Sat.Aug 17, 2024 - Fri.Aug 23, 2024

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Labour minister imposing binding arbitration to end railway shutdown

Real Agriculture

The federal government is invoking its authority under Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to put an end to the unprecedented shutdown of both of Canada’s national railways, less than a day after CN and CPKC locked out more than nine thousand workers who were otherwise set to go on strike a minute after.

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Weekend Reading: Soda Science

Food Politics

Susan Greenhalgh. Soda Science: Making the World Safe for Coca-Cola. University of Chicago Press, 2024. This terrific book picks up where I left off with Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning) (2015) and Unsavory Truth: How the Food Industry Skews the Science of What We Eat (2018). Susan Greenhalgh’s focus, however, is on ILSI, the International Life Sciences Institute (now renamed the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences).

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The diplomacy of germplasm collecting

Agricultural Biodiversity

I do love a good historical counterfactual. Unfortunately, Henry A. Wallace becoming president of the USA in 1945 is not a particularly good counterfactual. You really want these things to hang on a coin toss, and it was in fact extremely unlikely that FDR would have chosen Wallace again as his vice-president running mate in 1944. However, that didn’t stop me enjoying the recent episode of the podcast Past Present Future entitled “ What If… Wallace not Truman Had Become US President

Logistics 278
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Intern reflection: Emery Mask

NASDA

My internship with NASDA this summer has been exceptional. NASDA granted me the opportunity to gain more knowledge and experience than I imagined could be offered by one internship. When I first began this internship, I was not sure what to expect, mostly because I did not realize how broad the communications field is. However after my first week, I quickly learned how much thought and effort go into all aspects of a communications position.

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Railways, unions, and government playing a game of economic chicken and Canadians seem happy to pay for it

Real Agriculture

I feel like all I have talked about on RealAg Radio for the past two weeks is the potential impacts of both Canadian railways going on strike. As the minutes tick down to the August 22nd strike deadline, it’s become clear that Canadians are completely comfortable with the impacts of the threat. The comfort level.

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The FDA’s Revolving Door: an ongoing concern

Food Politics

I was interested to see this report in the BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal): Revolving door: You are free to influence us “behind the scenes,” FDA tells staff leaving for industry jobs. BMJ 2024;386:q1418. doi: 10.1136/bmj.q1418. The “Revolving Door,” of course, is the term used to describe how officials of federal regulatory agencies leave to take jobs with the industry they formerly regulated, and vice versa.

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Nibbles: Cropscapes, Ecuador cacao, Nigerian yams, Lima bean show, Mesopotamian cooking, Nepal seed banks, RNA integrity, China genebanks, Cryo comics, Greening

Agricultural Biodiversity

The authors of book “ Moving Crops and the Scales of History ” have been awarded the Edelstein Prize 2024 for their work to “redefine historical inquiry based on the “cropscape”: the assemblage of people, places, creatures, technologies, and other elements that form around a crop.” Let’s see how many cropscapes we can come up with today.

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More Trending

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Takeaways and questions arising from the shutdown of railways across Canada

Real Agriculture

It has been quite the past week in covering the events leading up to the Canada-wide rail strike and lockout. Then on Thursday afternoon, just 17 hours after the lockout began, the federal labour minister initiated Section 107 to force binding arbitration through the Canada Industrial Relations Board. With the union serving a new 72-hour.

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Industry-funded study of the week: supplemented infant formula

Food Politics

I saw this announcement in Food Navigator: Study: Nutrient dense formula could improve cognition and behaviour in infants. My immediate question: Who paid for this? I went right to it. The study: Schneider N, Hartweg M, O’Regan J, Beauchemin J, Redman L, Hsia DS, Steiner P, Carmichael O, D’Sa V, Deoni S. Impact of a Nutrient Formulation on Longitudinal Myelination, Cognition, and Behavior from Birth to 2 Years: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

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To kill mammoths in the Ice Age, people used planted pikes, not throwing spears, researchers say

Berkeley Blog

UC Berkeley archeologists say the findings might help resolve the debate about Clovis points and reshape how we think about hunting some 13,000 years ago. The post To kill mammoths in the Ice Age, people used planted pikes, not throwing spears, researchers say appeared first on Berkeley News.

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NASS and NASDA Highlight Partnership During Pennsylvania Ag Progress Days

NASDA

From left to right: Enumerators Bob Gotwols, Linda Miller and Fred Schmidt attend Pennsylvania Ag Progress Days. The Pennsylvania State University’s Ag Progress Days, held Aug. 13-15, is Pennsylvania’s largest outdoor agricultural expo, featuring over 400 exhibitors from the U.S. and Canada. Hosted by Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, the event showcases educational programs, research and the latest agricultural technology.

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CN Rail workers serve 72-hour strike notice while returning to work after lockout

Real Agriculture

While the federal government ordered binding arbitration to end the labour disputes shutting down railways across Canada on Thursday, it doesn’t appear the situation will quickly be resolved. As of Friday morning, around 6,500 CN Rail workers who were locked out by the railway on Thursday have given 72-hour notice that they plan to strike.

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Not Your Usual Potatoes

Agricultural Biodiversity

Jeremy’s latest newsletter discusses a very humble wild potato species, which we have actually blogged about here on a number of previous occasions. Do subscribe, there’s other cool stuff in there. Indigenous people in the southwest of North America had more of a hand in crop domestication than is often thought, according to a new paper on the Four Corners potato, Solanum jamesii.

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What I’m reading: AI in food and beverage

Food Politics

While I’m on the topic of AI—a hot issue in the food business—here are a few items I’ve collected recently. AI watch: The latest on artificial intelligence in food: While some fear artificial intelligence spells the end of humanity, others back its potential for positive disruption. How’s this playing out in food and drink? We bring you the latest…… Read more Study: AI-assisted personalized diet program supports weight loss and gut microbiome health: A dietary and lifestyle program tailored to

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Creature the size of a dust grain found hiding in California’s Mono Lake

Berkeley Blog

Colonies of these choanoflagellates — members of a group considered to be the closest living relatives of all animals — have their own unique microbiomes. The post Creature the size of a dust grain found hiding in California’s Mono Lake appeared first on Berkeley News.

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Government inaction on rail strike has Canada “sleep walking into a calamity”

Real Agriculture

The impacts of an impending dual rail strike are already being felt by Canada’s export-dependent industries and individual farmers, but the pain is about to get a whole lot worse for businesses and, in turn, Canadians.

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Innovative field experiments shed light on biological clocks in nature

Agri-tech

Much of what we know about plant circadian rhythms is the result of laboratory experiments where inputs such as light and temperature can be tightly controlled. Less is known about how these biological timing mechanisms operate in the more unpredictable natural world where they evolved to align living things to daily and seasonal cycles. A pioneering collaborative study between UK and Japanese.

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AI for tracking advertising health claims?

Food Politics

I definitely wanted to read more of this article from the newsletter, NutrIngredients-Europe : ASA targets menopause claims with AI assisted crackdown: The UK’s advertising standards authority (ASA) has warned supplement firms they must remove ads which make claims to treat or cure the symptoms of menopause, as part of a wider AI-assisted campaign….

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Berkeley Talks: It’s not just psychedelics that change minds, says Michael Pollan. Storytelling does, too.

Berkeley Blog

Bestselling author and UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus Michael Pollan discusses how he chooses his subjects, why he co-founded the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics and the role of storytelling in shifting our perspective. The post Berkeley Talks: It’s not just psychedelics that change minds, says Michael Pollan. Storytelling does, too. appeared first on Berkeley News.

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Unprecedented Canadian rail shutdown begins

Real Agriculture

The trains are parked and picket lines are set up at railway yards, as the Canadian railway system has been shutdown by an unprecedented work stoppage. As of Thursday, August 22 at 00:01 Eastern time, both national railways — CN and CPKC — have locked out over nine thousand employees represented by the Teamsters Canada.

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HEP/CAMP Intern Draws Inspiration from USDA

USDA Blog

Vanessa Valencia is a recent graduate from Oregon State University who majored in marketing. She is one of 14 students accepted into the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) High School Equivalency Program (HEP)/College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) internship program.

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Farmers Fought a Factory Farm and Won

Modern Farmer

Kendra Kimbirauskas and Starla Tillinghast are dairy farmers who live in Scio, a small town in the rural Willamette Valley in Oregon. Home to covered bridges, seed crops, grazing lands, hazelnuts, timber, and small, well-tended dairies, this small farming community wasn’t against raising animals to feed people. But a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) would have completely changed the nature of their community.

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Updates on UC-wide campus climate efforts

Berkeley Blog

"Freedom to express diverse viewpoints is fundamental to the mission of the University, and lawful protests play a pivotal role in that process," UC President Michael Drake writes The post Updates on UC-wide campus climate efforts appeared first on Berkeley News.

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Canola School: Resistance package decisions start with disease scouting at swath timing

Real Agriculture

As farmers across the country are eager to see their hard-earned canola crop augered into bins, it is already time to start planning for the next growing season. Ordering seed is often where next year’s management decisions begin, and the decisions around which resistance package to choose can seem daunting. A large part of deciding. Read More As farmers across the country are eager to see their hard-earned canola crop augered into bins, it is already time to start planning for the next gr

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Nepal update: Monitoring plant clinic performance

CABI

CABI, in collaboration with the Agriculture Development Directorate, Ministry of Agriculture and Land Management (MoALM), Gandaki province, Nepal, recently conducted a two-day training on Monitoring Plant Clinic Performance (MPCP). This crucial training was designed to enhance the quality of plant clinics, recognizing the pivotal role of plant doctors in providing accurate advice and quality recommendations… The post Nepal update: Monitoring plant clinic performance appeared first on Plant

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How a Community Gardener Grew Food for Her Family, Quit Her Job at McDonald’s, and Started a Farm

Civil Eats

When Maximina Hernández Reyes emigrated from Oaxaca, Mexico, to Oregon in 2001, she was still learning English, had no idea where the food pantries were, and knew very few people. She struggled to find a support system in Gresham, the suburb of Portland where she settled, until 2012, when she happened upon a community garden in the city’s Vance Park.

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World’s first micromachine twists 2D materials at will

Berkeley Blog

The device is capable of manipulating materials that are only nanometers thick, paving the way for new quantum technologies. The post World’s first micromachine twists 2D materials at will appeared first on Berkeley News.

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Pulse School: Navigating disease challenges using lupins and faba beans

Real Agriculture

Integrating pulses into a cropping rotation can be a great way to break pest and disease cycles, improve soil fertility, and diversify farm income while reducing fertilizer costs. Peas and lentils are a common sight in the western Canadian Prairie pulse growing regions, however the smaller-acreage faba beans and even lupins offer farmers new options.

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Analysts Review Potential Payment Scenarios for ECO and SCO

ProAg

As price declines continue for corn and soybeans, return expectations are coming into focus and are expected to also be lower for the 2024 crop year. This will likely increase payments to farmers participating in crop insurance and commodity programs. This includes two increasingly popular coverage options: the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) and the Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO).

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Young Producers Boost Great Lakes Agriculture

USDA Blog

The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service’s (NASS) Great Lakes Region encompasses Indiana , Michigan , and Ohio – three states with a significant impact on U.S. agriculture and a healthy crop of young producers.

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In Memoriam Ammini Ramachandran

Rachel Laudan

Ammini Ramachandran passed away peacefully and surrounded by her family on Friday 16th August. She was 81. Her evocative, yet meticulous accounts of the vegetarian cuisine of her native Kerala,… The post In Memoriam Ammini Ramachandran appeared first on Rachel Laudan.

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Dr. Cheryl Waldner honoured with Outstanding Research and Innovation award

Real Agriculture

Dr. Cheryl Waldner has been named the recipient of the 2024 Canadian Beef Industry Award for Outstanding Research and Innovation. Waldner received the award at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference, being held this week at Saskatoon, Sask. “Dr. Waldner’s work has no doubt improved the competitiveness and sustainability of the Canadian beef industry,” says Craig.

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‘Against the Grain’ Offers Lessons from the Farmers on the Front Lines of Nourishing and Healing the Planet

Food Tank

In his new book Against the Grain author and journalist Roger Thurow shows how farmers around the world are finding success by returning to regenerative agricultural practices. By farming in a way that works with nature, these producers are able to feed their communities, improve soil health, and restore biodiversity. Smallholder family farmers, Thurow tells Food Tank, are “on the front lines of this great collision of these two supreme imperatives of humanity: nourishing the planet and…at the

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Cotton crop faring better than past two drought years

AgriLife Today

The Texas cotton crop can only be described as a mixed bag, with harvest wrapping up in the southern parts to bolls just setting in the north

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Stay Ahead of Regulations: The Power of Automation in Cannabis Compliance

Grow Link

With the unprecedented growth of the cannabis industry comes an increasing web of regulations, adding steps to the cultivation process that can be a major headache for growers, regardless of operation size.

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The biggest barrier to tech adoption on the farm is not what you think

Real Agriculture

When considering adopting new technology, thoughts typically turn to costs — what will a new tech save in time or money, or how much will something limit losses or boost yield? But the actual pace of adopting practice changes in agriculture isn’t just held up by ROI, it’s something far more complicated. The adoption gap. Read More When considering adopting new technology, thoughts typically turn to costs — what will a new tech save in time or money, or how much will something limit l

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Can an aquifer be injured? Scholar brings a disability lens to ecological repair

Berkeley Blog

In her new book Disabled Ecologies, UC Berkeley professor Sunaura Taylor returns to a Tucson Superfund site to document how residents organized one of the earliest and most successful environmental justice movements in the country. The post Can an aquifer be injured? Scholar brings a disability lens to ecological repair appeared first on Berkeley News.

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