|  | | | Faculty in the News - December 2007 | |
The Price of Biofuels
Technology Review,
The irrational exuberance over ethanol that swept through the American corn belt over the last few years has given way to a dreary hangover, especially among those who invested heavily in the sprawling production facilities now dotting the rural landscape. ... Multimedia video, University of Minnesota researchers explore the future of biofuels.
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Editorial: Over A Barrel
Investor's Business Daily, December 31, 2007
Oil hits $100 a barrel while reserves languish in the ground. ... "In the U.S., we've had the biggest corn crop we've had in years — rail cars are backing up — but we still have corn at over $4 a bushel," observes Benjamin Senauer, co-director of the University of Minnesota's Food Industry Center.
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Higher prices show no sign of retreating
Chicago Tribune, December 31, 2007
US food prices have risen this year at more than twice the rate of 2006 and at a pace not seen since 1990. The outlook isn't any better. "The days of cheap food may be over," says Benjamin Senauer, co-director of the University of Minnesota Food Industry Center.
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Higher prices show no sign of retreating
Chicago Tribune, December 31, 2007
US food prices have risen this year at more than twice the rate of 2006 and at a pace not seen since 1990. The outlook isn't any better. "The days of cheap food may be over," says Benjamin Senauer, co-director of the University of Minnesota Food Industry Center.
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Lowly Algae Fuel A New Renewable Energy Boom
The Chief Engineer, December, 2007
The 16 big flasks of bubbling bright green liquids in Roger Ruan’s lab at the University of Minnesota are part of a new boom in renewable energy research.
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Both Sides Cite Science to Address Altered Corn
New York Times, December 26, 2007
A proposal that Europe’s top environment official made last month, to ban the planting of a genetically modified corn strain, sets up a bitter war within the European Union, where politicians have done their best to dance around the issue. ... But Karen S. Oberhauser, a leading specialist on monarch butterflies at the University of Minnesota, said that debate and further study of Bt corn was appropriate, particularly for Europe.
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Allen Levine: Here's a highlight of the Farm Bill
Star Tribune, December 25, 2007
Nature doesn't discriminate. ... Allen Levine is dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Minnesota and is director of the Minnesota Obesity Center.
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Where are the bees? Experts hunt for clues
Green Bay Press Gazette, December 25, 2007
When entomologists began talking about the disappearance of bee colonies from hives, many people thought it was because of a disease. ... But Gary Reuter, a researcher at the University of Minnesota Department of Entomology, said it likely isn't any one thing.
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Let Them Eat Cake
Newsweek, December 24, 2007
The French do not live by bread alone. ... "It was a huge harvest, so big that it was piling up in parking lots; there wasn't enough storage capacity," says Ben Senauer, former codirector of the Food Industry Center at the University of Minnesota.
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Be on the watch for pantry pests
Hutchinson Leader, December 22, 2007
Keep the bug spray holstered — there are smarter ways to manage the insects found in food bins. ... Jeffrey Hahn is an entomologist with University of Minnesota.
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General Mills' 2Q earnings hit target
Pioneer Press, December, 2007
General Mills posted higher earnings Wednesday and had this message for consumers: Expect that total at the grocery checkout to keep getting bigger. ... A drawdown in the global supply of the world's grain also is a reason prices are going up, said Jean Kinsey, a professor of applied economics and the director of the Food Industry Center at the University of Minnesota.
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New ethanol mandate brings challenges
KARE 11 - TV, December 20, 2007
President Bush signed into law a new energy policy Wednesday that, among other things, will increase fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks to 35 mpg, by 2020, and will phase out incandescent light bulbs. ... University of Minnesota research fellow Doug Tiffany said the government will most likely have to expand ethanol subsidies to support the huge increase in production.
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The Christmas tree debate: Real or fake?
Minnesota Public Radio, December 20, 2007
The Lions Club Christmas Tree stand in Rochester, Minn. is deserted. ... But U of M Forestry Extension Specialist Carl Vogt says if you are going to have a Christmas tree, a cut one actually has smaller carbon footprint than a artificial tree.
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Up the river without a solid bridge
Twin Cities Daily Planet, December 18, 2007
Built in 1905 and reconstructed on the original wooden pilings in 1958, the bridge was closed three years ago when one of its mid-river supporting piers was found to be tilting 11 inches out of plumb. ... . A recent study for the Minnesota Department of Transportation by state economist Tom Stinson and a University of Minnesota colleague found that real per-capita state highway aid to counties fell by 2 percent from 1993 to 2003.
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Watershed district now sees storm water as a liquid asset
Star Tribune, December 17, 2007
That storm water running off the roof, down the street, across the parking lot and into a sewer grate must be stopped, the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District has decided. ... The district arrived at this strategy after several years of discussion about what it should be doing for the next decade and beyond, said board chair Jim Calkins, a horticultural scientist at the University of Minnesota.
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Climate change is real
Dairy Star, December 17, 2007
In the past several years, there has been increasing recognition by scientists that the western Great Lakes climate is showing distinct changes in character. ... "The bottom line: climate change is real," said Mark Seeley, professor of meteorology and climatology at the University of Minnesota.
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State history book shows the times, they are always a-changin
Timberjay News, December 17, 2007
What do Bob Dylan, SPAM, skyways, Lutherans, Herb Brooks and wheat have in common? ... Dr. David Mech, a senior scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey and University of Minnesota adjunct professor, founded the International Wolf Center in Ely.
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Inflation puts bite on a new item: Food
Star Tribune, December 16, 2007
A government inflation report issued Friday confirmed what most grocery store shoppers already suspected: Putting food on the table is taking a bigger bite out of their wallets. ... "This is long-term," said Ben Senauer, professor of applied economics at the University of Minnesota.
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Our Decrepit Food Factories
Blue Ridge Times, December 16, 2007
The word “sustainability” has gotten such a workout lately that the whole concept is in danger of floating away on a sea of inoffensiveness. ... “We’re placing so many demands on bees we’re forgetting that they’re a living organism and that they have a seasonal life cycle,” Marla Spivak, a honeybee entomologist at the University of Minnesota, told The Chronicle.
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Our Decrepit Food Factories
New York Times, December 16, 2007
Scientists have not established that any of the strains of MRSA presently killing Americans originated on factory farms. ... “We’re placing so many demands on bees we’re forgetting that they’re a living organism and that they have a seasonal life cycle,” Marla Spivak, a honeybee entomologist at the University of Minnesota, told The Chronicle.
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2007 U of M corn hybrid performance trial report is available
Hutchinson Leader, December 14, 2007
Results of the Minnesota Corn Hybrid Evaluation Program are now available on the internet at http://sroc.cfans.umn.edu/. The corn yield trials were conducted by the University of Minnesota to provide unbiased information for use by corn growers when they choose hybrids to buy and grow.
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Climate change affected by soil
Financial Times, December 14, 2007
Climate change is a consequence of many interlocking processes, many poorly understood, as a new soil study shows. ... Scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the University of Minnesota and Cambridge University, carried out five years' research in the Panamanian tropical forest to reach this conclusion.
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Mysterious brine makes food safe
Rochester Post - Bulletin, December 11, 2007
The University of Minnesota Extension Service says restaurants and food-production plants should be using a water-based solution as a safe sanitizer.
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Seeds of change
The Daily News Transcript, December 10, 2007
Sometime during the recovery from low-carb diets, a curious thing happened: Lots of folks reached for whole grains. ... It's all in how the grains are processed, says Len Marquart, assistant professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota.
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Science and policy collide in EU over genetically modified crops
International Herald Tribune, December 9, 2007
A proposal that Europe's top environment official made last month to ban the planting of a genetically modified corn strain across the bloc sets the stage for a bitter war within European Union, where politicians have done their best to dance around the issue. ... But Karen Oberhauser, a leading specialist on Monarch butterflies at the University of Minnesota, said that debate and further study of Bt corn was appropriate, particularly for Europe.
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Carp draw a crowd
December 7, 2007
Elbows rested on the tables, and backs lined the walls in the American Legion conference room Tuesday night as a large crowd gathered for Dr. Peter Sorensen’s talk about carp. ... University of Minnesota Fisheries Professor Peter Sorensen in the Chanhassen American Legion with the help of local volunteers, students and DNR staff, he removed carp from the lake for study purposes, and the average age of the fish so far has been 20 years old.
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KARE11 - TV, December 6, 2007
The students at Sheridan Elementary in St. Paul may not know it, but they eat healthier school lunches. ... Contrary to popular belief, a new University of Minnesota study of 330 Minnesota school districts finds kids will eat nutritious meals.
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Wolf may lose endangered species listing with population surging
High Plains Journal, December 5, 2007
For rancher Randy Petrich, the removal of gray wolves from the U.S. endangered species list--a move that would open up the animals to hunting in the Northern Rockies for the first time in decades--could not come soon enough. ... David Mech, a University of Minnesota researcher considered one of the world's leading experts on wolf behavior, predicted populations in the Northern Rockies could hold steady or keep expanding, even with hunting permitted, if the wily animals prove too smart for hunters.
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One bad apple: Consumers prefer perfect produce
Innovations Report, December 5, 2007
A research study published in the October 2007 issue of HortScience found that consumers don't like blemishes—on apples, that is. The study of consumer values led by Chengyan Yue, PhD, Assistant Professor of Horticultural Science & Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, found that low tolerance for cosmetically damaged apples impacts consumers' purchasing decisions.
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The question at Austin pork plant: Why?
MSNBC, December 4, 2007
The wages and overtime Susan Kruse made working for 15 years for Quality Pork Processors helped her support her son, Travis, a ninth-grader. ... Using compressed air is fairly common in the food industry, said Frank Busta, the director emeritus of the National Center for Food Protection and Defense at the University of Minnesota.
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With Apples, Folks Prefer "Perfect" to Organic
The Daily Green, December 4, 2007
Consumers will most often choose apples that look perfect over those that are labeled organic, according to new research published in HortScience. ... "The findings were clear: When given a choice between organically grown apples with surface blemishes or conventionally grown apples, consumers prefer the conventionally grown apples because they 'look better,'" a summary of the research by Chengyan Yue, assistant professor of horticultural science and applied economics at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, reads.
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The key to ethanol's future? Try leftovers
Pioneer Press, December 3, 2007
Critics have long disparaged corn ethanol as a pretty lame source of renewable energy, because making it requires nearly as much fossil-fuel energy as it displaces. ... Researchers at the University of Minnesota see more immediate opportunities, using existing technologies to make ethanol that's notably greener, both environmentally and economically.
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Healthy school meals don’t reduce sales
Fergus Falls Daily Journal, December 3, 2007
It was turkey gravy day in the Fergus Falls High School cafeteria Thursday, which meant one thing: long lunch lines. ... According to The Associated Press, researchers at the University of Minnesota are shedding light on school lunch patterns with a recent study published in the December issue of Agricultural Economics.
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Foundation to give $3.7 mil in 2008
Austin Daily Herald, December 3, 2007
The Hormel Foundation today announced that it has approved $3.7 million in contributions to Mower County organizations for 2008. The University of Minnesota’s Hormel Institute is the principal recipient of The Hormel Foundation’s contributions, as established in 1942 by an agreement between the board of regents of the University of Minnesota and The Hormel Foundation.
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What's for lunch? Maybe it's not all that nutritious
Des Moines Register, December 3, 2007
The National School Lunch Program in individual districts doesn't
always meet nutritional goals...according to a University of Minnesota
study. Lunch sales did not drop in the districts that served healthier
meals writes professor Ben Senauer.
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Algae Emerges as a Potential Fuel Source
New York Times, December 2, 2007
The 16 big flasks of bubbling bright green liquids in Roger Ruan’s
laboratory at the University of Minnesota are part of a new boom in
renewable energy research.
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Drought, economy needle tree growers
Star Tribune, December 1, 2007
Rows of Christmas trees roll south and east over the landscape at Jan and John Donelson's cut-your-own farm. ... Minnesota growers have covered losses before by growing more varieties and cutting older trees, said Carl Vogt, a part-time University of Minnesota Extension forester and part-time Christmas tree grower.
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Editorial: Thumbs Up and Down
Appleton Post - Crescent, December 1, 2007
Thumbs up to the results of a University of Minnesota study, for providing encouragement in the effort to make school lunches healthier.
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Round 2 for Biotech Beets
Truth About Trade, December 1, 2007
Each growing season, like many other sugar beet farmers bedeviled by weeds, Robert Green repeatedly and painstakingly applies herbicides in a process he compares to treating cancer with chemotherapy. ... “The sugar beet growers are going to adopt this technology immediately,” said Alan G. Dexter, the sugar beet specialist at North Dakota State University and the University of Minnesota. In a survey he conducted, 57 percent of beet growers cited weeds as their biggest problem, with diseases the distant runner-up at 16 percent.
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River Revamp
Ag Web, December 1, 2007
Watch a towboat and its full 15-barge load move through a lock on the Upper Mississippi River sometime and you’ll grasp just what a transportation bottleneck exists for U.S. grain trade ... As it stands now, the river lock problem overshadows any difficulties with the other means of moving crops to market, says Jerry Fruin, University of Minnesota ag economist specializing in transportation.
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