#Sweet Corn Seeds Market Growth

[chemicalresearchupdates]

Emerging Trends in Sweet Corn Seeds Market: Genetically Modified Varieties and Beyond

Definition: Sweet corn seeds refer to the seeds of corn varieties specifically bred and cultivated for their sweet and tender kernels. These seeds are used by farmers and gardeners to grow sweet corn, a popular vegetable enjoyed for its delicious taste. Sweet corn varieties differ from field corn, which is primarily grown for livestock feed and industrial purposes. Sweet corn seeds are carefully selected for their sweetness, tenderness, and flavor, making them a crucial component of the agricultural industry and the broader food supply chain.

Market Overview & Scope: The sweet corn seeds market is a significant segment within the global agricultural industry. It encompasses the production, distribution, and sale of seeds for sweet corn cultivation. The market's scope extends to various geographical regions, given the widespread cultivation of sweet corn worldwide. Sweet corn is a staple in diets across many countries, and its seeds have a substantial market presence, serving both commercial farming operations and home gardeners.

Market Growth: The sweet corn seeds market has witnessed steady growth in recent years. Factors contributing to this growth include the increasing demand for sweet corn as a nutritious and tasty vegetable, the expansion of agriculture in emerging markets, and advancements in seed breeding and technology. As consumers become more health-conscious and seek natural and wholesome food options, the sweet corn seeds market is poised for continued expansion. The growth is not limited to fresh sweet corn; it also includes processed sweet corn products such as canned and frozen corn.

Market Industry: The sweet corn seeds industry comprises various stakeholders, including seed producers, agricultural suppliers, farmers, and food manufacturers. Seed producers play a crucial role in developing new sweet corn varieties that meet consumer preferences and evolving market trends. Agricultural suppliers provide farmers with the necessary resources, such as fertilizers, pesticides, and equipment, for successful sweet corn cultivation. Farmers are the backbone of the industry, responsible for growing and harvesting sweet corn. Food manufacturers and processors utilize sweet corn in various products, contributing to the industry's value chain.

Trends: Several sweet corn seeds market trends influence the industry. One prominent trend is the development of hybrid sweet corn varieties that offer improved yield, disease resistance, and taste. These hybrids cater to both large-scale farming operations and smaller, sustainable agriculture initiatives. Additionally, there is a growing emphasis on organic sweet corn and non-GMO (genetically modified organism) options as consumers prioritize healthy and eco-friendly choices. Moreover, sustainable farming practices, precision agriculture, and the adoption of biotechnology in seed breeding are becoming more prevalent in the industry, contributing to its ongoing evolution. The sweet corn seeds market is adapting to these trends to meet the changing demands of consumers and the agriculture sector.

[breelandwalker]

Strawberry Moon - June 21, 2024

Grab your baskets and your moon jars, witches - it's time for the Strawberry Moon!

Strawberry Moon 🍓

The Strawberry Moon is the name given to the full moon which occurs in the month of June in the Northern Hemisphere. The name is taken from the ripening of those little red heart-shaped berries we find in so many summertime treats. Strawberries are typically ready to harvest beginning around the summer solstice, though this will vary depending on variety, planting times, and local weather. Sadly, the Strawberry Moon does not turn red or pink to match the berries.

Other European names for this moon include Honey Moon, Rose Moon, and Mead Moon. North American Indigenous names for the June moon include Blooming Moon (Anishinaabe), Green Corn Moon (Cherokee), and Hatching Moon (Cree).

This year's Strawberry Moon also roughly coincides with the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, with peak illumination occurring at 9:08pm EST on June 21st. (The solstice is occurring one day prior, on June 20th.)

What Does It Mean For Witches? 🍓

Full moons are excellent times for bringing wishes to fulfillment and plans to fruition, all the more so under one named after a prolific berry. This is an optimal time to make things happen!

Your intuition may be stronger than usual during this time, so pay attention to those little inklings and gut feelings that won't be ignored. They might be telling you something important. Dreams may also be more vivid, though not necessarily more accurate or revealing.

This is a time to explore things that catch your attention or pique your curiosity, and to let yourself be open to new ideas and new opportunities.

What Witchy Things Can We Do? 🍓

With a full moon ripening in the sky and the summer solstice upon us, it's time to prepare for a full bloom. Here's hoping you've been nurturing those plans and seeds of growth you planted in the spring, because they're about to start flowering and the way is clear to sow the next stage of your plans. What they will be and what new prospects the summer will bring is entirely up to you.

The full moon is always a good time to look ahead to the future. Think on the plans you have in process and let yourself dream of how things might turn out. If you're inclined to journaling, make a note of how things are going so far and how you hope they'll turn out. Pick your favorite divination method and do a reading for the month ahead. (Make sure you write that down too so you can check back later!)

This is a great time to go berry-picking or flower-gathering, so check your area for pick-your-own farms or farmer's markets with local produce. Have a picnic with friends or just enjoy a quiet afternoon with your own thoughts and a few favorite treats. Make a jar of sun tea or a sweet and summery berry salad. If you're partial to strawberries, indulge that sweet tooth!

Strawberries are also excellent ingredient in spells for love, beauty, fertility, and emotional healing. Create a charm for self-love or perhaps to attract a summer romance. Enchant your favorite makeup or skin care products with a glamour of confidence. Just as expectant mothers once carried strawberry leaves as a folk remedy for pregnancy pains, you can carry a clutch of them in your pocket to help heal a broken heart or assuage the pain of grief. A packet of strawberry leaves is also a potent good-luck charm. Snack on strawberries to bring fertile abundance into your life, whether you're looking for creativity or opportunity or perhaps hoping to grow your family this year.

Charge your crystals and spell jars and moon water under the light of Strawberry Moon to catch the energy of blooming flowers, ripening fruit, wishes coming true, and carefully-laid plans realized. (If you're planning to use it for any consumables, please make sure you're using fresh, potable drinking water rather than rain or runoff.)

Spend a little time reflecting on how your year has gone thus far. Try to focus on the things that have improved and how you've grown as a person and in your life journey. Reflect on your accomplishments and what you plan to do next. Take a moment to be unashamedly proud of yourself for everything you've done and for making it this far despite everything life throws at you.

Happy Strawberry Moon, witches! 🌕🍓

Further Reading:

Bree's Lunar Calendar Series

Bree's Secular Celebrations Series

The Full Moon of June: A Special Solstice Full Moon, The Old Farmer's Almanac.

Strawberry Moon Meaning: The Spectacular Full Moon of June 2024, The Peculiar Brunette.

Everyday Moon Magic: Spells & Rituals for Abundant Living, Dorothy Morrison.

Image Source - Pesto and Margaritas

(If you're enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊)

[nishantkapoor]

Sweet Corn Farming in India: A Brief Guide

Sweet corn farming has gained popularity in India, which is attributed to the growing demand and profitability of the crop. Farmers are adopting this crop because it takes a short time to grow and is a versatile crop.

 Let’s learn more about sweet corn farming in India, its cultivation process and market value.

Land Preparation and Sowing

Sweet corn prefers well-drained soil rich in organic matter. Before planting, plough the soil to make it loamy and well-aerated. Sowing is generally done in the kharif season, when the climate is warm, and the soil temperature is more than 10 °C. Agricultural improvement involves using implements such as Indian tractors. These tractors help till your land in a shorter time than the manual process, increasing the farmer's efficiency.

Seed Selection and Planting

It is very important to select the right variety of seeds to get optimum yield. Today, numerous types of sweet corn hybrids can be bought, which are disease-free. Seed planting should be done 1 inch deep, and the distance between rows should be 2 inches. Space is also useful for getting proper sunlight and aeration for growth of plant.

Irrigation and Fertilization

The proper growth of sweet corn requires a moderate amount of water, which should be supplied regularly. Always ensure you rinse your crop well, particularly when the crop is at the silking or ear development stage. The fertilizer which should be applied in the early stages of the crop is a balanced one to supplement the nutrients. Some of the tasks that can be easily done by Sonalika Mileage Master tractors include fertilization, where fertilizers can be evenly distributed throughout the field.

Pest and Weed Control

Effective weed control is critical if one is to cultivate sweet corn successfully. Competition can be made between the weeds and crops for the nutrients needed so that less yield will be harvested. When it comes to fields, make sure to use herbicides and manually pull off the weeds in order to have clean fields. Monitoring is required in order to control pests such as the corn borer and the aphids. That is why an IPM plan needs to be applied to minimize crop losses.

Harvesting and Storage

Sweet corn is ready to harvest after 100 days. When the silk’s skin turns completely brown, and the kernels in it are well-filled, it is time to harvest. Using tractors like the SWARAJ XT TRACTOR makes harvesting easy and faster with mechanical combine harvesters.

[marketresearchauthority1]

Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Growth, Top Key Players, Trends, Share, Industry Size and Forecast 2030

The Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market has been extensively analysed in this research report, with a focus on recent developments, market dynamics, and potential growth areas. Including important regions including North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and emerging countries, the study examines the global market for Genetically Modified Organism Corn. Furthermore, it looks at the major variables influencing the development of Genetically Modified Organism Corn, as well as industry problems and possible business prospects.

Request Free Sample Report @ https://www.refinedreportsdata.com/request-sample/13362/2023-2031-Report-on-Global-Genetically-Modified-Organism-Corn-Market-by-Player,-Region,-Type,-Application-and-Sales-Channel

This report studies the Genetically Modified Organism Corn market, covering market size for segment by type (Silage Corn, Sweet Corn, etc.), by application (Food Industry, Feed Industry, etc.), by sales channel (Direct Channel, Distribution Channel), by player (Corteva (Dowdupont), Monsanto, Syngenta, KWS, Limagrain, etc.) and by region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and Middle East & Africa).

This report provides detailed historical analysis of global market for Genetically Modified Organism Corn from 2017-2022, and provides extensive market forecasts from 2023-2031 by region/country and subsectors. It covers the sales/revenue/value, gross margin, historical growth and future perspectives in the Genetically Modified Organism Corn market.

Moreover, the impact of COVID-19 is also concerned. Since outbreak in December 2019, the COVID-19 virus has spread to all around the world and caused huge losses of lives and economy, and the global manufacturing, tourism and financial markets have been hit hard, while the online market/industry increase. Fortunately, with the development of vaccine and other effort by global governments and organizations, the negative impact of COVID-19 is expected to subside and the global economy is expected to recover.

This research covers COVID-19 impacts on the upstream, midstream and downstream industries. Moreover, this research provides an in-depth market evaluation by highlighting information on various aspects covering market dynamics like drivers, barriers, opportunities, threats, and industry news & trends. In the end, this report also provides in-depth analysis and professional advices on how to face the post COIVD-19 period.

The research methodology used to estimate and forecast this market begins by capturing the revenues of the key players and their shares in the market. Various secondary sources such as press releases, annual reports, non-profit organizations, industry associations, governmental agencies and customs data, have been used to identify and collect information useful for this extensive commercial study of the market. Calculations based on this led to the overall market size. After arriving at the overall market size, the total market has been split into several segments and subsegments, which have then been verified through primary research by conducting extensive interviews with industry experts such as CEOs, VPs, directors, and executives. The data triangulation and market breakdown procedures have been employed to complete the overall market engineering process and arrive at the exact statistics for all segments and subsegments.

Leading players of Genetically Modified Organism Corn including: Leading players of Genetically Modified Organism Corn including: Corteva (Dowdupont) Monsanto Syngenta KWS Limagrain Bayer Denghai China National Seed Group Advanta Sakata Seed

Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market split by Type, can be divided into: Silage Corn Sweet Corn

Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market split by Application, can be divided into: Food Industry Feed Industry Others

Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market segment by Region/Country including: North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Spain etc.) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and Southeast Asia etc.) South America (Brazil, Argentina and Colombia etc.) Middle East & Africa (South Africa, UAE and Saudi Arabia etc.)

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Chapter 1 Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Overview1.1 Genetically Modified Organism Corn Definition 1.2 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Size Status and Outlook (2017-2031) 1.3 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Size Comparison by Region (2017-2031) 1.4 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Size Comparison by Type (2017-2031) 1.5 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Size Comparison by Application (2017-2031) 1.6 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Size Comparison by Sales Channel (2017-2031) 1.7 Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Dynamics 1.7.1 Market Drivers/Opportunities 1.7.2 Market Challenges/Risks 1.7.3 Market News (Mergers/Acquisitions/Expansion) 1.7.4 COVID-19 Impacts 1.7.5 Russia-Ukraine War Impacts

Chapter 2 Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Segment Analysis by Player2.1 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Sales and Market Share by Player (2020-2022) 2.2 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Revenue and Market Share by Player (2020-2022) 2.3 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Average Price by Player (2020-2022) 2.4 Players Competition Situation & Trends 2.5 Conclusion of Segment by Player

Chapter 3 Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Segment Analysis by Type 3.1 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market by Type 3.1.1 Silage Corn 3.1.2 Sweet Corn 3.2 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Sales and Market Share by Type (2017-2022) 3.3 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Revenue and Market Share by Type (2017-2022) 3.4 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Average Price by Type (2017-2022) 3.5 Leading Players of Genetically Modified Organism Corn by Type in 2022 3.6 Conclusion of Segment by Type

Chapter 4 Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Segment Analysis by Application 4.1 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market by Application 4.1.1 Food Industry 4.1.2 Feed Industry 4.1.3 Others 4.2 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Revenue and Market Share by Application (2017-2022) 4.3 Leading Consumers of Genetically Modified Organism Corn by Application in 2022 4.4 Conclusion of Segment by Application

Chapter 5 Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Segment Analysis by Sales Channel5.1 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market by Sales Channel 5.1.1 Direct Channel 5.1.2 Distribution Channel 5.2 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Revenue and Market Share by Sales Channel (2017-2022) 5.3 Leading Distributors/Dealers of Genetically Modified Organism Corn by Sales Channel in 2022 5.4 Conclusion of Segment by Sales Channel

Chapter 6 Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Segment Analysis by Region6.1 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Size and CAGR by Region (2017-2031) 6.2 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Sales and Market Share by Region (2017-2022) 6.3 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Revenue and Market Share by Region (2017-2022) 6.4 North America 6.4.1 North America Market by Country 6.4.2 North America Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Share by Type 6.4.3 North America Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Share by Application 6.4.4 United States 6.4.5 Canada 6.4.6 Mexico 6.5 Europe 6.5.1 Europe Market by Country 6.5.2 Europe Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Share by Type 6.5.3 Europe Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Share by Application 6.5.4 Germany 6.5.5 UK 6.5.6 France 6.5.7 Italy 6.5.8 Russia 6.5.9 Spain 6.6 Asia-Pacific 6.6.1 Asia-Pacific Market by Country 6.6.2 Asia-Pacific Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Share by Type 6.6.3 Asia-Pacific Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Share by Application 6.6.4 China 6.6.5 Japan 6.6.6 Korea 6.6.7 India 6.6.8 Southeast Asia 6.6.9 Australia 6.7 South America 6.7.1 South America Market by Country 6.7.2 South America Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Share by Type 6.7.3 South America Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Share by Application 6.7.4 Brazil 6.7.5 Argentina 6.7.6 Colombia 6.8 Middle East & Africa 6.8.1 Middle East & Africa Market by Country 6.8.2 Middle East & Africa Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Share by Type 6.8.3 Middle East & Africa Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Share by Application 6.8.4 UAE 6.8.5 Saudi Arabia 6.8.6 South Africa 6.9 Conclusion of Segment by Region

Chapter 7 Profile of Leading Genetically Modified Organism Corn Players 7.1 Corteva (Dowdupont) 7.1.1 Company Snapshot 7.1.2 Product/Service Offered 7.1.3 Business Performance (Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share) 7.2 Monsanto 7.3 Syngenta 7.4 KWS 7.5 Limagrain 7.6 Bayer 7.7 Denghai 7.8 China National Seed Group 7.9 Advanta 7.10 Sakata Seed

Chapter 8 Upstream and Downstream Analysis of Genetically Modified Organism Corn8.1 Industrial Chain of Genetically Modified Organism Corn 8.2 Upstream of Genetically Modified Organism Corn 8.3 Downstream of Genetically Modified Organism Corn

Chapter 9 Development Trend of Genetically Modified Organism Corn (2023-2031)9.1 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Size (Sales and Revenue) Forecast (2023-2031) 9.2 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Region (2023-2031) 9.3 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Type (2023-2031) 9.4 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Application (2023-2031) 9.5 Global Genetically Modified Organism Corn Market Size and CAGR Forecast by Sales Channel (2023-2031)

Chapter 10 Appendix10.1 Research Methodology 10.2 Data Sources 10.3 Disclaimer 10.4 Analysts Certification

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[jurgensclark-blog1]

From Africa to the World: South Africa's Exports Fueling Global Food Demand

From Africa to the World: South Africa's Exports Fueling Global Food Demand South Africa, known as the Rainbow Nation, is not only a diverse and culturally rich country but also a significant player in the global food export market. With its favorable climate, fertile soils, and advanced agricultural practices, South Africa has become a vital contributor to meeting the increasing global demand for food products. This article explores the country's agriculture sector and its role in fueling the world's appetite. hand planting soy seed in the vegetable garden. agriculture concept The Rise of South Africa's Agriculture Sector South Africa's agriculture sector has experienced remarkable growth over the years, transforming the country into a major agricultural powerhouse. With a land area of around 1.2 million square kilometers, South Africa boasts diverse agricultural landscapes, ranging from vast plains to rolling foothills and rich coastal regions. This allows for varied farming practices, enabling the production of a wide range of agricultural products. One of the key factors contributing to South Africa's success in the global food market is its commitment to innovation and sustainable farming practices. The country has embraced advanced technologies and modern agricultural methods to enhance productivity and efficiency. From precision farming techniques and advanced irrigation systems to genetically modified crops, South African farmers have been at the forefront of adopting cutting-edge agricultural practices. Furthermore, South Africa's favorable climate, characterized by long sunny days and adequate rainfall, makes it ideal for agricultural activities throughout the year. The country has established itself as a leading producer of various crops, including maize, wheat, citrus fruits, grains, nuts, and wine grapes. In addition to crops, South Africa also excels in livestock farming, producing high-quality beef, poultry, and dairy products. South Africa's Exports Powering Global Food Demand South Africa's agricultural exports play a significant role in meeting the global food demand. The country has built a strong reputation for producing top-quality food products that meet international standards. Its exports reach consumers in various parts of the world, contributing to food security and economic growth. Maize, commonly known as corn, remains one of South Africa's major agricultural exports. The country is one of the largest maize exporters globally, supplying countries like Japan, South Korea, and other African nations. South African maize is recognized for its superior quality and the ability to meet stringent international standards. Another prominent export from South Africa is citrus fruits, particularly oranges and grapefruits. With large-scale production and efficient supply chains, South African citrus fruits have gained a strong foothold in international markets. From Europe to Asia, consumers enjoy the sweetness and tanginess of South African citrus fruits year-round. South Africa's wine industry has also witnessed tremendous growth in recent years. The country is renowned for its fine wines and is consistently recognized as one of the top wine exporters globally. South African winemakers have received numerous accolades, with their products finding their way onto the shelves of wine connoisseurs worldwide. Tenerife vineyard panorama from drone. Beautiful landscape of stright rows, lines pattern, blue sky Conclusion South Africa's agriculture sector plays a vital role in meeting the global food demand. With its diverse farming practices, favorable climate, and commitment to innovation, the country has become a major exporter of agricultural products. South African maize, citrus fruits, and wines have gained international recognition for their superior quality and taste, fueling global food demand and contributing to the country's economic growth. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 1. What are the key agricultural products exported by South Africa? South Africa exports a wide range of agricultural products, including maize, citrus fruits, wine, beef, poultry, and dairy products. 2. Why is South Africa successful in the global food export market? South Africa's success in the global food export market can be attributed to favorable climate conditions, diverse farming practices, the adoption of advanced agricultural technologies, and a commitment to sustainable farming practices. 3. Which countries import South African agricultural products? South African agricultural products are exported to various countries globally, including Japan, South Korea, Europe, and other African nations. 4. What makes South African maize unique? South African maize is known for its superior quality and ability to meet stringent international standards. The country's favorable climate, advanced farming techniques, and strict quality control measures ensure the production of high-quality maize crops. 5. Why are South African wines highly regarded? South African wines have gained international recognition due to the country's favorable grape-growing conditions, skilled winemakers, and the production of unique and flavorful wines. The country's wines have won numerous awards and are enjoyed by wine enthusiasts worldwide. Read the full article

[marketinsight12]

Sweet Corn Seeds Market Size 2022, Share, Growth, Development, Revenue, Future Analysis, and Forecast to 2028

The Sweet Corn Seeds Market is expected to grow at a significant growth rate over the analysis period 2022-2028, considering base year as 2021.

Sweet corn is a maize variety grown for human consumption that is high in natural sugar content. Sweet corn controls the conversion of sugar to starch inside the endosperm of the corn kernel and is prepared and eaten as a vegetable, rather than a grain. Since the process of maturation involves converting sugar to starch, sweet corn seeds are eaten fresh, frozen, canned, or before the kernels become starchy and tough. Sweet corn seeds offer various nutritional benefits. They are a high source of fiber, potassium, folate, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B6, which improve human health by various means. Sweet corn is as nutritious as any other whole cereal grain, and owing to its natural and healthy sugar content, consumers across the world demand highly for this produce. Along with direct consumption, sweet corn seeds are also used widely for livestock feeding. Further, the huge demand for ethanol production has given rise to higher corn prices, which later provide incentives for farmers, thereby supporting the development of the sweet corn seeds market.

The global Sweet Corn Seeds Market research investigates the market in-depth and offers a comprehensive analysis of the major growth determinants, Sweet Corn Seeds Market share, current trends, key players, and their future predictions. In addition, market demand and supply, each geographical region's growth rate, and market potential are all included in the Sweet Corn Seeds Market study. Raw materials, marketing channels, client surveys, industry trends and proposals, CAGR status, product scope, Sweet Corn Seeds Market trends, major leading countries/regions, market risk, and market driving force are all included in the market research. The market prediction was based on a thorough market investigation completed by several industry experts.

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[sublimeconnoisseurdaze]

Global Sweet Corn Seed  Market Size covid 19 impact Analysis Forecast to 2027

[angelsaxis]

My favorite line from this:

"...I'm not one for making teleological arguments, but I can tell you that somehow, despite our savagery, we have been over-provided for, and I believe it is a sign of love."

(essay under cut)

Imagine cupping an Ansault pear in your palm, polishing its golden-green belly on your shirtsleeve. Imagine raising it to your lips and biting, the crisp snap as a wafer of buttery flesh falls on your tongue. Imagine the juice shooting out—you bend at the waist and scoot your feet back to prevent the drops from falling on your sneakers. . . .

Imagine it all you can, for it's all you can do. You'll never eat an Ansault pear. They are extinct, and have been for decades: dead as dodo birds. How could this happen to a pear variety which agriculturist U. P. Hetrick described, in a 1921 report called "The Pears of New York," as "better than any other pear," with a "rich sweet flavor, and distinct but delicate perfume"? The dismaying truth is that you can apply that question to thousands of fruits and vegetables. In the last few decades we've lost varieties of almost every crop species. Where American farmers once chose from among 7,000 apple varieties, they now choose from 1,000. Beans, beets, millet, peanuts, peas, sweet potatoes, and rice all have suffered a large reduction in varieties. In fact, over 90 percent of crops that were grown in 1900 are gone.

Of course, next to "Save the Whales," a bumper sticker reading "Save the White Wonder Cucumbers" sounds a bit silly. And as long as we haven't lost pears altogether, the loss of a particular variety, no matter how good, isn't cataclysmic. We have a lot of other worries. How many years of sunlight do we have left? Of clean air? Water? But when we lose a variety of pear or cucumber, even one we're not likely to taste, or, in an analogous situation, when we lose a language, even one we're not likely to hear, we're losing a lot more than we think. We're losing millions of bits of genetic information that could help us solve our big questions, like who we are and what we're doing here on earth.

Farming has always been subject to the manipulations of human desires, but up until the last several decades these manipulations increased crop diversity. Long before Mendel came along, our farmer ancestors were practicing a kind of backyard Darwinism. Early Peruvian farmers, for example, noticed mutations among the colors of their cotton fibers, and by breeding the cotton selectively, they were able to grow different colors to weave vibrant cloth. When farmers moved, they took their seeds with them, and various growing conditions increased crop diversity even further as the varieties reacted to new environments or evolved new defenses for pests or blights. And in this way farmers farmed for about 10,000 years. Even at the beginning of this century, small farms were varied; each grew many crops and sometimes several varieties of a particular crop. If a blight attacked one species of a farmer's corn, it was likely that the farmer, or another farmer nearby, would also have grown a variety of corn that turned out to be resistant.

But as the century wore on, agribusiness was born. Now, giant agricultural agencies develop fruits and vegetables specifically for giant farms, which concentrate on a single variety of a single crop sanctioned for high-yield growth. These new crops aren't self-reliant—many hybrids can't even produce offspring, putting an end to the age-old tradition of gathering seeds from the current harvest for next year's crop. They are dependent upon intensive fertilizers, pesticides, and insecticides. They are grown only if they can withstand mechanical harvesting and the rigors of shipping to distant markets, and these packing considerations shape our diet in startling ways, as anyone who's followed the quest for the square tomato can tell you. Some biotech companies have taken the human manipulations of crops to a profitable—if seemingly unnatural—extreme. Biotech giant Monsanto, maker (and dumper) of hazardous chemicals like PCB, filed for a patent in 1997 for a seed whose germination depends not on being exposed to a rise in temperature or an inch of rainfall, but being exposed to a certain chemical.

So now, according to the International Food Information Council, we have scientists crossing two potatoes to make a new hybrid which will be higher in starch and need less oil for frying, resulting in lower-fat fries. But genetic engineers don't stop with crossing two kinds of potatoes. Genes from a potato could be crossed with a carrot, or a banana, or a daschund, if genetic engineers thought such a crossing would improve the potato's shelf-life. Recently, genetic engineers have crossed the strawberry with a gene from the flounder to make a strawberry resistant to cold. In this way, millions of years of nature's "decisions"—which crops should fail, which thrive, which qualities parents should pass to their offspring—are reversed almost overnight. The Union of Concerned Scientists is—well—concerned. Poet W. S. Merwin likens our position in history now to the start of the nuclear age—we are rushing to embrace technology that will change us in unalterable, unforeseeable ways.

A problem with miracles is that sometimes they don't last. A miracle yield hybrid's defenses are often based on a single gene, an easy thing for continuously evolving pests to overcome. And meanwhile, back at the ranch, there is no more ranch—the small farms that grew the original parent varieties that crossed to make the super vegetable have failed. The parents are extinct. Unless genetic raw material resistant to the pest can be found in some other variety, the hybrid will be lost as well.

The first crop to be nearly wiped out due to lack of genetic diversity is the humble spud, which the Europeans brought home with them after "discovering" the New World. King Louis XVI of France saw the potato's potential for feeding the poor and was determined to spread the crop. He knew that publicly endorsing the potato, however, would earn it the commoner's enmity. So Louis grew a bumper crop and had the field guarded all day, but he removed the guards at night so the locals could raid the field. Potatoes were soon growing throughout France and beyond. In Ireland, the potato became the staple crop—by the 1840s a third of the Irish were dependent on it for nourishment. But since all the potatoes grown in Europe were the descendants of that original handful of potatoes brought over from the Andes, the crop had a narrow gene pool. When Phytophtora infestans struck in 1845, the potato lacked the resistance to combat it. The Freeman's Journal reported on Sept. 11 of that year that a "cholera" had rotted the fields; one farmer announced that he "had been digging potatoes—the finest he had ever seen" on Monday, but when he returned Tuesday he found "the tubers all blasted, and unfit for the use of man or beast." A five-year famine followed that slashed the population of Ireland by 20 percent, killing between one to two million people and forcing one to two million others to emigrate to the U.S. The potato was saved only when resistance to the blight was found in more diversified varieties of the potato still growing in the Andes and Mexico. Had it not been, it's unlikely the potato would be around today as a major crop.

While the potato famine might seem like dusty history, the U.S. corn blight proves we're not doing much to stop history from repeating itself. In Shattering: Food, Politics, and the Loss of Genetic Diversity, environmentalists Cary Fowler and Pat Mooney describe the 1970s hybrid corn plants as "sitting ducks." As a result of a cost-cutting measure, each of the several hundred varieties of hybrid corn seed had the same type of cytoplasm. That made the entire crop susceptible to any disease that could come along and exploit that uniformity—and, of course, one did. Even today we have several dangerously unstable crops including—gulp—coffee and chocolate. The dangers of genetic uniformity are currently being cited in an altogether new arena—the Genome Project. Now that scientists have engineered vegetable hybrids, what's stopping scientists from creating human hybrids? Could cloning so narrow our gene pool that a single epidemic could destroy us like the potato blight nearly destroyed the potato?

Imagine hiking high into the Sierra Nevadas and coming across the Northern Pomos. Imagine being able to converse with them in their language. Imagine clicking your tongue against the back of your teeth to say "sunset," aspirating in your throat to say "waterfall." Imagine learning the idiomatic expression for "hungover" and using it to great effect, comparing it with others you know—how the Japanese expression for "hungover" translates as "suffer the two-day dizzies," how Italians say "I'm out of tune," how the Czechs say "there's a monkey swinging in my head," how Arabs don't have any word at all for "hungover." Imagine trading recipes with an elderly Northern Pomo, then walking with his wife through a stand of ponderosa pine, their trunks so thin, because of the high atmosphere, that you could fit your hand around them. You tell her you need to stop talking, for you've developed a sore throat. She questions you about it, then bends down to a small plant and yanks it out of the ground. This yerba del manza will soothe your throat, she tells you, and she gives hints on how to recognize the plant again should your soreness return. Imagine going to bed that night, your throat calmed, your mind blossoming with Northern Pomo words that will fill the cartoon bubbles of your dreams. . . .

Imagine it all you want, but Northern Pomo, spoken for millennia in Northern California, has perished like the Ansault pear; its last speaker, a woman in her eighties, died a few years ago.

Today we have the impression that there's a rough 1:1 correlation between countries and languages; each nation is monolingual. But this has never been the case. In the sixteenth century, for instance, five major languages were spoken in the English King's domain. Our country was especially language rich because each Native American tribe clung fiercely to its tongue as a signifier of cultural difference; Edward G. Gray in New World Babel estimates that, when European contact occurred, there were between 1,000 and 2,000 distinct tongues in the Americas, nearly half of which are now extinct. A graphic way to understand this is to peruse the maps in The Atlas of World Languages edited by C. Moseley and R. E. Asher. The maps showing pockets of language before the colonizers arrived in America are many-colored, many-patterned quilts; each subsequent map is increasingly bleached, increasingly pattern-free.

Languages don't die because they are in any way inferior or deficient, as has been sometimes supposed in the past. They die because of pressures on minority communities to speak the majority language. Sometimes this pressure is economic, as seen, for example, with the Waimiri-Atroari of Brazil, a tribe of 500 people in the Brazilian Amazon, whose tongue is listed in the UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages. The Waimiri-Atroari are mostly monolingual, but they have experienced increasing contact with the Portuguese-speaking majority. The tribe is growing in bilingual members because learning Portuguese widens the Waimiri-Atroari's potential market from 500 members to 160 million. As the proportion of bilingual members of the tribe rises, members of the tribe might begin using Portuguese when speaking to each other; it follows that the motivation for children to learn their native tongue will erode. The language's death will surely follow.

Sometimes the pressure for a minority community to speak the majority language is not economic but political, as has been the case with Native American languages in the U.S. since European settlement began. Early U.S. settlers had a romantic notion of language difference as a cause of personality difference. Since some Native American languages were found to lack abstract concepts like salvation, Lord, and redemption, the settlers presumed the speakers of these languages to be unable to grasp these higher concepts. It seemed to follow that Native Americans' salvation could only be achieved by "liberating" them from their restrictive native tongues. "In the present state of affairs," Albert Gallatin wrote of Native Americans in Archaeologia Americana in 1836, "no greater demand need be made on their intellectual faculties, than to teach them the English language; but this so thoroughly, that they may forget their own." In his report on Indian affairs, Reverend Jedediah Morse recommended the suppression of any texts in Native American tongues. There were supporters of America's original languages—Thomas Jefferson, for one, compiled vocabulary lists of Native American words throughout his lifetime. But even today we haven't a national policy of language preservation. In fact, between 1981 and 1990, fifteen states enacted "Official English" laws to guarantee English as the language of the U.S. government. As Alexis de Tocqueville observed in his 1839 Democracy in America, "the majority lays down the law about language as about all else."

Languages are termed "moribund" if they are spoken only by a small group of older people and not being learned by children. These languages stand in contrast to "safe" languages, as defined by criteria set out in Robins and Uhlenbeck's Endangered Languages. A safe language has, at a minimum, "a community of 100,000 speakers" and the "official support of a nation-state." These numbers don't necessarily represent a swelling, robust population—Gaelic, for example, is among the safe languages—but 80 percent of the languages spoken in North America fail to meet even those standards. In Australia, 90 percent of the languages are moribund. As I write this, sixty-seven languages in Africa are being spoken for what may be the last time. The more fortunate of them are being documented by linguists, who spend much of their professional lives rushing to record a language before it dies. When it does, they find themselves in the rather lonely position of linguist Bill Shipley, the last human being on earth who can speak Maidu.

In my girlhood I thought that languages were codes that corresponded; each word in English had its exact equivalent in every other language, and language study was the memorization of these codes. Later when I studied my first languages I learned that such codes do not exist; each language is a unique repository of the accumulated thoughts and experiences of a community. What do we learn about a culture by examining its language? The Inuit people live in the northernmost regions of the world, in small, roadless communities on the ice, and lack our modern electronic conveniences. They have no word for boredom. Poet Anne Carson writes of the Yamana of Argentina, a tribe extinct by the beginning of the twentieth century, who had fifteen names for clouds, fifty for different kinds of kin. Among the Yamana variations of the verb "to bite" was one that meant "to come surprisingly on a hard substance when eating something soft, e.g., a pearl in a mussel." The Zuni speak reverently of "penaµ taµshana," a "long talk prayer" so potent it can only be recited once every four years. The Delaware Indians have a term of affection, "wulamalessohalian," or "thou who makest me happy." The Papago of the Sonoran Desert say "S-banow" as the superlative of "one whose breath stinks like a coyote."

During this century, eighty-seven languages spoken in the Amazon basin have become extinct because their native speakers were scattered or killed. Some of these forest dwellers were both nonviolent (their languages lacked vocabulary words for war and bloodshed) and democratic (they included terms for collective decision making). When these languages died, they took with them not only the specialized knowledge that the tribes had gained from thousands of years of natural healing and conservation, but ways of living we might have done well to study. In the absence of these examples, as John Adams wrote, "we are left to grope in the dark and puzzle ourselves to explain a thousand things which would have appeared very simple if we had . . . the pure light of antiquity."

But even beyond this rather romantic notion of the need for language preservation, there are concrete and empirical losses to science when languages become extinct. There's a wealth of information that can be extracted from languages by the use of statistical techniques, and this information can be used not only by linguists, but by anthropologists, cognitive psychologists, neuroscientists, geneticists, and population biologists, among others. Hypotheses about human migration patterns can be tested by seeing whether words have been assimilated into a language from the languages of nearby populations. Hypotheses about neural structures and processes can be tested by analyzing the phonology and syntax of a language. Hypotheses about the hardware of our brains capable of generating sentences can be tested against the different sentences. What must all infant brains have in common that any child can acquire any language? The more data we have, the closer we can come to answering questions such as this. Furthermore, recent studies indicate that language learning causes cognitive and neural changes in an individual. At a recent conference at the Center for Theories of Language and Learning, Dr. Mark Pagel argued that when a child acquires a disposition to categorize objects through word-learning, some neural connections in the brain are strengthened, while others are weakened or eliminated. Previous learning affects a system's way of categorizing new stimuli, and so Pagel concluded that, although it may be true that all humans "think in the same way," one's native language influences one's perceptions. When we lose linguistic diversity we suffer a consequent loss in the range of ways of experiencing the world.

Yet we needn't constrain ourselves to discussions of hard science, for the issues involved in diversity are more far-reaching. If the language ability, as many theorists hold, is what separates us from animals, it is the central event of human evolution. Each language that dies takes with it everything it might have taught us about this unique aspect of our constitution. If language is a well-engineered biological instinct, as Steven Pinker argues in The Language Instinct, each language that dies takes from us another clue to the mystery of what keeps the spider spinning her web or the hen warming the eggs in her nest. The cognitive organization which shapes our language facilities also shapes other mental activities related to language, such as music and mathematics. Each language that dies not only weakens linguistics but all of these related fields—all fields, in fact, that seek to understand the human brain. Each language that dies takes from us a few crucial parts of nature's tale, so much of which (even how and when the universe was created) still eludes us. In fact, each language that dies weakens our most vital challenge—to engage the world in all its complexity and to find meaning there. This is the definition of both art and religion. To lessen the complexity of the world is to lessen our moral struggle.

I've written "personal essays" before, and this isn't one of them. I haven't told you very much about myself. I haven't told you if I'm a scientist (I'm not) or a linguist (I'm not). I'm a poet. So the argument could be made (perhaps some of you are making it right now) that I'm not qualified to write this essay. But I'm qualified to make metaphors, and that's what I've tried to do. I read books on crops and languages and I begin to hear them speaking to each other, and soon the desire is born in me to speak of them to you.

I've argued for empirical reasons we need diversity on our table and in our ears. But I think one of the most important reasons we need diversity isn't based on grubby need, isn't based on a what-can-nature-do-for-me mentality. I don't want the argument to rest solely on that because plenty of people will think they have all that they need. And in a way they're right. After all, we live in an era of hysterical data. It's exhausting. Let's have enough faith in our own self-interest, if in nothing else, to assume we will never lose the pear or the potato. Let's have enough faith in our own torpidity, if in nothing else, to assume we will never have a unilingual world. So okay, we lose a few varieties of Ethiopian sorghum—varieties once so beloved they were named "Why Bother with Wheat?" and "Milk in my Cheeks." Do we really need forty kinds? Isn't four enough? It's not like only having four friends, or even four varieties of dogs. A seed company streamlining its offerings isn't like a museum streamlining its Van Gogh collection. And if we lose a few obscure languages, maybe that's the price one pays for having fewer translators and English as a "universal business language," saving time, frustration, and money. Why should we be overly concerned if what's lost wasn't useful to us in the first place?

Of course, there's an old rejoinder but a good one—our responsibility to the future. In poem No. 1748, Emily Dickinson writes, "If nature will not tell the tale / Jehovah told to her / Can human nature not survive / without a listener?" But nature ceaselessly tries to tell her tale to the patient and attentive, and her tale is still unfolding. Each seemingly interchangeable variety of sorghum contains a distinct link of DNA that reveals part of nature's story. Similarly, each language is a biological phenomenon that reveals millions of bits of genetic information and contains within itself clues that help us understand how our brains are organized. What clues our progeny will need is beyond our power to know. We can't imagine what will be useful, necessary, what will provide a link, prove or disprove a hypothesis. Losing plants, losing languages: it's like losing pieces to a puzzle we'll have to put together in a thousand years, but by then puzzles may look entirely different. We might put them together in the dark, with our toes.

Yet beyond the idea of what will be useful to future generations, we, right here, right now, have a need for needless diversity. A world with fewer fruits and vegetables isn't only a world with an endangered food supply. It's also a world with less flavor, less aroma, less color. We suffer a diminution of choice. As Gregory McNamee writes in "Wendell Berry and the Politics of Agriculture," we're experiencing "an impoverishment of forms, a loss of the necessary complexity that informs an art rightly practiced."[1] And a world with fewer languages isn't only a world with more limited means of communication. It's also a world with fewer stories and folk tales, fewer hagiographies, fewer poems, myths, and recipes, fewer remedies, fewer memories. We possess the accumulated vision and wisdom of fewer cultures. We become like hybrid corn: less diverse, with less accumulated defenses, susceptible to dangers that our "parents" might have battled and overcome, dangers they could have helped us with, were they not in their graves.

What I want to say is this: for twenty-eight years I've been carrying on a love affair with words and the world and I've come to believe that the sheer magnitude of creation blesses us. The gross numbers, the uncountability of it; as if the world were a grand, grand room full of books and though we might read all we can we will never, ever outstrip its riches. A thought both unsettling and comforting. If we are stewards of the world, we are stewards of a charge beyond our comprehension; even now science can tell us less about the number of species we have on earth than about the number of stars in our galaxy. There is something important in the idea of this fecundity, this abundance, this escape hatch for our imaginations. I have read Robert Frost's poem "Design," and I have read Gordon Grice's essay on how the black widow spider kills her prey with ten times the amount of poison she needs, and I'm not one for making teleological arguments, but I can tell you that somehow, despite our savagery, we have been over-provided for, and I believe it is a sign of love.

Poet Wendell Berry urges us to care for "the unseeable animal," even if it means we never see it. So, I would argue, must we care for the untastable vegetable, the unhearable language, which add their link, as we add ours, to nature's still-unfolding tale. They deepen nature's mystery even as they provide clues to help us comprehend that mystery. They enrich us not only because they can serve us, not only because they are useful, but because theyare. Their existence contributes to the complexity of the world in which we are, a world we still strive—thankfully, nobly—to understand.

[chemicalresearchupdates]

Sweet Corn Seeds Market Insights: An In-Depth Analysis of Consumer Preferences

The sweet corn seeds market is a dynamic and thriving sector within the broader agricultural industry. Sweet corn seeds refer to the specialized seeds used for cultivating sweet corn, a popular and delicious variety of corn known for its sweet taste and tender kernels. This market encompasses a range of products and services related to sweet corn seed production, distribution, and cultivation.

The overview and scope of sweet corn seeds market are substantial. Sweet corn is a staple in many diets worldwide, and its seeds are in high demand among both commercial and home gardeners. The scope of this market extends across the globe, as sweet corn is cultivated in various climates and regions, contributing to its universal appeal.

Market growth in the sweet corn seeds industry has been notable in recent years. Factors such as increasing consumer demand for fresh and sweet corn, along with advancements in seed technology, have driven growth. As more farmers adopt modern agricultural practices, the demand for improved sweet corn seed varieties with higher yields, disease resistance, and environmental adaptability is on the rise.

The sweet corn seed market is a diverse industry, involving various stakeholders, including seed producers, distributors, and farmers. Seed producers invest heavily in research and development to create high-quality hybrid sweet corn varieties that meet the evolving needs of farmers and consumers. Distributors play a pivotal role in making these seeds accessible to farmers, ensuring a seamless supply chain. Meanwhile, farmers are at the forefront of sweet corn cultivation, relying on quality seeds to ensure bountiful harvests.

In terms of sweet corn seed market trends, sustainability and environmental consciousness are becoming increasingly important in the sweet corn seed industry. Farmers are seeking seeds that not only yield high-quality crops but also minimize environmental impact. This has led to the development of seeds that require less water and reduce the need for pesticides and fertilizers. Additionally, there is a growing interest in non-GMO and organic sweet corn seeds, catering to the preferences of health-conscious consumers.

In conclusion, the sweet corn seeds market is a vital component of the agricultural industry, driven by consumer demand for this delectable vegetable. As technology and sustainability continue to shape the market, sweet corn seed producers, distributors, and farmers must adapt to meet these evolving needs and ensure a prosperous and sustainable future for sweet corn cultivation.

[breelandwalker]

Strawberry Moon - June 3, 2023

Grab your baskets and your moon jars, witches - it's time for the Strawberry Moon!

Strawberry Moon

The Strawberry Moon is the name given to the full moon which occurs in the month of June in the Northern Hemisphere. The name is taken from the ripening of those little red heart-shaped berries we find in so many summertime treats. Strawberries are typically ready to harvest beginning around the summer solstice, though this will vary depending on variety, planting times, and local weather. The Strawberry Moon, sadly, does not turn pink to match the berries.

Other European names for this moon include Honey Moon, Rose Moon, and Mead Moon. Indigenous names for the June moon include Blooming Moon (Anishinaabe), Green Corn Moon (Cherokee), and Hatching Moon (Cree).

What Does It Mean For Witches?

Full moons are excellent times for bringing wishes to fulfillment and plans to fruition, all the more so under one named after a prolific berry. This is an optimal time to make things happen!

Your intuition may be stronger than usual during this time, so pay attention to those little inklings and gut feelings that won't be ignored. They might be telling you something important. Dreams may also be more vivid, though not necessarily more accurate or revealing.

This is a time to explore things that catch your attention or pique your curiosity, and to let yourself be open to new ideas and new opportunities.

What Witchy Things Can We Do?

With a full moon in the sky and the summer solstice hot on its' heels, it's time to prepare for a full bloom. Here's hoping you've been nurturing those plans and seeds of growth you planted in the spring, because they're about to start flowering and the way is clear to sow the next stage of your plans. What they will be and what new prospects the summer will bring is entirely up to you.

With the moon in Sagittarius again this year, it's a good time to look ahead to the future. Think on the plans you have in process and let yourself dream of how things might turn out. If you're inclined to journaling, make a note of how things are going so far and how you hope they'll turn out. Pick your favorite divination method and do a reading for the month ahead. (Make sure you write that down too so you can check back later!)

This is a great time to go berry-picking or flower-gathering, so check your area for pick-your-own farms or farmer's markets with local produce. Have a picnic with friends or just enjoy a quiet afternoon with your own thoughts and a few favorite treats. Make a jar of sun tea or a sweet and summery berry salad. If you're partial to strawberries, indulge that sweet tooth!

Strawberries are also excellent ingredient in spells for love, beauty, fertility, and emotional healing. Create a charm for self-love or perhaps to attract a summer romance. Enchant your favorite makeup or skin care products with a glamour of confidence. Just as expectant mothers once carried strawberry leaves as a folk remedy for pregnancy pains, you can carry a clutch of them in your pocket to help heal a broken heart or assuage the pain of grief. A packet of strawberry leaves is also a potent good-luck charm. Snack on strawberries to bring fertile abundance into your life, whether you're looking for creativity or opportunity or perhaps hoping to grow your family this year.

Charge your crystals and spell jars and moon water under the light of Strawberry Moon to catch the energy of blooming flowers, ripening fruit, wishes coming true, and carefully-laid plans realized. (If you're planning to use it for any consumables, please make sure you're using fresh, potable drinking water rather than rain or runoff.)

Spend a little time reflecting on how your year has gone thus far. Try to focus on the things that have improved and how you've grown as a person and in your life journey. Reflect on your accomplishments and what you plan to do next. Take a moment to be unashamedly proud of yourself for everything you've done and for making it this far despite everything life throws at you.

Happy Strawberry Moon, witches! 🌕🍓

Further Reading:

Strawberry Moon: Full Moon in June 2023, The Old Farmer's Almanac

Strawberry Moon 2023: The Spectacular Spiritual Meaning of June's Full Moon, The Peculiar Brunette

Everyday Moon Magic: Spells & Rituals for Abundant Living, Dorothy Morrison

Image Source - Pesto and Margaritas

(If you're enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊)

[rainybirdsweets]

Xylitol Research and Evidence

Xylitol is a non-sugar sweetener extracted from the birch tree. It is a five-carbon polyol that has effectively demonstrated itself to be cariogenic, by its action of neutralizing plaque acidity on teeth and repairing tooth enamel. Hence, it is also called the “magic bullet.”

The major production of xylitol goes to the pharmaceutical and oral hygiene industries and to confectionary manufacturers. It has 30% less calories compared to table sugar (calorific value of xylitol is 2.4 kcal/g, while that of sugar is 4 kcal/g) and is used in different food products for children like chewing gum, candies, gelatin, and in lozenges, toothpaste, and mouth rinses.

Xylitol and Dental Caries

Clinical trials on xylitol show that it plays a major role in prevention of dental caries in babies and teenaged children and in the fetus through the mother. Use of xylitol chewing gum is directly related to reduction of dental caries. Moreover, xylitol also reduces the s. mutans transmission from mother to infant.

Another research on children has found that xylitol candy, pops, ice, gums, puddings, and cookie help in arresting dental caries. Follow-up studies five years later showed that xylitol gum resulted in reduction of caries by 59% against no gum use.

Trials conducted in Finland, a major producer of xylitol, proved that children of xylitol-treated mothers’ had lower levels of s. mutans than those treated with fluoride varnish or chlorhexidine.

Other Impacts of Xylitol

Accumulation of excessive xylitol in the intestine leads to retention of water, which results in diarrhea. Consumption of excessive volumes of xylitol can lead to side effects such as gas and bloating. Xylitol which remains unabsorbed is eliminated after being broken into carbon dioxide. A report published by the European Union’s Scientific Committee on Food in 1985 stated that consuming 50 g of xylitol per day can lead to diarrhea. The Committee also affirmed that tabletop sweeteners that contain xylitol must be highlighted with a warning saying: “Too much of consumption may lead to laxative effects.”

The impact of xylitol is much less on the blood sugar levels compared with natural sugar, because of the gradual absorption rate of xylitol. This fact was approved in a xylitol review by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). This indicates that xylitol could help people with disrupted tolerance of glucose, a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Health benefits and risks of chocolate

Chocolate is made from tropical Theobroma cacao tree seeds. Its earliest use dates back to the Olmec civilization in Mesoamerica.

After the European discovery of the Americas, chocolate became very popular in the wider world, and its demand exploded.

Chocolate has since become a popular food product that millions enjoy every day, thanks to its unique, rich, and sweet taste.

Fast facts on chocolate

Chocolate consumption has long been associated with conditions such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, and hypertension.

Chocolate is believed to contain high levels of antioxidants.

Some studies have suggested chocolate could lower cholesterol levels and prevent memory decline.

Chocolate contains a large number of calories.

People who are seeking to lose or maintain weight should eat chocolate only in moderation.

History of Candy

Candy is made by dissolving sugar in water or milk to form syrup. The final texture of candy depends on the different levels of temperatures and sugar concentrations. Hot temperatures make hard candy, medium heat make soft candy and cool temperatures make chewy candy. The English word ''candy'' is in use since the late 13th century and it derives from Arabic qandi, meaning ''made of sugar''.

Honey has been a favorite sweet treat throughout recorded history and is even mentioned in the Bible. The ancient Egyptians, Arabs and Chinese candied fruits and nuts in honey which was an early form of candy. One of the oldest hard candies is barley sugar which was made with barley grains. The Mayans and the Aztecs both prized the cocoa bean, and they were the first to drink chocolate. In 1519, Spanish explorers in Mexico discovered the cacao tree, and brought it to Europe. People in England and in America ate boiled sugar candy in the 17th century.

Sour candy trends

Sour candy has captured the attention and taste buds of consumers who look for confectionery experiences outside of the standard of sweet, says Steve Schuster, president of Wisconsin-based Schuster Products, which makes a line of sour products called Face Twisters.

“It is extreme, and people like to push their sensation of taste,” he said. “They are now accustomed to this taste sensation and seek it because it moves beyond the norm.”

Jenny Doan, director of marketing for Warheads maker Impact Confections, agreed. She pointed to consumers’ palates becoming increasingly daring, especially as consumers experience more global cuisine.

“Globalization has exposed consumers to more sour foods across many categories — examples include Greek yogurt, fermented Korean kimchi, Chinese sour plums, etc.” she said. “Also food preparation techniques such as fermentation and pickling are gaining in popularity and spurring development for more sour foods and beverages.”

And the products in development come from several confectionery categories, including chewing gum, hard candy and chewy candy. Chewy candy also has experienced steady growth over the last few years. IRI, a Chicago-based research firm, reported the $3.73 billion non-chocolate chewy category grew by 3 percent in the year ending Feb. 24, 2019.

Of the Top 20 non-chocolate chewy candy brands IRI tracks, a quarter of them are positioned as sour candy, and at least another quarter have sour line extensions. Mondelez International’s Sour Patch Kids pulled in just over $197 million in the reporting period, while Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers generated $133.6 million.

The Untold Truth Of Gummy Bears

There are the people who love to munch on chocolate bars, from Butterfingers to Snickers, indulging in the perfect combination of sweet and salty. And then there are the candy lovers who are obsessed with anything chewy, gooey, and gummy. Gummy candies only seem to be rising in popularity, and really, there's a gummy candy in pretty much every shape out there at this point.

But despite the introduction of gummy candies like frogs, butterflies, and even mini soda bottles, gummy bears will forever be one of the most iconic gummy candies we turn to.

But what's the story behind these little gummy bears? How did they get their start, and what's in them that makes them so perfectly chewy? They're a ridiculously satisfying sweet when you're trying to curb a craving, but as it turns out, there's a lot more to their story than meets the eye. We decided to grab a handful and dig a little deeper. This is the untold truth of gummy bears.

The History of Lollipop Candy

The first incarnation of the lollipop candy was probably created by cave people thousands of years ago who collected honey from beehives with a stick. Not wanting to waste the sweet nectar, they most likely licked the stick, thus inventing the world’s first lollipop. Good for them (good for us). Archaeologists believe that ancient Chinese, Arabs, and Egyptians all produced fruit and nut confections that they "candied" in honey, which serves as a preservative, and inserted sticks into to make easier to eat.If the 17th Century English version doesn’t count as the first modern lollipop, you could look to the Civil War era for another early forerunner, when hard candy was put on the tips of pencils for children. The early 20th Century was the era of automation, which is when the birth of the lollipop as we now know it begins in earnest, but there are still discrepancies as to who is the true creator.

What Is Chewing Gum?

Chewing gum is a soft, rubbery substance that’s designed to be chewed but not swallowed.

Recipes can vary between brands, but all chewing gums have the following basic ingredients:

Gum: The non-digestible, rubbery base used to give gum its chewy quality.

Resin: Usually added to strengthen gum and hold it together.

Fillers: Fillers, such as calcium carbonate or talc, are used to give gum texture.

Preservatives: These are added to extend shelf life. The most popular choice is an organic compound called butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT).

Softeners: These are used to retain moisture and prevent the gum from hardening. They can include waxes like paraffin or vegetable oils.

Sweeteners: Popular ones include cane sugar, beet sugar and corn syrup. Sugar-free gums use sugar alcohols like xylitol or artificial sweeteners like aspartame.

Flavorings: Added to give a desired flavor. They can be natural or synthetic.

Candy

candy, also called confectionery, sweet food product, the main constituent of which generally is sugar. The application of the terms candy and confectionery varies among English-speaking countries. In the United States candy refers to both chocolate products and sugar-based confections; elsewhere “chocolate confectionery” refers to chocolates, “sugar confectionery” to the various sugar-based products, and “flour confectionery” to products such as cakes and pastries. This article is primarily concerned with sugar confectionery. Other types of confections are discussed in the articles baking and cocoa.

[irispublishersagriculture]

Iris Publishers - World Journal of Agriculture and Soil Science (WJASS)

Nutrient Intake, Fermentation, Digestibility and Growth Performance of Barbarin Lamb Supplemented with Sweet Lupin

Authored by S Abidi

In Tunisia, particularly in the arid and semi-arid zones, climatic conditions have caused the degradation of rangelands leading to a chronic forage deficit and a nutritional imbalance in animals, particularly in sheep and goats. Thus, energy and / or nitrogen supplementation has become essential to maintain these animals and ensure the expected performance. For this reason, Tunisia has resorted to the import of raw materials including soybean meal, barley and corn [1]. However, fluctuations in their prices on the world market are negatively affecting animal nutrition industry. Our country imports annually, over 300,000 tons of soybean meal at a price of 1.2dt / kg [2]. Similarly, these imported raw materials are unstably available on the Tunisian market which can affect the profitability of farms and alter the sustainability of animal production sector in Tunisia. As a result, several attempts to replace these foods, including soybean meal, have been considered by researchers. Protein crops (Lupine, faba beans and peas) are good alternatives to soybean meal because of their high crude protein content. However, despite their good nutritional quality, their use in animal nutrition is currently limited due to the presence of anti-nutritional factors (Faba bean tannins, lupine alkaloids) and their fluctuating availability on the market (limited forage legume crops). Thus, the main objective of this study is the evaluation of the substitution effect of soybean meal by sweet lupine on the ingestion, digestion, growth and meat quality in Barbarine lambs.

Materials and Methods

Animals

Twenty-four six-month-old Barbarine lambs were selected. The initial live weight averaged 23 kg. These animals were transported to INRAT headquarters. They were acclimated for 4 days to new housing conditions. Lambs were weighed than divided into three equal groups. All animals received oat hay ad libitum and concentrate. the first group received CC1 containing 75% barley, 22.5% soybean meal and 2.5% CMV, whereas the second received CC2 containing lupine as a substitute for soybeans in term of CP to be iso-nitrogenous with CC1. The third group received intermittently CC2 and CC3 which contain only barley and CMV. Animals have undergone a growth period (80 days) followed by a digestible period (10 days).

Sampling

During growth period, average daily growth was assessed through weighing animals biweekly. At digestible period, lambs were housed individually in metabolic cages and were allowed three days for acclimatization to new conditions. Animals received weighed amounts of corresponding feed. A 7-day faecal collection period started on the following day. After weighing the amounts of fresh feed, refusals and faeces, samples of each were taken daily. Part of each sample was used for DM determination and the other part (20% of the weight of the fresh refusals and faeces) was stored at 4 °C for hay and concentrates or at – 5 °C for faeces. Urine was collected in plastic recipients containing 100ml of a 10% sulphuric acid solution (v/v) to maintain pH below 3. After weighing, an aliquot (10%) corresponding to each animal was taken and frozen (- 20 °C). In the last day, pooled samples of individual feed refusal, and faeces were dried at 50 °C; ground through 1 mm screen then stored pending analysis. Pooled samples of urine were stored in the freezer (- 20 °C) until analyzed. Rumen fluid was taken in two consecutive days to measure pH and ammonia content and to determine protozoa number.

Analyses

Feed, refusals and faeces samples were analyzed for dry matter (DM), ash and crude protein according to AOAC [3]. They were also analysed for (NDF, ADF and ADL) [4]. Urine was analyzed for Kjeldahl nitrogen [3] and allantoin concentrations measured using a colorimetric method. Urinary excretion of allantoin (Y, mmol/d) was used to calculate microbial purines absorbed (X, mmol/d [5]. Rumen fluid samples were analyzed for NH3-N [6].

Statistical analysis

The statistical analysis of the results was performed using an analysis of variance according to the model: Yijk = μ + Ai +εi.

In which μ= arithmetic mean; Ai = the effect of diet (i= 1,2 or 3) and εi is the residual experimental error. Data were analyzed using the ANOVA procedure. All statistical analyses were carried out using the GLM (general linear model) procedures of SAS Package (1987). Differences between the means of all the analyses were analyzed using the LSMEANS procedure.

Results and Discussion

Nutrient contents of feeds are presented in Table 1. Soyabean meal is greater in CP than lupine, while the opposite trend was observed for NDF, ADF and ADL.

Diets intake and digestibility are shown in Table 2. Results revealed that the nature of the additional protein source did not affect feed intake (P> 0.05), which corroborates with results reported by El Maadoudi [7] and El Maadoudi and El Housni [8]. The level of hay ingestion considered similar between the three groups reminds us of the result reported by Ephrem et al. [9]. This could be explained by the importance of the nutritional quality of protein sources and the tolerance of sheep to lupine alkaloids. Nevertheless, our results are contradictory to those reported by Lestingi et al. [10,11] by testing the replacement of peas and faba beans. In addition, proteins source did not reveal a significant effect on digestibility of MS, MO, MAT and NDF (P> 0.05). The amount of DCPi was significantly affected (P = 0.0003). Purroy et al [12] did observed significant differences in DM, OM, CP and fiber digestibility’s by replacing soybean meal with lupine seed in lambs. The incorporation of lupine into different quantities improved digestibility’s of DM, OM and cellulose without affecting those of NDF and ADF [13]. Lupine had no significant effect on their average daily gain (ADG). This result agrees with those of many trials carried out on the replacement of protein seeds by lupine which revealed comparable digestive uses between diets [9,11,14,15]. Moreover, Facciolongo et al. [16] found that supplementation with soybean meal and lupine induced similar ADG, while Lestingi et al. [10] showed low weight gain in animals fed lupine diet compared to those which consumed faba beans. We note that although the 3rd group received half of the quantity of lupine consumed by the 2nd one, the corresponding lambs were able to have similar and even better ADG than the others. This leads us to think about the concept of food efficiency. It seems that these animals were able to optimize their efficiency to transform food resources into meat to reach same weight as the others. The nitrogen balance and microbial synthesis are shown in Table 3. It appears that all animals had positive balances. However, a significant variation in the amount of nitrogen intake and retention was observed in the 3rd group in comparison with the two others. This difference is explained by the variation of the ingested quantity of the concentrate. On the other hand, by correcting the retained nitrogen to the nitrogen intake, the nitrogen balance was similar for all diets, which confirms that animals had the same nitrogen use efficiency. Moreover, similar CP digestibility reinforces this finding.

The total amount of purine and the amount of microbial nitrogen were not influenced by the source of supplemented proteins (P> 0.05), which is consistent with the lack of effect on the CP digestibility. In accordance with our results, Yu et al. [17] found no significant differences between purine and microbial nitrogen concentrations in lambs supplemented or not with blue lupine or faba beans.

Table 4 presents the different fermentation parameters. Our study showed that the average pH of rumen juice was affected by the diet (P < 0.05). pH corresponding to the 2nd group (6.25) exceeded significantly that of the 1st group (6.07), but no significant difference was detected between pH corresponding to the 3rd group (6.13) and the others. Brand et al. [18] reported pH values ranged between 6.4 and 6.3 in castrated rams fed a lupine diet. Rumen ammonia level was affected only by diet (P > 0.05). The highest concentration was observed in daily lupine fed lambs (23.9 mg / dl). White et al. (2002) found that ruminal ammonia concentration was higher with lupine incorporation rate of 70% than with 35%, which corroborates the high ammonia level in animals receiving lupine daily and the low one in animals receiving lupine intermittently. Protozoa enumeration revealed a significant difference between diets. Animals belonging to the 2nd group had the highest number (15.3 * 105 / ml) whereas those of the 3rd group had the lowest one (11.7 * 105 / ml). This could be explained by the corresponding ammonia concentrations in the rumen since a large population of protozoa is generally associated with a high concentration of ammonia in the rumen [19,20].

Conclusion

It can be concluded that lupine grains can substitute safely soybean meal in diets of Barbarine lambs. The distribution intermittently of lupine seems to be a double interesting alternative to soybean meal. It decreases lupine quantity and therefore reduce feeding cost