He's created a kit that a farmer can fit to their existing spray boom; spray heads are only activated when the system sees a weed, which cuts herbicide use and costs dramatically.
For farm use, the hat is hard to destroy and easy to repair: inputs are clamped, it handles reverse polarity everything and ESD everywhere. It aims to be self-documenting and easy to understand.
It includes a PCA9685 PWM controller for PWM up to 2A/channel, because I figured this might be good for LED control. I don't recommend trying to PWM a spray solenoid; you will be having a bad day.
Good from Desmog on the far right EU election MEP candidates spreading manure about food and farming. Some cast doubt on the reality of climate science, while others painted EU regulators as part of an authoritarian “sect” wishing to control citizens through green measures.
THREAD: This might sound crazy, but in Ursula von der Leyen's official schedule, which you can view online, there wasn’t a single meeting with environmental activists listed at any time in the past year. What we did find, in the past 4 months alone, were 3 separate meetings with farming groups.
@quixoticgeek@Wen this species is invasive and yes also its spread is an effect of #climatechange
But as usual the harmfulness is very limited. And honeybees in hives are not native but a human culture thing being wiped out probably mostly by insecticides used by intensive #agriculture.
There are a few really harmful invasie species, but this is not one of them.
The concentrated ills of concentrated agribusiness, By Bart Hawkins Kreps, originally published by An Outside Chance May 31, 2024
"...Now that American consumers have learned to buy fresh – albeit nearly tasteless – fruit twelve months of the year, it’s essential for Driscoll’s to have suppliers in countries with different seasons. ...Frerick writes: “the Driscoll’s model is based on shifting farming out of the country to companies that don’t...worry about US minimum wage laws or environmental regulations.”
"...It matters not whether these products are truly nutritious. What matters is whether the products are cheap and, in line with WalMart’s directives to suppliers, cheaper year after year. Still, French explains, not cheap enough for WalMart’s own employees to afford – WalMart employees in many states require govt assistance just to feed their families..."
Comment peut-on mobiliser cette critique des normes, alors même qu’elle semble être captée par un discours droitier-libéral ou même fascisant à certains égards ?
Yannick Ogor – Il y a un piège autour de cette notion de normes ! On circonscrit la question agricole à une question écologique. On aurait d’un côté les écologistes et de l’autre les « anti », et ces normes seraient le centre de cette querelle. Or pour moi ce qui compte c’est plutôt de montrer comment ces normes, depuis qu’elles existent, ne servent que les intérêts de l’agro-industrie. La gauche doit se passer du seul angle écologique sur la question agricole car elle est quasiment inaudible dans la contestation actuelle. Elle a abandonné la question sociale et le terrain des conditions de vie des producteurs.
From ChartR: There might soon be a vitamin C-shaped hole in many Americans’ breakfasts: orange juice prices are hitting all-time highs, as a series of poor harvests strain the existing supply of frozen juice futures.
Indeed, while the price of OJ has climbed at an alarming rate in recent years due to reduced production yields, this week saw frozen concentrated orange juice futures ...reach a record price of $4.87 per pound. That’s roughly 5x where they were trading in 2020.
These juiced-up figures have arisen from a blend of bad weather and disease that’s long plagued the world's orange groves...And Florida, world-renowned for its oranges, won’t be able to pick up the slack. The Sunshine State has seen output decline steadily for more than 2 decades, thanks to citrus greening, hurricanes, falling yields, and a booming housing market that’s turned citrus farms into premium real estate.
From the law of the minimum to soil health By Gunnar Rundgren, originally published by Garden Earth May 29, 2024
"...Emergent properties are characteristics of systems that the individual parts of a system do not possess. It is thus not possible to study the individual components and understand how a system functions. The system can be a living creature such as a human, an organ (the brain) an ecosystem or life itself. The soil has a number of emergent properties which can’t be reduced to simple components, the soil is alive. It is no coincidence that one of the canonical books of the organic movement had the title The Living Soil (by Eve Balfour).
...We still don’t know more than a fraction of what is going on.
...As Grandy et al phrase it: “Plants are not just passive players in the N cycle but actively shape intricate three-way interactions with microbes & minerals..."
Mexico has had a long history of resilient agricultural systems and food cultures that reflect the country’s agrobiodiversity. With GEF funding, FAO and CONABIO are reviving traditional practices to support the resilience of farmers’ livelihoods and meet the population’s nutritional needs
Pour la grande majorité des économistes mais aussi pour les entrepreneurs et les États, l’échange international de marchandises semble aller de soi, perçu comme naturel et bénéfique. Les vertus attribuées au libre-échange ont toutefois été souvent contestées et, lorsqu’elles ne l’étaient pas dans leur principe, ces critiques ont conduit à adopter des mesures visant à protéger les acteurs économiques d’une concurrence trop lourde à supporter. Une chronique de Thierry Pouch pour la revue Sesame n°15.
La PAC pèse, les agriculteurs bien moins. À 10 jours de l’élection européenne qui renouvellera le parlement, comment les agriculteurs se positionnent face aux propositions des partis ? Comment les partis abordent les enjeux agricoles (qui dépassent ceux de la PAC). On essaye d’y voir un peu clair dans ce fil du mercredi 29 mai
Michael avait tout juste 20 ans lorsqu’il a repris la ferme de son père, en 1999. Avec sa femme Erika, Michael y a fait sa vie, affrontant jusqu’aujourd’hui les nombreux défis de la vie paysanne. Pour SIGNES, la présentatrice Natasha Ruf s’est invitée plusieurs jours dans la ferme des Strebel. Non pas pour observer mais bien pour participer. Tout en ramassant le fumier ou en conduisant le tracteur, Natasha va recueillir des paroles émouvantes et révéler le quotidien ordinaire d’un couple de paysans suisses.
New study examines the corporate engagement activities of ten large companies and five industry associations towards European Union (EU) policymakers working on regulations aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the food and agriculture sector.
New study examines the corporate engagement activities of ten large companies and five industry associations towards European Union (EU) policymakers working on regulations aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the food and agriculture sector.
Traditional agrifood systems conserve biodiversity and support nutrition in Mexico (www.fao.org)
Mexico has had a long history of resilient agricultural systems and food cultures that reflect the country’s agrobiodiversity. With GEF funding, FAO and CONABIO are reviving traditional practices to support the resilience of farmers’ livelihoods and meet the population’s nutritional needs