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Châtenay-Malabry (FR - 92290), January 03, 2021

EFITA newsletter / 1020 - European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


Do not miss the Virus Jokes in English and French

Blagues de janvier – février 2021
Coronavirus 1 
Coronavirus 3
Ant joke
Virus 1
Virus 3
Virus 5 
Histoires drôles de l'oncle Paul (Jamet)
Dernières histoires de Michel Gil-Antoli
Et encore... 
Et celles de mars-avril 2021
Special "Biblical studies"
Celles de juillet 2021 en français et en anglais, dont 17 sur le virus en bas de page)
Blague d'octobre 2021
Suite des blagues d'octobre 2021
Blagues de décembre 2021
(22 in English, 10 de P. Jamet)
Coronavirus 2
Coronavirus 4
Virus et autres sujets
Virus 2
Virus 4
Virus 6
Histoires drôles de Georges Larroque

Les dernières histoires de Jean Pinon
Et encore

Tout sur le vaccin
Celles de mail 2021
Celles de juin 2021
Celles d'août

Celles de septembre
Le dico de Paul J.
Blagues de novembre 2021 (quelques nouvelles)

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Happy New Year 2022!
A photo by Dr Roger W Payne
Software for Bioscientists


French agricultural robot manufacturer, Naïo Technologies, present at CES 2022

January 5 to 8 - LAS VEGAS
The company is scaling up its development now: next January, its vineyard robot will be presented exclusively to the American market at CES 2022 in Las Vegas. Named CES 2022 Innovation Awards honoree in the Robotics category, TED intends to confirm the relevance of the Robot as a Service – RaaS - model to Californian partners in search of solutions to reduce pesticide use and address labor issues.
See press release
See photos


Weekly newsletters about ICT in Agriculture in English and French
Both newsletters have around 14000 subscribers.

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Brexit: UK cheese firm boss in despair over minister's export advice

Co-founder of Cheshire Cheese Company told by environment minister to look at US and Canada markets rather than EU.
See theguardian.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Bon vieux temps / Good old days (1)

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Futurefarming.com

> Field robot buyer in vulnerable position
The route to the field robot market has unexpected pitfalls and hidden traps. This brings with it concerns for all – particularly leaving potential buyers quite vulnerable.

> Partner feature: Site-specific weather forecast and work planning tools
These are the benefits to using site-specific weather stations, weather forecast and work planning tools.

> These are the 10 best read articles of 2021
As we stand on the threshold of a new year, we look back on an eventful 2021. 2021 was a tumultuous year in many ways.

> Video: Potato harvester for unridden cultivation beds
Farm of the future adapted a potato harvester so that it is suitable for the fixed tramline system. Read more

> Field robots: Dahlia Robotics develops robot for mechanical weed removal
The Dahlia 3.3 is a high precision robot that is currently optimised for in-row weed removal in fields with sugar beets or salad.

> Aircrafts: Embraer and Pyka partner in autonomous electric aircraft for agriculture
U.S. start-up company Pyka has developed the world’s first commercially available electric and autonomous aircraft.

> Field robots: Easton Robotics aims to build affordable small field robots
Easton Robotics' multipurpose platform, called ERMMI, will allow farmers to use multiple standard attachments and implements.

> Soil health: Model predicts nitrate leaching from drained fields
Researchers in Denmark have developed a simulation model that predicts nitrate leaching from artificially drained fields.

See futurefarming.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Bon vieux temps / Good old days (2)

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How did we the future yesterday??

See the incredible collection developed by Alain Fraval


Archives of our newsletters in French and English
Voir Afia
Voir Efita

 


Autonomous Functionality in Farming Is Already Here in Many Ways

Major manufacturers are commercializing incremental innovation, paving the way for driverless tractors whenever farmers are ready. The VISION Conference will dive deep into adoption trends.
See precisionag.com


Digitalization Creates New Cash Cows in Australian Farming

The potential of Australia’s agtech industry is global as there are signs that innovations developed there can find a global market.
See precisionag.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Bon vieux temps / Good old days (3)

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5G-NR Technology Poised to Optimize Agricultural Irrigation Systems

5G-NR is set to transform water management as it is a much faster technology.
See precisionag.com


New Agriculture Sensor Development Platform Launched

AgSensor Solutions is a platform company designed to help sensor creators move agricultural applications to market more quickly.
See precisionag.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Bon vieux temps / Good old days (4)

4  


India: Precision Farming Start-up Samhitha Raises $1.5M in Seed Round

Samhitha has pioneered a Digital Tree Health Audit System (DTHAS), a unique method of recording, analyzing, and interpreting the health of individual trees.
See precisionag.com





The top 20 agrifoodtech funding deals of 2021, AFN, by Jack Ellis

>> 1. Furong Xingsheng (China) – A ‘group-buying’ platform which allows consumers to team up and collectively buy groceries in bulk — creating efficiencies both for the consumers themselves, and for farmers and food producers — Xingsheng raised a reported $2 billion from investors including Sequoia Capital, Tencent, KKR, and Temasek in February.

>> 2. Lineage Logistics (US) – Minnesotan warehousing, cold chain, and distribution company Lineage banked a bumper $1.9 billion from private equity investors in March.

>> 3. Swiggy (India) – The Bengaluru-based food delivery app closed two of the top 20 largest foodtech funding deals globally this year: $800 million for the first tranche of its Series D in April, and a further $1.25 billion in July for the second tranche.

>> 4. Gorillas (Germany) – This Berlin-based grocery delivery app banked just shy of $1 billion for its September Series C round, which saw participation from Delivery Hero, Coatue Management, and Tencent, among others.

>> 5. Flink (Germany) – Claiming to offer 10-minute doorstep delivery of groceries, Flink — which launched late last year — netted $750 million for its Series B round earlier this month. US delivery player DoorDash was the lead investor.

>> 6. Nice Tuan (China) – Also known as Shi Hui Tuan, the group-buying app for farm produce raised $750 million in a March funding round co-led by Alibaba and DST Global.

>> 7. Picnic (Netherlands) – The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust led the €600 million ($707 million) Series D investment into this Amsterdam-based e-grocery platform.

>> 8. Dingdong Maicai (China) – An e-commerce platform for fresh produce, Dingdong banked $700 million for the first tranche of its Series D round in April, which was co-led by Coatue and DST Global. Two months later it debuted on the New York Stock Exchange, raising a lower-than-expected $95.7 million.

>> 9. Trax (Singapore) – Southeast Asia’s highest-funded agrifoodtech startup in 2019, the retail tech firm raised $640 million for its April Series E round, which was co-led by SoftBank Vision Fund II and BlackRock.

>> 10. Nuro (US) – This maker of autonomous delivery vehicles raised $600 million for its Series D round involving investors such as Google and grocery giant Kroger.

>> 11. Getir (Turkey) – The on-demand delivery service — another which aims to drop off grocery orders to customers within 10 minutes — closed a $555 million funding round in June at a valuation of $7.5 billion.

>> 12. Wolt (Finland) – The Helsinki-based food delivery app raised $530 million in a round led by ICONIQ Growth back in January. Last month it agreed to be acquired by US counterpart DoorDash in a deal worth $8.1 billion.

>> 13. Glovo (Spain) – This Barcelona-based food delivery and dark store operator raised €450 million ($528 million) in Series F funding in March. Luxor Capital Group and Delivery Hero were among the participating investors.

>> 14. Impossible Foods (US) – Plant-based patty pioneer Impossible secured $500 million in a November funding round led by existing investor Mirae Asset Global Investments.

>> 15. Rappi (Colombia) – T. Rowe Price led the on-demand delivery app’s $500 million round in July, valuing it at $5.25 billion.

>> 16. Pivot Bio (US) – The ag biotech startup, which offers an alternative to traditional fertilizers by ‘programming’ microbes in the soil to produce more nitrogen, raised $430 million in July in a Series D round led by DCVC and Temasek.

>> 17. Kitopi (UAE) – In July, the Dubai cloud kitchen and food delivery startup scored $415 million in Series C funding from investors including Softbank‘s Vision Fund II, B. Riley, Chimera Investment, Doğuş Group, Next Play Capital, Nordstar, and ADQ‘s DisruptAD.

>> 18. Perfect Day (US) – Berkeley, California-based Perfect Day uses genetically modified microflora to produce proteins found in cow’s milk via fermentation. It raised $350 million for its Series D round in September, which was led by Temasek and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

>> 19. Nature’s Fynd (US) – The Chicago-headquartered company bagged $350 million for its Softbank-led Series C raise in July. It creates meat analogs through microbial fermentation.

>> 20. Dutchie (US) – Based in Bend, Oregon, the e-commerce platform for cannabis consumers and dispensaries scored $350 million in an October funding round which reportedly valued the company at $3.75 billion.
See agfundernews.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Bon vieux temps / Good old days(5) - Zürich, Zentralbibliothek / Ms. C 54 - Codex Schürstab / f. 13r

5  


AFN’s top 20 guest articles of 2021, AFN, by Jack Ellis

>> 1. Vertical farming is headed for the ‘trough of disillusionment.’ Here’s why that’s a good thing
Henry Gordon-Smith, Agritecture

>> 2. He says it’s not about climate. So why is Bill Gates investing in farmland?
Rebecca Bauer, FarmTogether

>> 3. Behind the greens: Why greenhouse lettuce is not competitive yet
Peter Tasgal, The Farmbook Project

>> 4. The ocean is a $100tln market opportunity
Tony Chen, Manolin

>> 5. Indoor agtech: An evolving landscape of 1,300+ startups
Chris Taylor & Michael Rose, The Mixing Bowl

>> 6.Dishing the dirt on ag carbon credits
Dan Blaustein-Rejto, The Breakthrough Institute

>> 7. AgFunder exit review: John Deere’s $250m acquisition of Bear Flag Robotics
Rob Leclerc, AgFunder

>> 8. Farmers have been burned by agtech too often. Here’s how to win back their trust
Michael Gilbert, Semios

>> 9. Biological innovation is key to the economic & environmental sustainability of CEA
Leonard Lerer, Back of the Yard Algae Sciences
[Disclosure: AgFunder is an investor in Back of the Yard Algae Sciences via the GROW Impact Fund]

>> 10. Investing along the curve: Revealing the best opportunities across the food supply chain
Seana Day & Brita Rosenheim, Culterra Capital

>> 11. Syngenta Ventures on ChemChina, business model innovation & ‘agri-fintech’
OnRamp Agriculture Conference

>> 12. Food Waste Market Map: Invest in food waste solutions to fight hunger & climate change
Alexandria Coari, ReFED

>> 13. Why we invested in Purissima
Michael Dean, AgFunder

>> 14. The carbon question: Making global carbon markets work for farmers
F&A Next

>> 15. Why it is important to evolve from precision farming to Agriculture 4.0
Filippo Renga, Andrea Bacchetti, & Chiara Corbo, Smart AgriFood Observatory, Politecnico di Milano & University of Brescia; Dana Bonaldi, Digital Innovation Observatories, Politecnico di Milano

>> 16. Online ag marketplaces: An entry point for farmers into the tech ecosystem
Dmytro Lennyi, Intellias

>> 17. The 4 paradigms of agriculture: What are you sourcing from?
Ethan Soloviev, HowGood

>> 18. 8 startups reshaping the global food system
F&A Next

>> 19. A new searchable directory focuses on women innovators in agrifoodtech
Amy Wu, From Farms to Incubators & Connie Bowen, AgLaunch

>> 20. Blockchain in agrifood: A great opportunity… disguised as a trend?
Chiara Corbo & Filippo Renga, Smart AgriFood Observatory, Politecnico di Milano & University of Brescia
See agfundernews.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory (?????): Bon vieux temps / Good old days(6) - Stundenbuch (Livre d'heures) - BSB Clm 28345, [S.l.] flämisch, Ende 15. Jh. [BSB-Hss Clm 28345]

6  


How will Americans eat in 2022? The food forecasters speak, NYT, by Kim Severson

They see a new interest in mushrooms, a rethinking of chicken and coffee, a resurgence of 1980s cocktails — and, believe it or not, a return to civility.

Last year at this time, optimistic trend forecasters predicted that the cork would burst from the bottle by summer. With vaccines in arms, food culture would vibrate in a robust economy. American menus would be full of innovation driven by waves of international travel, and a new generation of digital-native cooks would rewrite the rules.

Clearly, the prediction game can be a losing one. But so what if things didn’t turn out like everyone thought they would? Trying to forecast food trends is still fun, and sometimes even accurate. (Kudos to those professional prognosticators who in recent years nailed the mainstream rise of quesabirria, soufflé pancakes, delivery-only restaurants and CBD. And a special citation for those who saw early on that those ripples of veganism would become a plant-based tsunami.)

So how are things looking for 2022? Not great. The year is starting with a surge of a highly contagious variant of Covid-19 that is only adding to the economic uncertainty. Social-justice concerns remain top of mind for many, as does pressure from a fast-changing climate. All of it will affect how food is grown, cooked and packaged.

But don’t despair. “Constraint breeds innovation,” said Anna Fabrega, a former Amazon executive who recently took over as the chief executive at the meal subscription service Freshly. She and other food industry leaders in the United States say 2022 will be another pragmatic, roll-up-your sleeves kind of year, shaped by the needs of people working from home and by the culinarily-astute-but-fickle Gen Z, whose members want food with sustainable ingredients and a strong cultural back story, prepared without exploitation and delivered in a carbon-neutral way — within 30 minutes.
../…
See NYT


Global cropland has grown by a million square kilometers since 2000, AFN, by Jack Ellis

- The world’s cropland footprint has expanded by just over 1 million square kilometers in the past two decades, representing a 9% increase between 2000 and 2019, according to new research published in Nature.
- The University of Maryland study, based on satellite imaging of Earth’s surface, found that Africa experienced the largest cropland expansion of any region over the 20-year period, at 34%. Meanwhile, South America saw the greatest relative cropland gain at 49%.
- Of the total global cropland area in 2019, 17% was new cropland established since 2003; of this, 49% replaced “natural vegetation and tree cover.”
See agfundernews.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory (?????): Bon vieux temps / Good old days (7) - Stundenbuch (Livre d'heures) flämisch, Ende 15. Jh. Clm 28345 Folio 9

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Thankful for the mentorship of Clayton Yeutter, by Mary Bootenovember 24, 2021

Thirty-five years ago, around Thanksgiving, Clayton Yeutter was focused on using American trade laws to negotiate on behalf of the United States for the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. As the U.S. Trade Representative in the Reagan administration, one of his main goals was to make it easier for farmers to buy and sell their products across borders.

He had asked his advisors to draw up a plan for countries to cut their subsidies, tariffs, and market-access barriers. They came back with a proposal to reduce these by 50 percent over ten years. When they presented their draft, Yeutter looked at it and scratched out the 50 and replaced it with 100 percent. As a skilled negotiator, he realized that if you want to get to fifty, you need to start at one hundred.

Clayton got buy-in from the Secretary of Agriculture, his fellow cabinet officer, and the United States set the table for what became one of the most important trade pacts ever negotiated in human history.
.../...
See globalfarmernetwork.org


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory:
Bon vieux temps / Good old days (8) - Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Cod. Pal. germ. 17 Bibel AT, dt.: Könige, Paralipomenon I und II, Esra, Tobias, Judith, Esther, Hiob (Stuttgart (?) - Werkstatt Ludwig Henfflin, 1477)

8  


Farmer’s Daughter: It’s increasingly hard to overlook the economic issues agriculture is facing, by Amanda Zaluckyj, The Farmer’s Daughter USA, November 19, 2021

Every year I aspire to have my holiday shopping done before Thanksgiving. Every year I fail miserably. But this year, failure might actually mean disappointments on Christmas morning.

As we (quickly) head into the busiest part of the holiday season, it’s increasingly hard to ignore the economic issues we’re facing: supply-chain problems, inflation, and labor shortages (to name a few). Grocery-store shelves, while not empty, are sparse in places. (My usual haunt hasn’t had my favorite coffee creamer in two months.) Shipping companies are warning about delays in deliveries. And everyone, literally everyone, is trying to hire additional employees.

Unfortunately, these economic conditions aren’t expected to return to normal anytime soon.
.../...
See agdaily.com


 
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Understanding the Science Behind Pigweed’s Amazing Adaptation

Pigweed is a major challenge to our farmers and growers. It is extremely resilient and resistant to many herbicides, posing a significant threat to the agriculture industry. ARS scientists in Stoneville MS, along with collaborators from Clemson University, are researching ways to mitigate this highly adaptable weed. Watch the video to learn more.
See tellus.ars.usda.gov


Reindeer farms provide us with more than just Christmas magic, by Markie Hageman

You know Dasher, and Dancer, and Comet, and Vixen … may have come from a reindeer farm?

That’s correct, Santa’s sleigh fleet is an agricultural commodity in real life. In fact, there are quite a few organizations dedicated to reindeer ranching: the Reindeer Farmers Association based out of Alaska and a Reindeer Owners and Breeders Association based in Wisconsin are two out of many. One simple Google search of “Reindeer Farming” yields quite a few results showing how popular it is and reveals that domesticated reindeer are found in most of the U.S. There is even a reindeer research program at the University of Alaska!

Reindeer were hunted as far back as the ice age. They were domesticated as pack animals, as well as used to attract other animals to hunters, according to paliskunnat.fi, the website for the Reindeer Herders’ Association out of Finland.
.../...
See agdaily.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Bon vieux temps / Good old days (10)

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How much energy do countries consume when we take offshoring into account?

Think about how much energy you use. Some common things come to mind: electricity to keep the lights on; heating to warm your home; the car or bus you might take to get to work.

But there’s also the energy needed to produce all the goods we buy. Sometimes these goods are produced in our own country—and so that energy is reported in our country’s energy use data. But when we buy goods from overseas, this energy is included in their accounts. It’s missing from ours.

We rarely adjust for the energy embedded in imports when we compare energy use across the world. In this article we show what happens when we do, and the difference it makes to our energy footprint.

See ourworldindata  


2021 – Farewell to the Year of Fear, Posted by Riskmonger on December 30, 2021

If 2021 has taught us anything, it is that there is no limit to the power and scope of fear. It can snuff out hope as fast as a European Commission vice president can impose the precautionary principle on an AstraZeneca vaccine; it can reimpose severe lockdown measures on the emergence of a variant with very mild symptoms; it can move Commission officials to force the European agricultural sector to adopt cultist organic farming practises (or propose the removal of all “toxic” chemicals); it has created a disease called “eco-anxiety” – a torment that teenagers shared at the COP-26 in Glasgow (while world leaders took naps). Fear of viruses, fear of chemicals, fear of imminent catastrophic climate change, fear of evil corporations – things haven’t been this rich for the fear industry since the Cold War (and, admittedly, we behaved incredibly stupidly back then).

Fear is also relative. With grandpa snoozing in his white house, we no longer seem to be afraid of geopolitical tensions. Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border, Chinese jets threatening Taiwanese outposts; these events don’t even register a pulse, but if an Alaskan coastal town has a warm afternoon, we become panic-stricken. According to Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest black comedy, we aren’t afraid enough. Cue the scary Swedish teenager to growl at us once again.

Fear removes the capacity for people to think rationally and act in their best interests. Fear pushes people into a herd, more easily managed by opportunists posing as solution-providers. Fear creates a Docilian population yearning for someone else to keep them safe and risk-free. After nearly two years of pandemic-driven fear and stifling lockdowns, most people have lost the capacity to think longer term or take care of themselves. And, regrettably, fear allows for opportunists to get away with some horribly intolerable (dare I say: Goebbelian?) solutions: deplatforming, banning, imposing mandates and behavioural change, wilful destruction of economies and restrictions on individual liberties.
…/…
See risk-monger.com  


Precautionaria: An Affluent Disease Spread by Fear and Ignorance, Posted by Riskmonger on September 24, 2021

Europe has been suffering from a disease outbreak that is debilitating its population, leading to economic malaise and destroying its innovative culture and entrepreneurial mindset. It’s called “precautionaria” and while often poorly diagnosed, it has been the source of a wide range of self-inflicted harm, irrational decisions and unnecessary anxiety. Also referred to as risk aversion, those afflicted with precautionaria leave themselves open to exploitation by unscrupulous actors and fear-mongers.

Sufferers of precautionaria often perceive the world through paranoid apocalyptic scenarios, express largely fear-driven reactions to irrational uncertainties and hold that the best corrective measures (to deliver a safe, secure situation) is to stop all related actions (regardless of the consequences). They express a pathological distrust of humanity, technology and innovative solutions. These sufferers often long for some idealised simpler times in the past which, when combined with an incapacity to properly perceive reality, leads to the voluntary rejection of many great human achievements.

Until now, most people have not seen the severity of precautionaria, a disease feeding off of fear, ignorance and misinformation. Below is a brief description of the symptoms and causes with some suggestions on how it can be treated.
.../...
See riskmongerdotcom.files.wordpress.com


If you bought any drills, VR goggles, or OLED TVs for your loved ones this Christmas, you have saved some serious time…

See humanprogress.org

Since 1946, the time price of a basic drill has fallen 94.6 percent.

Drills on Sale: Buy One, Get 17 Free.
1


See humanprogress.org

The Oculus-Meta Quest time price has dropped 86.3 percent in five years.



2


See humanprogress.org

The time price of an LG 65" OLED TV has fallen over 75 percent in five years.




3


Techno-optimism for 2022. What you should be excited about... by Noah Smith
.../...
But despite these setbacks, stumbles, and headwinds, I’m still massively optimistic for the decade ahead.
.../...

See noahpinion.substack.com
1

See noahpinion.substack.com
2

See noahpinion.substack.com
3

See noahpinion.substack.com
4


Americans love toys. While we represent only 4.25 percent of the world’s population, we buy 34.3 percent of all toys.

Thankfully for us, our kids, and our wallets, toys have become 67 percent more abundant over the last five years.
See humanprogress.org


Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), by James Elam & Peter Safar

This week, our heroes are James Elam and Peter Safar, the two physicians who discovered and popularized modern cardiopulmonary resuscitation, also known as CPR. Elam and Safar’s modern method of CPR is taught to people across the world as the go-to way to resuscitate an unresponsive person. The World Economic Forum has estimated that Elam and Safar’s CPR technique has already saved 5 million people and continues to save hundreds of thousands of people every year.
See video
See humanprogress.org


US Consumer confidence on the rise? (Source : Newsletter Bloomberg)

 
 


The Soviet Union ended 30 years ago... Many people migrated (Source : Newsletter Bloomberg)

 
 


The economy is going well with President Biden (Source : Newsletter Bloomberg)

 
 


Les renouvelables compteront pour 42 % de l'énergie consommée aux USA en 2026 (Source : Newsletter Bloomberg)

 
 


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Bon vieux temps / Good old days (10)

10


Global economic inequality: what matters most for your living conditions is not who you are, but where you are

What is most important for how healthy, wealthy, and educated you are?

Your knowledge and how hard you work do matter, but much less than the one factor that is entirely outside anyone’s control: whether you happen to be born into a productive, industrialized economy or not.

The huge majority of the world is very poor: almost 4 billion people live on less than $6.70 a day. If you live on $30 a day you are part of the richest 15% of the world.

In this article we show how vast global income inequality is, and how much it matters for people’s living conditions. We also describe the importance of economic growth and redistribution for reducing inequality and improving living conditions.

See ourworldindata Pour lire les graphiques, aller sur le site en cliquant sur l'image


First dicamba-resistant waterhemp reported in Illinois, by AGDAILY Reporters

University of Illinois weed scientists have confirmed resistance to the herbicide dicamba in a Champaign County waterhemp population. In the study, dicamba controlled 65 percent of the waterhemp in the field when applied at the labeled rate. And in the greenhouse, plants showed a 5-to-10-fold reduction in dicamba efficacy compared with sensitive plants.
.../...
See agdaily.com


Bugs across globe are evolving to eat plastic, study finds

Surprising discovery shows scale of plastic pollution and reveals enzymes that could boost recycling.
.../...
The first bug that eats plastic was discovered in a Japanese waste dump in 2016. Scientists then tweaked it in 2018 to try to learn more about how it evolved, but inadvertently created an enzyme that was even better at breaking down plastic bottles. Further tweaks in 2020 increased the speed of degradation sixfold.

Another mutant enzyme was created in 2020 by the company Carbios that breaks down plastic bottles for recycling in hours. German scientists have also discovered a bacterium that feeds on the toxic plastic polyurethane, which is usually dumped in landfills.

Last week, scientists revealed that the levels of microplastics known to be eaten by people via their food caused damage to human cells in the laboratory.
See theguardian.com


Track the global food system from field-to-plate in our new Global Food Data Explorer

Which countries produce the most corn? What about beef, or seafood? How much of our crops do we use as biofuels, or as animal feed?

It’s surprisingly hard to find quick answers to these questions. We try to solve this with our new Global Food Data Explorer.

With it you can explore crop and livestock data for all countries since 1961. This includes data on production, yields, land use, and trade, as well as how much is available to be eaten for consumers. We will update this data annually.

See ourworldindata.org  


Why the Dutch are closing prisons – and what they’re doing with empty ones, Deborah Nicholls-Lee, December 7, 2021

The Netherlands has reduced its prison population to such a degree that it’s now turning old prisons into socially useful buildings, such as schools and refugee centres. What went right?
See positive.news


Statement from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on President Biden’s Framework for the Build Back Better Act (Oct. 28, 2021)

“The Build Back Better framework is the largest effort in American history to combat the climate crisis, while spurring economic opportunity with innovation and good jobs here at home, better positioning us to compete globally. Agriculture can lead the way in the fight on climate with climate smart agriculture and forestry practices that sequester carbon, reduce emissions and create new and better market opportunities for producers. With significant investments in resources for farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners, this bill provides a host of new tools to deploy important conservation practices and the research essential to inform them. The Forest Service will gain long overdue and significant resources to aggressively manage our forests, reduce fire risks, and keep impacted communities safe.

“Rural America will benefit from meaningful investments to help pave the way in clean and renewable energy infrastructure and production and energy efficiency improvements that will foster new job and market opportunities. The new Rural Partnership Program will provide catalytic investments and much-needed technical assistance to rural and tribal communities and rural-serving organizations that are too often unable to access and leverage the federal resources they need to create opportunity and compete in a globalized world. These investments will put new tools in the toolbox for leveraging the additional funding toward water, housing, and clean energy essential to 21st century infrastructure, diversified rural economies, and prosperous communities. Investments in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-serving institutions will support underserved communities in modernizing research infrastructure.
See usda.gov


Pläne von Agrarminister Özdemir: Weniger Tiere, mehr Hanf (?!?!?!?)

»Es darf keine Ramschpreise für Lebensmittel mehr geben«: Landwirtschaftsminister Cem Özdemir will die Zahl der Nutztiere in Deutschland reduzieren. Dafür sagt er einen Hanf-Boom nach der Cannabis-Legalisierung voraus.
Sehen spiegel.de


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Bon vieux temps / Good old days (11)

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To begin the 2022 year with a stupid one: Three men who were lost in the forest were captured by cannibals

The cannibal king told the prisoners that they could live if they pass a trial.

The first step of the trial was to go to the forest and get ten pieces of the same kind of fruit. So all three men went separate ways to gather fruits.

The first one came back and said to the king, "I brought ten apples."

The king then explained the trial to him. "You have to shove the fruits up your ass without any expression on your face or you'll be eaten."

The first apple went in, but on the second one he winced out in pain, so he was killed.

The second one arrived and showed the king ten berries. When the king explained the trial to him he thought to himself that this should be easy.

1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8... and on the ninth berry he burst out laughing and was killed.

The first guy and the second guy met in heaven.

The first one asked, "Why did you laugh, you almost got away with it?"

The second one replied, "I couldn't help it, I saw the third guy coming back with an armful of pineapples."


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Contact: Guy WAKSMAN
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