- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Sacramento Bee ran a story recently about the comparative quality-of-life for chickens who spend life in small cages and those that have greater freedom of movement.
Free-range chickens have the opportunity to socialize, scratch and flutter about with other birds, however, the lifestyle isn't perfect. For unbiased information, reporter Jim Downing spoke with UC Davis professor Joy Mench.
"When you give a hen some of these behavioral freedoms, you increase health risks," Mench is quoted in the article.
Mench noted that Europe's continent-wide conversion to cage-free egg production has yielded thousands of pages of studies comparing the...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
NuWireInvestor.com, a Web site that proclaims it provides up-to-date investment news on a wide range of investments not effectively covered by traditional media sources, included a story today about investing in purebred beef stock. For information, reporter Beth Anderson contacted UC Cooperative Extension livestock and natural resources advisor Glenn Nader.
The article says the growth of artificial insemination as a tool for improving the genetics of cattle herds has opened up new opportunities for agricultural investors. Investors can purchase a bull and sell "semen units," which the article says go for a...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A lengthy New York Times article published this week reported on the efforts of retired UC Berkeley forest and genetics professor William Libby, who is helping create a collection of clones from at least 100 of California's tallest and oldest redwood trees. The cloned trees will be donated to whoever wants, and is able, to care for them. They will not be patented, but will remain in the public domain. Clone-seedling redwood forests have already been planted in England, France, New Zealand and elsewhere
Using the clones of the biggest and oldest trees gives reforestation efforts reliability and control you don’t...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Associated Press ran an article about research led by the Texas A&M extension service to cultivate artichokes in the Lone Star State. Manager of the California Artichoke Advisory Board in Castroville, Pat Hopper, seemed to express doubt in the article about the Texas effort to produce what has come to be a California crop.
"These guys in Texas don't know what they're in for" with the sensitive plant, Hopper was quoted. "I would wish them luck in finding a market in Texas. Texas is not one of our best buyers of artichokes."
Texas A&M professor Daniel Leskovar said the goal is to provide another product for the Winter Garden area, about 80 miles west of San...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
When the Contra Costa Times set out to write a story about the plight of landowners in Canyon where oak trees are dying from Sudden Oak Death, the reporter sought information from the California Oak Mortality Task Force, a program established at UC Berkeley that focuses on Phytophthora ramorum, the plant pathogen which causes Sudden Oak Death.
Reporter Elizabeth Nardi interviewed task force public information officer Katie Palmieri for information about removing diseased trees from private and public property. Palmieri said the task force does not have a recommendation on when trees...
