Insect farms could become the future of Danish agriculture.

Insects as a food source is usually something Danish tourists encounter when travelling in Southeast Asia or some other exotic destination. But that could change in the future. Insect farms are prevalent in many developing nations, such as Thailand, but it’s a relatively new phenomenon in Europe – although are insects already being farmed for food in certain countries, including the Netherlands. One of the benefits of insect farming is the very limited environmental footprint it leaves compared to cattle and pig farming – in terms of C02, ammonia and methane emissions. Heimdal Entofarm was established earlier this year with the purpose of producing insects as an animal fodder and human food source.

Understanding personality traits of domestic and wild cats.

A study carried out between the University of Edinburgh and Bronx Zoo compared our beloved domestic cat with its wilder relatives.Compared with the snow leopard, the Scottish wildcat and the African lion, researchers found these larger predators shared similar characteristics of aggression and neurotic behavior to domestic cats. Dominance, impulsiveness and neurotic behavior are the most common trait shared between the domestic cat and the wild cat. The researchers used a testing method known as the 'Big Five' personality test: Openness to Experience, Extraversion/Introversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism. A total of 100 cats, from two different shelters in Scotland were used in the experiment, whilst the other animals were examined from zoos and animal sanctuaries in the UK and USA. 'They're cute and furry and cuddly, but we need to remember when we have cats as pets, we are inviting little predators into our house,' psychologist Dr. Max Wachtel. Dr Max Wachtel explains that for a lot of people, it is worth it. Cats can be fantastic, sweet companions. Until they turn on the predator in them. The advantage humans have is their small size that prevents the cat from being able to unleash its full predatory nature. Its important to understand the personality characteristics of our pets. Different cats have different personalities. But as a species, there are a lot of commonalities,' Dr Wachtel said. more

Cats and whiskers.

The whiskers on the face and legs of cats are their GPS. These whiskers allows the cat to access an environment,gauge the distance when climbing and flight is required and also navigate their way around in the dark. Whiskers allows a blind cat to navigate her way around an environment and determine stressors and comfort zones. The mood of a cat can be determined by the direction in which the whiskers faces,so when approaching a cat ,look at those whisker before you make any sudden movements. These whiskers are thick and filled with tiny, super-sensitive nerves that help the cat judge distance and space. The whiskers acting as a radar apparatus helps the cat to make decisions such as; Is this box too small to get inside? How far do I need to jump to reach that counter? do i need to run or snuggle? The whiskers are in sacs called follicles that hold the hairs ,these are deep with lots of nerve endings that send messages to the cat’s brain. Each whisker has a sensory organ at the tip which picks up vibrations in the environment that help the cat sense where she is and what other creatures are around her. The whiskers are not evenly distributed as whiskers in various locations perform various functions and their sizes vary as well. The majority of whiskers are rooted in the thick pads on the upper lip, but smaller sets are in the eyebrow area, along the chin, and near the feet. There are others on the sides of the nose which are the same width as the cat’s body and the function is to determine if a space is wide enough to squeeze through or not. The whiskers on the back of the legs help your cat climb trees. The movement of the whiskers back and forth are aided by strong muscles on the face,these movements will help to access the mood of the cat at anytime. When the whiskers are still and sticking straight out from the side of her head,then the cat is relaxed and thus approachable. When the whiskers are pressed slightly forward,then cat is in hunting/ curious mode and when the the whiskers are pulled back toward the face,then the cat is in anger/upset mode(keep off.) Whiskers like other hairs on the body grow throughout the lifespan,but nature keeps this down by shedding. You will not need to trim the cats whiskers because of the shedding principle,but if you attempt to trim the whiskers you will affect the navigation system of the cat which will destabilize the cats.

Entrepreneurs See A New Field Of Dreams In Agriculture..

When it comes to technology investing, the smart money seeks big markets with strong growth prospects. That old adage helps explain why, out of $13.5 billion invested in start-up firms by venture capitalists in the fourth quarter of 2014, more than half went to firms developing software used on mobile devices, according to tracking firm CB Insights. After all, global sales of smartphones reached 1.2 billion last year, up 20% from 2013. Yet there’s another market so big it leaves mobile phones in the dust. The world’s farmers will need to feed 9.6 billion people by 2050, the United Nations says, and that will require a 70% increase in agricultural production. Agriculture is a $3 trillion industry increasingly driven by technology developments, but until recently it was practically ignored by venture capitalists. That’s now changing as start-ups targeting plant and animal health begin attracting backing from venture capital funds. Some are graduating to become publicly traded companies. In February, for example, the crop genetic traits developer Arcadia registered with the Securities & Exchange Commission to raise $86 million in an initial public offering of stock.continue

Transforming agriculture.

A new day is dawning for agriculture. When asked to describe the magnitude of the coming change, experts harken back to seminal advances such as the rise of mechanization, the invention of synthetic fertilizers and crop protection chemicals, and the advent of transgenic crops. Within the next five years—less time than it takes to discover and commercialize a new agricultural chemical—gene editing will transform seed and trait development across a wide variety of crops. A new generation of plants will be equipped to thrive in the face of yield-eating climate stress. And all-seeing eyes in the sky will pinpoint problems in the field before the first leaf droops. These tools will not be as obvious as when tractors replaced mules, but they are poised to make a difference where it counts: helping farmers profitably increase yields.At the same time, the business of bringing new tools to market is changing, thanks to consolidation among major agriculture firms that traditionally are the big investors in innovation. For better or worse, Dow Chemical’s planned merger with DuPont, ChemChina’s pending acquisition of Syngenta, and Bayer’s attempt to acquire Monsanto are reshaping the agricultural landscape. Increasing the productivity of agriculture is critical to feeding a growing population. But in the past decade, the per-acre rate of output growth in the U.S. averaged a mere 1.0% per year for corn and 1.6% for soybeans, according to figures from the consulting firm Bain & Co.continue

Can mentoring boost youth participation in Kenyan agriculture?

Can mentoring boost youth participation in Kenyan agriculture?: Agriculture is the backbone of Kenya's economy. Worth billions of dollars, it is responsible for the livelihoods of over 80 per cent of the rural population and accounts for 65 percent of the country's total export revenue, according to the country's Institute of Economic Affairs. However, it is a sector that has been largely been ignored by the youth, who, despite being stuck for the large part in informal jobs, yearn for the security and prestige of white-collar jobs. Although there is no (...)

How to turn cassava peels to animal feed.

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