Tuesday, 20 December 2016

Farmers do not need Huge Capital to succeed in Agriculture

Representatives of the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), a World Bank assisted Programme have revealed that farmers do not need massive capital to be successful in agriculture.

Professor Victoria Ayuba, who led the delegation on a World Bank Mission Support visit to the Federal College of Agriculture, Akure adopted communities and schools made this statement while addressing the students and community members.

“Many people often complain that finance is the major constraint against their involvement in the scheme, but I can tell you emphatically, that is not true. With very little money, they can start something very big in agriculture,” she said.

Ayuba noted that the visit was to assess the impact of the World Bank assisted programme -with member-countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to make agriculture more sustainable and productive.

Lauding various projects executed by WAAPP-FECA, Ayuba, who is also the current Dean, College of Forestry and Fishery, University of Agriculture, Makurdi avowed that the farmers were maximizing the training WAAPP had giving them.

“They are expanding on their own; even if there is no WAAPP today, there is no cause for alarm because they are doing what they are supposed to do with very small capital: money is entering their pockets in several ways.

She further encouraged the youths and other farmers to utilize the opportunities in the sector and become employers of labour.

Correspondents from the Guardian also reports that The delegation also visited the Agricultural Research Outreach Centre (AROC) in Owode, Ibulesoro, Eleyowo to inspect the fisheries, cassava value chain opportunities; and the adopted School, Aquinas College, Akure, where the Young Farmers Club are making money in agro-products.

Farmers get Reward in Candel’s Be A Millionaire Promo

The Candel Company Limited has rewarded farmers in the last stage of its Be A Millionaire Promo, derived from the Cleanfarms project.

The Managing Director, Emmanuel Kattie expressed that the promo was launched not only to keep the environment clean, safe and enhance farmers’ welfare, but also to create excitement, enhance productivity, efficiency and output for both farmers and trade partners.

“It’s a project designed to rid farms of herbicide bottles and remnants of agrochemicals that pose significant health hazards to the ecosystem,” he said.

Kattie said the promo which kicked off in May has rewarded 60 farmers with 48 generators and 12 Tricycles.

Winners of the grand finale draw for the generator sets and tricycles were selected electronically from the six-geo political zones in Nigeria while the N1,000,000 star prize was drawn randomly to give every farmer an equal chance.

Also speaking the Founder and Chairman of the Candel Limited, Charles Anudu said the company did the right thing by withdrawing the bottles from users.

“We saw people using the empty bottles to store water and other consumable things, which is harmful and we needed to destroy them because they are harmful to mankind.”

Anudu posted that the only way to enforce it is by asking the farmers to return the bottles and get cash reward.

Monday, 19 December 2016

165 Cows, 1 Deer

A Washington farmer has an unusual addition to her cattle herd.

It was an ordinary November day when Kari McKay went to check the cows on her farm in eastern Washington. What she found when she got to the pasture was anything but ordinary.

She had just weaned calves a few days before but noticed a small animal in with the cattle. It wasn’t a calf that had snuck back in with its mama.

It was a young deer, and he was getting a lot of attention and licks on the nose from one cow, in particular. “I think someone might be missing her baby, and someone else lost his mama,” McKay wrote on Facebook on November 11, 2016. “We could probably all learn something from these two right about now.”

She thought the deer’s appearance in her pasture was just a fluke, but when he was still around a week later, she decided to give him a name: Li’l Johnny Deere.

 “I got pretty close to him today, until he got a sniff of me and went out with the cows,” she wrote on November 15. “He looks like he’s maybe a yearling and must have just gotten weaned from his mama.” McKay started bringing her camera along to capture this story as it unfolded.

A cold snap hit after that, and Johnny continued to find refuge with the cows. “It has been cold and windy the past couple of days here, but he’s pretty content with his herd and runs right to them if he feels threatened in any way,” McKay wrote on November 18.

On November 22, Johnny met McKay’s dogs. They usually stay in the truck while she checks cows, but when they saw the deer, they both took off after him. One came back when he was called, but the other chased after Johnny.

After she got her dog back, McKay went to water the cattle and figured the deer was scared away for good. “As I was putting water in the trough, all of the cows were migrating towards me,” she wrote. “I looked back behind them and here came Li’l Johnny Deere on the run right back to his cows. There is no way he’s going to stay out in that field all alone without his cows.”


Winter Comes to Washington

December brought with it snow and cold, and a sign that the cows were enjoying Johnny’s company as much as he was enjoying theirs.

When McKay went to check the cows on December 2, they all came running and bucking in excitement toward her pickup, thinking that snow on the ground meant they would get some extra feed. “I wondered if Li’l Johnny, who is usually hanging out just on the outside of the electric fence from the cows, would notice that they had all left him,” she wrote.

“I looked off into the distance and saw one cow straggling back, and there was Li’l Johnny Deere running right with her. It was pretty cute!”

An Arctic front rolled through eastern Washington, bringing more snow and single-digit temperatures. Johnny stayed with his cows, but McKay thought their time together was nearly at an end. “Tomorrow is the day to bring cows off the hay circle and home for the winter,” she wrote on December 9.

“I will be curious to see if Li’l Johnny makes the 4-mile trek down the road with his cows or not. I can’t imagine him staying out in that field by himself all winter with nothing for shelter and no other deer to pal around with. Let’s cross our fingers and pray that he follows them home to their winter pasture; otherwise, it might be an awfully lonely winter without his girls.”

Cattle-moving day came, and McKay said Johnny’s situation was questionable at first. “He wasn’t quite sure that he wanted to leave the pasture that he was comfortable being in, but after he realized that the cows weren’t coming back, he decided to run and catch up with them and tag along.”

By this time, Li’l Johnny Deere was becoming quite the Internet sensation, with his posts garnering nearly 5,000 Facebook likes. “I've never experienced anything like this before in my 47 years,” McKay wrote on December 11. “Most of the deer in our area head for the breaks of the river this time of year before the heavy winter months come.

 Li’l Johnny has obviously lost his deer friends, but has made his home in the comfort of my cows. He made it to the winter pasture ground bucking and playing part of the way, where there is plenty to eat and drink and lots of shelter to get himself out of the blustery cold of winter. He loves these cows and feels safe with them. He’s a wild animal and is free to leave and go live his life at any time, but I’m hoping he’s here to stay for the winter.”

Some of the people following Johnny’s story on Facebook wondered if he posed a disease risk to the cattle. “I have contacted a few veterinarians to ask if this would be an issue,” McKay says. “WSU and others said there have been no known cases of diseases spreading from deer to cows in the state of Washington, and that I shouldn’t need to worry.”


Sharing Her Story

After graduating from high school in a class of seven kids, McKay went to community college and eventually Eastern Washington University.

 She became an elite marathon runner and ran in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic trials. “I had a scholarship for running in college, so I used some of the money that was set aside for me to go to college to buy some cows to help support my running habit,” she says.

“My father was very supportive, and I would go back to the farm to help when needed. When he decided to retire from farming in 2004 and after I had run my last race, I felt like I hade lived my dream for a while and felt it was only fair to him to move back to the farm. I’m a single woman and am not really interested in the wheat part of farming, so we turned that part over to my brother-in-law. I kept my cows and bought out my father’s cows.”

McKay enjoys telling her story through photography and social media. “It is so rural here that I started taking pictures just for something to do and posted them on Facebook,” she says. “Eventually, people started asking me if I could take their family pictures and senior pictures, so photography has become a second gig for me.

It doesn't pay much, but it's fun. For the most part, I think people enjoy my pictures and my posts. I try to share my life on Facebook because I don't think most people understand what really goes into farming and ranching. I hope to teach others that our food doesn't just come from the grocery store.”


Many people have encouraged McKay to write a children’s book about Johnny. “I will write a book eventually and will use my own pictures, but I can’t write a book when the story has only just started,” she says.

“The best part of the story is yet to come in February if he chooses to stick around, when the calves start hitting the ground. I’m as excited as everyone else is to see how this whole story pans out.” Meanwhile, his story will continue to be told on the Facebook page McKay created for Li'l Johnny.

“I didn't realize this little guy would become such an inspiration to so many,” McKay says. “This little button buck came along during a time when the world seemed so negative. Having something positive to look forward to everyday not only made my day, but also made most of yours!”

No matter what happens with Johnny, McKay and the thousands of people following her story on Facebook have been touched by his relationship with the cows. “Animals can be different from one another but accepted and loved just the same,” she says. “Just like the rest of us who are looking for a safe place to land in life, Li’l Johnny has found his place for now: with a herd of cows.”

See more of McKay's photos of the deer with the cows here

Source: Agriculture.com 

Danforth Plant Center Receives grant from gates foundation to research cassava

The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center announces that the Virus Resistant Cassava for Africa Plus (VIRCA Plus) consortium of American, Nigerian, Ugandan, and Kenyan institutions recently received a five-year, $10.46 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop disease-resistant and nutritionally-enhanced cassava varieties to improve the livelihoods and health status of African farm families.

Cassava is an important food and cash crop for small-holder farmers in Africa. It is the second most important staple food crop after maize in sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately one-third of the population relies on its starchy tuberous roots for over 50 percent of their daily caloric intake. It grows well in conditions of drought and low soil fertility prevalent in many African countries. However, plant viral diseases can destroy up to 100 percent of a cassava crop yield, threatening livelihoods and leading to hunger. Although it is an excellent source of calories, cassava does not contain significant levels of key nutrients to meet minimum daily requirements, especially for women and children.

The VIRCA Plus collaboration will address these challenges by developing and delivering two products. The first will be East African cassava varieties with resistance to both Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) and Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD). The second will be a Nigerian cassava variety with elevated levels of iron and zinc for improved nutrition, as well as disease resistance.

VIRCA Plus builds on the success of two predecessor projects. The VIRCA project successfully developed strong and stable resistance to CBSD in cassava, validated over four field trials and multiple cropping cycles in Kenya and Uganda. The BioCassava Plus project succeeded in developing and testing cassava plants that accumulated greater than 10 times more iron and zinc than comparable varieties. Both minerals are retained after processing into common foodstuffs at levels that could provide 40-70 percent of the Estimated Average Requirement for vulnerable women and children.

"By combining capacities and successes of the two predecessor projects, VIRCA Plus is poised to make important strides in improving agricultural productivity for farmers and enhancing nutrition for smallholder households in East and West Africa," said Nigel Taylor, Ph.D., Dorothy J. King Distinguished Investigator and Senior Research Scientist at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and the principal investigator for VIRCA Plus.

Partner institutes: The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, MO, USA; the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) in Nigeria; the National Crop Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI)/ National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) and the Science Foundation for Livelihoods and Development (SCIFODE) in Uganda; the Kenyan Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and the ISAAA AfriCenter in Kenya; and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA)in Nigeria.





About The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center


Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a not-for-profit research institute with a mission to improve the human condition through plant science.

Research aims to feed the hungry and improve human health, preserve and renew the environment and position the St. Louis region as a world center for plant science.

The Center's work is funded through competitive grants and contract revenue from many sources, including the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Agency for International Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates and Howard G. Buffett Foundations.




Source: The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center news release

BoI Earmarks N10bn at Single Digit for SMEs in Agric

The Bank of Industry (BoI) has signed a deal with three international development partners for  the development of the country’s agricultural sector.

The pact with GIZ and DFID will aid lending of up to N10 billion to small and medium enterprises in the agricultural sector.

Speaking at the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU)  in Abuja, acting Managing Director, BoI, Mr. Waheed Olagunju said the agreement was a testimony to the bank’s support to the development of the agriculture sector.

According to him, the bank’s passion for the sector was borne out of the conviction that it holds the key to the diversification of the nation’s economy at a time of dwindling oil revenue.

He said based on the agreement, the bank would provide up to N10 billion exclusively for the acquisition of agro-equipment by either agricultural service providers or well established farmers.

According to him, the latest intervention to the sector was the largest the bank had earmarked for any product programme, noting that based on the pact, the amount would be repaid within a five year period by beneficiaries at a nine per cent interest rate.

He said based on the agreement, micro enterprises would be able to access up to N10 million; while SMEs would access between N10 million and N50 million while medium scale entrepreneurs could access above N50 million but not exceeding N500 million.

Olagunju added: “In recognition of the catalytic role that agro-processing plays in boosting good production, BoI in collaboration with development partners have designed a program to provide finance for agro-equipment service providers and well established farmers as well.

“It is envisaged that with better access to credit to fund acquisition of agro-equipment, there will be improved efficiency and production output in the agricultural sector.

“A N10 billion fund has been earmarked for the acquisition of agro equipment and it is the largest amount of money that the bank has earmarked for any program and this is a testimony to the importance of agro mechanization  in economic development of Nigeria.”

He said the programme will enable the bank create 10,000 direct jobs and 30,000 indirect jobs within the targeted period

BOA to publish list of loan defaulters

ABUJA – The Bank of Agriculture, BOA said Weekend, that it will publish the list of loan defaulters in line with a new directive by the central bank.

In an external memo posted by BOA’s management, it warned that if defaulting customers fail to take immediate steps to defray their indebtedness to the bank on or before 31st of December, 2016, it will take steps to recover the debts including by legal means.

It also vowed to forward list of holders of the non-performing loans to all banking regulators including the CBN, professional bodies, embassies in Nigeria, security and other agencies.

The memo read: “In line with the directive from the CBN to publish details of customers whose accounts are not performing, the publication will include the names of persons, entities, directors, subsidiaries, and key sponsors of various categories of accounts, and will be forwarded to all banking regulators including the CBN, professional bodies, embassies in Nigeria, security and other agencies as would be required.

“Consequently holders of these non-performing loans will be blacklisted by the CBN and barred from participating in the Nigerian foreign exchange market, Nigerian government securities market and accessing funds from other financial institutions.

“Notice is hereby given to all customers to take immediate steps to defray their indebtedness to the bank on or before 31st of December, 2016 failure of which the bank will be constrained to comply with the CBN directive.

“Note that this does not extinguish other rights and remedies that are opened to the bank and it shall continue with the recovery of such debts through legal means.”

Rice smuggling thrives in spite of ban

The smuggling of rice through the land borders has  continued to thrive in Badagry area of Lagos State in spite of the Federal Government’s  ban on the practice.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that markets along Badagry Expressway close to Seme border, are stocked with various varieties of smuggled rice, especially as the Christmas season approaches.
A smuggler, who identified himself as Sunday Egeseme, was seen offloading bags of rice from his car at Alaba Rago Market in Okokomaiko area of Lagos.

He described the business as “lucrative’’.

“We are messengers to the main owners of the goods who are in the Seme border.
“Transporting rice from Seme to customers in various location of the town is a fast moving business with good returns,’’ Egeseme said.

He, however, declined to say the exact amount it cost to ferry a bag of the commodity.

Egeseme, a driver, said that the Christmas period was the peak of the business  as many families depended more on the consumption of rice.

At Doyin Bus Stop market before Navy Gate Market, Okokomaiko, a trader who could not find space at the Alaba rice market, was seen taking delivery of the product from smugglers.

A driver simply known as Taiwo, who was exchanging banters with his colleagues for a successful trip, said his target was to make a lot of money before the end of the season.

“I run three trips before morning breaks and two in the day time if the road is good.
“The security officers are there but we still find our way unless one is a new person on the route,’’ Taiwo said.

Mrs Celine Ukachi, a rice seller at the Navy Gate Rice Market, said, “we are used to selling the Cotonou rice because it is easy to get than the local ones.

“If we see the local ones, we sell together with the Cotonou one so that everybody who wants anyone can buy,’’ Ukachi said.

The trader also claimed she had been in the business for four years.   (NAN)

Sunday, 18 December 2016

TRUMP, TRADE AND ETHANOL.

Over the years, I’ve fielded many questions from people asking me about the ramifications with a new president.

The latest, of course, is, “What does the Trump administration look like, and how might it affect agriculture?” My general response is usually something along the lines of, “It’s hard to outguess what politicians are going to do.” Therefore, the key, as with anything, is to be prepared for most anything.

As we look ahead, however, our best guess suggests change is at hand. Whether this change is positive or negative for agriculture, only time will tell. One of the bigger concerns is how potential change affects the U.S.’ largest agriculture trade partners: China, Mexico, and Canada. Will new relationships with these countries be greatly changed in the future? Again, only time will tell. However, in the very near-term, we doubt there will be significant (if even minor) changes.

Ethanol is a big topic. Yet, ethanol is a viable and necessary industry for the same reasons it was more than 10 years ago. It helps to curb dependency on foreign oil, in addition to providing support to the agricultural community and broad-based employment.

We doubt there will be any significant changes in the near-term. Energy prices are on the rise, and farmer incomes on the decline.

As far as other concerns, President-elect Trump has seemed to voice additional concerns with China and, of course, Mexico. Yet, from a buyer’s perspective, China has a ravenous appetite for protein products.

With a growing middle class and need for feed, we don’t see any change in China’s purchasing of soybean and soybean meal. In fact, we have to logically make the argument that, if China decided to buy only South American beans, it would be nearly impossible to garner enough supply. U.S. prices would still benefit. The bottom line is that the supply of beans, whether they be Northern or Southern Hemisphere, will both either directly or indirectly help to feed the world.
 
As for trade pacts, this may be the wild card. President-elect Trump has seemed adamant in suggesting that the U.S. has not received the better end of recent deals. There again, only time will tell what might really happen. Perhaps stronger positioning for American agriculture will occur. There are many who doubt this, yet there were many who thought the stock market would suffer a huge setback if he won the election. Just the opposite has occurred. The stock market has moved into new highs almost daily on expectations and hopes that things in Washington will change for the better.

There’s always a honeymoon stage with a new president. The key will likely be the people that President-elect Trump surrounds himself with, and how they help to steer him (as well as Congress) into decision-making processes. For now, it’s anybody’s guess, and we remain hopeful. It is possible this president will ignore polls and do what he believes to be the right thing, regardless of popular sentiment.
If you have questions or comments, or would like help in creating a balanced strategy for your operation, contact Bryan at Top Farmer Intelligence (800-TOP-FARM, ext. 129).

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HOW GENE EDITING WILL CHANGE AGRICULTURE.

For thousands of years, farmers have been choosing which traits their crops and livestock carry by using selective breeding. The first genetically modified crops were commercialized in the 1990s. In 2012, a huge scientific breakthrough changed what is possible yet again.
Gene editing, led by the discovery of CRISPR-Cas, promises widespread, accelerated, and targeted discoveries. Areas of the genome linked to specific traits can now be precisely edited. Cut and paste, so to speak. Gene editing could eventually provide a catalog of options for farmers to order exactly what they need. Think of it like customizing a tractor. Don’t need a front-end loader? Remove it. Need dual rear wheels? Add them.
With gene editing, the ability to pick livestock traits will be just as easy. Don’t want to have to dehorn your dairy cattle? There’s an option for that.
In crops, the technology has the potential to improve drought tolerance, eliminate diseases, increase yields, and much more. The possibilities are endless.

Not Your Old GMOs

Gene editing allows scientists to genetically engineer organisms without inserting foreign (transgenic) DNA. This makes it different from GMOs and means it may not be regulated the same. In fact, the USDA has already ruled that certain uses of CRISPR-Cas technology, such as keeping mushrooms from turning brown, will not be regulated as GMOs. (CRISPR is the guide that controls the precise gene editing. Cas represents the molecular scissors that do the cutting.)
When GMO crops first came into widespread use in agriculture in the 1990s, the initial information from companies using the technology was vague, assuming the public would both understand and accept the technology. Today, those companies realize they need strategic plans to educate both farmers and consumers about the benefits of this technology. While few people question the use of GMOs to produce medicine (insulin-producing bacteria, for example), someone whose life depends on regular insulin injections might reject GMO crops.

Animal Welfare 

People may be open to genetically engineered animals if it means more humane treatment, such as dairy calves that no longer require painful dehorning. Randall Prather, distinguished professor of animal sciences at the University of Missouri and director of the National Swine Resource and Research Center, helped develop pigs resistant to the deadly PRRS virus using CRISPR technology.“This could have a significant impact on animal welfare,” says Prather. “Nobody likes to see animals suffer.

“There are physiological and emotional costs of these diseases, as well as economic, when they hit family farms,” he explains. “When I give talks about PRRS, I look out in the audience and see a wife pulling close to her husband, leaning in and tearing up. When I see that, I know those people know exactly what I’m talking about because it happened to them.”
Scientists at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute are taking genes from warthogs resistant to African swine fever and inserting them into domesticated swine in an attempt to eventually eliminate this catastrophic disease from the earth. “That’s food security,” says Prather. Consumer acceptance is the main obstacle, he says. “It’s a hard thing to sell. People don’t understand it. When computers first came out, a lot of people were afraid of them because they didn’t understand them. Now, everybody runs around with smartphones without giving them a second thought.”

Using genetically engineered animal organs to save lives in humans (xenotransplantation) is the Holy Grail. Prather’s pigs are used to study cystic fibrosis, retinitis pigmentosa, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, phenylketonuria, and more.
“There are so many things we could do,” says Prather. “You are truly limited by your imagination. If there’s a biological way to do it in nature, we can probably do it.”

Not Sci-Fi 

One of the early innovators in gene editing is Recombinetics in St. Paul, Minnesota. The company develops swine models that replicate human diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. This fall, Recombinetics was awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health to create a humanized swine model of Alzheimer’s disease.
For agriculture, the company creates desirable animal health and productivity traits to sell to producers for use in breeding programs. The discoveries include the world’s first gene-edited polled cows, heat-tolerant cattle, foot-and-mouth disease resistance, genetic castration, meat quality, and more.
“This is not science fiction,” says Tad Sonstegard, chief scientific officer for Acceligen, the food application arm of Recombinetics. “You can bring any trait into your favorite livestock breed without doing cross breeding. You can make an elite dairy animal polled.”One benefit for society, he says, is sustainability. Animals with better feed conversions help the planet. “If every animal is 10% more productive, you can feed 10% more people with 10% fewer inputs. If you are concerned about animal welfare and earth welfare, you should be pro gene editing.”

For example, with the technology, you can raise heat-tolerant productive dairy cows in Sub-Saharan Africa, he says. “You change a single gene that allows the cow to thermoregulate better in heat. It is precision breeding.”
You engineer the tool for specific situations, he explains. “You put your scissors at the spot responsible for that trait, knock it out (or put in instructions for a one-base deletion), the repair happens, and now you’ve introduced a Senegal gene into an Angus.”
Farmers are astute and will accept the technology, predicts Sonstegard.
“It’s just another type of breeding. We are selecting and using genetics already in the species. It’s different than GMO, which pulls genes from one species into another. ”

Start-Ups

CRISPR is not the only game in town for gene editing. Cibus, for example, is one of many molecular plant biology start-ups trying to release products and secure patents for genome-editing technologies. Cibus already has a crop on the market, a herbicide-tolerant canola.
Cibus’s core proprietary technology is the Rapid Trait Development System (RTDS). The focus is on weed control, disease control, healthier oil profiles, and more.
“Farmers will have the opportunity to obtain these traits quickly and affordably,” says Greg Gocal, chief science officer with Cibus, based in San Diego.
Effectively, RTDS tells a plant cell to rewrite part of its own DNA. The changes are made without directly adding foreign DNA (as with GMOs). The effect is not exactly the same as CRISPR, but it is similar. Many start-ups steer clear of CRISPR because of ensuing patent and licensing disputes with the technology.
“Cibus will bring traits and products to farmers in more crops faster and with less cost than CRISPR,” says Gocal. “Our goal is to have traits in every major crop within the next decade. We already have herbicide-tolerant SU Canola. We will see a release in the 2019-2021 time frame of glyphosate-resistant flax, herbicide-resistant rice, and numerous others.”When GMO crops first came out, the technology was focused on a small number of traits, says Gocal. Gene editing covers more traits and more crops. Hopefully, he says, the public will accept it.

“The keys for us are to remain transparent and to keep educating people on the benefits of these new gene-editing technologies,” he says. Getting it to Farmers
Designing gene-edited crops and livestock is the first step. Getting the products onto farms is next. The PRRS-resistant pig may be commercialized by PIC within five years if the company receives the necessary regulatory approvals, says Matt Culbertson, director of global product development for PIC, the world’s largest swine breeding stock company (a division of Genus).
“We’ve been an early investor in gene editing as a way to create new and beneficial genetic variation,” says Culbertson. Besides diseases, PIC is funding work on animal well-being, productivity, and sustainability.
“When Prather and his team started working on this a long time ago, it seemed like blue-sky type of science,” says Culbertson. Now the science is here, and the challenge is marketing.
“We need to introduce it to the marketplace domestically and around the globe in a positive manner so there isn’t an impact on exports.”
In the end, says Culbertson, gene editing “can revolutionize the output and efficiency of livestock production. The technology can influence items like animal well-being, sustainability of the industry, feed efficiency, mortality and morbidity, and meat quality. It offers huge opportunity to genetically change the landscape of livestock production.”
One unknown is how the licensing of the CRISPR technology will play out. At some point, any company using this technology will have to pay either Berkeley or MIT, depending on the results of the patent lawsuit (see below). Historically, companies in the GMO arena have been extremely guarded when it comes to their seeds. Once farmers have gene-edited pigs or cows, will they be allowed to breed them in their herds? Stay tuned.

What is CRISPR?

CRISPR stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. These repeats were discovered in the genomes of bacteria. In bacteria, CRISPR acts as an adaptive immune system. It uses RNA to guide molecular scissors (Cas) to cut up invading viruses. 

Using these same molecular tools, scientists reprogrammed the molecular scissors to cut and edit, or correct specific spots in DNA. CRISPR-Cas tools can now be engineered to cut out the DNA at the exact site of a mutation for a disease in a pig, for example.
The original discovery of CRISPR dates back to the 1980s. In 2012, Jennifer Doudna at the University of California, Berkeley, with Emmanuelle Charpentier from Umeå University in Sweden demonstrated that CRISPR can be made to specifically edit a genome.
In 2013, Feng Zhang at MIT successfully adapted CRISPR for genome editing in cells. (There is a patent dispute over the discovery.)
Researchers at other universities have now reported similar findings, and the technology has taken off. BY BETSY FREESE.

CORN, SOYABEANS, CLOSE HIGHER AS INVESTORS FOCUS ON DEMAND.

Corn and soybean futures closed higher on Friday as investors focus on strong demand for U.S. inventories.
Exporters sold more than 1.5 million metric tons of corn and 2 million metric tons of soybeans in the week that ended December 8, the Department of Agriculture said in a report on Thursday. Since the start of the marketing year on September 1, sales of corn are up almost 80% year-over-year, and soybean sales have gained almost 30%, the USDA said.
Overseas buyers have been snapping up U.S. supplies due to low prices amid a glut of both crops. Growers this year harvested a record 15.2 billion bushels of corn and 4.36 billion bushels, according to the government.
Corn futures for March delivery rose ¾¢ to $3.57¼ a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade.
Soybean futures for January delivery added 7¾¢ to $10.36¾ a bushel. Soy meal added $2.60 to $316.60 a short ton, and soy oil gained 0.05¢ to 36.79¢ a pound.
Wheat futures rebounded, turning higher late in the afternoon after being down much of the session. Chicago wheat added 1¾¢ to $4.11 a bushel. Kansas City futures for March delivery added 2¾¢ to $4.15½ a bushel.  BY successful farming staff.