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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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