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| June 02, 2014 |
 Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory Passes Starts Mission Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jun 02, 2014 - The new Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory satellite is now in the hands of the engineers who will fly the spacecraft and ensure the steady flow of data on rain and snow for the life of the mission. The official handover to the Earth Science Mission Operations team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on May 29, marked the end of a successful check-out per ... more |  |
 Chinese wines struggle to uncork overseas sales Hong Kong (AFP) June 01, 2014 - China's makers of merlot and chardonnay have found success at home, but have struggled to convince drinkers overseas that their wines can compete with offerings from more established wine nations. Booths for Chinese wine producers displaying bottles of red, white and sparkling wines drew curious crowds at last week's Vinexpo Asia Pacific in Hong Kong. But traders at the fair, the large ... more |  |
Drop in global malnutrition depends on ag productivity, climate change West Lafayette IN (SPX) Jun 01, 2014 - Global malnutrition could fall 84 percent by the year 2050 as incomes in developing countries grow - but only if agricultural productivity continues to improve and climate change does not severely damage agriculture, Purdue University researchers say. "The prevalence and severity of global malnutrition could drop significantly by 2050, particularly in the poorest regions of the world," sai ... more |  |
France's unloved tipples hope to match cognac's Asia boom Hong Kong (AFP) May 30, 2014 - After cognac's transformation into a Chinese status symbol, its lesser-known French cousins armagnac and calvados are hoping to establish themselves in lucrative Asian markets as demand wanes at home. Cognac currently accounts for 67 percent of French spirit exports, but rival digestifs and eaux-de-vie are seeking to seize more of that market and offset slumping domestic sales as France's po ... more |  |
US city drops threat to close 'smelly' hot sauce factory Los Angeles (AFP) May 29, 2014 - A California city has dropped its threat to close a factory that makes famed Sriracha hot sauce, after months of haggling over residents' complaints about pungent smells. The city of Irwindale outside Los Angeles took legal action in October to close Huy Fong Food's facility, saying the company should be forced to improve odor-filtering measures. In November, a judge ordered the hot sauc ... more |  |
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Weather Impacts on Food: A QandA with NASA's Molly Brown Greenbelt MD (SPX) May 29, 2014 - When floods, droughts, and other natural disasters hit isolated and poor regions of the world, it can have devastating impacts on the local price of food. Research scientist Molly Brown from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is using satellite data to investigate and model the relationship between weather shocks and food prices - an ambitious endeavor in light of a chang ... more |  |
Australian organic farmer loses GM test case Sydney (AFP) May 28, 2014 - An Australian farmer who lost his organic produce licence after his fields were contaminated by a neighbour's genetically modified canola crop failed Wednesday to win his test case for losses. In a judgment which could influence how GM crops are grown in Australia, Justice Kenneth Martin also denied an injunction to protect Steve Marsh's crops against future contamination. Marsh sued ne ... more |  |
Satellite imagery shows drought-ridden Lake Powell at half capacity Coconino County, Ariz. (UPI) May 26, 2013 - Diminished by overzealous water withdrawals and a lengthy drought throughout the Southwest, Lake Powell, the meandering mass of water held by Glen Canyon dam, has slowly emptied in recent years. It now sits below half capacity. NASA's Earth Observatory recently released satellite imagery showcasing the decade-plus drying-up of the reservoir that helps quench the thirst of more than 20 m ... more |  |
NMSU's drought-tolerant alfalfa variety created to meet New Mexico growers' needs Las Cruces NM (SPX) May 28, 2014 - Robert Flynn and Ian Ray, both alfalfa experts at New Mexico State University, have been researching a new drought-tolerant alfalfa variety. The Billy Melton variety, developed by Ray, NMSU professor of agronomy, was named in honor of Bill Melton, an NMSU professor who had an alfalfa-breeding program in the late 1970s and began developing varieties that had higher drought tolerance. Ray an ... more |  |
Asia's largest wine expo opens in Hong Kong Hong Kong (AFP) May 27, 2014 - Asia's biggest wine and spirits fair opened in Hong Kong on Tuesday, drawing the world's top producers from France to Chile despite China reporting the first decline in wine consumption for a decade. According to a survey by Vinexpo Asia Pacific, mainland China's wine consumption fell by 2.5 percent last year, after ten years of uninterrupted growth at a rate of 25 percent per year. The ... more |  |
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Wondering about the state of the environment? Just eavesdrop on the bees London, UK (SPX) May 26, 2014 - Researchers have devised a simple way to monitor wide swaths of the landscape without breaking a sweat: by listening in on the "conversations" honeybees have with each other. The scientists' analyses of honeybee waggle dances reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on May 22 suggest that costly measures to set aside agricultural lands and let the wildflowers grow can be very beneficia ... more |  |
European farmers adapting to climate change Stanford CA (SPX) May 26, 2014 - A new Stanford study finds that due to an average 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit of warming expected by 2040, yields of wheat and barley across Europe will drop more than 20 percent. New Stanford research reveals that farmers in Europe will see crop yields affected as global temperatures rise, but that adaptation can help slow the decline for some crops. For corn, the anticipated loss is roughly 1 ... more |  |
 Deep-buried carbon may pose climate risk: study Paris (AFP) May 25, 2014 - Stocks of organic carbon buried deep underground could pose a global warming threat if disturbed by erosion, farming, deforestation, mining or road-building, a study warned Sunday. Scientists from the United States and Germany discovered one such reserve in Nebraska, up to 6.5 metres (21 feet) under the surface, composed mainly of vast quantities of burnt plant material. "We found almost ... more |  |
US Farmers Can Turn their Ag Waste Problems into Profit Glen Allen VA (SPX) May 23, 2014 - The time is now for U.S. farmers to fully monetize the massive amounts of biomass energy bound up in crop residues, animal manure and other forms of ag waste, advises Roy M. Palk, senior energy adviser for national law firm LeClairRyan, in a series of columns for Farm Industry News. "Thanks to rapid technological development, as well as new regulatory carrots and sticks, today's energy com ... more |  |
China Bright Food to buy majority stake in Israel's Tnuva Shanghai (AFP) May 22, 2014 - China's state-owned Bright Food will take a majority stake in Israel's biggest food producer Tnuva, it said Thursday in the latest step of an overseas buying spree. Bright Food, which controls British cereals firm Weetabix, has signed a preliminary agreement with London-based private equity firm Apax Partners to acquire a 56 percent stake in Tnuva, the Chinese firm said in a statement. B ... more |  |
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The Added Value of Local Food Hubs Santa Barbara CA (SPX) May 22, 2014 - As the largest purchaser of wholesale produce in Santa Barbara County, UC Santa Barbara's residential dining services provided the perfect avenue for a pilot project incorporating local pesticide-free or certified organic produce into an institutional setting. The idea was conceived almost 10 years ago, when a group of students approached environmental studies professor David Cleveland abo ... more |  |
With climate changing, Southern plants do better than Northern locals Davis CA (SPX) May 22, 2014 - Can plants and animals evolve to keep pace with climate change? A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that for at least one widely-studied plant, the European climate is changing fast enough that strains from Southern Europe already grow better in the north than established local varieties. Small and fast-growing, Arabidopsis thaliana is wid ... more |  |
Shrub growth decreases as winter temps warm up Seattle WA (SPX) May 22, 2014 - Many have assumed that warmer winters as a result of climate change would increase the growth of trees and shrubs because the growing season would be longer. But shrubs achieve less yearly growth when cold winter temperatures are interrupted by temperatures warm enough to trigger growth. "When winter temperatures fluctuate between being cold and warm enough for growth, plants deplete their ... more |  |
Big drop in wintertime fog needed by fruit and nut crops Berkeley CA (SPX) May 22, 2014 - California's winter tule fog - hated by drivers, but needed by fruit and nut trees - has declined dramatically over the past three decades, raising a red flag for the state's multibillion dollar agricultural industry, according to researchers at UC Berkeley. Crops such as almonds, pistachios, cherries, apricots and peaches go through a necessary winter dormant period brought on and maintai ... more |  |
Migrating birds stop off in Cyprus at their peril Nicosia (AFP) May 20, 2014 - Under the cover of night, activists patrol key poaching sites in southeast Cyprus, described as an ecological disaster zone for endangered migratory birds on their Mediterranean stopover. "Cyprus is the worst country in Europe for the number of birds killed and the species," said Andrea Rutigliano of the Bonn-based Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS). Blackcaps, thrushes and other so ... more |  |
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