Alien ladybirds infected with a sex disease are heading for homes in Cambridgeshire.

Harlequins were first recorded in the UK in 2004. They’re aliens, not a native species, having originated in Asia, migrated to America, and then somehow found their way to Cambridgeshire. Alpha male-style alien ladybirds may be killing off weaker competitors in Cambridgeshire.They’re big, they’re butch, and they like to bonk. Alien ladybirds carrying a virulent sexual disease are fluttering on the wind in Cambridgeshire, and may want to snuggle up in homes. They pose no threat to humans, wildlife experts have explained. They’re larger, tougher and butcher than other ladybirds, and they tend to out compete them, and may perhaps have had a part in the declining population. Ladybirds can be cannibalistic, eating each other’s larvae, for example. Harlequin ladybirds are bossy and tend to lord it over other, smaller, meeker ladybirds,some carry a sexually-transmitted disease called Laboulbeniales, a fungus which causes a spooky-looking outbreak of small yellow spines, making infected ladybirds look like miniature hedgehogs. Experts do not know what impact the disease has, or whether it is fatal, but they believe it may be life-limiting. The invasive harlequins have a better chance of living longer, it is thought, because they are bigger and tougher.The alien invaders have black instead of red wings, and like all ladybirds like to hunker down for the winter inside houses, around boilers, window frames and curtains. There is currently a big survey going on, and people are being asked to log on to www.ladybird-survey.org and help out with information, and give better understanding about ladybirds. more

Agritech; the use of laser fence to protect crops from rats and other pests.

The role of agritech to produce tools and techniques to ensure farming is easy,reduce waste and prevent spread of diseases cannot be overemphasized.This has birthed a trend of partnerships between agritech companies and other agric-inclined businesses to provide solutions that will ensure food security. Agritech has churned out some innovations (read earlier posts),but the latest innovation is the use of laser fence to scare pests away from crops to prevent damage.This laser fence is to protect crops from be eaten by rats,rodents,birds and other pests. The European Commission is funding a trial to see if a laser can scare rats and other rodents from crops in order to eliminate harmful poisons.Researchers at Liverpool John Moores University (Liverpool, England) hope a "fence" of laser light will scare rats and other pests, proving an alternative to poison. The trials will take place in Scotland, the Netherlands, and Spain starting in late 2016. The National Farmers' Union (NFU) said innovation was important to support the farming industry following Brexit. "The laser has already been produced," Alex Mason, project coordinator of the Life Laser Fence project, told the BBC. The EC contributed $1.85 million dollars to support the research. "It's a commercial product used in a number of situations--but we are looking at using it in agricultural situations, on a wider range of species. It already works very well on birds. We hope it will work on rats, badgers, foxes and rabbits too." The Agrilaser Autonomic is sold as a device that repels birds, which "perceive the approaching laser beam as a physical danger" and fly away, according to the manufacturer. The researchers hope it will work just as well on other unwanted animals that can destroy crops, eat food meant for farm animals, and spread disease. Controlling pests with poisons can lead to unintended victims such as birds being killed too, so the trial hopes to reduce crop damage in the trial areas by 50%, while reducing bird exposure to pesticide by 80%. more

Climate smart agriculture.#hydroponics.

Climate smart agriculture growing vegetables in a tray without soil. The innovative mindset birthed this and now its live!!! I have a farm where i grow vegetables,but decided to plant some veggies the hydroponics way; 

 I followed these steps ; 1) chose good quality seeds. 2) soaked the seeds in hypochlorite solution for 6 hours. 3) washed seeds with clean water and set in trays. 4) i sprayed with water morning and evening. 5) here comes the veggies.

Converting footsteps to usable electricity.

Going green with flooring as new technique converts footsteps to usable energy. A simple method developed by University of Wisconsin-Madison materials engineers that allows them to convert footsteps into usable electricity. A new study published in the journal Nano Energy, highlights the work of Xudong Wang, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at UW-Madison, his graduate student Chunhua Yao, and their collaborators. The method puts to good use a common waste material: wood pulp. The pulp, which is already a common component of flooring, is partly made of cellulose nanofibers. They're tiny fibers that, when chemically treated, produce an electrical charge when they come into contact with untreated nanofibers. When the nanofibers are embedded within flooring, they're able to produce electricity that can be harnessed to power lights or charge batteries, the wood pulp is a cheap, abundant and renewable waste product of several industries, flooring that incorporates the new technology could be as affordable as conventional materials. The UW-Madison team's advance is the latest in a green energy research field called "roadside energy harvesting", which requires thinking about the places where there is abundant energy that could be harvesting easily.Heavy traffic floors in hallways and places like stadiums and malls that incorporate the technology could produce significant amounts of energy if properly harnessed.

Climate-Smart Poultry Farming Brings Prosperity to Kenya’s Smallholders.

Mercy Wairimu poultry farmer from Nakuru County in Kenya used to have a few small indigenous chickens here and there, running around in her compound but then the Kenya Agricultural Productivity and Agribusiness Project (KAPAP) came,they expanded her business and now she has 1000 birds. The KAPAP is a Government of Kenya initiative supported by the World Bank whose aim is to improve agricultural productivity and the incomes of smallholders. It does so through a range of activities, including supporting research and developing agriculture value chains. Farmers have benefited from KAPAP’s provision of new technologies, improved market access and climate-smart agriculture approaches especially in dairy farming, potato and pea cropping, apiculture and poultry rearing, to name just a few. Some of the beneficiaries have even expanded their operations to practice more than one type of farming. Agriculture means jobs in Kenya. After all, more than 75% of Kenyans make a living in agriculture, hence supporting farmers to earn good incomes and build a sustainable, climate-smart food system is vital to driving economic growth and boosting shared prosperity in Kenya. In Nakuru County, KAPAP works with a farmers’ co-operative society to improve the poultry value chain. Mercy is one of the society’s two thousand plus members who has benefited from training on sustainable poultry: rearing techniques; the provision of vaccines, and the introduction to the improved ‘Kroiller’ chickens. The indigenous chickens she used to raise were smaller, and took between six months to one year to breed. The new, improved Kroiller chickens are fully grown after four and a half months, weigh between four to six kilograms once fully-grown, and they start breeding in less than six months. According to Mercy, the improved chickens also lay larger eggs almost every day. Vaccinations—against devastating diseases like Newcastle—also help guarantee that more chicks survive, and become fully grown. The new chickens are quite resilient, that according to Mercy, every so often, if she hatches 200 chicks, 195 of them become fully grown. Mercy’s poultry farm is also climate-smart and makes sustainable use of resources. Poultry is recognized for being among the "greenest" meats, using up less resources and emitting less greenhouse gases than larger livestock. Mercy’s chickens eat kale grown on her farm, and are less reliant on store-bought feed that’s produced elsewhere and carries a larger environmental footprint. She also uses bird droppings as fertilizer on her crops, and practices agroforestry, growing bananas and fruit trees on her poultry farm. KAPAP has helped poultry farmers become better entrepreneurs by advising them on how to grow their brand and connecting them to bigger markets. Mercy says that that they used to sell their chickens and eggs to friends and neighbors, but KAPAP introduced them to bigger markets. “Now we sell our eggs in supermarkets. They also taught us about advertising and marketing,” Mercy says. Through their co-op, the Nakuru poultry farmers can command better prices for their eggs and shelf space in Nakumatt supermarket and other popular grocery stores. They can also purchase inputs, such as vaccines and vitamins, at higher volumes and for a lower price. The success she has recorded as a farmer and entrepreneur, has moved her family towards greater prosperity over the years. She is a mother of three and she says that she does not have any other income, but she relies on farming. One of the children is a 4th year at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology while the other is in boarding school. She has been able to educate her children through poultry business.more

Agritech innovations for food security and safety.

The smart pot has sensors that detect the status of a plant, like whether it’s receiving enough water and sunlight, or if soil conditions are optimum. Even though Greenopia is catering to smaller segment, its influence on the plant cultivation is interesting. 

 Food packaging and transport is an important part of the food chain,food must be delivered fresh and valuable. The majority of food waste that arises in the value chain is simply because of lack of adequate preservation and packaging technique to ensure the food is delivered fresh. 

 The rural farmers and small holder farmers that produce majority of food shipped out lack all these innovations and end up losing money due to waste as a result of spoilage of food.The innovations in this area must be cheap ,readily available and simple and easy to operate. 

 In California ,purfresh is addressing some of the challenges ; purfresh reduce decay, reduce pathogens, control ripening, and enhance food safety all at once .

Purfresh doesn’t use any chemicals to solve these challenges rather they make use of the power of ozone. Ozone (O3) oxidizes decay causing & pathogenic microbial that results in reducing decay and it also removes Ethylene resulting in controlling the ripening of fruits.

The mystery of the camel milk.

In India camel milk is used therapeutically against dropsy, Jaundice, problems of the spleen, tuberculosis, asthma, anaemia, and piles (Rao et al., 1970). The “chal” and other lung ailments (Gast et al., 1963) has proven beneficial in the treatment of tuberculosis (Akundov et al., 1972). A clinic has been established in which milk is used for treatment (Urazakov and Bainazarov, 1974). Patients with chronic hepatitis had improved liver function after being treated with camel milk (Sharmanov et al., 1978). In fact, camel milk was as effective as ass milk and superior to treatment with only medication or a diet consisting of cow milk proteins. The camel milk works as a laxative on people unaccustomed to drinking this milk (Rao et al., 1970). Apparently stomach upsets only occur when the milk is drunk while still warm. When it is cool, no ill effects have been noted (Gast et al., 1969). The milk also apparently has slimming properties (Yasin and Wahid, 1957). Camel milk is given to the sick, the elderly and the very young because of the belief that it is not only healthier, but works especially well in bone formation (Gast et al., 1969). The belief among the Bedouin of the Sinai Peninsula, is that any internal disease can be cured by drinking camel milk. The milk is said to be of such a strength, and to have such health-giving properties, that all the bacteria are driven from the body. This said to be true only for camels that eat certain shrubs and bushes. The shrubs and bushes are, themselves, used in the preparation of medicines. However, camels which eat straw are said to lose this ability. In Ethiopia camel milk is considered as having aphrodisiac powers (Rao et al., 1970). In Somalia, among the pastoral tribes, it is believed that milk drunk on the night when the camels first drink water, following a long period of thirst, has magical powers (Mares, 1954). “He who drinks milk on this night from a thirst-quenched camel will lose the thorns that have penetrated his feet, even from childhood”. In the Sahara there is a superstition that when camel milk is given to a certain guest, only the milk of one particular camel is given to him. (Gast et al., 1969). Therefore, if the guest casts an evil eye on the herd, only the camel, whose milk he has drunk, will be affected and will stop lactating. more