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November 17, 2009
· Job prospects drawing students to ag schools
· Scientists develop super bee to battle parasites
· Food summit turns down UN funding appeal
· Vertical farm technology makes Time’s Top 50
· Former Presidents Bush, Clinton to speak on biotech
Job prospects drawing students to ag schools
(AP
via Yahoo! Finance)
There isn't a farm within miles of where she grew up on
"People ask me what is my major, and they say 'What is that? So you want to grow plants?'" Jones said.
She is one of a growing number of students being drawn to ag schools around the country not by ties to a farm but by science, the job prospects for those who are good at it and, for some, an interest in the environment.
Enrollment in bachelor's degree programs in agriculture across the country grew by 21.8 percent from 2005 to 2008, from about 58,300 students to nearly 71,000, according to surveys conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And the numbers are likely higher -- not all schools respond to the surveys.
National enrollment figures for 2009 aren't yet available,
but numbers from major schools make clear the trend continues: The University
of California-Davis has more than 5,490 students enrolled in agricultural
majors -- a jump of 210 from a year earlier.
Yet the number of farms nationwide has dropped for decades.
There were about 2.4 million farms in the
Many students are choosing to major in agriculture, educators from across the country say, after finding out that much of what they'll learn is science -- biology, chemistry and a long list of more specialized areas that can land them jobs at companies that produce the seeds and chemicals for farmers or in still-forming industries like biofuels.
Almost a quarter of the incoming freshmen at the University of Wisconsin each year say they want to do "something in biology," said Bob Ray, associate dean for undergraduate programs and services.
Agriculture schools are doing their best to reach out to such students.
"Every one of our poultry science graduates, they average about five job offers per graduate," college spokesman Bill Gibbs said.
Demand for science graduates, agriculture industry officials say, outstrips supply.
Monsanto, the
"We find it really hard to find people in science, in
particular, because they tend to get snatched up by medical and health
care-related things," said Monsanto spokesman Darren Wallis, adding that
it has openings for 100 researchers in
UC-Davis' College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is one of the country's biggest ag schools and still has plenty of students studying in traditional areas, said Diane Ullman, the college's associate dean for undergraduate academic programs.
But more than 3,200 of UC-Davis' ag students -- almost 60 percent -- are studying so-called human sciences, such as nutrition, or environmental sciences, such as environmental policy and landscape architecture.
"I think that young people are recognizing all of the issues that surround our society that have to do with food, and I think there's a real interest in new ways of doing things and solving some of these problems," Ullman said.
Kate Molak is one of the students Ullman is talking about.
Molak is from
"I wouldn't say that agriculture necessarily has anything to do with that, but we do deal with a lot of environmental issues with public health," she said.
At
"I always liked to pick apart worms -- I thought I was a weirdo," Jones said
Now she's applying to graduate programs and hoping she'll eventually be a research professor, maybe working on how to grow a better soybean.
"I love doing research," she said. "Just having that hands-on experience, and being able to see the product, even if it takes years to see it."
Scientists develop super bee to battle parasites
(MSNBC) – In an effort to stem a massive bee die-off, government scientists have developed a population of honeybees that can root out a main culprit in the epidemic — a parasite that feeds on pupae in nests and spreads viruses within hives.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists hope the population of Varroa mite-detecting honeybees could potentially improve the health of the overall honeybee population.
Domestic honeybee stocks have been waning since 2004 because
of a mysterious illness scientists call colony collapse disorder, which causes
adult bees to forsake their broods. During the winter of 2007, the disorder
wiped out around 1 million colonies in
In addition to stemming the tide of honeybee die-offs, the USDA hopes that the effort to eliminate the varroa mite threat could buoy the $8 to $14 billion food industry that relies on commercial honeybee pollination.
"Varroa is still considered
the No. 1 pest of honeybees worldwide," said Jeffrey Harris, an
entomologist with the Honeybee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Unit
in
Mites resistant to pesticides
For more than 20 years, varroa
mites have not only decimated millions of honeybee colonies in
The tiny parasites invade a honeybee colony and feed off honeybee hemolymph, which is the mixture of blood and fluids inside the insect's body. Varroa mites especially target immature pupae in capped broods, or covered hive cells, stunting their growth and causing wing and leg deformities. The pests are also vectors for virus. Within two years, varroa mites can destroy an entire colony.
But some bees have a low-frequency genetic trait termed varroa-sensitive hygiene (VSH) that enables them to better locate and remove varroa mites from hives. These bees team up to open the covered brood cells and remove the mite-damaged pupae and any accompanying varroa mites from the hive.
"We do think they're much better at smelling the odors associated with varroa-infected cells," Harris said.
After identifying and isolating that genetic trait, Harris and other USDA entomologists have now developed a population of honeybees with a high expression of the VSH. In a field trial of 40 colonies, those with the highest levels of VSH showed significantly lower mite infestation and bee mortality than the control groups. The study results were published in the Journal of Apicultural Research.
Not meant for mass reproduction
Harris emphasizes that the VSH honeybees aren't meant for mass reproduction as a pure stock, since that would result in excessive inbreeding, with single queens mating with up to 20 drone bees.
"By outcrossing them and breeding VSH queens with non-VSH bees, it guarantees that there will be mongrels and mutts out there to keep the genetic diversity up," Harris told Discovery News.
Although Dr. Keith Delaplane,
director of the Honeybee Program at the
"These specific characteristics tend to erode pretty quickly unless the beekeeper is applying stiff selection to the colonies," Delaplane said.
The VSH trait expresses infrequently in the wild and some stocks, such as Russian honeybee, have developed some mite-resistance naturally over time.
Delaplane thinks it's important weigh the pros and cons of selectively breeding for traits versus promoting more "hybrid vigor" by allowing queens to mate of their own accord.
"Natural selection doesn't necessarily favor traits we think it ought to favor," he notes.
From a commercial standpoint, VSH bees have so far met the USDA's expectations of thwarting varroa mite infestations and fulfilling their crucial roles as pollinators.
"As far as performance, they do just as well as the
other lines in terms of making honey and pollinating," said Tom Glenn,
professional beekeeper and owner of Glenn Apiaries in
In 2001, Glenn began artificially inseminating pure VSH queens from the USDA Honeybee Research Unit. To limit inbreeding, he impregnates the queen with semen from around 200 drones, rather than the 10 or 20 she would normally mate with. He doesn't breed bees that are too closely related.
Considering the reproductive and hygienic success he's witnessed with the VSH colonies, Glenn is optimistic that the honeybee industry is on the right track toward recovery from the varroa pest and Colony Collapse Disorder.
"Actually, (the VSH bees) have been doing so well that in 2002 we stopped treating for the mites altogether," Glenn said.
Food summit turns down UN funding appeal
(AP
via The Washington Times)
In a show of broad consensus, some 60 heads of state and dozens of ministers from other nations pledged to substantially increase aid to agriculture in developing nations to help them become more self-sufficient in food production.
The world's wealthiest nations put forward the strategy at
the Group of Eight summit this summer in
Despite endorsing the strategy in the first hours of Monday's meeting, the 192 participating countries did not commit to the $44 billion a year for agricultural aid that the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says will be necessary in the coming decades.
Soon after the delegates approved the declaration, Pope Benedict took the floor to decry "opulence and waste" in a world where the "tragedy" of hunger has been steadily worsening. Benedict's speech marked the first time a pontiff attended such a gathering since Pope John Paul II took part in a 1996 food summit.
The pontiff, lending his moral authority as head of the world's 1 billion Catholics, also called for access to international markets for products coming from the poorest countries, which he said are often relegated to the sidelines.
The pope urged delegates to keep the "fundamental rights of the individual" in mind when shaping new agricultural strategy. People are entitled to "sufficient, health and nutritious food" as well as water, he said.
Heads of state in attendance include
The U.N. agency, which is hosting the three-day summit at
its
As the conference opened, the United Nations' chief urged rich and powerful countries to tackle "unacceptable" global hunger.
"The world has more than enough food," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told delegates. "Yet, today, more than 1 billion people are hungry. This is unacceptable."
So far, helping the world's hungry has largely entailed wealthy nations sending food assistance rather than technology, irrigation help, fertilizer or high-yield seed that could assist local farmers, livestock herders and fishermen. Much of this food assistance is purchased from the wealthy nations' own farmers.
But the Food and Agriculture Organization says the best way to stop hunger is to help the needy help themselves, and the final declaration agreed to do that.
This approach "lies at the core of food security," Ban said. "Our job is not just to feed the hungry, but to empower the hungry to feed themselves."
The summit is being held at a time "when the international community recognizes it has neglected agriculture for many years," the organization said Sunday. "Sustained investment in agriculture -- especially small-holder agriculture -- is acknowledged as the key to food security."
The gathering hopes to build momentum on a shift toward more aid to agriculture that was first laid out at the G-8 summit in July, during which leaders of the developed nations pledged to spend $20 billion in the next three years to help farmers in poor countries.
Vertical farm technology makes Time’s Top 50
(Wire Services) –
"Real estate - the one thing we're not making any more of," reports Time Magazine. "That might be good news for landlords but not for the world's farmers, who have finite cropland to feed a growing global population. The answer: build up by farming vertically. Valcent is pioneering a hydroponic-farming system that grows plants in rotating rows, one on top of another. The rotation gives the plants the precise amount of light and nutrients they need, while the vertical stacking enables the use of far less water than conventional farming. But best of all, by growing upward instead of outward, vertical farming can expand food supplies without using more land."
Valcent pioneered a vertical
farming technology, developed in their
"VertiCrop, a commercial high-density vertical growing system, is being employed in controlled environments such as a glasshouse, polytunnel or warehouses, which increases production volume for field crops up to 20 times over but requires as little as 5% of the normal water supply," adds Bradford. "It is a non-GM solution to food problems, using trays on a looped dynamic conveyor belt and automatic feeding stations to grow plants efficiently. It can be adapted to the needs of vegetable, herb, fruit and flower producers."
About Valcent Products Inc.:
Valcent Products Inc. (OTC.BB:VCTZF - News) is a leader in the development and manufacturing of commercial vertical crop technology for global markets. Valcent is a pioneer and leader in eco-technology with its core research and development in sustainable, renewable, and intensive agricultural products. For more information, visit: www.valcent.net and www.valcent.eu.
Former Presidents Bush, Clinton to speak on biotech
(Chicago
Tribune) – Their reported
The Biotechnology Industry Organization's annual meeting May
3-6 in
The two former presidents will share a
BIO's announcement, expected as
early as Monday morning in Washington, comes about a week after the 42nd and
43rd leaders of the free world abruptly pulled out of a scheduled joint
appearance for February at Radio City Music Hall. The two canceled the event
because of a "violation of contract and a promoter who insisted on billing
it as something it wasn't," a
The
Though no tussle is expected, BIO is promising a "lively dialogue," expected to draw an international community of more than 15,000 biotech industry leaders.
Last month, BIO announced that former Vice President Al
Gore,
"The participation of Presidents Bush and Clinton, as well as Vice President Gore, underscore the growing importance of biotechnology to address some of the world's most pressing issues," said Abbott Laboratories Chief Executive Miles White, who is co-chairman of the BIO 2010 Steering Committee along with Baxter International Inc. CEO Bob Parkinson.
Both Chicago-area companies have a huge stake in biotechnology, with their top-selling drugs derived from genetic engineering of human cells. Deerfield-based Baxter sells the blockbuster blood-clotting drug Advate and is developing stem cell therapies to regenerate the heart. North Chicago-based Abbott markets the biotech drug Humira, which is used for a range of autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease.
"The decision of Presidents Bush and Clinton to participate in BIO 2010 reflects what we in the Midwest biotech community feel so strongly, which is that biotechnology holds great promise for health care, agriculture and industrial applications," said Parkinson. "Important, bipartisan, public dialogue such as this needs to take place to advance knowledge about that promise, and about the successes already achieved."
Drug and biotech firms play a key role in sponsoring BIO and generally underwrite the costs to bring in speakers. Gore's keynote address is sponsored by California-based biotech giant Amgen Inc. BIO said Johnson & Johnson is the sponsor for the keynotes of Clinton and Bush.
"I'm sure this keynote discussion will inspire and
engage the global industry leaders in attendance," said BIO president
End Transmission