Science Daily reports a study by Melanie Kah and Thilo Hofmann from the Department of Environmental Geosciences of the University of Viennathe evaluation of risks and benefits of nano-pesticides to human and environmental health. “The study presents the current scientific state of art on nano-pesticides and identifies direction priorities for future research” “Nano-pesticides may reduce environmental contamination through…
06 Jul 2012
13 Jun 2012
In this story, NPR(National Public Radio, USA) informs of what is happening in Salinas Valley in California, the « America’s salad bowl ». “We’d probably like to think that clean, safe food goes hand in hand with pristine nature, with lots of wildlife and clean water. But in the part of California that grows a lot of…
01 Jun 2012
IPMNetNews n°195 (issue soon available online) describes the HSD (standing for “Harrington Seed Destructor”), a farmer-invented device which “collects both straw and chaff discharged by the harvester (combine), passes the former directly through back to the ground surface, while diverting chaff and any carried weed seed to a counter-rotating cage mill that thoroughly grinds the chaff and seed…
16 May 2012
Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) In this story, Farming & Agriculture describes the efforts of Kenyan Growers and researchers to get rid of main banana diseases : nematodes, fungi (Black Sigatoga), bacteria (for example BXW). As bananas are a staple in many parts of Africa, the pest and diseases control is very important.
12 Mar 2012
IPM has always involved informed decisions and deliberate choices. Now a recent paper by two U.S. IPM scientists casts a bright light on a second level and, perhaps, even more visionary if complex set of IPM choices. In their article, “Approaches and Incentives to Implement Integrated Pest Management that Addresses Regional and Environmental Issues,” published in Annual Review of…
16 Feb 2012
“Benefits and risks of exotic biological control agents”, Patrick De Clercq, Peter G. Mason and Dirk Babendreier, Article from Biocontrol Volume 56, Number 4, 681-698, DOI: 10.1007/s10526-011-9372-8 From the issue entitled “Special Issue: Invasive Alien Arthropod Predators and Parasitoids: An Ecological Approach” The use of exotic (=alien) arthropods in classical and augmentative biological control programs is generally considered as…
14 Feb 2012
Agriculture Internationale, édited by APCA (Chambres d’agricultures), gives a voice to Plant Portection Products industry (UIPP et BASF) and agronomical technical intitues (Arvalis, INRA). This article contains interviews of : JC Bocquet, UIPP J Mathieu, ARVALIS V Gros, BASF H Guyomard, INRA Most statements are about Integrated Pest Management, Huge improvement of plant protection products regarding…
06 Jan 2012
“Read, download & share more than 850 FREE SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. It’s free for everyone, anywhere in the world” That is the brief introduction sentence of the Intech-open Website : a very useful source of information. Some interesting examples on plant protection, agriculture, …: Crop production technologies (in English) Organic Food and Agriculture – New Trends and Developments in the…