Transcript Agriscience in our Growing World Continued*

Agriscience in our
Growing World
Continued…
Agriscience Course
Improving Life through Agriscience
Research
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Americans have long appreciated the extensive research on the peanut done
by the American scientist George Washington Carver, who is credited with
finding more than 300 uses for the peanut.
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These include food for humans, feed for livestock, cooking fats and oils,
cosmetics, wallboard, plastics, paints, and explosives.
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Less known are the secrets of the soybean.
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The Chinese have known for centuries that the soybean is a versatile plant
with many uses.
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Calling it the “yellow jewel”, the Chinese are said to have grown the soybean
3,000 years ago. The strong flavor of the soybean itself is not appealing, but
the bean is a legume and is nutritious.
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A legume is a plant that hosts nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
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These bacteria convert nitrogen from the air to a form that can be used by
plants.
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They also convert atmospheric nitrogen to excellent sources of protein for
humans and animals.
Tofu
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A Chinese scholar is believed to have first made tofu from
soybeans in 164 B.C.
Tofu is a popular Chinese food made by boiling and
crushing soybeans, coagulating the resulting soy milk, and
pressing the curds into desired shapes.
Today, tofu is a major food in the diet of China’s huge
population.
Tofu contributes to a reasonably healthful diet.
It can be fermented; marinated; smoked; steamed; deepfried; sliced; shredded; made into candy; or shaped into
loaves, cakes, or noodles.
Soy Oil
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Soy oil is the world’s most plentiful vegetable oil.
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It is first extracted from the soybean, and the material
that is left is processed into a protein-rich livestock feed
known as soybean meal.
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The components of the soybean are used for hundreds of
items.
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These range from food products to lubricants, paper,
chalk, paint, printing ink, and plastics.
Baked Potatoes
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Many improvements in our way of life can be traced to
Agriscience research.
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For instance, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
developed many pest-resistant varieties of potatoes.
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A case in point is the work with the Katahdin, a popular
potato variety of the 1930s.
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From the Katahdin, scientists developed the BelRus, a
superior baking variety bred to grow well in the
Northeast.
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In a similar manner, the Russet potato grown in the
volcanic soils of Idaho and the Northwest has been
improved through research.
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Selection of parent stock has increased its resistance to
diseases and insects, resulting in greater yields.
Turkey for the Small Family
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In your grandparents’ time, Thanksgiving was probably
observed by having all the relatives visit to consume the
typical 30 lb. turkey.
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As families became smaller and more scattered, the need
for such large birds decreased; but even people with small
families liked turkey.
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The 30 lb. bird was too much, so the problem was to
develop a breed of turkey that weighed 8 to 12 lb. at
maturity.
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A solution was the Beltsville Small White turkey, named
after the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in
Maryland, where the breed was developed.
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Further research and development have yielded meat
animals with high yields of lean meat and less fat.
The Green Revolution
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During the 1950s, starvation was rampant in many
countries of the world.
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A major question was: “Could the world’s agriculture
sustain the new population growth?”
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The solution was partly in the development of new,
higher-yielding, disease-and insect-resistant varieties of
small grains for developing countries.
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The result was the Green Revolution, a process whereby
many countries became self-sufficient in food production
in the 1960s by using improved plant varieties and proven
management practices.
Biological Attractants
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The use of chemical pesticides usually provides short-term
solutions to many insect-control problems.
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However, it has become apparent that chemicals have
some disadvantages and that additional means of control
must be found.
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A partial solution was to discover chemicals that insects
produce and give off to attract their mates.
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These chemicals are now produced in the laboratory.
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Laboratory production of these chemicals has permitted
mass trapping of insects to survey insect populations for
integrated pest-management programs.
Breakthroughs in Agriscience
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Genetically Engineered Tomato
 Calgene,
an agricultural biotechnology firm in Davis,
California, developed a bioengineered tomato that
resists rotting.
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new tomato was developed by turning off the gene
that causes the tomato to soften and rot.
 The
new tomato lasts longer on the shelf at the grocery
store, retains its flavor longer, and has proven superior
in taste tests.
Breakthroughs in Agriscience
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Natural Rubber Production
 Scientists
at the USDA Western Regional
Research Center at Albany, California, have
modified a scrubby bush called “guayule” by
genetically engineering methods to produce up
to 1,000 kg of rubber per hectare from the
plant.
 The
 This
plant looks like sagebrush.
new technology makes it possible to
produce a domestic supply of natural rubber in
the U.S.
Breakthroughs in Agriscience
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Bioengineered Designer Foods
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By altering the genetic structure of food products, scientists have
created new foods such as crispy vegetables, sweeter carrots,
leaner meats, high-protein milk, longer-lasting melons, and
healthier cooking oils.
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Monoclonal Antibodies in Goats’ Milk
 Monoclonal
antibodies are natural substances in blood that
fight diseases and infections.
 Transgenic
goats have been developed by inserting a gene into
the goats’ DNA, causing them to produce and secrete up to 4 g.
of the monoclonal antibody in each liter of milk.
 This
level of antibody production is 10 to 100 times greater
than traditional methods of production from cell cultures.
 This
early work with transgenic goats produced an anticancer
antibody.
Breakthroughs in Agriscience
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Bio-Diesel from Animal Fat
 Excess
animal fat (tallow) that is trimmed from the
carcasses of meat animals is a low-value by-product of
the meat-processing industry.
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process has been developed that converts tallow to
bio-diesel, a product much like the diesel fuel
extracted from crude oil.
 The
fat is heated to a liquid, followed by a purification
process.
 The
purified fat product is then mixed with methyl
alcohol and a chemical catalyst.
 The
bio-diesel that is produced from this process has
approximately the same heating value and power
potential as traditional diesel fuel, and it will burn in
an ordinary diesel engine.
Breakthroughs in Agriscience
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Mastitis Reduced
 The
mastitis organism has always been a serious
problem for dairy farmers.
 Mastitis
is an infection of the milk-secreting glands of
cattle, goats, and other milk-producing animals.
 The
resulting loss of milk production adds millions of
dollars yearly to the cost of milk in the United States.
 Recent
research efforts resulted in the development of
abraded plastic loops for insertion into cow udders.
 The
procedure results in a reduction of clinical mastitis
of 75%.
 The
reduction in infections resulted in increased milk
production, averaging nearly 4 lb. of milk per cow per
day.
Breakthroughs in Agriscience
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Exotic flowers
 Horticulturists,
gardeners, and hobbyists will be
delighted with the new varieties of impatiens.
 Plant
explorers introduced exotic new germ plasm, and
plant breeders developed a new technique called
ovuleculture to develop hybrids and new kinds of
impatiens.
A
hybrid is the offspring of a plant or animal derived
from the crossing of two different species or varieties.
Breakthroughs in Agriscience
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Satellites and Nitrogen Gas Lasers
 Nutrient
deficiencies in growing corn and soybean
crops are not easy to detect from the ground.
A
deficiency occurs when a nutrient is not available in
the amounts that are needed for optimum growth.
 New
technology now permits the monitoring from
satellites of deficiencies of iron, nitrogen, potassium,
and other nutrients using nitrogen gas lasers (devices
used to determine wavelengths given off by the
plants).
 These
wavelengths indicate the levels of various
nutrients in plants.
Agriscience & the Future
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In 2011, the average American farmer was capable of producing
enough food and fiber for approximately 167 people.
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Agriscience will become even more important in the next 100 years.
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As the world’s population increases, it will require a highly
sophisticated Agriscience industry to provide the food, clothing,
building materials, ornamental plants, recreation areas, and openspace needs for the world’s billions.
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Americans will have to work more in the international arena as more
countries become highly competitive in Agriscience and as trade
barriers are removed.
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Research and development will continue to play a dominate role as
they lead the way in Agriscience expansion in the future.
Agriscience & the Future
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The USDA has developed the following mission statement to guide the
agency: We provide leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources,
and related issues based on sound public policy, the best available
science, and efficient management.
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The new century and millennium bring a new set of challenges to the
U.S. and world agriculture.
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The international business economy is a dominant factor in marketing
agricultural products.
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A major share of U.S. agricultural production is now consumed in
foreign countries, and this trend is expected to increase the volume of
agricultural commodities that are sold outside U.S. borders.
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Canada and Mexico have become two of our biggest markets.
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They have also become successful competitors with the United States
for a world market share in some agricultural commodity markets.
Agriscience & the Future
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The future of U.S. agriculture will require that farmers
become even more efficient in the production of food and
fiber crops.
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Animal agriculture will depend on scientific improvements
in production methods and in the genetic superiority of
food animals to improve the quality of animal products.
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The efficiency with which they are produced must also
improve for animal products to continue to demand a
strong market share of the food supply in a world crowded
with humans.
Brainstorm
 In
groups of 3-4, develop an idea for a new
piece of farm equipment that will improve
the harvest or production of a locally grown
crop, farming technique, or ranching
practice.