Fish farming in the desert brings millions to farmer.

A farmer has made millions from fish farming in the desert using sustainable farming technique,the aquaponic system. In the desert where water is scarce, some experts are pushing for a process called aquaponics, where the wastewater from the fish is used to fertilize crops. Rush,a farmer sees fish farming not just as a way to make money, but also to save money by reusing the fish water on the 500 acres of Bermuda grass crop he grows nearby. The fish put waste in the water, which eventually turns into nitrates, a big ingredient in fertilizer. Rush said he saves more than $100,000 a year on fertilizer by using this nutrient-rich water. And, he gets double the use from costs of pumping groundwater from his wells. More

Foothill abortion disease.

Ranchers in California and neighboring states have struggled with foothill abortion disease at least as far back as the 1940s. While the disease seemed to have little impact on the health of the pregnant cows grazing in the foothills, it resulted in their calves being aborted, stillborn or born so weak that they soon died. After more than 50 years of research, the tick-borne bacterium responsible for one of the most troubling and economically devastating cattle diseases in the Western United States has been named and genetically characterized by researchers at the University of California, Davis. Veterinary immunologist Jeffrey Stott and collegues physically examined the bacterium in tissue sections taken during postmortem exams of aborted calves. They then characterized it by partially sequencing three of its genes and named it "Pajaroellobacter abortibovis," recognizing the Pajaroello tick that carries the bacterium as well as its abortion-inducing impact on infected cows and their fetuses. The researchers have developed a preventive vaccine for foothill abortion disease, and the Vaccine trials to prevent the disease are now in the second year. In the 1980s, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine researchers found evidence that the infected cow fetuses were producing an immune response to an unidentified microbe. Between 2000 and 2010, Stott and colleagues identified the microbe as a member of the genus Myxococcus and developed techniques to grow the live bacteria in laboratory mice. Cells from such mice were eventually used to develop the vaccine. This bacterium is like no other animal pathogen ever described,as It replicates only once per day, which explains why it could not be cultivated using standard laboratory techniques. The bacterium also has a much smaller genome than the most closely related, characterized bacterium, indicating that Pajaroellobacter abortibovis has probably lost some of its genetic material as it evolved. The Pajaroello tick is as intriguing as the disease-causing bacteria it carries, Stott said. Unlike more common ticks that burrow their way into the skin of people and animals to feed, the Pajaroello is a soft-bodied tick and does not embed itself in its hosts. The Pajaroello lives in the decomposing plant litter at the base of trees, shrubs and rocks, and is attracted to cattle by the carbon dioxide the animals give off. Only once every few months, the tick makes the effort to pierce the cow's skin and feed on its blood for about 20 minutes. When the bacteria get into the cow's tissue, they travel to the cow's uterus,in cows and other ruminants, no antibodies are passed between the mother and the fetus, so the fetus is immunologically naive and very vulnerable. The fetal development accompanied by a developed immune system triggers an immunological response to the presence of the bacteria. The fetus destroys itself and usually dies about four months after the cow is infected.. The economic losses recorded in cases of foothill abortion disease is high, the disease which occurs in California's coastal mountains and the foothill regions of California, Southern Oregon and Northern Nevada, annually results in the death of an estimated 45,000 to 90,000 unborn calves.

Silicon valley dives into agriculture.

The future of agriculture is technology driven with data,machines,telecommunication and drones changing the way we practice agriculture. Agriculture merging with technology referred to as Agtech is a means to ensure food security by producing enough food for the ever growing population. Technology biased industry,investors,banks and agricultural experts are all looking at ways to produce more food with the constraints of scarce resources for farmers, land availability and old techniques in food production and old seed strains and animal breeds. Agriculture merged with technology has introduced not only machines but improved seed varieties,breeds and technology such as biotechnology to produce more disease resistance and rapidly growing seeds and animal breeds. The key to improved agricultural practices is the use of data alongside machines to provide high yield, within a short time and save cost.Silicon valley has seen the gap between communication and production in agriculture. The lack of reliable data coupled with advanced technological approach is responsible for losses in the field with great economic impact. Silicon valley firms have stepped into agriculture to provide data driven analytics which not only saves time, money and labor costs but also ensures the expected harvest reaches the market on record time. The technology driven agriculture has changed the terrain in countries that have warmed up to this new approach. Agtech involves remote sensors sending data to a digital dashboard that shows real-time analytics on soil temperature and moisture levels and sensors in collars of cattle can also notify health status. Drones in agriculture now fly overhead capturing high-resolution thermal and visual images that show yield variation row-by-row with Phone notifications telling the farmer the optimal time to apply fertilizer, where it’s most needed, and the estimated effect on the harvest. Everything that a farmer once was and once thought about his business has completely transformed in the last 10 years as most of the things done by labor are replaced by machines and easy predictions on harvest is a reality as much of the guesswork and instincts n farming are now replaced with data and diagrams. This trend help farmers become more efficient, productive, and profitable. Google Ventures recently announced investments in both Granular, a company that provides farm management software, and Farmers Business Network, an online service that allows farmers to compare the effectiveness of seeds and inputs. Silicon Valley firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers are also embracing AgTech start-ups and increasingly looking to agriculture.

China set to curb high pork consumption with the "Terminator."

Meat consumption in China has grown sixfold since 1978. Pork is a popular meat in China, as pig farming takes center stage in the country. The success of pig farming in China has seen more and more people venturing into the business and more and more people consuming pork.There are nutritionist who believe that cutting meat consumption prolong life and ensures healthy living. The vegan group canvasing for a life of veggies have also shown that life without meat is possible and beneficial. The Chinese Food Guide Pagoda, in which meat is not taking top priority also encourages more of Water, cereals, tubers and legumes as being very important in the diet. The guide also canvases for more vegetables and fruits and small amounts of roughly 40-75 g/day of meat to be acceptable. The government in line with the food guide have enlisted Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Cameron and Chinese actress Li Bingbing in a new video aimed at the Chinese people, in an attempt to reduce the country’s meat consumption.The tagline of the video is Less meat, less heat, more life. They are to help promote the campaign which was set up by the Chinese government to curb meat consumption by 50% - of which pork is taking a large share. Schwarzenegger, who is very popular in China, is to leverage on this to win the Chinese people over said, “If they tell you to eat more meat to be strong – don’t buy it.” The action spearheaded by WildAid, an American-based environmental organisation.The video is part of a broader strategy which include billboards and a Web campaign, shows the actor walking through a damaged landscape which allegedly is destroyed partly by carbon emissions due to animal production.

Nanoparticles used to break up plaque and prevent cavities.

A new strategy published in the journal Biomaterials shows how University of Pennsylvania researchers have adopted a more sophisticated approach to fight plaque.An iron oxide nanoparticle applied to teeth prior to treatment with hydrogen peroxide effectively reduced the onset and severity of cavities .The bacteria that live in dental plaque and contribute to tooth decay often resist traditional antimicrobial treatment, as they "hide" within a sticky biofilm matrix, a glue-like polymer scaffold. The team did not apply an antibiotic to the teeth rather, they took advantage of the pH-sensitive and enzyme-like properties of iron-containing nanoparticles to catalyze the activity of hydrogen peroxide, a commonly used natural antiseptic. The activated hydrogen peroxide produced free radicals that were able to simultaneously degrade the biofilm matrix and kill the bacteria within, significantly reducing plaque and preventing the tooth decay, or cavities, in an animal model. The paper's lead author was Lizeng Gao, a postdoctoral researcher in Koo's lab. Coauthors were Yuan Liu, Dongyeop Kim, Yong Li and Geelsu Hwang, all of Koo's lab, as well as David Cormode, an assistant professor of radiology and bioengineering with appointments in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine and School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Pratap C. Naha, a postdoctoral fellow in Cormode's lab. A very low concentration of hydrogen peroxide in the process was incredibly effective at disrupting the biofilm but the adding nanoparticles increased the efficiency of bacterial killing more than 5,000-fold.

New rapid blood test for the detection of Bovine TB.

A new blood test to detect Mycobacteria in blood has been developed by researchers. The scientists have used this new method to show that cattle diagnosed with bovine tuberculosis (bTB) have detectable levels of the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) in their blood which causes this disease. The routine test for Bovine TB uses the Single Intradermal Comparative Cervical Tuberculin (SICCT) skin test for M. bovis infection and all healthy cattle are regularly tested this way. However, it is known that this test is only 90 per cent sensitive at best and misses many infected animals. This has prompted the need for better techniques to prevent false negatives during testing. Many countries are suffering the scourge of the disease not only because of economic loss but because of zoonotic nature of disease. The team from the University of Nottingham led by Dr Cath Rees, an expert in microbiology in the School of Biosciences and Dr Ben Swift from the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science.The result published has been published online in the peer reviewed medical journal Virulence shows evidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex bacteraemia in intradermal skin test positive cattle detected using phage-RPA. This new, simple and inexpensive blood test detects very low levels of mycobacteria in blood using a bacteriophage-based technique developed by The University of Nottingham. The group has patented an improved version of the method that delivers results in just six hours. More recently 'proof of principal' experiments have shown that this is even more sensitive. This is currently licensed to a spin out company, PBD Biotech Ltd.

Urban Agriculture : Cricket farming is the latest money code.

The art of insect rearing for commercial purposes originated from the Netherlands, but has now spread to different parts of the world including Africa.. Crickets are black or brown insects that belong to the class insecta, order Orthoptera and genus Acheta. They are categorized into two groups; house cricket and field cricket. These creatures are the latest money code in agriculture.

Crickets is independent of climate change. Farmers are able to rear them throughout the year and thus their profitability is ensured. This cheap startup has found its share in urban agriculture,the crickets can be raised in-house,outdoors in bucket,crates or bowls. The relative ease of raising these creatures coupled with the health benefits derived has made the cricket ,food of the future. Crickets have a higher feed conversion ratio converting most of their feed into protein. The insect has a high protein value an advantage that is tapped in area of malnutrition. Crickets are a rich source of fats, especially the polyunsaturated fatty acids ,they also contain minerals such as iron and zinc. Crickets can be used directly as food or ground into flour to fortify other foods. 

Cricket flour can be used as an ingredient to make products such as biscuits, cakes, porridge, chapati and mandazi. For example cricket farmers in Bondo have been incorporating cricket flour to make different confectioneries. Farmers in Kenya utilize buckets where female adults lay fertilized eggs under a wet cotton wool. After a month, the eggs hatch into nymphs that feed on vegetables, soy flour and water.It takes three months for crickets to mature into adult stage. An adult cricket weighs about 0.5- 1.5grammes. 

 Harvesting of the mature crickets is by emptying into boiling water for about 5 minutes. These are then cooled in cold water before being dried in a solar drier to a moisture content of below five per cent. This reduces the growth of bacteria and molds, making them have an extended shelf-life and safe for human consumption. MORE