Livestock Resources and Environmental Issues in Asia

The Poultry Site – Livestock production is a significant and growing source of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, range degradation and greenhouse gases, according to Benjamin Henderson (Livestock Policy Officer) and Henning Steinfeld (Chief of Livestock Information and Policy Branch), both with the FAO in Rome. They also identify possible solutions to these problems… >>Continue Reading<<

Source: The Poultry Site, 2013

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Microalgae Utilisation in Wastewater Treatment

The Poultry Site – Since the inception of the Clean Water Act and subsequent creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the early 1970s, industrial, institutional and commercial entities have been required to continually improve the quality of their process wastewater effluent discharges. At the same time, the rise in population and production rates has increased water use, creating a corresponding rise in wastewater quantity.

This increased water use and process wastewater generation requires more efficient removal of by-products and pollutants that allows for effluent discharge within established environmental regulatory limits.

Trees Can Improve Environment, Yields and Welfare

By Chris Harris

The Pig Site – In the UK alone, 2.2 million tonnes of top soil are eroded from farmland fields each year, largely by surface water run-off and changes in cropping patters.

And according to Mike Townsend, the senior analysts at the Woodland Trust in the UK this produced a reduction in nutrients in the soil and a loss to agriculture as well as damaging the waterways and the wildlife in them.

“As well as a cost to agriculture, it is a cost to society in general,” Mr Townsend told a seminar at the recent Farm Business Innovations 2013 in London.

However, he said that shelter belts of trees can help to trap nutrients such as phosphorus and act as a nutrient sink as well as ensuring that the water stays on the farm… Continue Reading

Source and Photo: The Pig Site, December 5, 2013

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Meteorological Effects on Seasonal Infertility in Pigs

The Pig Site – A study at Leeds University in the UK shows it is important for farmers to provide outdoor sows with methods to keep themselves comfortable throughout the year and, crucially, not only during the summer months. Painting outdoor huts white and insulation help to keep sows both comfortable and productive, while wallows and sprinklers need to be provided early in the year and throughout the summer months … Continue Reading

 Source: The Pig Site, November 21, 2013

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Estimating the Biodiesel Supply Curve

The CROP Site – The purpose of this post is to derive the biodiesel supply curve from the relationships first presented in the September 25 post.

We begin by reviewing the main results of that earlier post. Figure 1 shows a scatter of monthly biodiesel production and net returns above variable costs for each calendar year between 2010 and 2013. Monthly biodiesel production is estimated by the EIA and monthly biodiesel net production returns above variable costs are based on a model of a representative Iowa biodiesel plant (see the post here).

A best-fit regression line is also shown for each year, with the natural log (ln) of production used as the dependent variable. The data are divided by calendar years because in years when the blenders tax credit is not in place (2010 and 2012) there is little relationship between biodiesel production and returns. Basically, production in these years is “stuck” at the RFS biodiesel mandate regardless of the level of returns.

In the other years (2011 and 2013) market participants expect the credit to expire at the end of a calendar year, so there there is an obvious incentive for blenders to bid up the price of biodiesel in order to increase production and take full advantage of the credit before it expires. In essence, the unusual market circumstances in 2011 and 2013 provide a unique opportunity to identify a biodiesel supply curve even with a seemingly binding RFS mandate in place…>>Continue Reading<<

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Climate changes will reduce the growing areas in Brazil

By Noêmia Lopes

Agência FAPESP –  The increases in temperatures and changes in the rainfall regime due to global warming that are forecast for several regions of Brazil could significantly impact agriculture in the country. Crops such as beans, soy, wheat, and maize will be particularly affected, according to studies by the Brazil Global Climate Change Research Network (Rede Clima).

By cross-referencing the models of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Brazilian regional models, researchers at Rede Clima analyzed the expected impact of climate change on national crop-growing areas.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Pig and Chicken Supply Chains

The Poultry Site – The livestock sector is one of the fastest growing sub-sectors of the agricultural economy, and faces several unprecedented and concomitant challenges, according to the FAO report, Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Pig and Chicken Supply Chain. The sector needs to respond to the increasing demands for livestock products that are arising from population growth and changing consumer preferences. It also has to adapt to changes in the economic and policy contexts, and in the natural environment upon which production depends. At the same time, it has to improve its environmental performance and mitigate its impact on climate.

Science points to a new global warming source: the sea

The Korea Herald – Oceans that grow more acidic through Man‘s fossil fuel burning emissions, can amplify global warming by releasing less of a gas that helps shield Earth from radiation, a study said Sunday.

And the authors warned the potentially vast effect they uncovered is not currently factored into climate change projections.

Scientists say that Man’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions contribute to planetary warming by letting the Sun‘s heat through the atmosphere but trapping heat energy reflected back from Earth, so creating a greenhouse effect.

Crop pests moving polewards through global warming

The Korea Herald – Crop-damaging insects, bacteria, fungus and viruses are moving poleward by nearly 3 kilometers each year, helped by global warming, a study said.

A team at Britain’s University of Exeter trawled through two huge databases to chart the latitude and dates for the earliest record of 612 crop pests.

Since 1960, these pests have been heading either northwards or southwards at a rate of around 2.7 kilometers yearly.

Less science, more pollution

By Karina Toledo, Caxambu

Agência FAPESP – Universidade de São Paulo researchers have published a detailed map of atmospheric pollution, showing that the countries with the worst air quality indices are precisely those with the fewest scientific production on this topic. The article was published in the August edition of Nature Reviews Cancer.

In the opinion of the article’s author, Lais Fajersztajn, lead researcher of the FAPESP-funded study, the result indicates that science is an important tool for improving atmospheric pollution and must be strengthened in developing countries through international collaboration. “The greater the knowledge, the better it is disseminated, and the more chances there are of dealing with the problem,” she stated.

Click here to access the complete article

Source and Photo: Agência FAPESP, 9^th October, 2013

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