Monthly Archive for May, 2011

AVA widens test on veggies from Europe

Published on May 30, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and Vegtables.


THE Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) has gone from flagging only vegetables from Spain and Germany to flagging greens from the rest of the European Union (EU).

The widening of its ‘hold-and-test’ requirement comes on the heels of a deadly E. coli outbreak in Germany, thought to be spread through contaminated cucumbers imported from Spain.

The ‘hold-and-test’ procedure refers to the practice of sending suspected items for tests and withholding their sale until they are found to be free of contaminants.

On Sunday, the AVA had said it would place imported leafy vegetables, cucumbers and tomatoes from Germany and Spain under hold-and-test, but it has since confirmed that cucumbers from Germany, Spain and Denmark are not brought in here.

Some, however, do come in from the Netherlands; between January and last month, 69kg of cucumbers were imported.

Yesterday, the AVA spokesman said: ‘In view of the recent situation, AVA will place imported leafy vegetables, cucumbers and tomatoes from the EU under hold-and-test, should there be such imports.’

AVA widens test on veggies from Europe

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Flower bandit filches Cleveland Park blooms

Published on May 29, 2011 in Gardening and General Ag News and Notes.


They’ve waged war against deer and battled hungry possums that snatch tomatoes just when they are at the peak of their flavor. But there’s one pest the Newark Street gardeners have been unable to thwart: a certain two-legged rat with a penchant for peonies.

For 10 years, gardeners in this Northwest Washington neighborhood believe the same man has been stealing spring blooms from their plots in the Newark Street Community Garden. Not just a few stems, mind you, but bunches — as many as 30 to 50 at a time.

“He does this every year, starting with the peonies,” said Marcia Stein, one of the flower thief’s victims, who lost a bunch of blooms this month. “Last year, he stole all of my peonies.”

Gardeners say the suspect has expensive taste. He ignores lesser flowers in favor of pricier blooms. (At Johnson’s Florist and Garden Center in Cleveland Park, peonies sell for $8.99 a stem.)

And when he steals them, he’s not gentle: He rips the blooms right out of the ground.

For years, the gardeners kept quiet, fearful that publicity would encourage more thefts. Continue reading ‘Flower bandit filches Cleveland Park blooms’

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Hawaiian stilts make comeback in bog

Published on May 29, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and endangered species.


On the red mud of Waipahu’s Pouhala Marsh, a Hawaiian stilt flapped its wings, trying to lure away a potential predator of its young.

The predator, Jason Misaki’s white pickup truck, stopped several feet away. Misaki hopped out and walked a wide circle, looking into patches of vegetation for the stilt’s fledglings.

Earlier that morning, Mi­saki caught three stilt chicks by hand and placed colored bands on the birds’ long legs as part of a survey of the number of stilts born at the marsh.

This year, the number of fledglings at Pouhala is on track to surpass any year since the state began restoring the marsh nine years ago — a sign of its successful recovery.

The 70-acre marsh is the largest wetland in Pearl Harbor and provides an important habitat for the Hawaiian stilt, along with the Hawaiian coot and moorhen, all endangered Hawaiian water birds. Hawaiian stilts number about 1,500 today. About 100 typically feed at Pouhala Marsh at any given time.

Misaki, the state’s wildlife program manager for Oahu, said preserving Pouhala is an important part of saving the stilt, which differs from the North American stilt by having more black on its head and neck.

Misaki said preserving species native to Hawaii is important because “it’s their habitat. These are symbols of Hawaii, a symbol of the people of Hawaii, the landscape and the animals of Hawaii.” Continue reading ‘Hawaiian stilts make comeback in bog’

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E. coli-infected cucumbers may have been sent to Austria, Hungary, Luxembourg

Published on May 29, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes, Organic Ag and Vegtables.


PRAGUE, Czech Republic — Spanish vegetables suspected of contamination with a potentially deadly bacteria are being recalled from stores in Austria and the Czech Republic to prevent the spread of a deadly outbreak, officials said Sunday.

The death toll from the bacteria rose to at least 10 people, and hundreds across Europe have been sickened.

The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety said it was informed by a European Union warning system that two German companies had issued an immediate recall and sales ban of cucumbers, tomatoes and eggplants they had delivered in to stores in the Alpine republic. The agency said that some of the vegetables may have been sold and urged consumers to throw them away.

The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority said cucumbers from a contaminated shipment also went to Hungary and Luxembourg. There were no immediate reports of illness there.

The cucumbers transited Germany, where health officials said Sunday one more person had succumbed to the bacteria, raising the death toll from nine to 10. Continue reading ‘E. coli-infected cucumbers may have been sent to Austria, Hungary, Luxembourg’

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HC&S: Sugar ‘at the top,’ can anything knock it off?

Published on May 29, 2011 in Alternative Energy, Biofuels, General Ag News and Notes, Sugar Cane and Sustainability.


PUUNENE

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Hawaii will arrive on Maui this summer to work with Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. to study crops, growing conditions and other issues in developing biofuels on the island.

The 130-year-old plantation is working with federal and state partners to help determine not only its own future, but also the future of growing biofuel crops in Hawaii to power both the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet and private vehicles across the state. The end result could be the development of a biofuel refinery for HC&S, said company General Manager Rick Volner Jr.

The goal is to transition HC&S into a leading “energy farm,” and develop the resources to sell commercial jet and diesel fuels to the government and private consumers.

Success could guarantee that the company would continue to employ around 800 people, and perhaps even more, company officials said.

“There are no firm deadlines for this project, but the sooner we can decide, the easier it will be for the board of Alexander & Baldwin (HC&S’s parent company) to fund some of these products, and obviously we will need to make some capital investments,” Volner said last week. “But we’re more interested in making the right decision than when we make it.” Continue reading ‘HC&S: Sugar ‘at the top,’ can anything knock it off?’

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Mackay Sugar secures 30pc in Tully takeover

Published on May 29, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and Sugar Cane.


DISTRIBUTOR and marketer Queensland Sugar has decided to sell its 19.9 per cent stake in Tully Sugar to takeover contender Mackay Sugar for $43 a share, sparking a fresh bidding war from two other interested parties, US giant Bunge and China’s state-owned Cofco.

The news came as Cofco announced the Foreign Investment Review Board had approved its deal to buy a 19.9 per cent stake in Tully and its decision to increase the holding.

On Friday, Mackay upgraded its offer for Tully by $2 to $43 a share (the same price offered by Bunge and Cofco), valuing Tully at $132.9 million.

The combined Queensland Sugar/Mackay holding in Tully now totals almost 30 per cent.

Cofco has a precommitment for a 19.9 per cent stake and Bunge has a small stake.

Mackay’s bid is backed by French-based commodity trader Louis Dreyfus, which has agreed to provide debt funding of up to $102m.

Tully is one of the last independent, grower-owned sugar mills in Australia and also owns residential properties in far north Queensland and other assets.

Mackay is the country’s second-biggest sugar milling company, owning three mills and a refinery in Queensland. Continue reading ‘Mackay Sugar secures 30pc in Tully takeover’

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Review of Hawaiian Artists At American Indian Museum and Transformer Gallery

Published on May 29, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes.


“This IS Hawai’i” may not be a big show, but as an example of crosstown collaboration, it is a big deal. It’s a two-venue exhibit, occupying not only Transformer Gallery’s Logan Circle area storefront but also the National Museum of the American Indian’s Sealaska Gallery. The show features works from four contemporary native Hawaiian artists, but it feels like — and aspires to be — a much larger survey.

In Washington, dialogue between the local art scene and major museums is rare. Transformer Gallery director Victoria Reis bucks the trend, co-hosting programs with the Phillips Collection, the Hirshhorn Museum and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

Reis made headlines in November by leading local opposition to the removal of artist David Wojnarowicz’s video from the National Portrait Gallery’s “Hide/Seek” exhibit. With the Hawaii show, she switches from fighting censorship at the Smithsonian to inserting her programming directly into one of its museums.

Independent curator Isabella Hughes turns in an equally impressive performance. Hughes brings together four artists from the island of Oahu, all focused on struggles between indigenous and invasive — but using sharply divergent materials and methods.

At the National Museum of the American Indian, the works of Carl F.K. Pao and Solomon Enos offer opposing relationships to museum culture. Pao presents institutional critique that would make little sense outside a museum setting. Enos is a comics artist, creating works meant to be seen in print by general audiences. Continue reading ‘Review of Hawaiian Artists At American Indian Museum and Transformer Gallery’

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Axis deer on Hawaii island pose problem for state

Published on May 28, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes, Hunting, Invasive Species and Native Hawaiian Plants.


State officials are developing plans to remove axis deer in Hawaii County before damage becomes significant to ranch grasslands, farm crops and plants that are vital to maintain watershed areas.

“We will need to take quick and effective action to prevent costly and destructive impacts on the Big Island that will last for generations, perhaps forever,” said William Aila, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Kahua Ranch Ltd. Chairman Monte Richards said axis deer can cause great damage to Hawaii island’s forest in Kohala and become difficult to remove once they’re established.

“The thing is to get to them early, and you’ve got a chance,” Richards said.

Richards said Hawaii island ranchers successfully fought against the idea of importing axis deer in the 1960s. He suspects the axis deer were illegally shipped to the island in recent years by someone who wanted the animal for game hunting.

State conservation officials working closely with trackers and using game cameras to survey areas in recent weeks have confirmed the presence of axis deer across the island, including in Kohala, Kau, Kona and Mauna Kea. Continue reading ‘Axis deer on Hawaii island pose problem for state’

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New Hawaii cases of rat lungworm infection reported

Published on May 27, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes.


Four probable cases of rat lungworm infection have been detected on the Big Island.

Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Friday the cases are disturbing because the disease is usually found during the winter season.

East Hawaii epidemiological specialist Marlena Dixon says rat lungworm is a parasite that causes a rare form of meningitis and is difficult to diagnose because of a wide array of symptoms.

Symptoms can include severe headaches, nausea, vomiting, neck stiffness and numbness.

In a severe 2009 case former Big Island resident Graham McCumber spent three months in a coma.

Dixon says the disease can be contracted when people mistakenly eat small slugs on the surface of leafy green vegetables.

Slugs and snails become carriers when they eat feces of rats carrying the parasite.

New Hawaii cases of rat lungworm infection reported – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com

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Geothermal company eyeing Ulupalakua

Published on May 27, 2011 in Alternative Energy and General Ag News and Notes.


KULA – The company that has delivered geothermal power to the Big Island for nearly the past 20 years is going to look for a place to create a similar plant on Ulupalakua Ranch land.

Christopher Heaps, a representative of Ormat of Reno, Nev., told Kula residents for the first time publicly that his company would be searching about 8,000 acres of leased ranch land for suitable sites to dig wells that could produce at least two-dozen megawatts a day of energy for the Valley Isle.

If it is able to find a viable drill site and get all the proper government permits, Ormat could break ground on the project as soon as next year, Heaps said. It would provide about 150 construction jobs and another roughly 30 full-time positions.

And, Ormat would pay millions in taxes and mineral rights royalties, one-third of which would go to the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs, another third to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the final third to Maui County, Heaps said. In addition, the company would assist community needs, such as pay for more security officers in public parks or create a scholarship program, he said.

About 100 Kula residents attended the special meeting hosted Wednesday night by the Kula Community Association.

A few Kula residents, such as Hula Lindsey, said they were skeptical about the project because Heaps said it probably would not reduce their electricity rates even though it is in their backyard. Continue reading ‘Geothermal company eyeing Ulupalakua’

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The Chelsea Flower Show: New plants and the not-so-new

Published on May 26, 2011 in Gardening and General Ag News and Notes.


The Chelsea Flower Show is perhaps the world’s brightest stage on which to launch new plants. It’s great opportunity to tell gardeners about new plants, and blogs, websites, newspapers and magazines are full of the news. The Chelsea Plant of The Year award, launched last year, has ratcheted up the interest.

But some nurseries announce plants as new when they’ve been around for years. Others fail to mention really good new plants that they’re exhibiting and have to have the information coaxed out of them. And can a plant first publicised last summer really be “launched” at the show?

Hillier Nurseries have a very attractive new ruby-red leaved maple, Acer palmatum ‘Shaina’ (pictured above), a lovely plant, which they say is “Available exclusively through Hillier Garden Centres and online at www.hillier.co.uk in 2011″. But in fact it’s been available since the 1990s, the RHS themselves say it’s listed by 24 other nurseries and garden centres all over the country have it. Despite three or four attempts I have been unable to get hold of Hillier to ask why they’re promoting the plant in this way.
Clematis ‘Celebration’ Clematis ‘Celebration’. Photograph: Fred Godfrey/Sussex Plants

Clematis ‘Celebration’ is certainly a breakthrough clematis – the first ever large-flowered type with yellow foliage – and Thorncroft Clematis are lucky to have it. Continue reading ‘The Chelsea Flower Show: New plants and the not-so-new’

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Mackay Sugar formally lodges takeover offer for Tully Sugar

Published on May 26, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and Sugar Cane.


MACKAY Sugar has formally lodged its $41 a share bid for Tully Sugar, even though US-based agribusiness giant Bunge and China’s state-owned Cofco have already revised their bids higher to $43 a share valuing Tully at $132.9 million.

Mackay’s bid is backed by French-based commodity trader Louis Dreyfus, which has agreed to provide debt funding of up to $102 million to help fund the offer.

Mackay is Australia’s second largest sugar milling company, operating three mills, a refinery, and producing molasses and electricity on the Queensland central coast south of Tully.

At stake is the ownership of one of the last independent grower-owned sugar mills in Australia and other assets including residential properties in the Far North Queensland town.

The Tully mill, whose operation is highly regarded in the industry, has a crushing capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of cane a year and produced 315,000 tonnes of raw sugar in 2002, before production started falling as a result of a series of poor crop seasons.

“By accepting Mackay Sugar’s offer, you are ensuring Tully Sugar’s business remains in Australian hands, managed by a professional grower-controlled company” that has a proven track record of working with growers to deliver higher prices and a more secure and diversified business while investing in the industry, Continue reading ‘Mackay Sugar formally lodges takeover offer for Tully Sugar’

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New rice crisis cannot be ruled out

Published on May 26, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes.


MANILA – A REPEAT of the 2008 rice crisis that led to riots in the developing world cannot be ruled out as the cost of other agricultural goods surge, a research group has warned.

The International Rice Research Institute said the global rice market was delicately balanced as the grain had managed to avoid huge price rises thanks to stable weather in rice growing regions.

The cost of wheat surged 121 per cent over the eight months to February, maize jumped 92 per cent and sugar 80 percent higher due to bad weather and rising global demand for commodities. However, at the same time rice prices rose just 17 per cent due to good harvests in 2010.

But the IRRI, in its quarterly Rice Today magazine, said the possibility of panic-buying of the staple similar to that three years ago could send prices soaring again. Rice prices nearly tripled from US$362 (S$448) a tonne in December 2007 to almost US$1,000 in April 2008 as stocks fell to 30-year lows amid surging global demand, IRRI data show.

‘The rice sector has been fortunate to have escaped the wrath of the weather,’ the magazine report said. ‘However, similar panic actions by other rice-consuming countries may tilt the market to an override mode and possibly cause a repeat of 2008.’ Continue reading ‘New rice crisis cannot be ruled out’

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Rinderpest, or ‘cattle plague,’ becomes only second disease to be eradicated

Published on May 26, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and Livestock.


Rinderpest, or ‘cattle plague,’ becomes only second disease to be eradicated
By David Brown, Thursday, May 26, 4:12 PM

Rinderpest, a cattle disease that for centuries felled herds in Europe, Africa and Asia and caused periodic human famine, has been eradicated, veterinary epidemiologists announced this week.

Eradication is the Holy Grail of disease prevention and has been successful only once before. Smallpox, an equally devastating human scourge, was eradicated in 1980, proving it is possible to stamp out a microbe across the entire planet. Attempts are underway to rid the world of polio and Guinea worm disease.

The bovine equivalent of measles, rinderpest is described in ancient Chinese writings and in documents from the Roman Empire. It hobbled Charlemagne when he moved herds to support his armies in the 8th century. When it entered Ethi­o­pia in 1889, it caused starvation that killed one-third of the country’s human population, even though the microbe does not infect people.

Even in communities that do not depend on herding for their livelihood, rinderpest could be lethal because it killed draft animals and disrupted agriculture.

“This is quite a momentous occasion for humanity,” Continue reading ‘Rinderpest, or ‘cattle plague,’ becomes only second disease to be eradicated’

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Fruits from mainland sweeten summer season

Published on May 25, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes.


In Hawaii the summer mango and lychee seasons are anticipated with much delight. But summer is also a special time for mainland fruit: peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums and cherries — fruits that need a cooler climate to flourish.

These luscious seasonal fruits come mostly from San Joaquin Valley in California, where fruit farmers are in the midst of a harvest that will continue through the end of summer.

In early April the weather warmed up after some adverse conditions, and the set of fruit on trees was promising, according to Bill Slattery of Kingsburg Orchard, a supplier of fruit to Hawaii markets.

Sometimes stone fruit in Hawaii can be disappointing for its lack of flavor, poor texture and bruising. Remember that these fruit have to endure travel over a few thousand miles over several days; their condition is not for lack of effort on the growers’ part.

“We pick our fruit at the optimum of ripeness,” Slattery said. “We pick a tree two, three or four times by hand; our pickers have worked for us for many years and know ripe fruit. Even though a fruit may be firm, it is picked tree-ripe and has a good flavor profile.”

Fruit are packed immediately from the field, cooled, then shipped via refrigerated ocean container (occasionally via air) to the islands. The cold chain is maintained all the way to the supermarket. Continue reading ‘Fruits from mainland sweeten summer season’

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Pohakuloa closed to hunters on Big Island

Published on May 25, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and Hunting.


The Army says it is closing Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island to hunting because of heightened security at military installations around the world.

U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii said Monday that hunting will not be allowed at Pohakuloa until the Department of Defense lowers security levels.

The Army normally opens a part of the base to civilian hunters for about 50 days each year to help control wild pigs, sheep and goats.

The feral animals could damage rare and endangered plant habitats if they are not controlled. Allowing civilian hunters to use Pohakuloa also helps the Army’s relations with community members.

Pohakuloa closed to hunters on Big Island – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com

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