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Better Farming
February 2017
FAR
AFIELD
Farmers are one step closer to the cul-
tivation of wheat varieties for the
gluten-free market.
Researchers from the
Technical
University of Madrid
analyzed
multiple wheat varieties, including
both modern and old varieties, to
study and scale the different proteins
in gluten.
“Learning about the different
varieties (can) enable production
techniques to be developed to (breed)
a variety of wheat with no
toxicity while maintain-
ing the viscoelastic
properties of gluten,”
Marta Rodrí-
guez-Quijano
,
co-author of the
study, said to the
Information and
Scientific News
Service
, a Spanish
public news agency.
She hopes the study
will aid in providing
individuals who
suffer from celiac
disease with
products that will
improve their
quality of life.
The study was
published in the
December edition of
Food Chemistry.
BF
Studying gluten-free wheat possibilities
Farmers can add dung
beetles to their list of
beneficial insects.
These beetles
help to kill and
halt the
development
of trouble-
some parasites
found in cattle
manure, accord-
ing to researchers
from the
University
of Bristol
in the United Kingdom.
Researchers found dung
beetle activity dried out
manure, killing parasites
that rely on the manure
moisture.
“The conservation of
dung beetles on
farmland today is
extremely important for
their role in dung
degradation, nutrient
cycling, pasture fertility and
because now we have seen that they
can contribute to reducing economi-
cally deleterious livestock parasites on
farms,”
Bryony Sands
, a study
researcher, said in the university
release.
“These beetles may be important
in cow welfare, as cows are severely
affected by parasites found in their in-
testines.”
The study was published in the
Journal of Applied Ecology
in Novem-
ber 2016.
BF
The benefits of dung beetles for pastures
Million-dollar U.S. farms on the rise
Ninety per cent of farms in the
United States are classified as small
farms, with a gross cash farm income
(GCFI) of less than USD$350,000
annually, according to the
United
States Department of Agriculture’s
America’s Diverse Family Farms
. This
group of farms, however, accounts for
only 24.2 per cent of total U.S.
production values.
Although the majority of farms are
classified as small, large
farms are producing more
than ever.
“Since 1991, agricultural
production has shifted to
million-dollar farms, with GCFI of
one million dollars or more, includ-
ing both family and non-family
farms,” the report said.
Million-dollar farms now account
for half of the total American farm
production, as
opposed to
one-third of
production in 1991.
The report found that
38 per cent of larger million-dollar
farms ($5,000,000 GCFI) specialize in
specialty crops, and 25 per cent in
dairy production.
The annual report was published
in December 2016.
BF
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Ensuring good-tasting, farm-
fresh milk may be as simple
as changing the light-
bulbs in the grocery
store, according to
researchers at
Virgin-
ia Tech University
.
Researchers found
that exposing milk to
fluorescent light – as
opposed to LED lighting
– alters the taste profile of
milk, while also reducing its
nutritional content.
Poor lighting may be
one of the reasons
milk consumption
has been declining
over the past several
decades,
Susan
Duncan
,
professor at
Virginia
Tech’s
College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences, said in a university release.
“Milk is delicious and nutritious and
we want to find ways to protect both of
those characteristics to help the
industry and provide an even better
product to consumers,” she said.
The study was pub-
lished in the
Journal
of Dairy Science
in November
2016.
BF
Does grocery store lighting impact milk sales?
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