The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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caltrek
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Re: The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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Recent Research Shows that Less Intensively Managed Grasslands Have Higher Plant Diversity and Better Soil Health
November 25, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) Researchers have shown - for the first time - that less intensively managed British grazed grasslands have on average 50% more plant species and better soil health than intensively managed grassland. The new study could help farmers increase both biodiversity and soil health, including the amount of carbon in the soil of the British countryside.

Grazed grassland makes up a large proportion of the British countryside and is vital to farming and rural communities. This land can be perceived as only being about food production, but this study gives more evidence that it could be key to increasing biodiversity and soil health.

Researchers at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) studied 940 plots of grassland, comparing randomly selected plots which sampled the range of grassland management across Great Britain; from intensively- managed land with a few sown grassland species and high levels of soil phosphorus (indicating ploughing/reseeding and fertiliser and slurry application), to grassland with higher levels of species and lower levels of soil phosphorus. The plots were sampled as part of the UKCEH Countryside Survey, a nationally representative long-term dataset.

The study counted the number of plant species in sample areas and analysed co-located soil samples for numbers of soil invertebrates and carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus levels.

Researchers found that less intensively managed grassland had greater diversity of plant species and, strikingly, this correlated with better soil health, such as increased nitrogen and carbon levels and increased numbers of soil invertebrates such as springtails and mites.
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/972050
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Veggie Meat Substitutes Might Not Be As Nutritious As They Claim
by Maddy Chapman
December 9, 2022

Introduction:
(IFL Science) The popularity of plant-based food has skyrocketed in recent years, as has the number of studies investigating its impact on our planet. Unfortunately, there are still massive gaps in our knowledge when it comes to the health implications of these products, particularly surrounding the nutritional value of plant-based meat substitutes. A study, from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, has set out to address this by analyzing the nutritional contents of different meat alternatives available in the country.

It finds that many of the options, which claim to contain a high content of nutrients such as iron and zinc, actually contain very little in a form that can be readily absorbed.

“Among these products, we saw a wide variation in nutritional content and how sustainable they can be from a health perspective,” lead author Cecilia Mayer Labba said in a statement.

“In general, the estimated absorption of iron and zinc from the products was extremely low. This is because these meat substitutes contained high levels of phytates, antinutrients that inhibit the absorption of minerals in the body.”

Phytates, also known as phytic acid, are found in lots of plant-based foods including seeds, nuts, grains, and legumes. They bind to certain minerals in the digestive tract and block their absorption in the intestine, which can lead to mineral deficiencies over time. However, this is only really an issue for people whose diet is already lacking nutrition and is rarely a concern for people following a well-balanced diet.
Read more of the IFL article here: https://www.iflscience.com/veggie-meat ... im-66591

Read a presentation of study results as published in the journal Nutrients here: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/19/3903
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Re: The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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As far as I know a balanced diet is the most healthy.
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Re: The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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^^^I can't top that, except perhaps to provide a more detailed and concise explanation of what constitutes a "balanced diet." Been done (or at least started) by others with more expertise than I have in the field (no pun intended). See for example The Longevity Diet.

What I came here to post:

Back to the Future in Sicily, a Town Unites for an Ancient Ritual: Making Olive Oil
by Cain Burdeau
December 17, 2022

Introduction:
CASTELBUONO, Sicily (Courthouse News) — Dew, chilly breezes, morning mists, bouts of glowing sunshine, cloud-hooded mountains and the quiet sounds of olive pickers: These are the sensations at the end of a good – and long – olive harvest.

The harvest's been so fruitful this year black and green olives still dangle from many trees even though the season is usually over by this time in December.

The olive harvest is a crucial part of the backbone of Castelbuono, just as it is for much of the Mediterranean basin, the birthplace of olive oil.

And when a good season is at hand, people here in the Madonie Mountains of northern Sicily can seem to radiate with joy.
Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/sicilia ... live-oil/

Conclusion:
(Regarding politicians)…”who don't represent you and think you're a cow to be milked,” he says bitterly. “It can't go on like this. I'll keep working in the countryside for as long as it allows me to feed myself.”
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Re: The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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A factory will soon start making green food from air and electricity
28 December 2022

Farming is devastating the planet. But there could be a much more environmentally friendly way to feed ourselves: using renewable energy to turn carbon dioxide into food.

“This is becoming a reality,” says Pasi Vainikka at Solar Foods. The company is building the first commercial-scale factory, near Helsinki in Finland, that will be able to make food directly from CO2. It will produce 100 tonnes per year, enough for 4 or 5 million meals, he says. “We are a bit behind schedule, but production may start just about in 2023,” says Vainikka.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg ... ectricity/
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Time_Traveller wrote: Fri Dec 30, 2022 2:14 pm A factory will soon start making green food from air and electricity
28 December 2022

Farming is devastating the planet. But there could be a much more environmentally friendly way to feed ourselves: using renewable energy to turn carbon dioxide into food.

“This is becoming a reality,” says Pasi Vainikka at Solar Foods. The company is building the first commercial-scale factory, near Helsinki in Finland, that will be able to make food directly from CO2. It will produce 100 tonnes per year, enough for 4 or 5 million meals, he says. “We are a bit behind schedule, but production may start just about in 2023,” says Vainikka.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg ... ectricity/
Here is what appears to be a link to the same or similar article without a pay wall: https://www.dezeen.com/2021/06/29/carbo ... ka-solein/
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Re: The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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Fluke Discovery of Ancient Farming Technique Could Stabilize Crop Yields
by Tessa Koumoundouros
January 16, 2023

Extract:
(Science Alert) Already, yields of staple crops like maize and wheat are dropping in low-latitude tropical regions and in dry and drying regions such as African drylands and parts of the Mediterranean…

While studying food diversity in 2011, environmental scientist Morgan Ruelle, now at Clark University, accidentally stumbled across one possible technique that could help stabilize dipping crop yields…

The method is planting maslins – a combined mix of cereals that can include rice, millet, wheat, rye, barley and more – and harvesting them all together to be separated or used as a single product…

Local farmers reported this mix ensures at least some yield under unfavorable conditions, and now researchers have the experimental trials to back up these claims. Working at Cornell University, Ruelle and colleagues conducted a review of previous work, demonstrating maslins yielded higher stability under changing conditions. By shifting species composition each season, farmers could hedge against climate impacts without the need for additional intervention…

What's more, maslins still convey many of the ecological benefits of polycultures involving entirely different plant types, such as resistance to diseases and pest insects which would require less reliance on the pesticides that are causing all sorts of harm to wildlife.
Read more of the Science Alert article here: https://www.sciencealert.com/fluke-dis ... op-yields

For a review of these findings as published in Agronomy for Sustainable Development: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1 ... 22-00832-1
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Most People See Insects as an Alternative and Sustainable Source of Food for the Future
January 19, 2023

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) Most people (58%) participating in a survey that forms part of a study by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) on insect consumption believe that they could become an alternative and sustainable source of protein in the future and therefore think that they could well become part of our diet. The results of the study Consumers' Acceptability and Perception of Edible Insects as an Emerging Protein Source have been published on an open access basis in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The study forms part of the doctoral thesis by Marta Ros, a student of the UOC doctoral programme in the Information and Knowledge Society.

The study had the mission of identifying parameters that would help improve acceptance of insect consumption to be in a position to introduce them as a sustainable source of protein in future diets. Its authors are Marta Ros, doctoral student and member of the UOC's Faculty of Health Sciences, and Anna Bach and Alicia Aguilar, faculty members and researchers at the FoodLab research group.

Even though entomophagy – the consumption of insects as a foodstuff by humans and animals – was common practice amongst our ancestors, from ancient China to the Roman Empire, it was abandoned a long time ago (although it still takes place in countries like China, Thailand, Japan, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Brazil and in some parts of Africa).

The health benefits of consuming edible insects

In light of the rapid exhaustion of natural resources, climate change and the loss of biodiversity, since 2013 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been highlighting the need to review modern food science practices to increase the trade in and consumption and acceptance of insects as a source of food. A number of studies have shown the positive impact that eating insects has on human and animal health.
In animals, studies show positive outcomes for weight control, reducing blood glucose and cholesterol levels and increasing microbiota diversity. The fats edible insects contain are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, particularly polyunsaturated fatty acids, which can have benefits in feeding.
Read more of the EurekAlert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/977111

Read the study Consumers' Acceptability and Perception of Edible Insects as an Emerging Protein Source here: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/23/15756

Read Edible Insect Consumption for Human and Planetary Health: A Systematic Review here:
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11653
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Re: The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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Study Finds that Microalgae Could be the Future of Sustainable Superfood in a Rapidly Changing World
January 19, 2023

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) Algae. It’s what’s for dinner.

This variation on the iconic US advertising slogan from the beef industry may sound funny, but it’s no joke that the current agriculture system is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution. In turn, the climate crisis and ecosystem degradation threaten long-term food security for billions of people around the world.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), believe algae could be a new kind of superfood thanks to its high protein and nutrition content. They make their case in a paper recently published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition that examines the current scientific literature on microalgae, a catch-all term for the thousands of microscopic algal species and other photosynthetic organisms like cyanobacteria found in various aquatic environments.

A more efficient food source

The review highlights the current technologies for commercially developing and growing microalgae, as well as the scientific and economic challenges to scaling production. While long studied as a source of biofuel thanks to their high lipid or fat content, algae are also attracting interest from researchers because of their potential to be a more efficient food source.
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/976803
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Re: The Future of Food, Agriculture, and Aquaculture

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caltrek wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 11:28 pm Most People See Insects as an Alternative and Sustainable Source of Food for the Future
:?
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