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Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Communities to April 2014

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Concerns grow in Europe over threat from deadly pig virus. 2 May 2014Last updated at 20:22 ET By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News The virus has proved to be particularly deadly for young pigs France is expected to suspend pig-related imports from a number of countries as worries grow over the spread of a deadly swine virus.

Concerns grow in Europe over threat from deadly pig virus

Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea Virus (PEDv) has killed some seven million piglets in the US in the past year. The disease has also been found in Canada, Mexico and Japan. While the virus isn't harmful to humans or food, France is concerned over the potential economic impact and is set to suspend imports of live pigs and sperm. PEDv is spread in faecal matter and attacks the guts of pigs, preventing them from absorbing liquids and nutrients. Older animals can survive but fatality rates among piglets run between 80% and 100%. So virulent is the agent that one expert estimated that a spoonful of infected manure would be enough to sicken the entire US herd. Virus on the move "For the non-infected herds it is good news. " The Green Machine - Desert farm: the incredible walking city. Latin America: how climate change will wipe out coffee crops – and farmers. Under the coffee bushes, Rosibel and Benjamín Fijardo are on their knees, scraping carefully through a litter of dead leaves and dried mud.

Latin America: how climate change will wipe out coffee crops – and farmers

They are scavenging for stray coffee berries, fallen when the harvesters went through the plantation last week. After 20 minutes, Benjamín has a plastic cup half full. The beans look grey and mouldy, but he says they can be dried and sold. He returns to the work: "This is how we will feed our family for the next two months. By pecking like chickens! " For two million or more coffee workers and small farmers across Central America, the "hungry season" is beginning. Modular hydroponic system. SEALEAF is a modular hydroponic floating agricultural system for urban coastal environments that challenges the systems of land use and a culture of global food importation by returning food production to the centre of its consumption.

Modular hydroponic system

By 2015, a projected 340 million people will reside in the worlds 21 megacities, of which 18 are coastal. Feeding these cities against a backdrop of explosive population growth, urbanization, rising sea levels, desertification and a demand for abundance will become a challenge beyond that of our existing infrastructure. However, SEALEAF team believes that while our working urban space decreases prices can only increase and there is still ‘land’ available to us. Enzymes from Horse Feces Could Hold Secrets to Streamlining Biofuel Production - Bioenergy Articles from The Bioenergy Site. Pollination by Insects Produces Bigger Apples. Pollination can occur in several different ways, but usually plants rely on animals or wind to help pollinate them and help distribute their pollen and seeds.

Pollination by Insects Produces Bigger Apples

However, a new study shows that apple trees produce bigger, rounder, and more desirable fruit when pollinated by insects in particular. Researchers studied Cox and Gala apples, two popular varieties in Britain, and valued the annual contribution of insects to these fruits at just under £37 million (60 million USD). 'Insects are vitally important for producing a marketable number of Gala and Cox apples,' says Dr Mike Garratt, from the University of Reading who led the study. Precision ag being replaced by ‘AgInformatics’ Precision ag is being replaced with “Big Data” and “AgInformatics” as sources of innovation in agriculture, Matt Bechdol, founder of GeoSilos, a consulting firm focused on leveraging place-based solutions for agriculture, said at a workshop at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 95th Annual Convention.

Precision ag being replaced by ‘AgInformatics’

“I don’t like the term ‘precision ag’ anymore,” said Bechdol. “Especially if we’re not doing anything precise with it. Biofuels from cereal straw. Published on 29 January 2014 in Climate, water and energy Introduction Sustainably produced second generation bio-fuels (and associated co-products) from cereal straw could lead to reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, contribute to national energy security and lead to growth and jobs, particularly in the agricultural and renewable energies sector.

Biofuels from cereal straw

However there are numerous scientific, economic and infrastructure challenges associated with the generation of biofuels from this form of biomass, many of which remain to be solved. ClimatexChange (CxC), Scotland’s centre of expertise on climate change, associated with BBSRC Sustainable BioEnergy Centre (BSBEC) has explored how to overcome the challenges by: The RESAS-funded CxC research focussed on addressing the first of these challenges. Key Points. New catalyst to convert greenhouse gases into chemicals. A team of researchers at the University of Delaware has developed a highly selective catalyst capable of electrochemically converting carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide with 92 percent efficiency.

New catalyst to convert greenhouse gases into chemicals

The carbon monoxide then can be used to develop useful chemicals. The researchers reported their findings in Nature Communications. "Converting carbon dioxide to useful chemicals in a selective and efficient way remains a major challenge in renewable and sustainable energy research," according to Feng Jiao, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and the project's lead researcher. The researchers found that when they used a nano-porous silver electrocatalyst, it was 3,000 times more active than polycrystalline silver, a catalyst commonly used in converting carbon dioxide to useful chemicals.