Animal welfare can now be objectively measured
Analysing the well-being of farm animals such as pigs is no longer merely a matter of opinion. Researchers at the Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering (IMAG), one of the research institutes of Wageningen University and Research Centre, have succeeded in producing ...Shift from forest to crops lowers temperatures
...inued to spread across the Midwest andnortheastern farm lands returned to forests, the temperaturedifference steadily increased. The Northeast became warmer in thespring and summer as forests returned. Bonan is currently using a computerized model of the climate tofurther investigate the impact of histori...Worlds largest scientific society convenes its regional meeting June 11-13 in Grand Rapids, Mich.
... Tuesday, June 12, 2001 9 a.m. 12 p.m. From farm to fork — If we are to understand the evolution of drug-resistance in pathogens such as Salmonella and Campylobacter, it is necessary to characterize the gene pool from which the resistance genes originated. The researcher explains the mechani...Plants vs. disease: 'Trench warfare at the molecular level'
...er acre. For the crop in 1999, this represented a farm value of about $1.8 billion....Genetic secrets of metal-eating plants uncovered
...lants that accumulate metal you could essentially farm the metal out of the ground. Over five or 10 years, by growing crop rotations there, you could remove the metal from the site. The nice thing is that it's cheap, and you're left with a soil at the end of it which could be used for other things." Salt......or their crops continue to decline and the cost of farm operations rises, even though retail prices remain largely the same. This puts enormous pressure on growers since IPM programs often involve substantial upfront costs, and can be very labor intensive. We need to have ongoing analyses of these program...Hot pepper oil may prevent salmonella in poultry
...ver the industry implements procedures both on the farm and in the processing plant to minimize this risk. "I think theres probably less Salmonella in our poultry today than there was in the past, because the industry has taken preventative measures," she says. "But it would be a real breakthrough if we c...New technology treats dairy wastes, odors
...stributor. InStreem originally was tested at a hog farm and a polluted bay in North Carolina. Business inquiries on this or other PNNL technologies should be directed to 1-888-375-PNNL or e-mail: http://www.inquiry@pnl.gov...Parasite offers natural way to control leaf-eating slugs
... Instead of spreading poison throughout the farm or garden, people could apply a tiny scoop of worms to wherever the nocturnal slugs sleep during the day - under a piece of mulch, for instance. Once all the slugs were dead, the worms woul...Tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology: October 2001
...th tomato plants and fruits at all points from the farm to the consumer."(X. Guo, J. Chen, R.E. Brackett and L.R. Beuchat. 2001. Survival of salmonellae on and in tomato plants from the time of inoculation at flowering and early stages of fruit development through fruit ripening. Applied and Environmen...Terrorist threats to agriculture studied
...ction and clean up methods for bioterrorism at the farm level must be found now to avoid human harm and economic devastation of the food and fiber supply. Bioterrorism, the deliberate release of toxins or infectious organisms, has been studied by national experts for years. The threat to the U.S. food su...Study examines how prion disease adapts to new species
...ie. Cows are no longer given such feed, but other farm animals are, the researchers say. "Because we have further confirmed that prion disease can adapt to new species, and because we've shown that process is slow and difficult to detect, it may be time to rethink this practice," says Dr. Race.......ink the day will come when virtually every poultry farm is analyzed for the presence of salmonella enteritidis." The California Egg Commission provided about $50,000 for the Laboratorys research and its development of the DNA signatures for salmonella enteritidis. In May, unique DNA signatures for plague ...Genetic protection against fetal alcohol syndrome?
...hoisan inhabitants and colonizing Europeans. Some farm laborers in these communities have received part of their wages in the form of alcohol for close to 300 years. "This prevalence contrasts," he continued, "with approximately 0.33 - 2.2 per thousand for the United States, 8 per thousand amongst birth ...Outside-in conservation: What's around an area
...ilar in the forest fragment and the shady, organic farm (23 vs. 16),it was much lower in the conventional farm (7). They also found thatwhile ant diversity on the farms decreased with distance from the forestfra...Agri-tech innovations promise better food security
...ing their fields into a diversified and integrated farm or multi-purpose farm. Using SRI, Koma explained, farmers that traditionally used rain-fed rice farming can increase their rice yield from one or two tons to as many as three to six tons per hectare, without depending on the herbicides and pesticide...Report supports sustainable food production
...ture are many and far-reaching. For example, heavy farm machinery degrades soil health and poor farming practices deplete soil fertility, excessive fertilizer and pesticide use pollutes waterways, and monocropping (growing the same crop over hundreds of acres) diminishes biodiversity. Not only is the env......panies could soon be modifying everything from the farm animals that produce our food to our pets. Tosk's method could even be used to correct genetic faults in people. At the moment, GM mammals are usually made by injecting naked DNA directly into an egg. But the success rate is extremely low: to get ju...New method used to transfer genes into mouse
...er function would be to create genetically altered farm animals, which could be used as a source of organs for transplantation. Gene identification and function may also be determined by transposons' ability to mutate or "knock out" genes. "We and other scientists at the university, such as Scott McIvor, ...Farming inside forests hurts bird communities more than timber harvesting, study suggests
...ared by timber harvesting. "A farm patch in the forest may be mor... all of them in central Pennsylvania. Five had farm patches in them while the remaining five had clearings left by timber harvesting...