Bayer CropScience and Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. in Hayward, California (USA) have entered into a new three-year collaboration agreement which extends their existing joint activities.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist Scott Yates is studying how oxytetracycline (OTC), an antibiotic that is administered to animals, breaks down in cattle manure.

Livestock producers in the United States often use antibiotics to control disease in their animals, and confined U.S. livestock and poultry generate about 63.8 million tons of manure every year.

A new study by Texas AgriLife Research scientists finds that contrary to widespread perceptions, springs in the Edwards Plateau, which provide much of the stream flows, have not been declining as a result of increased encroachment of woody plants. In fact, spring flows are twice as high as they were prior to 1950.

The application of summer patch burning to heal native rangeland may be best accomplished using rotational grazing, according to a Texas AgriLife Research range ecologist.

Dr. Richard Teague recently completed a study of native rangeland vegetation and soils subjected to summer patch burns followed by cattle being allowed to graze either continuously or using a rotational grazing system.

Singapore: Singaporeans consume around 275,000 tons of rice each year, which requires 688 billion liters of water to be produced – 2.5 times Singapore's annual domestic water use.

A team of scientists in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are reporting disturbing evidence that soil microbes have become progressively more resistant to antibiotics over the last 60 years. Surprisingly, this trend continues despite apparent more stringent rules on use of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture, and improved sewage treatment technology that broadly improves water quality in surrounding environments.

Our nation's future?

It can certainly seem all doom and gloom these days. The folks in Washington aren't helping matters. Serious problems abound, yet nothing constructive happens. Bickering. Posturing. Gridlock. What became of the common good? What became of talking to each other, of working together?

Shortly after the introduction of Roundup Ready soybean, questions arose whether these varieties and/or glyphosate applications to them alter manganese relations compared to conventional soybean varieties. It is well documented that glyphosate forms complexes with manganese and other metal cations. These complexes reduce glyphosate activity when the antagonistic cations are present in water used as a carrier. 

Angela Rieck-Hinz, Extension Program Specialist, Department of Agronomy

There are many definitions of stewardship, but a basic definition is “the responsibility to care for resources.” When applying the term stewardship to manure management we could define it as the “responsibility to collect, transport and apply manure to meet crop nutrient needs while minimizing impacts on resources.”

Spanish scientists have studied interactions between the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) and fishing gear such as longline hooks used at the water surface, mass beachings, and the effects of climate change on these animals. In order to reduce captures of this marine species without causing economic losses for fishermen, the scientists are proposing that fishing in the summer should only be carried out by night and in areas more than 35 nautical miles from land.