From: Iowa State Daily
By Julie Paulson
The future will depend on advancing farming technology to feed a growing world.
That was the conclusion of this year’s Hertz lecture, which was given by Jim Blome, the president and CEO of Bayer CropScience.
“It’s all about innovation and technology,” Blome said. “So it’s important for us to recognize emerging trends.”
These innovations and technologies are needed to overcome the challenges of a changing world. One in eight people go hungry every day in spite of there being enough resources to feed them.
April 4, 2014
From: Southwest Farm Press
by Ron Smith in Farm Press Blog
We need to put our best science to work to find out what causes the disappearance of whole colonies of bees and then find ways to prevent that from happening.
One recent morning I had some nice whole wheat frozen waffles for breakfast, slathered with honey. It was quite tasty. Not certain of the nutritional value, but it was pleasing to the palate.
I often eat honey on pancakes, waffles, biscuits and peanut butter sandwiches. I’ve always liked honey. My grandfather was a beekeeper and kept us supplied with the sweet goodness of home-grown honey. I liked to chew on the honey comb, a sight better tasting than chewing gum.
April 2, 2014
From: Farm Futures
American Seed Trade Association reiterates support for neonicotinoid treatments following Center for Food Safety literature review
Janell Baum
The American Seed Trade Association is reiterating its support for seed treatments following a report released earlier this week by the Center for Food Safety which questions neonicotinoid effectiveness and suggests the treatments are “unnecessary in most cases.”
The report, a compiled review of 19 previously published studies, suggests that neonicotinoids – which some studies suggest have impacts on bee health –either do not provide a yield benefit or show inconsistent benefits.
March 31, 2014
From: AGProfessional
CropLife America |
CropLife America (CLA) president and CEO Jay Vroom addressed companies and associations from the crop protection and biotechnology sectors during CropLife Asia’s annual general meeting. In his remarks, Vroom asked meeting attendees from around Asia to come together under a new global approach developed by CropLife International (CLI) offering guidance related to both endocrine disruption and pollinator health issues.
“Issues tied to both pollinator health and endocrine disruption have truly become international in scope and require a more globally harmonized approach,” Vroom said.
March 28, 2014
From: PRNewswire/Bioradar UK, Ltd.
Increase in Concentration of Newly Identified Replikin Beetoxingene Preceded Current CCD Outbreaks; Beetoxingene Sequences are CCD Blocker and Vaccine Candidates
LONDON, March 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Bee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is increasing with unknown cause(s). There is no effective treatment or prevention of CCD. Increasing loss of bee colonies since 2005 is resulting in the loss of bee pollination which poses a threat to food production worldwide.
March 26, 2014
From: AP
ATHENS, Ga. — Long past are the days in which British royalty knighted nobles for their services in battles.
Recently, though, a British ambassador inducted a University of Georgia professor into a chivalric order for his struggle to halt the demise of bees.
UGA researcher Keith Delaplane for years has studied bees and the reasons the possible reasons behind their population decline.
The entomology professor conducts that research so well it recently earned him induction into the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
March 24, 2014
From: Orangville.com
Guelph Mercury
By Lee Townsend
News outlets throughout Canada are filled with stories about the imminent decline of honeybees and the calls by some beekeepers to ban the pesticides — called neonicotinoids — which they blame for their problems.
As a commercial beekeeper, I have a couple of points to make that may surprise some readers. First, the Canadian honeybee industry is far from collapsing — in fact, it’s thriving. The numbers don’t lie. Both the total number of honeybee colonies and beekeepers in Canada has risen dramatically since 2008.
March 21, 2014
From: ShanghaiDaily.com
VIENNA, March 14 (Xinhua) — Bee deaths in Austria remain an acute problem despite the government has partially banned the use of neonicotinoid pesticides from October 2013, Austria Press Agency reported Friday.
The pesticides have been linked to the so-called colony collapse disorder. Beekeepers, government organizations and NGO’s considered the situation still serious due to pesticide use and varroa destructor mites.
Environmental group Global 2000 said the pesticides still remain in the soil, albeit in a lower concentration.
However, the mild winter just passed by is largely blamed for the problems of varroa mites which caused bees being active earlier this year, said President of the Beekeeper’s Association Johann Gruscher.
March 19, 2014
From: Forbes
By Richard Tren
Some of history’s greatest advances in public health – especially in regions plagued by insect borne diseases – have come from the judicious use of pesticides to kill or repel the insect vector before it can infect human populations. Because the market for public health pesticides is relatively small, however, most of these vital chemistries were developed for larger agricultural uses. Unfortunately, that source of new products is increasingly under threat from shortsighted environmentalism and the European embrace of “precautionary” regulation.
March 17, 2014
From: Southwest Farm Press
Ron Smith
The dilemma: Farmers use approved pesticides at approved rates and in accordance with approved application methods to protect valuable field and tree crops from damaging pests. Beekeepers place their hives as near those fields and orchards as they can to provide adequate nectar to produce as much honey as possible.
But that’s not all. Bees near agriculture operations is only one of a half-dozen or more factors that could contribute to bee colony collapse disorder, and it’s likely not even the most significant.
March 13, 2014
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