Trifarm launches online portal for farmers.

Trifarm launches online portal for farmers.The new website, ‘trifarmltd.com’ connects producers and buyers of agricultural products in a novel way. The online portal is built on a predictive model which allows farmers to input crop data, enabling buyers to forecast market conditions months in advance. cccFounder of the company, Garvin Francis, stated that this platform will solve one of the major issues facing agriculture, which is market access – linking buyers such as hotels, restaurants and agro-processors to producers. For years, stakeholders were unable to access a market-forecasting model such as this. He continued to state that the potential benefits of this initiative are significant, noting that one hurdle in its implementation is the ability of farmers to make the transition online. Through a sustained re-tooling campaign, the company intends to equip farmers with the best practices required for this new platform. continue

Growing Hunger for Brazilian Chicken as Bird Flu Spreads.

The bird flu outbreak sweeping across Asia and Europe means you may soon be eating more Brazilian chicken. The world’s top exporter has been untouched by the highly contagious virus that led to widespread culling of birds -- more than 30 million in South Korea alone. After some key importing nations banned poultry from infected countries, Brazil is expected to see further demand for its products. The avian influenza outbreak is also good news for other virus-free nations that can fill the supply gap, such as the U.S., which is the second-biggest exporter and mostly evaded contamination since cases escalated in October. Because migrating wild birds carry the disease, there’s a risk that it will keep spreading, Societe Generale SA said in a report earlier this month.continue

Your dog loves you five times more than cat.

A new study has shown that your dog loves you 5 times more than cat. The study which found that the canines release the love hormone when they see their owners while the felines barely produce any. Scientists already know that canines and humans release the love hormone known as oxytocin when they are together. The scientist took saliva samples from 10 cats and 10 dogs prior to a 10-minute playtime session with their owners. He then took another saliva sample from all of the participants after their playtime encounter, testing it for the presence of oxytocin. According to the results, a 57.2% increase of the hormone oxytocin was found in dogs; whereas a 12% increase of the hormone was found in cats. "From this sample it is true to say that these dogs love their owners five times more than the cats do It was really surprised to discover that dogs produced such high levels of oxytocin,showing the dog level of 57.2% is a very powerful response, it shows these dogs really care about their owners.see

A new app helping pets to find paw-friends.

‘PetsApp’, an android app helps you find a play date for your pet.The ‘dating’ app for pets, works on a principle similar to that of Tinder’s. Once you create a profile for your dog, based on your location, you get a series of prospective mates for your pooch in the vicinity. Swipe left to ignore and right to like. If both users swipe right, it’s a match and they can chat and meet up. This app not only benefits canines, but also their owners. “You can chat with other dog lovers and start a connection based on this mutual love for pets,” says Yugal Pandey, who found a playdate for his five-year-old labrador, Benny via the app. Creators of the app, Delhi-based couple Sujata Kukreja and Akhil Nath were inspired for a project like this when one of their dogs struggled with “loneliness”.The app also includes some additional features. There is a chat-enabled adoption forum (no buying and selling is encouraged), lost and found option (with a GPS tracker), pet book (which is more like a pet Instagram, were you can click, share and upload pictures of your pets and their daily antics), and information centre (articles, tips and news relating to pets) There is a plan to add ‘Ask your Vet’ service, vaccination tracker, deals of the week on unique pet products and others after monitoring the progress of the app for two months. continue

Karnataka Tiger deaths: Wildlife experts call for trained professionals.

With the continuing deaths of tigers in Nagarhole-Bandipur region, wildlife officials and experts call for a dedicated team of vets and a separate veterinary cadre in the state forest department. There is also a need for a department of wildlife health monitoring, rescue and forensics in view of the rising man-animal conflict, especially in districts having tiger reserves. Five tigers and one leopard have died in the last 23 days. The rising pressure on the state forest department to capture and relocate tigers and leopards has in fact exposed the clear lack of veterinary expertise in dealing with both immobilization and post-treatment measures as also wildlife diseases. Given the gravity of the situation, more trained professionals in wildlife health are needed for the five tiger reserves.continue

Revolutionizing Cocoa Farming in Peru.

A technique pioneered by one family is helping thousands of cocoa farmers in Peru increase their yields – and inspiring chocolate enthusiasts around the world. -The small jungle town of Tocache, Peru, was notorious in the ‘80s and ‘90s as a hub of coca production, drug trafficking and violence. After successful coca eradication efforts in 2002, a government program helped coca farmers in the San Martín region migrate to cocoa production – reorienting from the drug market to the chocolate market. Yet most farmers lacked the knowledge to produce high yields on their new cocoa farms. Carlos Sierra and his family started growing cocoa along with other farmers in their community, but they quickly stood out. Through tireless trial and error, they developed an agronomy technique that resulted in productivity levels five times the local average. The Sierra farm became well known among cocoa farmers in the San Martín region, yet other farmers struggled to replicate their success. The technical experts spent a year working closely with the Sierras to document, standardize and adapt their agronomic practices for a wide audience. The result was a methodology called the Synchronized Fertilization and Pruning Technique, known by its Spanish acronym “TAPS.” TAPS focuses primarily on fertilization (adding nutrients to the soil) and pruning (trimming excess leaves and branches from trees) as drivers of productivity. Synchronized pruning and fertilization are recommended in three phases during the year, rather than the traditional annual approach. credit

New ultrasound technique is first to image inside live cells.

Researchers have developed a breakthrough technique that uses sound rather than light to see inside live cells, with potential application in stem-cell transplants and cancer diagnosis.Researchers at The University of Nottingham have developed a new nanoscale ultrasound technique that uses shorter-than-optical wavelengths of sound . The research published in the paper 'High resolution 3D imaging of living cells with sub-optical wavelength phonons' in the journal, Scientific Reports. Unlike light, sound does not have a high-energy payload, this has enabled the Nottingham researchers to use smaller wavelengths and see smaller things and get to higher resolutions without damaging the cell biology. People are most familiar with ultrasound as a way of looking inside the body but its being engineered to the point where it can look inside an individual cell. Nottingham is currently the only place in the world with this capability. Ultrasound in the cells causes no damage and requires no toxic chemicals to work, and this makes it possible to see inside cells that one day might be put back into the body,eg as stem-cell transplants.