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September 22, 2009
· Aussies boast first crop of ‘super vegetables’
· Computing enables global plant breeding
· White radishes used to soften, fertilize fields
·
Scary times for New England pumpkin growers
· Dole plans private offering of $310M senior notes
Aussies boast first crop of ‘super vegetables’
(farmonline.com.au) – THE first in a strain of new ''super vegetables'' is ready for harvesting.
"Booster broccoli" - which scientists are calling the future of food - was derived from strains of the vegetable that are naturally high in antioxidants, and may help prevent heart disease, cancers and degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
Sprouting in long green rows from heavy soil at Werribee, west of
Scientists say a single bag of lettuce could one day contain many of our preventative health needs. Even fast-food diets will be catered for, with the CSIRO developing fat-free frankfurts and hamburger patties that taste as good and greasy as less healthy fare.
Capsicums with boosted levels of vitamins A, C and E, and tomatoes that could reduce risks of prostate cancer will be released in the next 12 months, says Vital Vegetables chairman John Said.
Supermarkets will soon stock a range of foods "boasting higher levels of goodness", to compensate for our time-poor diets, he said.
"Our lifestyles seem to get faster all the time. If you can get the recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables through eating less, isn't that kind of the way we are going in the world these days," he said. "And here you're going to get more bang for your bite."
The CSIRO last month released two breakfast cereals containing BARLEYmax, a naturally-bred ''supergrain'' with the potential to reduce risks of colon and bowel cancers, heart disease, diabetes, stroke and to help weight control. The grain will be incorporated in bread, biscuits and pasta by 2012, says Dr Bruce Lee, director of the CSIRO's food futures research flagship. "The beauty of these types of foods is that you can add the wholegrain into the food - you are not forcing consumers to change their diet to something else," he said.
The CSIRO has adopted the same "mountain to
Muhammad" approach to fast foods by focusing on making them better for
you. Food tasters are busy in the CSIRO labs in
"We all love the convenience of eating fast food, so if you can make fast food that's still convenient to eat but healthier for you that would be a positive thing for health," Dr Lee said. "But we're not talking about a pill that's going to change a person's health overnight."
Mark Lawrence, associate professor of public health and
nutrition at
"I have a real difficulty with the argument that you can have your cake and eat it too - what you are doing is rewarding poor dietary behaviour," he said.
"There's a certain arrogance in that we can keep tweaking foods and making them better. Booster broccoli and BARLEYmax are two of the better ones. But we have to keep 'superfoods' in perspective. They're not going to address the major public health nutrition challenges we're facing, such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, and environmental sustainability."
A Choice study, released this month, of more than 100 varieties of cow's milk, found products boasting added calcium, vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids provided no significant health benefits compared with cheaper, generic versions.
Separate concerns have been raised over the spectre of so-called "Frankenstein foods", through genetic modification.
But Dr Rod Jones, team leader of plant physiology at
Computing enables global plant breeding
(Iowa
Farmer) – Just as technology has advanced in society and other areas of
life, it also has become a factor in the seed industry.
“Technology advances have been incredible,” says Joe Gogerty,
Pioneer senior research scientist in Algona.
Plant breeders have moved from taking notes with a pen and notebook to a
wireless hand-held computer in the field that transmits observation notes to
the company’s global database within just seconds, says Bob Reiter, Monsanto
breeding technology lead.
The growth in computing power and the ability to transfer information around
the world has changed plant breeding in the past 25 years.
Reiter says computing power allows computers to crunch larger amounts of data
faster, and that allows plant breeders to make better decisions faster.
Gogerty says the amount of material information plant
breeders use is exponentially larger than it was 25
years ago. In 1984, he says they had computers with a direct line to transport
information to the Pioneer headquarters in
However, in 2009, he says his computer in Algona has 10 to 20 times the power
as the computer capacity in 1984.
The shift of computers into the planting-breeding world has allowed more
details to be used.
Reiter says in the past plant breeders would mainly observe phenotype, which
are visible, characteristics. While breeders still observe do this, they have
added genotype characteristics, which are based on genetic make up, to their
observations.
Things, such as molecular markers or DNA fingerprinting, are tools plant
breeders use to look at genotype characteristics.
Another change is the globalization of plant breeding.
Reiter says previously public and private plant breeders were primarily working
the genetics in their area. However, there were many pockets of public plant
breeding around the world, each with its own genetics.
“Breeders now have the ability to understand the germplasm
from other areas of the world, and they have the right tools to properly test
and evaluate global germplasm in the field.”
The private investment was able to bring the genetics from one area that would
improve the genetics in another area.
Now, Southern Hemisphere operations are standard part of the seed breeding
industry, Gogerty says.
The advancements in seed-breeding technology and techniques have increased
year-over-year yield gains, Reiter says. That means a faster turnover of seed
products for farmers, he adds.
In 1984, he estimated many companies replaced 10-15 percent of their product
every year. That means many soybean varieties and corn hybrids likely had a
shelf life of seven to eight years.
Now, he says 25 percent of a company’s product is likely replaced every year.
That translates into an average turnover of four years.
Another recent development is the increased use of doubled haploid plant
breeding, Reiter says.
Using that technology allows breeders to shave time of the development of new
hybrids because it reduces the number of generations needed to develop finished
inbred lines for a corn hybrid and reduces variability during testing, he
explains.
White radishes used to soften, fertilize fields
(Madison.com) – White radishes are taking root on Tony Luthman's farm, the start of what he hopes will create a welcome mat for the corn he plants in the spring.
With taproots that can grow several feet deep, the carrot-shaped tillage or forage radishes bore holes into the ground, loosening the soil. The radishes capture, store and then release nutrients back into the soil, so they also can reduce the need for fertilizer in the spring.
"Some of our ground around here is kind of a tight clay," Luthman said
as he displayed radishes on a bench at his western
Planting tillage radishes began to take hold a few years ago and appears to be growing in popularity. Researchers recently identified the radishes as a good way to prepare soil for planting, as their main roots are larger than the roots of other fall cover crops such as rye and clover.
The radishes are especially attractive to no-till farmers, who plant without plowing or otherwise turning the soil to enrich it, retain moisture and reduce erosion. For farmers who till, the radishes can reduce how deep they must plow.
The radishes have large green leaves and a long white
taproot. They are edible and are used in some Asian dishes, but
Andy Clark, an agronomist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said the radishes appear to break up compacted soil, keep weeds under control, and release nutrients.
"But most researchers and many extension people would say we could still used a little more research," said Clark, who is with the USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. "All of the story is not in yet."
Radish seed sales have doubled in each of the past five
years at Steve Groff SEEDS LLC, based in
At Mid-Wood Inc. in
Joel Gruver, assistant professor of soil science at
"It's something that farmers are really excited about," Gruver said.
Brian Jones, an agent with the Virginia Cooperative
Extension Service, said the radishes were nonexistent two years ago in the
George Van Wychen, of
"It's like nature's aerator and it relieves a lot of
compaction," said Ray Styer, who started
planting radishes five years ago to soften the soil and save money on fertilizer.
He is putting in 30 acres of radishes this year at his farm near
The cost of fertilizer has declined in recent years but
remains a major expense for farmers. In
Groff said the biggest drawback is that the radish seeds must be planted in most parts of the country by the middle of September to grow to a reasonable size before subfreezing temperatures arrive. In some places, corn and soybeans haven't yet been harvested from the fields that are to be aerated with radishes.
Gruver said radish seeds cost more than most other cover crops _ about two to three times as expensive per acre as seeds for cereal rye, for example. Some farmers plant alternating rows of radishes with other cover crops to try to save money.
Luthman said he's a little nervous about his first planting of oilseed tillage radishes. If they don't work, he's out the $1,120 he spent for 40 acres' worth of seeds.
"But I think maybe we're on to something," he said. "If these even come close to my expectations at all, I will definitely put them in next summer."
Scary times for New
England pumpkin growers
(AP
via Yahoo! News)
The relentless rain
in June and July caused some seedlings to turn to mush in the soil and delayed
the harvest up to two weeks, meaning pumpkins may not turn orange or grow large
enough in time to be shipped to stores.
In
"If you saw our
field, you'd say it looks beautiful," LeBlanc said of his 30 acres.
"You would say, 'Wow, look at all the pumpkins. But we'd be saying, 'Wow,
look at all the pumpkins that aren't going to quite make it, or look at all the
pumpkins that aren't going to be large enough size to sell."
Some
LeBlanc says his
yield will be down by half.
Consumers need not
worry, though.
There's sufficient
supply elsewhere to compensate for problems in
"Every year
something happens with the pumpkin crop, someplace," Lucier
said. "The problems crop up in the crop and people start saying we're
going to be short of pumpkins and no one is going to get their pumpkins. In
fact, everyone gets a pumpkin, but sometimes they pay more."
In
Rain fell on 21 of
the final 24 days of June in
The rain caused
waterlogged fields that killed plants. Bees stayed in their hives, slowing
pollination of the flowering vines. Farmers had to work between rainstorms to
apply fertilizer, fungicides and herbicides. Weeds and plant diseases spread.
Some farmers had to replant.
"We've all
taken our lumps this year with crop losses. Drowned fields are certainly going
to reduce our yields significantly," said Bill Barrington, sales manager
for Pioneer Valley Growers Association in
In
It's become a race
against time as
The weather also
caused sporadic problems in the Midwest, but overall the crop will be average
in top pumpkin-producing states like
In
But there were
challenges there. Large growers who can afford expensive crop treatments tended
to fare better than smaller growers, said Dan Hinkle, who grows 1,000 acres of
pumpkins in Cissna Park, Ill. Hinkle spent $500,000
on chemical applications to prevent disease and weeds. That doesn't include
fertilizer costs.
"As a general
trend, most guys are going to do well, but I get a lot of calls from smaller
growers, some who've even lost their entire crop to disease," he said.
Across the country,
things have changed since the days when farmers tossed a few pumpkin seeds on
the ground and hoped for the best. It's now a $250 million crop, Lucier said.
Nationwide, 92,955 acres
of land were devoted to growing pumpkins in 2007, compared with 25,985 acres in
1982, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The bulk of pumpkins
will be carved into jack-o'-lanterns or used as other decorations, while about
13 percent are canned for pie filling, Lucier said.
In
"It's very
pretty to have a whole blanket of pumpkins around the farm. Kids like it. It's
part of the fall seasonal picture, and we're going to miss that," said
Jill Agnew, who runs the farm.
Dole plans private offering of $310M senior notes
(Wire Services) – Dole Food Co., one of the world's largest producers of fresh fruit and vegetables, said Friday that it plans a private offering of $310 million senior secured notes due 2016.
The privately held company said it expects to use net proceeds to redeem senior notes due June 15, 2010.
Last month Dole said it hoped to raise up to $500 million through an initial public offering of its common shares. It plans to use the offering's proceeds to pay off some debt, with any remaining funds used for general corporate purposes.
The company has been selling assets to pay down debt. Dole also said in August that it planned to sell certain operating properties in Latin America for about $68 million to help pay down debt. The deal is expected to close in its fiscal third quarter. Dole said cash flow generated from operations jumped sharply in the second quarter ended June 20, to $170 million compared with $60 million the same period a year ago.
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