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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Today we discuss the greenhouse effect.

Farmers and gardeners have long used greenhouses to extend the growing season in cold weather. Now, hoop houses are gaining popularity. Hoop houses are sometimes called a temporary greenhouse or passive solar greenhouse.

Some hoop houses are rounded; others are shaped more like a traditional house

Now, the United States Department of Agriculture has announced a program to help farmers who want to build hoop houses.

The department, through its Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, has been supporting a project in Michigan. That state has a short growing season.

As part of the research project, nine farmers were given materials and trained how to build and use a hoop house. The results showed that well-managed hoop houses can grow high-quality crops.

However, crops are not the only things that grow well. The research found that weeds grow faster in a hoop house. Weeding, seeding and watering requires at least as much work as crops grown in the open air. The researchers also advise growers to add compost material to the soil in hoop houses to build nutrients.

Eliot Coleman is an organic farmer and a writer in Maine who has helped popularize the idea of four-season farming. His ideas about hoop houses sounded good to John Biernbaum in the Horticulture Department at Michigan State University.

Professor Biernbaum tried hoop houses on the Student Organic Farm at Michigan State and had success. Project director David Conner says it was a "test drive" for the research on private farms. The agricultural economist points to the demand for locally grown crops. "People are hungry for good, fresh vegetables," he says.

Hoop houses for winter growing can even be found at the White House, where Michelle Obama has a vegetable garden. The houses are small because of limited space on the South Lawn.

A hoop house specialist at Michigan State University, Adam Montri, has videos on YouTube explaining how to build one. You can go to voaspecialenglish.com and find a link to his videos and also a link to our videos on YouTube.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Bob Doughty.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Last week our subject was illegal fishing. Now we report on two cases where fish are both the victims and the offenders.

The first involves two kinds of Asian carp, bighead and silver. They can grow more than a meter long and weigh up to forty-five kilos. They eat huge amounts of plankton that other fish need to survive. Silver carp can also jump high and hit boaters.

A silver carp

But now the fish are moving north toward the Great Lakes. They are making their way up a system built years ago to link the Mississippi to Lake Michigan.

The dangers of an invasion are environmental and economic. The destructive carp could spread within the Great Lakes and threaten fishing and trade.

The Army Corps of Engineers has put an electric fence in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. The underwater barrier is meant to shock the carp into turning back. Only one Asian carp was found among many thousands of fish killed with poison while part of the fence was being serviced.

The barrier, however, may not be enough to protect the Great Lakes. There are calls in Congress for emergency action. Officials could close shipping connections between Lake Michigan and the upper Mississippi River system. But there are no decisions yet.

So that is the situation in the Midwest. Farther west, the problem is with common carp. Officials in Utah want to remove around three-fourths of the carp from Utah Lake. The lake, near the city of Provo, is the largest natural body of freshwater in the state.

The state wants to remove millions of carp to protect an endangered species native only to Utah Lake, the June sucker fish. The carp eat plants that the suckers use as hiding places.

Carp were first put into the lake in the eighteen eighties as a food source. Now there are so many, experts say up to twenty metric tons a day could be removed with nets over a period of several years.

But officials are fishing for ideas about what to do with all those fish, which could get pretty smelly. Ideas include using them to fill land or making them into liquid fertilizer or letting people eat them.

You can share your own suggestions at voaspecialenglish.com.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Jim Tedder.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Some pirates catch fish instead of ships. The problem is known as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Such fishing harms the productivity of fisheries, and hurts developing countries especially.

The fish pirates can easily land in ports that are not well controlled. Then they sell their catch at prices too low for the local fishing industry to compete. The catch may enter international markets, yet rob communities of needed food and raise the risk of fishery collapse.

But last month, the governing conference of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization approved a new treaty. The agreement, once it takes effect, will be the first under international law to target just this problem.

It has a long name: the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. The F.A.O. says that by signing the treaty, governments promise to take steps to guard their ports against ships involved in such fishing.

The behavior of a fishing boat is mainly the responsibility of the nation whose flag it flies. The new treaty is directed at countries where fishing ships enter port. The aim is to get the countries to identify, report and deny entry to offending vessels.

To land, foreign fishing ships will have to request permission from ports that are able to inspect them. And before they arrive, they will have to send information on their activities and the fish they are carrying. If a ship is denied entry, other ports will be told. And the nation whose flag it is sailing under must take action.

The agreement will take effect once twenty-five countries have ratified it into law after signing it. Eleven members of the Food and Agriculture Organization immediately signed the treaty. They included Angola, Brazil, Chile, the European Union, Indonesia and Iceland. The others were Norway, Samoa, Sierra Leone, the United States and Uruguay.

Activists with the Pew Environment Group say countries should use the measures even before the treaty takes effect. The group notes that a past fishing treaty took almost ten years to come into force.

But the director of international law programs at Southern Illinois University is more hopeful. Cindy Buys thinks the treaty might take effect in only about a year. But she points out that the success of the treaty depends on the ability of nations to enforce it.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. You can find transcripts at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Jim Tedder.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Rice hulls, or husks, are the protective coverings on grains of rice. Rice with just its hull removed is brown rice. Rice without its hull or bran is white rice.

But a chemist in Texas has another idea.

Rajan Vempati led a group that developed a new process to make rice hulls into ash. The idea is to replace some of the portland cement traditionally used in making concrete. Portland cement is a material that holds together the sand and crushed stone in concrete.

Rajan Vempati thinks rice hull ash could help the concrete industry produce less carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is released in cement manufacturing when fuel is burned and limestone is heated. The Portland Cement Association says the gas from the limestone is reabsorbed as concrete ages.

But cement manufacturing produces around five percent of the carbon dioxide released by human activity worldwide. Carbon dioxide is one of the gases that may affect the climate by trapping heat.

The process for making rice hull ash heats the hulls to eight hundred degrees centigrade. Carbon is driven out, and fine particles of almost pure silica remain. The process releases some carbon dioxide, but Rajan Vempati says it would be reabsorbed into the soil naturally.

Another inventor, Prasad Rangaraju, is an engineer at Clemson University in South Carolina. He tested the cement, and says less could be used because the rice hull ash makes it a stronger building material. Also, the inventors say the light-colored material better reflects sunlight, so buildings would cost less to cool.

The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association points out that using ash in cement is not a new idea. The ancient Romans discovered that volcanic ash made better cement.

But the modern inventors say rice hull ash works better than other materials. They developed the process with money from the National Science Foundation. They have not yet brought it to market.

Rice hull ash is already available, but the product is relatively costly.

Cost, including transportation, may decide the success of the new technology. Using it could make the most sense in areas where farmers grow lots of rice and the hulls might just go to waste.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson with Steve Baragona. I'm Bob Doughty.

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Correction attached

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Years ago, a young forester took an unusual new job. Earl Cooley became one of the first smokejumpers. Smokejumpers parachute from airplanes. They fight fires that crews cannot reach quickly or easily from the ground.

Earl Cooley

The first fire jump in the United States took place on July twelfth, nineteen forty, in the Nez Perce National Forest in Idaho.

Another smokejumper, Rufus Robinson, went first. Then out came Earl Cooley.

As he later described it, the plane was not much more than half a kilometer above the trees. The day was windy, and the jump was not as good as others he had made.

He began to turn over in the air when his chute opened, and there were problems with the lines at first. But he chose a large spruce tree to land in near the fire, and climbed down.

With hand tools, he and Rufus Robinson threw dirt on the fire and dug a line to contain it so the flames would not spread. They worked through the night and had the fire controlled the next morning, when other men arrived from a camp in the area.

Earl Cooley always said he was not afraid being a smokejumper. Over the years, he worked to develop the profession. He served as the first president of the National Smokejumper Association. He also wrote about his experiences. But not all had happy endings.

On August fifth, nineteen forty-nine, he was involved in a disaster at a forest fire near Helena, Montana. He had to choose where a crew would jump. But the wind changed and the fire grew unexpectedly, taking thirteen lives.

Many years later, Earl Cooley told a newspaper that he still believed he had made the best decision he could. He retired from the Forest Service in nineteen seventy-five. But he continued to visit the mountaintop where the men were buried, until he could no longer make the climb.

Earl Cooley died on November ninth in Missoula, Montana. He was ninety-eight years old.

Today, more than two hundred seventy men and women are smokejumpers for the Forest Service. Smokejumpers are also used in Russia and other countries.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Karen Leggett.

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Correction: The smokejumpers killed on a mountain in August 1949, in what was known as the Mann Gulch fire, were not buried there, as this story incorrectly said. Earl Cooley would visit the memorial crosses that were placed where each body was found.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

For the past year, the World Food Program has operated a project to prevent hunger in twenty-one countries in Africa. In the project, the United Nations agency works with small farmers to grow more and better produce.

The World Food Program buys the produce through local cooperative associations. Then it distributes the products within the country or area. The project works mainly with women.

Farmers removing grains from rice grass in Ahero, Kenya

But when farmers produce more food, they can sell more. And when they produce high-quality food, they can get higher prices. They can also store food for themselves, and have enough money to buy food if they need to during the lean season. Sheila Sisulu says the farmers are now starting to earn profits through the project.

The Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Fund for Agricultural Development help the farmers choose the best seeds and fertilizers. They also advise the farmers on the quality levels that the World Food Program requires to buy their produce.

Two other groups recently launched a separate effort to increase food security in Africa. The groups are the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and the New Partnership for Africa's Development.

They say African governments have to increase their investment in agriculture in order to fight problems related to climate change. The groups want the governments to develop programs in seeds, soil health, policy and markets.

Former United Nations chief Kofi Annan is the chairman of AGRA. The group's president, Namanga Ngongi, says many African governments are not meeting a target of spending ten percent of their national budgets on agriculture. But he says investment has risen from four percent of national budgets to probably five and a half percent today.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Today's report was written by Jerilyn Watson, with Lisa Schlein in Geneva and Selah Hennessy in London. You can find transcripts, podcasts and archives of our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Jim Tedder.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Alternate bearing is a widespread problem for growers of citrus and other fruit trees. It can affect a large area or just individual trees or even part of a tree. No, it is not a disease. Alternate bearing is when a tree produces a heavy crop one year, called an "on-crop," followed by an "off-crop" the next year.

On-crop trees produce a large number of small fruit with little value. Off-crop trees produce no fruit or a small number of large fruit that often have thick, unappealing skins.

Mandarin trees heavy with fruit in an on-crop year

Two researchers recently did a study to understand how this happens. Johannes Verreynne is now at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Carol Lovatt is at the University of California, Riverside. They studied "Pixie" mandarin trees in the Ojai Valley of California. Mandarin oranges are also known as tangerines.

The study showed that fruit on the tree reduces the next bloom by stopping buds from appearing. This limits the number and length of summer and fall shoots. As a result, there is a reduction in the number of nodes, or joints, that produce groups of flowers along stems. Fruit on the tree during spring bloom stops the growth of flowering shoots.

During an on-crop year, growers often treat the fruit so it can stay on the tree longer. The purpose is to extend the harvest season. Yet Carol Lovatt says holding fruit on the tree makes alternate bearing worse. The researchers advise growers to investigate the effects of thinning or pruning to reduce the number of fruit in early summer of the on-crop year.

The findings appeared in the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science.

Other kinds of trees that can experience alternate bearing include nut trees. Scientists recently studied the effects of mechanical thinning on two kinds of pecan trees in the southeastern United States. The results from the University of Georgia appeared in HortTechnology, also published by the society.

The study compared trees that had been thinned by machine with those that had not been thinned. The findings suggest that thinning during the on-crop year can increase the value of off-year pecan crops.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Bob Doughty.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

A cow with East Coast fever

The disease is widespread in eleven countries. And experts say it now threatens ten million more animals in new areas including southern Sudan.

Researchers first developed an experimental vaccine against East Coast fever thirty years ago. The vaccine works by a process called "infection and treatment." The animals are infected with whole parasites and treated with antibiotics at the same time. This keeps the disease from developing.

Controlling East Coast fever has meant a better life in areas that have gotten the vaccine. For example, the vaccine has been available to a group of Maasai herders in northern Tanzania for about seven years. They used to lose three-fourths of their newborn calves each year. Now, most survive. As a result, many people have extra cattle to sell, and use the money to pay for school for their children.

Young Maasai herding cattle

Now, the nonprofit Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines is trying to expand production and lower the cost. GALVmed spokesman Hameed Nuru says mobile phones have helped lower some barriers to distribution.

HAMEED NURU: "Now, with the advent of cellular technology, most of the people we do reach, such as the Maasai pastoralists, they all have cell phones. And they now call the delivery agent who can now come and meet them at a particular place and do the vaccination for them."

The vaccine is not cheap. But Hameed Nuru says the herders get together to sell a bull and use the money to vaccinate all their animals. They understand that they are getting value for their money: A cow is worth nearly twice as much if it is vaccinated.

A goal is to have local people develop businesses supplying the vaccine.

HAMEED NURU: "People are now seeing that they can actually make a business from supplying this vaccine and getting out to the very rural areas where there is a market for this."

The efforts are supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the British government.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture report, written by Jerilyn Watson with additional reporting by Steve Baragona. I'm Bob Doughty.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Plant breeders and genetic engineers keep working to give crops the strength to resist threats like insects, diseases, droughts or floods.

But before you can resist a threat, you need to understand it.

We told you last week about a newly completed genetic map of the organism that causes late blight. That disease led to starvation in Ireland from potato shortages in the middle of the eighteen hundreds. The new genome could lead to better ways to protect potatoes, tomatoes and other crops.

Science may supply a stronger crop. Yet that does not always guarantee demand.

Nik Grunwald from the United States Agriculture Department worked on the international team that completed the genome. He says it is possible to grow potatoes that resist late blight. But these may not look like Russet potatoes. And most American farmers grow Russets because, as Nik Grunwald puts it, "that is where the demand is."

Another example of scientific progress involves a natural bacterium known as Bt. Bt is used as a pesticide to fight cotton bollworms, corn borers and other pests. Scientists have found a way to grow cotton plants that contain a Bt gene, reducing the need for pesticides. But sometimes, when one problem gets solved, another one appears.

In China, some farmers and researchers blame a decrease in pesticide use for an increase in pests unaffected by Bt. Also, there are concerns that some organisms could begin to resist the plants designed to resist them.

And scientists are reporting this week on what they call the "indirect costs" of a virus-resistance gene in Cucurbita. This is the species of squash that includes pumpkins and gourds. The scientists say virus-resistant transgenic squash are grown throughout the United States and much of Mexico.

The genetically engineered squash are usually larger and healthier than wild squash. But a three-year study showed that beetles like to feed more on the transgenic plants, increasing cases of wilt disease. The report by a team from the United States and China appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers point out that gene flow between crops and their wild relatives is common and difficult to contain. They note concerns that wild plants could, as a result, gain genetically engineered resistances. And these could affect the natural balance in their environment.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Bob Doughty.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Scientists now have a genetic map of the potato. The project is the work of a team from fourteen countries, the Potato Genome Sequencing Consortium.

Potatoes are one of the world's leading food crops. But potato breeders currently spend ten to twelve years developing new kinds. Now they will be able to locate genes for any desired trait, improving quality, nutritional value and disease resistance.

A farmer in northern Germany plants a genetically engineered kind of potato in a test field

The potato genome is not yet final but it shows the order of ninety-five percent of the genes. Most potato varieties carry four separate copies of their genes. But the researchers did much of their work with a phureja, a kind of a potato that has only one copy. Richard Veilleux, a professor at Virginia Tech, provided that variety of potato.

Plant biologist Robin Buell at Michigan State University also worked on the genome. She says it will improve understanding of other crops because potatoes are related to tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.

In a separate development, another team reported completing a genome of the organism responsible for late blight. That disease can infect potatoes, tomatoes and some other plants. It causes several billion dollars a year in agricultural losses around the world.

But late blight was also the cause of the potato famine in Ireland in the middle of the eighteen hundreds. Potato shortages caused at least one million deaths and a wave of Irish immigration to America.

The scientists say that in the short term, studies based on the new genome may help explain why the pathogen has been so aggressive. And in the long term, they say, knowing where different genetic traits may be found on the map could lead to better plants. It could also reduce the need for chemicals.

Completion of the project was announced in the journal Nature. Researchers at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology led the work.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. You can find all of our reports, with transcripts and MP3s, at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob Doughty.

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