" I heard it through the AgLine"

December 4, 2009

 

 

·        GM seed success slows US approval process

·        Keepers rethinking honeybee health strategies

·        RFK Jr. hops aboard urban farming bandwagon

·        Beetle glue discovery may protect future crops

·        A great glass of beer gets its start in the field

 

 

GM seed success slows US approval process

 

(DesMoinesRegister.com) – Executives of the three leading corn and soybean seed companies said Thursday that the pace of federal regulatory approvals for biotech seeds, once granted at almost breakneck speed, has slowed in recent years.

 

The executives of Syngenta, Pioneer Hi-Bred and Monsanto who spoke to the annual convention of the Iowa Farm Bureau at the Polk County Convention Complex said their companies bear some responsibility for the problem.

 

"The time it takes to get approval has increased at least sixfold in the last five years," said Ben Hable, maize western product development head for Syngenta. It often takes several years to gain approval.

 

William Niebur, vice president for crop genetic research and development for DuPont, which owns Pioneer Hi-Bred, said: "Some of the problem is the volume of approvals that have to be done. And the federal agencies have tended to be underfunded."

 

Sam Eathington, line development director for Monsanto, noted that the technology "we are sending for approval has become more complex."

 

"The flip side is that other countries are becoming more progressive," he said. "In recent years, Brazil has become the leader in streamlined approvals."

 

Syngenta, Pioneer and Monsanto sell about 70 percent of the corn and soybeans in the United States and have the bulk of the genetically engineered biotech seed traits, which are used by up to 90 percent of Iowa farmers.

 

Speedy approval for new traits by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration has made the United States the world leader in genetically modified seeds since the biotech revolution arrived on farms in the mid-1990s.

 

The panel discussion Thursday had none of the animosity that has marked the seed industry in recent years, to the point where the U.S. Agriculture and Justice departments have opened an inquiry about possible antitrust violations. A hearing on the matter will be held in Ankeny on March 12.

 

Niebur, whose company filed an antitrust lawsuit against Monsanto last summer, came closest to touching on the controversy when he said at the end of the presentation: "Iowa farmers need strong competition in the seed industry."

 

The three plant breeders reviewed their companies' current offerings, which included "stacked" corn seeds containing herbicide and corn pest resistances.

 

The new stacked seeds on the horizon in the next year will enable farmers to reduce their conservation acreage from 20 to 5 percent. That land is planted with conventional seeds to help prevent pests from mutating into new resistant forms.

 

They noted that biotechnology hasn't provided the same spectacular yield gains for soybeans as it has for corn.

 

"Soybeans have been left behind," Niebur said. "We have to wake up. Soybeans plants are still losing too many leaves. We can get more pods on the plants."

 

The soybean market hopes for a boost when the government approves the next generation of beans that make zero-trans-fat cooking oils.

 

Pioneer had hoped that its Plenish high-oleic soybean would be approved by the Agriculture Department by summer, but still is waiting. Monsanto has filed for approval of its Vistive III soybean line.

 

Beyond that are two major targets of the seed companies, drought-resistant corn seeds and soybeans seeds genetically equipped to battle aphids.

 

Both of those seeds could be available by the middle of the decade. Hable noted wryly that researchers working on drought-resistant corn were frustrated by above-average rains in most of the Corn Belt this year.

 

"I never thought I'd see researchers complain about too much rain," Hable said to laughter in the audience.

 

But the seed men said they were convinced that drought-resistant corn seed, targeted for the western sectors of the Corn Belt in the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas, can find a market in Iowa.

 

Hable, of Syngenta, which owns the Garst, Golden Harvest and NK seed lines, said: "I would argue that every field in the Corn Belt is under some form of heat or dryness stress at some time during the growing season. Even in Iowa, stress can happen at 3:30 in the afternoon when the warm winds come in from the southwest."

 

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Keepers rethinking honeybee health strategies

 

(McClatchy via Yahoo! News) – For Texas commercial beekeeper John Talbert , the mysterious malady that is killing off bees means he's keeping his hives close to home.

 

"It's like people and the swine flu: The more people you get together in one spot, the higher probability you're going to have a health problem," said Talbert, who lives near Josephine in southeastern Collin County . "I don't move them around and keep them isolated."

 

Here and abroad, however, many other beekeepers haven't been as fortunate.

 

Last winter, 29 percent of U.S. hives were lost to the mysterious phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder, according to a survey conducted by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the U.S. Agriculture Department . The disorder was first noticed in 2005.

 

Colony collapse disorder has a variety of suspected causes: pesticides, varroa mites, viruses, stress from shipping hives long distances to pollinate crops — or some combination. Colony collapse disorder typically affects commercial hives and generally not those kept by hobbyists.

 

Some researchers and environmentalists, however, are focusing again on pesticides as the key culprit.

 

"We do feel like pesticides are playing a role in pollinator decline," said Maryann Frazier , a senior extension associate with Penn State University . "We know that the pesticides are there. We don't know yet exactly what role they're playing."

 

Penn State's research is undergoing peer review and is expected to be published by the end of the year.

 

Environmental groups, such as the Sierra Club , are targeting chemically coated seeds, called neonicotinoids. They have called on the Environmental Protection Agency to suspend use of neonicotinoids, an artificial form of nicotine, until more conclusive research can be completed. Italy , France , Germany and Slovenia have restricted the use of some of these pesticides.

 

California's Department of Pesticide Regulation , where more than 1 million honeybees are needed each winter to pollinate the almond crop, is also re-evaluating some neonicotinoids that may be harmful to bees.

 

"What we're asking the EPA is to go with precautions," said Laurel Hopwood , chairwoman of the Sierra Club genetic engineering action team. "Let's go ahead and suspend them until we get all of the research completed."

 

Bees are crucial to U.S. agriculture, adding an estimated $15 billion in value each year to staples such as nuts, fruit and vegetables, many of which require bee pollination.

 

Commercial beekeeper Clint Walker , who is based in the Central Texas town of Rogers, has been suspicious of pesticide use since the number of his hives dropped from 2,000 in summer 2005 to 600 in January 2006 . The portion of his hives that pollinated cotton fields that had been sprayed in West Texas collapsed, while his hives that stayed in Central Texas and pollinated wildflowers experienced no problems.

 

He will wait for definitive proof before assigning blame, however.

 

"I'm convinced in the next 24 months there will be evidence-based data that will irrefutably show why we are having colony collapse," said Walker, vice chairman of the National Honey Board and a former co-chairman of the National Honeybee Advisory Board .

 

Now, Walker has been far more selective on where he sends his bees. "My bees haven't been exposed to chemicals in three years," he said. "I'm still shipping some of them to California for the almond crop late this winter — there are some fungicides there — but that's the only exposure they're having. We're making honey crops on wildflowers; we're managing them with health-protein supplements. We're boosting their nutrition and letting them rest."

 

In Texas , most commercial beekeepers are based to the east of the Interstate 35 corridor and in the southern half of Texas . But most risk exposure from shipping their hives across the country.

 

Paul Jackson , chief apiary inspector with the Texas A&M's Apiary Inspection Service, remains skeptical that any one thing can be blamed.

 

"I hope someone hits the nail on the head that can prove it, but I personally think it's a combination of two, three or four things," Jackson said. "That's the reason it is so hard to understand. I guess we can put the blame on pesticides, but I don't believe that."

 

The Sierra Club is touting a documentary, Nicotine Bees, suggesting that neonicotinoids, which went into wide use in 2005, are the cause.

 

Kevin Hansen , the Albuquerque-based director of the documentary, said the fact that these seeds were distributed worldwide then is strong anecdotal evidence. He says his film is not an attack against the chemical companies, however.

 

"I think it is more of a public-policy issue more than blaming a single chemical company," Hansen said.

 

The makers of neonicotinoids have insisted that there is no hard evidence against the seeds.

 

"Everybody knows this is about the varroa mite, the nosema pest and a number of fungal and viral diseases," Dr. Julian Little , a British spokesman for Bayer CropScience told The Independent newspaper in London in September. "The healthiest bees in the world are in Australia , where they have lots of neonicotinoids, but they don't have varroa. If you look at a country where they have restricted the use of neonicotinoids, France , they have a worse bee problem there than they do in the U.K. "

 

In the U.S., the EPA created a pollinator protection team in June and announced a strategic plan to deal with colony collapse disorder. In August, the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit after the EPA failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request for agency documents on pesticide use and colony collapse disorder.

 

Talbert, the Collin County beekeeper, wonders whether bees and colony collapse disorder are "canaries in the coal mines" for humans.

 

"Some of us think we've got enough chemicals out there killing bees, which begs the question: What is it doing to people?" Talbert said.

 

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RFK Jr. hops aboard urban farming bandwagon

 

(Wire Services) CORNWALL, UNITED KINGDOM – Valcent Products Inc. (OTC.BB:VCTZF - News) announces that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has agreed to join the Company's advisory board.

 

Over the past two months Valcent has launched a major sales and marketing campaign aimed at developing interest for the concept of urban farming in a number of major US cities in association with EMLINK LLC of Boston Massachusetts.

 

"My cousin Robert F Kennedy Jr. has agreed to join the advisory board of Valcent Products Inc. and he is excited about the potential of this technology to offer a new more sustainable model of food production which does not employ pesticides and herbicides and does not involve high fossil fuel use and generate greenhouse gasses as conventional factory farming often does," said EMLINK's Stephen Kennedy Smith. "In addition to commercial growers, and urban areas we see potential for this technology to be used in defense and foreign aid applications as well."

 

Further Mr. Smith stated, "We have gotten a very positive response from leaders in state and local government regarding the potential of VertiCrop(TM) to create green jobs and bring fresh food to inner city communities. We expect our first project will be sited on a rooftop near city hall in the city of New York in the next few months."

 

The first commercial size unit of the VertiCrop(TM) system has now been in production for 2,000 hours during which time two lettuce crops have been harvested by its partners at the Paignton Zoo environmental park, with a third crop consisting of mixed lettuce and herbs to be harvested this week. All crops have been closely monitored for growth rates, yields, energy and water consumption and the data is now being shared with other potential clients who are currently in the final stages of reviewing proposals.

 

Chris Bradford, President and CEO of Valcent Products Inc., is pleased to report that: "We are finalizing orders for six VertiCrop(TM) systems by mid-December which will include orders from commercial growers within the United Kingdom as well as North America."

 

Bradford concluded "VertiCrop(TM) is providing the right technology at the right time."

 

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Beetle glue discovery may protect future crops

 

(Mother nature network) – Plants are ingenious at coming up with ways to ward off predators, but all things being equal, insects are just as good at finding ways to overcome such obstacles.

 

Take for instance the Asparagus Beetle, so named because it lays its eggs on the common asparagus plant. When hatched, both the larvae and adults can cause massive damage to asparagus crops -- mainly by munching on the tender growing tips and retarding growth. For years, scientists wondered how the beetle managed to secure its eggs to a plant covered with wax crystals, which make the branches practically unwettable and keep things from sticking. According to a new report, the secret lies in the beetle's glue. From the NY Times,  Scientists in Germany who study biomaterials have now figured out how the beetle does it. Dagmar Voigt of the Max-Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart and Stanislav Gorb of the University of Kiel say it secretes a compound, probably containing proteins, that has surfactant qualities — it spreads out rather than beading up. The compound forms a composite with the wax crystals, and as it dries it forms a glue that keeps the egg stuck.

 

The discovery is important because it may one day lead to plants bred with different surface characteristics -- or even a spray that will dissolve the glue and keep the eggs from sticking. According to MSNBC, homegrowers of asparagus need not be concerned about the beetle. As the University of Minnesota Pest Management program points out, the insect's tiny eggs hatch in about a week, whereupon the larvae drop to the ground and bury themselves in soil "causing relatively minor damage to the spears."

 

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A great glass of beer gets its start in the field

 

(Montana State University via PhysOrg.com) -- Drinking beer is a simple act, but making beer is not. It starts out with genetics and tens of thousands of barley varieties and ends with a clear ambrosia that belies the time, effort and technology that went into its making.

 

At Montana State University, scientists have worked for more than a century to advance one of the state's most important crops and helped improve a product beloved by millions. The trail from research bench, to barley field, to microbrewery is long and circuitous. But, as beer lovers will tell you, the end result is worth the long wait.

 

Montana State University barley breeder Tom Blake stood calf-deep in a trial field of barley at the Arthur H. Post Agronomy Farm near Bozeman. Clipboard in hand, he walked down the rows scratching notes about the barley's height and flower progression.

 

Each year Blake develops 10,000-15,000 new lines of barley in the hope of getting one variety that brewers like.

 

"We do tedious work really, really well," he joked.

 

Blake studied genetics at the University of California Davis. After doing research on humans and animals, he knew he wanted to work with plants?--?specifically, plants that had good genetic resources and interesting biochemistry. Barley fit the bill.

 

"Barley is one of the most biochemically interesting plants because of what you have to achieve during the malting process; it's fascinating stuff.

 

"Plus, I love beer. That helps," Blake said.

 

According to MSU Extension, Montana is the second largest barley producer in the U.S. (second to North Dakota), growing 900,000 acres of barley in 2007. Barley is grown for two general uses: for cattle feed and for malt. Malted barley is used in beer, but it is also an ingredient in distilled alcohol, malt syrup, malted milk and breakfast foods. In the same way that ice cream makes a milkshake, and chocolate syrup adds the flavor, barley is the base and the body of beer.

 

High protein barleys are valued for animal feed and starchy barley for malting. Montana farmers will often grow a malt variety hoping for malt quality and use the feed grain market as a safety net.

 

Currently, there are about 15 students, staff and researchers at MSU and throughout the Agricultural Research Centers working to find the best barley for Montana conditions that brewers will like. It is work that requires patience.

 

At the end of eight or nine years of field trials, those 10,000-15,000 varieties of barley that Blake started with have been whittled down to a few that are kept for further study. By then Blake knows which varieties grow best in Montana and are likely to be of high malting quality. He provides about 100 potential varieties each year to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Madison, Wis., which malts the grain in small batches and then tests them for quality.

 

"Maybe one (in 100) will look good enough in malting quality and be agronomically better," Blake said.

 

With a thumbs-up from the USDA, the barley moves on to the brewing industry. Big brewers such as Miller-Coors and Anheuser-Busch then grow the new MSU variety for three years in their own trials.

 

In 1986 Blake developed a barley cross called Hockett. After eight years of field trials, Blake deemed it worthy of recommending to brewers for their own trials. In 2006 and 2007, Miller-Coors grew it in trials, and then recommended it to their own growers. According to Blake, Anheuser-Busch plans to contract 1.8 million bushels of Hockett for next year. From the time Blake made the Hockett cross to getting it accepted by the brewing industry and planted by Montana farmers, 20 years had elapsed. In that time 200,000-300,000 new crosses were tested.

 

"Breeding is a very slow process over ridiculously long periods of time," Blake added.

 

The Farm

 

About 35 miles east of Conrad, Paul Lindberg is in his third year of growing the MSU-bred Hockett for Anheuser-Busch. It is the last year of the testing phase for Anheuser-Busch. While his crop didn't meet malting qualifications the first year (no timely rain), Lindberg has since had good results.

 

Brewers require barley with a plump, meaty kernel and a low percentage of skinned or broken kernels. It must be less than 13.5 percent protein. Last year Lindberg's crop far exceeded Anheuser-Busch's expectations.

 

"I am very proud of that," Lindberg said.

 

All of Lindberg's malt will be sold to Anheuser-Busch. While the mega-brewer malts some barley at its own plants, Lindberg's barley will likely be malted in Great Falls at the MaltEurop malting plant and shipped to Anheuser-Busch's brewing facilities in Fort Collins, Colo., St. Louis, Mo., or Columbus, Ohio.

 

Lindberg got 72 bushels per acre this year, which he considers a very good yield for his 300 acres of Hockett barley.

 

"This is the best barley I've seen," Lindberg said.

 

The Malt Plant

 

Heading out of Great Falls, gas stations, industrial complexes and mini marts are quickly replaced with wide-open space. Just a couple miles from the city limits, the MaltEurop malting plant looms like a monolith in the middle of a field.

 

The steel and concrete facility is the largest building, by volume, in Montana. It is 109 feet tall and the floor space would be big enough to grow almost three and a half acres of barley, if it weren't filled with stainless steel vessels that reach 72 feet from the floor.

 

The Great Falls MaltEurop plant processes 11 million bushels of barley per year. The plant runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year with 48 employees.

 

Yet, despite the company's massive statistics, barley procurement is personal business, company officials say. Mark Black, barley program manager, works with barley researchers and growers at all stages of the growing and malting process.

 

"In our plant breeding and trial plots we share data between ourselves and MSU (as well as other institutions), and identify traits in varieties that can be brought forward for better brewing and agronomic characteristics," Black said. "Agronomics includes better yielding varieties as well as disease resistance."

 

This year MSU researchers are testing 800 varieties of barley for MaltEurop. They will identify which, if any, are well adapted to Montana's dry, cold environment and meet malting barley guidelines.

 

"We'll ship the data from our trials to MaltEurop and point them in the direction of varieties that will work well for their buyers, the brewers," Blake said.

 

Black takes his cues from his customers: brewers such as Anheuser-Busch, Miller-Coors and many Montana microbreweries. MaltEurop has processed mostly Metcalfe and Harrington varieties of barley, both developed in Canada. This year he'll be malting Hockett, too.

 

Black procures barley primarily from Montana's Golden Triangle, in north central Montana.

 

Black said, "This is the newest, brightest plant out there and, I may be biased, but it is adjacent to the best malting barley in America."

 

The point of the malting process is to break down proteins in the barley, making starch available to the plant's own enzymes and yeast that will break down sugars in the beer brewing process. To do that, water, air and heat are used in different combinations in four steps.

 

"It's the same thing that happens in nature," said Treg Reutiman, process manager and maltster. "We're just controlling it."

 

The grain is cleaned and then steeped to raise the kernel moisture as quickly as possible. Coming into the steep tank, the barley is about 12 percent moisture. Leaving the tank a day and a half later, the moisture is between 43-46 percent.

 

Next, the grain is left to germinate for four days. Plump kernels fill the round tank to five feet deep and a row of helices, or turn screws, moves through the bed mixing the grain. At this point the kernels are starting to grow little roots – rootlets – and it is imperative to keep mixing so the rootlets don't grow together forming an impenetrable mass.

 

The kiln is where the barley gains its color, character, aroma and taste. Warm air is pumped through the grain, reaching 185 degrees at the end of a day and a half. The Great Falls MaltEurop plant solely malts barley for light beers such as pale ales, ambers and Indian pale ales. Darker malts require more time in the kiln.

 

When it is finished, the 380-metric ton batch of malted barley is loaded into five-and-a-half railcars or 15 semi-trucks. It is enough malt to make 3.5 million 12-ounce beers.

 

Annually, the plant produces enough malt to make 1.9 billion 12-ounce beers, around 35 percent of the U.S. beer market.

 

"This place is a barley monster," said Reutiman. "It devours so much barley."

 

The Brewery

 

As a physics major at MSU, Tim O'Leary learned to solve problems.

 

"One thing I learned from my professors at MSU is that problems don't seem unsolvable when you break them down into little pieces," said O'Leary. "Whether it's math or building a brewery, problem solving is at the heart of it."

 

O'Leary is the owner of Kettlehouse Brewing in Missoula. In 2008 the brewery produced over 4,000 barrels of beer. O'Leary anticipates crafting 6,000 barrels this year and reaching capacity next year with 10,000 barrels.

 

The barley from MaltEurop makes the bulk of Kettlehouse beers with specialty barley and wheat malt added to some for a richer, fuller beer.

 

"My mom instilled a 'support the local guy' ethic in me," said O'Leary. "I knew Montana was one of the top barley producing states in the country, so I wanted to get our malt from in-state."

 

Unlike wine, beer cannot have vintages; drinkers will not tolerate swings in flavor.

 

"Having barley with consistent parameters is the key to consistent flavor," O'Leary said.

 

To begin the brewing process, enzymes break down the starch that was accessed during the malting process and turn it into simple sugars. The result is called wort, which is then moved to the lauter tun vessel where it is separated from the grain. It is there that the barley leaves the beer. Its work has been done.

 

The clear, sweet wort is boiled, caramelized and sterilized. Hops are added at different times throughout the hour and a half boil to give each beer its particular flavor. The boiled wort is spun and twirled to coagulate proteins, which, along with the hops, collect in the center of the vessel and are drawn off.

 

The wort comes to life in the fermenter as yeast eats the sugars produced in the brewing process. The ultimate steps are carbonating the brew and transferring it to kegs or bottles, just steps from where it was made.

 

Cold Smoke Scotch Ale is Kettlehouse's biggest seller. It's a dark beer that doesn't taste bitter, according to O'Leary. Its name is a reference to the powdery snow found at Bridger Bowl ski area, the place that drew O'Leary back to Montana after starting school in Minnesota. O'Leary grew up in Helena and his mom promised to buy him a season pass to Bridger Bowl if he returned to Montana and went to school at MSU.

 

"When I saw how excited and interested professors in the physics department were, I decided (physics) was a worthwhile challenge," O'Leary recalled. "Professors like John Carlsten, Bob Swenson, Hugo Schmidt, John Hermanson and Dick Smith made it interesting, and I could see they had a passion for the subject matter."

 

The chemistry, biology, engineering and thermodynamics he learned at MSU are the background O'Leary needs to turn barley into beer. It helps him when he is talking to engineers about his heating and cooling system, deciding what size pumps to buy and understanding how the process of enzymes breaking down the starches in barley lead to a better brew.

 

"When I'm talking to bar owners in Bozeman, the first thing I tell them is that I went to school at MSU, it helps sell my beer," O'Leary said. "Then I tell them – and bar owners all over the state – that we use barley grown and malted in Montana; that helps, too."

 

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