Lifeboat Foundation

The aquaculture sector is growing, with fish farming being a key way to ensure Europe gets the quality food it needs without exploiting marine resources further. One key problem the industry faces is how to get the immature fish though their first few months – one EU project may be about to smooth the way.

Aquaculture is a growing market within the EU, bringing employment and providing a sustainable source of fish at a time when our marine life is under pressure. The main bottle-neck for the production of marine fish is the juvenile phase, especially during the time in which live diets are used. Even the established species, sea bream and sea bass, have a very low survival rate with an average of 25 percent. For new species in aquaculture, such as amberjack and tuna, the mortality is even higher.

The natural first feed for most fish larvae is crustacean nauplii, the offspring of many types of crustacean zooplankton. Fish larvae is evolutionary adapted to such a diet, and it is believed that this type of prey fulfils the fish larva’s nutritional requirements.

Continue reading “European aquaculture to benefit from a better quality of live feed” »

‚Every day there are roughly 386,000 new mouths to feed, and in that same 24 hours, scientists estimate between one and 100 species will go extinct. That’s it. Lost forever.

To deal with the biodiversity crisis we need to find a way to give nature more space—habitat loss is a key factor driving these extinctions. But how would this affect our food supplies?

New research, published in Nature Sustainability, found it could mean we lose a lot of food —but exactly how much really depends on how we choose to give nature that space. Doing it right could mean rethinking how we do agriculture and conservation altogether.

They’re based in Berkeley but spreading across the country.

Oil without trans-fat? Wheat without gluten? Gene-editing technology can transform the food we eat. But are consumers on board?

If the global population adopted recommended North American dietary guidelines, there wouldn’t be enough land to provide the food required, according to a new study co-authored by University of Guelph researchers.

The researchers found that global adherence to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines would require one giga-hectare of additional land—roughly the size of Canada—under current farming practice. Their findings were published in PLOS ONE today.

“The data shows that we would require more land than what we have if we adopt these guidelines. It is unsustainable,” said Prof. Madhur Anand, director of the Global Ecological Change and Sustainability lab where the study was undertaken.

Do you feel squeamish about eating a burger that didn’t come from a cow? Most Americans don’t when confronted with how bad meat is for the environment.

This is not sustainable!

Every summer the U.S. Central Plains go dry, leading farmers to tap into groundwater to irrigate sorghum, soy, cotton, wheat and corn and maintain large herds of cattle and hogs. As the heat rises, anxious irrigators gather to discuss whether and how they should adopt more stringent conservation measures.

They know that if they do not conserve, the Ogallala Aquifer, the source of their prosperity, will go dry. The Ogallala, also known as the High Plains Aquifer, is one of the largest underground freshwater sources in the world. It underlies an estimated 174,000 square miles of the Central Plains and holds as much water as Lake Huron. It irrigates portions of eight states, from Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska in the north to Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas in the south.

Continue reading “Farmers are drawing groundwater from the giant Ogallala Aquifer faster than nature replaces it” »

We could make people less stinky, more resistant to radiation, even less dependent on food and oxygen. But would the new creature be human?

Almost everyone who eats fast food is familiar with the frustration of trying to squeeze every last drop of ketchup out of the small packets that accompany french fries.

What most consumers don’t realize, however, is that food left behind in plastic packaging is not simply a nuisance. It also contributes to the millions of pounds of perfectly edible food that Americans throw out every year. These small, incremental amounts of sticky foods like condiments, dairy products, beverages, and some meat products that remain trapped in their packaging can add up to big numbers over time, even for a single household.

New research from Virginia Tech aims to cut down on that waste – and consumer frustration – with a novel approach to creating super slippery industrial packaging. The study, which was published in Scientific Reports and has yielded a provisional patent, establishes a method for wicking chemically compatible vegetable oils into the surfaces of common extruded plastics.

Continue reading “New approach to super slippery packaging aims to cut down on food waste” »