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May 5, 2011
· Crop protection registration system broken
· Efficient hothouses help solve world hunger
· Lettuce pill may replace flu shot
· From chicken feathers to flower pots
Crop protection registration system broken
(AFBF) WASHINGTON, D.C., – Testifying before two congressional committees, American Farm Bureau Federation Vice President Barry Bushue said the process for crop protection registration is “hopelessly broken.” Bushue, who testified before a joint public hearing of the House Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Natural Resources, cited the need for reconciliation between two federal agencies that both perform crop protection risk assessments.
American Farm Bureau Federation Vice President Barry Bushue testified about the process for crop protection registration. Click on the image for a high resolution copy.
Because both the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act and the Endangered Species Act specifically require the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Marine Fisheries Services (Services), respectively, to perform risk assessment procedures, AFBF says that legislation is needed to reconcile the roles of these agencies and to mesh two risk assessment requirements into one.
“The duplication of the risk assessment requirements for crop protection registration by EPA and for consultation by the Services is a prime example of the duplication and waste that exists in our federal agencies,” said Bushue. “The current process is not effective for anyone, including growers, regulators and endangered species.”
Bushue, a horticultural producer and president of the Oregon Farm Bureau, cited recent biological opinions developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the National Marine Fisheries Service. The opinions, which rely on worse-case scenarios and flawed models, significantly conflict with existing EPA rules.
“Implementation of the existing or any future biological opinions should be stopped until an effective solution is found,” said Bushue. “Otherwise growers suffer through frivolous lawsuits or the unnecessary loss of critical tools.”
AFBF contends that EPA and the Services need to determine how best to work with one another to satisfy the missions of both FIFRA and ESA through one joint process.
“There are times when the only way we can save or protect a crop is by using crop protection products,” continued Bushue. “The availability of these products is important not only to my farm but to agriculture in general.”
Efficient hothouses help solve world hunger
(RNW.nl)
– Dutch hothouses used to have a reputation for wasting energy. But nowadays
it’s the most innovative sector in the
Professor of greenhouse farming at the Agricultural University of Wageningen Olaf van Kooten explains:
“Cultivation under glass is extremely efficient in its use of water and energy. In the future, we will have to feed around 15 billion people across the world, and this could be a key to the solution.”
Water
Stef Huisman grows tropical plants and trees for offices. He uses a closed water system. His nursery has trees standing in two to three centimetres of water. Every week, the water is filtered for sand and ultra violet rays and reused.
“That is all the water we need. The rain that falls on the roof is enough to water the plants. We don’t use any ground water.”
Professor Van Kooten thinks this technique could be an important export product.
“If we continue like this, the only water we use will literally be the water in the product. To produce a kilo of tomatoes, you will only need a litre of water.”
Ground heat
The use of the ground heat to heat the greenhouses is just as important. Ted Duijvestijn has drilled a 3-kilometre-deep shaft to heat his tomato greenhouses in Pijnacker. The system pumps salt water which is 75 degrees Celsius upwards to the greenhouses. Once the water cools it is pumped back into the ground, where it reheats again.
The system, which was installed in March, is already making 60 percent savings. Once the electric pumps are powered by his own windmills, the greenhouses will more or less only run on sustainable energy. There will even be excess energy and warm water produced so that greenhouse owners will also become energy suppliers.
LED lighting
And then there are the lights which are used to help plants grow. Vegetable grower Rob Baan has replaced his with low-energy LED lights which give exactly the right colour. Next to the greenhouse is a windmill to provide the energy for the LED lights.
In the summer the greenhouses are heated by the sun, producing temperatures above 50 degrees. Excess warmth is used to heat water, which is stored underground for the winter.
No pesticides
Wouldn’t it be easier to cultivate food in regions where no greenhouses are needed. Mr Baan very firmly says “No.”
“There are no insects here. Our greenhouses are either free of insects or we have predators in the greenhouses which eat them. We do not spay pesticides on the plants. Our production methods are becoming more and more sustainable. In the future, these kind of farms will be built close to cities, so that food can be produced locally.”
Meanwhile he has started up his own businesses in the
GM food news now on the web
(Wire Services) – Genetically Engineered Food News, a group focusing on genetically engineered and genetically modified foods, launches a website dedicated to informing consumers of the possible dangers and effects of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) on the world's food supply.
A GMO is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one molecule to create a new set of genes.
In a recent interview Ryan Oelkers, the Director of Marketing at Genetically Engineered Food News, stated, "Education about the continued distribution of GMOs into the food supply is our number one priority today because it is likely the number one threat facing the world of tomorrow."
Companies such as Bayer CropScience, DuPont and Monsanto are
industry leaders in creating what some call "Frankenfoods."
Recently the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, has approved the
"unregulated" use of genetically engineered alfalfa in
Unfortunately much of this information is not readily available for consumers or does not exist. Genetically Engineered Food News has taken action by being a primary resource for the distribution of this knowledge through their website. You can take action by staying informed, visit http://GeneticallyEngineeredFoodNews.com
to learn more.
Lettuce pill may replace flu shot
(cfnews13.com)
Wednesday UCF was awarded a two year, $761,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to help create a new polio vaccine.
It's an interesting concept that simply put, is a way to "smuggle" the vaccine into your body.
When you get a flu vaccine, for example, you are being injected with a little bit of the actual flu virus. When it's injected your body says, "wait, that's something foreign." It therefore boosts your immune system to protect you against the flu.
With the new concept of lettuce, researchers they are using proteins associated with the disease, in this case polio -- they inject it into the lettuce to harvest and then put in a pill that you will swallow-- therefore protecting you against polio.
Because we eat lettuce all the time, the body will not react the same way.
You take the pill and because we eat lettuce all the time, your body will instead think nothing is wrong and scientists feel that will have a more powerful impact in protecting you!.
"The other key thing is once we put the vaccine into the cell walls, the vaccine is protected in your stomach from acids and enzymes. It's waiting for the vaccine to get into. It also provides protection from acids and enzymes," said UCF professor Dr. Henry Daniell.
The hope is to produce a new polio vaccine, and if this works it could open the door to produce needle-less vaccines for other types of diseases and illnesses.
Scientists said there are many benefits to going to this pill capsule type form of vaccines -- this would not require refrigeration, and would be less expensive.
One of Bill Gates' mission is to eradicate polio.
There is a new strain of polio that is potentially making a
comeback. Not necessarily locally, but in other parts of the world, like
In poorer more remote areas, where there is a desperate need for vaccines that don't require refrigeration, it could be more effective.
From chicken feathers to flower pots
(Associated Press) DES MOINES, Iowa — Researchers have developed ways to substitute chicken feathers for petroleum in some plastic products, and at least two companies are working to bring items ranging from biodegradable flower pots to office furniture to market.
The substitution would allow the
“What works in the lab and what works commercially are two different things,” said Sonny Meyerhoeffer, whose company began selling flower pots made partially from feathers last fall.
His company has patented a process for removing keratin resin from feathers for use in making plastics. Keratin, a tough protein fiber also found in fingernails, hair and horns, can replace petroleum in some cases. Right now, Meyerhoeffer’s company sells flower pots that contain 40 percent bioresins, although it has been able to make ones that are completely biodegradable and made from feathers.
“It still needs a little refining,” he said. “We’re a year, maybe a year and a half away from getting it perfected on a commercial scale.”
The federal government has thrown its support behind such work. The research arms of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Nursery & Landscape Association are working together to find ways to use keratin resin from avian feathers in plastic manufacturing. The landscape association’s Horticultural Research Institute was granted the exclusive license rights for a 2006 patent for its research with keratin resin from avian feathers, the group’s website says.
One hurdle for researchers is making sure that any plastic they develop performs just like petroleum-based products, so that it’s easy and inexpensive for manufacturers to substitute, said Marc Teffeau, the landscape association’s director of research and regulatory affairs.
“If the manufacturer has to make major changes in the production line, or changes in a mold or equipment, then it drives the cost up to use these products,” he said.
Like Meyerhoeffer’s
Feathers, which are typically ground into meal used in
livestock and pet food and as fertilizer, will never be able to fully replace
petroleum in the 100 billion pounds of plastic used each year in the
“If we were lucky and get all the feathers, maybe 3 billion pounds, it would only displace 3 percent of our current petroleum use,” said Justin Barone, a Virginia Tech researcher who has researched techniques used to transform keratin into plastics. “Since we can’t get all the feathers, we’re talking at most a small percentage of the overall plastics market.”
Paul Bredwell, vice president of environmental programs for U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, said the industry welcomes alternative uses for the feathers left behind in processing poultry and that it gave money to Virginia Tech in 2009 to support related research. Feathers now sell for about $450 per ton, but that could increase if demand from the plastics industry increases.
“I think the possibility is there,” Bredwell said.
Development of new products has been slow because companies
like Harrisonburg, Va.-based
Meyerhoeffer said
Whether products from feathers can be made and sold for less than petroleum-based ones depends on what’s made, Barone said.
“Some processes require us to clean feathers more and that adds cost to the process,” he said. “If we don’t have to clean as much, it will be less then petroleum. If we have to clean them more, it could be comparable or slightly higher.”
In comparison, officials at Goode Greenhouse in
Bill Weichman, landscape manager for Shenandoah, Iowa-based Earl May garden centers, said while he has heard of the feather-based pots, he didn’t know that much about them. He said he would want to see samples before making a purchase and he would want to know how quickly the pots would biodegrade. They would have to last while on a shelf but break down fast once planted.
“Then there is the cost,” Weichman said. “It would need to be reasonably comparable to similar products. Then we’d see how the customers feel about it.”
End Transmission