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Doane News http://www.doane.com RSS Feed for News en-us Wed, 22 May 2013 16:22:54 PDT <![CDATA[Another reason for adults to drink milk]]> http://www.doane.com/templates/Doane_News?itemID=208358731 Wed, 22 May 2013 13:00:00 PDT <a name="%img|200|r"></a>Dairy products play a key role in developing countries, and a new study shows that in India milk trumps tea as a tool to stave off obesity and keep waistlines trim. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE, looked at the Body Mass Index, waist circumference and dietary habits of more than 6,000 men and women living in India.  Researchers concluded that men and women who consumed at least one portion of “plain” milk daily were less likely to have a high waist circumference than those who didn’t. “The independent, inverse association of daily plain milk consumption with the risk of being obese suggests that high plain milk intake may lower the risk of obesity in adult Indians,” the researchers concluded. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3620205/" target="_blank">Click here to read the study.</a> More research is likely. However, this isn’t the first time milk has been associated with slimmer waistlines. Research has found <a href="http://www.dairyherd.com/dairy-news/latest/Researchers-Dairy-part-of-solution-for-obesity-problem-135467228.html" target="_blank">insufficient calcium/dairy intake may be part of the problem behind the obesity crisis</a>. One of the keys to dairy’s weight-loss properties <a href="http://www.dairyherd.com/dairy-news/Milk-key-to-obesity-fight-157506235.html" target="_blank">may be nicotinamide riboside, a naturally-occurring ingredient in milk.</a> http://media.dairyherd.com/images/milk-drinker.jpg <![CDATA[milk]]> http://www.doane.com/producer/news/general/Another-reason-for-adults-to-drink-milk-208358731.html <![CDATA[Drop in U.S. underground water levels has accelerated]]> http://www.doane.com/templates/Doane_News?itemID=208294261 Wed, 22 May 2013 12:00:00 PDT Water levels in U.S. aquifers, the vast underground storage areas tapped for agriculture, energy and human consumption, between 2000 and 2008 dropped at a rate that was almost three times as great as any time during the 20th century, U.S. officials said on Monday. The accelerated decline in the subterranean reservoirs is due to a combination of factors, most of them linked to rising population in the United States, according to Leonard Konikow, a research hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey. The big rise in water use started in 1950, at the time of an economic boom and the spread of U.S. suburbs. However, the steep increase in water use and the drop in groundwater levels that followed World War 2 were eclipsed by the changes during the first years of the 21st century, the study showed. As consumers, farms and industry used more water starting in 2000, aquifers were also affected by climate changes, with less rain and snow filtering underground to replenish what was being pumped out, Konikow said in a telephone interview from Reston, Virginia. Depletion of groundwater can cause land to subside, cut yields from existing wells, and diminish the flow of water from springs and streams. Agricultural irrigation is the biggest user of water from aquifers in the United States, though the energy industry, including oil and coal extraction, is also a big user. The USGS study looked at 40 different aquifers from 1900 through 2008 and found that the historical average of groundwater depletion - the amount the underground reservoirs lost each year - was 7.5 million acre-feet (9.2 cubic kilometers). From 2000 to 2008, the average was 20.2 million acre-feet (25 cubic kilometers) a year. (An acre-foot is the volume of water needed to cover an acre to the depth of one foot.) One of the best-known aquifers, the High Plains Aquifer, also known as the Oglala, had the highest levels of groundwater depletion starting in the 1960s. It lies beneath parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico, where water demand from agriculture is high and where recent drought has hit hard. Because it costs more to pump water from lower levels in an aquifer, some farmers may give up, or irrigate fewer fields, Konikow said. Another problem with low water levels underground is that water quality can deteriorate, ultimately becoming too salty to use for irrigation. "That's a real limit on water," Konikow said. "You could always say that if we have enough money, you build a desalization plant and solve the problem, but that really is expensive." <![CDATA[Soil-residual herbicides applied to emerged corn]]> http://www.doane.com/templates/Doane_News?itemID=208307581 Wed, 22 May 2013 11:00:00 PDT A potential scenario of planting delays will be corn planted in fields where no soil-residual herbicide was applied. If the corn has not yet emerged, the soil-residual herbicide can be applied as originally planned. But, what if the corn has emerged and the soil-residual herbicide has not been applied? Can the application proceed as planned, or will a different product need to be selected? The answer depends on the respective herbicide. Most, but not all, soil residual herbicides can be applied after corn has emerged. Products such as Balance Pro, Fierce, Prequel, Sharpen and Verdict must be applied before corn begins to emerge; applications of these products to emerged corn can result in significant corn injury. Be cautious about applying a soil-residual herbicide in UAN carrier if corn has emerged as this can increase the potential for corn injury. Several soil-residual herbicides can control small, emerged summer annual weeds. Additional management procedures (such as the addition of a herbicide that has postemergence activity) will be needed for those products that lack the ability to control emerged weeds. Be sure to consult the respective product label for tankmix and additive recommendations. Labels usually indicate a maximum corn growth stage beyond which applications should not occur. These growth stages can range from as early as two leaf collars to as late as 40-inch tall corn, so be sure to consult the respective product labels. Products containing atrazine must be applied before corn exceeds 12-inches tall, although the labels of some atrazine-containing products specify a smaller corn height. <![CDATA[Global seed treatment market to reach 4.45 billion in 2018]]> http://www.doane.com/templates/Doane_News?itemID=208500781 Wed, 22 May 2013 10:00:00 PDT According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research (<a href="http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/">http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com</a>) "Seed Treatment (Insecticides, Fungicides, Other Chemical and Nonchemical Treatment) Market For Corn, Soybean, Wheat, Canola, Cotton and Others - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth and Forecast, 2012 - 2018," the global seed treatment market was valued at USD 2.43 billion in 2011 and is expected to reach USD 4.45 billion by 2018, growing at a CAGR of 9.2% from 2012 to 2018. <a href="http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/seed-treatment-market.html"> </a> The global demand of seed treatment has been primarily driven by the growth of the commercial seeds (conventional and bio-seeds) market. Increasing global farming and reduction in arable land has generated the need for high yield productivity, further boosting the market for seed treatment. Increasing input cost of seeds and technological developments in agriculture are also expected to drive the demand for seed treatment. However, environmental concerns regarding the toxicity of chemicals used in insecticides, fungicides and other chemical treatments are expected to inhibit the market growth. Insecticides dominated the seed treatment market and accounted for 52.5% of the total market revenue in 2011. Insecticides were followed by fungicides which accounted for 34.9% of the total market in 2011. Nonchemical treatment, which is generally done using biological agents, is expected to be the fastest growing treatment, at an estimated CAGR of 9.9% from 2012 to 2018. Corn was the most dominant crop for seed treatment, accounting for 34.7% of the global revenues in 2011. Corn was followed by soybean, wheat canola and cotton. Canola is expected to be the fastest growing crop requiring seed treatment, at a CAGR of 9.6% from 2012 to 2018. North America was the leading market for seed treatment and accounted for 42.8% of the global market in 2011; North America was followed by Latin America sharing 24.2% of the global market for the same year. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market for seed treatment at a CAGR of 10.2% from 2012 to 2018. Growing awareness regarding the advantages of treating seeds coupled with government initiatives in countries such as China and India is expected to drive the seed treatment demand in Asia Pacific. The global market for seed treatment is highly concentrated with the top four companies accounting for more than 80% of the total market in 2011. Syngenta and Bayer CropScience together accounted for more than 60% of the total market in 2011. Some of the other companies operating in the global seed treatment market include Monsanto, BASF Agriculture Solutions, DuPont, Chemtura, Nufarm etc. <![CDATA[Mexico says U.S. not respecting WTO ruling on meat labeling]]> http://www.doane.com/templates/Doane_News?itemID=208485641 Wed, 22 May 2013 09:30:00 PDT MEXICO CITY - The United States is not respecting a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling on meat labeling, Mexico's Agriculture Minister Enrique Martinez said on Tuesday, saying it was hurting local industry. The WTO ruled in late June last year that a U.S. program for labeling imported meat unfairly discriminated against Mexico and Canada, putting pressure on the United States to bring the scheme in line with global country-of-origin meat-labeling rules. "We can't understand why once the very WTO ... issues a ruling, the government of the United States does not respect it," Martinez said. "We have talked with beef producers in the United States and Canada, and totally agree this is an arbitrary decision and means discrimination against Mexican beef, which we will never agree with and as a government will defend against." Meat exporters in Canada and Mexico say the new rules would cut even deeper into cattle and hog shipments that have already slumped by as much as half in the last four years. The Canadian government has threatened a possible retaliatory strike against U.S. imports, and is hoping Mexico will join it. The WTO Appellate Body said last year that U.S. country-of-origin labeling rules, commonly known as COOL, were wrong because they gave less favorable treatment to beef and pork imported from Mexico and Canada than to U.S. meat. Meat labels became mandatory in March 2009 after years of debate. U.S. consumer and some farm groups supported the requirement, saying consumers should have information to distinguish between U.S. and foreign products.