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October 31, 2008
· ARS says, shoot this ladybug … with your camera
· BASF program backs sustainable production
· Arcadia inks deal for extended-life tomatoes
· Organic grower trials veggie varieties for taste
· Home gardener redefined for backyard chic
ARS says, shoot this ladybug … with your camera
(AgWeekly) – Wanted: Ladybug photos. That's the request from Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists who are asking for the public's help in surveying for once-common ladybug species that have become hard to find.
ARS researchers with South Dakota State University (SDSU) in
Brookings and
These certain species of beetles were common 20 years ago,
but have become harder to find in the past few decades. There are more than 400
ladybug species native to
Although commonly known as ladybugs, these insects are actually from the beetle family, which leads to most entomologists referring to them as ladybird beetles.
There is a common legend as to how ladybird beetles got
their name. During the middle ages in
By nature, ladybird beetles are predators. Though individual species may differ in their food preference, most eat crop-damaging insects such as aphids. However the ladybird beetles diet may also consist of other small insects, spiders or spider eggs. Some adult ladybird beetles may occasionally supplement their diet by eating pollen, nectar or honeydew.
On the other hand, ladybird beetles have few predators, since they are not commonly eaten by birds or other vertebrates. They are avoided because they exude a distasteful fluid and commonly play dead to avoid being preyed upon. However, several insects like assassin bugs, stink bugs and spiders may commonly kill ladybird beetles.
The ladybird beetles bright colors and spots serve as a warning to any potential predator of the distasteful repellents the beetle will release if attacked.
Home owners often find ladybird beetles in the home during the winter, since they seek out a warm place to hibernate, plus mass together to stay warm throughout the winter. But entomologists agree that they will not harm you or any part of your home and will vacate the premise by spring.
Entomologist Louis Hesler at the ARS North Central Agricultural Research Lab in Brookings is particularly interested in the rarely seen species because of their importance to the farming community. Agriculture has depended on these beetles for years to eat insect pests that harm farm crops. Urban gardeners also benefit from populations, since they protect garden crops and also play a role in protecting forests.
Mark Boetel, NDSU Extension entomologist, echoed the importance of the ladybird beetle to agriculture and the need for farmers to protect their numbers.
“They feed mainly on soft-bodied insects, both in the adult and larval stages,” Boetel said. “They are probably best known for being predators on aphids, but they will also prey on mites that are pests, such as the spider mite.”
Because of their beneficial nature, Boetel said it is important that farmers use careful consideration before applying insecticides to their crops and holding off those applications as long as possible, if they are necessary.
He referred to the spraying thresholds for soybean aphids as a classic example. Spraying harmful insects before the threshold will also destroy the beneficial insect population, thus eliminating the natural protection that they would give, if a later influx of harmful insects sweeps into the area.
“When conditions warrant and chemical applications need to be done, we certainly aren't against that,” Boetel said, “but conservation of those good biological control agents it really important.”
Overwintering females can mate more than one time, with the possibility of producing over 1000 eggs throughout the season, so it's especially important that their numbers are protected early in the season while the population is being increased, Boetel said.
Back to the project - in a survey this past summer, Hesler and Mike Catangui, a colleague and entomologist at SDSU found 1,000 ladybird beetles, but only about 10 each of the rare species listed above. The two entomologists are co-principal investigators in the SDSU part of the “Lost Ladybug Project.”
In October 2006, a nine-spotted ladybug was collected near
It proved that the species is not extinct and provided extremely valuable information.
This project has two facets: the research component in which
Hesler, Catangui and other scientists in
As part of the citizen science part of the project, researchers are encouraging participation from students and other who are interested in entomology, agriculture or science.
The hope is that additional finds, such as the one made in
Those wishing to participate can visit www.lostladybug.org for tips on finding and photographing ladybugs and submitting the photos they have taken.
The website also includes ways to track and map the Lost Ladybug data.
BASF program backs sustainable production
(Wire Services) – Consumers are increasingly inquiring about
the ecological and social conditions under which their food is produced.
Moreover, the focus is no longer on the quality alone. The availability of high
quality food is also assuming greater importance. There is a trend to the more
sustainable production of food, particularly in the case of fresh fruit and
vegetables. But what does “sustainable production” actually mean?
Together with the REWE Group, BASF is developing a concept for the sustainable
production of selected fruit and vegetable varieties
BASF Crop Protection has been one of the partners of the “Best Alliance”
initiative for sustainable contract cultivation. The REWE Group set up the
project in order to shape the procurement and cultivation of fruit and
vegetables more responsibly. The “
This successful cooperation is now being extended: With the joint development
of a concept for the sustainable production of selected fruit and vegetable
varieties, BASF’s sustainability experts are supporting the REWE Group in
implementing a sustainable procurement strategy within the “Best Alliance”
brand.
In order for consumers and other interest groups to better understand what is
meant by the sustainability of the products, it is necessary to establish
clearly defined criteria and standards.
The requirements regarding fruit and vegetables of the “Best Alliance” brand
involve three areas: The optimized use of crop protection active ingredients
and adherence to defined environmental and social standards. For a product to
be able to bear the “Best Alliance” brand in the long term, it is essential
that there is a continuous improvement in all three fields.
Eco-efficiency analysis for assessing sustainability
Apart from the defined basic criteria, investigations are being carried out to
determine how the eco-efficiency analysis can be used in future as a central
control tool in connection with “Best Alliance”. By identifying the adjusting
lever for sustainability and permanent optimizations together with the
producers and the supply chain, an improvement process is being installed that
at the same time involves the verticalization of REWE’s procurement chains in
the case of fruit and vegetables in the form of contract cultivation. “A clear
commitment to sustainable production within the “Best Alliance” brand is an
important and consistent step for REWE. It is crucial to implement more
comprehensible criteria in the sense of ecological and social responsibility”,
says Guido Siebenmorgen, head of the strategic purchasing of food in the REWE
Group.
The method developed by BASF and certified by the German
Technical Inspection Organization (TÜV) assesses the economic and ecological
effects over the whole life cycle. It identifies the crucial adjusting levers
for improving a product’s sustainability along the value adding chain. In this
way, all participants in the procurement chain are involved in the improvement
process. Similar products or processes can be compared using the eco-efficiency
analysis. “Only if all the influences are taken into account in their entirety,
can the best balance be found between the requirements of industry, society and
the environment”, says Klaus Welsch, Vice President for BASF’s Crop Protection
business in Europe Under the motto “Living Food Quality Together”, BASF is
continuing to extend its partnerships with the food value chains in various
countries and crops.
Sustainability in BASF’s customer relations
The issue of sustainability is playing an important role for more and more
customers. Therefore, in connection with the Success initiative – added value
through sustainability – BASF supports customers in implementing sustainability
in their business processes. Thanks to its many years of experience, BASF is in
a good position regarding the sustainability issue: Only at the beginning of
September was BASF chosen as the top chemical company in the most important
sustainability index in the world, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI
World). For example, the climate strategy, environmental and social reporting
and the development of innovative and eco-efficient products were the decisive
factors for this distinction. In the DJSI World, of the 2500 companies of the
Dow Jones Global Index, the leading ten percent of each sector are listed in
the area of sustainability.
Arcadia
(
The deal gives Semillas Fito an exclusive license to use
“Although long shelf life tomatoes are already available in the market, this is the very first time the approach to LSL does not spoil the flavor, which will allow us to create unique products,” said Eduard Fito, director of Semillas Fito’s vegetable seeds unit, in a news release.
“For consumers it ill mean better flavor and less waste from spoilage after purchase, and for producers it will lead to the ability to provide a better quality produce with less waste,” said Eric Rey, Arcadia Biosciences’ president and chief executive officer, in the news release. “Semillas Fito is an ideal partner for us because of their proven breeding capabilities, proprietary germplasm and access to key world markets.”
The companies expect to make the first new varieties commercially available by 2011.
Organic grower trials veg varieties for taste
(The Christian Science Monitor) – Eero Ruuttila wants to
grow the best-tasting vegetables and herbs. After all, this organic farmer’s
crop goes to discerning chefs at upscale restaurants in the
For years he has trialed new varieties of vegetables. This
year, he planted more than 60 vegetables at the request of Seeds of Change, an
organic seed company with headquarters in
These were grown in rows right next to his favorite varieties of the same crops, so he could see, side by side, the differences: Did one bear sooner (or much later) than the other? Was the yield larger? Which had a better appearance? Did insects or diseases become a problem? Which had better flavor?
On a crisp day earlier this fall, culinary and horticultural
experts visited the
This year’s weather – much rainier than usual – had a big impact on performance, Mr. Ruuttila says. Weeks of rain flooded fields, sometimes prevented timely planting or harvesting, and affected growing. Insect and disease pressures were also much greater than usual.
But during other years, lack of rain can be a problem, so Ruuttila tries to identify varieties of vegetables and herbs that produce well whatever the weather.
The climate issue facing farmers isn’t so much global warming as climate change, he says, mentioning damaging hailstorms and three “100-year” floods within two years.
“The future is in growing crops that can deal with extreme variables,” he delares.
Several years ago he grew trial crops of 25 different varieties of various-colored carrots. He doesn’t think they taste as good as the more familiar orange carrots, but chefs like them because of their unusual appearance.
Looking at Purple Dragon, it’s easy to see why. It’s reddish-purple on the outside, with an orange interior. Ruuttila pulled some from the ground, rinsed them off, and offered them to his visitors. The verdict: They taste as good as they look.
He sows seeds of most carrots close together because restaurants want small carrots – short and slender. A mix of colors and varieties has proven popular with his customers.
Radishes, another chef favorite, also come in many colors as well as varying shapes. Ruuttila likes Plum Purple, which has a crisp white interior to contrast with the bright purple skin, because it looks pretty and has a mild flavor.
But he suggests that growers who are interested in appearance also look at multicolored radishes such as Easter Egg; red and white breakfast radishes; and Black Spanish, a black radish with a white interior, “the only black and white I know of in the vegetable kingdom,” he says.
Beets also are available in myriad colors, shapes, and
sizes.
It’s definitely a conversation piece, but its taste is also good – sweet and mild.
Touchstone is a golden beet whose stems are also yellow, a nice contrast with its dark-green leaves. Pronto grows fast and has an unusual flattened shape.
Nesenkeag Farm produces many different types of fresh greens, often sold to chefs in colorful mixtures – Sputnik arugula, red radicchio, Purple Wave and Oaska Purple mustard, magenta spinach, and much more.
Among the kales, Red Russian and Dinosaur (a blue-leaved variety) add color to the garden and to salad plates.
When it comes to basil, Ruuttila suggests that gardeners try a number of varieties and choose their favorites based not on appearance but on flavor. “Each basil has a different taste,” he says. “Choose which one you like the taste of.”
His favorite Italian basil is Genovese. It has great flavor and is slow to bolt.
In contrast to basil, amaranth – Hopi Red Dye and Gold Giant in particular – is grown mostly for its looks. It makes a strong visual statement because of its bright flowers but has no taste.
It definitely adds excitement to a salad mix, though, and also offers some environmental benefits: Ruuttila often uses the plants as a snow break. And during winter, the seedpods provide food for finches and sparrows, he says.
Throughout the fields are plots of cover crops, which he calls green manure. Combinations of grains and legumes — such as red clover, hairy vetch, and rye — these are planted to improve the soil naturally..
“They feed the soil,” he says, “and provide [good] microbes and biomass.”
After every crop is harvested, a soil-improving cover crop is planted for a season before another vegetable is grown in that spot.
His favorite cover-crop combo is oats and field peas (which fix nitrogen in the soil). This would be a good twosome for home gardeners who want to improve their soil organically because it looks good.
Also, Ruuttila points out, this is a double-duty combination: As it beefs up the soil, he can also sell the tender pea shoots or tendrils to high-end restaurants for use in salads and as garnishes.
His visitors pinched off a few tips of the pea vines, nibbled on them, and nodded approval.
The tour of the 40-acre organic farm concluded with informal taste tests of heirloom tomatoes. The rainy summer was hard on all tomatoes, but the hybrid cherry types performed the best, especially Sun Gold and Sweet 100.
“When there’s a lot of stress [such as excess rain], the
yellows break down last,” Ruuttila says.
So did two heirlooms with striped flesh, Green Zebra and Tigerella. Amish Paste tomatoes, although mostly used for canning, had excellent flavor when sliced.
One of the hits of the tasting was Zeppelin Delicata squash, which was cut into 1/2-inch orange sticks, brushed with olive oil, and cooked for a few minutes on a covered grill. It was so sweet and delicious that it was difficult for the cook to keep up with the demand.
There’s no better recommendation for a vegetable variety than a group of hungry people devouring it and requesting, “More, please.”
Home gardener redefined for backyard chic
(The New York Times) – Eating locally raised food is a growing
trend. But who has time to get to the farmer’s market, let alone plant a
garden?
That is where Trevor Paque comes in. For a fee, Mr. Paque, who
lives in
Call them the lazy locavores — city dwellers who insist on eating
food grown close to home but have no inclination to get their hands dirty. Mr.
Paque is typical of a new breed of business owner serving their needs.
Even couples planning a wedding at the Plaza Hotel in
“The highest form of luxury is now growing it yourself or paying
other people to grow it for you,” said Corby Kummer, the food columnist and
book author. “This has become fashion.”
Locally grown food, even fully cooked meals, can be delivered to
your door. A share in a cow raised in a nearby field can be brought to you,
ready for the freezer — a phenomenon dubbed cow pooling. There is pork pooling
as well. At Sugar Mountain Farm in
Although a completely local diet is out of reach
for even the most dedicated, the shift toward it is being driven by the
increasingly popular view that fast food is the enemy and that local food
tastes better. Depending on the season, local produce can cost an additional $1
a pound or more. But long-distance food, with its attendant petroleum
consumption and cheap wages, is harming the planet and does nothing to help
build communities, locavores believe.
As a result of interest in local food and rising grocery bills,
backyard gardens have been enjoying a renaissance across the country, but what
might be called the remote-control backyard garden — no planting, no weeding,
no dirt under the fingernails — is a twist. “They want to have a garden, they
don’t want to garden,” said the cookbook author Deborah Madison, who lives in
Her neighbor Chase Ault, a business consultant, recently had a
vegetable garden installed with a customized set of plants and a regular
service agreement. “I am working 24-7 these days, but I wanted to have
something growing in front of me,” Ms. Ault said.
Like organic food, which corporate manufacturers embraced
in the 1990s, before it, local food is quickly moving into the mainstream. Last
year, the New Oxford American Dictionary picked locavore as its word of the
year. A National Restaurant Association survey this year of more than 1,200
chefs, many of whom work for chain restaurants or large food companies, found
locally grown produce to be the second-hottest American food trend, just behind
bite-size desserts.
For a growing number of diners, a food’s provenance is more
important than its brand name, said Michelle Barry, who studies American eating
patterns for the Hartman Group, a research firm in
That will be a boon to people who find that shortcuts are
necessary if they wish to eat locally. “If you live on East 80th 14 floors up
and all you have is a potted plant, it’s tough,” said Lynne Rossetto Kasper,
the host of the radio show “The Splendid Table,” who recruited 15 listeners for
a study on the subject. Researchers will record their struggles to make 80
percent of their meals from organic or local sources. Spices are the only
exemption.
Lazy locavores would never go to such extremes. Rather, they might
simply sign up with the FruitGuys. The company, which has offices in
In the mood for a meal that reeks of community but does not
necessitate a communal activity? Three Stone Hearth in Berkeley, Calif., which
describes itself as a community supported kitchen, offers its customers the
opportunity to make friends while making food from local, sustainable farms,
but the worker-owned company also offers online shopping for people who do not
have the time to pick up orders or participate in educational activities.
Customers 20 miles away in the affluent community of
“It’s a very savvy crowd that understands how all the pieces of
sustainable farming and nutrition fit together,” said Larry Wisch, one of five
worker-owners at Three Stone Hearth. “But they don’t want the headaches of
getting here.”
Or you could just have your private chef handle all your local
food needs. At their
“What I’m seeing with my clients is not the trendiness or the
politics,” Mr. Welch said. “They are looking only at taste.”
Mrs. Howard said she ate local vegetables growing up in northern
“It’s like the first time you start drinking good red wine and you
realize what you were drinking was so bad you can’t go back to it,” Mrs. Howard
said. “It’s that same way with vegetables.”
The author Barbara Kingsolver, whose book “Animal,
Vegetable, Miracle” was a best seller last year, did not have the lazy locavore
in mind when she wrote about the implications of making her family spend a year
eating local. But she celebrates the trend.
“As a person of rural origin who has lived much of my life in
rural places,” she said, “I can’t tell you how joyful it makes me to hear that
it’s trendy for people in
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