Latest / Farm Tales Unplugged - Daily Farm Brief / Forgotten Seeds, Seven-Headed Wheat & a Hidden Beehive Threat, Opening Pine Cones

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Forgotten Seeds, Seven-Headed Wheat & a Hidden Beehive Threat, Opening Pine Cones · Farm Tales Unplugged - Daily Farm Brief

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: An Italian farmer tossed some forgotten seeds onto a manure pile.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Up came six-foot wheat with seven grain heads on one stock.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get to what he did with it.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, Farm Nation, and hello, Truck City.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is FarmTale's unplugged daily farm brief for Thursday, October 29th.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rick Bortonova.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: First, a pumpkin patch warning and a threat to our bees.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Then, that remarkable grain, a plant's hidden alarm system, a pine cone that moves without living cells, and the markets.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: So grab your coffee, fire up whatever you're driving, and let's find out what was happening while you were busy actually working.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: With Halloween coming Saturday, here's something to know before heading out to the pumpkin patch.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Health officials in San Luis Obispo, California have confirmed five cases of E.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: coli.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: They're investigating a possible connection to Berkshire Farms.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: They're looking at visits between October 16th and the 26th.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: The farm is cooperating and is voluntarily closed while officials investigate.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the source hasn't been confirmed.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Officials are still trying to find out whether these cases are connected and how people got sick.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: If you visited during those dates and developed symptoms, the county says to contact a health care provider.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Bloody diarrhea or severe stomach pain needs prompt medical attention.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And if you find this show helpful, would you please give us a follow, a like, or a share?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Our next story takes us inside a beehive where a tiny pest can cause a lot of trouble.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's commonly called a tropy mite.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: National Geographic reported this week on scientists working to get ahead of the threat.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: These mites attack young bees while they're still developing inside the honeycomb.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: The mites reproduce quickly.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: As their numbers grow, they damage more young bees and weaken the colony.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: According to USDA's monitoring information, they haven't become established in U.S.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: bee populations.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Researchers want to keep it that way.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: One of those researchers is University of Colorado scientist Sammy Ramsey.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's studying the mites overseas, where they're already causing problems.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And this matters to more than beekeepers.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Orchards and other crops depend on healthy bees for pollination.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: When a colony loses bees, growers lose some of the workers they count on.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now back to that bag of forgotten seed.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: A new Smithsonian story introduces us to Claudio Grossi, a farmer near Parma, Italy.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: In the early 1990s, he was cleaning his attic when he found some old seeds.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: He believed they belonged to his great-grandfather.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: They looked worn out, he didn't think they'd grow, so he dumped them onto a manure pile.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And they sprouted.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the wheat grew about six feet tall, and instead of an ordinary grain head, it had a long head in the middle with six smaller ones around it.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Grossi saved the grain and tried making bread.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: He liked the flavor.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Getting the dough to rise was another matter.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: So he worked with a baker and he kept experimenting.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually, a local milling company partnered with him to use the old grains in its flour business.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: There were challenges in the field, too.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: That tall wheat could get knocked over in bad weather.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: But think about where this started.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: A bag of seed he nearly threw away.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: It became a crop he could grow, a product he could sell, and a piece of his family farming history he could keep alive.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Time for the high-tech moment.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: An insect takes a bite out of wheat plant, and its own saliva gives it away.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: USDA scientists and their university partners have figured out how a wheat resistance gene helps the plant recognize the Hessian fly.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: The trouble starts when the fly is still a larva, a young insect feeding near the base of the wheat leaves.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: In resistant wheat, a protein recognizes something in that insect's saliva.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds the alarm.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: The plant thickens its cell walls around the feeding spot.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: It also makes compounds that can slow down or kill the pest.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: So the insect starts feeding and triggers the plant's defenses.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Breeders have known about this resistance for decades.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: What's new is that scientists have found the exact gene and worked out how it functions.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: That should make it easier for breeders to find that protection and bring it into wheat varieties farmers want to grow.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: There's more work ahead, but now they know much more about what makes that defense work.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Let's open the old farmer's almanac.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: A pine cone that still moves.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Here's something to try with a pine cone you'll find outside.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Its cells are dead, but the cone can still open and close.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: No muscles, no nerves, just water.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: The old farmer's almanac points to pine cones as a clue to the moisture in the air.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: When it's dry, the scales open.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: When it's damp, they close.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: That happens because the layers inside each woody scale absorb water differently.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: One layer swells more than another and the scale bends.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: That little movement helps the tree.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: When the scales open in dry weather, seeds can come out and the wind has a better chance of carrying them away.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Try this on your porch.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Put an open pine cone in a jar of water.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Check it over time and watch the scales close.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then take it out and let it dry.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: They'll open again.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: It won't replace your weather forecast, but it's a pretty good reminder that even a fallen pine cone still has a job to do.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Market Watch.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Here's Thursday's market snapshot as of 12.11 p.m.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Pacific.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Wheat finished higher, corn, soybeans, and cattle slipped.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: December corn settled at 4.51 and a quarter a bushel, down half a cent.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: January soybeans finished at 12.34 and three-quarters a bushel, down three and a quarter cents.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: December Chicago wheat closed at 6.03 and 3 quarters a bushel, up 4.3 quarter cents.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: December live cattle settled at 226.30 per 100weight.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: January feeder cattle finished at 341.95 per 100weight.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: For dairy, the latest available November Class 3 milk quote was$17.90 per 100weight, down 41 cents.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: That milk price is a delayed trading quote, not a final settlement.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, these are futures prices, not your local cash bid or milk check.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And if you'd like more information about any of the topics we covered, there's a matching blog for every episode we release.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: You'll find it on our website, farmtailsunplugged.com.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: And there you have it.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's your FarmTales Unplugged daily farm brief for Thursday, October 29th.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Brought to you by World Trade X empowering farmers.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rick Portanova, and I'll see you Friday morning.