- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Scientists' Newest Tool To Fight Agricultural Toxin: A Video Game
(KVPR) Kerry Klein, Feb. 28
It wasn't long after the invention of the internet that scientists discovered the potential for using computing power as a citizen science tool. One of the earliest examples was a computer program developed in the 1990s that allowed users to search for life on other planets. Now a new collaboration takes aim at something a little closer to home: An intersection between citizen science, health, and agriculture, with implications right here in the San Joaquin Valley.
…Aflatoxin is the most potent natural carcinogen known. It's caused by a fungus...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Soaring feed costs are forcing San Joaquin Valley poultry producers to cut costs, raise prices - and, in some cases, close their doors, reported Robert Rodriguez in the Fresno Bee this weekend. Feed prices have climbed as much as 50 percent since last year, fueled by the increasing demand for corn.
Director of the UC Agricultural Issues Center Daniel Sumner told the reporter that rising costs for poultry producers will boost the retail price, unless something else acts to keep prices down.
"So, bottom line," Sumner said, "we should see higher retail prices with these...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Los Angeles Times today ran a story about hidden-camera video footage of a Turlock poultry farm. The story was picked up by the Associated Press and has now appeared in at least 40 newspaper and broadcast media outlets.
According to the Times story, the video was shot by an undercover investigator with the group Mercy for Animals and shows workers mistreating chickens at Gemperle Enterprises.
"What I saw on that video is not what our company does," owner Steve Gemperle was quoted in the article. "We do not accept any abuse of farm animals. It's against our values and morals."
According to...
