Farming Chit Chat II

blue5000 wrote: »

It's just the sun, not used to it at all at all, anyone going to the boards session in galway nxt month?:)

whats this Boards Session then

stanflt wrote: »

There is one planned for the east on Tuesday 18th June @ 7.30 here on our farm- free steak BBQ and drinks a bit of stock judging and may even be a rodeo bull for any interested

All welcome

how far east would that be stan

No better place than galway for a booze up, i better steer clear

Muckit wrote: »

Limited quad parking available anyway

Ah special occasion id have to take the focus, oh speaking of the quad its veering to one side when i leave go of handlebars, rang dealer he'll look at it next week, could it be ball joint

Kovu Murr wrote: »

It's trying to get to Leitrim

Tis not the only thing

quadboy wrote: »

Ah special occasion id have to take the focus, oh speaking of the quad its veering to one side when i leave go of handlebars, rang dealer he'll look at it next week, could it be ball joint

Pump the wheel

Ah no theres something wrong id say it was actually someone else that noticed it and hes had a quad for years so he'd know. Cant wait for my bulmers tomorrow and sunday, yum yum!

GM crops, the genie is out of the bottle:eek:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-31/escaped-wheat-shows-difficulty-of-keeping-tests-on-farm.html

Escaped Wheat Shows Difficulty of Keeping Tests on Farm


As it established test plots for its genetically modified wheat, imposed tight rules, such as forcing researchers to burn or ship back leftover seeds. It wasn’t enough.

Almost a decade after Monsanto (MON) abandoned plans to sell a herbicide-resistant wheat variety, plants with that genetic makeup were found in an Oregon farm field, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said this week. Inspectors are trying to determine how the strain turned up years later and how widely it may have spread. Development tests were allowed in 16 states.


Enlarge image Escaped Wheat Shows Difficulty of Keeping Test Crops on the Farm

Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

Almost a decade after Monsanto abandoned plans to sell a herbicide-resistant wheat variety, plants with that genetic makeup were found in an Oregon farm field, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said this week.



Almost a decade after Monsanto abandoned plans to sell a herbicide-resistant wheat variety, plants with that genetic makeup were found in an Oregon farm field, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said this week. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg




Scientists warn that such incidents are likely to persist, given weak federal rules and the strength of natural selection.

“Controlling seed movement is really a big challenge,” said Cynthia Sagers, a professor at the University of Arkansas who researches plant evolutionary ecology. “If anyone were looking, they would find this in many other areas as well.”

Bloomberg View Ticker: The Mysterious Case of Oregon's Rogue Wheat

For the world’s largest seedmaker, targeted by March Against Monsanto global protests this week over genetically modified foods, the biggest risks are likely to be from farmers confronting export restrictions and from super-weeds made herbicide-resistant by the genetic manipulations meant to help crops survive, researchers say. The USDA, Monsanto and scientists say that human health isn’t a high risk in this case.

Resistant Weeds


“The real problem will be how agriculture deals with these resistant weeds that we’ve created, signed, sealed and delivered,” Sagers said in an in interview. “This is going to be more of what we hear about until USDA takes a harder look at genetically modified crops, and GM escape.”

An Oregon farmer tried to kill wheat using Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide and found that several plants survived, the USDA said May 29. St. Louis-based Monsanto had withdrawn an application for approval of the strain nine years ago amid concern that buyers would avoid crops from the U.S., the world’s biggest wheat exporter.

The farmer’s discovery prompted Japan to suspend imports of western-white wheat and feed wheat. Prices of the grain fell on the Chicago Board of Trade, headed for the biggest monthly drop since February, after the suspension.

Monsanto said the Oregon discovery is isolated and shouldn’t concern consumers or trading partners. The USDA said government tests showed the experimental strain was as safe as grain on the market.

First Incident


The Oregon field was the first in which the genetically modified wheat was found out of place, the company said. The strain was bred to resist glyphosate, the key ingredient of Roundup. Plants so bred permit farmers to kill weeds without endangering crops. Monsanto sells these seeds as Roundup Ready.

All field trials of genetically modified strains are approved by the U.S. regulator before planting and test crops comply with government requirements, Lee Quarles, a company spokesman, said by e-mail.

“Monsanto was very thorough to make sure we followed protocols,” said Robert Zemetra, who teaches wheat genetics at Oregon State University (85070MF) and conducted one of the Monsanto field trials while at University of Idaho.

Unauthorized releases of transgenic products such as corn and rice have been plentiful, with 22 documented cases over the past two decades, according to a study by Norman Ellstrand of the University of California, Riverside.

The 2000 release of Aventis SA (SAN)’s StarLink corn cost as much as $288 million in lost revenue and a yearlong drop in the grain’s price, the U.S. General Accountability Office said in a 2008 report. The 2006 release of Bayer AG’s (BAYN) Liberty Link rice led to a $750 million settlement in 2011 with about 11,000 U.S. farmers.

Escaped Canola


A genetically altered strain of canola is still being plucked from rail yards near Japanese ports by anxious local volunteers, years after the plants, of unknown origin, were discovered in the country.

Also in eastern Oregon, genetically modified creeping bentgrass pollen was found 13 miles from fields where it was being tested, many times the mandated isolation distance, according to a 2004 Environmental Protection Agency study. Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (SMG). agreed to a settlement with the USDA and a fine of $500,000 over the handling of those field trials.

“It was a spectacular story of gene flow,” Ellstrand said in an interview. “Nobody had ever tested at that distance.”

In the case in Oregon revealed this week, Zemetra said it’s not clear exactly how the wheat got into the field. It’s unlikely the seeds stayed dormant in the ground for years, and then finally germinated. More likely is that it got mixed -- to a small volume -- into the seed supply, Ellstrand said.

Environmental Worries


“Somebody has been breeding this wheat, inadvertently for a number of years, whether a seed company or this farmer,” said Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Researchers are divided about the risks of the releases. Few of those documented have led to widespread environmental damage.

“I don’t see any potential for negative consequences,” Val Giddings, a senior fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, said in an interview. “If there is any problem here at all, as far as I can see, it would be a paperwork regulatory compliance issue. It could be as simple as a single grain of wheat not having been properly disposed of.”

Other scientists say risks remain: A wheat plant may pollinate a weed, such as goatgrass, leading to a Roundup resistant variety, said Gurian-Sherman.

Increased Infestation


Because of natural selection, that strain may thrive, leaving farmers with weeds that are harder to control and the need for other, more expensive herbicides, he said.

“The main issues here are environmental,” Gurian-Sherman, who published a paper on the issue, said in an interview. His group is pressing the USDA to strengthen rules meant to segregate genetically modified crops from other strains or wild relatives. The agency isn’t poised for that, based on this case.

“While we take this situation very seriously, it is too early in the investigation to draw any definitive conclusions,” Ed Curlett, a USDA plant-inspection service spokesman, said by e-mail, responding to calls for changes in test rules. “We will continue to work on all aspects of the investigation.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net

pakalasa wrote: »

Anyone see Hector In Canada last night on TG4? One farmer there growing 7,500 acres of beans. :rolleyes:

http://www.tg4.ie/en/player/tg4-player.html

Was watching that alright, then switched over to Horse & Country and was watching a very interesting documentary on the modernisation of cattle breeding in Scotland. Was showing how the AA breed were known as the belt-buckle cattle and how much they've grown since then, Willie McLaren was on it a lot.

Have a good few friends working over in Canada, one on a ranch. It's something I'd love to do for a year.

How does one go about getting up at half 4 in the morning

quadboy wrote: »

How does one go about getting up at half 4 in the morning

Bottle of vodka, and don't mention the quad