...While the original Monsanto made a name for itself through the manufacturing of chemicals, new Monsanto took quite a different turn. It switched its emphasis from chemicals to food. Today’s Monsanto owes its $8.6 Billion in sales to biotechnology; specifically to its sales of genetically modified (GM) plant seeds. These seeds have revolutionized the agriculture industry. Throughout history, weeds, insects, and drought have been the bane of the farmer’s existence. In the past century, herbicides and pesticides were invented to ward off pests. Yet applying these chemicals to an entire crop was both costly and time-consuming. Then Monsanto scientists, through their work in biotechnology, were able to implant seeds with genes that make the plants themselves kill bugs. They also created seeds containing the herbicide Roundup Ready, an herbicide that kills weeds but spares the crops. The broad introduction of these GM seeds in the 1990s unleashed a stream of criticism. Monsanto was nickname “Mutanto,” and GM produce was called “Frankenfood.” Critics believed that influencing the gene pools of plants we eat could result negative health consequences, a fear that remains to this day. Others worried about the health effects on beneficial insects and plants. Could pollinating GM plants have an effect on nearby insects and non-GM plants? CEO Hugh Grant decided to curtail the tide of criticism by focusing on biotechnology on products that would not be directly place on dinner plate, but...
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...the world manage to mass produce enough food to feed the billions? Mass production of crop cultivation on a large scale. In order to do this successfully and provide food for the populations there are a few primary issues which must be addressed. One of the main issues the farmers of the world must deal with is the problem with crop destroying insects and invasive plant species. Pesticide is used to identify both insecticides and herbicides, or (as I like to refer to them) bug and weed killers. Although pesticides curb the effects of insects and weeds in food cultivation, the detrimental health issues concerning the effects of pesticides continues to increase; therefore, pesticides should have stricter standards imposed upon their use, and more focus should be made towards developing alternative methods and safer solutions. Depending on location, environment, weather, and many other variables there is a great need to protect the world’s crops from the devastating effects of bugs and weeds. Certain species are capable of terminating the growth of necessary food sources. Of course humanity would react as alarmist and jump to an immediate solution of “Kill! Kill ‘em all!” without first considering the possible consequences to themselves or future generations. I’m told its human nature, and can relate to the pressures of solving the mysteries of life but, seriously?!? What would make them consider that another living creature, be it plant or animal, would not be capable...
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...can be said true of nearly anything you have an abundance of. Then, there’s grazing, letting animals eat the plant. This is the method currently being used in parts of the Southern United States. There’s also removing the crowns, which is the flower on top of the plant that has all of the vines coming out. Mowing close to the ground regularly is also a proven weapon against the Kudzu plant. Herbicide has been used for a while, but is harmful for the environment, so it’s not being used much anymore. Finally, there is a specific kind of mold that eats up the Kudzu plant, killing it slowly as it devours it’s way to the root. The Kudzu Vine has the potential to be a devastating plant. But, we are working our hardest to turn it from a common weed, to a medical plant that could save millions of...
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...Jimi Underwood 10.24.2014 PLNT 5412 Proposal for Blue Grama Breeding Program Introduction Recently, there has been a growing interest in the use of North American native grasses for the use as a turfgrass and as ornamental grass. Multiple reasons exist for this interest; among them are the perceived lack of invasiveness (as compared to other introduced species), their existing adaptation to the climatic conditions of specific locations, and even the maintenance and storage of the germplasm (Watkins et al., 2013). This growing interest is a sign to breeders letting them know that a market exists for the right native grasses. It is my belief that blue grama fills the need of the market looking for a native, low-maintenance, and attractive turfgrass. Blue grama [Bouteloua gracilis (Willd. ex Kunth) Lag. ex Griffiths] is one of the 57 species of grama grasses (genus Bouteloua Lag.) that dominate the xeric grasslands of North America. These grasslands are found in the central and southern regions of North America occupying a large portion of the continent. Yet, despite having a wide range of adaptability and fairly high diversity within the genus, the grama grasses are only found as a native in the western hemisphere (Smith et al., 2004). This seemingly limits the global use of grama grasses, yet they have potential for use in their native ranges. The grama grasses represent a genus with a high potential, and out of the 57 species I feel blue grama seems more fitting than most for...
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...2:30 p.m. The event took place at the Washington State Arboretum Park. Upon arrival I had no idea what to expect. I figured we would be pulling some small weeds or planting trees and flowers. This was not the case. I was surprised to find that our task was to dig up blackberry plants. I quickly noticed that these enormous prickly weeds were everywhere, almost completely taking over in certain areas in the park. I was intimidated at first in trying to tackle these weeds because I don’t have much arm strength. Even the woman showing us what to do had trouble digging one up. Shovels and pitchforks were given to us as our tools. The shovels definitely were the way to go. It proved to be a strenuous job to dig these plants up because it was hard to navigate the area without getting pricked by the thorns, and the roots on most of them were thick and went into the dirt pretty deep. Some of the weeds were even “double rooters,” meaning they were rooted into the ground in two separate places. I would feel so accomplished after digging one up only to find, when I tugged on it to bring it to the pile, that it was rooted into the ground again somewhere else a few feet away. I eventually got the hang of digging the plants up and ended up accomplishing quite a lot with the group I was working with. The truck we were placing our pulled weeds in was overflowing because we had dug up so many, and that was only our group’s pile and there were three groups total. I feel that all of us volunteers...
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...Growing Weed Resistance Problem Threatens U.S. Farms Resistance of weeds to the herbicide glyphosate has grown over the past two decades, and this global problem has hit home. The U.S. has officially overtaken Australia as the #1 spot for herbicide-resistant weeds worldwide, according to Stephen Powles, director of the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative at the University of Western Australia. This dubious distinction is of concern because the U.S. has joined other world-leading grain-producing countries in experiencing weed resistance, potentially endangering crop yields amid a growing world population. During the “Weed Resistance in the Americas” panel at the 2013 Farm Progress Show, Powles and other leading global experts shared weed management observations and expertise to help and support U.S. farmers: Aaron Hager, associate professor of Weed Science, University of Illinois; Pedro J. Christoffoleti, head of the Department of Crop Science at the University of São Paulo in Brazil; and Harry Strek, head of Profiling and Market Support in the Weed Control Biology Research group at Bayer CropScience in Frankfurt, Germany. The event followed a week-long weed resistance tour of the U.S. and Canada hosted by Bayer CropScience. Moderator Arlene Cotie, product development manager with Bayer, said the panelists wanted to educate and urge growers to “take action” to protect their fields and yields. International weed resistance experts warned U.S....
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...Pollution has been found to be present widely in the environment. There are a number of effects of this: * Biomagnification describes situations where toxins (such as heavy metals) may pass through trophic levels, becoming exponentially more concentrated in the process. * Carbon dioxide emissions cause ocean acidification, the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans as CO2becomes dissolved. * The emission of greenhouse gases leads to global warming which affects ecosystems in many ways. * Invasive species can out compete native species and reduce biodiversity. Invasive plants can contribute debris and biomolecules (allelopathy) that can alter soil and chemical compositions of an environment, often reducing native speciescompetitiveness. * Nitrogen oxides are removed from the air by rain and fertilise land which can change the species composition of ecosystems. * Smog and haze can reduce the amount of sunlight received by plants to carry out photosynthesis and leads to the production of tropospheric ozone which damages plants. * Soil can become infertile and unsuitable for plants. This will affect other organisms in the food web. * Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can cause acid rain which lowers the pH value of soil. The 48-year-old businessman, who was vice president of the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee and is on the board of Inter State Gas Company and Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation, strongly believes in the potential of Pakistan’s...
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...cultural assets |Internal | |Strengths |Weaknesses | | | | |Yellagonga Regional Park is among one of the eight park within |Water catchment area and urban development such as storm water | |the Perth Metropolitan Region; |and ground pollution; | |Great potential tourist attraction; |Invasion of weeds; | |Beauty of the landscape; |Occurrence of fire, rubbish dumping and presence feral animal | |Presence of very attractive species; |and pest; | |Great diversity of environment in a large territory; |Uncontrolled access; | |Low level of human pressure on resources, large areas of |Poor control of domestic pets; | |natural interest; |Degradation of heritage sites, fauna habitats and bushland | |Pak contains a wide variety of ecosystems from...
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