First time blogger!

I have finally been convinced to become a blogger myself. My gizmo oriented friends try so hard from time to time to keep me up-to dated with the gizmo world. For me, that means *trying* to use the digital camera, and also trying this blog entry. (Sad but true) I figured (or I was suggested that) since I am in Cambodia for my internship, I should write something about it. So here it is! I will write about some of my South East Asian experiences – with pictures, I hope...

Poop & Visera

I am tired of the paranoid critics of agricultural feeds slamming animal production industry for what they feed to the animals. There are a billion different things wrong with Western (and developing country) animal production models, but (for the most part) the feed is not one of them.

• Calves get their bacterial rumen from, mommy’s poop
  
• Entire African ecosystems based on hippo poop
  
• Cattle eat their own afterbirth (so do some women), they have 4 compartment stomachs, one of them is *just*like* the human stomach, able to digest animal matter.
  
• How many times have you seen fido eat or roll in poop? No, their not some rouge mutations due to domestication, the wild canines do it too.
  

The part that I will agree with is feeding ruminants to ruminants poultry to poultry etc (which is an issue that was highlighted with spongioform encephalopathy outbreak) but chicken poop to cattle or porcine offal to fish or poultry viscera to swine, no problem. My opinion is that way too much emphasis is put on things that would repulse us but in reality are harmless. Larger issues that I do not hear much about but think need to be seriously considered is livestock database so outbreaks of *whatever* can be immediately tracked, increased analysis of human and livestock feeds coming into the country, and household hygiene.

This isn’t some sort of Soylent Green type idea, we aren’t feeding people to people, or people to animals. There are loads of unused nutrients in poop/offal from many of the less efficient digesters, why let them go to waste?! When they can be utilized at many different levels of decomposition? (animal -> bio digester -> food/fertilizer).

Addendum

Well, just a note, was talking to my friend and he pointed out that many of these “rich Italian” farmers driving around in the super tractors could be a part of a cooperative, doh. But he is right, they could very well be which could be another way of explaining such nice equipment.

To trade freely or not to trade freely?

I got an email from a friend of mine today living in Slovakia, he noted how most of the produce there is from Italy, Poland, and Czech Republic because it is “cheaper” to produce those things in the mentioned countries than in Slovakia… I do find this a bit ironic since Slovakia is more agrarian than them but then again their agricultural systems are probably more advanced. Italy, that one stuck out to me though. I have been to the Czech Republic, really liked it there and what little I gleaned by driving by/through agricultural districts there I can see how that would hold true (also taking into consideration things being cheaper in Czech Republic) but not in Italy. In Italy I was constantly amazed by the mammoth Rolls Royce like tractors that many farmers had, it was like being in the American west where huge private farmers and corporate farms have enough land to justify such fancy/industrial machinery, but Italy… In Italy I get the impression (*only* from observations, I haven’t bothered looking up any facts) that many of the farms here are maybe 100-400 ha, that’s not particularly big (by American standards) so how can they afford such expensive machinery? Possibly by producing high quality/value produce, I can vouch for the extraordinary taste/quality of Italian cuisine, and Italian foods cost a bundle in the US; but if it was because of the high value/quality being able to be sold at a high price then it probably wouldn’t fare very well in Slovakia. No I think it is most likely subsidies, which much of European agriculture is notorious for.

In my school program I constantly hear organizations like the IMF and World Bank demonized for ideology like forcing developing countries to embrace free trade and reduce tariffs etc… I agree with the premise of that ideology BUT (and it’s a pretty big but) there are so many problems with it that I am not sure that they should heed the IMFs/World Banks prodding.

Developed countries don’t listen (while it’s not directly Ag related look at Gee Dubbya and the Kyoto protocol, *EVEN*THE*RUSSIANS* joined in on that (and having lived and visited around there I can tell you many people [though of course not all] there could care less about environmental issues). Europe and Japan are notorious for protective/exclusive tariffs, taxes, and other forms of trade bending, with the US following close behind. I think that it is the developing countries that should be somewhat protected and the developed nations that should be less protected. There are problems with that though. That assumes (unrealistically so) that the developing nations would develop areas in which they are the best at and that industries in developed nations would be able to hang on while the less efficient industries are weeded out… neither are reality the first even less so than the second.

Bush was right...

Ok ok you can get back in your chair; in the last debate he kept talking about education and how it is the answer to everything (or that is what he alluded to) that is one of the few things where he is right (though I don’t think is no-student-left-behind policy is working, or so most of the press says).

I notice how he was right when I see things here in Ag development, and example would be the rate of adoption of newer technologies by farmers in developing countries (probably in developed countries too). Across the board it is the ones who are more educated (can be something as basic as being literate enough to read feed ingredients, we aren’t talking PhDs here). Agriculture is about as basic a part of society as you can get, the underpinnings of society. So wouldn’t it make sense that if you strengthen the most basic part of a society the benefits will trickle down (up?) in the form of less poverty, cheaper agricultural goods, less agriculturally derived ecological abuses (chemical use, less land used more efficiently, less erosion, etc). Yes, Gee-Dubbya got that part right, now if he could only come up with effective policy to promote that for home and abroad.

Alternatives to "mulesing"

Just saw an article on mulesing, and of course lost the link but topix.net has a bunch of articles, never heard that term before, must be an Aussie thing. Apparently “The process — performed without anaesthetic — involves cutting away wool and skin from the animal's hindquarters to prevent them from becoming infested with blowflies.” The article is about finding an alternative to mulesinging (is that a word?) due to the inhumane nature of the mulesing process.
It was mentioned that the farmers said that the blowflies cause more pain than the mulesing, I am sure there are more than a few people out there that would scoff at that but who knows?

In undergrad I did an independent study on “animal pain”. No, didn’t lop off any bunny heads or anything it was mostly reviewing literature. At the time I was a vegetarian, too so enough with the sadism flack.

The question came to me, do animals feel pain like we do? Simple yes? Well not so simple, the example that made this occur to me was castrating piglets. Have you ever picked up a piglet? If you don’t hold them close to you chances are they will squeal, and loud, the kind of thing that you can’t imagine coming from an animal that small. But you are supporting them, not crushing them, nada; and as soon as you put them down its like you flipped a switch, the turn off, nothing they just trot off. Now, have you castrated a piglet? In many operations (including the one I worked in) you just have a razor, and some iodine, and that’s it. You cut’em rip the testicles out, then move on to the next piggy. The thing is, they start squealing at the top of their lungs as soon as you pick them up, the squeal just as much as you are cutting them, and as soon as you put them down they stop, totally (though albeit are a bit wobbly, I’d probably be a bit wobbly too though). While I am positive animals feel pain, I am not so sure it is in the same way that you and I feel pain. None the less, its good that they are looking into methods that don’t mutilate the animals. I think the livestock industry is prone to taking the easiest/shortest solution instead of the all around best solution.

Dry reading...

Remember my whining about “breeding Tilapia” (that assumes you read “Gaiko's Tabernacle of Infectious Net Notions”) and how I got tired of reading about it? Well I recently found that which bores me more, legislation regarding sanitation requirements of fish feed, I’m telling ya’ this stuff is bone dry reading. I have been sifting through various online law databases (FAOLEX and The EC’s Database) and ugh, between trying to figure out how to use them, and getting all the results that I don’t want and then trying to wade through the articles/amendments/annexes that I think might be relevant I am ready to go to the closest wine bar (God I love Italy!) and relax my eyes… and brain.

Increasing Ag/Animal Awareness

Saw an article about a “petting zoo” of sort as part of an agricultural fair (didn’t sound like a state fair). The purpose was to increase awareness of animals in agriculture (you know; so that all kids don’t think eggs magically come from the grocery store).

They mentioned that the attendance was down this year; that is just sad to me but I doubt that that trend is only happening there. People seem to care less and less about Ag, they just want their cheap food (well in the US, but I think that is a modernization trend that is happening to different degrees throughout the world).

I have three little cousins, two of which, in my opinion, had gross misconceptions about animals. I was pleased as punch when their tiny little brother practically had to be held back from our dog where as his sisters literally screamed once when I (without-thinking, sorry Emma) opened the door to let the dog in. Well I suppose they didn’t want to be out done by their toddler brother so they (cautiously) petted the dog (who is the antithesis of vicious, she is not the most playful dog but in the life game of “fight or flight” she is all flight) with the parting statement “well I guess I *might* like shbear [the dog] next time” well it’s a start.

It just shows how kids really need exposure to animals, yeah I know only a fraction of kids will actually work with animals but it helps; it helps to know not all animals are out to maul you, it helps to know where eggs come from. It helps to know that your hotdog comes from a living creature, shrimp aren’t naturally headless, and eggs don’t magically appear in the grocery store; food and where it comes from is not something that should be taken for granted.

Productive vs Un-Productive Water

I am presently working with aquaculture, dealing mainly with 3rd world systems in South East Asia. Many of these systems have a “fertilization” component which involves the addition of manure, thus promoting algal growth with intern provides a food for the fish (such as Indian Carp). It is interesting how “optimal water quality” (i.e. clean/cootie free) equals “unproductive water”. While “unsanitary water” equals “productive water”. I have been reading this FAO publication “Integrated livestock-fish farming systems “ and just found an online copy of it. Interesting reading if you have the time.

Posting via email...

This is a test to post via email, lets see if it works.

Toxic soda used as pesticide?

In this “Age of Organics” (well actually its only a fraction but as much as I hear about it you’d think it was the majority) and political correctness I wonder what this would fall under. Would Coke count as an un PC way of organicly protecting your crops? Is it that toxic? Nope... well no more than the usual CO2 and sugar OD’ing you get from quaffing a soda. Here are some farmers that started using coke as a low cost pesticide. Whatever works I guess.

My first Wikipedia entry!!

Ok, so it really wasn’t anything special but in agriculture some people (including myself depending on the company) refer to themselves as an “Aggie”. I hear it quite often but people don’t usually seem to catch it (kinda like using “Ag” as an abbreviation for agriculture, though watch everyone from here on out understand it) so I thought I would add a Wikipedia.org entry. Unfortuantely I am not skilled in the ways of writing so it is a measly 1 sentence entry, the most basic of the basic (so if you think you can do better then ***please*** go there and edit it (that is part of the idea for wikipedia)