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Tag: harvest

Aug272020 by adminNo Comments
Bread price may rise after dire UK wheat harvest

Bread price may rise after dire UK wheat harvest

Science
The price of flour and bread is set to rise after what could be the worst UK wheat harvest in 40 years, the industry is warning.Farmers say that the extreme weather over the last year is likely to mean wheat yields are down by up to 40%.As a result, some millers have already increased the price of flour by 10% and they warn a no-deal Brexit could push up prices even further.And we're likely to see more of the same weather in future, experts say.The UK Met Office told BBC News that the extremes of wet and hot conditions that have marked this year are likely to become more common as our climate continues to change.Triple-whammyWheat farmers have been hit with a triple-whammy of severe weather, according to the National Farmers' Union (NFU).First off, unusua...
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Apr172020 by adminNo Comments
Fog harp can harvest water from even the lightest of fogs

Fog harp can harvest water from even the lightest of fogs

Science
April 17 (UPI) -- Engineers at Virginia Tech University have developed a new, more efficient fog harp capable of harvesting water from even a light fog. Previous iterations of the technology, first unveiled in 2018, required dense fog to work, but the latest tests suggest the improved harp is viable in a variety of fog conditions. The improved efficiency could allow the harp to be deployed as a sustainable water harvesting device in new parts of the world. "Billions of people face water scarcity worldwide," Brook Kennedy, an associate professor of industrial design at Virginia Tech, said in a news release. "We feel that the fog harp is a great example of a relatively simple, low-tech invention that leverages insight from nature to help communities meet their most basic needs." The fog h...
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Aug242019 by adminNo Comments
Near-extinct northern white rhino could be saved as vets harvest eggs

Near-extinct northern white rhino could be saved as vets harvest eggs

Technology
There is renewed hope that the near-extinct northern white rhino could be saved after eggs were successfully extracted from the last two remaining females.Rhinos Najin, 30, and her daughter Fatu, 19, of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, cannot carry a pregnancy and their inability to do so meant conservationists were resigned to their kind being completely wiped out upon their deaths. But a groundbreaking procedure carried out by wildlife experts and veterinarians has seen 10 eggs harvested from the rhinos - providing a sense of optimism for their future that has long been absent. Image: Eggs have been harvested from Najin (R) and Fatu The eggs will be artificially inseminated with frozen sperm from a northern white rhino bull and t...
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Dec252018 by adminNo Comments
Chestnut-killing wasp threatens major harvest

Chestnut-killing wasp threatens major harvest

Science
Chestnuts are increasingly used as a form of replacement protein in vegan and vegetarian diets. But a small, invasive wasp from China is threatening the chestnut harvest in Spain. Now government scientists are considering releasing another non-native insect into the environment to keep the wasp population under control.Under the dense green cover of the Genal Valley in southern Spain, Julio Ruiz, a thirty-something farmer is collecting sweet chestnuts (castañas) with his father, mother and brother. They are picking up the prickly nuts from the leaf-strewn earth, recognising through experience those that will contain the prized, large-sized chestnut.But this year there are far fewer chestnuts to gather not just on the Ruiz family's 30-hectare farm, ...
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