ethanol, food security, news roundup No comments yet

3 Picks: E15 and Ozone, Bug Protein, FAO Predictions

By on May 20th, 2013


source: wikimedia

Readers, as posting is always lighter here during the summertime, I’m switching to a different news format as of today. From here on out, for the summer, you can expect more frequent news posts such as this one, instead of the long list that I’ve been providing on Mondays.

Here’s to a fabulous summer, everyone! I’m soon headed to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico and looking forward to discovering another UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A roundup of agricultural-related news from around the Web . . .

1) E-15 needs additional Ozone Exception Clause and Much More on the Current Disarray of Operating Under the Renewable Fuels Standard: Dr. Robert Wisner at Iowa State wrote about the ethanol blend wall and all of the absurdities involved when you get the government involved in how much of a certain fuel must be used. With E15, there’s an ozone rule exception problem. “Another challenge with E-15 that has not been widely publicized is policy changes needed so that this ethanol-gasoline blend can meet the Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) requirements of EPA. Those requirements are that E-15 Reid Vapor Pressure must not exceed 9.0 pounds per square inch in the May 1 to September 15 period. These standards are designed to limit emissions of volatile organic compounds that contribute to ozone formation. Warm seasons of the year increase the potential for these types of emissions. Legislation from Congress in 1990 has provided E-10 with a one-pound exception to this regulation. However, E-15 is not covered by that exception and is unable to meet the current regulation. Accordingly, the RVP requirement is a major restraint on the marketing of E-15.”

2) Insects for Food Security: Arnold van Huis et al. Although eating bugs for protein is nothing new, many were shocked this week to see the FAO come out with an official report titled, “Edible insects: future prospects for food and feed security”. While touting the sensibilities of humans ingesting this fine protein, the paper does discuss some previous culinary uses and recommended recipe books which use the morsels. Here is one example that I found interesting, “Native Americans, such as those who lived freely in what today is called the state of Utah, were very accustomed to eating grasshoppers, locusts and crickets. On their first tasting of shrimp, the Goshute Indians are reported to have named the creatures “sea crickets”. Recently in Australia, Christopher Carr and Edward Joshua of the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries proposed the renaming of locusts as “sky prawns”, a more acceptable description in Western countries, and compiled recipes in a cookbook, Cooking with Sky-prawns.” The FAO meat-alternative bug paper (PDF linked above) is more than 180 pages long. Venture capitalists are highly interested in food innovation these days. I’d say they have their work cut out for them.

3) FAO Predicts Strong Crop Production in 2013: The FAO anticipates that wheat production in 2013 will be up 5.4 percent from last year, and coarse grains will be up 9.3 percent over the previous high set in 2011. Rice is also expected to exceed last year’s production. This assumes a fairly normal weather year. Also, for the FAO, Dr Dominique van der Mensbrugghe spoke earlier this month about feeding 9 billion people with the following interesting comments. “Some estimates suggest that there exists some 1.4 billion hectares of prime land that could be brought into cultivation. Much would come at the expense of pastures, however, and would require considerable investment to make the land suitable for production and more accessible to markets. Globally, land under crops is projected to increase by some 70 million hectares by 2050. … Water is another critical resource, and irrigation has played a strong role in contributing to past yield increases. World area equipped for irrigation has doubled since the 1960s, but the potential for further expansion is limited. While water resources are globally abundant, they are extremely scarce in the Near East and North Africa, South Asia and in northern China, where they are most needed. Most of the world’s irrigated agriculture currently occurs in developing countries (almost half of this in China and India), where it accounts for some 60 per cent of cereal production. A net increase of 20 million hectares is expected by 2050; nevertheless, investment needs in irrigation to 2050 will need to be much higher to account for depreciation of existing infrastructure.”

Written and compiled by K. McDonald.

Photographic Feature 2 comments

Denver Botanic Gardens Mid-May 2013

By on May 19th, 2013

I made up this photo collage following a Friday visit to the Denver Botanic Gardens. I’ve always liked to use “toy” cameras such as the Holga and Lubitel but it’s not worth messing around with film anymore, so recently I paid (very little) for a Japanese keychain digital camera that looks like this:

As you can see there is no viewfinder, but it has a number of fun modes and takes alright video, too. The battery was dead in my decent camera soon after I arrived at the gardens Friday evening, so all photos in the collage were taken with this toy digital camera.

Now, with Instagram and all of the free software which distorts today’s (boring) 16 MP photos, and many even have “Holga” modes, a little camera such as this is no longer necessary to get the unpredictable low-quality effects, muted colors, and dark light-leaked edges, but I still enjoy using it. One advantage is that you can shoot food in a restaurant or grocery store with this tiny camera, let your imagination be your guide, and no one has a clue you are taking a photo.

Through looking at these photos you can see that the trees have just leafed out in the past week in this region. I was sad to see that there was quite a bit of winter damage at the gardens in this difficult climate to some of the special conifers, agave, and the like. It gets warm and sunny too often in Denver, in the winter, leaving plants and sap very confused and in trouble when the weather whip lashes back to cold and ice a day later.

A new feature to be proud of at the gardens this year is a bonsai area, which I saw for the first time on this visit. When hiking in the mountains, many conifers are stressed to look like aged bonsai, and it looks as if some of those old, small specimens have been nabbed by area bonsai enthusiasts who then work with them for another fifteen years, or so, in a container, making a bonsai that is far older in age than the time that it has been in training. Anyway, without knowing this for sure, that was my impression given the brief tags describing the trees.

Bonsai represent the resilience and toughness of plant life found in Nature in miniature form, showing off gnarly trunks and wind swept branches, balancing imperfection so perfectly. But, owning one is like owning a parrot, because they require a lifetime of daily care to do it properly.

gardening No comments yet

Barbara’s Garden Interview, Part 5.

By on May 17th, 2013

Readers, note that today’s portion of this 6-part interview with gardening expert, Barbara, reveals how she approached starting a new garden after moving to a small town along the Columbia River in Washington State. Since she has established so many gardens in her lifetime in so many different locations, I think her priorities and the methods that she uses in this new one are worth paying attention to. If you missed the previous four posts, they are found in the links below. Altogether, they provide a wealth of gardening knowledge from a seasoned expert.


Photo of White Salmon, Washington by Sam Beebe, Ecotrust via Flickr CC.

Q: You have started a new adventure in your life by moving to White Salmon, Washington, to be near your grandchildren. You are just beginning a new and smaller garden there in a climate and with soil much different from the 1-acre garden you had here in Boulder, Colorado. Please tell us what your priorities will be in your new garden.

First priority is an extensive vegetable garden and it is half done, to be completed later this spring. Although the soil here is not as rich as my last garden, it is fine and already the worms are growing big and healthy so great soil is sure to come. My priority now is really to have fun and to really enjoy the garden at all seasons. Although it seems silly, I never quite realized how much I took the garden for granted. But now that I have a very finite number of growing seasons ahead, I vow to treasure each one.

It’s about 10 months since we moved to this sweet town of White Salmon, Washington, population 2,500, elevation 700 feet, sitting above the Columbia River across from the town of Hood River, Oregon. But it took until May to get into our house and therefore the garden had a late start. We’re on a double town lot, about a third of an acre with only two trees blocking the sun. One is an ancient oak – circumference of 12 feet (and very tall) and the other a weeping crepe myrtle tree about 20 feet high. There are a lot of rhododendrons and azaleas used as foundation plantings (the house was built in 1949 so most things are mature). The back of the house has a long line of gigantic bushy hydrangeas and there was way too much lawn to care for now that I’m “retired”! Before even unpacking everything, I peeled up the sod running all along the west side of the yard into an area about 75′ long and 25′ at the front and tapering down to 10′ wide at the back (the lot is not square).

That was enough sod to remove for a start and I planted right into the bare soil, no roto-tilling or turning over the soil, of course. I’ve been mulching pathways and around plants and the soil which is clay has been improving already. All seems to be growing well and I’m very pleased with the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant especially. I do miss the greenhouse, but it’s warmer here, so I can manage until we get time to build a much smaller one. A friend gave me some cuttings of her very tall and hardy rosemary and I managed to root so many plants that I have a 25′ rosemary hedge 2′ high already. I hope to enclose the entire garden that way over time to keep out the dogs in a pretty way.

Since I had so much peeled up sod when I cleared the garden area, I piled it up into a huge 5-foot high mound in another part of the yard and planted the winter squash on top. It’s become quite impressive and rather mysterious with the vines running everywhere and big warty squash peeping through. After frost, I’ll disassemble the mound which should be nicely rotted and add it back to the veg garden. After this first summer of growing, I can already see the planting space is too cramped for me so I’m now doubling the vegetable garden using my usual cardboard/hay technique to kill the grass, and extending my vegetable garden around to the back yard. It will be ready to plant in spring after spending the winter under a thick blanket of leaves.

All in all, it’s been so much fun starting a new garden. Tomatoes and other tender plants are going strong still and I’ve just cut another huge batch of basil for pesto. How I love this long growing season. Thanks to the gods above, there is no bindweed here! Do you believe? And no slugs either! No mosquitoes, but there are lots of rattlers in the woods and trails. I have stones and large rocks in the garden area, so all is not perfect. Rains have yet to commence and that’s a mixed blessing. The glorious sunny days are great, but everything is dry, dry, dry. Several fires have broken out in the hills and mountains near us so we all are hoping for some rain soon. And for snow in the mountains too – although our Mt. Hood view to the south shows plenty of snow there still left from last winter.


Photo of Huckleberries by waferboard via Flickr CC. Note that various huckleberry varieties can range in color from red to dark blue.

Readers note that as Barbara wrote answers to her questions over the period of a few months beginning last fall, this note that she wrote in one of our email exchanges also describes her love of edibles.

Right now we’re picking wild blackberries for the new freezer and before, it’s been strawberries, cherries, and blueberries from local u-pick farms. Soon we’ll be on the Pacific Crest to harvest the wild huckleberries which are abundant up there. Busy, busy, busy out here but I love it!

Next Friday will be the final part of Barbara’s interview.