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Who do you turn to for weather reports? How much trust do you have in forecasts? How do these prognostications play on your daily routines? UNL Agricultural Climatologist Steve Qi has spent the last 10 years asking these questions of farmers via questionnaires, Fillmore Country focus groups and published, peer-reviewed journal articles. This morning, he was the one on the receiving end of questions. He answered my knock on his Bessey Hall door with a Chinese-accented “Come in.”
I sat down in a gray chair underneath an army-green bookshelf. His latest project is well-timed. He’s developing a social infrastructure model for small farm communities because “individuals can only do so much,” especially in an oven-roasted summer like this. The model has a lot of moving parts, but would broadly conjoin government services, university extension programs and climate data distribution. This got me excited. In a few weeks, I’ll be in farmers’ backyards in north Iowa and central Nebraska, seeing how they’ve responded to the demands of a severe drought. And I’ll be interested to see how a social infrastructure model looks to them.
In writing about social norms in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Qi notes that “farmers are shown to have a strong tendency to yield to their social norms…knowing those norms will help us to understand further the reasons why farmers do or do not allow the forecasts to influence their farming decisions.” Towards the end of our talk, Qi smiled. “You know, forecasts have never been totally accurate. That’s the funny thing about this area of research.” That’s true. But they have improved dramatically over time.
As I walked back to my office on a hot August morning, I thought more about forecasts—and made one of my own. When we spend less time understanding farmers’ motivations, we increase the magnitude of spoils from forfeiting advances in science and technology.
ESALQ and the University of Nebraska Discuss Scientific Cooperation Agreement*
Based on the theme “Scenarios for 2050,” the institutions discussed possibilities of an agreement and close collaboration. Activities followed this Friday, December 2nd, when a letter of intentions was signed to solidify the accord.
During two days of activities, led by the president of International Activities (CAInt) of ESALQ, Marisa Aparecida Bismara Regitano d’Arce, representatives of the institutions participated in thematic discussions, interdisciplinary approaches and brainstormed implementation and scheduling strategies for each one to firm up the scientific cooperation agreement.
Around 30 teachers who make up the ESALQ thematic groups spoke about food production, biotechnology, bioenergy and bioproducts, environment, livestock innovation and future perspectives. For their part, approximately 10 IANR faculty from the University of Nebraska expanded on areas of joint proficiency.
José Vicente Caixeta Filho, ESALQ director, commented that the agenda accomplished during these days was intense and, consequently, very comprehensive. “We received visitors from Nebraska who are references in various academic fields. We found that both ESALQ and North American institutions have very similar stories, interests and perspectives that will become more promising from an integrated work between them.”
Ronnie Green, vice-president of the University of Nebraska, appreciated the opportunity to come to ESALQ to discuss themes of common interest. “The signing of a letter of intent is very important to set up terms of agreement between institutions.”
The president of CAInt, Marisa d’Arce, commented that the Nebraska delegation was here with this group of researchers to define priority areas for research. “From this meeting and from the specific groups come some actions that will be part of a strategy report of institutional action that should begin next year, with visits of ESALQ professors at the University of Nebraska and the exchange of students in research areas. They return home already considering us partners.”
*I translated this article from its original in Portuguese, here.
Early Monday morning, I visited my first methane capture hog farm. Professor Simone, myself and Críssia, Gabriela and Lucas—three biotechnology graduate students—parked underneath the shade of a silo anticipating a penetrating funk to encompass our nostrils. Humorously surprised, the aroma of a humid summer morning and a steady breeze were the only ones encountered. Carlos and Giuliano, the farm managers, warmly greeted us as we settled in yellow-plastic chairs. “Where is the smell?” I asked Carlos. He said the methane capture has greatly reduced the odor, because it’s concentrated and hermetically sealed inside the biodigestor. Remove that and the swirling stench reappears.
Their enterprise, Centro Sul, is still relatively young. Carlos inherited unkempt, degraded land in 2009 and decided—with financial support from COOASGO, a local swine industry cooperative—to invest in methane manipulation. I cogitated on a few numbers he threw our way. Back in 2009, before the bio-fertilizer, a co-product emerging from methane capture, was sprayed on his pastures, the desiccated grasses only supported one cow per hectare. Now, the piggy turds are collected, fermented, burned and liquefied, and Carlos has a swimming-pool full of bio-fertilizer that fortifies 10 cows per hectare. He said he’s heard cases, with lands less degraded than those he inherited, of 15-20 cows per hectare. I didn’t think to ask it at the time, but it would be worth studying the effect of fertilization on groundwater. When does leeching become a problem? What happens when you over-apply the fertilizer? Most of Mato Grosso do Sul sits on top of the Guarani Aquifer, the largest single body of groundwater in the world.
Eventually, we got up from our plastic yellow chairs—they have a way of molding themselves to you that makes movement feel burdensome—to tour the farm. Giuliano opened the door to the hog coop and we were blasted with funky stuff, although still milder than my memories of Nebraska State Fair porkers. The pigs arrive with 20 kilograms and, 95 to 105 days later, leave with 120 kilograms. That’s a weight gain of 2.2 pounds per day, so these hogs do well to earn their title. The waste is funneled, through underground tubing, into the massive biodigestor and eventually sent to the bio-fertilizer vat. The motor that sprays the compost is also methane-powered, replacing an older gas model.
We left after 3 plus hours, talking and touring. Then Simone’s phone rang. Carlos invited us for lunch. I gave my hands a rigorous washing, already thinking about editing my footage back home in Campo Grande. Chicken hearts came around, I passed; sausage came around, I obliged. It’s tasty here and today I saw—and smelled—the evidence.
Maior Salto de Sempre Visto em Gases do Aquecimento Global
Associated Press, 4/11/11
A produção global do gás carbônico saltou no ano passado pela maior quantidade no registro, calculou o Departamento de Energia dos EUA, um sinal de fraqueza sobre os esforços do mundo para diminuir o aquecimento global.
Os novos números par 2010 significa que os níveis de gases de efeito estufa são mais elevados do que o pior cenário bosquejado por cientistas do clima apenas quatro anos atrás.
“Quanto mais falmos sobre a necessidade de controlar as emissões, o mais que elas estão crescendo,” disse John Reilly, co-diretor de Programa sobre a Política e Ciência da Mudança Global do MIT University, nos estados unidos.
O mundo jogou no ar aproximadamente 564 milhões de toneladas mais de gás carbôno em 2010 do que 2009. Isto é um aumento de 6%. Aquela quantidade de poluição adicional ultrapassa as emissões individuais de todos os países no mundo–exceto China, EUA e Índia—os maiores produtores mundiais de gases de efeito estufa.
É um “monstro” aumento que é impensável,” disse Greg Marland, um professor de geologia na universidade de Appalachian State, que anteriormente ajudava a calcular os números do Departamento de Energia.
Poluição adicional na China e os EUA respondem por mais da metade do aumento das emissões no ano passado, disse Marland. Índia e China são usuários gigantescos do carvão. Mundialmente, a queima de carvão é a maior fonte de carbono e as emissões dele saltou quase 8% em 2010.
“É um grande salto,” disse Tom Boden, o diretor de Centro de Análise e Informação de Gás Carbônico em Oak Ridge, o laboratório nacional no estado do Tennessee. “Do ponto de vista de emissões, a crise financeira global parece ter finalizado.”
Esse artigo foi traduzido do original em inglês, aqui.
I met Milton Barbosa for the first time a few weeks ago on his lush plot of land, a dozen kilometers from Nova Alvorada do Sul. It was a repressively humid Sunday morning and the muddy load from yesterday’s rains splashed itself on our white Ford like orange and red splotches on a milky canvas. We—a group of entomologists from Embrapa and LSU, two ethanol mill employees, myself, a graduate student at the federal university of Mato Grosso do Sul and Milton—wandered through his fields on the hunt for stable flies, which had, since this June, buzzed from noticeable nuisance to persistent pestilence. Nobody knows for sure, yet, what accounts for the population explosion. It’s possible that the sugar cane mill’s increasing application of vinasse as a fertilizer enables a stable fly larval habitat.
At any rate, Milton walked out the door that morning and introduced himself in—considering we were in the middle of nowhere—astoundingly good English. Turns out, his family has lived off this verdant, gravid land since 1929. After working as a chocolate company executive in São Paulo, opening a clove cigarette company in Indonesia and chauffeuring big wigs around Miami (He once gave Stevie Wonder a ride!) he tired of Living for the City, and in 2006, returned to his birthplace to begin cattle and soybean farming.
His relationship with ETH, the neighboring sugar cane mill and one of Brazil’s powerhouse enterprises in the sugar-energy industry, has been contentious at times. Since opening in 2009, they’ve repeatedly offered more and more money to “lease” his land. That means they pay him $350/hectare/year to plant and harvest the cane on his property. And yet, for motives he describes in the interview, he doesn’t take the money. What is the right balance between environmental preservation and industrial expansion? What non-monetary values are embedded in the soil of your home land? These are a few of the things we cover in this interview.
Criei este gráfico para ilustrar a onipresença de carbono ao redor e dentro de nós. É misterioso que, em sua forma pura, ele esculpe diamantes majestosos, e quando joga um ou dois átomos de oxigênio (monóxido ou dióxido), se torna volátil e nocivo. Nós seres humanos nascemos com carbono, vivemos com carbono e, agora, precisamos sobreviver com ainda mais carbono.
Nosso sentido do olhar, em termos de desenvolvimento e necessidades, é frequentemente ocluído por aquilo que está em nosso campo de visão mais próxima. Interessantemente, essa tendência se materializa tanto nas ações dos cidadãos—quando nos deixamos, desnecessariamente, o ar condicionado no nível mais alto ou o computador ligado com a única função de mostrar as imagens de pradarias e montanhas enquanto comendo, vorazmente, a energia do planeta—como nas decisões das nações, quem chegam a conferências sobre o clima e o meio ambiente, fazem promessas, trocam os mãos e acabam incapaz de manter essas promessas para si mesmo. Nosso planeta não se defende e, então, nosso papel, como seres humanos, é para cuidar, preservar, conservar e desenvolver com ele, racionalmente e mais importante, com a perspectiva de que a ação do indivíduo muda suas imediações e deixa um carimbo sobre as pessoas a milhares de quilômetros de distância.
Dois anos atrás, estava flutuando no rio Mekong, no sul do vietnã, pensando sobre o homem como transformador do ambiente. Barcas, gigantescas, transportaram areia escavada de outros lugares para aplicar nas margens onde a erosão tinha destruído o habitat. Nos campos próximos, debaixo do palmeiras e coqueiros, lixo e fezes estavam espalhados, como se eles tivessem caído do céu numa tempastade. Entretanto, os barcos – inclusive o que estava – preencheram os rios com pétroleo, de forma lenta e eficaz, engasgando as criaturas abaixo. Contudo, esse ambiente foi uma das mais encantadoras que jamais tinha visto—com o delta do rio que estendeu-se além da minha visão, as espécies exóticas de peixes e pássaros saltando e voando e os cocos empilhados como se fossem serras verdes. Mas, a poluição e as transformações que o homem fez, ou seja – a interferência dele no meio-ambiente – eram apenas microcosmos em relação a que estava acontecendo mais acima deste rio, que se curvava por 4,909 quilômetros.
No final da decáda de 80, a China construiu uma série de barragens hidroelétricas. Com o passar do tempo, os efeitos desta construção foram observados, assim com: baixo níveis de água no rio, a perda de várias espécies e a introdução forçada por outras espécies, particularmente as piscinas de algas e jacinto de água. O rio Mekong funciona como um sistema de saúde para milhões de pessoas, proporcionando-lhes àgua para adubar e irrigar, um lugar para pescar e uma hidrovia que liga suas pessoas e seus produtos empara o resto do mundo. Mais recentemente, em agosto desse ano, Laos, um país destitute e sub-desenvolvido onde o rio Mekong banha, declarou a construção de nove barragens propostas. É Laos agindo de forma irresponsável ou tentando levantar os seus cidadãos da pobreza? Sustentabilidade insere-se aqui.
Atualmente em Laos, o olhar do desenvolvimento local é mais focado sobre as ações que produzem resultados econômicos imediatos do que preservam as riquezas naturais do país. Isso é previsível, normal e até humano, porque eles têm vistos os seus vizinhos: china, tailândia e vietnã crescem economicamente e politicamente nos últimos dez anos e, querem reproduzir isso em seu próprio país. Mas, colocando tudo na balança, vamos perguntar o seguinte: quando o meio-ambiente se tornar mais importante do que o auto-interesse de um país? Porque o rio Mekong – na verdade qualquer rio - transcende as fronteiras nacionais, geográficas e culturais, além de carregar as atividades de uma nação para a outra. Nesta circunstância – talvez até outras – o desenvolvimento local precisa ter um maior componente, um que leva tudo em conto, porque a paisagem construída e os efeitos, bons e maus, serão compartilhada por todos.
Tudo isso é muito importante, crítico e fundamental, porque nossa paisagem, além de ser o que nos sustenta, nossas indústrias, culturas e clima habitável, é, acima de tudo, o que nos torna humanos. Consequentemente, para que as necessidades humanas sejam renovadas, nós devemos trocar exploração e indulgência por inovação e temperança. E isso é verdade, tanto em aldeias de pescadores em Laos e vietnã como nos corredores do poder em Brasilia ou Washington D.C. Apesar das diferenças sociais que existem no mundo, talvez todos nós poderemos concordar que a saúde do nosso planeta é como o rio: o que recebemos é diretamente proporcional ao que nós colocamos dentro.
No final, voltando ao barco, fiquei olhando a boca do delta que encontra o mar da china, que faz parte do oceano pacifico. Agora, me achando nesse novo contexto, senti como uma parte da natureza em uma maneira que jamais havia sentido. Ou seja, estava vivenciando um novo sentido do olhar.
I hope mine turn out this good
Two weeks ago, I made Brigadeiro–a Brasil-wide chocolate choclate desert much similar to these Beijinhos pictured agove. I passed around 40 or so to folks at school and in the neighborhood, to commendable reviews. The brigadeiro was first made as a gastronomic recruitment tool for brigadeiro Eduardo Gomes, a military man who, unsuccessfully, ran for Brazilian president in 1946 and 1950. The beijinho is a caucasian brigadeiro that uses grated coconut instead of chocolate powder and sprinkles. Sometime this week I will make these, hoping they turn out as the brigadeiros. As a fan of easy recipies, especially deserts, I thought other interested pastry chefs might like a recipe, as follows:
- 2 cans of condensed milk
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 300 grams of fresh grated coconut
- Crystal sugar
- Cloves
1) In a pan, mix the 2 cans of condensed milk, butter and grated coconut, light the fire and mix occasionally for 15 mintues.
2) Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool.
3) As the mixture is sticky, grease your hands with butter and begin rolling into small, ping-pong ball sized portions.
4) On a separate plate, mix sugar and grated coconut, rolling the balls in the mixture.
5) Finish the beijinho with a clove on top and place in the wrapper.
An interview with Brazilian rancher Antonio Barbosa on cattle farming, sugar cane and land use. Barbosa's Fazenda Michelle is located approximately 15 miles from Nova Alvorada do Sul in Mato Grosso do Sul.
Uma entrevista com o fazendeiro brasileiro Antonio Barbosa sobre a pecuária, a cana-de-açúcar e o uso da terra. Fazenda Michelle, a fazenda dele, está localizada aproximadamente 20 quilômetros de Nova Alvorada do Sul.
Earlier this week, while hunting stable flies—an escalating and confounding pest for regional cane and beef producers—with Embrapa and Louisiana State University entomologists, I navigated through sugar cane fields, mills (ETH Santa Luzia and Adecoagro Angélica) and cattle pastures, absorbing as much sun, insects, rust-colored dirt and information as possible. Some of this passed through my camera lens, which I condensed into this video about the surging assimilation of sugar cane co-products into the productivity chain. Here’s a textual supplement.
Vinasse
A liquid by-product originates from any sugar milling process. The conundrum a few years ago was how to efficiently spread this iron-nitrogen-potassium infused concentrate around fields. If dispersed in too high a quantity, bad things happen. Writing in the Brazilian Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Dra. Melissa da Silva writes:
“Por outro lado, a vinhaça também pode promover modificações das propriedades físicas do solo, de duas formas distintas: essas alterações podem melhorar a agregação, ocasionando a elevação da capacidade de infiltração da água no solo e, consequentemente, aumentar a probabilidade de lixiviação de íons, de forma a contaminar as águas subterrâneas quando em concentrações elevadas, além de promover a dispersão de partículas do solo, com redução da sua taxa de infiltração de água e elevação do escoamento superficial, com possível contaminação de águas superficiais.”
“On the other hand, vinasse may also promote physical changes of soil properties in two distinct ways: these alterations can improve soil aggregation, increasing soil water infiltration ability and, consequently, increasing the probability of ion leaching, in a way that contaminates groundwater when in high concentrations, as well as promoting the dispersion of soil particles and contributing to a decrease in water’s infiltration rate and elevation of runoff, with possible contamination of surface water.”
ETH employs an advanced system of vinasse diffusion through below and above ground piping, storage tanks, canals and hydraulic cannons. It’s nice to have German engineering and billions of $ in capital on your side. This year they planted 42,500 hectares of sugar cane–8,900 of those sprayed with vinasse. Their goal next year is to irrigate 14,000 hectares. An established industry equation is as follows: 12 liters of vinasse are produced per liter of ethanol, so a larger planted area yields more vinasse. It’s a directly proportional relationship. ETH’s figures for cubic meters of applied vinasse are telling.
- 2009: 1,680,000 mᶟ
- 2010: 2,416,028 mᶟ
- 2011: 2,733,196 mᶟ
- *2012: 4,300,000 mᶟ
The blast of vinasse may be the transgressor behind this explosion in stable fly population. It’s too early to tell because vinasse application on such a large scale is original. If it is the culprit, it’s likely this original problem will require an equally original solution, because bugs have lived through all of humanity’s blitzkriegs.
*2012 is an estimate based on my math and is, logically, subject to nature and industry whims.
Bagasse
Bagasse (bagaço in Portuguese) is not a new breakthrough. Sugar cane plants have been burning this fibrous stalk residue for some time. At least 3 tons of wet bagasse are produced for every 10 tons of crushed cane. ETH, as an example, has installed capacity (lower actual production this year due to rain) to grind 4 million metric tons of cane, which yields:
- 4 MMT = 1.2 MMT of wet bagasse
ETH Santa Luzia general manager Eliandro Romani told me, in an interview in June, that these million and change tons of bagasse are enough to supply a city of 200,000 with their annual electricity. And with the skyrocketing consumer demand that I’ve casually observed in Brazil, every stalk counts.
Mulch
The bagasse-yielding process is fortuitous because it spawns torta de filtro, a mulch-like co-product dispersed throughout the fields to enrich soil. Mulch was the best translation I could offer, but I’m open to a better one. The direct translation is “filter cake” which confers a dubious confectionary quality. So, what is it, really?
It begins with the filtration of sugar cane caldo (juicy broth) extracted from the rotary filter of the mill. After going through treatment and decantation, the giant tracts of mulch move from plant to field, to allow the elements and an oddball mixture of plaster, boiler ash and straw to sufficiently desiccate the mulch’s 70% initial moisture. This mixture, rich in carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, is then loaded into tractors with a specialized trailer equipped to sow row by row.
Applying the mulch to ethanol production is still relatively new and agronomists are tinkering with combinations and concentrations of industrial residues and native soils. In sandier regions, like Mato Grosso do Sul, this mulch helps offset lower levels of innate organic material. Adecoagro’s Angélica plant (they also produce the mulch) had a more rudimentary answer for soil fertilization, cama de frango, or, chicken shit.
