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October 24, 2011
· Farmers planting bee-friendly habitats
· Scientists sizing up robot berry picker
· Legal workers learn farming no picnic
· Broccoli research aids seed breeders
· Fifty years later, an agriculture revolution
Farmers planting bee-friendly habitats
(AP) DEL REY, Calif. — Dozens of farmers in California and other states have started replacing some of their crops with flowers and shrubs that are enticing to bees, hoping to lower their pollination costs and restore a bee population devastated in the past few years.
On an October morning, peach farmer Mas
Masumoto planted more than 3 acres of wild rose, aster, sage, manzanita and other shrubs and
trees in a former grape field near
To the north near
Their goal is to attract and sustain native bees and strengthen dwindling honeybee populations, joining in an effort organized by the Xerces Society, a Portland, Ore.-based nonprofit group.
“For bees to thrive, they need a diverse diet, so we’re trying to bring more pollen diversity to farms, more plants to be part of the bees’ buffet,” said Mace Vaughan, the group’s pollinator program director. “This isn’t a panacea to pollination woes. This is part of the solution overall.”
The effort comes as honeybees — maintained by beekeepers —
and native, or wild, bees are perishing in great numbers. Bees are essential
pollinators of about one-third of the
The die-off is blamed on colony collapse disorder, in which all the adult honey bees in a colony suddenly die. The disorder has destroyed honeybee colonies at a rate of about 30 percent per year since it was recognized in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Before that, about 15 percent of colonies died per year from a variety of pests and diseases.
Researchers aren’t sure what causes the disorder, but they suspect a combination of stressors, including pesticides, mites and parasites, and lack of proper nutrition.
The problem is especially dire in
Almond orchards, which have grown dramatically in recent years, have some of the worst problems. Two-thirds of the nation’s honeybees are now trucked to the state during winter for almond bloom, but the arriving bees don’t have enough forage.
Beekeepers feed bees with supplements, including corn syrup, weakening bees and increasing costs. Prices for renting bee colonies have more than tripled over the last decade, from $43 per colony in 2000 to $150 per colony in 2010. Almond orchards require about 2 colonies per acre.
Getting farmers to plant bee habitat is key,
Bee habitat can also reduce a farmer’s costs and alleviate
the stress on honeybees. Through research on
That’s unrealistic for most farms, but Kremen said adding hedgerows and other plantings can help sustain a beneficial combination of native and commercial bees. Research has found that native bees make commercial honeybees more efficient pollinators by getting in their way and making them take a more circuitous route from plant to plant.
“What it means is you don’t have to have a huge number of native bees, but if you have some then the combination of honeybees and native bees has a huge effect,” Kremen said.
Other researchers have found that setting aside bee habitat leads to better crop production on the remaining land, compensating the farmer.
The California State Beekeepers Association is also helping farmers to improve habitat. Run by Project Apis m. — which funds and directs research to improve the health of honeybees — the program has enlisted growers to dedicate acreage to bees and is identifying which seed mixtures make for best bee forage on farms and in orchards.
“We want to make sure bees don’t starve to death before and after almond pollination,” said Christi Heintz, executive director of Project Apis m.
The goal, Heintz said, is to make it economically viable for farmers to plant bee habitat. One option, Heintz said, is to plant a bee-friendly crop that can be used as biofuel, such as canola and camelina. Another is partnering with the cosmetics industry, growing oil seed plants such as cuphea and echium that are used in creams.
Another California-based nonprofit, Partners for Sustainable Pollination, awards a bee-friendly farming label to farmers who set aside at least 6 percent of their land for bee forage, minimize pesticide use and have nesting areas and a water source. So far, 120 farms in 29 states have received the label.
But for many farmers, such as almond growers, increasing bee habitat remains difficult.
Farmers keep orchard floors clean because they harvest almonds off the ground and because bare ground warms faster and is less prone to frost. Pesticide sprayed on trees also is harmful to bees, and mature orchards can be too shady for flowers and shrubs. And plants can be expensive, requiring irrigation for the first few years.
To get around the problem, Moreland has opted to grow flowering shrubs in a nearby ravine and has planted wildflower seeds in a young orchard that won’t go into production for several years and isn’t treated with pesticides. Giving bees access to more food makes a big difference, he said.
“The bees can continue to forage and get stronger, so it’s one less stress on them, one less having to feed them artificial food, one more chance for the bees to survive,” Moreland said.
Although bees aren’t needed to pollinate Masumoto’s peach orchard, studies have shown bees move pollen quickly and help produce better fruit.
But the biggest benefit, he said, is not about money.
“A real farm is not just a factory in the field, but a way to work with nature,” Masumoto said. “The more nature plays a role, the more opportunities will arise to make things better.”
Scientists sizing up robot berry picker
(EurekaAlert.org)
– Scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the
Successful trials have been completed on strawberries as well as a number of other crops. The software has also been designed to 'learn' based on past experience, so tests for new crops can be quickly developed.
The work began in 2009, as a project to identify the ripeness of cauliflowers, which were a problem for pickers due to their leafy exterior. The technology was completed and successfully demonstrated, but a drop off in demand for cauliflowers stalled the project. Having proved the concept, lead scientist Dr Richard Dudley, began developing the technology for a wider range of fruit and vegetables and is taking it to market.
Annual waste from picking unripe crops can be high and can mean many thousands of pounds of lost revenue for farms every year. As a result the agriculture industry is constantly on the lookout for more efficient ways of harvesting crops.
NPL's new technology uses radio frequencies, microwaves, terahertz and the far-infra red. These four parts of the electromagnetic spectrum all have potential to safely penetrate the crop layers and identify whether the crop meets the pre-designed criteria for ripeness, for a relatively low cost. NPL has developed this technology, and the requisite software, for crop identification and selection.
The researchers at NPL began by modifying microwave measurement systems to measure the structure of various crops. A series of measurements made on real crops in the laboratory and field enabled a statistical range of measurements for precise size and ripeness identification. This data was then designed into an algorithm which allows the technology to provide the relevant information from a single measurement.
The imaging technology developed for this project is also finding other applications, notably in waste management, where it is being developed to sort waste, such as plastics, paper and wood, for effective burning for energy generation.
Legal workers learn farming no picnic
ONEONTA, Alabama (AP) — Potato farmer Keith Smith saw most of his immigrant workers leave after Alabama's tough immigration law took effect, so he hired Americans. It hasn't worked out: They show up late, work slower than seasoned farm hands and are ready to call it a day after lunch or by midafternoon. Some quit after a single day.
In
"I've had people calling me wanting to work," Smith said. "I haven't turned any of them down, but they're not any good. It's hard work, they just don't work like the Hispanics with experience."
The agriculture industry suffered the most immediate impact. Farmers said they will have to downsize or let crops die on the vine. As the season's harvest winds down, many are worried about next year.
In south Georgia, Connie Horner has heard just about every reason unemployed Americans don't want to work on her blueberry farm. It's hot, the hours are long, the pay isn't enough and it's just plain hard.
"You can't find legal workers," Horner said. "Basically they last a day or two, literally."
Horner, who runs an 8½-acre (3.2-hectare) organic blueberry farm, said she tried to use the government's visa program to hire foreign workers, but it was too costly and time consuming.
She plans to stop growing organically and start using a machine to pick the berries.
"I did everything I possibly could to be legal and honest and not part of the problem," Horner said. "Morally, I can't knowingly hire illegal workers."
Gov. Robert Bentley, a Republican who signed the law, started a program last week to help businesses, particularly farmers, make up for the lost labor. So far, about 260 people interested in temporary agricultural jobs have signed up. About three dozen of them have been hired, said Tara Hutchison, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations. She didn't know whether any had quit.
Sen. Scott Beason, a Republican, said he has received several emails and phone calls from people thanking him for helping them get jobs. He described one getting promoted from a part-time job with no benefits to a full-time job with benefits because some other immigrant workers left. He said none of the workers who thanked him have wanted to talk to the media.
Over the past two weeks, The Associated Press has reached
out to the governor's office and other officials to provide the names of
Brent Martin, an
Relatively high unemployment rates — about 9 percent in the U.S. and 9.9 in Alabama — are not likely to push Americans toward farm work, said Demetrios Papademetriou, president and co-founder of the Migration Policy Institute. He suggested the problem may be more deeply rooted.
"This is a sector and an industry ... that a long time ago, going back to the 1940s and probably before that was abandoned," Papademetriou said. "It was abandoned to foreign workers."
Stan Eury, executive director of the North Carolina Growers Association, said location matters, too.
"Agriculture jobs are primarily in remote, rural areas. We see higher numbers of unemployed people in the big cities," he said.
Tomato farmer Wayne Smith said he has never been able to keep a staff of American workers in his 25 years of farming.
"People in
At his farm, field workers get $2 for every 25-pound (11.3-kilogram) box of tomatoes they fill. Skilled pickers can make anywhere from $200 to $300 a day, he said.
Unskilled workers make much less.
A crew of four Hispanics can earn about $150 each by picking
250-300 boxes of tomatoes in a day, said Jerry Spencer, of Grow
It may make sense for some to stay at home. Unemployment benefits provide up to $265 a week while a minimum wage job, at $7.25 an hour for 40 hours, brings in $290.
Spencer said the Americans he has linked up with farmers are not physically fit and do not work fast enough.
"It's the harshest work you can imagine doing," Spencer said.
Broccoli research aids seed breeders
(USDA) – Research performed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and published recently in the journal Crop Science has demonstrated that mineral levels in new varieties of broccoli have not declined since 1975, and that the broccoli contains the same levels of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium and other minerals that have made the vegetable a healthy staple of American diets for decades.
"This research provides data on the nutritional content of broccoli for breeders to consider as they further improve this important vegetable," said Edward B. Knipling, administrator of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency. "The research demonstrates how ARS is helping to find answers to agricultural problems that impact Americans every day, from field to table."
A team of three scientists evaluated the mineral content of
14 broccoli cultivars released over a span of more than 50 years: ARS
geneticist and research leader Mark Farnham at the
agency's U.S. Vegetable Laboratory in
The researchers grew the 14 cultivars in two field trials in 2008 and 2009, and harvested florets for testing.
"Our studies show that not much has changed in terms of
mineral content in the last 35 years in a crop that has undergone significant
improvement from a quality standpoint and that was not widely consumed in the
Broccoli florets in the study were tested for levels of calcium, copper, iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, sodium, phosphorous, sulfur and zinc. Results indicated significant cultivar differences in floret concentrations of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, sodium, phosphorous and zinc, but not of potassium, manganese, molybdenum or sulfur. There was no clear relationship between mineral concentration and release year.
"For broccoli cultivars grown during the past 35 years, when hybrids became the standard cultivar, evidence indicates that mineral concentrations remain unchanged," said Farnham. "As broccoli breeders continue to improve this crop in the future, data from this study can serve as a very useful guide in helping breeders understand the variation in mineral concentrations they should expect among their breeding stocks and also provide a realistic baseline that should be maintained as other characteristics are manipulated in the future."
Fifty years later, an agriculture revolution
(The Globe and Mail) – For years the land lay fallow, swallowed by thorny weeds. Strangers called it a lost cause. Armando Aroche saw a golden opportunity.
It was 2008 and Raul Castro, in his first major speech as Cuban President, made a shocking admission: 50 years of state-controlled agriculture had failed, resulting in chronic food shortages. The island was importing 80 per cent of the food it subsequently rationed for public consumption.
Mr. Castro offered free, 10-year leases on idle land to anyone willing to try their hand at farming.
Mr. Aroche, a rotund, 53-year-old
peasant, was among the first to queue in
“I was not afraid of anything,” he recalled. He had a faint
childhood memory of a well on the southwest corner of a particular stretch of
land, which he requested. He was awarded 7.28 acres and named his farm “
Today, he gazes out on his fields from beneath his sunhat.
Too much rain means his tomato plants are flowering. His 1952
But despite these hardships, farmers such as Mr. Aroche are being held out as shining examples of the new face of Cuban socialism. The cabbage, onions, carrots and lettuce he cultivates are described by government officials as the fruits of their “new and improved system” that has boosted food production by awarding more land to peasants who farm it for a profit.
Since Decree No. 259 was passed in 2008, 170,000 peasants
across
“Pretty soon we will run out of lands to grant,” confessed Georgina Gutierrez Jimenez, president of the local chapter of the National Association for Small Farmers.
Each farmer can apply for a land grant of 13.48 acres. If the farm proves successful, they can apply for another. Farmers can also use their profits to buy their own equipment, insecticides and fertilizer – something the state used to strictly control. Each farm owner pays a 5-per-cent income tax to the state, and 3 per cent to the local agricultural co-operative.
Mr. Aroche, a trained mechanic, used to work at the “state enterprise of assorted crops,” and earned the equivalent of $9 a month. He demurred when asked about his income today, but acknowledged it is exponentially higher. For the past few years, his family has been able to afford long holidays on the beach.
He employs six workers, who are each paid a monthly wage of $12, plus a yearly bonus. They help themselves to food grown on the farm and often receive a small cash “tip” at the end of each day.
The new agricultural policy has succeeded in boosting food production, officials say.
“There has been an enormous impact,” said Arturo Aleaga Cespedes, a lawyer with the National Farmer’s Association. He cites a 60-per-cent increase in the production of rice, milk, vegetables and root vegetables.
However, it’s still not enough to satisfy
“We produce a lot, but the demand and consumption are always increasing,” Ms. Jimenez said.
Another challenge is persuading a younger generation of Cubans to take up their leaders’ challenge and return to the land. Many, like Mr. Aroche’s own children, were educated for urban jobs in state offices that are under enormous pressure to trim their bloated payrolls.
The country’s public service is set to lose up to half a million jobs over the next five years.
Mr. Aroche’s 26-year-old daughter, Joseline, quit her job as an economist when her son was born three years ago. Now, as she contemplates returning to the work force, she faces “not a lot of options,” she said.
Her father believes the future of his family, and that of his country, lies in the land: “To work in the field is very hard. It’s something most people don’t like, but it’s work that needs to be done,” he said.
The agricultural reforms – considered radical at the time –
have proved to merely foreshadow larger changes sweeping through
“The only problem is that all of this should have been done sooner,” Mr. Aroche added.
End Transmission