Friday, August 2, 2019

Cargill Closes Feed Mills in China Due to African Swine Fever


FarmJournal’s
PORK
Cargill Inc has closed animal feed-mills in China in recent months, partly because of the devastating spread of African swine fever (ASF) that has reduced demand. Story here.
One of millions of ASF victims.

"The incidence and range of many emerging diseases are influenced by the intensification of..livestock systems."  U.N. report - "Agriculture at a Crossroads" 2009

Thursday, August 1, 2019

The research is in - stop fracking ASAP!

By  | OTHERWORDS
Over 1,500 reports show there’s simply no safe way to do it — and it’s harming us all every day it goes on. Story here.

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

The more we carve up natural landscapes with roads and fields, the closer we’re pushing large predators like lions and wolves, toward extinction.


by Larry Powell

While the consequences of habitat loss have been known for some time, new research just published, underlines just how grave the situation has become. 
While this latest research is German, animals like the grey wolf face similar disruption in North America. 

It’s called “habitat fragmentation.” And, it’s been happening on such a large scale, it’s been hard to tell what aspects are the most destructive. That's because ecologists - at least 'til now - haven't been able to properly keep track of all wildlife within an entire eco-system when human developments confine them to smaller and more isolated patches of livable space. 

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Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Recent research contradicts a claim by the chemical giant, Bayer, that its newest bug-killer is safe for bees.

by Larry Powell

A honeybee colony in Manitoba. A PinP photo.

It's brand name is "Sivanto," (generic name - flupyradifurone). It's an insecticide designed to kill a wide range of bugs which eat food crops such as soybeans. Bayer is registering it in many jurisdictions around the world. 

After conducting various field studies, 
Bayer concludes, "Sivanto displayed a very promising safety profile." The company concedes, it works in ways similar to the neonicotinoids (a group of insecticides which has become notorious for its likely role in pollinator decline). Still, it finds, the product "can be considered safe to most beneficial insects, specifically pollinators." 
Image by Brian Robert Marshall.

But a team of scientists at the University of California, San Diego, reaches a different conclusion. In findings published earlier this year, the team gave a range of Sivanto doses to the bees, including ones they encounter in the field. By itself, the chemical did not appear to be harmful. But, when combined with the fungicide propiconazole (brand name "Banner Maxx"), widely-used by farmers, the harm was "greatly amplified." The bees either sickened or died, apparently because the fungicide weakened their ability to shake off the toxicity. It's not uncommon for pollinators to be subjected to a dizzying array of pesticides all at once, while foraging in the fields. It’s a process called "synergism," in which they can suffer harm they would not,  if  exposed to just a single one.

The spokesperson for the team, Dr. Simone Tosi, tells PinP, she does not believe that regulations in the US require manufacturers to test for synergistic effects when they apply to have their products approved. But neither does she think that such regulations prohibit such testing.


In a news release, her team says, "We believe this work is a step toward a better understanding of the risks that pesticides could pose to bees and the environment. Our results highlight the importance of assessing the effects pesticides have on the behaviour of animals, and demonstrate that synergism, seasonality and bee age are key factors that subtly change pesticide toxicity." They call for further studies to better assess the risks to pollinators.

But at least one of those other studies has already been done. It, too, comes up with similarly negative conclusions. A team from
 three German universities has found that flupyradifurone binds to the brain receptors of honeybees, damaging their motor skills.

Meanwhile, Bayer's marketing plans for its new product are ambitious. It promises to "develop, register and sell" Sivanto in many places across the world, including the US, Europe, Asia, Ghana and Brazil. While Canada isn't mentioned, specifically, there seems little doubt it will end up here, too. The company wants to see its product "in all major climatic zones allowing agriculture."

Last April, over three months ago, I e-mailed the federal Minister of Agriculture, Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency, Manitoba's Minister of Health, Kelvin Goertzen and Manitoba’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture to ask them about this new research and whether Sivanto will be registered in Canada. 
Apart from a couple of automated responses, I have gotten no substantive answers.
 

RELATED: 

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Saturday, July 27, 2019

Amazon deforestation accelerating towards unrecoverable 'tipping point'


The Guardian
Data confirms fears that Jair Bolsonaro’s policy encourages illegal logging in Brazil. 
Story here.
The Amazon rainforest near Manaus, capital of the
Brazilian state of Amazonas (largely untouched by human hands,
so far).Photo by Neil Palmer/CIAT.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

‘You can’t drink money’: Kootenay communities fight logging to protect their drinking water


The Narwhal
In Glade, BC, where clear-cutting could begin any day, determined residents are pulling out all the stops in an effort to protect their local creek — even though a judge ruled they have no right to clean water. Story here.
The south end of Kootenay Lk.
Photo by Shawn from Airdrie, Canada.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Modern Climate Change Is the Only Worldwide Warming Event of the Past 2,000 Years


Smithsonian.com
New research finds that previous periods of warming and cooling driven by natural causes were regional shifts in temperature rather than global events. Story here.
A grey heron suffers during a heatwave - 2013.
Photo by Gail Hampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K


The smell, the noise, the dust: my neighbour, the factory farm

The Guardian
Industrial farms are spreading across Europe. Greenpeace campaigners went to talk to the people who live close by.Warning: readers may find some of the images upsetting. Story here.
Dead hogs in a dumpster at a Manitoba factory barn,
awaiting removal to an unknown location. A PinP photo.
Please also read -"In Hogs We Trust."  
A critique of Manitoba’s runaway hog industry.





Thursday, July 18, 2019

Canada's high school curricula not giving students full picture of climate change


by University of British Columbia
A Pexels photo.
Canada's high school students may not be getting enough information on the negative impacts of climate change, scientific consensus behind human-caused warming or climate solutions, according to new research from the University of British Columbia and Lund University. Story here.

Health Canada probes claim that government officials helped pesticide company overturn a ban

CANADA'S                                                                                                                                ...