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November 4, 2009
· Electricity now in the crop mix for many farmers
· Monsanto opens biotech research center in China
· Supreme Court review of pesticide issue sought
· $19M to bolster organic research and education
· Getting improved seed varieties to African farmers
Electricity now in the crop mix for many farmers
(AP
via Yahoo! News) WIMER,
Besides the 40-some dwarf Nigerian goats they milk to make artisanal cheeses, they also raise chickens for meat and eggs, a steer for beef, horses to ride and vegetables for the table.
Unlike most small farms, their heat and electricity is entirely home grown. They produce electricity from solar panels when the sun shines, and a micro-hydro turbine when winter rains put water in the creek. Oak and fir cut from the farm fire a boiler that heats the cement floors of the dairy and cheese making room, as well as the hot water to wash the goats and themselves.
"We thought we should be responsible for our own energy," said Vern Caldwell, a retired U.S. Marine Corps aircraft maintenance officer. "So that drove a lot of everything else that we did — where the buildings were placed, how they were placed, taking advantage of passive solar, how we were going to heat, how we were going to cool. All those issues then got driven by this one decision to be off the grid."
Pholia Farm is unusual in the degree to which it is energy self-sufficient.
But more farms are installing renewable energy, said Stephanie Page, renewable energy specialist for the Oregon Department of Agriculture. The motivation was sparked by the 2008 spike in fuel prices, and is being fanned by a range of grants and tax credits handed out by state, federal and private agencies.
"As they exhaust energy efficiency projects on their farms, then they are starting to look more at renewable energy," she said.
Just how many remains unclear, but the motivation seems to still be a desire to be green more than the bottom line, despite an increasing array of financial incentives.
No one really knows how many
But indications are that the numbers are rising.
Overall renewable energy production rose 5 percent from 2007 to 2008, according to the Energy Information Administration.
And there were $9 million worth of applications for just $2.4 million in grants authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill for farm energy audits, a precondition to applying for alternative energy grants, said Bill Hagy, special assistant for alternative energy policy for the secretary of Agriculture.
In fiscal year 2008, USDA Rural Development funded 197 renewable energy projects, and projections are for 385 projects in fiscal 2009, said spokesman Jay Fletcher.
At Persephone Farm in
"We are basically harvesting the sun when we're farming," said Falen. "That's what our crops are doing. This is just another way of doing it."
Though increases in incentives have made alternative energy more affordable, it remains a philosophical decision rather than a bottom-line decision, Falen added.
"We try to look at the cost of electricity being substantially higher than getting it from the utility," Falen said. "There are a lot of deferred costs of adapting to future climate change, impacts to people's health. With respect to gasoline there is a lot of cost from fighting wars to maintain supply."
Solar contractor Ron Summers in
"Everybody wants to be green," he said. "Not everybody can afford it."
Wintergreen Farm in Noti grows organic fruits, vegetables and grass-fed beef. It took awhile to make enough profit to make the tax credits work for installing solar panels, and a USDA energy grant covering about a quarter of the cost helped them decide to go forward, said partner Jack Gray.
Before adding to capacity that now covers about one-fifth of their energy needs, they plan to improve the energy efficiency of walk-in coolers and other equipment.
"You really have to be able to take advantage of the tax credits, the 50 percent from the state and 30 percent from the feds," Gray said.
Lucien Gunderman was hoping to produce all the electricity he needed to irrigate hay fields and beef pasture on his Crown Hill Farm in McMinnville when he tapped a network of irrigation reservoirs to run a hydroelectric turbine in 2001, but has been surprised by the costs and disappointed in the results.
"It's been a good investment as far as an enjoyable thing to put in and operate and see a project come together and work," he said. "The dollar return has not been the best."
Gunderman blames excessive projections of how much electricity the water available could produce, and figures his original estimate of 19 years to pay back the cost will double, due to having to add on to the system to hit 100 percent of his need.
"Everybody talks about how we need to go to renewable — renewable is great," he said "But you need to have money, which thankfully we had, to invest."
Vern Caldwell would never have gone completely off the grid, with the extra expense of batteries to store the power generated by his solar panels and turbine, if the farm had already been hooked up to power. The land had previously been a grass landing strip owned by Gianaclis' parents. Not hooking in to the grid saved them $10,000 to bring in power from the road.
"The thing to remember about most types of renewable energy is people keep trying to associate it with money," he said. "It's really just because it's something that needs to be done. We felt like it's something we should do. We didn't really calculate a payback. We just felt like it was necessary."
Monsanto opens biotech research center
in China
(Wire Services)
The
The new research center is an extension of the company's commitment to doubling yields in its core crops by 2030 compared to a base year of 2000, while reducing the amount of inputs required per unit produced by a third. Monsanto currently invests more than $2 million a day in research in order to meet this commitment to global agriculture.
The
"Monsanto has made a commitment to collaborate with
Chinese scientists on advanced biotech and breeding technology," said
Stephen Padgette, vice president of biotechnology for
Monsanto. "Monsanto has made a commitment to develop advanced biotech and
breeding technology to
"We are pleased that Monsanto, the leading agricultural
biotech company, is setting up a research center in
Recently, Monsanto announced a
collaboration with
Prof. Qifa Zhang, a leading
scientist at
"The establishment of the center will have a key role in further strengthening our collaboration, and speeding up commercialization and marketing of new technology," Zhang said.
"We hope to work closely with Chinese scientists and
researchers on innovation in agricultural biotechnology. Establishing a
research center in
About Monsanto Company
Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality. Monsanto remains focused on enabling both small-holder and large-scale farmers to produce more from their land while conserving more of our world's natural resources such as water and energy. To learn more about our business and our commitments, please visit: www.monsanto.com. Follow our business on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MonsantoCo, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MonsantoCo, or subscribe to our News Release RSS Feed.
Supreme Court review of pesticide issue sought
(AFBF) WASHINGTON, D.C., – The American Farm Bureau Federation has filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the high court to review a lower court ruling that will otherwise impose Clean Water Act permitting requirements on the application of pesticides on, over or near water.
“Allowing the lower court ruling to stand would pose serious challenges to farmers battling pests,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “When pests strike, time is of the essence, and any length of time waiting for permit approval for products that are already approved would be disastrous.”
The problem stems from a January 2009 ruling by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which struck down a 2006 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that interpreted the Clean Water Act did not regulate most pesticide applications into, over or near “waters of the United States,” so long as the pesticide use complied with EPA’s requirements (such as EPA-approved label restrictions).
The Sixth Circuit found in “National Cotton Council v. EPA” that EPA must require Clean Water Act permits for pesticide application in water or near waters where pesticide falls into the water. The court recognized only a very narrow exception for chemical pesticides intentionally applied to water that leave no “residue” after their use is complete. AFBF’s petition seeks Supreme Court review of that decision.
The practical effect of the Sixth Circuit decision is that
almost all pesticide applications directly to water, over water, or “near”
water will require a Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System (NPDES) permit. If the decision is allowed to stand, farmers and others
who use pesticides, such as mosquito abatement districts, will be required to
obtain permits in order to apply pesticides on or near water. Since EPA views
“waters of the
In its petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, AFBF argues that the EPA pesticide rule simply formalized how EPA and Congress have always addressed environmental regulation of pesticide use.
“Since Congress enacted the Clean Water Act in 1972, EPA has never subjected the use of pesticides to NPDES permitting,” explained Julie Anna Potts, the AFBF’s general counsel. “This court opinion dramatically changes the scope of the Clean Water Act and will force farmers, public health agencies, and many others into burdensome, time-consuming, and costly permitting requirements that could seriously impair their ability to use pesticides to protect croplands and public health.
“AFBF submitted its petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to seek correction of a decision that threatens very real consequences for crop protection and public health,” Potts said. “Right now, the Supreme Court is all that is standing between us and broad new restrictions that will obstruct essential, often time-critical responses to pest and disease outbreaks.”
In its petition, AFBF warns that “even slight delays caused
by permit requirements can result in less effective crop protection, the spread
of pests and disease, and significant crop loss.” The petition also explains
that effective mosquito control through pesticide use is our nation’s best
weapon against mosquito-borne disease, cautioning “anything that significantly
curtails the use of pesticides in, over, and near waters threatens public
health with outbreaks of
Responses to the AFBF petition, and friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the petition, will be due in early December. The Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to hear the case by the end of the year.
$19M to bolster organic research and education
(USDA) –
"Organic agriculture is one of the fastest growing
segments of
Merrigan announced the funding in
Launched in September 2009, the 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food' initiative emphasizes the need for a fundamental and critical reconnection between producers and consumers. 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food' includes such major agricultural topics as supporting local farmers and community food groups; strengthening rural communities; enhancing direct marketing and farmers' promotion programs; promoting healthy eating; protecting natural resources; and helping schools connect with locally grown foods.
Since the late 1990's,
The Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative, administered by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, funds projects that will enhance the ability of producers and processors who already have adopted organic standards to grow and market high-quality organic agricultural products.
Meanwhile, the Integrated Organic and Water Quality Program funds projects that demonstrate benefits to soil and water availability posed by implementing certified organic practices. Projects combine physical measurements of soil and surface and/or groundwater conditions at the field or farm scale with modeling information generated at the same spatial and temporal scale.
Getting improved seed varieties to African farmers
(IITA) – African seed producers and researchers want regional actions that will fast track the release of seeds with a call on policy makers to remove the bottlenecks in seed multiplication and expedite the release of improved varieties to farmers.
At a policy workshop organized by IITA and CIMMYT in
"The road blocks need to be removed by harmonizing varieties' releasing laws in the West African sub region. For example, we have too many regulatory agencies on the highways. That needs to be broken and the market opened otherwise we have no headway and the gap will remain," says Osofo Patrick Apullah, Managing Director of Ghana-based Savanna Seed Services Limited.
Studies conducted by IITA and CIMMYT researchers show that demand for maize far outstrips supply in West Africa.
For instance, improved maize seed supply in
Tahirou Abdoulaye,
IITA Agricultural Economist who led the study, says maize seed production is
still lower than needed in the
Grown in the vast lands of
In recent years, the productivity of maize has been severely threatened by a matrix of problems including slow pace of release of improved seeds to farmers, frequent droughts and irregular rainfall.
Wilfred Mwangi, Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Project Manager and Associate Director of CIMMYT's Global Maize Program, says for improved seed varieties to reach farmers, a functional, effective, vibrant, and streamlined seed sector is critical.
He added that the IITA-CIMMYT maize study proves that the
seed sector in
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For more information, please contact:
Jeffrey T. Oliver, o.jeffrey@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (International)
Godwin Atser, g.atser@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (
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