Two major U.S.-based foundations have announced a grand scheme to rejuvenate Africa’s agriculture. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation will spend $150 million towards green revolutionizing Africa’s agriculture.

The program, according to a joint press release from the two foundations, “intends to improve agricultural development in Africa by addressing both farming and relevant economic issues, including soil fertility and irrigation, farmer management practices, and farmer access to markets and financing.”

There is no doubt that this initiative has come at an opportune time. Africa’s agriculture is near total collapse and requires urgent reengineering. Africa has been slow in embracing cutting edge agricultural technologies such as biotechnology that have transformed the economies of many developing countries such as India, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and China.

This initiative stands a good chance to transform Africa’s agriculture. For this dream to be realized, however, every modern agricultural technology must be explored. Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation envisages “African plant scientists developing higher-yielding and drought resistant crops and African entrepreneurs starting seed companies to reach small-scale farmers…” Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s say you’re driving down the highway and you see a farm using metal barns. You see that there are tractors and other farm equipment parked around them, so you assume that the barns are used for parking their heavy farming equipment. That is when you begin to wonder if it is possible to place livestock in those barns. You know they are metal and metal tends to draw in heat, so how is such a thing not going to keep the livestock from burning up?

Believe it or not, there are ways in which the heat can be deflected away from the barn so that livestock can live inside. The truth of the matter is that farmers have been utilizing metal agricultural barns as ways to house their livestock for years. The days of wood barns are more or less over because of the durability that metal agricultural barns offer. They also offer a degree of safety that wooden barns do not. Metal barns can stand up to the elements better and they don’t offer unexpected surprises such as weak boards. In terms of security, you can secure a metal barn and not worry too much about thieves breaking in and stealing your equipment. This means that investing in metal agricultural barns can actually save you money in other ways. Read the rest of this entry »

No one needs reminding that world hunger is pandemic. There’s also much made of the poor diets of the more prosperous countries. As such, it’s no wonder the Bureau of Labor Statistics states the need in agricultural sciences is “greater than average”. In fact, one could say the demand for this STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) profession is at an all-time high and that makes a science degree a smart investment.

The Bureau defines agricultural scientists who study farm crops and animals and develop ways of improving their quantity and quality. They look for ways to improve crop yield, control pests and weeds more safely and effectively, and conserve soil and water. Some agricultural scientists look for ways to use agricultural products for fuels.

It also reports the growth in biotechnology and biogenetics makes it one of the fastest growing and exciting fields out there. Because of this new trend, many agricultural scientists are going back to school, many at online colleges through work-study programs, to stay on top of this new trend, particularly as the Bureau notes that a knowledge of nanotechnology is also becoming important to the field. Read the rest of this entry »