Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Agriculture Reading Picks


  1. Prices of edible oils have fallen over the past year. This reflects rising production throughout the 2017-18 season, after weakness the year before when El Nino, a climatic phenomenon, played havoc with crops. An ample supply of palm oil in Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as of coconut oil in the Philippines, has dampened prices. In July the price of soybeans hit a ten-year low, because of concerns that impending Chinese tariffs would reduce demand from the world's largest consumer of them. The price of wheat, on the other hand, has risen. Scorching temperatures have created drier conditions for the crop, with smaller European harvests likely. source: The Economist
  2. Where even Walmart won't go: how Dollar General took over rural America | The Guardian
  3. Trump administration plans to reorganize agriculture research offices, alarming some scientists | Wash-Post
  4. Tyson isn't chicken. Virtually all of the company’s revenue comes from animal slaughter and processing. Now its new CEO is pouring money into animal-free alternatives. | Bloomberg
  5. Epic genetic: the hidden story of wheat | Phys.org
  6. Overview global strawberry market | HortiDaily
  7. Exclusive: U.S. seed sellers push for limits on Monsanto, BASF weed killer | UK Reuters
  8. Ban on glyphosate would be 'disaster' for Brazil agriculture: minister | Reuters
  9. Missouri pork farmers breathe new life into an old Maine dairy farm | Bangor Daily News
  10. Ghost peppers are saving U.S. grasslands—by scaring off hungry mice | ScienceMag
  11. Salting the earth: North Dakota farmers struggle with a toxic byproduct of the oil boom. The state of North Dakota doesn't even know how many acres of cropland have been damaged by saltwater spills, a byproduct of the local oil boom. | NBC News
  12. Sweet corn ice cream in Iowa | KIIK1049
  13. The world's first floating farm making waves in Rotterdam | BBC
  14. Indonesia has asked for its companies to be allowed to build palm oil jet fuel plants in the United States and France as a condition for its airlines to buy Boeing Co and Airbus SE planes, its trade minister said. | Reuters
  15. We’re in a new age of obesity. How did it happen? You’d be surprised. By George Monbiot | The Guardian
  16. Eating breakfast burns more carbs during exercise and accelerates metabolism for next meal. New research suggests eating breakfast could 'prime' the body to burn carbohydrates during exercise and more rapidly metabolise foods after working out. | Bath UK

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