 |
|||
 |
" I heard it |
||
October 26, 2009
· Turf wars erupt over Chicago’s rooftop gardens
· Sprinkling of nanotubes boosts plant growth
· Nocturnal insects help combat pests in Texas
· Dole Food shares tumble following IPO
· Arysta releases new insecticide technology
Turf wars erupt over Chicago
(Chicago
Tribune) – Rooftop gardens, like the one atop
They want more of the work that is being done by commercial
landscapers in the booming market to install green roofs on public and
commercial buildings in the
The turf battle pits the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers, Local No. 11 against Teamsters, Local 703, and the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150.
In a case involving a
"We want to protect what we have historically done," said Thomas Stiede, secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 703. "There is a science behind these roofs, and our people are better trained and have more experience in all those things."
Roofers say they have experience with all types of systems, including green roofs, whereas a landscaper is just taught how to maintain vegetation and plants.
"The NLRB will always award the work to whom the employer prefers," said Librado Arreola, a lawyer representing Roofers Local 11. "It doesn't matter which trade is more qualified or has more experience."
The labor conflict is a sign of how tough the recession has been on the building trades. Construction has nearly ground to a halt, putting pressure on unions to preserve jobs by finding new work for members.
In the simplest terms, green roofs are vegetation, often sedums and grasses, planted in soil or some other lightweight mixture. The greenery decreases the environmental footprint of a building by offsetting water runoff, lowering energy costs and improving air quality. The roofs can even serve as green space.
The union flap stems from work Moore Landscapes began in April at Roosevelt Collection, a loft and retail development that is one of the largest green-roof projects in the city, totaling more than 80,000 square feet. Two days after starting the job, the roofers union filed an objection with the Chicago & Cook County Building & Construction Trades Council.
The roofers disputed that landscapers are responsible for planting anything above the roofing membrane including building a multilayered garden. The roofers said there's no horticultural skill needed to lay preplanted trays of vegetation on top of a roof, a system distinct from a layered garden.
To avoid a confrontation with the roofers union and upsetting the general contractor, Moore Landscapes temporarily added two roofers. The company's unions then threatened to picket. The starting hourly wage for a landscape installer is about $16 an hour, compared with $30 an hour for a roofer, according to the unions.
Meanwhile, an arbitrator at the trades council awarded some of the installation work to the roofers union.
The company asked the NLRB on June 25 to intervene. Pedersen
Co., a
At a two-day hearing in July, Moore Landscapes showed it is industry practice to hire landscapers to install green roofs. Since 2002, landscape contractors have completed more than 100 green roofs, including 20 by Moore Landscapes, according to the company.
The NLRB found the roofers union did not support its claims that its members have more experience installing vegetative roofs. The board also said roofers could only perform limited portions of a green-roof installation, making landscapers more efficient.
The Sept. 30 decision bodes well for landscape businesses that are involved in labor disputes with the roofers union, said Ken Jenero, an employment lawyer at Holland & Knight who represents Moore Landscapes and Pedersen Co.
"If the NLRB had come down in favor of roofers,
Sprinkling of nanotubes boosts plant growth
(NewScientists.com) – TINY they may be, but carbon nanotubes have found a remarkable range of uses, from stretchy loudspeakers to artificial photosynthesis. Now use as a fertiliser can be added to the list.
Plant biologist Mariya
Khodakovskaya and nanotechnologist Alexandru Biris, both at the
Nanostructures have been reported to boost germination before, but no explanation for the phenomenon has been offered until now. The pair noticed that the nanotubes appear to penetrate the thick seed coat, which would allow water to enter the dry seeds more rapidly. This could explain how they boost germination, Khodakovskaya says.
The experiment involved placing 270 sterile tomato seeds in a growth medium that contained carbon nanotubes in concentrations ranging from 10 to 40 micrograms per millilitre. A control group consisted of 90 seeds in a nanotube-free growth medium.
After three days none of the control seeds had germinated, but more than 30 per cent of the nanotube-exposed seeds had begun to sprout. The effect was more pronounced after 12 days; by that time an average of 32 per cent of the control seeds had germinated, compared with more than 70 per cent of the nanotube-supplemented seeds.
Four weeks into the experiment, nanotube-fed seedlings were twice as tall and had more than twice the biomass of the control seeds, although the root systems were similarly developed in all seedlings.
Trials on other plant species are now planned, the two say. "We think that nanomaterials definitely have potential for use as fertilisers for a number of plant species, especially for non-food plants," they told New Scientist.
Other researchers remain cautious, however. While Alejandro Pérez de Luque at the Institute
for Sustainable Agriculture in
The elongated stems of the seedlings exposed to nanotubes may indicate abnormal growth patterns due to hormonal imbalance, Pérez de Luque says. "I would like to see the plants when they reach maturity, because long internodes [stretches of stem between branching points] indicate that plants are not growing properly."
Ken Donaldson at the
Nocturnal insects help combat pests
in Texas
(USDA-ARS) – Agricultural Research Service scientists in
For the past eight years, ARS entomologist Bob Pfannenstiel and other ARS scientists have been studying
the feeding habits of these nocturnally active predators in the
The researchers at the ARS Beneficial Insects Research Unit
(BIRU) in
The predators that feed on the eggs during the day are very different from those that feed at night, and nighttime predation can be much more important. Two nocturnal predators have stood out from the rest: cursorial (running) spiders, mainly the species Hibana futilis, and the exotic Asian cockroach (Blattella asahinai).
Cursorial spiders consume
significant numbers of moth eggs in row crop foliage, with about 99 percent of
their predation occurring after dark. These spiders are particularly important
in cotton, where they benefit from consuming the plant's sugars. Since 2006,
when the exotic Asian cockroach reached south
Laboratory and greenhouse studies by BIRU scientists, including Shoil Greenberg and Randy Coleman, have shown that the spiders prey on other cotton pests, including the cotton fleahopper, Pseudatomoscelis seriatus, and the cotton plant bug, Creontiades signatus.
The cursorial spider has a greater impact on the cotton fleahopper, which is smaller than the cotton plant bug. This may suggest that the spider has the potential to be an important predator of cotton fleahopper.
BIRU scientists have also frequently observed the cotton fleahopper as a mostly nocturnal predator of lepidopteran eggs in cotton, meaning that as an omnivore, it can act as both pest and a predator. Many plant bugs feed on both plants and prey, although in general it is not well understood how important predation is in their life history.
Dole Food shares tumble following IPO
(AP
via USA Today)
The stock, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "DOLE," (DOLE) declined 17 cents to $12.33.
The company, which is controlled by businessman and investor David Murdock, was most recently publicly traded in 2003.
After the new public offering, Murdock, who is also Dole's chairman, will own 59% of the company. Murdock took the company private in March 2003 in a transaction valued at $2.5 billion.
The company priced its IPO of 35.7 million shares at $12.50, raising $446.4 million, but had originally expected its stock offering to price between $13 and $15 a share.
Dole, which is based in
Dole said Murdock and his affiliates will "be in a more favorable financial position" when the transactions are completed. But the company said it has no immediate plans to pay dividends.
Dole also plans to transfer ownership interest in 1,600
acres of idle farmland in
Dole reduced total outstanding debt $145 million during the
second quarter and has been selling off its assets. During the first quarter,
Dole received $85 million in cash from closing on three different sales,
including a number of vegetable properties in
The company also is selling properties in
Morningstar analyst Erin Swanson, in a recent research report, said Dole has been forced to raise prices to cover mounting costs, but consumers are still hesitant to pay full price.
"We believe Dole lacks pricing power in this intensely competitive market, as consumers perceive the produce category as commodified," he wrote in a research report. "They are more likely to consider price than brand when making a purchase decision."
Swanson also said its corporate governance is not shareholder-friendly, given Murdock's control of the company, making her "doubt that minority shareholders will have much of a voice."
For the second quarter ended June 20, Dole earned $20.1 million, down from $180.8 million. Revenue also declined to $1.71 billion from $1.99 billion a year earlier because of weakness in sales of fresh fruit, vegetables and packaged foods.
Arysta releases new insecticide technology
(Wire Services) –
RPM Technology is based on the identification of specific natural compounds that interfere with targeted neurological and olfactory receptors of the insect. When RPM Technology compounds come in contact with the sensors, a chain reaction is triggered that repels or kills the insect.
The combination of natural compounds with a synthetic insecticide provides a number agronomic and environmental benefits including:
• Superior control: a new method of control that has been proved effective in numerous field tests.
• Synergy: When a low rate of a synthetic insecticide is combined with RPM Technology, the performance increases dramatically.
• Eco-Responsive: The natural compounds used in RPM Technology are plant-based and when used alone result in an organic product. When natural and synthetic ingredients are combined highly effective control is achieved at significantly reduced rates.
• Safety: None of the specifically targeted insect receptors can be found in humans or animals, which enhances worker safety. The Environmental Protection Agency classifies this technology as Category IV.
• Resistance management: Because it doesn't work like a conventional insecticide, RPM Technology helps break the cycle of resistance.
"Our customers have requested insecticides that provide the high level of control expected with conventional insecticides while expanding spectrum with new technologies," says Marty Wiglesworth, Product Manager, Arysta LifeScience North America. "RPM is that solution for our customers. The technology offers highly effective control which has the potential to combine natural compounds that will result in a true organic product."
About Arysta LifeScience Corporation
Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Arysta LifeScience is the world's largest privately held crop protection and life science company with 2008 revenues of JPY134 billion (US$1.3 billion). An entrepreneurial provider of crop protection and life science products in more than 125 countries worldwide, Arysta LifeScience specializes in marketing and distribution of respected crop protection brands and life science products in harmony with the needs of global partners. More information on the company is available at: www.arystalifescience.com.
End Transmission