Pepper X Dethrones Carolina Reaper As World's Hottest Chile Pepper
Image Source: Jeffrey Collins/Associated Press
Hotheads rejoice! You can now enjoy/endure the pain/pleasure of 2.69 million Scoville units in a single bite of the world's new hottest chile pepper, Pepper X. The new pepper relegates the Carolina Reaper, clocking in at 1.64 million units, to second banana, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Both peppers were bred by South Carolina pepper expert (and sado-masochist) Ed Currie. “I was feeling the heat for three-and-a-half hours. Then the cramps came,” said Currie, after sampling his creation. “Those cramps are horrible. I was laid out flat on a marble wall for approximately an hour in the rain, groaning in pain.” Go ahead and try one. I double-dare you!
First Offshore Fish Farm Proposed For New England Waters
Image Source: Robert F Bukaty / AP Photo
Blue Water Fisheries group wants to be the first to bring fish farming to the open ocean off New England. Most aquaculture takes places in coastal waters or on land, but the group's proposed farm would consist of 40 submersible fish pens on two sites about 7 1/2 miles off the coast of Newburyport, Massachusetts. It would raise millions of pounds of Atlantic salmon and steelhead trout. Critics say the open ocean pens increase the likelihood of storm damage, fish escapes, diseases, parasites, and threats to wild salmon due to hybridizing and competition for food. The group's environmental impact statement is yet to be released.
US Department Of Agriculture Considers Vaccinating Chickens Amid Ongoing Bird Flu Outbreak
Image Source: Mike Blake/Reuters
The largest avian flu outbreak in US history began early in 2022 and has since affected more than 58 million farmed birds in 47 states, driven up egg and poultry prices, and raised concerns about another human pandemic. The H5N1 virus that causes bird flu has already spread to mammals such as mink, foxes, raccoons and bears, yet experts at the Centers for Disease Control say the risk of a human pandemic low. Nonetheless, the Agriculture Department has begun testing poultry vaccines for a potential large-scale bird flu vaccination program, a first for the country. Test results are due in May. Meanwhile, officials encourage poultry farms to prevent transmission of bird flu through biosecurity measures like enhanced disinfection procedures for farm workers.
UN Food And Agriculture Organization Dubs 2023 "The Year Of Millets"
Image Source: AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Quick-growing, drought-resistant millets have become the darling of rural grain farmers around the globe. While the pandemic and the Ukraine war upended grain prices and supplies, farmers in Africa, India, and China pivoted from wheat and corn to planting hardy millets like fonio, sorghum, teff, and finger millet. Millets make up only 3% of the global grain trade but have helped reduce food insecurity enough in places like Zimbabwe that the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization is supporting millet farmers with various initiatives, naming 2023 "The Year of Millets."
First Successful Indoor Wheat Crop Grown In Germany
Image Source: Courtesy of Infarm
While vertical farms can produce mounds of lettuce, tomatoes and strawberries, calorie-dense grains have been more challenging. By optimizing its growth environment and crop cycle time, German company Infarm has now produced the first successful crop of indoor-grown wheat. At scale, the crop is the equivalent of 117 tonnes per hectare (52.2 US tons per acre) per year, 26 times the average open-field farming yields. It's a significant agricultural milestone that may help improve global food security.
