Companion animals have now become an extension of the family. It should come as no surprise, then, that many pet parents would say their pet’s nutrition is just as important as their own. They pay as much attention to the ingredients in their pet food as they do to the food they put on the dinner table. 

Superfoods make it into the doggie dish

Consumers are gravitating to “superfoods” that tout beneficial effects on the human body, and they want the same for their dogs and cats. Functional foods now starring in the ingredient lists of pet food include: 

• Blueberries: Identified as a source of antioxidants, they can be found in dry dog food. 
• Carrots: Known for having beta-carotene, they can be found as a principle vegetable ingredient in pet food and can be given as a treat to dogs in their raw or cooked form. 
• Pumpkins: In the fall, when we are all inundated with pumpkin and pumpkin spice products, even pet food is not immune. Pumpkin is a good source of soluble fiber with beneficial digestive properties.

Sustainability: Supporting a positive cycle of “good” for pets and the planet

Sustainability is a concept that has become increasingly important to consumers when thinking about their own food. They want to know not only how nutritious their food is, but also what practices were used to grow the vegetables and feed the animals that are nourishing their bodies. 

This concern extends to pet food ingredients and how the grains, vegetables and fruits (and superfoods) were grown.

From this standpoint, the management practices used on the farm are very important to the concept of sustainability.

When a plant is stressed, whether from environmental factors, disease pressure or micronutrient deficiency, it lacks the necessary ingredients to attain its peak performance. This can result in subpar yield, size, flavor and texture. Growers will invariably use synthetic products to try and combat these deficiencies. 

However, a more sustainable approach will incorporate the use of products that are naturally based, with substances such as amino acids that enable micronutrients to be more readily available to plants, increasing their ability to fight stressors. The plant becomes stronger, and, by using these natural products, growers also limit residues that could be left on the fruits and vegetables that go into the pet food. 

The process is cyclical. By using sustainable practices that protect the soil, such as cover crops, crop rotation and precision agriculture, growers create a more active soil microbiome filled with beneficial microorganisms that help provide micronutrients to the plants. These micronutrients, in conjunction with natural plant biostimulant products, improve a plant’s resistance to stressors and help the plant protect itself. This in turn decreases the need for pesticides and other synthetic products that leave residues in the ground, on the field and in the food.

Plants raised on healthy soils with the micronutrients needed for plant health, supplemented with naturally based fertilizer as needed, have increased nutritional value. Meanwhile, these farming practices also improve the environmental footprint of the crop itself so you can be confident that your pets’ food is not only good for them, but for the planet, too. 

An interview with Ramez Naam

The following is an edited transcript of our interview with Ramez Naam, co-chair for energy and environment at Singularity University.

To listen to our entire conversation with Ramez, click on the player below:

I don’t want to dwell on the fact that you are a science fiction writer, but I think that’s kind of cool that science fiction predicts science sometimes, and I wonder if maybe that was an inspiration for you? If, like, some of the things you thought about as a science fiction writer, you are now working to try to make reality?

I wish I had that story. Science fiction is amazing and it’s amazingly fun. It does provoke things. My science fiction and my speaking and writing on energy and food are actually pretty distinct, to be honest. But, they both come from the same thing, which is a deep curiosity about the future.

Here we are in the coal state of Kentucky, and there are definitely still some myths here about solar energy and how expensive it is and how doable it is to replace fossil fuels. I think that is probably true throughout a lot of the U.S. still. Can you comment on what the actual state of affairs is and what the potential is for solar energy?

I can’t blame people for doubting what solar or wind can do because the world has changed so fast. When I was born, a solar panel cost $100 per watt of power. Now, it’s less than 50 cents per watt of power, so that plunge in price is really the big story.

A new coal plant costs about seven-and-a-half cents per kilo-watt hour. In Los Angeles, they now have a new solar plant at three-and-a-half cents per kilowatt hour. In Dubai, oil capital of the world, they signed a deal for solar at less than three cents per kilo-watt hour. Those are all sunny places, sunnier than Kentucky is, but the changes are coming.

The price of technology always comes down. Just like your iPhone is so much cheaper than the mainframe computer that has the same power, solar follows that same trajectory, so it’s now kind of inevitable.

Since technology has ramped up so fast and prices have come down, there still seems to be a thought by some people that we need some sort of silver bullet technology. Do you feel like we have everything we need, or we have all the tools we need now, or we just need to start implementing them faster?

That’s what Bill Gates, who I used to work for, talks about — the need for an energy miracle or energy breakthroughs — but I would say the cost of solar has come down by a factor of five in the last five years, an 80 percent price decline. That’s a miracle already, that’s a breakthrough, but it’s not any one scientific breakthrough. It’s just the continual progress of technology.

If there is one area we want more of that, it’s in energy storage. With batteries, you can use them overnight, but batteries have dropped in price by a factor of five in the last five years, too, and they are going to keep on dropping. I wouldn’t say we are going to deploy a lot of technology that we have now, or rather we are going to, and that’s going to lead to more research and further dropping of prices.

Another big area of study for you is agriculture and land use; can you tell us a little bit about what you think our goals should be there?

If you look at how we, humanity, have changed the planet, the number one way we have changed the planet is through agriculture and fishing. Half of the world’s forests are gone, and almost all of that is for agriculture. A third of the land area of the planet is used to grow food or graze animals.

We have to almost double the amount of food we produce in the next 40 years or so. It’s all about more yield. It’s about growing more food on the same land or less land. That’s the only way we can make it through the challenge of the next century of more people eating richer diets, eating more meat without chopping down all the world for us. That’s what it’s all about to me: higher intensity agriculture and more food out of that same acre.

What are some of the key technologies that you think will help us do that?

There is every sort of technology. We have better seeds, we have high-tech equipment that allows us to plant better, more precise irrigation, better applications of fertilizer and technology that scans the field and tells you where you need to apply fertilizer. Alltech has done an awful lot with animal feed that allows you to grow healthier animals that have better nutrition, so all of those play a role.

Can you tell me a little bit about Singularity University and the program there and your role in it?

I am the co-chair for energy and environment at Singularity University. Singularity University is really a think tank that does continuing education. We take executives and people in government and we give them a week of bombarding them with information about the cutting edge of technology. Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, robotics — and I talk about energy.

That sounds like a fantastic program. It’s great that you are trying to reach some of the people that need that information the most and that can put it to the best use. Are they all willing, or do you have to go out and draft them sometimes?

We are oversubscribed. There is a waiting list for every one of our programs because people see that technology is changing fast and if they want to survive and thrive in their company and in their government, they need to be abreast as to what’s going on.

Ramez Naam spoke at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference 2016.To hear more talks from the conference, sign up for the Alltech Ideas Lab. For access, click on the button below.

Did you know that 95 percent of the world's food comes from the soil? When viewed in the light of a projected 9 billion mouths to feed by 2050—and the need to produce 70 to 100 percent more food than we do today to meet that demand—preserving soils is unarguably crucial.

World Soil Day is an annual day of recognition that takes place Dec. 5th. It has positioned soils front and centre as a major resource in the quest for global sustainability. The effort in highlighting the importance of soil received an added boost when 2015 was designated the International Year of Soils.

At Alltech Crop Science we want you to join us in celebrating World Soil Day by sharing some interesting facts.

Did you know?

• Soil is the basis for food, feed, fuel and fibre production. It is the reservoir for at least a quarter of global biodiversity and therefore requires the same attention as above-ground biodiversity.
• Healthy soil is fundamental to food security and nutrition. Approximately 95 percent of our food comes from our soil.
• Soil is teeming with life – soils host a quarter of our plants' biodiversity.
• More than one third of our food goes to waste – and up to half of our households waste could be composted to help create new soil.
• 11ha of soils are sealed under expanding cities every hour in Europe.
• Healthy soils play a key role in the supply of clean water and resilience to floods and droughts.

Want to know more about soil and what it comprises of? Dr. Mark Gaffney hosted a webinar titled What lies beneath – The hidden side of agriculture. You can watch it here. You can also find out more on Alltech Crop Science and its research on crop production here.

Join us in celebrating World Soil Day our social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Click here to subscribe to our Top Crop newsletter

If, as the United Nations suggests, agribusiness is Africa’s best hope for economic growth and prosperity, what will it take to achieve broad and lasting success?

“Agribusiness plays a vital role in Africa’s economic development,” said John Young Simpson, director at the Singapore-based Duxton Asset Management, a specialist emerging market agribusiness investment company. “Based on figures from the International Finance Corporation, agribusiness accounts for 25 percent of the continent’s GDP and a significant 70 percent of employment.”

Seventy percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land is on the African continent. And, according to a Cato Institute report discussing what African nations need to do to develop and grow, “between 1990 and 2012, the proportion of the population of African countries with access to clean drinking water increased from 48 percent to 64 percent.”

Yet, despite the seemingly abundant opportunity, noted Simpson, “industrial potential has not been reached, with farm yields among the lowest in the world, and this is in turn due to numerous challenges.”

A “United States of Africa”?: Attempts to bring cohesion to the continent

“The biggest obstacles would be education and lack of infrastructure,” observed Nick Smit, Alltech vice president of Africa and the Middle East.

In fact, in the view of the Stellenbosch-based Smit, a lack of infrastructure is the single most important obstacle to African economic progress.

The continent contains dozens of countries of varying degrees of political, civil, cultural and economic strife and stability, its peoples communicating in more than 1,000 languages.

In 1999, leaders of 53 African nations began attempts to pull it all together. By 2002, they had created a new organization, the African Union (AU), to succeed a foundering Organization of African Unity (OAU). South Sudan became the 54th member state in the summer of 2011.

Conceived by then Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as a "United States of Africa," its structure is loosely modeled on that of the European Union.

The Constitutive Act of the African Union calls for “a culture of good governance, democracy, rule of law and popular participation.” There are plans to establish an African Economic Community with a single currency.

Some critics, pointing out that many AU leaders are the same individuals who presided over the OAU, an organization that became known as the “dictators' club,” question whether the AU can ever be truly effective in bringing the various players of the African continent onto the same page.

“Africa has suffered tremendously from this in the past and continues to suffer, even in times when progress is being made,” observed Aidan Connolly, Alltech vice president and chief innovation officer.

Adapting to the 21st century

“Development of infrastructure is typically a government-level investment,” said Mary Shelman, former director of Harvard Business School's Agribusiness Program. “But it requires a long-term view, which is difficult when governments mostly have short-term orientation.”

And in agreement with Smit, she added, “It’s challenging to see market-driven, private sector solutions if governments can't be trusted to stand by contracts and policies.”

The need for costly pipelines, dams, irrigation systems, highways, bridges and other forms of public infrastructure only mounts, however, as governments become pressed to come to terms with what looms just over the horizon.

“Africa Rising”: The role of agribusiness

“The population of the world is due to increase by 50 percent in the next 30 years, from 6 billion to 9 billion people,” noted Connolly in the white paper “A GLIMPSE™ into the Future: A Lens through Which to Consider ‘Africa’s Rising.’” “Sub-Saharan Africa alone will account for one-third of that growth, as the population more than doubles from over 1 billion in 2013 to at least 1.9 billion in 2050.”

Citing forecasts by the International Monetary Fund, he noted that Africa has averaged GDP growth of 5 percent annually throughout the past decade, “and that pace is expected to continue, with GDP projected to triple by 2030, achieving a sevenfold increase by 2050.”

According to a 2010 report from McKinsey & Co., this recent growth is the result of inflation reduction (dropping from 22 percent in the 1990s to 8 percent in the 2000s), a two-thirds decrease in budget deficits and general institution quality improvements.

Taken in combination, these factors have inspired The Economist magazine to coin the phrase “Africa Rising” to describe Africa’s burgeoning population and economic growth and the implications for agribusiness.

Much of this activity is concentrated in the southern two-thirds of the continent.

“Sub-Saharan Africa has a current food deficit in many countries and the promise of even larger future demand due to population and income increases,” said Shelman.

Anticipating and positioning now to efficiently and profitably meet that near-future explosion in demand may present an opening for smart, sustainable agribusiness.

“I believe very strongly that the number one way to feed people is to have affordable food, and the number one way to produce food affordably is to allow intensive agriculture the opportunity to produce efficiently,” said Connolly.

Africa restructures for more abundant food production

The good news is that these dynamics are increasingly being taken into account as African agriculture is restructured to accommodate rapid growth.

“We have seen the acceptance of the private sector and multi-stakeholder partnerships really take root, as well as the development of lobby and organization bodies such as the Rice Council of Tanzania,” said Simpson. “This is largely attributed to the government-led economic and political reforms thus far, with a recent initiative being the establishment of Africa’s biggest economic bloc that allows for free trade over 26 countries across the continent.”

Shelman adds that there’s been a positive shift from focusing only on improving farming to the development of value chains.

“Focusing solely on increasing supply leads to surplus production, which, in the absence of markets, causes farm-gate prices to fall,” she explained. “We now understand the need to develop markets at the same time as supply so product can be 'pulled' through, enabling prices to hold steady and farmer income to improve.”

Additionally, Connolly noted that “there are some challenges for which agribusiness is actually the best hope for progress, most notably in supply chain management, markets and innovation.”

China as Africa’s deus ex machina?

Simpson, stating that Africa has a potential to meet more than the needs of its own population, cited research at University in Munich supporting a commercially oriented approach to land use, with sub-Saharan regions projected to reap the greatest benefit.

“Crops cultivated on current cropland at locations where they yield the highest profits could boost yields by 30 percent on top of an increase by almost 39 percent from multiple harvests,” he said. “Optimal agricultural practices can lead to a further increase of 80 percent.”

This potential is not lost on China, which is scrambling to manage its own exploding population of middle class consumers.

The result is that even while Europeans and Americans remain cautious, viewing Africa as a troubling source of instability, migration and terrorism, China has started to establish its influence on the continent.

“Dance of the Lions and Dragons,” a study McKinsey & Co. conducted to improve understanding of “the rhythm of Chinese business in Africa,” states that, “In a mere two decades, China has become Africa’s biggest economic partner. Across trade, investment, infrastructure financing, and aid, there is no other country with such depth and breadth of engagement in Africa.”

Since the turn of the 21st century, Africa-China trade has been growing at an annual rate of approximately 20 percent. Foreign direct investment has been even more aggressive, growing at the rate of 40 percent annually, the study observed.

It became even more noteworthy in the first quarter of 2017, when China’s direct investment in Africa soared by 64 percent, according to the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China.

China’s foreign direct investment in Africa, according to Simpson, has rapidly diversified to include central government-led, state-owned and private investments. It is both a donor and investor in Africa, he said.

“China has in recent years encouraged public-private partnerships and provided incentives for its agribusiness corporations to invest in African agriculture to develop sustainability, develop markets and expand trade,” said Simpson.

Speaking at a summit in Johannesburg in 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing would plough $60 billion into African development projects.

According to the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town, Xi’s pledge has been materializing. Trade and investment deals between Chinese firms and African countries include:

• A $300 million highway renovation project in Nigeria.

• A $230 million ferrochrome mine and smelter project in South Africa.

• A $200 million copper project in Zambia.

• A $60 million textile factory in Sudan.

• A $55 million cement factory in Cape Verde.

• A $30 million contract to build a telephone network in Ghana.

• A $5 billion China-Africa Development Fund administered by the China Development Bank.

• $2 billion in export credits and $3 billion in preferential buyers’ credits.

What drives China’s interest in Africa?

There are competing views about what motivates the aggressive scale and pace of China’s heightened presence on the African continent.

While China has supported many of Africa’s most ambitious infrastructure developments in recent years, Shelman is wary.

“Chinese business interests, which could potentially be proxies for Chinese government interests, could have enough investing power and political will to help address the infrastructure problems,” she said. “But I would not necessarily view Chinese interests as truly market-driven.”

Shelman’s perception is that “China needs the entire world, including Africa, to produce more so they can buy what they need, when they need it. My view is that their land ownership is an attempt to jump-start African production, and ultimately they may not want to keep these holdings. Others interpret this differently.”

The People's Republic has snapped up about 12 million acres of land to grow grains that get shipped back to China, according to Sara Menker, founder of the agriculture data company Gro Intelligence.

“The world doesn’t know about it because these are really quiet deals,” she told an audience at a Forbes Reinventing America AgTech Summit. “These are large-scale farming operations in sesame, wheat, corn for export to China. It doesn’t really interact with the African farmer. It doesn’t get traded locally. It is purely for Chinese export.”

Offering a competing alternative perspective, the McKinsey & Co. report stated, “around 90 percent of the 10,000 Chinese firms operating in Africa today are privately owned — calling into question the notion of a monolithic, state-coordinated investment drive by ‘China, Inc.’ Although state-owned enterprises tend to be bigger, particularly in specific sectors such as energy and infrastructure, the sheer multitude of private Chinese firms working toward their own profit motives make Chinese investment in Africa a more market-driven phenomenon than is commonly understood.”

African agriculture could be abundant, IF…

According to the 2017 Alltech Global Feed Survey, the last five years have seen growth in the African region outpace the world.

“This year’s growth was over 13 percent,” said the survey of Africa’s 2016 feed production. “Half of the countries grew strongly. Shining stars include Nigeria, Algeria, Tunisia, Kenya and Zambia, all of which saw growth of at least 30 percent.”

The World Bank estimates that African farmers could grow enough food to feed the continent — and generate an estimated $20 billion in earnings for their countries — if policy makers can agree to lift cross-border restrictions and simplify the rules and fees involved in food trade, according to Connolly’s white paper.

It’s a big “if.” The Cato Institute report finds many African countries plagued with regulatory hurdles. For example:

• A study by the Rwanda Ministry of Trade and Industry found that a truck driver traveling the 1,000-mile distance from Kigali to Mombasa, Kenya, must stop at 26 roadblocks and pay bribes (an average of $846) along the way. The study also found that it took 121 hours for drivers to make the trip.

• According to a World Bank economist, southern African truck drivers for supermarkets that cross a border can be required to carry a staggering 1,600 documents with them in order to comply with permitting requirements.

Connolly noted, however, that progress in reducing red tape is being made.

“Rwanda, South Africa and Botswana are now rated as in or near the top 50 (of 189) easiest countries in which to do business, according to the International Finance Corporation,” he said. “However, there is considerable scope for improvement: virtually all of the bottom 20 countries are in sub-Saharan Africa.”

The rapid pace of technological innovation also presents a major challenge to African governments, he said.

“Whether it is approval of a new type of crop protection chemical or regulation of the ownership of data collected in a field, agriculture requires dealing with complex scientific and legal matters,” said Connolly.

This is one area where agribusiness can assist. Agri-scientists are well-positioned to help reduce the scientific gap among industry, academia and government.

Additional applications of agribusiness expertise could address environmental sustainability as well as losses attributed to harvesting techniques, mold, insect and animal infestations in storage facilities, packaging and marketing.

The roadblocks

While Africa’s progress is evident, Connolly cited a formidable litany of continuing obstacles, captured in his GLIMPSE acronym: “government, losses, infrastructure, markets, people, science and the environment.”

What is clear, he noted, is “the central role of government, and indeed, not just mandating things, but also freeing businesses up in order to produce food more economically.”

In Shelman’s view, the opportunities for agribusiness in Africa are many.

“Fresh fruits and vegetables, and products like citrus and avocados that can be exported to Europe and other countries, can command strong prices if the transportation is available,” she said.

“The next opportunity,” in her view, “is to develop products for local markets, such as processing tomatoes in Nigeria and rice that can be substituted for imports.”

Meats and dairy, she said, “are more challenging due to the need for cold chain and processing capacity, but those are coming as the infrastructure develops.”

Back to the days of Alkebulan: Africa as our new “Garden of Eden”

Africa was known in ancient days as Alkebulan, meaning “mother of mankind” or “Garden of Eden.” Could its former name designate its destiny?

Time will tell.

The potential of the African continent is quite clear, yet the challenging impediments to its realization are many. But, keep watching. There is no doubt today that continent-wide change is not only coming — it’s already underway.

[DUNBOYNE, Ireland] – Last week, during Nov. 20 to 24, a group of 130 dairy farmers from seven countries embarked on a European tour of dairy farms with Alltech to learn about new innovations and different approaches being adopted by farmers.

Visiting seven different dairy farms in Germany, the Netherlands, France and Ireland over the four-day journey, the tour also provided a networking opportunity for farmers to discuss and share ideas about the future of dairy production.

The host farms included a German farm near Berlin called Milsana, which has 3,600 cows. Herd health and performance are paramount at this large-scale operation, and it currently achieves 12,000 kilograms per lactation and 27.5 kilograms of dry matter intake. In the Netherlands, the group visited two family farms, one of which is outsourcing heifer rearing and calving at 22 months as well as placing emphasis on excellent silage management and quality to drive farm efficiency and performance.

Farm diversification was a common theme in each country, with biogas plants present on several farms in order to generate alternative sources of revenue and sustainable energy. In addition, a German farm showcased how it is developing its own brand of milk and selling it on-farm as well as a Dutch farm that welcomed the group to it’s very impressive new B&B facility.

In France, the group had the opportunity to visit Drakkar Holstein, a well-known genetics specialist selling high-genetic value animals, embryos and semen around the world. It also hosts an annual on-farm auction. On the final day of the Alltech Euro Tour, the group learned about Ireland’s unique grass-based system and seasonal calving at John Wynne’s impressive unit in County Wicklow, which is currently achieving a 72 percent conception rate to first service.

In addition to farm tours, the group heard presentations on the global dairy market outlook from Dr. Markus Fahlbusch from the University of Göttingen in Germany as well as the impact of digital technologies on dairy farming from David Hunt, CEO of Cainthus.

“The Alltech Euro Tour is a clear reminder of the desire for farmers to meet with, learn from and share experiences with neighbouring farmers across Europe,” said Julien Martin, Alltech regional director for Northwest Europe. “With many changes and uncertainties across the agricultural industry, the benefits of travelling to see what other farmers are doing, engaging in group discussion and idea sharing on occasions such as this are so invaluable.”

The tour experiences made a strong impression on the participating farmers, with one farmer in his 60s admitting that, instead of looking to retirement, he is now eager to take on some new projects, including a biogas plant, on the family farm.

“Alltech is extremely proud to have brought together this fantastic group of seven different nationalities,” added Martin. "We hope each attendee has walked away with at least one new idea to improve or change their business for future sustainability.”

Excessive plant growth can reflect hormonal imbalance

Contrary to popular belief, plant growth is not directly linked to an increase in yield. For example, in beans, excessive vegetative development can lead to self-shading, a condition in which the lower leaves, where the productive areas of the plant are located, do not receive sunlight. This impedes photosynthesis, decreasing the productivity of the plant.

According to agronomist Fransérgio Batista, grain specialist and technical manager for Alltech Crop Science, this occurrence signifies a hormonal imbalance in the plant.

“There is a plant hormone, auxin, which is responsible for plant growth,” explained Batista. “When the plant develops excessively, it’s because there is too much of this hormone acting on the plant. This also inhibits the production of other hormones that are important to the plant.”

Intent on improving the balance of his bean crop, Joel Ragagnin, a grower from Jataí, in the state of Goiás, Brazil, added natural products that are based on plant extracts, nutrients and amino acids to his management practices. This combination aids the crop in balanced plant development.

“By having better control over plant growth, we can improve the productivity indexes on the farm,” said Ragagnin.

According to Batista, because photosynthesis is vital to the plant, keeping leaves green and healthy should be a prime objective of crop management.

“There are leaves from the lower to the upper parts of the plant,” said Batista. “A plant that produces is a plant that photosynthesizes in all its leaves. This is a key process for the plant.“

In addition to the use of crop inputs that contribute to the hormonal balance of the plant, the agronomist noted the importance of plant nutrition, the availability of water during the entire growth cycle and the control of pests and diseases for attaining adequate crop development.

“Through these methods, it’s possible for the producer to have an even more significant response,” concluded Batista.

Biostimulants enhance nutrient assimilation and plant development. They are becoming a popular crop input in many countries around the world for several reasons.

Benefits to using biostimulants on your farm

1. Biostimulants assist in combating the effects of environmental stresses.

Biostimulants promote enhanced germination and root development, leading to increased vigor and greater stress resistance. An enhanced root system promotes more efficient nutrient and water uptake and translocation throughout the growing season.

2. Biostimulants increase grain fill and quality.

Promoting growth and improvinga plant’s metabolism can benefit overall plant growth and health. In addition, providing a catalyst at specific developmental stages can lead to increased yield, improved uniformity and overall crop quality.

3. Biostimulants encourage plant growth.

Biostimulants generally operate through different mechanisms than standard fertilizers and provide essential nutrients for plant metabolism that stimulate plant growth. These metabolic pathways upregulate gene expression that can have an effect on cell division and sizing, root and shoot growth, and reproductive development and timing.

Your agronomist or crop advisor can give you more information on incorporating biostimulants into your current crop management program.

When scouting for disease in your crops, it is important to remember that sometimes the cause of the symptoms is not obvious. Diseases can be caused by a variety of factors, such as environmental stressors, reactions to various fertilizers or herbicides, nutritional deficiencies or soil problems. Therefore, it can be difficult to pinpoint the cause of the disease and determine an appropriate treatment.

When scouting your crops for disease, pay particular attention to these three plant parts:

1. Examine the roots

“Windshield scouting” while driving the fields doesn’t work because disease is not always easily visible to the human eye. To ensure you are catching any sign of disease before it progresses, it is important to get into the field and dig up a few plants to examine the roots. Look for unhealthy roots that may have lesions. To get a better look, try washing the roots with water and then cutting them up the middle to examine for any sign of internal infection.

2. Examine the leaves

Especially during flowering, make sure to look at the leaves and sheaths on each plant. Pay attention to lesions, which will help you determine the amount of leaf infection.

3. Examine the stem and heads

When examining the stems, heads and pods of plants, be sure to split them apart for a closer look at the inside, observing any discoloration that could be caused by fungi or bacteria. Also, check the outside of the stems, heads and pods of the plants for signs of fungal material or lesions.

Scouting for disease is critical to ensure early intervention. Samples should be taken of all suspect crops and submitted to a trusted lab, such as Quantum Genetix, that can test for disease.
 

How does Dan Donavan of Murphy and Sons increase yields and improve the quality of his tomatoes which are destined for restaurants like Subway, and What-A-Burger? He looks under the soil at root structure, of course, and that’s where Alltech Crop Science comes in.

Telmo Cristina, an industrial tomato producer in central Portugal, tells how Alltech Crop Science solutions improved the quality of his produce and helped him to better meet the demands of the tomato concentrate industry.