Agriculture

OBJECTIVES: The objective was to evaluate homeopathic basic research studies that use plant-based bioassays. With this in view, a compilation was made of the findings of three systematic literature reviews covering plant-based bioassays in the three fields of healthy, abiotically, or biotically stressed plants. This compilation focused on investigations using advanced experimental methods and detailed descriptions, also with the aim of supporting the design of future experiments.

Our recent results on the plum pox virus (PPV) epidemiology show that PPV spreads very rapidly in plum tree plantations in the contaminated areas. A clearing of the PPV-infected trees reduces significantly the spread of the virus but does not eliminate the disease. Some plum tree cultivars, hybrids and rootstocks (Scoldus, Alina, Cristi, BN 1/8Fl, BN 2Gr. etc) showing field resistance could not be infected with PPV by natural way. However, they could be infected with PPV by artificial inoculation except for the plum tree cv.

Cuisine, broadly food culture, has evolved greatly in the past ten thousand years, following the domestication of plants and animals which greatly increased the food supply and led to villages, cities and civilizations. Major factors in the evolution of cuisines have been the existing biota, soils, fuel for cooking and climates, followed by new technologies, exploration and trade. These provide the context of the world's amazing variety of cuisines, but not the understanding of why cuisines developed as they have, in particular why China has the world's greatest cuisine.

Food use is changing very fast all over the world. This and other changes (e.g. reduced physical activity, increased longevity) result in novel health risks for the populations in European countries and beyond. Also, in recent decades the convenience food market has grown dramatically and offers novel opportunities for small and large industries alike. Simultaneously, there is a dramatic and irrevocable loss of the local knowledge which forms the basis of many cultural traditions (traditional food knowledge--TFK).

What are the best dietary practices and farming methods to promote health? The answer may depend on whether one looks at the health of individuals or the health of the planet (planetary health or PH). PH will equate to a healthy ecosphere fostered by dietary/farming practices that are less resource-intense, potentially decreasing starvation and carbon emissions. Best practices also may depend on whether by health one means lack of observable disease (such as obesity, nutritional deficiency, diabetes, or cancer), optimal health (also known as wellness), or longevity.

Since the 1930s scientists from fields such as biochemistry, pathology, immunology, genetics, neuroscience, and nutrition have studied the relation of dietary caloric intake to longevity and aging. This paper discusses how Clive Maine McCay, a professor of animal husbandry at Cornell University, began his investigation of the topic and promoted it as a productive research program in the multidisciplinary science of gerontology.

Patents for genetic material in the industrialized North have expanded significantly over the past twenty years, playing a crucial role in the current configuration of the agricultural biotechnology industries, and raising significant ethical issues. Patents have been claimed for genes, gene sequences, engineered crop species, and the technical processes to engineer them. Most critics have addressed the human and ecosystem health implications of genetically engineered crops, but these broad patents raise economic issues as well.

BACKGROUND: Between 1992 and 2010 in the Costa Rican Caribbean, a social movement coalition called Foro Ema˙s sought to change people's view on problems of high pesticide use in banana production. OBJECTIVE: To understand the formation and membership of Foro Ema˙s, its success period, and its decline. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews of 28 key actors; a questionnaire survey among school personnel (n = 475) in Siquirres, Matina, and Talamanca counties; and secondary data from newspapers, leaflets, and movement documents were used.

The issue of regulating animal care in modern animal production systems and in the research laboratory is discussed from the perspective of an animal scientist with a farm background and 25 years of agricultural experiment station experience. Evidence is presented for a long-term association of humans with (and dependence on) animals, which extends into prehistory far beyond the beginnings of animal domestication some 11,000 years ago.

The aim of this study is to clarify the health behavior of elderly people engaged in agriculture and information communication technology (ICT). The participants were 61 people engaged in agriculture in conjunction with ICT systems (group A), and 49 people not engaged in this (group B) from among the people aged 65 years or over in village C, both living located in a mountain areas. Data were collected from August 2009 to June 2011 in two stages: interviews to members of group A through home visits, and a group survey of groups A and B through questionnaires.