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September 15, 2011
· The task of feeding our children’s children
· Melon farmers deny role in listeria outbreak
· Ag tools to help reduce nitrogen pollution
· Big bucks boost for African cassava project
· Melnick joins VBC as strategic marketing manager
The task of feeding our children’s children
(Business
Weekly) – Scientists from the
They believe 'plant scientist' should take its rightful place beside 'doctor', 'lawyer' and 'vet' in the list of top professions to which our most capable young people aspire, according to a hard-hitting letter by an international group of botanists and crop scientists.
The letter – published in ‘New Phytologist’ – calls for a radical rethink of our approaches to plant science research and underlines how, with the Earth's growing human population, this often neglected branch of science is crucial to our long-term survival.
The letter's authors include Professor Giles Oldroyd from the John Innes Centre and Professor Jonathan
Jones of the Sainsbury Laboratory along with other plant scientists from the
After an online consultation, they have drawn up a list of 100 important questions that urgently need to be addressed by the next generation of plant biologists.
These include: How do we feed our children's children? How can plants contribute to solving the energy crisis and ameliorating global warming?
How can we attract the best young minds to plant science so they can address these grand challenges facing humanity?
The authors say: “Plants are fundamental to all life on Earth. They provide us with food, fuel, fibre, industrial feedstocks, and medicines. They render our atmosphere breathable.
“They buffer us against extremes of weather and provide food and shelter for much of the life on our planet. However, we take plants and the benefits they confer for granted. Given their importance, we should pay plants greater attention and give higher priority to improving our understanding of them.
“Everyone knows that we need doctors, and the idea that our best and brightest should go into medicine is embedded in our culture. However, even more important than medical care is the ability to survive from day to day; this requires food, shelter, clothes, and energy, all of which depend on plants.
“Plant scientists are tackling many of the most important challenges facing humanity in the twenty-first century, including climate change, food security, and fossil fuel replacement.
“Making the best possible progress will require exceptional people. We need to radically change our culture so that 'plant scientist' (or, if we can rehabilitate the term, 'botanist') can join 'doctor', 'vet' and 'lawyer' in the list of top professions to which our most capable young people aspire.”
The authors highlight a number of key issues facing the plant scientists of the future:-
• Food production needs to double from existing levels to feed a world population set to reach nine billion by 2050. Significant investment in agricultural science and innovation is necessary to ensure maximum productivity on existing arable land and reduce the impact of food production on the planet's remaining wilderness areas.
• Without significant improvements in yields of the basic crop plants - wheat, maize, rice - we will experience a squeeze on agricultural land. It is essential to address the yield gap, otherwise we may be forced to choose between the production of staple food crops and luxury crops such as tea, coffee, cocoa, cotton, fruits and vegetables,
• We need to explore how plants can contribute to solving the energy crisis and find a balance between the use of plants for food and plants for fuel.
Plants might also be used to ameliorate global warming but carbon markets do not currently provide sufficient incentive for farmers to grow crops simply to take carbon dioxide out of the air.
Professor Claire Grierson, an
expert in plant growth and development at the
“It was thrilling to realise that there is a great deal of agreement and a surprisingly strong consensus among plant scientists from all walks of the discipline on which issues and combinations of challenges are the most important to address.
“One of our key recommendations is that plant scientists from different disciplines (for example, crop science and ecology) should meet much more often to facilitate the interactions and collaborations that are needed to extract the most important knowledge about plants and apply it to the significant challenges facing humanity.”
Melon farmers deny role in listeria outbreak
(Chieftian.com) ROCKY FORD — The director of the Farm Service Agency in Otero and Crowley counties says an ongoing investigation into ties to a listeria outbreak and Rocky Ford cantaloupes will show that the contamination did not come from the Lower Arkansas Valley.
Chuck Hanagan said the cantaloupe season is winding down, but that several farmers still are selling their produce.
"My brother had a customer cancel an order this morning," Hanagan said Tuesday.
"Some of the other small farmers markets depend on the market and this is going to cut us off early," he said.
Hanagan said the region's produce is safe.
"Everybody eats this (Rocky Ford) cantaloupe. Heck, the field workers that are picking it and all the farmers are eating it every day," he said.
"If it's contaminated here, why isn't anyone sick here?" he asked. "It doesn't make sense to me."
Hanagan speculates that the melons must be getting contaminated at the next stop.
"Somebody in the handling system may be to blame. They may be putting it in contaminated trucks, unloading it in a warehouse with contaminated handling . . . There are several other ways it could be contaminated on that other end," he said.
Hanagan voiced his displeasure with the state health department.
"We can't do anything about this. How do you protest the government on this one?
"It's just
another nail in the coffin of the farmer in the
Rick Ritter, director of Otero County Health Department, said officials are uncertain which melon fields are the source of the bacteria.
Ritter said residents called him Tuesday morning to tell him the health department is shutting down producers.
"That's just not true. I haven't shut down anybody. I am repeating the message that the state health department has issued based on an investigation at this time," Ritter said.
"This is an ongoing investigation," he said. "The preponderance of the epidemiological evidence at this time suggests there's a link, so the state health department is trying to protect the people who could get sick and possibly die."
Ritter said those not in the high-risk group should wash their cantaloupe before they eat it.
"Cantaloupe has netting on it so take a clean scrub brush and scrub it pretty good and you are more than likely going to be fine," he said.
"Those in the high-risk category should not eat it period," he said.
Ritter said it is always important to wash uncooked fruits and vegetables.
The state health department expects additional test results later this week that may help identify the specific source of the cantaloupe linked to the outbreak.
Ag tools to help reduce nitrogen pollution
(USDA-ARS)
– A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) soil scientist in
The fertilizers are a major reason why agriculture is a
significant source of both greenhouse gas emissions and pollution in estuaries
like the Gulf of Mexico and the
Jorge Delgado, with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Soil Plant Nutrient Research Unit in Fort Collins, Colo., conducts research to help growers determine exactly how much nitrogen to apply to a field, when to apply it and what alternatives might work best. The right approach can vary from one location to the next and one crop to the next.
ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency, and this research supports the USDA priorities of responding to climate change and promoting agricultural sustainability.
Delgado helped develop a tool designed for fledgling "environmental trading" credit programs that reward growers for reducing nitrogen losses. Known as the "Nitrogen Trading Tool" (NTT), it can be used to determine how much a proposed management practice may be able to reduce nitrogen losses, and how much "trading credit" could be earned by switching to it.
The concept of trading nitrogen credits is in its formative
stages, but efforts have been established in
Delgado has distributed the NTT and other tools to hundreds of users, including farmers, agribusinesses, scientists, extension agents, state and federal agencies and international users. He also has used them to convince growers to improve soil-management practices by using conservation tillage, crop rotation and cover crops such as wheat, rye and other grasses. Such practices not only prevent nitrates from leaching into waterways, but prevent soils from eroding and keep carbon and nutrients sequestered in the soil.
Delgado also has published a peer-reviewed report in
Advances in Agronomy showing how the NTT may be used to calculate the potential
for nitrogen trading on a
Big bucks boost for African cassava project
(The Scientists) – Philanthropic organizations devote millions to a research project aiming to develop genetically modified, virus-resistant versions of a Sub-Saharan staple crop.
Researchers working to create a virus-resistant variety of cassava, the starchy root vegetable that millions of people throughout the world depend on as a dietary staple, got a shot in the arm—to the tune of almost $12 million.
The cash infusion is bound for the Virus Resistant Cassava
for Africa (VIRCA) project and is coming from a trio of philanthropic
organizations: about $5.5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation;
another $5.5 million from The Monsanto Fund; and a little more than $850,000
from the Howard Buffett Foundation. VIRCA, which is also funded by about $2.5
in
“I have witnessed the devastation caused by CMD and CBSD, wiping out entire harvests, leaving many people on the verge of starvation,” Claude Fauquet, lead researcher on the VIRCA project and director of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center’s International Laboratory for Tropical Agricultural Biotechnology, said in a statement. “Our team is confident that the cassava we develop will improve the lives of millions of people allowing them to not only grow adequate food, but also to increase productivity so they might have enough money left over to educate their children and afford good medical care for malaria and other diseases they face.”
The $12 million funding boost will go towards phase II of the project, which uses siRNA and other tools to integrate virus resistance genes into the genomes of cassava varieties preferred by farmers in the region.
Melnick joins VBC as strategic marketing manager
(Wire Services)
Melnick will report directly to Bruce Kirkpatrick, vice president, global marketing and business management. According to Kirkpatrick, “this addition comes at a crucial time in the development of our future growth strategy. Rick’s extensive experience in the biopesticide arena puts us in a strong position to fully capitalize on our crop stress management and physiological seed enhancement initiatives.”
With 16 years of experience as an agricultural editor and business director in the area of crop protection reference products, Melnick joins VBC with a unique set of skills and biopesticide knowledge. Prior to joining VBC, Melnick was the Corporate Editorial Director at Meister Media Worldwide. He has also served the Biopesticide Industry Alliance (BPIA) as PR committee chair since 2006, and currently sits on the BPIA Board of Directors.
Melnick developed VBC’s Guide to Understanding and Evaluating Biorational Products as well as its integrated media educational platform ‘A BioRational Approach.’ Most recently, he produced a 24-page special report “The RISE of BIOPESTICIDES,” a series of articles that examines the value of biopesticide adoption across the food value chain.
“I am excited about the opportunity to join VBC,” Melnick said. “I have worked closely with VBC for years, and have come to know why VBC is the most trusted name in biorationals. I’m pleased to be a part of shaping its future.”
Melnick will be headquartered in the VBC offices in
VBC is the worldwide leader in development, commercialization and manufacturing of biorational products, which include bioinsecticides, bionematicides and plant growth regulators. VBC has a diverse market presence, selling into agriculture, horticulture, public health and forestry markets in more than 90 countries.
VBC is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited. Sumitomo is the only company in the world with a strategic focus in both traditional and biorational agricultural products.
About Valent BioSciences Corporation: Valent BioSciences
Corporation is headquartered in
About Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited: Sumitomo Chemical Company is one of Japan’s leading chemical companies, offering a diverse range of products globally in the fields of basic chemicals, petrochemicals, fine chemicals, IT-related chemicals and materials, agricultural chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. The company’s consolidated net sales for fiscal 2009 were US$17.4 billion (JPY1.62 trillion). For additional information, visit the company’s website at http://www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp/english/.
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