#Agricultural Diseases

[theveracityreport]

Chocolatiers Face Challenges Amid Soaring Cocoa Prices

Chocolatiers are grappling with significant challenges due to soaring cocoa prices, which are largely influenced by climate change and agricultural diseases. Kate Rumsey, owner of Rumsey's Chocolaterie in Thame, shared her concerns about the impact of these rising costs on her business, noting that wholesale cocoa prices have tripled compared to two years ago. The situation has been exacerbated by extreme weather events in West Africa, a primary source of cocoa beans. Droughts and heavy rains have led to reduced crop yields and the spread of diseases such as black pod disease, which destroys cocoa beans on trees. As a result, chocolatiers are forced to adapt their recipes and business models. Johnny Baxter from Dorset Chocolate mentioned that innovation is key, with many chocolatiers incorporating more fruit into their products to cope with increased costs. Rumsey expressed uncertainty about the future of her business, highlighting how the rising prices might necessitate passing costs onto customers, which could further impact sales. The overall sentiment among chocolatiers is one of concern, with many wondering if they will be able to sustain their operations amid these economic pressures.

[the-shadows-request-candy-corn]

Trump may be about to sign the death sentence of the National Institute of Health, and, by extension, the Office of Lab Animal Welfare.

He gutted research animal protections.

Any vertebrate that isn't a mammal will have no rights.

Neither will mice or rats.

If NIH grants are stopped, researchers can't pay anyone. They can't perform research. They can't pay for veterinary services.

They won't be required to provide veterinary services.

The only medical research that will happen will be self funded by big pharma, and they can torture the animals and skew all the lab results that they want.

Just like Musk did to the primates in his neuralink research.

I don't know what's going to happen to me or anyone else at the university where I work. My job is to make sure the animals are treated humanely and to provide veterinary care. I'm especially scared about what's going to happen to those research animals if veterinary staff gets laid off. The USDA only covers mammals, and it doesn't even cover all of them. Every rat I've ever made a tiny paper gift box full of marshmallows for, every mouse I've ever watched grow up, every rodent I've ever separated from an aggressive dominant brother and then treated their tiny wounds, they have no protections if NIH goes down. Decades of research into humane handling, euthanasia, and animal behavior will be tossed aside and wasted.

Please, do everything you can. Protest. Contact your representatives. Anything you can do. Do it for science, for medicine, for people's lives, for people's jobs, and for the animals.

Edit: thank you to everyone who's spreading this, but please reblog the updated reblog that I have pinned to my profile. The NIH is no longer frozen, but "indirect expenses" limits is just as big a threat to lab animal welfare, scientific integrity, and people's jobs as an NIH freeze.

[mindblowingscience]

Researchers have developed a banana plant that is resistant to both fusarium tropical race 4 (TR4) and black sigatoka, two of the most destructive diseases for bananas. Professor of Phytopathology Gert Kema at Wageningen University & Research views the development of the new hybrid, named Yelloway One, as a major breakthrough in banana cultivation, stating, "We've known for some time that conventional breeding can help us develop plants resistant to these diseases. Now we've proven it, and more importantly, we've demonstrated that by using the latest genetic tools, we can do it much faster than others. This is of great importance for the future of banana farming."

Continue Reading.

[queers4years]

Indigenous Hawaiians really had a good system going: wake up reaaally early and do most of the days work while it's cool and by the time the sun was up and it got hot the work was done and you're free to surf and socialize. I wish the white people realized they themselves could work smarter and not harder and get time to relax. Instead of calling Hawaiians lazy (and being genocidal about it)

[memenewsdotcom]

Egg prices to keep going up

[mostofmyfriendsaredogs]

Hide your kids, hide your wives. It's TICK SEASON in Kentucky. Tick season peaks in Spring and Summer, though they're a threat year-round. The most common ticks in Kentucky are the American Dog Tick (Dermacenter variabilis) and Lone Star Tick (Amblyoma americanum). Their bite can transmit Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme Disease, and a whole host of other potentially fatal conditions. Early detection and appropriate treatment are necessary in case of infection. If you’re in doubt, have a doctor check it out. They’d rather give you doxycycline for “no reason” than wait until your joints are so swollen and inflamed that you can’t walk. Trust me, I have been there.

  In March, the Kentucky legislature approved Senate Resolution 32 advocating for “information on prevention and personal protection and raising public awareness of the causes, effects, potential severity, diagnosis challenges, and treatment options of tickborne diseases and illnesses,” to be accomplished in a coordinated effort with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, and the Department for Public Health. The desire is to raise awareness among average Kentuckians and to better educate our healthcare providers about the risks, warning signs, and courses of treatment.   Officials in Louisville, KY, ask their residents who find a tick to share it through the Spot A Tick And Share Program, launched in 2022. The program allows environmental health specialists to identify and monitor the tick populations in the Louisville Metro area, as well as the diseases they transmit. Many local, state, national, and even online programs have been developed to contribute to this valuable data collection. Ask your local health department and nearby universities if they have data collection programs. If they don’t, you can still contribute to an online program like Tick Quest or use an app like TickTracker. You must prevent infection by protecting yourself and checking yourself. If you or your pet do experience a suspicious tick bite, please seek a medical evaluation. Sources: KDFW KY SR32 LouisvilleKY.gov Science Direct SciStarter's Tick Quest Tick Tracker App WDRB

[whats-in-a-sentence]

But seeing agriculture as a fall from grace threatens to obscure what really came before. We spent 95 percent of our history as hunter-gatherers, taking our food from the wild instead of planting it or herding it. This long period of our past cannot be glossed over in a history of disease.¹

1. In part these claims can be traced to the influence of Marshall Sahlins, whose work helped to broaden appreciation for hunter-gatherer societies and allows more critical considerations of the Neolithic revolution or evolutionary models of human social history in general.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

[jocnewsupdates]

A variant of H5N1 bird flu that has circulated widely in wild birds — and in several instances led to severe illness in humans — has turned up in dairy cattle for the first time.

The findings were relayed in a short update from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which traced the new variant back to dairy herds in Nevada.

[farmerstrend]

Breaking the Cycle of Late Blight: How Biotech Potatoes are Revolutionizing Farming in Kenya

Discover how biotech potatoes are transforming farming in Africa and Asia, with breakthrough resistance to late blight disease and impressive yield improvements. Learn about the latest field trials of late blight-resistant biotech potatoes, offering a sustainable solution for smallholder farmers in Kenya and beyond. Explore the remarkable success of bio-engineered potatoes, which promise higher…

[thepastisalreadywritten]

17 September 2024

[mindblowingscience]

A recent study has pinpointed a gene module crucial for enhancing walnut trees' resistance to anthracnose, a widespread fungal disease threatening the walnut industry. The research reveals how the JrPHL8-JrWRKY4-JrSTH2L module regulates disease defense, opening up new opportunities for breeding resistant walnut varieties and promoting sustainable cultivation practices. Anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, poses a significant threat to walnut production, causing severe losses in yield and quality. Traditional control methods are limited, and environmental concerns drive the need for alternative strategies. Transcription factors like WRKYs and MYBs are key in plant immunity, yet the molecular mechanisms behind walnut resistance to anthracnose have remained largely unexplored. Given these challenges, an in-depth study of the molecular pathways in walnut defense is essential.

Continue Reading.

[deforest]

yeah no fucking shit!!!!!! it’s almost like we’re mammals and great apes or something and not some higher and holier non-animal species. oh and it’s still happening every single second that the unbelievably capitalistic white supremacist cruelty-loving indigenous-land-destroying fist of animal agriculture is allowed to continue you absolute prime fucking idiots

[falseandrealultravival]

Plastic: It used to be a star substance. ~ Curse of Minamata disease (chemistry-6)

south-west of Kumamoto prefecture

Recently, it has become a hot topic that microplastics, which are shattered into small pieces, are harmful to the environment and wildlife. , is fresh in my memory.

However, plastic was touted as a "dream material" in the early stages of its development and commercialization.

It was used as an adjective meaning that "it can be shaped" = "it has plasticity", and the noun "plastic" was born.

The great attraction of plastic was its plasticity, which allows it to change its shape into any shape. In the plastic industry, plastics that can be freely shaped like this are produced by a method called injection molding, but the plastic industry is widely regarded as a "subcontractor" for the automobile industry, and is "scorned" by the automobile industry. "The fact is that we are operating.

Here, there is an unexpected connection between plastic and Minamata disease. One of my mentors, the master of pollution problems: The late Mr. Jun Ui was a student during Japan's period of high economic growth. Of these, only the top students were hired by Minamata Chisso. Today, it is a poor company whose life is being extended to help Minamata disease patients, but it used to be a super-elite group. The Chisso Minamata Factory produced a wide variety of agricultural materials and was a strong supporter of farmers' farm work. They also made vinyl for greenhouses and black mulch (a material that covers the soil, keeps it warm, and retains water).

Well, when making such plastics, Hg (mercury) was used as a catalyst (the substance itself does not change before and after the reaction, but it is essential to cause a chemical reaction). As anyone with a sharp intuition can guess, this mercury degrades to methylmercury, and it has been accumulated over many years that factory effluent containing this substance was discharged into Minamata Bay as it is without any water purification process. This led to the outbreak of methylmercury poisoning, known as Minamata disease.

[randallrandykonsker]

Randall Randy Konsker Explains Crop Rotation Strategies

Sustainable farming methods are now more crucial than ever in the quickly changing agricultural landscape of today. One of the most effective methods to enhance soil health, boost crop yield, and reduce dependency on chemical inputs is crop rotation. Leading agricultural consultant Randall Randy Konsker, with over two decades of hands-on experience in modern farming, is shedding light on how crop rotation strategies can transform farm productivity while protecting the environment.

What is Crop Rotation?

Crop rotation is the practice of planting different types of crops in the same area across different growing seasons. This technique helps in breaking pest and disease cycles, improving soil structure, and optimizing nutrient usage. Randall Randy Konsker says crop rotation is a powerful, scientifically proven strategy that is essential for long-term farm success.

Why Crop Rotation Matters

According to Randall Randy Konsker, the benefits of crop rotation go far beyond improving yield. When implemented correctly, crop rotation can:

Reduce soil erosion and degradation

Prevent the buildup of pests and pathogens

Improve soil biodiversity and microbial activity

Enhance nutrient availability naturally

Cut down on the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides

This approach is especially critical in a time when sustainable agriculture is becoming a global necessity. Randall Randy Konsker believes that educating farmers on simple yet powerful practices like crop rotation can pave the way for a more resilient food system.

Randall Randy Konsker’s Proven Strategies for Effective Crop Rotation

With a solid background in consulting farms across various climates and crop types, Randall Randy Konsker recommends these core strategies for successful crop rotation:

1. Plan for Crop Families

Konsker advises grouping crops by their families—such as legumes, brassicas, grains, and nightshades—and rotating these families rather than individual crops. This prevents soil-borne diseases that often affect related species.

2. Alternate Deep-Rooted and Shallow-Rooted Crops

Alternating deep-rooted crops like carrots or potatoes with shallow-rooted varieties like lettuce helps maintain soil structure and reduces compaction.

3. Incorporate Nitrogen-Fixing Plants

Legumes like beans and peas add valuable nitrogen back into the soil. Randall Randy Konsker recommends rotating these in every 2–3 years to maintain soil fertility.

4. Include a Fallow Period or Green Manure

Letting the land rest or planting cover crops like clover can rejuvenate the soil. These practices prevent nutrient depletion and add organic matter back into the soil.

Real Results from Real Farms

Farmers who’ve followed Randall Randy Konsker’s crop rotation strategies report healthier soils, better yields, and lower input costs. From small family-run farms to larger commercial operations, Konsker’s methods have been praised for being both practical and results-driven.

A Sustainable Future Through Smarter Farming

Randall Randy Konsker asserts that farming needs to be more deliberate rather than more complex. Crop rotation is one way that farmers can build a more profitable, sustainable, and environmentally responsible foundation for coming generations.

These crop rotation techniques can be revolutionary, regardless of your level of experience as a farmer or your level of inexperience. As Randall Randy Konsker continues to educate and inspire, his commitment to sustainable agriculture shines as a beacon for the future of farming.

[hotzimbabwejobs]

Job Opportunity: Resident Veterinarian at UZ Agro Industrial Park! - February 2025

The University of Zimbabwe is seeking a qualified and passionate Resident Veterinarian to join their UZ Agro Industrial Park team! If you have a passion for animal health and a desire to contribute to agricultural education, this is an excellent opportunity for you. About the Role: As the Resident Veterinarian, you will play a crucial role in ensuring the health and well-being of the diverse…