Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference

A major international conference on agricultural biotechnology starts in Melbourne, Australia, today (August 6, 2006).The Agricultural Biotech International Conference (ABIC) brings together representatives of biotech companies, agricultural researchers and policy makers from across the world.

The theme of this conference is Unlocking the Potential of Agricultural Biotechnology. Some of the topics to be discussed include:

* Importance of biotechnology in meeting global food requirements.
* Application of agricultural biotechnology in biomedicine.
* Commercialization of innovative biotechnology.
* Practical applications of genomics to cereal crops.
* Using biotechnology to protect and enhance food supply.
* Biotechnology in developing countries.

Unlocking the potential of agricultural biotechnology is an issue that has been with us since the commercialization of the first genetically modified crop a decade ago. Developed countries, notably the U.S. and Canada, appreciate that agricultural biotechnology has been a prime mover of their economies. They have massively invested in it, effectively eclipsing the so-called conventional agriculture. The gains have been innumerable.

Farmers in these countries have almost doubled their income from cultivating genetically modified crops, that are usually high yielding and pest resistant.

In developing countries, the picture is different. Agricultural biotechnology remains a contested issue. Many developing countries would not embrace because of their distrust for the developed countries. Others have been fed with lies that agricultural biotechnology, and in particular Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), pose danger to the environment and the health of consumers.

Positive attributes of agricultural biotechnology must be played out at the Melbourne meeting for all to listen.

It’s encouraging that delegates from developing countries such as Prof. Jennifer Thomson (South Africa), Dr. Jagadish Mittur (India), and Dr. Rangsun Parnpai (Thailand) are attending this conference. They have a chance to learn firsthand how agricultural biotechnology has revolutionized the economies of such countries as the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. These delegates must explore how their countries can similarly benefit from agricultural biotechnology.

Since this is a gathering of experts in agricultural biotechnology, it’s expected that there will a productive debate on the potential of agricultural biotechnology. Delegates should conduct their deliberations with developing countries in mind. It’s here where agricultural biotechnology is in dire need.

Developing countries delegates are encouraged to view this conference as a window of opportunity to learn from as many experts as possible on the potential of agricultural biotechnology.

Once the curtains of this conference fall, delegates from developing countries must ensure that they share the lessons learnt with policy makers, scientists and farmers in their respective countries.

The Future is Now

One of the missions of ChartWatchCentral is to inform our readers of opportunity before it mainstreams. There is tremendous opportunity in the futuristic field of Nanotechnology.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines nanotechnology thusly: “the art of manipulating materials on an atomic or molecular scale especially to build microscopic devices.” A more proper working definition is: the creation of an entirely new species and world.

Nanotechnology is also very fertile ground for the investor who does his homework. As always, the ground floor is the preferred position for a new era. Quite simply, Nanotechnology will make every technological advance that has preceded it insignificant by comparison. The time frame for this sweeping worldwide change is short, investors who want to be at the forefront of profit in this change should begin serious investigation of this subject now because this is one future that will not wait – it is, in fact happening now.

A Brief Overview of the Changes Forthcoming

Computer processing power continues to increase at an astounding pace, and that will continue. These extremely powerful processors have fueled the technological explosion we have all experienced and continue to experience. We are now at the tipping point. Processor speed will soon take a quantum leap in speed and flexibility because newer, faster processors are being designed with the help of the current generation of fast processors. This sets up a chain reaction as each generation of faster processors is used to design its replacement. Human DNA is being looked at as the basis of near-term ultra fast ultra small processors. In fact, initial experiments have shown that DNA can indeed perform simple, although extremely brief, input/output operations. As faster upon faster generations of silicon-based processors, allowing for more sophisticated software, come into use, not only will the DNA-based processor hurdle be overcome, the prototype DNA-based processors will thus accelerate the processor speed curve.

The human genome has been mapped – blazing processor speed will ‘crack’ the code, which will, in turn, allow for processors with calculation speeds unheard of today to be constructed at the molecular and atomic level.

This is currently in the works; research is going full speed on a highly accelerated track. Molecular level computing utilizing DNA based processors will result in what now may be viewed as Science Fiction, but will become fact within the next ten years. I state again that current research is moving rapidly and breakthroughs are occurring at an astounding pace. I cannot over emphasize the importance of this issue because this molecular computing revolution will create a world that, just a few short years ago, would have been considered impossible. All of humanity will be affected and all of the world’s economies will experience a corresponding explosion in activity and worth.

Just Imagine

What are some of the things in store? Just imagine! In fact, let your imagination run rampant, the researchers and creators of emerging Nanotechnology, and its sibling Genomics, are doing just that. Products and services will become available that today, would be viewed as miraculous. These advanced products and services will, however, become commonplace in the early 21st Century and will be replaced by a dizzying and constant stream of even more amazing products and services.

This technology, of course, will first be utilized in military, medical and scientific applications. In fact the DOD research arm DARPA, is currently researching ‘super-human’ soldier applications utilizing Nanotechnology. Molecule and atomic sized computerized applications will enhance the strength, speed, agility, vision and survivability of the soldier on the battlefield. Once perfected and implemented, the ‘cyborg’ soldier applications will be able to communicate via satellite directly to commanders at the Pentagon, or in the field. What he sees with his nanite eyes, can be delivered in real-time to command centers, the same will hold true for what he hears, what he thinks and his biological signs. Instructions from command and control centers will be delivered directly to his brain almost instantaneously.

Some have envisioned nightmare scenarios whereby, as a military application, Nanotechnology and Genomics will lead to the creation of soldiers without remorse, guilt, or fear – those sections of his brain responsible for emotion will be held in check or blocked altogether by molecular computers - creating soldiers capable of following orders without question, acting upon orders without fear, without worry, without remorse. This will also be applicable to the intelligence sector. In reality however, it will be possible to utterly obviate and render obsolete today’s need for intelligence gathering altogether simply by delivering payloads of nanites to the enemy’s water supply – both civilian and military. Or, the payload could simply be delivered via air dispersion over wide areas – both battlefield and civilian areas could easily be targeted – remember these computers are molecular in size and capable of integrating with humans at the cellular level, and will execute their programming directly to the human, including easily reproducing themselves from cellular material. The enemy, in point of fact, would be rendered non-existent if ‘re-programmed’ to be the friend, or …… let your own imagination stage the scenario. It will be possible.

In the field of medicine, a few of the many uses will include heart patients injected with nanites designed to clear deposits from the circulatory system. Other uses will be nanites designed for microsurgery easily repairing damaged tissue and performing cellular surgery for a variety of maladies. The sky, and the imagination of the medical community is the limit.

Nanotechnology will revolutionize the world. There is no aspect of life that will be untouched by this advance. From agriculture to marketing – from biology to communication – virtually all that we can dream, both good and bad, will be possible. It will be possible for humans to carry within them the totality of human knowledge, available for instant recall. New knowledge could easily be passed from one human to another simply by touch, or by sight. Communication without speech will exist. Most disease can be eradicated, more food can be grown, and a ‘golden age’ will be entirely within humanity’s grasp. Or, a nightmare world of programmed ‘cyborgs’ will be commonplace. We will soon create a new species, which I have dubbed ‘Homo Superioralis,’ a blending, meshing and melding of human and DNA based molecular processors. Fantastic abilities and health will be available to anyone who carries within them these molecular computers. This is an issue that will soon confront all of us and it will become the biggest issue of this century. The time is rapidly approaching, we will have to deal with this and make of it what we will. The technology, in its nascent stage, exists. It is rapidly evolving and emerging. A new world is being born.

How Does This Affect the Investor?

Opportunities will arise that we cannot, at this time, comprehend, or even imagine. As with any total revolution, everything changes. Those who invest for the long-term in stable and reliable companies at the leading edge of current research in this area will be on the ground floor of the most explosive economic growth in history. For example, HP is expending tremendous effort to be at the forefront of this research.

The door to the digital, information age is only slightly ajar, the Internet and communication revolution barely turned the knob of the future. We have barely crossed the threshold – Nanotechnology will throw the door to the future wide open.

Of course, some people continued to invest in buggy and surrey manufacturers even as others invested in the manufacture of cantankerous automobiles rolling along primitive highways. A new world awaits, there is profit to be made. Make no mistake – Nanotechnology is the ultimate next big thing - it will revolutionize humankind.

Timeframe – ten to twenty years max! Do your research and prepare.

Nano is, indeed, the investment opportunity of the age. As I have stated many times "prepare to profit." Think about it.

Canadian Agriculture Museum

After my very interesting introduction to sheep shearing and all sorts of wool processing techniques I had a chance to link up with David Sutin who is the Communications, Marketing and Farm Operations Manager for the Canada Agriculture Museum. In fact, Ottawa is the only world capital that has a working farm at its heart. David volunteered to give me a personal tour through the various facilities of the Museum and we started with the Dairy Barn. Right when you come in is an area for the "dry cows": these are pregnant animals that stop giving milk in the two months before giving birth. David explained to me that the gestation period of cows is very similar to that of humans: 9 months.

David elaborated that male calves get moved into the sale barn and sadly enough, eventually they end up being processed into veal. On the other hand, the Museum keeps the female calves so they can grow up into milk cows. The Canada Agriculture Museum is home to a variety of different dairy cattle breeds and the most productive of them all are Holsteins. Jersey cows were imported from islands in the British Channel and I was just amazed at the beautiful faces and the huge, long-lashed eyes of these cows. The Canadienne cows were brought over from Europe by immigrants from France since they are hardier and better able to withstand the harsh Canadian winters although they are not highly efficient milk producers.

Every day the herdspersons at the Museum milk the cows at 6 am and 3:45 pm. The electric milking machines are connected to an overhead pipe system that leads into a 2500 liter storage tank where all the milk from the cows is collected and cooled to a temperature of 0 to 5 degrees Celsius. The milk is agitated for even cooling. Each cow actually drinks a bathtub of water everyday and produces 30 liters of milk. The milk of the cows is picked up every couple of days by the milk truck. David explained when a cow is sick and receiving antibiotic treatment, the milk is not allowed to be collected and actually gets washed down the drain.

We then continued into the maternity area that is also used for isolating sick animals. David mentioned that occasionally cows will suffer from a "twisted flipped stomach" (a cow's stomach actually consists of 4 separate parts) and this condition requires surgery. The veterinarian opens the cow's side with a 30 cm cut, manually twists the stomach back to the correct position and sews it onto to the abdomen wall. The whole procedure doesn't take much more than an hour and is performed right in the barn, definitely not under sterile conditions. But the animals always seem to come out okay.

The cow barn is not air conditioned and in the summer it gets pretty warm in the building. At night the cows are taken across the property to a night pasture where they are allowed to graze the whole night and they are taken back into the barn by 6 am. Year round the cows are fed "corn silage" which is made of ground up corn plants, stalks and all. The entire milk production is a big revenue producer for the Museum and offsets some of the operating costs.

From the Dairy Barn we went into an exhibition area that featured a variety of samples of historic farm machinery. The "Beck Circus", dating back to 1912, was a piece of demonstration equipment that was used to show how electricity could make a farmer's life easier. The Hydro-Electric Power Commission came up with this contraption to show farmers the operation of a variety of electrically powered devices, e.g. vacuum pumps for milking machines, a rocker churn to make butter, a feed grinder, a windmill pump and an electrical washing machine. These were the early days of electrical power when most farm work was still done completely manually, only assisted with the help of farm animals. It's hard to imagine how the quality of life of farmers must have improved with the advent of electric power.

David took me to an exhibition of farm tractors: originally they were large, powerful yet very dangerous machines. Through various technical innovations they were still large and even more powerful, but they became much safer to operate since working parts were no longer exposed. The Canada Agriculture Museum features a variety of tractors. One of the exhibits is hands-on; you can actually climb up into a tractor's seat, flick the switch and experience the bumpy, bone-jarring uncomfortable ride of an old-style tractor with metal wheels. Then you change the setting and you see the difference of how much smoother the ride is with rubber wheels. Another innovation that we don't even think about today that made life so much easier for farmers.

Another tractor was actually a hybrid vehicle from the 1930s, consisting of a car chassis and motor carriage that was converted into a farm tractor. Apparently the vehicle was neither particularly adept at being a passenger vehicle nor at being a tractor. The next big innovation on display was the "Cockshutt Tractor", built in Brantford, Ontario, which could have a manure spreader or other implement behind that was powered by the tractor's engine without the necessity for the tractor to be moving. This technology was called the "independent power takeoff" and a significant Canadian innovation during the 1940s.

The next piece of equipment was a specialized tractor used in vegetable fields which had a very slender nose and an engine mounted in the rear of the vehicle. The slender frontal portion would allow the farmer to see the vegetable planting much better. One of the popular displays at the Canada Agriculture Museum is a tractor simulator donated by the John Deere Company. You can climb up into the cab, look ahead through the windshield onto a simulated farmer's field and the simulator rocks you around in the cab as if you were in a real tractor ploughing the field. David explained that today's tractors actually have sophisticated GPS (global positioning systems) which keep track of which areas the farmer has already covered during planting so they don't go over the same area twice or miss other spots.

The machinery exhibit area includes a variety of quizzes with questions such as what would be the link to agriculture of a variety of everyday items. Diapers, photo film and other products we commonly use actually contain agricultural by-products, and we don't even associate them at all with farming operations. It's amazing how many items we take for granted in our daily lives and how many of them are derived from agricultural products.

Then David took me into the Small Animal Barn which houses the pigs, chickens, rabbits, sheep and goats of the Museum. Currently the Museum has one ram and 17 ewes that all have one to three lambs per year. Apparently pigs are surprisingly clean animals, they have a special designated area in their pens for bodily functions and they keep their living area totally clean. David showed me the birth area for the pigs which is called a "farrowing crate". It is a metal contraption that ensures that the mother pig doesn't squash the new born piglets, a very real danger with these sizeable animals.

On the way to the barn he explained that although the Canada Agriculture Museum is a great place for animals, they are still working on improving the facilities for the human visitors. One of the recent improvements is a big playground for children which will make the Canada Agriculture Museum an even more popular destination for young families.

Throughout the year, the Canada Agriculture Museum offers a comprehensive calendar of activities. I found out that the Museum is open 364 days a year with the exception of Christmas Day. All the facilities are fully accessible from March to October and during the winter months admission actually is free.

Some highlights of the calendar include activities during Easter where you can see rabbits, newborn lambs and newly-hatched chicks, not to forget the Easter egg hunt. Mother's Day (with free admission for all mothers) centers on "farm mothers", female animals that provide us with milk, eggs and meat. I of course already caught the Sheep Shearing Festival on the Victoria Day Weekend.

Special activities continue with Father's Day where all fathers get free admission so they can enjoy the Tractors exhibition. Canada Day activities focus on the Canadian Horse while there are fun and informative demonstrations all throughout the summer months. Fall welcomes visitors with October Harvest Weekends and special Halloween events and from November 1 to February 28 admission to the museum is free altogether. In addition to regular visitor programs, there are a variety of School Programs that encourage teachers to bring children to the Canada Agriculture Museum to learn and experience a working farm in the middle of the city.

On our way out of the Museum David mentioned that the Museum will have a brand new exhibition starting in March of 2007 called "Food for Health" which will deal with making wise food choices, food handling and various other nutrition-related topics. So that just means that next time I come to Ottawa I'll have something new to discover..

Agriculture Investment in a Hungry World

ETF exchange traded funds are you doorway to agriculture investing in a world crying out for more food.

As the world population grows, so will the demand for food. That easy too understand, especially when you learn that the World's population will increase from 6.6 billion now, to a United Nations estimated 9 billion by 2050. That will be like adding three Chinas!

Another vital fact is that the population is becoming significantly younger and those younger people will be eating more food than those in aging populations. Even now the consumption of meat is growing ten times faster in the developing world than it is in what we consider the developed countries.

At the same time as there is an increasing demand for food we are seeing the amount of land available to produce that food shrinking. Why? Urbanization. People are moving from the country to the cities. They are leaving the farms.

There's more bad news. Changing weather is leading to desertification in many countries. The U.N. has released estimates that every year 12 million hectares of land turn to desert and become agriculturally unproductive.

As an example of the seriousness of the problem, Beijing's nearest desert is only 70 km northwest of Tian'anmen Square, and this desert is on the move. It threatens to engulf China's capital city within a few years if it can't be stopped.

Floods, earthquakes and drought all contribute to the loss of food production.

So what does this all mean to investors? Opportunity and lots of it. It's time to start looking world wide for companies involved with land, fertilizers, seeds, transportation, farm equipment, irrigation and veterinarian pharmaceuticals.

Rather than trying to pick companies that will prosper, why not buy a basket of agricultural investments in the form of an ETF or ETN. For example:

PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund (DBA)

This fund consists of futures contracts in soy beans, corn, wheat, and sugar, with 25% being allocated towards each commodity.

We expect agriculture to be as recession proof as any investment available today . Even if we should see a global recession people must still eat and you can expect agricultural commodity prices to move higher.

Here are some of your other choices:

Dow Jones-AIG Agriculture Total Return ETN (JJA)
Dow Jones-AIG Grains Total Return ETN (JJG)
Dow Jones-AIG Livestock Total Return ETN (COW)
Market Vectors--Agribusiness ETF (MOO)

The following are all listed on the London Stock Exchange. You can buy them online through a discount broker like E-Trade:

ETFS Agriculture ETF (AIGA-LSE)
ETFS Coffee ETF (COFF-LSE)
ETFS Corn ETF (CORN-LSE)
ETFS Cotton ETF (COTN-LSE)
ETFS Grains ETF (AIGG-LSE)
ETFS Lean Hogs ETF (HOGS-LSE)
ETFS Live Cattle ETF (CATL-LSE)
ETFS Livestock ETF (AIGL-LSE)
ETFS Softs ETF (AIGS-LSE)
ETFS Soybean Oil ETF (SOYO-LSE)
ETFS Soybeans ETF (SOYB-LSE)
ETFS Sugar ETF (SUGA-LSE)
ETFS Wheat ETF (WEAT-LSE)

There are important things to understand about these commodity investments. First, some are structured as ETFs. They hold a basket of stocks like a mutual fund. You will notice that others are ETNs. An ETN is a debt instrument in which the issuer agrees to pay the return of a commodity index, minus fees and expenses.

The tax treatment of capital gains and income can also be different for ETFs and ETNs. Some of these vehicles give you exposure to commodities by investing in the futures market and throw off income from bond collateral, while others hold stocks.

Funds that use futures contracts receive "mark-to-market" treatment, meaning on a yearly basis any gains from the futures are taxed as 40% short-term, and 60% long-term gains.

If nothing else, these investments be your personal hedge against rising grocery prices.

NePAD And The UN Can Save Africa’s Agriculture

Last week, twenty United Agencies (UN) agencies met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to explore how they can help the New Partnership for African Development (Nepad) achieve its objectives.

Nepad’s main mission is to end chronic poverty in Africa, by, mainly, integrating innovative agricultural technologies, such as biotechnology, into African countries’ economies.

Agriculture being the mainstay of most African countries’ economies, Nepad should exploit the resources at various agricultural-oriented UN agencies to facilitate its rejuvenation. There is the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that has, for many years, been championing the rights of African farmers. The World Health Organization (WHO), on the other hand, has been very resourceful in giving expert guidance on food safety, the most memorable one being a declaration that genetically modified foods don’t pose health risks on consumers.

It must, however, be stated that the success of this initiative largely depends on Nepad’s willingness to persuade African farmers and policy makers to be ready to embrace more productive agricultural technologies such as biotechnology. UN agencies alone cannot bring prosperity to Africa. African farmers and policy makers must realize that the world, now, is a global village, where countries freely share technologies.

Nepad has already made recognizable progress in convincing Africa to integrate modern agricultural technologies, such as biotechnology, into their economies. Nepad’s science and technology secretariat, through policy briefs, conferences, and position papers, has been actively touting modern agricultural biotechnology as the new frontier to food security.

Just three months ago, Nepad released a draft position paper on potential applications of modern biotechnology in African countries’ economies. To be tabled during the African Heads of States meeting in January, next year, the paper, among other things, asks African governments to integrate modern biotechnology into their development plans. It calls for an integrated approach to agricultural biotechnology.

All these efforts are commendable, but Nepad still can do more. To ensure Africa benefits maximally from, for example, modern agricultural biotechnology, Nepad must intensify efforts to help African governments develop biosafety policies. It can do this by volunteering technical assistance.

Collaboration with a UN agency such as the World Health Organization (WHO), which has been active in research on the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), would be helpful. Such an agency can help correct misinformation that attends the debate about genetically modified foods.

Biodynamic Agriculture And Its History

The agriculture of biodynamics, or the biodynamiques ones is a biological system of agriculture (but the limit antedates). It is based on the lesson anthroposophical of Rudolf Steiner, in particular on the eight conferences given by him in 1924 at Schloss Koberwitz in what was then Silesia, Germany nowadays Poland (close to Wrocł aw). When Steiner believed that the introduction of the leasing of chemical was an important problem. Steiner was convinced that the quality of food in its time was degraded, and it believed that the source of problem were the artificial manures and pesticides. However, it did not believe that it was only because of the chemical or biological properties concerning the implied substances, but also because of the spiritual imperfections in the whole chemical approach of the leasing. Steiner considered the world and all in him as simultaneously spiritual and the material in kind, an approach named the monism. It also believed that the living matter was different from the died matter, a point of view generally indicated under the name of vitalism.

The biodynamics of limit was invented by the members of Steiner' S. Any product of biodynamics is also organic. A farm of biodynamics functions the same ones exactly as a firm organics by not employing any pesticide, weedkiller etc; but there are various agricultural methods which are single with the leasing of biodynamics. Those include the field and perforate preparations and a use of calendar astrological to determine periods of the plantation and harvest.

The product of biodynamics is certified by Demeter, but can as well be certified by an organic body of certification. A central aspect of biodynamic is that the farm as a whole is seen like organization, and should thus be a closed individual-nutritive system.

HISTORY.

History the agricultural work coming from the belief of Rudolf Steiner is based at Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. Not length after the conferences of Steiner on agriculture at the Twenties where by agricultural group of research was formed to examine and check the complaints of Steiner and others concerning the nature of the life and the health of the ground, the factories and the animals. The international association of Demeter for the certification of the farms and the processors which follow the method of biodynamics was launched in 1928. The association of the Demeter United States was formed in the Eighties and certified its first farm in 1982. In the United States, Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association, Inc. was founded in 1938 like company of the state of New York. In Australia the first preparations of data base were manufactured by Ernesto Genoni in Melbourne in 1927 and by Bob Williams in Sydney in 1939. Since the Fifties the research task continued at the institute of search for search for biodynamics (BDRI) in Powelltown, close to Melbourne Australia under the direction of Alex Podolinsky. Today the biodynamiques ones is practised in the whole world in more than 50 countries.

Agribusiness

In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term that refers to the various businesses involved in food production, including farming, seed supply, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesale and distribution, processing, marketing, and retail sales. The term has two distinctly different connotations depending on context.

Within the agriculture industry, agribusiness is widely used simply as a convenient portmanteau of agriculture and business, referring to the range of activities and disciplines encompassed by modern food production. There are academic degrees in and departments of agribusiness, agribusiness trade associations, agribusiness publications, and so forth, worldwide. Here, the term is only descriptive, and is synonymous in the broadest sense with food industry.

Among critics of large-scale, industrialized, vertically integrated food production, the term agribusiness is used as a negative, synonymous with corporate farming. As such, it is often contrasted with family farm. Some negative connotation is also derived from the negative associations of "business" and "corporation" from critics of capitalism or corporate excess.

An example of an agribusiness was the Old North State Winegrowers Cooperative in North Carolina. Wine grape farmers came together to not only sell their grapes but to share a winery, winemaker and marketing brand together. The cooperative failed in 2006, three years after opening its winery.

Urban agriculture

Urban Agriculture and Peri-Urban Agriculture is the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in, or around , a village, town or city (peri-urban).^[1]

Urban farming is generally practiced for income-earning or food-producing activities though in some communities the main impetus is recreation and relaxation. Urban agriculture contributes to food security and food safety in two ways: first, it increases the amount of food available to people living in cities, and, second, it allows fresh vegetables and fruits and meat products to be made available to urban consumers. A common and efficient form of urban agriculture is the biointensive method. Because urban agriculture promotes energy-saving local food production, urban and peri-urban agriculture are generally seen as sustainable practices.

The recognition of environmental degradation within cities through the relocation of resources to serve urban populations has inspired the implementation of different schemes of urban agriculture across the developed and developing world. From historic models such as Machu Picchu to designs for new productive urban farms, the idea of locating agriculture in the city takes on many characteristics.

Crop alteration

Domestication of plants has, over the centuries increased yield, improved disease resistance and drought tolerance, eased harvest and improved the taste and nutritional value of crop plants. Careful selection and breeding have had enormous effects on the characteristics of crop plants. Plant breeders use greenhouses (known as glasshouses or hothouses in some areas) and other techniques to get as many as three generations of plants per year towards the continued effort of improvement. Plant selection and breeding in the 1920s and 1930s improved pasture (grasses and clover) in New Zealand. Extensive X-ray an ultraviolet induced mutagenesis efforts (i.e. primitive genetic engineering) during the 1950s produced the modern commercial varieties of grains such as wheat, corn (maize) and barley.^[31][32]

For example, average yields of corn (maize) in the USA have increased from around 2.5 tons per hectare (t/ha) (40 bushels per acre) in 1900 to about 9.4 t/ha (150 bushels per acre) in 2001. Similarly, worldwide average wheat yields have increased from less than 1 t/ha in 1900 to more than 2.5 t/ha in 1990. South American average wheat yields are around 2 t/ha, African under 1 t/ha, Egypt and Arabia up to 3.5 to 4 t/ha with irrigation. In contrast, the average wheat yield in countries such as France is over 8 t/ha. Variation in yields are due mainly to variation in climate, genetics, and the level of intensive farming techniques (use of fertilizers, chemical pest control, growth control to avoid lodging).

After mechanical tomato-harvesters were developed in the early 1960s, agricultural scientists bred tomatoes that were more resistant to mechanical handling. These varieties have been criticized as being harder and having poor texture. More recently, genetic engineering has begun to be employed in large parts of the world to speed up the selection and breeding process. One widely used modification is a herbicide resistance gene that allows plants to tolerate exposure to glyphosate, a non-systemic (i.e kills all plants) chemical used to control weeds in a crop such as oilseed rape. Normally, expensive systemic herbicides would have to be applied to kill the weeds without harming the crop. Relatively cheap and safe glyphosate may be applied to the modified crops, efficiently killing weeds without harming the resistant crop. Another modification causes the plant to produce a toxin to reduce damage from insects (c.f. Starlink). This, in contrast, requires fewer insecticides to be applied to the crop.

Aquaculture, the farming of fish, shrimp, and algae, is closely associated with agriculture.

Biotechnology And Agriculture

The methods of biotechnology involved include genetic engineering (GE), genomics and bioinformatics, marker-assisted selection, micropropagation, tissue culture, cloning, artificial insemination, embryo transfer, and other technologies. In producing improved agricultural crops by genetic engineering, researchers aim for strains with the properties such as herbicide resistance, pest resistance, disease resistance, stress resistance and altered composition. All these properties will help farmers and large production companies to grow crops which will benefits in producing new products, increasing quality and quantity of existing products and improving ingredients of crops so that their production will ensure healthy and tasty food. For example, transgenic plants grew better under drought conditions and responded better when brought out of water stress. Next, such crops will allow producing potato starch with high amylopectin content for making paper, textiles and adhesives and rapeseed oil with greater erucic acid levels for plastic and industrial lubricants production.

Biotechnology is proving to be a vital complement to conventional agricultural research, improving breeding and conservation programmes and giving insights into understanding and controlling plant diseases. Aside from making conventional research more precise, GE also gives scientists the dramatic ability to transfer genetic material between organisms that normally cannot be combined through natural methods. Along with this newfound ability, however, comes new issues and concerns that need to be addressed before any large-scale adoption can take place. These include unintended transfer of transgenic genes, development of resistance by weeds, pests and diseases, and potential allergies from exotic proteins. Transparent and impartial evaluation of developed strains to answer these questions rather than rely on media hype will safeguard human health, protect the environment, and facilitate public acceptance of genetically engineered crops.

The A-Z of Global Warming: Deforestation

Deforestation is basically the loss or destruction of forest habitat, primarily as a result of the action of human beings.

It is the single largest source of land- use greenhouse gas emissions, and accounts for around 18 -20% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

We know from a previous article, trees and vegetation act as sinks or stores for carbon dioxide, one of the most important greenhouse gases. Stored carbon taken out of the atmosphere by photosynthesis through decades of growth is released back into the atmosphere as vegetation and trees are cut down and burnt, or, as unburned organic matter slowly dies. This process contributes to atmospheric CO2 levels.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) who are the leading source for information on the status of the worlds forests define forests as, "land with a tree canopy of greater than 10%, and an area of more than half a hectare". The organisation defines deforestation as, " the conversion of forest to another land use or long term reduction of the tree canopy cover below the minimum 10% threshold."

Land change and co2.

Land use changes are driven almost entirely by emissions caused through deforestation, which is highly concentrated in a few countries. Indonesia contributes approximately 30% of land use CO2 emissions with Brazil around 20%. It is estimated that about 80,000 acres or 32,000 hectares are being lost every day. This is the equivalent of about 117,000 km2, (45,173 sq miles) each year.

Total world rainforest cover is now about 6 million km2, (2,316,602 sq miles), which equates to about 5% of Earth's land surface. Only a few thousand years ago, rainforests covered about 12% of the worlds land surface, around 15.5 million km2, (6 million sq miles). A quick calculation reveals that if forest cover is being lost at the rate of 117,000 km2 a year, then it will only take in the region of 51 years for the world's rainforests to be destroyed! (6,000,000 divided by 117,000).

Destruction at this level would lead to the release of vast amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, further thickening the CO2 "blanket" that surrounds our planet and no doubt lead to an increased warming of the atmosphere.

Between 2000 and 2006 Brazil lost nearly 150,000km2, (57,915 sq miles) of forest, an area the size of Greece, and since 1970 over 600,000 km2, (231,660 sq miles) has been destroyed.

It is now estimated that almost 20% of the Amazon has been destroyed, which is considerably alarming when one considers that the Amazon rainforest represents about 50% of the worlds tropical rainforests.

There are various causes for deforestation, and they include, Cattle ranching, Activities of farmers, fires, mining and road construction and of course logging and commercial agriculture.

It's not entirely fair to blame the developing nations for all the deforestation however. Whilst countries like Brazil and Indonesia may be the main culprits now, up until the early 20th Century emissions of CO2 through land use changes came from developed nations. It's a natural step for developing nations to clear forest-land for agriculture and habitation. The fact is that as developed nations have already deforested many areas long ago, there is more pressure on developing nations to preserve what is left. Of course population growth is another major factor which will be discussed in a later chapter. Another significant point is that trees in topical forests typically hold on average about 50% more carbon per hectare than trees outside the tropics. Therefore deforestation in these areas causes greater amounts of CO2 to be released into the atmosphere than deforestation outside of the tropics.

Future of the forests.

Remarkably when talking about land use change emissions, countries such as the USA, Europe and China were in the year 2000 net absorbers of CO2 as a result of their aforestation (planting new forests) and reforestation (re establishing old forest areas) programs. However, the planting of one tree does not offset the damage caused by the removal of another, as trees absorb CO2 very slowly. It could take 100 years for a growing tree to recover all the CO2 released when a mature tree is cut down!. For this reason, carbon offset programs which suggest planting a tress to offset co2 produced are pretty worthless, due to the time it would take for that tree to remove co2 from the atmosphere.

There is some good news however, as in 2006 the Brazilian government announced a sharp drop in deforestation. Loss for the year 2005/6 was 13,100 km2, (5,057 sq miles) down more than 40% from the year before. Its too early to say whether this is a declining trend, or just one good year out of the pervious eight where deforestation levels were all in excess of 16,000 km2, (6,177 sq miles).

As the worlds forests are being destroyed, huge amounts of CO2 are being released back into the atmosphere. The forests that were once able to absorb and store this potent greenhouse gas, will no longer be standing which will push CO2 levels up higher, thereby contributing to the warming of Earth's climate.

Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and the raising of domesticated animals. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science. The related practice of gardening is studied in horticulture.

Agriculture encompasses a wide variety of specialties. Cultivation of crops on arable land and the pastoral herding of livestock on rangeland remain at the foundation of agriculture. In the past century a distinction has been made between sustainable agriculture and intensive farming. Modern agronomy, plant breeding, pesticides and fertilizers, and technological improvements have sharply increased yields from cultivation. Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry such as intensive pig farming (and similar practices applied to the chicken) have similarly increased the output of meat. The more exotic varieties of agriculture include aquaculture and tree farming.

The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, raw materials, legal and illegal drugs, and an assortment of ornamental or otherwise exotic products. In recent years plants have been used to grow biofuels, biopharmaceuticals, bioplastics,^[1] and pharmaceuticals. Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, and meat. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. Drugs include tobacco, marijuana, opium, cocaine, digitalis, curare, eugenol, reserpine, pyrethrins, taxol) and other useful materials such as resins. Biofuels include methane from biomass, ethanol, and biodiesel. Cut flowers, nursery plants, tropical fish and birds for the pet trade are some of the ornamental products.

The history of agriculture has played a major role in human history, as agricultural progress has been a crucial factor in worldwide socio-economic change. Wealth-building and militaristic specializations rarely seen in hunter-gatherer cultures are commonplace in societies which practice agriculture. So, too, are arts such as epic literature and monumental architecture, as well as codified legal systems. When farmers became capable of producing food beyond the needs of their own families, others in their society were freed to devote themselves to projects other than food acquisition. Historians and anthropologists have long argued that the development of agriculture made civilization possible.

In 2007, an estimated 35 percent of the world's workers were employed in agriculture (from 42% in 1996). However, the relative significance of farming has dropped steadily since the beginning of industrialization, and in 2003 – for the first time in history – the services sector overtook agriculture as the economic sector employing the most people worldwide. Despite the fact that agriculture employs over one-third of the world's population, agricultural production accounts for less than five percent of the gross world product (an aggregate of all gross domestic products).

Buying Green Food on a Budget

One of the most basic things you can do for the environment is to buy foods that are produced in environmentally sound ways. Unfortunately, this can be quite expensive and the foods can be hard to find.

The main reason this can seem to be so hard is that people often limit themselves to the grocery stores, where organic foods are priced significantly higher than other foods. But your local grocery store may not be the best choice.

Find a local farmer's market. Not all of the food there will be organically produced, but you can talk to the people there and find out. As an added environmental benefit, most of the food will be locally grown.

You can also try a food co-op. Joining a co-op means that you will get whatever is grown at the time, rather than choosing what you want, but the produce will be organically and locally grown. These are not available in all communities, but are well worth looking into.

Another solution if you have the room, is to grow some of your own. The wonderful thing about having your own garden is that you choose exactly what goes into it. It's also a great way to teach children about where food comes from. And of course it is a nice bit of exercise.

You may also be able to find a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program in your area. You can learn more about these programs at http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csa.shtml and search for ones in your area.

Finding good, organically produced meats is generally more difficult, especially if you don't want to pay too much extra. Some CSA programs do offer meat, but many will be strictly produce, and perhaps eggs.

One of the solutions is to cut back on meats. If you can eat vegetarian a couple times a week or even just once a week, you can save quite a bit on meat, which can make buying the better stuff less painful. Going all vegetarian isn't for everyone, but being partially vegetarian is a very realistic goal.

You can also join a buying club or try buying in bulk on your own. These can get you great discounts on the foods you need. You will want to pay close attention to what you are actually paying to ensure that you are getting the best possible prices.

In some areas, going organic and/or local is easier than it is in other areas. I live in California, where all kinds of organic produce is available. Other states it is much harder and much more expensive.

Choosing more environmentally friendly food options is better for you, your family and the environment. Sometimes it can even be sufficiently friendly to the budget that you start running out of excuses to not go organic.

Alarm Bells Ring For Spanish Real Estate

Owning a property in Spain - either as a holiday home or for full time living - has been an aspiration for many Europeans in the last twenty years, with Germany and the UK providing the most buyers.

But Spain's property market has hit some turbulence recently, with the Costa del Sol dropping from the favourite area to buy to least popular in just two years, leaving hundreds of thousands of holiday home owners vulnerable to a sharp drop in prices this year.

The Costa del Sol has been particularly hard hit as different negative factors came into play at around the same time - 'land grab' - where developers take land from existing owners with little recompense, world market jitters, and local corruption.

Another complication has hit the property market on the popular holiday island of Majorca. Plans have been put forward for more developments, and the local populations has successfully organised mass protest against development plans which they think will destroy much of the island's culture and heritage.

Majorca's economic base featured farming, livestock and agriculture before the 1960s. Before it became dependent upon tourism, Mallorca prided itself on being able to take care of itself without outside influence. The rising climate has made it hard to farm or raise livestock on the island. Limited water supplies make it difficult to maintain any kind of crop. The sparse amount of agriculture that is still done in Majorca is in an effort to keep up with the demand from tourists, and more development could spell disaster for the traditional way of life.

According to the 2005 census, the population of the city of Palma was 375,048. The population of the entire area was estimated to be 517,285; the 12th-largest urban area of Spain. Approximately half of the total population of Majorca lives in Palma, and it is feared that more developments will see Majorca turned into a concrete jungle.

Majorca started to develop as a holidays hot spot in the 1920's. Today, Majorca sees more than six million visitors each year, yet ninety-five percent of tourists concentrate in only five percent of its territory. Less developed areas of this elegant island are ripe for new development and prime property commands a great premium. It seems more people than ever before want to live on or invest in the island after taking their holidays in Majorca - but locals fear a doubling or trebling of the full time population in just a few years, placing a strain on the island's hospitals, schools and infrastructure, and vow to fight development plans.

A United Nations report highlights problems for both the Costa del Sol and Majorca, showing that local authorities are over dependent on new properties being built, with some city halls receiving over a quarter of their income from property related activity - a figure only sustainable by allowing more and more new developments, which eventually run contary to the wishes of the local populations.

The report says that there has been 'uncontrolled speculation for the last twenty years' and contributes to a poor housing situation for Spain's domestic market, with many developers preferring to concentrate on holiday villas and apartments to providing good standard housing for local people.

And it's local people in different regions of Spain who might change the way the property market works in the future, more for themselves than for outsiders.

The report says that the hardest hit sections of society in the Spanish property market are the young and the elderly, women, gypsies and the disabled - and as Mallorca has seen people are pushing housing policy higher up the political agenda.

The UN report also says that some fifteen per cent of Spain's apartments lie empty, even after discounting overseas owners.

'The amount of housing that isn't occupied might look alarming', comments a Mallorca internet site, 'But this isn't unusual. The same could be said of London, or among the Mediterranean countries Malta for example.'

Real estate developers in Spain and the Spanish islands face an uncertain 2008, as new developments are scrutinised more before being given planning consent, and an economic downturn threatens to drop the number of new buyers from Germany and the United Kingdom.

Agriculture: Our Biggest Environmental Disaster

There are no "good old days" of farming. From when people first started to herd animals and scratch the ground to plant seeds, farming has been an environmentally destructive force. We have heard a lot in recent years about the destruction of the rainforest in South America and the Red Woods in California. Every state has some form of agriculture. Every ecosystem in the United States has been impacted by agricultural activities. The rainforest and the Redwoods are more glamorous than the Prairie Lands of Illinois or Iowa.

In decades past, organic farming or sustainable agriculture were discredited among farmers as being a movement to return to 18th century farming practices. Chemical and fertilizer companies used these images to impress farmers that if you wanted to use any alternative to "modern" farming practices you would probably be spending a lot of time looking at the wrong end of a horse. But, 18th or 19th or even early 20th century farming practices were just as destructive as today's practices.

So, how are we supposed to feed ourselves? We do it through agriculture. Anyone who thinks I am suggesting we quit farming and go back to hunting and gathering is jumping to conclusions. The problem with agriculture has always been the way it has been done. From slash and burn to no-till industrial chemical agriculture, through centuries of human attempts at raising a crop, the impact on the surrounding area was of little consideration.

In the 1970's American farmers were encouraged to take out all their fence rows and plant every available inch to maximize their profits. This attitude was fostered to not really benefit farmers but rather to benefit companies that farmers sell their products to. So what, if you gained ten acres more on a thousand acre farm. The benefit was not that great because the price of corn was low.

Along with taking out the fence rows farmers plowed their pastures, took out timber, and otherwise degraded their properties in search of profits. Or, maybe it was not just profits but a desire to participate in the otherwise booming consumer economy at a level similar to laborers or other people who actually worked for a living. The effect of their activities was increased erosion, destruction of wildlife habitat, loss of biodiversity, and increased run off of chemicals.

Agriculture by nature is a disruptive activity. But, how much agriculture do we need? How much of the millions of bushels of grain actually go to feeding people? Is feeding the grain to livestock and then eating the livestock really worth the amount of resources and environmental destruction that is the result of this practice? A trip to a grocery store reveals aisle after aisle of things people can eat. But so much of it is so processed the actual food value is depleted and some of it is such a toxic mix of chemicals and additives it is not worth the energy used to produce it.

The best days of Human Agricultural activity are still in the future. Until the full impact of agricultural practices on the environment are reflected in the final cost of the product on the shelf, agriculture will continue to be a wasteful destructive force.

The Foundation of Agriculture is Root Mass

Providing nutrient dense food for cattle and people finds its basis in the soil borne nutrients that roots can absorb to turn into these foods. Without healthy dense root mass and micro mineral laden soils to draw from, food may look good but is empty of nutrition. The two major functions of roots are 1.) absorption of water and inorganic nutrients and 2.) anchoring the plant body to the ground. The pattern of development of a root system is termed 'root architecture', and is important in providing a plant with a secure supply of nutrients and water as well as anchorage and support. Some plants have very deep root systems like prairie grasses that reach 7 feet above ground, but 15 feet below ground.

The majority of roots on most plants are found relatively close to the surface where nutrient availability and aeration are more favorable for growth. Rooting depth may be physically restricted by rock or compacted soil close below the surface, or by anaerobic soil conditions. the 'plastic' nature of root growth allows the plant to then concentrate its resources to seek out nutrients and water are they are more easily available Roots will generally grow in any direction where the correct environment of air, mineral nutrients and water exists to meet the plant's needs. But roots will not grow in dry soil. Primary roots less than 2 mm diameter have the function of water, mineral and nutrient uptake. They are often heavily branched.

Roots also function in cytokinin synthesis, which supplies some important shoot needs. Cytokinins are a class of plant growth substances (plant hormones) active in promoting cell division, and are also involved in cell growth, differentiation, and other physiological processes and are mainly created in the root. These many processes’ are reliant on macro nutrient and micro nutrient activation minerals to regulate biosysthesis of phytochemicals. For minerals to be immediately available to plant roots, particles have to be microscopic in size. Liquid minerals solutions like ASAP Plant Minerals provide these nutrients at the right size. As soil is stripped, the re introduction of these activation micro nutrient minerals is essential for continued nutritional content in plants used for agriculture. A perfect example of a loss of nutrient in grasses due to stripped-out micro minerals is the reduced milk output by dairy cattle fed hay and grass devoid of micro nutrient minerals. Eating more nutrient empty grass does not produce more milk because minerals that stimulate lactation are absent. Re-mineralizing our soils to offset the loss yearly by harvesting will solve this problem. Healthy roots, in micro mineral laden soils, produce healthy shoots.

In roots, the architecture of fine roots and coarse roots can both be described by variation in topology and distribution of biomass within and between roots. Having a balanced architecture allows fine roots to exploit soil efficiently around a plant, but the 'plastic' nature of root growth allows the plant to then concentrate its resources where nutrients and water are more easily available.

Agriculture Investment in a Hungry World

ETF exchange traded funds are you doorway to agriculture investing in a world crying out for more food.

As the world population grows, so will the demand for food. That easy too understand, especially when you learn that the World's population will increase from 6.6 billion now, to a United Nations estimated 9 billion by 2050. That will be like adding three Chinas!

Another vital fact is that the population is becoming significantly younger and those younger people will be eating more food than those in aging populations. Even now the consumption of meat is growing ten times faster in the developing world than it is in what we consider the developed countries.

At the same time as there is an increasing demand for food we are seeing the amount of land available to produce that food shrinking. Why? Urbanization. People are moving from the country to the cities. They are leaving the farms.

There's more bad news. Changing weather is leading to desertification in many countries. The U.N. has released estimates that every year 12 million hectares of land turn to desert and become agriculturally unproductive.

As an example of the seriousness of the problem, Beijing's nearest desert is only 70 km northwest of Tian'anmen Square, and this desert is on the move. It threatens to engulf China's capital city within a few years if it can't be stopped.

Floods, earthquakes and drought all contribute to the loss of food production.

So what does this all mean to investors? Opportunity and lots of it. It's time to start looking world wide for companies involved with land, fertilizers, seeds, transportation, farm equipment, irrigation and veterinarian pharmaceuticals.

Rather than trying to pick companies that will prosper, why not buy a basket of agricultural investments in the form of an ETF or ETN. For example:

PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund (DBA)

This fund consists of futures contracts in soy beans, corn, wheat, and sugar, with 25% being allocated towards each commodity.

We expect agriculture to be as recession proof as any investment available today . Even if we should see a global recession people must still eat and you can expect agricultural commodity prices to move higher.

Here are some of your other choices:

Dow Jones-AIG Agriculture Total Return ETN (JJA)
Dow Jones-AIG Grains Total Return ETN (JJG)
Dow Jones-AIG Livestock Total Return ETN (COW)
Market Vectors--Agribusiness ETF (MOO)

The following are all listed on the London Stock Exchange. You can buy them online through a discount broker like E-Trade:

ETFS Agriculture ETF (AIGA-LSE)
ETFS Coffee ETF (COFF-LSE)
ETFS Corn ETF (CORN-LSE)
ETFS Cotton ETF (COTN-LSE)
ETFS Grains ETF (AIGG-LSE)
ETFS Lean Hogs ETF (HOGS-LSE)
ETFS Live Cattle ETF (CATL-LSE)
ETFS Livestock ETF (AIGL-LSE)
ETFS Softs ETF (AIGS-LSE)
ETFS Soybean Oil ETF (SOYO-LSE)
ETFS Soybeans ETF (SOYB-LSE)
ETFS Sugar ETF (SUGA-LSE)
ETFS Wheat ETF (WEAT-LSE)

There are important things to understand about these commodity investments. First, some are structured as ETFs. They hold a basket of stocks like a mutual fund. You will notice that others are ETNs. An ETN is a debt instrument in which the issuer agrees to pay the return of a commodity index, minus fees and expenses.

The tax treatment of capital gains and income can also be different for ETFs and ETNs. Some of these vehicles give you exposure to commodities by investing in the futures market and throw off income from bond collateral, while others hold stocks.

Funds that use futures contracts receive "mark-to-market" treatment, meaning on a yearly basis any gains from the futures are taxed as 40% short-term, and 60% long-term gains.

If nothing else, these investments be your personal hedge against rising grocery prices.

How NePAD And The UN Can Save Africa’s Agriculture

Last week, twenty United Agencies (UN) agencies met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to explore how they can help the New Partnership for African Development (Nepad) achieve its objectives.

Nepad’s main mission is to end chronic poverty in Africa, by, mainly, integrating innovative agricultural technologies, such as biotechnology, into African countries’ economies.

Agriculture being the mainstay of most African countries’ economies, Nepad should exploit the resources at various agricultural-oriented UN agencies to facilitate its rejuvenation. There is the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that has, for many years, been championing the rights of African farmers. The World Health Organization (WHO), on the other hand, has been very resourceful in giving expert guidance on food safety, the most memorable one being a declaration that genetically modified foods don’t pose health risks on consumers.

It must, however, be stated that the success of this initiative largely depends on Nepad’s willingness to persuade African farmers and policy makers to be ready to embrace more productive agricultural technologies such as biotechnology. UN agencies alone cannot bring prosperity to Africa. African farmers and policy makers must realize that the world, now, is a global village, where countries freely share technologies.

Nepad has already made recognizable progress in convincing Africa to integrate modern agricultural technologies, such as biotechnology, into their economies. Nepad’s science and technology secretariat, through policy briefs, conferences, and position papers, has been actively touting modern agricultural biotechnology as the new frontier to food security.

Just three months ago, Nepad released a draft position paper on potential applications of modern biotechnology in African countries’ economies. To be tabled during the African Heads of States meeting in January, next year, the paper, among other things, asks African governments to integrate modern biotechnology into their development plans. It calls for an integrated approach to agricultural biotechnology.

All these efforts are commendable, but Nepad still can do more. To ensure Africa benefits maximally from, for example, modern agricultural biotechnology, Nepad must intensify efforts to help African governments develop biosafety policies. It can do this by volunteering technical assistance.

Collaboration with a UN agency such as the World Health Organization (WHO), which has been active in research on the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), would be helpful. Such an agency can help correct misinformation that attends the debate about genetically modified foods.

Biotechnology And Agriculture

The methods of biotechnology involved include genetic engineering (GE), genomics and bioinformatics, marker-assisted selection, micropropagation, tissue culture, cloning, artificial insemination, embryo transfer, and other technologies. In producing improved agricultural crops by genetic engineering, researchers aim for strains with the properties such as herbicide resistance, pest resistance, disease resistance, stress resistance and altered composition. All these properties will help farmers and large production companies to grow crops which will benefits in producing new products, increasing quality and quantity of existing products and improving ingredients of crops so that their production will ensure healthy and tasty food. For example, transgenic plants grew better under drought conditions and responded better when brought out of water stress. Next, such crops will allow producing potato starch with high amylopectin content for making paper, textiles and adhesives and rapeseed oil with greater erucic acid levels for plastic and industrial lubricants production.

Biotechnology is proving to be a vital complement to conventional agricultural research, improving breeding and conservation programmes and giving insights into understanding and controlling plant diseases. Aside from making conventional research more precise, GE also gives scientists the dramatic ability to transfer genetic material between organisms that normally cannot be combined through natural methods. Along with this newfound ability, however, comes new issues and concerns that need to be addressed before any large-scale adoption can take place. These include unintended transfer of transgenic genes, development of resistance by weeds, pests and diseases, and potential allergies from exotic proteins. Transparent and impartial evaluation of developed strains to answer these questions rather than rely on media hype will safeguard human health, protect the environment, and facilitate public acceptance of genetically engineered crops.

The Role of Fluorochemicals in Agriculture

Since the late 1990's, governments around the world have been bombarded with pressure from environmental groups to ban the use of fluorine-derived chemicals in drinking water, organic foods and other consumables. As more and more studies about these chemicals are sponsored and brought to light, many environmental and public health groups are taking steps in an attempt to force governments to completely abolish the use of this "sometimes" poisonous element.

Despite the attempts to ban their use, fluorochemicals are used in industries and in agriculture around the world. So what exactly are fluorochemicals? What role do they play and why are so many people crying out against their use?

Meet the Element

Along with chlorine, bromine and iodine, Fluorine is part of the Halogen family. It is one of the 92 known naturally occurring elements (number 9 on the periodic table), and the most chemically reactive and electronegative. In other words, it reacts violently to almost every other element, organic or not, and is almost never found alone in nature. Its pure form is a yellowish-brown corrosive and highly reactive gas.

Fluorine is usually found in combination with other elements like metals to form compounds known as fluorides and with the element carbon to form fluorocarbons or fluorochemicals. Fluoride, often added to drinking water, is made possible by combining elements with opposite charges as a base to its acidic properties. Fluoride is still added to the drinking water in many areas of the world, and it is a major ingredient in toothpastes. In both cases, the intent is to protect teeth against enamel decay. Fluorochemicals are Freon, industrial solvents and stain-repellents.

Unfortunately, fluoride tends to accumulate in the body rather than being flushed out. The accumulated fluorides can reach harmful or toxic levels, especially when it is highly concentrated or in produce grown where fluoride-based pesticides are used. Fluoride binds with other elements very easily, and it may carry along other elements like lead and arsenic.

In Agriculture

Fluorochemicals have many different uses and roles in agriculture. The most common use is to protect crops in the field as an ingredient in pesticides and herbicides. It has nearly taken the place of bromomethane, a pesticide that came under fire for its toxicity to the environment. Fluorine provides a viable and valuable alternative to bromomethane in pest-control products, and its introduction has led to the development of new and more active ingredients for pesticide purposes.

Fluoro compounds also may be added to soil to sterilize it before specific crops are sowed into it. As a soil sterilizing agent, fluorine can neutralize any growth by crops other than those intended to be grown there. By reducing the growth of anything other than the target product, fluorine can help ensure that there are enough nutrients in the soil for that one crop.

In addition, fluoridation helps decontaminate water that might otherwise be useless for irrigating crops. The water fluoridation process is integral to watering and sustaining the crops, and of course, in providing water for cattle and other animals.

Chemicals derived from fluoride are used as fumigants to reduce pest infestation of stored grains and other food products. Sulfuryl fluoride, derived from fluorine, is used in gas fumigants to reduce the incidence of rats, mice and other pests that invade food storage and transportation structures. Unlike other pesticides, sulfuryl fluoride has a minimal impact on the germination of seeds and grains, making it a better choice for eliminating pest infestations in grain elevators, warehouses, mills, dried fruit and nut storage and stationary transport vehicles.

New processes in processing are producing fluorochemicals that are less toxic to the environment and deliver more advantages in agriculture. As the industry continues to grow, they will continue to find ways to make these chemicals more productive and safer to use.

Biodynamic Agriculture And Its History

The agriculture of biodynamics, or the biodynamiques ones is a biological system of agriculture (but the limit antedates). It is based on the lesson anthroposophical of Rudolf Steiner, in particular on the eight conferences given by him in 1924 at Schloss Koberwitz in what was then Silesia, Germany nowadays Poland (close to Wrocł aw). When Steiner believed that the introduction of the leasing of chemical was an important problem. Steiner was convinced that the quality of food in its time was degraded, and it believed that the source of problem were the artificial manures and pesticides. However, it did not believe that it was only because of the chemical or biological properties concerning the implied substances, but also because of the spiritual imperfections in the whole chemical approach of the leasing. Steiner considered the world and all in him as simultaneously spiritual and the material in kind, an approach named the monism. It also believed that the living matter was different from the died matter, a point of view generally indicated under the name of vitalism.

The biodynamics of limit was invented by the members of Steiner' S. Any product of biodynamics is also organic. A farm of biodynamics functions the same ones exactly as a firm organics by not employing any pesticide, weedkiller etc; but there are various agricultural methods which are single with the leasing of biodynamics. Those include the field and perforate preparations and a use of calendar astrological to determine periods of the plantation and harvest.

The product of biodynamics is certified by Demeter, but can as well be certified by an organic body of certification. A central aspect of biodynamic is that the farm as a whole is seen like organization, and should thus be a closed individual-nutritive system.

HISTORY.

History the agricultural work coming from the belief of Rudolf Steiner is based at Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. Not length after the conferences of Steiner on agriculture at the Twenties where by agricultural group of research was formed to examine and check the complaints of Steiner and others concerning the nature of the life and the health of the ground, the factories and the animals. The international association of Demeter for the certification of the farms and the processors which follow the method of biodynamics was launched in 1928. The association of the Demeter United States was formed in the Eighties and certified its first farm in 1982. In the United States, Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association, Inc. was founded in 1938 like company of the state of New York. In Australia the first preparations of data base were manufactured by Ernesto Genoni in Melbourne in 1927 and by Bob Williams in Sydney in 1939. Since the Fifties the research task continued at the institute of search for search for biodynamics (BDRI) in Powelltown, close to Melbourne Australia under the direction of Alex Podolinsky. Today the biodynamiques ones is practised in the whole world in more than 50 countries.