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#wheat

1 post1 participant0 posts today
Continued thread
Public *
Bruce MacDonald

From WHEAT LIFE:

"Flour sacks began replacing barrels as flour containers in the later 1800s, when the sewing machine made it possible to sew a sturdy sack that could hold flour. Flour sacks dominated the industry until the 1940s when paper sacks, which were introduced 20 years earlier, became the main form of packaging."
wheatlife.org/when-flour-was-s

A lot of these old seed and flour sacks back in the day were manufactured by a Minneapolis company whose logo was a cat out of the bag! Ope!

(You need go no further than the Minnesota State Fair to see a superb permanent collection of seed and flour sacks right there in the Ag-Hort building, not far from the crop art.)

Detail of a burlap seed bag from a company in Olivia, Minnesota. The logo is for Bemis, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and features a cat emerging from the bag.
#Minneapolis#flour#milling
Public
Alexander J. Stein

Intensifying #droughts threaten future #foodsecurity: Soybeans, #maize & spring #wheat are most drought-sensitive & prone to severe #yields losses, esp. in US, #Argentina, #Australia & China. GHG #emissions intensify the risk of #drought significantly... (1/2) doi.org/10.3390/atmos16010034 #USA #China

MDPIIntensified Drought Threatens Future Food Security in Major Food-Producing CountriesDrought is one of the most severe natural disasters globally, with its frequency and intensity escalating due to climate change, posing significant threats to agricultural production. This is particularly critical in major food-producing regions, where drought profoundly impacts crop yields. Such impacts can trigger food crises in affected regions and disrupt global food trade patterns, thereby posing substantial risks to global food security. Based on historical data, this study examines the yield response characteristics of key crops—maize, rice, soybean, spring wheat, and winter wheat—under drought conditions during their growth cycles, highlighting variations in drought sensitivity among major food-producing countries. The findings reveal that maize and soybean yield in China, the United States, and Brazil are among the most sensitive and severely affected by drought. Furthermore, using precipitation simulation data from CMIP6 climate models, the study evaluates drought trends and associated crop yield risks under different future emission scenarios. Results indicate that under high-emission scenarios, crops face heightened drought risks during their growth cycles, with China and the United States particularly vulnerable to yield reductions. Additionally, employing copula functions, the study analyzes the probability of simultaneous drought occurrences across multiple countries, shedding light on the evolving trends of multicountry drought events in major food-producing regions. These findings provide a scientific basis for assessing global food security risks and offer policy recommendations to address uncertainties in food supply under climate change.
Public
CelloMom On Cars

"A new report about the impacts of #ClimateChange on #Montana’s agricultural community shows that changes to the environment could have an outsized impact on the state’s rural agricultural communities, as weather patterns will likely make it harder to raise #wheat and #cattle, Montana’s two mainstays."

postregister.com/farmandranch/

Post RegisterClimate change will cost Montana agriculture more than 9,000 job losses, $181M, report saysA new report about the impacts of climate change on Montana’s agricultural community shows that changes to the environment could have an outsized impact on the state’s rural agricultural communities,
Replied in thread
Public
CelloMom On Cars

"Europe is grappling with a severe #cereal production crisis, exacerbated by adverse weather conditions, high production costs with stable prices, low quality of output, and stiff competition from Ukraine.

“This season was particularly challenging due to a series of adverse weather events for harvest,” he added, highlighting how droughts in Southeastern Europe and excessive autumn rainfall have negatively impacted both quantity and quality of harvests."

euronews.com/my-europe/2024/11
#wheat #maize

euronews · Europe faces growing crisis in cereal productionA series of factors are expected to reduce EU cereal production to its lowest level since 2007, setting off alarm bells in the sector. #EuropeNews
Public
DoomsdaysCW

Are drying #rivers a warning of #Europe's tomorrow?

by Paul Hokenos
13 September 2022

"Across southern #Romania, much of which relies on the #Danube for fresh #DrinkingWater, hundreds of villages are rationing water supplies and curtailing the irrigation of #farmland that Europe relies upon for #corn, #grain, #sunflowers, and #vegetables. The cruise ships that normally ferry tourists along the iconic waterway are docked. In the first six months of 2022, Romania's #hydropower utility #Hidroelectrica generated a third less electricity than it normally does. And Romanian #wheat farmers say that drought has cost them a fifth of their harvest. Romania is one of Europe's largest wheat producers, and all the more important for the international market in light of Russia's blockage of much of Ukraine's wheat exports.

"'At towns up and down the Danube, #drought and #ClimateChange take on an existential meaning,' explains Nick Thorpe, author of The Danube: A Journey Upriver from the #BlackSea to the #BlackForest. 'In contrast to city dwellers, they're having this disaster unfold before their eyes.'"

[...]

"Scientists say that the economic cost of the rivers' decimation is only part of the problem. The less water in the water system as a whole, explains Gabriel Singer, an ecologist at University of Innsbruck, Austria, the less dilution for #salts and the slower a river flows. This leads to higher #saline content and #HigherWaterTemperatures, which can be lethal for many species of #Riverine life, such as Danube #salmon, b#arbel, and European #grayling, among many others.

"Higher temperatures also feed #AlgaeBlooms, Singer explains, which can be #toxic for river systems. This is what has happened in several German rivers, including the Moselle and Neckar, as well as perhaps the Oder River, where in mid-August more than 100 metric tons (220,000lbs) of dead fish – among them #perch, #catfish, #pike, and #asp – washed up on its shores within a week. (Experts are currently investigating the cause of the die-off.)"

Read more:
bbc.com/future/article/2022091

BBC · Are drying rivers a warning of Europe's tomorrow?By Paul Hokenos
#WaterIsLife#DanubeRiver#Extinction
Public
DoomsdaysCW

#Pesticides may contain an alarming amount of ‘#ForeverChemicals’: Study

by Sharon Udasin - 07/24/24 2:01 PM ET

"Toxic 'forever chemicals' are increasingly appearing in U.S. pesticides — contaminating waterways and posing a possible threat to human health, a new study has found.

"Pesticides containing these compounds, called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (#PFAS), are used widely nationwide on staple foods, such as #corn, #wheat, #kale, #spinach, #apples and #strawberries, according to the study, published Wednesday in Environmental Health Perspectives.

"Known for their ability to linger in the human body and the environment, PFAS have been linked to many illnesses, such as thyroid disease, kidney cancer and testicular cancer.

"PFAS-laden pesticides are also used inside homes, for flea treatments on pets and in insect-killing sprays, noted the authors, who represent several environmental organizations.

"The researchers — from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Environmental Working Group and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility — said they drew their conclusions by compiling data on sources of PFAS in pesticide products.

Read more:

thehill.com/policy/energy-envi

#PFOA #WaterIsLife #PFOS #PFASContamination #WaterPollution #PFASPollution #PTFE #Wildlife #Cancer #Contamination #Chemicals #Environment#GenXChemicals
#Toxic #CenterforBiologicalDiversity

Public
Norobiik @Norobiik@noc.social

A UK-Chinese collaboration has sequenced the #DNA of all the 827 kinds of #wheat, assembled by #Watkins, that have been nurtured at the #JohnInnesCentre near #Norwich for most of the past century.

This genetic goldmine has enabled the pinpointing of previously unknown #genes that are now being used to create hardier varieties with improved yields despite more difficult conditions.

Goldmine’ collection of wheat from 100 years ago may help feed the world, scientists say
theguardian.com/science/articl

The Guardian · ‘Goldmine’ collection of wheat from 100 years ago may help feed the world, scientists say By Robin McKie
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Roy Adams

Have you ever held a wheat tassel and wondered why it is easy to slide your finger in one direction along the bristle (awn) but nearly impossible to slide in the other direction?
I have and today we got out the microscope to try to figure out why.
Looking at an awn at 8x magnification we could see there are prongs that all tilt the same direction point towards the outer end.
At 16x magnification we could see that the prongs have rounded tips.
1/2
#Science #Microscopy #Wheat

Golden tan wheat tassel with lots of bristles (awns).
Single awn. To the left was the pod that held the wheat kernel. The awn (bristle) is long and thin pointing to the right.
8x magnification of the awn shows that there are lots of prongs tilted in the same direction towards the outer end.
20x magnification shows that the prongs are round tipped.
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