|
World’s first floating dairy farm being built
26 Apr, 2018
It has taken a lot of time to get the green light, but construction of the world’s first floating dairy farm is finally underway in the Netherlands.
This innovative farm is being built at Rotterdam and will be home to 40 dairy cows when completed. The idea is that the farm will supply the city with fresh dairy products every day, produced, say the developers, “in an animal-friendly and circular manner.”
https://www.producer.com/2018/04/worlds-first-floating-dairy-farm-being-built/
Soil pollution threat to food safety, agri productivity, says FAO report
4 May,
2018
Soil pollution poses a worrisome threat to agricultural productivity, food safety and human health, but far too little is known about the scale and severity of that threat. This was stated by a recently-released Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report titled 'Soil Pollution: A Hidden Reality', at the start of a three-day global symposium at the headquarter of the United Nations agency in Rome.
http://www.fnbnews.com/Top-News/soil-pollution-threat-to-food-safety-agri-productivity-says-fao-report-42118
Blockchain to boost financial inclusion among world’s farmers
3 May, 2018
In a tight-margin business like agriculture, removing expensive financing and optimizing production could raise a farmer up from fighting to earn a subsistence wage to living relatively comfortably. One of the core advantages of the latest blockchain applications is the ability to create “smart contracts” whereby funds are transferred immediately upon performance of an agreed objective, without the need for any middleman.
http://techwireasia.com/2018/05/blockchain-to-boost-financial-inclusion-among-worlds-farmers/
[Top]
CLIMATE CHANGE
Poor countries face 'unfair pattern' of temperature swings
3 May, 2018
Poor countries are expected to see the greatest swings in temperature as a result of climate change, a new study suggests. Using models for the last report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, European researchers analyzed 37 climate-model simulations to calculate which regions would likely experience the higher highs and lowest lows until the year 2100.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/climate-change-temperature-variability-1.4646781
Satellites reveal how quickly Patagonian glaciers are melting
3 May,
2018
A team of ESA scientists used the polar-ice monitoring satellite, CryoSat to determine that some of Patagonia’s glaciers are melting away faster than any of the other glaciers in the world. In a paper published in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment, the researchers describe how they used their eye in the sky to detect complex patterns in the changing height of the ice. They then used this data to create a map depicting the rate at which it is melting.
https://www.inverse.com/article/44458-satellite-reveal-glaciers-melting
[Top]
DROUGHTS
Australian wheat farmers plant in dust bowl, pray for rain
2 May, 2018
Australian farmers are planting wheat in some of the driest soils in years, following on from a severe drought that cut 2017/18 output in the world’s fourth-largest wheat exporter to the lowest in a decade. The difficult conditions for a second successive season threaten another disappointing crop, cutting the country’s export earnings and hitting profits of companies such as bulk grain handler GrainCorp Ltd.
https://www.independent.ie/business/farming/news/world-news/australian-wheat-farmers-plant-in-dust-bowl-and-pray-for-rain-36865317.html
UN agencies urge global action as drought looms over Africa’s Sahel region
3 May, 2018
United Nations agencies have urged greater international support to stave off severe food insecurity in Africa’s western Sahel; a region reeling from the effects of conflict and now threatened by drought and rising hunger. According to estimates, about five million people in northern Senegal, southern Mauritania and parts of Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad, will require food and livelihood assistance, after having exhausted their food reserves – which may run out by the end of this month.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/05/1008882
[Top]
FLOODS
Cholera epidemic fears in Somalia, Kenya as severe flooding forces families to flee
30 Apr,
2018
A potentially lethal epidemic of cholera and other disease is set to sweep parts of Somalia and Kenya after severe flooding left hundreds of thousands homeless in the two countries, aid workers have warned. More than 100,000 people were forced to flee Beledweyne, a town in the Shebelle Valley 206 miles north of the capital Mogadishu, over the weekend, local officials said.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/cholera-epidemic-fears-somalia-kenya-severe-flooding-forces/
Hawaii’s Kauai pursues tourists as island recovers from floods
28 Apr,
2018
Honolulu: Residents and businesses are still cleaning up from flooding that deluged parts of Kauai, but community leaders are urging tourists to keep coming so residents don’t suffer an economic calamity on top of record-breaking rains that smothered a normally green landscape in reddish-brown water.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/nation-and-world/hawaiis-kauai-pursues-tourists-as-island-recovers-from-floods/
N.B. shuts Trans-Canada Highway as flooding hits record levels
3 May,
2018
New Brunswick shuttered a large section of the Trans-Canada Highway Thursday night, and warned motorists to be on watch for wildlife seeking refuge, as floodwaters rose to record levels along the Saint John River.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/n-b-shuts-trans-canada-highway-as-flooding-hits-record-levels-1.3913086
[Top]
FOOD SECURITY
Kyrgyz government and WFP team up to improve food security, nutrition
3 May,
2018
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to scale up their collaboration over the next five years and re-affirm their commitment to achieving food security for all in the country.
It prioritizes school meals, food security and nutrition, as well as the improvement of rural livelihoods and food productivity in the face of climate change.
https://reliefweb.int/report/kyrgyzstan/kyrgyz-government-and-wfp-team-improve-food-security-and-nutrition
[Top]
IRRIGATION
Sugarcane growers asked to use drip irrigation by 2019: India
30 Apr,
2018
In the backdrop of frequent droughts and a severe shortage of drinking water in growing urban areas, the Maharashtra government has issued the circular asking private- and cooperative-run sugar mills to mandatorily employ drip irrigation for sugarcane farms by June 2019. The circular says this move will help to save 30-50 per cent water in the state. The circular has been issued by the state cooperative and marketing federation department on April 27.
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-sugarcane-growers-asked-to-use-drip-irrigation-by-2019-2609998
[Top]
WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
NASA to launch twin spacecraft to study Earth's changing water cycles this month
3 May, 2018
NASA will launch two twin spacecrafts to observe the continually changing and evolving water cycle on Earth using what it describes as an "innovative technique" to do so from space. The U.S. space agency reports in a news release that it will launch the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On mission in conjunction with the German Research Centre for Geosciences no earlier than May 19.
http://www.mlive.com/news/us-world/index.ssf/2018/05/nasa_to_launch_twin_spacecraft.html
Graphene: the wonder material that could solve the world's water crisis
3 May,
2018
First developed by scientists at the University of Manchester in 2004, graphene, an ultra-strong material composed of a single layer of carbon atoms, has been tipped for many uses from hair dye to super long-life batteries. But one of the material's most exciting properties may be its ability to filter out even the tiniest impurities in water.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/03/graphene-wonder-material-could-solve-worlds-water-crisis/
[Top]
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
International Conference and 69th International Executive Council Meeting of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, 12–17 August 2018, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, on the theme: Innovative and Sustainable Agri-water Management: Adapting to a Variable and Changing Climate.
Website: http://www.icid2018.org/
Global Water Security for Agriculture and Natural Resources (GWSAN), 3-6 October 2018, Hyderabad, India: An ASABE Global Initiative Conference.
Website: http://www.asabewater.org/
9th International Micro Irrigation Conference, 16-18 January 2019, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India, on the theme: Micro Irrigation in Modern Agriculture.
Website: http://www.icid.org/conf_microirri.html
3rd World Irrigation Forum (WIF3) and 70th International Executive Council Meeting, 1-7 September, 2019, Bali, Indonesia, on the theme: Development for water, food and nutrition security in a competitive environment.
Website: http://www.icid2019.org/
[Top]
LATEST PUBLICATION(S)
Water Saving in Irrigated Agriculture in Egypt: Case Studies and Lessons Learned, November 2017
The Egyptian National Committee for Irrigation and Drainage (ENCID) has launched a new book titled 'Water Saving in Irrigated Agriculture in Egypt: Case Studies and Lessons Learned.' The publication is a compilation of successful water-saving innovation ideas at the farm level and is a rich source of reference work for all the professionals engaged in agricultural water management aspirating for "More and more crop per drop." For more info, kindly write to Encid@link.net
http://www.enc
|