

A spokesman at the USDA said Hagen is declining interview requests as she awaits confirmation by the Senate. Her nomination does not appear to face strong opposition.

 

The meat industry applauded the selection. "Hagen brings the background, skills and vision to lead USDA's efforts to make sure that Americans have access to a safe and healthy food supply," said Patrick J. Boyle, president of the American Meat Institute.

 

It is difficult to assess Hagen's positions on policy or the politics of food safety; she hasn't published any papers, articles or books on the topic. Most of her career has been spent teaching and practicing medicine as an infectious disease specialist. She left medicine in 2006 and went to the USDA, where she was quickly promoted through the ranks of the department's Food Safety and Inspection Service to become the chief medical officer last year.

 

If confirmed as undersecretary of agriculture for food safety, Hagen will face complex challenges. She would oversee the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service, which is responsible for safe meat, poultry and eggs, which make up 20 percent of the food supply. It employs 7,300 inspectors who perform daily and continuous checks inside 6,200 food processing facilities.

 

The number of recalls, illnesses and deaths associated with contaminated meats and poultry has remained steady since 2004, despite government and industry pledges to make food safer. This month, Russia banned U.S. imports of chicken out of concern about a chlorine wash American producers are using to disinfect poultry.

 

Hagen was not the first choice for the job at the USDA.

 

Last February, the administration approached Mike Doyle, a nationally known microbiologist who directs the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. Doyle said he was offered the job and was vetted, but the day before the announcement was to be made in May, his nomination collapsed. The White House wanted Doyle to divest his financial interest in a patented microbial wash for meat that he had developed. Doyle offered to defer his interests until his government service was completed but the administration refused, he said. "It's just an awful lot to ask for," Doyle said. "I would have taken a more than 50 percent pay cut to go to Washington, and this would have been a very big financial hit."

 

The administration also sought out Caroline Smith Dewaal, the director of food safety at Center for Science in the Public Interest, a lawyer and nationally known food safety expert who has spent 20 years working on policy and trade issues. But Dewaal's nomination came to a halt in August because she was a registered lobbyist, which violated the administration's policy against hiring lobbyists.

 

Meanwhile, problems with foods regulated by the USDA continued unabated. In 2009, there were 13 recalls of beef products contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 that were linked with three deaths and dozens of illnesses. In the first three weeks of 2010, there have been six recalls of tainted meats. The most recent recall, which is ongoing, involves salami contaminated with Salmonella that has sickened 189 people in 40 states.

 

"I don't know of her personally," Doyle said of Hagen. "She's got a steep learning curve."

 

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Climate science survives stolen Email ordeal

 

(Eds note: Yesterday AgLineNews ran an opinion piece out of Australia speculating that the whole so-called climate scare is collapsing. Today we offer a different perspective and one of the few reports emerging from the US press.)

 

(Scientific American) Copenhagen—Even under this city’s low, leaden skies, at least one thing remained clear as leaders from 193 countries gathered to negotiate climate agreements: one ton of carbon dioxide emitted in the U.S. has the same effect as one ton emitted in India or anywhere else. That simple truism is part of a huge body of data pointing to humanity’s effect on climate, and for most negotiators, the weight of that evidence seems to have crushed any doubt they may have felt in the wake of the 1,000-plus e-mails and computer code stolen from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU).

 

The theft made headlines as “Climategate” in November, and many private correspondences among scientists became public. Climate contrarians and politicians, including Senator James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma, have claimed that the messages show that climate science was far from settled, that “tricks” were used and that researchers hid unfavorable data.

 

In fact, nothing in the stolen material undermines the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and that humans are to blame. “Heat-trapping properties can be verified by any undergraduate in any lab,” notes climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University. “The detection of climate change, and its attribution to human causes, rests on numerous lines of evidence.” They include melting ice sheets, retreating glaciers, rising sea levels and earlier onset of spring, not to mention higher average global temperatures.

 

“Further increases in greenhouse gases will lead to increasingly greater disruption,” said meteorologist Michael E. Mann of the Pennsylvania State University in a December 4 conference call with reporters. Mann was among the scientists whose e-mails were exposed.

 

Some of the kerfuffle rests on a misreading of the e-mails’ wording. For example, “trick” in one message actually describes a decision to use observed temperatures rather than stand-in data inferred from tree rings. Instead of implying deception, the word itself in science often refers to a strategy to solve a problem. Even those scientific papers specifically challenged by the e-mails—one message vowed to keep them out of a report by the United Nations’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is”—nonetheless made it into the most recent IPCC report.

 

Even if the CRU data “were dismissed as tainted, it would not matter,” argues IPCC contributor Gary Yohe of Wesleyan University. “CRU is but one source of analysis whose conclusions have been validated by other researchers around the world.” Other sources include NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center, and even the IPCC, all of which provide access to raw data.

 

But the messages revealed at least one lapse in judgment when CRU director Phil Jones sent Mann an e-mail asking him to delete any correspondence related to “AR4,” referring to an upcoming IPCC report. “To my knowledge, no one acted on that request. I did not delete any e-mails,” Mann said. The continuing existence of the e-mail itself would seem to support his contention, although his response at the time was to agree to contact a fellow scientist, “Gene,” as requested by Jones, who has stepped down as CRU director.

 

The stolen e-mails may ultimately provide a sociological window into the climate science community. “This is a record of how science is actually done,” notes Goddard’s Gavin A. Schmidt. Historians will see “that scientists are human and how science progresses despite human failings. They’ll see why science as an enterprise works despite the fact that scientists aren’t perfect.”

 

“Science has already played its role” in the climate debate, explains Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the IPCC. After all, IPCC authors had to achieve consensus with more than 190 countries as well as publicly respond to each comment on the draft documents. “Unfortunately, the [climate] negotiations are becoming solely political,” Pachauri laments. So the theft could become a factor. “Do I think it will have a significant effect on the judgment of lawmakers or public opinion? No, I don’t,” remarks atmospheric scientist Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University. “But you never know with these things.”

 

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