AGRIBUSINESS: How to use pig manure to make roads.

AGRIBUSINESS: How to use pig manure to make roads. A team of US researchers has been studying ways to convert elements of pig manure for making new roads. A statement from North Carolina A&T State University, in Greensboro, NC, United States, shows that Prof Elle Fini and a team of researchers has found a way to extract the rich oil that is found in pig waste, and mix it with rocks to form a new type of asphalt durable enough for highway traffic, which they call ‘Bio-Adhesive’. AGRIBUSINESS: How to use pig manure to make roads. The extensive research, which has included putting samples of the new material through rigorous vehicle simulators and tests to determine its durability, has proven to be a success according to the press release. Fini and a group of partners have set up a company called Bio-Adhesive Alliance. The team carried out tests to see if it will rock or sag too much because it shouldn’t do that. Also it shouldn’t crack at low temperatures. The vision of the alliance is to help the farmer and the construction industry by providing a cost effective solution.. The team believe its a win/win solution as all parties benefit and nothing is wasted. In the course of processing, the foul, aroma is filtered out, and the by-products of the bio-adhesive can be used by farmers as fertilizer.

Silicon Valley’s ‘bloody’ veggie burger enters New York.

Silicon Valley’s ‘bloody’ veggie burger enters New York .Impossible Foods has launched a plant-based burger that bleeds, begging the question as to whether the Silicon Valley firm has fired the starting gun on an era of meat-free meat? The

Red meat linked to kidney damage.

Red meat linked to kidney damage according to researchers at the University of Singapore have found that you are more likely to suffer from kidney failure if you eat a lot of red meat. Read

Zero budget farming makes farmer millions.

The Art of Living has been working in the field of organic farming since 2008. It has trained more than 2 million farmers and unemployed youth in this sustainable and profitable method of farming. Sri Sri Institute of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Trust (SSIAST) has brought a wave of change in the life of these farmers. 44-year-old Rajiv Kumar from Sheikhpur district of Bihar had 4 acres of land that was lying barren and earning him no income. With only a dry riverbed near-by, water shortage was scarce in the region. He was thus unable to utilise this land for cultivation. In 2009, Rajiv was unemployed with seven family members to feed. In an attempt to salvage the land, he attended a Zero Budget workshop conducted by Mr. Balakrishan of the Art of Living. He learnt water conservation and methods to replace nutrients in the soil. Different crops were grown at the same time and cow dung and cow urine were used as fertilizers. This kept the cost of farming at a minimum with the farmer only investing in water and seeds. Rajiv implemented the techniques he had learnt in the workshop by growing flowers on his land. Rajiv dug pits every 30 feet, filled it with water, and sowed different types of flowers and fruits around it. This helped increase the ground water flow. As plants need moisture, and not water, cultivating near a pit of water provided better irrigation and prevented water wastage. The water supply is now available 24x7: Rajiv has created a thriving nursery of flowers of excellent quality. Along with flowers, he now grows Rosewood, Mango, Teak, Lemon, Pomegranate, Papaya, and Lakshmi Taru. Instead of using chemical pesticides, he sows a Neem plant every 30 feet and sprinkles ash from the agnihotra puja he performs. This effectively keeps his nursery healthy. Rajiv was unemployed before the training, but now he is ready to train others in this method of farming. On an average, around 500 people from across the land visit his nursery and marvel at the flowers. Today, he sells his flowers and fruits to numerous customers including the Forest Department of Bihar. While the average per capita income of Bihar is Rs. 28,000, Rajiv is earning more than Rs. 400,000 per annum. more

Precision agriculture with Farm bot.

Precision farming has been hailed as the future of agriculture, sustainability, and the food industry. That’s why a company called FarmBot is working to bring precision agriculture technology to environmentally conscious individuals for the first time. The company’s first product — the FarmBot Genesis — is a do-it-yourself precision farming solution, that (theoretically) anyone can figure out. The system is already up to its ninth iteration, and the open source robot improves in each version thanks to input from the FarmBot community. The precision farming movement may not solve every problem the industry faces, but it does have a lot of potential to improve sustainability and efficiency. Before FarmBot, precision agriculture equipment was only available in the form of massive heavy machinery. Precision farming tractors used to cost more than $1 million each when FarmBot creator Rory Aronson first had the idea for his solution in 2011. More

Scientists find new antibiotic in the human nose.

Scientists have discovered a bacteria living inside the human nose that produces an antibiotic capable of killing one of the most hard-to-treat pathogens, which causes serious, even deadly skin and wound infections, bloodstream infections and pneumonia. German researchers found that this antibacterial substance was effective in treating skin infections in mice caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, according to a study published in Nature. The scientists said the substance, which they named lugdunin, has potent antimicrobial effects against a wide range of bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant strains such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus, or MRSA, and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus bacteria. The scientists said their find represents the first known example of a new class of antibiotics. That’s seen as particularly welcome news given the urgent global problem of antibiotic-resistant superbugs and the dwindling arsenal of drugs to replace ones that no longer work. The German researchers said lugdunin also is not prone to causing S. aureus to develop resistance. They are not exactly sure how it works, and clinical development is many years away and will require partners from the pharmaceutical industry. It’s possible that lugdunin disrupts the target bacteria’s cell membranes, but that could also make it harder to develop as a drug for injection because of its potential for also disrupting animal membranes. The German researchers for the study examined nasal swabs from 187 hospitalized patients and found that of the people who carried S. lugdunensis, only about 6 percent also carried S. aureus compared with 34 percent in individuals without the nasal bacteria. Those differences are evidence that bacteria in the nose help keep S. aureus at bay.more

English Bulldogs Require Infusion Of New Bloodline To Survive Amid Health Problems.

The cross-breeding of the English Bulldog is required to ensure its survival amid growing health problems. The selective nature of breeding for physical traits has made the Bulldog so inbred it cannot be returned to health unless with an infusion of new bloodlines, a genetic study published in the journal Canine Genetics and Epidemiology suggests. The U.S. researchers have said that the Olde English Bulldogge, a related breed from America, is likely a candidate. The English Bulldog breed, which is also known as the British Bulldog, has cultural association with the United Kingdom, but has also been adopted worldwide. The breed is of gentle temperament and requires low-maintenance. But the breed suffers from several medical conditions, including breathing difficulties, skin allergies and mobility problems. Pedersen and his colleagues from the Center for Companion Animal Health conducted tests on the DNA of 102 registered English Bulldogs to determine its genetic diversity. However, the results show that the dogs have very low levels of diversity. Comparisons between the 102 registered bulldogs and an additional 37 animals suggest there was no difference genetically between the registered animals and dogs from commercial breeders. Pedersen noted that there are some English Bulldogs that can breed normally and give birth normally, while there are some that are more mobile than others, there are some that can breathe better than others, and some that don't have the skin allergies and auto-immune disorders. He added that it's hard to find one individual that contains all of those traits. You may have one English Bulldog that does not have the extreme changes in the head so that they breathe easier, but they may have lots of skeletal problems that lead to extreme arthritis.continue