Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security
Today the finalised version of the MSc dissertation was submitted! Almost a slight stockholm syndrom occured, not wanting to let it go. Next steps are to draft a presentation on this very thesis, and start seeking for other sources of information and continue the inventory list. Some of the main findings will be summerised in the research section of the site.
Good evening!
And only two weeks left before the gong! long days of binge drinking caffeine, a symbiosis created with a chair, and falling behind my regular posts for this website. We shall try to catch up! The last month has focused on data analysis which for an LCA study involves long hours of bactrack calculations, making countless assumptions that can be justified and vindicated by the litterature, and making estimations based on given and available information. it seems thin, but one of the fruit of this last month can be found in the newly uploaded diagram
I’ve attached in the research project page, the latest and last diagram done for the project. This will give a good idea of the mass balance system studied here. all inputs and outputs subject to environmental assessment are represented.
Scrolling down the TrUE website and realised all of the newest additions. A good list of videos showing different actors and workpackage leaders within the project. you will see them clearly stating their role and and assessment of the project’s importance:
https://www.true-project.eu/2018/07/10/interview-with-prof-bob-rees/
https://www.true-project.eu/2018/07/17/interview-with-dr-david-styles/
https://www.true-project.eu/2018/07/17/interview-with-karen-hamann/
Also, we have this interesting case study of legume being used as aquaculture feed by substituing fully and partially fishmeal and/or soybean meal (SBM) with different quantities of lupin. results suggest interesting results such a change in immune system response. for further info, you can read at:
https://www.true-project.eu/2018/06/11/legumes-for-aquaculture-feed/
A new American company showing to be as cost effective as a conventional feed-mill, using distillar grain technology:
Poore and Nemecek published in Science a first Global LCA of food production and consumption. You’ll find the article for their work attached below. For the actual publication, go to bibliography!
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/plant-based-diets-greenhouse-gases-environment
I Thought I would share the brand new system boundary that was elaborated for our research. You will find it in the research section of this website
This one focuses on the disitllation process at Arbikie with various inputs and outputs of the reference flow. Interestingly for those who are interested in Alcohol production, the process is fairly defined and could show some of the various steps.
For further information about therminology and process and more details you might want to visit these 2 websites:
https://www.whisky.com/information/knowledge/production/details/distillation.html
http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jhb/whisky/swa/13.html
Dear All, after a unvoluntary vow of silence for the past few weeks, I will start this week with a post about the enlightened, far-sighted and intelligent decision from Costa Rica 1 year ago.
This has no relation to my thesis subject but is of personal interest and calls back to some campains from the CCAFS society this year.
After reading such article, we start to wonder how this level of scaled-decision for environmental benefits are not embraced by any of our fellow EU members.
I hope that the C-R goverment will indeed see through this pledge and that such a burden will be lifted from an environmentally endangered country
A few interesting and fun statements by Jenny Chandler:
“My father gave me this lecture about being sensible, not getting drunk at parties and never eating red kidney beans, because back then there was this whole thing about the toxins you have to boil out of [raw] red kidney beans. As a student, I was terrified of them.”
“But what of another significant problem? Not one of price or convenience, but flatulence? Will pulses always be followed by an ill wind that inhibits their popularity?
Failing that, there are ingredients you can add, such as cumin or seaweed, that are thought to break down the oligosaccharides that cause those explosive after-effects. If you are keen to explore the world of pulses beyond baked beans, it’s worth bearing in mind. Your family and friends will be forever grateful.”
To read full article, please click here: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/19/on-the-pulse-why-beans-peas-and-lentils-are-making-a-comeback
Eu state members and MEPs calls for an urgent change. A strong message was given to the commission, to increase EU grown protein to further reduce the dependence of soya import from developing countries
“Once upon a time, there was a farmer on the Swabian Alb, a mountain region in south-west Germany, who was enjoying farming but he felt that something was missing. One day, the farmer and his family had lentils, the regional “national dish”, for lunch. Suddenly he wondered why these lentils were not produced in his region or at least in Germany any longer, as this was usual all the centuries before. The lentils were rather imported from far away countries like China or Canada. What was going wrong? Curious, innovative and passionate as he was, the farmer re-started lentil growing on his own fields. In the following years, he managed to recover and to rescue two traditional local lentil varieties which survived in a gene bank in St. Petersburg and started to grow and to sell the seeds with good success. In the meanwhile, an organic producer association was founded, which has about 90 members today. The spark leaped over to conventional farmers in the region and all over the Land. The End”
see full in following link: https://www.true-project.eu/2018/04/10/the-farmer-and-the-lentil/