" I heard it through the AgLine"

October 29, 2010

 

 

·        Veggies from Mexican farms to your table

·        Salinas growers battle fungus in lettuce

·        Dow AgroSciences sales up, profit suffers

·        USDA chips in $30M for organic research

·        Chocolate genome unwrapped for Halloween

 

 

 

Veggies from Mexicans farm to your table

 

(The Christian Science Monitor) – The tour at the sprawling Aguilares Ranch is about to begin. Hair pulled back. Check. Watches and bracelets off. Check. The employers are so meticulous about the sanitary standards of these lettuce, broccoli, celery, and garlic fields that a visitor wearing a wedding ring is asked to remove it mid-circuit.

 

And you, global consumer, should be relieved. The vegetables grown and packaged at this exporting farm in the vegetable heartland of Mexico's Guanajuato State may have been, or could one day be, consumed by you. They go east to Europe, west to Japan, and north to Canada and the United States. The iceberg lettuce basking in a field on a recent sunny day could end up in an Olive Garden salad bar or a Big Mac; the flowering cauliflower might roll down the checkout belt at Costco or Wal-Mart.

 

The problem is that not all Mexican growers are required to follow the same rules, says Miguel Usabiaga, driving a pickup across his 1,800-acre ranch past workers adding gypsum enrichment to the soil with John Deere tractors and cleaning out ditches. And one bad tomato can trigger panic that affects the nation's entire growing industry. "We are very worried about this," Mr. Usabiaga says. "If there is one problem with an item in Mexico, all of Mexico gets hurt."

 

Political commentators have long noted that there are two Mexicos when it comes to wealth distribution. So, too, are there two Mexican agricultural worlds, with small, often uneducated farmers producing for the local market, and bigger agribusinesses growing for big chain stores in Mexico and export to the US and beyond.

 

Most exporters follow standards dictated by their clients abroad, and they say the guidelines for everything from pesticides to irrigation water purity are as good if not stricter than those facing farmers in the US. But neither the US nor Mexican governments oversees any of this.

 

At Aguilares Ranch, fields are fenced with chicken wire that goes to the ground, so that no animals can get through. Each day the fences are checked for holes. Domestic produce farms in Mexico are often left wide open, where animals can roam freely. You will see no donkeys, horses, or dogs frolicking in the garlic fields here, or small children for that matter.

 

All employees, like Monica Rodriguez – who, on a recent day with 70 other fieldworkers, bundles cauliflower leaves to prevent sun damage – are trained for at least a half day on basic sanitary measures, including no painted nails, no glass bottles, and no sharing water vessels. "It is strict here," says Ms. Rodriguez. She and her fellow fieldworkers earn an average of $16 a day, which is well above Mexican minimum wage.

 

Portable toilets are set up around worker sites, with basins and strict rules outlining how to wash hands before heading back to the fields. There must be one toilet for every 25 workers, no more than five minutes' walking distance apart. At farms with no such requirements, workers often urinate on the edge of fields. Here, all of the water to hydrate crops comes from a deep well source that is also filtrated. It is tested at both the source and the point of irrigation.

 

The cost is high. All of this requires $150 to $200 per acre, estimates Usabiaga, whose family produces the Mr. Lucky brand that has been in his family since the 1960s. They are one of the biggest growers in Mexico.

 

But smaller growers who also export follow similar guidelines. Alejandro Aboytes, the president of Las 5 Estaciones, near Celaya, says his farm also has fences and separate work areas for employees, and uses well water for irrigation, all standards he says are set and audited by the certifier PrimusLabs.com, based in Santa Maria, Calif. He says the costs are high, but it is all that sets apart exporters targeting huge markets from peasants supplying local markets. "You do not just have to be the biggest guy to do this."

 

To that end, Mr. Aboytes, who also works with various grower organizations, is trying to lobby the state to demand certification of all growers, exporting or not. "They are a danger to our business," says Aboytes, who primarily grows baby carrots that end up in Wal-Marts in the US. "If there is any problem in Mexico, we are all going to suffer for that."

 

Mexico offers a certification option, but it doesn't require it. The US does spot checks – on farms and at the border – but requires no standards certification. The main exporters face standards dictated by third-party auditors demanded by American clients. But some growers, they say, do not have direct relationships with the end client in the US. They sell to brokers, and some are more lax than others. That, Usabiaga says, is where the danger to all looms.

 

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Salinas growers battle fungus in lettuce

 

(TheCalifornian.com) – Scientists working to eliminate a common fungus that infects lettuce and other crops in Monterey County are exploring a link between infected lettuce and imported spinach seeds.

 

This week, researchers at the University of California, Davis, were awarded a four-year, $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate how the fungus is transferred from the seeds to lettuce.

 

The fungus often kills infected lettuce crops through a disease known as verticillium wilt. The fungus prevents lettuce from absorbing water, causing it to yellow and wilt. Contaminated fields become a long-term problem for farmers, because the fungus can remain in the soil for five to seven years.

 

"This is one of the more important diseases facing growers in the county," said Steve Koike, plant pathology farm adviser at the University of California Cooperative Extension stationed in Monterey County. "It has a significant impact and is increasing each year."

 

In June, agricultural commissioner Eric Lauritzen said the county produces more than 60 percent of the nation's lettuce. Revenues for lettuce, including head, leaf and spring mix, totaled $1.3 billion last year, according to the 2009 Monterey County Crop Report.

 

Spinach, meanwhile, was the ninth-highest-grossing crop in the county, with $132 million in revenue.

 

Scientific mystery

 

County strawberry crops have long suffered from this disease, but lettuce was immune until the mid-1990s.

 

"We have been trying to figure out how lettuce became a host ever since," said Krishna Subbarao, plant pathologist at University of California, Davis and principal recipient of the grant.

 

All lettuce can be infected, Koike said, but the varieties respond to the fungus differently. Head lettuces such as iceberg are the most sensitive; romaine lettuce is more tolerant, he said.

 

Only in the past three years have scientists known that spinach seeds carry the fungus to lettuce plants, said Subbarao.

 

Spinach seeds come from Denmark, Holland, New Zealand and Washington state – all places that have naturally occurring fungus colonies, said Subbarao. If those fields are not fumigated, then the fungus can contaminate the seeds.

 

tists believe that growing spinach from contaminated seed introduces the fungus onto farms. The disease spreads to lettuce when it is planted after a spinach crop.

 

Controlling the fungus

 

The fumigant methyl bromide is used to prevent verticillium wilt in strawberries. Though this chemical is effective, it damages the ozone layer and it is due to be discontinued by 2015 in accordance with the Montreal Protocol.

 

However, this chemical is not used to treat the same disease in lettuce. "Lettuce growers do not fumigate, because it's too expensive for the crop," Koike said. "With the phasing out of methyl bromide, it's not really an option either."

 

Without fumigation, lettuce farmers look for other ways to handle fungus-contaminated fields. Growers plant crops such as broccoli, cauliflower or celery that are immune to the type of fungus that infects lettuce, said Koike. They can also plant fungus-resistant varieties of lettuce.

 

There are two "races" of the fungus. Lettuce varieties resistant to one such race exist, said Subbarao, though no sources of resistance are known for the second race. Subbarao and his colleagues are examining lettuce plants from around the world to find naturally occurring resistances to this other race.

 

Breeding plants to withstand the fungus takes time, but is an important step to help farmers handle currently contaminated fields. Another way to stop the spread of the disease is to prevent infected spinach seeds from arriving here at all.

 

Mexico quarantines imported spinach seed if more than 10 percent is infected with fungus, said Subbarao. California has no such restriction.

 

If spinach seeds could be disinfected before they are shipped worldwide, then quarantines could be unnecessary. Subbarao and his colleagues are researching ways to treat seeds that eliminate the fungus on spinach.

 

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Dow AgroSciences sales up, profit suffers

 

(IPJ.com) – Indianapolis-based Dow AgroSciences improved revenue during the third quarter thanks to a 26-percent increase in volume, but it still recorded a loss for the period.

 

The unit of Dow Chemical Co. on Thursday reported revenue of $948 million, up 19 percent from the same period last year despite lower prices. Quarterly earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, however, were a loss of $12 million—compared with a profit of $5 million a year ago.

 

Dow Agro’s selling, general and administrative expenses increased 9 percent during the quarter because of new product launches and commercial activities related the recent seed acquisitions, the company said. Its research and development costs were up 14 percent.

 

The Midland, Mich.-based parent company, meanwhile, posted a smaller drop in third-quarter profit than analysts estimated.

 

Profit fell 25 percent to $597 million, or 45 cents a share, from $796 million, or 63 cents, a year earlier. Profit excluding some items was 54 cents, topping the 41-cent average estimate of 12 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Sales rose 6.8 percent to $12.9 billion.

 

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USDA chips in $30M for organic research

 

(USDA) – The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), awarded 30 grants on Wednesday totaling over $18 million for research that would help organic producers and processors grow and market high-quality organic agricultural products.

 

Organic farming is part of the USDA’s movement to support sustainable practices in agriculture and forestry. In a USDA press release on Wednesday, Roger Beachy, director of USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), stated “More and more farmers are adopting organic agriculture practices to produce quality food and boost farm income. These research and extension projects will equip producers with the tools and resources they need to operate profitable and sustainable organic farms.”

 

The awards are part of the USDA’s Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI). According to the OREI mission statement, the “OREI is particularly interested in projects that emphasize research and outreach that assist farmers and ranchers with whole farm planning, especially those relating to climate change.” Another USDA program, the Organic Transitions Program (OTR), awarded an additional $4 million, which supported soil conservation measures and initiatives related to climate change mitigation.

 

USDA support for organic farming stems not only from environmental reasons but also to keep U.S. farmers competitive in the booming organic market. According to the USDA, US farmers are turning to certified organic farming methods to help lower input costs and increase farm income as well as decreasing their reliance on non-renewable resources.

 

Organic farmers in the US have received support from the White House and across the country. The USDA’s National Organic Program (http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=ORGANIC_CERTIFICATIO&navtype=RT&parentnav=AGRICULTURE

 ) sets the standards for organic certification in the United States, including not only the regulations for growing certified organic foods, but also in labeling.

 

Will the $18 million in USDA grants help an organic farmer in your community? Has organic farming made an impact in agriculture in your area? Local Harvest provides a map that helps you find organic producers in your community as well as information on organic farming.

 

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Chocolate genome unwrapped for Halloween

 

(PhysOrg.com) – Halloween is about monsters, ghouls and most of all, goodies. Kids might be more concerned about the quantity of treats that drop into their plastic pumpkin baskets than their quality -- but for chocolate, new research promises the opportunity to improve both.

 

After 10 years of planning and two years of mapping genes, two separate research groups have announced the complete sequencing of the genomes of two cacao tree varieties.

 

Much of the world’s chocolate comes from cocoa beans harvested from two varieties of the Theobroma cacao tree. The Forastero type is used in the bulk of the world’s chocolate production, while Criollo -- descended from plants cultivated by the Mayans -- is known for its exceptionally fine taste.

 

Unfortunately, all types of cacao trees are highly susceptible to disease, said David Kuhn, a molecular biologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Miami, who was involved in the Forastero genome project.

 

“Cacao growers are constantly fighting plagues,” Kuhn said.

 

Brazil’s cocoa bean crop, which once dominated the world’s cacao market, has been decimated by a fungal blight known as witches’ broom. Cacao trees infected with witches’ broom grow sprays of extra stems, which divert growth energy from the cacao pods, reducing seed production.

 

“The fungus probably coevolved with the cacao tree in Amazonia,” said Catherine Aime, a mycologist at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge who studies fungal genetics. “Once we domesticated the tree for agriculture and started growing whole fields of genetically similar plants, the fungus had a field day and spread uncontrollably.”

 

So far, witches broom and its equally destructive cousin, frosty pod, have not spread to cacao trees in Africa, where 70 percent of the world’s cacao is now grown. The old world cacao fields are not disease free, however. Other funguses, such as black pod, as well as viruses and insect plagues have also affected cocoa bean crops in Africa and Southeast Asia.

 

Cocoa bean shortages resulting from these plagues cost farmers an estimated $700 million in losses each year and are of particular to concern to large candy companies like Mars, Incorporated and Hershey’s Chocolate, which together produce three-quarters of all the chocolate products sold in the United States each year.

 

To help ensure the health of cacao trees all over the world, two years ago Mars and Hershey announced separate plans to fund the sequencing of the cacao tree genome. The group that received funds from Mars and the U.S. Department of Agriculture went after the Forastero genome while Hershey partnered with Penn State University and CIRAD, a French agency based in Paris that studies agricultural issues in developing countries, to work on the Criollo genome.

 

The goal isn’t to produce genetically modified candy bars, said Mark Guiltinan, a plant molecular biologist at Penn State University in University Park and a collaborator on the Criollo genome project.

 

Rather, by sequencing the cacao tree genome, geneticists are providing plant breeders all over the world with a powerful new tool known as marker-assisted selection that can be used to accelerate the breeding process for disease resistance and other valuable traits like drought tolerance and even flavor.

 

In their raw form, cocoa beans taste nothing like chocolate. The beans are actually the seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree. They grow inside bright red and yellow football-sized pods and are white when first harvested. Only after a week of fermenting, followed by drying and roasting, do the beans turn brown. Then they are shelled and pressed and the resulting liquor is separated into cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Most edible chocolate is a mixture of cocoa solids, cocoa butter, milk, and sugar while unsweetened baking chocolate is a mixture of cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Credit: National Confectioners Association

 

Having the cacao genome in hand could also provide a unique opportunity to study genetic interactions between pathogens and hosts, since scientists already have the genomes of witches broom and frosty pod, said Aime.

 

“I don’t know many other cases where genomes of both the pathogens and the host are available,” she said. “If we could find the genetic triggers underlying the infection, that could be a very useful weapon.”

 

Much work remains to be done, however. The next step, identifying molecular markers, is “a complicated and painstaking process,” Guiltinan said. “Sequencing is the easy part. Assembling the genome and identifying the markers is really an art form.”

 

Guiltinan compares the assembly process to solving ten jigsaw puzzles, one for each of the 10 chromosomes in the cacao genome, each comprised of 40 million puzzle pieces.

 

In the end a team of 60 scientists working at 20 different institutes in six different countries were able to assemble 76 percent of the Criollo genome and identify 96 percent of the genes. The Forastero genome project met with even greater success, with 92 percent of the genome assembled, including 35,000 genes.

 

While the two simultaneous projects might recall the infamous race between Celera Genomics and the publicly financed Human Genome Project to sequence the human genome, both cacao genome groups laud the other for providing the opportunity to compare the two closely related Forastero and Criollo varieties.

 

“To be sure, there is always a certain amount of competition in science but to call this a rivalry is too extreme,” Guiltinan said.

 

The Forastero genome became available online last month and the Criollo sequence will be posted on the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) website, also home to the human genome, upon the release of a paper in a yet to be announced peer-reviewed journal.

 

“We felt it was very important to go through the peer review process,” Guiltinan said. “On the day of publication the sequence will be freely available on National Center for Biotechnology Information and other data bases with no restrictions or legal exceptions for use.”

 

Both groups intend to continue perfecting their respective sequences, while moving into the next stage of translating the roughly 420 million-unit DNA sequences into hardier cacao plants around the world.

 

“Hopefully this project will go beyond just helping the chocolate manufacturers,” Guiltinan said. “It should help farmers create a more reliable crop that can be grown in an environmentally sustainable way.”

 

That’s good news for the millions of farmers who depend on Theobroma cacao, Latin for "Food of the Gods," for a living, and for chocolate-loving trick-or-treaters, who should be able to look forward to a bounty of chocolate bars on Halloween for years to come.

 

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