Agronomy

By Angela Dansby

Approaches to food security by the United States and Europe are similar short-term but very different long-term as revealed in an online panel discussion July 29, 2020 organized by the European Conservatives and Reformists Party. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, EU Commissioner of Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski, members of the European Parliament Anna Fotyga and Hermann Tertsch, and U.S. journalist Jon Entine faced off on environmental, social and economic aspects of farming and food security. Read More »

Interview with Channapatna S. (“CS”) Prakash, Ph.D., dean, College of Arts & Sciences, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama, USA and co-editor-in-chief of the journal GM Crops & Food, with U.S. Canola Association Director of Communication Angela Dansby

In layman’s terms, how would you describe gene editing?

Gene editing is about rearranging the language of life in living organisms such as canola. You can think of it like editing text on your smartphone. Gene editing is done using enzymes to make small changes in the genetic language, rearranging building blocks of DNA called bases. There are billions of bases in every cell of canola plants. Changing just a few can bring about desirable changes such as a healthier oil. DNA consists of four bases called ATGC. How these letters are arranged determines how genes are expressed. Read More »

How Plant Science Supports Agriculture During COVID-19 

By Giulia Di Tommaso

The new norm of COVID-19 causes major challenges in every part of society, leaving social scuff and significantly changing the way we all live and work. This global crisis presents additional challenges for farmers, who are essential in keeping this health crisis from turning into a hunger crisis. This time of year, they are getting ready for planting in the northern hemisphere or preparing to harvest in the southern part of the world. Read More »

By Tom Hance

In the past few weeks, the U.S. Congress and Trump Administration have taken a number of actions to assist farmers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Initial steps included waiving certain hours of service and CDL trucking restrictions and providing exemptions and streamlining processes for H-2A migrant labor. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Risk Management Agency also announced flexibilities on crop insurance deadlines, enabling producers to send notifications and reports electronically, extending the date for production reports, and providing additional time and deferring interest on premium and other payments. Read More »

By Angela Dansby

Tips to improve canola production in three primary U.S. growing areas were shared on March 10, 2020 in Washington, D.C. with stakeholders from the U.S. Canola Association (USCA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The latter supports the development of Supplemental and Alternative Crops, such as canola, with competitive, matching grants for projects in the National Canola Research Program (NCRP).

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By Brian Jenks, Ph.D.

Farmers are in the business of producing food and sustaining their families. They make decisions that will bring in the most income, just like every non-farmer has to do in their walk of life. However, farmers face a distinct challenge in that what is best financially (at least in the short term), may not be what’s best agronomically in the long run. That’s because of Mother Nature’s rules. One of her rules is that biological species, such as weeds, adapt to what farmers do. Read More »

By Tom Hance and Dale Thorenson

The new year has started with significant actions on trade issues that dominated agricultural markets in 2019. The U.S. Senate passed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on Jan. 16 by a vote of 89-10. Final ratification of the agreement, which replaces the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), is expected by the three countries by the end of January. For agriculture, the USMCA maintains tariff-free market access between the three countries without significant changes otherwise. Read More »

“If you were to ask a group of medical professionals to name the most significant public health achievements of the past century, antibiotics and widespread vaccination against infectious diseases would almost certainly top the list,” says Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D., in a commentary on Science20.com. “If you were to say pesticides not only belonged on the list, but well toward the top of it, you would likely be greeted with skepticism, if not incredulity … Yet by any of the standard measures of public health – reductions in mortality, impairment, and infectious diseases, as well as improved quality of life – the contribution of modern pesticides has been profound. An adequate supply of food is absolutely foundational to human health. Denied sufficient calories, vitamins, and other micronutrients, the body’s systems break down.”

“Did you catch the story about the swarm of 25,000 bees that had to be captured and removed (by a special police unit, no less) from the Staten Island Ferry Station in New York City?, asks Henry I. Miller, M.D., in an editorial in Issues & Insights.

“After many years of media reports about honeybees and wild bees dying off, you’d think they were nearly extinct — so what were 25,000 of them doing at a ferry terminal in one of the world’s most densely populated cities?

“Maybe they heard that New York was “all the buzz.”

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