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Spray stops bananas breathing through their skin and kills the bacteria that make them rot It is derived from shrimp and crab shells Growers, supermarkets, even consumers could one day buy the experimental spray A spray that stops bananas from rapidly turning to mush is being developed by scientists. When used to coat green bananas, it slowed their ripening and so kept them fresh for almost a fortnight. By contrast, supermarket-bought bananas often go brown and soggy within two or three days.It is believed that the spray could help save some of the 1.6million bananas thrown away in Britain every...

Forever Cheese Inc is recalling all Ricotta Salata Frescolina brand cheese from lot T9425 due to possible listeria contamination. The product in question may also feature a production code of 441202. The cheese was sold to distributors, retailers and restaurants in the follow states: CA, CO, D.C., FL, GA, IL, IN, MA, MD, ME, MT, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OR, PA, VA, WA. The date of sale ranges from June 20, 2012 to August 9, 2012. Official Recall: FDA.gov

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Nicotine is bad for you and apparently it has the same poisonous effect on pests, getting scientists' attention for a potential alternative to traditional commercial pesticides. Tobacco and nicotine make one of the-hardest-to-get-rid-of vices of modern society – smoking, which can lead to lung cancer and early death. For hundreds of years now, tobacco leaves have been used on a small scale, as a natural organic pesticide, and as the growing concerns about health risk related to tobacco sales are harming tobacco farmers in some parts of the world, scientists looked for a new way of using this plant. Dr...

<p>LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Authorities in Nigeria say they arrested a man at an international airport who was bringing in roasted chicken with unusual stuffing: $150,000 worth of cocaine.</p> <p>National Drug Law Enforcement Agency spokesman Mitchell Ofoyeju said Monday that suspect Vincent Chegini Chinweuwa arrived at Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed International Airport this weekend from Sao Paolo in Brazil.</p>

"Spain, Italy and Greece, who together dominate global production of the Mediterranean staple, are being threatened by tough competition from their New World rivals.,P> The growing olive oil market in the US is poised to be a "battleground" between the historic European producers and their new challengers from California, Chile and Australia, according to agricultural analysts at Rabobank."

The National Weathe Service (at this time) is forecasting that Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isaac may be tropical depression as it enters Missouri/Tennessee. This may be very good news in terms of the drought. Sections of the Mississippi River has been shut down on account of the lack of water. It is possible that this storm system might into the Ohio Valley or even the Upper Mississippi River Valley. It is possible to draw moisture from the Gulf of Mexico/Tropics. This may not help farmers this year. But it is possible that this might help fill reservoirs for some towns and cities...

Ever get the sneaking suspicion that corporations -- or hell, even the mango vendor at the local farmers' market -- are conspiring to use your fear of ingesting chemicals to get you to spend more money on food? Those who worry that they're being misled about the veracity of certain "organic" claims will soon have a pricy tool to protect themselves; at least in theory. Lapka has created a personal environmental monitor via a sleek iPhone accessory and app that claims to be able to test for radiation, electromagnetic fields, humidity, and organicity by way of four separate plug-ins. The...

Fresno Radio Hosts Become Global Celebs; Farm Advice in Hmong; Punjabi Auto Tips ___ On a recent broadcast, Sam Vang engaged in the kind of on-air banter that has helped make him a global radio celebrity. Mr. Vang broadcasts on KBIF-AM, a radio station in Fresno that serves local immigrants but has gained a world-wide following thanks to Web streaming. Sugar cane farmers call him from Australia. A community in French Guiana contacted him seeking advice on raising dragon fruit. "I'm always on call," says Mr. Vang, 48 years old, who broadcasts in the Hmong language. KBIF is an institution...

Posting for JADB. We seem to have missed the thread last week, but here we are!

FRC has been around for decades, why in 2010 did the SPLC suddenly call them a hate group? i can't find the exact date in 201

Groundwater is a life-sustaining resource that supplies water to billions of people, plays a central part in irrigated agriculture and influences the health of many ecosystemsMost assessments of global water resources have focused on surface water,, but unsustainable depletion of groundwater has recently been documented on both regional and global scales. It remains unclear how the rate of global groundwater depletion compares to the rate of natural renewal and the supply needed to support ecosystems. Here we define the groundwater footprint (the area required to sustain groundwater use and groundwater-dependent ecosystem services) and show that humans are overexploiting groundwater in...

The Environmental Protection Agency is going to require all consumers to buy at least four gallons of gasoline from certain gas pumps after the new E15 ethanol-gasoline blend is introduced into the market.(/) The new regulation was revealed in an Aug. 1 letter to the American Motorcyclist Association, which expressed concern that the vast majority of Motorcycles and ATVs in use today aren’t designed to operate on E15 fuel and residual fuel from a pump that serves multiple blends might harm these tanks. “The use of E15 will lower fuel efficiency and possibly cause premature engine failure,” Wayne Allard, AMA...

Good morning, FRiends and fellow gardeners! We finally have power again, some dog-gone big and vicious storms ran over us last night here in NE Louisiana. If anybody figures out how to get a solar system to work at night without spending $100k on batteries, please let me know!! lol Received anywhere between 2.5" and 5" of rain, depending on the field. The 2.5" we registered here at the house can't possibly be right ... the rain was blowing so sideways that I don't think half of it got in the gauge. It was sorely needed and I am...

....the Obama campaign is trying hard to "reach out" to women -- ....with false claims about the GOP's plans to take away contraception.... But for women who are really paying attention, this should raise some eyebrows: As the graphic below illustrates, grocery prices have risen 15% just since the start of President Obama's term.

A COUPLE who had dreamed of farming alpacas near North Nibley have been told they have nine months to find somewhere else to live. Emma and Rodney Bird, of Bird Farm Stancombe, have had their dreams shattered after their appeal against Stroud District Council’s decision to refuse them permission to live on their alpaca farm failed. The couple’s second appeal against an enforcement notice issued by the district council for placing a caravan on site without planning permission was also unsuccessful. Mrs Bird said: "It has been a bitter blow for us to lose our appeal to live onsite with...

The idea of “collapse”, social and financial, comes with an incredible array of hypothetical consequences ranging from public dissent and martial law, to the complete disintegration of infrastructure and the devolution of mankind into a swarm of mindless arm chewing cannibals. In an age of television nirvana and cinema overload, I have found that the collective unconscious of our culture has now defined what collapse is based only on the most narrow of extremes. If they aren’t being hunted down by machete wielding looters or swastika wearing jackboots, then the average American dupe figures that the country is not in...

Good morning everybody! I hope you've had a peaceful and productive week. Last week I posted photos of my cowpea patch and it has changed drastically since. Not only did they blossom, I have pea pods that are already 5" long! We will be picking before too long.Thanks to all who posted photos last week. It was a beautiful thread.Looking forward to reading your comments about what is happening in your neck o' the woods. The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are...

... how Sun-Maid made their raisins disappear ...

Apologies for the late posting of the thread ... I have been on the go since I woke up this morning, and didn't even think about it being Friday until we were 20 miles from the house.I harvested another 15 gallons of honey last Sunday ... boy am I rethinking how many bees I really want to have. Honey robbing in 105 degree heat is no fun, even with a camelback of cold drink under my suit. Got 3 new queens in the mail and installed one in a hive that I had split into 2 hives, and the...