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June 9, 2011
· Beleaguered Spanish farmers hand out veggies
· Rising labor costs will alter produce industry
· NASCAR gives ethanol a power boost
· Study reveals four new honeybee maladies
· Organic farming finds a growing base in India
Beleaguered Spanish farmers hand out veggies
(Associated
Press)
Spanish farmers whose revenue has been devastated by the deadly E. coli outbreak gave away an estimated 40 tons of produce Wednesday to draw attention to their plight.
Hundreds of people lined up under a hot sun to edge past
tables brimming with produce from all over
Farm leaders at a press conference joined the Spanish
government in rejecting as insufficient an EU aid offer of euro150 million
($220 million) for farmers across
They called on the European Union to help Germany — which initially blamed Spanish cucumbers for the outbreak, then German sprouts, only to backtrack both times — and take on a much bigger role in investigating the still-unknown source of the bacteria that has killed 26 people and sickened over 2,700.
They also urged a massive public relations campaign to
restore European consumer confidence in fresh produce — something that will be
hard to do when
"The EU must be responsible. It should not try to buy us off with euro150 million," said Miguel Lopez, secretary general of the COAG farm association, which has calculated Spanish farmers' losses alone at euro350 million ($511 million) so far.
"It is disgraceful. It is humiliating. It is pathetic," Lopez said of the EU aid offer.
Francisco Gil, a 52-year-old farm leader from the southeast
The EU, he said, "has not addressed the real issue. It is not about money. It is about fixing the problem."
Rising labor costs will alter produce industry
(UC Davis) – Immigration reform and stricter enforcement of
current immigration laws could significantly boost labor costs for
This, in turn, would likely prompt the industry to adjust by increasing mechanization and introducing harvesting aids to boost laborers’ productivity, they predict. Imports may also rise.
“
“The cost of hiring these laborers will likely rise as the
He notes that such audits often cause workers to quit their jobs rather than clear up discrepancies in their documents. As a result, some farm employers already are making plans to hire higher-paid, legal guest workers, who must be provided with government-approved housing.
He projects that immigration reform could result in legalization of currently unauthorized farmworkers, again encouraging farm employers to turn to the higher paid guest workers to tend and harvest their crops.
If labor costs do rise, Martin suggests that three major
adjustments could occur: mechanization to reduce the need for hand labor, an
increase in produce imports if rising costs make
For example, there could be wider use of mechanized harvesting for raisin-grapes, a shift to more imports in the asparagus industry, and the use of harvesting aids — such as in-field conveyor belts — to speed strawberry harvest.
Martin’s study, conducted with Linda Calvin of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, was supported by USDA
and the
NASCAR gives ethanol a power boost
(pjstar.com) HENNEPIN — How do you convince American consumers that ethanol-based fuel is clean, efficient, renewable and also powerful?
"What better way than to run it in race cars," Mark Marquis told an enthusiastic crowd in a large tent Thursday on the grounds of the ethanol plant that he developed and now runs.
About 500 people were there to eat steak and pasta in an "Appreciation Day" luncheon for Marquis Energy LLC employees and guests including farmers, businesses that work with the company, and public officials.
And for dessert, they got a close-up look at the race car strategy by meeting NASCAR driver and now ethanol spokesman Kenny Wallace, and also checking out the Toyota Camry that he drives partly under the sponsorship of Marquis and the Illinois Corn Growers' Association.
The racing connection stems from a conclusion by American Ethanol - a large coalition of domestic ethanol producers and other related or supporting industries - that it was time to change the public perception of ethanol and get away from "food versus fuel" debates, Mark Marquis said in an interview.
"Ethanol needed a boost in its image," the company president said. "We wanted to prove that if it's good for race cars, then we can prove to the public that it's good for passenger cars."
Under a six-year contract, NASCAR competitors now run exclusively on E85 fuel. And Marquis, who is on a board that initiated the effort, decided to directly involve his company after meeting Wallace.
"I made a trip up here this winter, and I convinced Mark they needed a spokesperson," Wallace said while signing autographs. "Mark's a supporter of me, and that means even more than the money."
Wallace, who ranks seventh in point standings in the
Nationwide Series, will drive under Marquis and
"This is the real race car," Wallace told the crowd. "Everything you're seeing here today is the real deal. Nothing is fake."
The Family Farmers logo results from a group effort by corn growers and other producers' groups to foster the image associated with that phrase, said Dave Loos, director of research and development for the Illinois Corn Marketing Board.
"It's kind of a two-edged sword. We're pushing hard on E85 and also promoting the image of family farmers," Loos said. "We'll set up an educational exhibit and will have a combine (at the races). We're wanting to talk agriculture to race fans."
One of the people posing for photos with the car was state Sen. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria. While admitting he's not a race fan, he said he was very impressed with the car's technology, and also the ethanol plant.
"I'm very proud to support Mark and his operation here," LaHood said.
Study reveals four new honeybee maladies
(EurekaAlert.org)
– A 10-month study of healthy honey bees by
The study followed 20 colonies in a commercial beekeeping operation of more than 70,000 hives as they were transported across the country pollinating crops, to answer one basic question: what viruses and bacteria exist in a normal colony throughout the year?
The results depict a distinct pattern of infections through the seasons and provide a normal baseline for researchers studying a colony – the bee population within a hive – that has collapsed. Findings are reported in the June 7 issue of the Public Library of Science ONE (PLoS ONE) at www.PLoSone.org.
The study tracked 27 unique viruses that afflict honey bees, including four that previously were unknown and others proposed as causes of the Colony Collapse Disorder that has been wiping out colonies for the past five years, according to senior author Joe DeRisi, PhD, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF.
"We brought a quantitative view of what real migrating populations look like in terms of disease," DeRisi said. "You can't begin to understand colony die-off without understanding what normal is."
Because the colonies in this study remained healthy despite these pathogens, the research supports the theory that colony collapse may be caused by factors working alone or in combination, said Michelle Flenniken, PhD, who jointly led the research.
"Clearly, there is more than just exposure involved," said Flenniken, a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of UCSF microbiologist Raul Andino, PhD. "We noticed that specific viruses dominated in some seasons, but also found that not all of the colonies tested positively for a virus at the same time, even after long-distance transport in close proximity."
Honey bees are critical to
For the
Since 2006, however, the bee industry has reported a
mysterious phenomenon involving the sudden disappearance of most of a hive's
worker bees, which leaves the queen and young bees without enough workers to
support them. The disorder is one factor in the growing decline of
Researchers nationwide have identified various possible causes of that collapse, mainly based on pathogens found in the affected hives. While this study did not identify the cause of colony collapse, it did offer a measurement of the normal levels of pathogens.
In addition to viruses, the research revealed six species
each of bacteria and fungi, four types of mites and a parasitic fly called a phorid, which had not been seen in honey bees outside
"Here's a virus that's the single most abundant component of the bee biome and no one knew it was there," DeRisi said, noting that hundreds of millions of these viral cells were found in each bee in otherwise healthy colonies at certain times of the year.
Organic farming finds a growing base
in India
(The
New York Times) DEHRA DUN, INDIA — On Thakur Das’s farm in northern India, rice fields stretch into the
distance, creating a chartreuse sea of waist-high stalks. Mr. Das, 59, gazed
out at the crops on his small farm, about 16 kilometers from the city of
The bounty was all the more fruitful because Mr. Das’s farm, 10 miles from the city, is organic. He has not used chemical pesticides or fertilizers since 2002, when he joined Navdanya, a nonprofit biodiversity center and organic farm, a few kilometers away, to learn how to farm organically. Since he went organic, Mr. Das said, his crop yields, and his profit, have doubled.
Before Mr. Das switched to organic, one acre, or about 0.4 hectare, of land yielded 600 kilograms, or 1,300 pounds, of rice; now it yields 1,200 kilograms. He practices crop rotation and intercropping, or growing different crops together in the same field, and uses natural pesticides and fertilizer, like compost produced by worms.
“Organic is best benefit. Taste is different. Size of grain is bigger,” said Mr. Das. “Most farmers use chemicals. Soil is totally dead.”
In
But as food prices rise around the world, agriculture has
moved to the top of the global agenda after decades of neglect from policy
makers and investors.
Yet over the years, chemical “inputs” — namely, fertilizer
and pesticides — have depleted soil, and inefficient irrigation has caused
water tables to plunge in many parts of
A paper submitted to the U.N. General Assembly last December highlighted the benefits of “agroecology” — otherwise known as organic farming. “Agroecology delivers advantages that are complementary to better known conventional approaches such as breeding high-yielding varieties. And it strongly contributes to the broader economic development,” the U.N.’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food wrote.
In
Hunger and food security are also pressing, perennial issues
for hundreds of millions of poor Indians. Malnutrition rates
of children under age 5 is higher in
The vast majority of farms in
Navdanya, which is leading the
charge for organic farming and biodiversity in
The organization says that “ecological agriculture is highly productive and the only lasting solution to hunger and poverty.”
A new report from Navdanya, called
“Health Per Acre,” was released in
According to the report, “a shift to biodiverse
organic farming and ecological intensification increases output of nutrition
while reducing input costs.” Agricultural output should be measured in terms of
“‘Health per Acre’ and ‘Nutrition per Acre’ instead of ‘Yield per
Vandana Shiva, the Indian environmentalist and advocate who founded Navdanya, claims that organic farming produces more food and nutrition than conventional methods. Through intercropping, one organic farm could produce 900 kilograms of food per acre, including 400 kilograms of corn and 500 kilograms of beans and other crops, according to Navdanya’s studies of the farms of its members. A comparable conventional farm growing one crop would yield 500 kilograms of corn but would lose the other products.
Organic farming produces “twice the amount of nutritional needs by intensifying biodiversity rather than monoculture and chemicals,” Ms. Shiva said.
The report from the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food pointed out that the Green Revolution had focused primarily on increasing cereal crops that contain relatively little protein and other essential nutrients. “Nutritionists now increasingly insist on the need for more diverse agro-ecosystems in order to ensure a more diversified nutrient output,” it said.
But some agriculture experts say that while organic farming
has benefits, it cannot make a significant dent in total agricultural demand.
Organic farming is an important niche market with big potential near major
cities. But it is “not a general solution to malnutrition at all,” said Mark W.
Rosegrant of the International Food Policy Research
Institute in
A chapter in the 2006 book “Global Development of Organic Agriculture,” co-written by Mr. Rosegrant, said that compared with “high-yielding crops cultivated with the use of fertilizer and pesticides, most organic crops yield less per hectare due to a combination of lower nutrient supply and yield reductions from weeds, fungi, and insects.” The paper cited a study from 28 countries that found “that on average organic yields are 80 percent of those under conventional agriculture.”
There are other barriers to the growth of organic farming in
Organic food is at least 30 percent more expensive than
foods produced by conventional methods. In
But if organic farming reached a greater scale, prices would
fall, said Vinod Bhatt, a director of Navdanya. As he led a tour of Navdanya’s
tranquil 45-acre farm near
A botanist by training, Mr. Bhatt said rice should not be grown in successive seasons but should be alternated with peas, wheat, corn and mustard over two years to keep the soil fertile. Marigolds planted on the edge of the field help keep pests away, as do lantana plants and neem trees, and mixtures made of cow urine and worm secretions, he said.
Mr. Bhatt joined Navdanya in 1997, and he recalled that interest in organic farming was limited back then. Now, “farmers are coming to us because they can see the results,” he said. He pointed out some okra growing on tall stalks.
Mr. Bhatt bent a stem so a visitor could peer at the large
green “lady fingers,” as okra is called in
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