China managing food waste with maggots.

China managing food waste with maggots thus preserving the environment.Thousands of voracious white maggots wiggle frenetically while tearing through trayfuls of leftover meat, vegetables and fruits in an unusual farm in southwestern China. This may not be a pretty sight, but the gluttonous larvae could help China eat away something far uglier, the country's mountain of food waste. The individual larvae of black soldier flies, which are native to the Americas, can each eat double their weight of garbage every day, according to experts. The farm in Sichuan province then turns the bugs into a high-protein animal feed and their feces into an organic fertilizer. There's no shortage of food for the larvae as each person throws away almost 30 kilos of food per year in China, a nation of 1.4 billion people and On average, one kilo of maggots can eat two kilos of rubbish in about four hours. more

Corn-Tracking Robot May Save Us from Starving in the Future.

Corn-Tracking Robot May Save Us from Starving in the Future. Can robots help save us from food shortages that have been brought on by changes to global climate? It’s hard to say, but we are already slowly coming around to the idea of having robots in almost every corner of life: industrial robots in our factories, collaborative robots in our offices, and even delivery robots roaming around our streets. So the concept of robot-assisted agriculture — or at least robot-aided agricultural research — isn’t that far-fetched. more

Data as Agriculture’s New Currency.

Data as Agriculture’s New Currency. Government and private economists around the globe keep close tabs on estimates for the yields of internationally-traded crops such as corn, oats, soybean, rice and wheat. The US Department of Agriculture, for example, publishes monthly reports and forecasts that keep the markets up-to-date on the progress of these commodities throughout the season.As with all commodities, prices rise and fall with the global level of supply and demand. That makes accurate and timely information about crop supplies extremely valuable. Agricultural production data measure the supply of various agricultural commodities throughout the various stages of plant growth. Pre-planting estimates use the prior season’s harvest, field observations, and surveys to track what farmers intend to plant. more

Catfish farmers and feed regulation.

Catfish farmers and feed regulation. There is a report that catfish has been linked to bad fat raising health concerns about consumption. The the Council of Fellows, CoF, of the Fisheries Society of Nigeria, FISON, have said the recent reports on ‘the catfish bad fats’ is a myth and propaganda to hinder local production. The council admonished its members on the need to set standards of feeds in the industry. The body maintained that if there were standard of feed in the country, the issue of the catfish bad oil wouldn’t exist because it would have served as a regulatory mechanism in the industry. more

A baby walks just after birth.

A baby walks just after birth. The baby, born in a Brazilian hospital, is simply acting out a reflex that all babies are born with. In the video it can be seen walking on the spot while being held up by the arm of a midwife. In Portuguese, the woman is heard explaining that she has been trying to wash the baby but that it keeps hopping up and attempting to walk - just 20 minutes after exiting the womb. watch

How to use biodegradable twine.

The farmers using plastic rope don't that after use, there are always leftovers that end up in the soil and remain there for hundreds of years. Every year more is added, the problems that these plastic fractions can cause are increasing with more and more buyers of compost experiencing the consequences. There is an alternative now,which is biodegradable twine made from plants such as corn,cassava sugar cane and sugar beet that convert CO2 to sugars.The advantage is that after cultivation, the rope breaks down together with crop residues during composting. This means its not necessary to sift out the rope anymore, resulting in a fully usable compost is made without harmful rope fractions . Story

A new alternative to antibiotics.

The method of use of antibiotics in man, animals and in agriculture has been fingered as the major cause of antibiotics resistance which has emerged as a global problem. There has been various methods of curbing antibiotics use in different circles but now a latest alternative to antibiotics has been tried with successful outcomes.

 The new research carried out in Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and published recently in Nature Scientific Reports combines the use of metals and organic acids as a viable alternative to antibiotics. There has been various researches where different interventions have been applied with success. 

These numerous alternatives to antibiotics are already being tested by different researchers around the world. Two of the most popular alternatives are the use of metals such as silver, zinc, and copper which were used in ancient Egypt and Greece for treating infection and purifying water sources, and the use of organic acids such as food acid that is used as a preservative in the food industry.

 This new research now combined the 2 alternatives which is organic acids and metals at a low concentration, and found that the combination is extremely effective in eradicating pathogenic bacteria such as cholera, salmonella, and Pseudomonas, as well as eliminating bacteria that attack agricultural crops such as tomatoes, melons, and apples.