Earlier this week, after the passing of Lou Reed, we asked you to tell us what his music means to you. Here are 10 of our favorites (along with some of our favorite songs) out of the many memories we received.
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"As a friend recently phrased it, 'When you get into Lou Reed as a teenager, it makes you weird forever.' When I was 15 in '96, I stumbled ona cassette tape of Transformer. I'd never heard anything like it. It (along with Radiohead's The Bends) was my introduction to music that was out of the mainstream. When my friends were getting into The Verve Pipe and 311, I was exploring David Bowie and The Clash. I'm glad that Lou Reed made me weird forever." - Tyler Clark
"I was frightened after 9-11. I lived on the Island, and used to drive in to see my friend in the Village. There were armored vehicles outside the Midtown Tunnel and soldiers with rifles. You felt like someone was going to blow something up any minute. I was scared every time I saw a plane. I used to play the Set The Twilight Reeling album, and every time I hit the tunnel, I'd blast "NYC Man," and even thought I wasn't one, I felt like it would be okay if I died while that song was playing. The moment, at the end of "Trade In," when the guitar kicks in, that's ecstasy." - Sean Llewellyn
"I learned of Lou Reed in the back of my older brother's used junker car (I can't remember what make) in 1973. It was late, dark, and I was tired. 'Walk On The Wild Side' sashayed through the speakers, and my 13 year-old, underdeveloped brain came immediately to attention. Lou wrote and sang about the complexities of human existence made plain through a variety of characters that peeled a layer from himself to varying degrees. They offered despair, hope, love, hate, jealousy, joy, madness, addiction, remorse, anger, pity, tenderness, vanity, lust, compassion, etcetera. For me, these characters laid bare the essence of who each and every one of us is. Much like Dostoevsky, Lou painted his characters with a nuanced brush overloaded with every shade of grey. Nothing is as it seems and everyone is everything." - Tom Common
"I met my best friends in college over the Velvet Underground & Nico record. Who can forget the first time they ever heard the lyrics, 'When I put a spike into my vein' and 'When I'm rushing on my run, and I feel just like Jesus' son?' Jump forward to 1992. I was waiting outside the 96th Street Y in New York City to see Lou Reed read from his book of lyrics Between Thought and Expression when a woman offered me a ticket for free. She turned out to be one of the coolest people I've ever met, who later showed me the "real" New York, but also she was Lou Reed's editor for the book. During the reading, Reed spoke about going to Prague in 1989, meeting Vaclav Havel, and how his music had been important there in the real underground. After the show, the woman, took me back stage to meet Lou, shake his hand and say something stupid ('Hi, I'm Lou,' and me, 'Yeah, I know...') and I couldn't think of anything else to say which was good, because if I'd have opened my mouth again I'd have probably drooled. But we were both wearing leather jackets so it was OK. Before that, Prague had been just another one of those cities "over there" but not a year later I was on a plane to Prague and have never left. Other than that minute or so that I met him I only know him through the music, and unfortunately I no longer know the wonderful person who introduced me to him. But I miss them both. My life is different because of them, in all the best ways." - Alan Thomas
"In the early '80s, my generation was asking, 'Where did punk and new wave come from?' Then we listened to the Velvets and the Stooges. Then we said, 'Oh, that's where it came from.'" - Dwain Dolan
"Lou Reed turned my head when I was in college. His lyrics gave dignity to people who didn't fit in in one way or another. It was almost like Reed was talking to me personally. And in the late '70s, nobody else I knew had even heard of The Velvet Underground. So, playing their records in my dorm room late at night was almost a spiritual experience. We've just lost a great one. - Peter
"Lou Reed taught me that there is beauty in difference. In fact, it's the most beautiful thing in the world." - Alex Niculescu
"By the time I discovered Lou Reed, 'Walk on the Wild Side' had become a staple of the classic rock station in my hometown. Transformer was one of the burned CDs that I routinely listened to on my long, windy drive between college and home, and cemented a relationship-turned-marriage that is centered, in large part, around a mutual love of music. While sitting in his dorm room, my now husband started playing something by Lou Reed or the Velvets and I declared, 'I love Lou Reed!' This was serendipitous because [the] summer before we met, [my husband] thought, 'Wouldn't it be great to meet a girl who loved Lou Reed?' Today, when we heard the news, we assumed a position we have taken many times before: together, on the couch, we listened to Lou Reed's raspy voice, not saying anything, just taking in the familiar songs." - Elena Sabin
"For me, it means discovery. It means sitting in an old dorm room listening to the "banana" album with naïve ears and an open mind. It means having a soundtrack for the first year of college, just as [you're] discovering new friends and, ultimately, yourself. The [Velvet Underground] was one of the first bands I really got into as I was beginning my musical journey, and I still have great respect for them, Lou Reed, and their music." - Vanessa Risti
"I walked through the woods with him. My best friend, who passed away almost a year ago, used to sing the Velvet all the time in the woods. We learned the words. And from then on, I was hooked. He never left me on 'Sunday Mornings.' And if you listen to the words of that song - for all he did for art, New York, music, I think you have his homage." - Susan Flaherty
Dell will give its first public demonstration of a 64-bit ARM server this week, the latest step in an industrywide effort to build servers based on low-power chips like those used in smartphones.
Dell will show a server based on a 64-bit ARM processor from AppliedMicro running the Fedora version of Linux and hooked up to a storage system from PMC-Sierra, Dell said.
It plans to show the system at ARM’s annual TechCon conference in Santa Clara, California, which kicks off Tuesday, and it aims to have a system with the AppliedMicro chip ready for “proof of concept” testing by customers in early 2014.
“This is a key milestone for customers seeking to run real-world workloads on 64-bit ARM technology,” Dell executive Robert Hormuth will announce in a blog post this week, according to a copy of the post sent to IDG News Service.
Hewlett-Packard, meanwhile, is moving forward with its own low-power server plans. HP will offer a new 32-bit ARM processor from Calxeda, the EnergyCore ECX-2000, for its Moonshot server system in the first half of next year, HP said via email on Monday. And a Moonshot cartridge based on Intel’s 64-bit “Avoton” Atom processor will be available next month, HP said.
The Dell system is being developed by Dell’s Data Center Solutions division, which builds custom hardware for big Internet companies. Dell didn’t say when it will put a 64-bit ARM server on sale.
It’s the latest step in an effort to develop servers based on a processor architecture developed by ARM Holdings, which provides the chip designs used in most of today’s popular smartphones and tablets. Other companies, such as Qualcomm and Apple, license those designs and incorporate them into systems on chip (SOCs).
ARM chips are being eyed for servers because they consume very little power. The explosion in online computing has left big data centers struggling to control their power consumption. The processors aren’t very powerful, however, and the servers will be used for running lightweight, high-volume transactions, rather than big Oracle or SAP business applications.
“We believe the 64-bit ARM-based processor demonstrates promise for storage and Web front-end environments, where advantages in dollars per gigabyte, watts per gigabyte, performance per dollar, and performance per watt are critical,” Hormuth says in his blog post.
Dell’s demonstration is significant because 64-bit processors are seen as essential for running server workloads. Existing ARM processors have all been 32-bit designs, which limits the amount of memory they can address, and thus the applications they can run.
Calxeda, Advanced Micro Devices, and Broadcom are among the other firms developing ARM chips for servers. Calxeda is developing 64-bit versions of its ARM processors, code-named Lago and Sarita, and they’ll be available in servers a year from now, Calxeda said on Monday.
Intel has responded to the challenge by developing versions of its low-power Atom chips for servers. HP’s current Moonshot server uses Intel’s Atom S1260 processor, known as Centerton. But the “Avoton” chip that HP will offer next month is a far more capable part, according to Intel.
Intel claims that Avoton is six times more power-efficient than Centerton. It’s based on Intel’s new Silvermont core and manufactured on an advanced 22-nanometer process.
James Niccolai, IDG News Service , IDG News Service
James Niccolai covers data centers and general technology news for IDG News Service. More by James Niccolai, IDG News Service
The Real Slim Shady's back with another album, titled The Marshall Mathers LP2. And if you're a fan of Eminemand have iTunes Radio, then there's a way to listen to his latest work in full without going the, well, shady way. Starting today in the US, Eminem's MMLP2 (as it's known for short) can be streamed on the "First Play" station of Apple's newfangled music service, allowing users to tune in to the set of tracks ahead of next Tuesday's scheduled release. As 9to5Mac notes, this marks the first time that an entire album is being given early access to exclusively on iTunes Radio, and it could certainly pave the way for more artists to follow suit. Above all, it is another example of how the music industry is adjusting itself as new services become available -- even if it might not be too excited about it.
The president’s signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act, is in serious trouble. As a result, so is modern liberalism. The problems with Obamacare are increasingly obvious, beginning with the administration unilaterally delaying the employer mandate. But that turned out to be merely one link in a long and troublesome chain.
The ever-so-sinister Brothers Grimm have delighted readers for two centuries with countless adaptations and homages. But Pascal Bronner and Thomas Hiller, of London-based FleaFollyArchitects, have managed to offer a new take on the tales—by building an entire mini-municipality inspired by the 200-year-old words of Jacob and Wilhelm.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — She's been a fixture at Day of the Dead fiestas for a century, and Mexico's elegant and classy "Skeleton Lady" is even inspiring some movie and rock stars in the U.S. to don Halloween costumes based on the macabre figure.
As Mexico's capital marks the 100th anniversary of the death of the artist who created "Catrina," dozens of video bloggers are offering tips on how to nail her pale skull look.
Jose Guadalupe Posada, the cartoonist who created Catrina, is being honored by Mexico City with giant replicas of his illustrations and a display of skeleton statues for the Day of the Dead offering that opens on the capital's main plaza Thursday. Such offerings traditionally consist of an altar with flowers, food and a photo of a departed loved one.
The Skeleton Lady in her elegant broad-brimmed hat first appeared in a satirical engraving that Posada did sometime between 1910 and his death on Jan. 20, 1913. He wanted to mock those who pretended to be of a higher class, even if it meant starving, and going painfully thin, or without flesh. She became the most famous of Posada's illustrations, with later sketches dressing her in classy Victorian-era garments with a high neckline.
As Halloween celebrations make inroads in Mexico, the spooky and sexy Catrina look is spreading a Mexican touch to the north. Singer Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas sported a sexy Catrina outfit with a red-and-black shawl and headpiece and published a photo on her Instagram account. Sandra Bullock was caught by photographers in Los Angeles wearing Mexican-style skull makeup and a black dress.
While it's often called "Mexican Candy Skull" makeup, the Catrina touches of elegant scarves and veiled hats stem from the Skeleton Lady. Dozens of tutorials popped up in the last month on YouTube showing how to darken circles around the eyes and draw colorful shapes on the cheeks to create a frightening, yet festive look.
At some online costume stores in the Unites States, short-skirted and tight-bodice "muerta" or "sugar-skull" costumes are on sale.
The Catrina is also trendy among young women in Mexico. Makeup studios and salons apply the complex face paint for as much as 1,000 pesos (about $80) for Halloween as Mexicans increasingly mix the U.S. festival with the Day of the Dead, which traditionally didn't involve dressing up.
For Andrew Chesnut, author of "Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint" and a professor of Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, the Catrina's rise in the U.S. is part of the increasing Mexican and Latin American influence in the United States.
"She is kind of a perfect example of integrating both traditions and not seeing any contradiction or problems with that," Chesnut said. He said more and more U.S. families, not only of Mexican descent, are setting up altars and celebrating Day of the Dead.
The Catrina went through a couple of incarnations before becoming a scary sex symbol.
Posada created her to poke fun at "people who pretended to be European, but weren't," said Mercedes Sierra, a visual arts professor at Mexico's National Autonomous University.
Most Mexicans are of Indian descent, but given long-standing racism, many tried to look European with their clothing or makeup. So Posada created the elegantly dressed skeleton — "skeleton" being Mexican slang for someone so poor they couldn't eat.
Even though he mocked people with pretentions, Posada said that drawing her as a skeleton was also a way to reject social stratification.
"Death is democratic. At the end, regardless of whether you are white, dark, rich or poor, we all end up as skeletons," Posada said at the time.
In the mid-1940s, Mexican artist Diego Rivera put Posada and the Skeleton Lady in the central position of his mural "Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central," which depicted iconic figures from Mexican arts and history.
It was Rivera who gave the figure the name "Catrina."
___
Adriana Gomez Licon on Twitter: http://twitter.com/agomezlicon
Halloween: The day people think it's okay to dress in stereotypical garb.
adrigu/via Flickr
Halloween: The day people think it's okay to dress in stereotypical garb.
adrigu/via Flickr
Halloween is — uh, how do you say? — high season for writing about race and culture. The list of celebrities, stores and college freshmen sporting racist costumes — plus the inevitable backlash — means these stories practically write themselves.
Given the yearly onslaught of racist Halloween costumes, we sometimes joke here at Code Switch that Halloween is "Blackface Christmas."* (Joking aside, here's a brief history of blackface.) It has gotten bad enough that college administrators feel compelled to fire off preemptive no-blackface-or-racist-costumes emails to students.
This year it was the turn of Ohio University, the University of Minnesota and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Colorado-Boulder posted this note on their website, "If you are planning to celebrate Halloween by dressing up in a costume, consider the impact your costume decision may have on others in the CU community..."
Back in 2010, Burgwell Howard, then dean of students at Northwestern University, sent an email to students that outlined the definition of blackface. Howard asked, "Wearing a historical costume? If this costume is meant to be historical, does it further misinformation or historical and cultural inaccuracies?" (Hampshire College has its own Halloween costume infographic, "Is Your Costume Racist?")
Mistakes don't have to be made.
The New York Times reports you can now turn to 'costume concierges' at Ricky's, a New York-based beauty chain who helpfully "steer light-skinned shoppers who want to go as dark-skinned characters to more 'creative cues' other than skin color."
Here's some seasonal badness from people who could have used the advice of a 'costume concierge:
People dressing as a bloody Trayvon Martin (and to add insult to injury, in blackface, nonetheless) and George Zimmerman (with a shirt emblazoned with 'NEIGHBORHOO WATCH' — we're guessing there's a D, though it's not clear if they ran out of consonants).
Folks wearing fake torn and bloody flight crew and captain outfits, a reference to the Asiana Airlines flight 214 crash in San Francisco that killed three and injured more than 100. The uniforms even have the infamous and mistaken names — Capt. Sum Ting Wong, Capt. Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk — on them.
The crew of Al Jolson wannabes at Milan's "Halloweek" costume party that had a "Disco Africa" theme.
Cartoonist Vishavjit Singh and Fiona Aboud's photography project showed portraits of Singh as Captain America, wearing his turban.
Courtesy of Vishavjit Singh and Fiona Aboud
Cartoonist Vishavjit Singh and Fiona Aboud's photography project showed portraits of Singh as Captain America, wearing his turban.
Courtesy of Vishavjit Singh and Fiona Aboud
The thing about the annual Halloween costume outrage cycle is that redemption is never far behind for those willing to acknowledge their own mistakes. After protests from an Asian-American civil rights group, Pottery Barn removed its kimono and sushi chef costumes and issued an apology: "We did not intend to offend anyone with our Halloween costumes and we apologize."
Sadly, you can set your watch to these Halloween WTF moments. What's the best way to curb them? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Maybe one day, the internet won't be overwhelmed with ill-considered Instagrams or Facebook photos on them. In the interim, we wish we could put lumps of coal in these people's blackface Christmas stockings, but they'd probably just smear it on their faces.
*('Blackface Christmas' is actually kind of a thing. In fact, it's a controversial issue in the Netherlands. 'Zwarte Piet' (Black Pete) is a tradition in which folks don blackface to dress as the 'helper' of Santa Clause. Zwarte Piet has its roots in slavery and the colonial era, but has since been spun to say his dark skin color comes from gathering soot as he shimmies down the chimney. In recent weeks, it's become an increasingly tense issue as the UN has started questioning its validity, sparking protests in the Netherlands.)
In this photo taken Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, Yin Yusheng poses for a photographer in Beijing, China. Yin hopes to craft a new kind of journalism in China, where the industry is widely seen as state-controlled and corrupt. He wants to make his readers the boss - and that includes paying his salary. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this photo taken Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, Yin Yusheng poses for a photographer in Beijing, China. Yin hopes to craft a new kind of journalism in China, where the industry is widely seen as state-controlled and corrupt. He wants to make his readers the boss - and that includes paying his salary. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
In this photo taken Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, Yin Yusheng poses for a photographer in Beijing, China. Yin hopes to craft a new kind of journalism in China, where the industry is widely seen as state-controlled and corrupt. He wants to make his readers the boss - and that includes paying his salary. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
BEIJING (AP) — From his temporary home on a friend's sofa, Yin Yusheng hopes to craft a new kind of journalism in China, where the industry is widely seen as state-controlled and corrupt. He wants to make his readers the boss — and that includes paying his salary.
Once users pledge 5,000 yuan ($800) — half his monthly pay when he worked for a business daily — he takes a story up. He has completed one piece since beginning his experiment in crowdfunding in September, appealing to those who are "tired of the praises sung by the state-run media."
Journalism in China is held in low esteem by many members of the public, not just because virtually all media is state-controlled and toes the government line, but also because of dirty practices dating back to the 1990s. Journalists regularly demand money from companies or individuals not to report a negative story about them, and expect a "red envelope" with cash to report a positive development or to turn up at a press conference.
Yin, who lost a reporting job at a magazine earlier this year when it changed from a weekly to a monthly, wants to be beholden only to the news-reading public, and is testing whether crowdfunding from online donations can give him a stable income.
In an online mission statement, he says crowdfunding can make a product successful, save a company and bring donations to the weak and vulnerable. "In the same way, it can give us the truth," he writes.
There already are several self-styled citizen journalists in China publishing online reports on their own websites. Yin said he wants to bring a professional standard to this kind of reporting and thinks colleagues in the industry may follow his lead because such reporting "enjoys a little more sliver of freedom" than working in the state-controlled industry.
Yin, 43, has advertised his story ideas on China's two largest microblogging sites and the online marketplace Taobao.
The crowdfunded investigative piece he has completed was about Chen Baocheng, a Beijing reporter detained during a protest over a land demolition in his hometown. Yin's pitch attracted the required funding within 24 hours. A week and a half later, he uploaded the finished piece onto two Twitter-like microblogging sites, Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo.
State media stories on the case tended to focus on police and lawyers' reactions, but Yin's vivid report was based on more than 20 interviews with police, lawyers, witnesses, local officials and some of those who had been detained. Some reports alleged that Chen doused an excavator operator in gasoline, but Yin's report found that he had arrived only after others had already poured the fuel.
Yin also tweets from the scene. "I am on the scene, meaning you are on the scene as well," his promise to readers goes.
His plan came from discussions with friends who, like him, entered print journalism from backgrounds in computer science or online media, and who began to see the Internet's power to usurp traditional media.
"We began to ask ourselves the question: Why do we have to confine ourselves to one specific media outlet? Many of us had already become quite influential, so publishing an article online might have more public impact," he said in an interview at a Beijing cafe.
In the U.S. and Europe, journalists and activists have used crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter to find money for one-off creative projects, like a first book or a documentary. A number of sites also have experimented with such financing for journalists in the past few years, especially in the United States, said George Brock, a journalism professor at City University London.
"I don't think it's going to be the central plank or pillar of a new business model for journalism, but the experiments that have been done in it have shown that projects that catch people's imagination, whether they be Web or print or film, really can raise money," Brock said.
Yin set his limit at 5,000 yuan, which is also slated to cover his expenses, in hopes of discouraging the notion that a big spender could control his agenda. He uploaded details on the 1,955 yuan he spent covering his first report, including photos of bus and train tickets and other receipts.
He is saving money by staying in a friend's apartment, which he says might also make it more difficult for officials to track him down.
He risks becoming a target in the government's intensified crackdown on online expression. In recent months, China's leaders have clamped down on what they call online rumors and efforts to erode the rule of the Communist Party through lies and negative news. Their targets have included celebrity bloggers that call attention to social injustices.
Even if the government does not detain Yin, it could scrub his reports from the Internet.
"The key point here is the distribution question" and whether Yin's reports will be censored, said David Bandurski, a researcher with the China Media Project at Hong Kong University. "All Internet is China is in a recent period of extreme intensification of control and he's dealing — presumably if he's doing investigations — with sensitive issues."
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Follow Louise Watt on Twitter at twitter.com/louise_watt
"Los Angeles police responded to a report of shots fired Friday morning at Los Angeles International Airport," reports NBC Los Angeles. It is webcasting its coverage.
At least some parts of the airport have been evacuated.
We'll keep an eye on the news and update.
Update at 1 p.m. ET. At Terminal 3:
"Airport officials confirm police incident began at 9:30 a.m. @ Terminal 3 at LAX. More info to come," the airport says. According to the airport's website, the airlines using that terminal are: AirTran, Alaska, Horizon, JetBlue, Spirit, Virgin America and Virgin Atlantic.
If you've flown into Los Angeles International Airport anytime in the last 50 years, the final segment of your journey may have taken you down a long hallway featuring a gorgeous color-blocked tile mural. Well, on your next flight to L.A., you can wear the socks to match it.
I just can't stop looking at how the drops carve the water, one after the other, making a hole in it. The experiment was captured by the Brigham Young University's Splash Lab. Here's their description of what's happening:
The Xbox One will stream media from your home network and play audio CDs, Microsoft tells Penny Arcade Report. In that way, the One is much like the Xbox 360. When it comes to MP3 playback, however, it's a little trickier. The Xbox One is a Play To device that supports Redmond's PC and mobile ecosystem, but not much else. This comes just days after Sony released its massive FAQ that said, among other things, that the PlayStation 4 wouldn't do any of the above. If you're looking for a new do-all device for your A/V rack, the Xbox One could be it.
Durbin, University of Illinois announce $25 million federal grant
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
1-Nov-2013
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Contact: Phyllis Picklesimer p-pickle@illinois.edu 217-244-2827 University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Money will increase Africa's food supply through soybean research
URBANA, Ill. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) announced today that the university has received a $25 million federal grant to lead a consortium of universities and non-governmental organizations working to increase the food supply in Africa by improving soybean yields in five countries on the continent. The five-year grant is administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and will be led by University of Illinois agricultural economist Peter Goldsmith, who has 13 years of experience conducting research in similar latitudes in South America. The project is part of Feed the Future, the U.S. government's global hunger and food security initiative.
"Over the years, it has been my privilege to support the research that has made the University of Illinois a national leader in soybean study," said Durbin, who has secured over $5.2 million in support of soybean research at the university. "This $25 million grant will allow U of I and its partners to improve crop yields and increase the food supply in a part of the world that badly needs it. U of I is an international leader in researching and developing the next-generation crops that will help feed burgeoning populations across the world, and today's grant solidifies and further strengthens the role the university plays in fighting hunger across the globe. I congratulate U of I on this award and look forward to the benefits it will bring to the people of Africa."
"The people living in the poverty band in the lower latitudes of Africa struggle with low-productivity crops, isolation from markets, and access to low-cost sources of protein and oil," said Goldsmith. "There has also been a research void in soy production among developing countries. We've already seen soy as an economic engine creating agro-industrial growth in developing countries. That's the beauty of a highly productive commercial crop such as soybean. This research will work to find answers to questions about soy in these protein-deficient countries from selecting the best seeds for that area and climate to establishing markets and environmental sustainability."
The consortium, officially named the Feed the Future Innovation Laboratory for Soybean Value Chain Research, will provide replicable research to identify, adapt and deploy soybean germplasm, educate current and future breeders, define best practices for production and seed management, and identify barriers to adoption, especially for women. The group will conduct its research in the sub-Saharan African countries of Ghana, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, and Ethiopia.
Because soy must be processed, one aspect of the research Goldsmith said will get a special focus is soy's value chainfinding ways to connect growers with processors and markets. Poor infrastructure and distance to markets plagues many regions of the developing world.
The USDA Soybean Germplasm Collection at the University of Illinois will be leveraged to identify new high-yielding soybean varieties that are adapted to low-latitude environments. Researchers will also work to develop cultivars that are resistant to rust and bacteria pustule, can more efficiently fix nitrogen, can better tolerate the low phosphorus commonly found in tropical soils, and can be easily processed for household as well as livestock consumption.
"There is a high demand for poultry and animal feed in developing countries," Goldsmith added. Soybean's primary use is as a high quality protein source for livestock. "That's another aspect of this research that fits the legacy of the University of Illinois. Illinois crop and animal scientists were instrumental in developing a nutritious corn/soy diet for pigs and poultry," he said.
Goldsmith said that poultry in these sub-Saharan regions are typically fed non-nutritious grain waste and the chickens consequently have very slow growth, which in turns provides low returns to farmers. A second phase of the project would focus research on poultry nutrition so that producers can raise healthier chickens and provide an opportunity to scale up their poultry operation. For example, Goldsmith said that one option might be the use of small-scale extruders, working like a local grist mill where small farmers can bring their soy to have it processed and blended with maize and micronutrients for chicken feed.
The University of Illinois' National Soybean Research Laboratory has been a global leader in the use of soy for human nutrition in developing countries. "There are already established traditions for starchy foods such as cassava, rice, and maize, as well as for native legumes such as cowpea and chickpea," Goldsmith said. "People know how to grow and cook with the native legumes, but the productivity, versatility, and quality and levels of protein are low when compared to soy.
U of I's Brian Diers and Randy Nelson will lead the breeding portion of the research. Dan Reynolds at Mississippi State will develop and lead the regions first soybean field station to provide much needed agronomic research. Kathleen Ragsdale and Lindsey Peterson, also of Mississippi State will head up the project's research into the impact of soybean on gender equity. Jill Findeis and Kristin Bilyeu of the University of Missouri will lead, respectively, the economic and grain quality research areas. Craig Gundersen and Bridget Owen of the National Soybean Research Laboratory will lead the human nutrition effort. Rita Mumm of the University of Illinois will lead the breeder training and education component and Jeremy Guest also of the University of Illinois will lead the research program on environmental impacts of soybean. The research relies on key partnerships with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, Catholic Relief Services, Technoserve, and the International Fertilizer Development Council. Mike Lacy of the University of Georgia will lead the livestock nutrition program, and the partnership will also feature the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, and Delaware State University as additional key partners.
"This research-for-development design will provide the research foundation that can readily be adopted by the development community to boost soybean production and improve the nutrition and market linkages for small holder farmers, which in turn will raise incomes, increase food security, and improve household nutrition," said Robert Hauser, dean of the College of ACES at the University of Illinois.
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Durbin, University of Illinois announce $25 million federal grant
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
1-Nov-2013
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Contact: Phyllis Picklesimer p-pickle@illinois.edu 217-244-2827 University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Money will increase Africa's food supply through soybean research
URBANA, Ill. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) announced today that the university has received a $25 million federal grant to lead a consortium of universities and non-governmental organizations working to increase the food supply in Africa by improving soybean yields in five countries on the continent. The five-year grant is administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and will be led by University of Illinois agricultural economist Peter Goldsmith, who has 13 years of experience conducting research in similar latitudes in South America. The project is part of Feed the Future, the U.S. government's global hunger and food security initiative.
"Over the years, it has been my privilege to support the research that has made the University of Illinois a national leader in soybean study," said Durbin, who has secured over $5.2 million in support of soybean research at the university. "This $25 million grant will allow U of I and its partners to improve crop yields and increase the food supply in a part of the world that badly needs it. U of I is an international leader in researching and developing the next-generation crops that will help feed burgeoning populations across the world, and today's grant solidifies and further strengthens the role the university plays in fighting hunger across the globe. I congratulate U of I on this award and look forward to the benefits it will bring to the people of Africa."
"The people living in the poverty band in the lower latitudes of Africa struggle with low-productivity crops, isolation from markets, and access to low-cost sources of protein and oil," said Goldsmith. "There has also been a research void in soy production among developing countries. We've already seen soy as an economic engine creating agro-industrial growth in developing countries. That's the beauty of a highly productive commercial crop such as soybean. This research will work to find answers to questions about soy in these protein-deficient countries from selecting the best seeds for that area and climate to establishing markets and environmental sustainability."
The consortium, officially named the Feed the Future Innovation Laboratory for Soybean Value Chain Research, will provide replicable research to identify, adapt and deploy soybean germplasm, educate current and future breeders, define best practices for production and seed management, and identify barriers to adoption, especially for women. The group will conduct its research in the sub-Saharan African countries of Ghana, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, and Ethiopia.
Because soy must be processed, one aspect of the research Goldsmith said will get a special focus is soy's value chainfinding ways to connect growers with processors and markets. Poor infrastructure and distance to markets plagues many regions of the developing world.
The USDA Soybean Germplasm Collection at the University of Illinois will be leveraged to identify new high-yielding soybean varieties that are adapted to low-latitude environments. Researchers will also work to develop cultivars that are resistant to rust and bacteria pustule, can more efficiently fix nitrogen, can better tolerate the low phosphorus commonly found in tropical soils, and can be easily processed for household as well as livestock consumption.
"There is a high demand for poultry and animal feed in developing countries," Goldsmith added. Soybean's primary use is as a high quality protein source for livestock. "That's another aspect of this research that fits the legacy of the University of Illinois. Illinois crop and animal scientists were instrumental in developing a nutritious corn/soy diet for pigs and poultry," he said.
Goldsmith said that poultry in these sub-Saharan regions are typically fed non-nutritious grain waste and the chickens consequently have very slow growth, which in turns provides low returns to farmers. A second phase of the project would focus research on poultry nutrition so that producers can raise healthier chickens and provide an opportunity to scale up their poultry operation. For example, Goldsmith said that one option might be the use of small-scale extruders, working like a local grist mill where small farmers can bring their soy to have it processed and blended with maize and micronutrients for chicken feed.
The University of Illinois' National Soybean Research Laboratory has been a global leader in the use of soy for human nutrition in developing countries. "There are already established traditions for starchy foods such as cassava, rice, and maize, as well as for native legumes such as cowpea and chickpea," Goldsmith said. "People know how to grow and cook with the native legumes, but the productivity, versatility, and quality and levels of protein are low when compared to soy.
U of I's Brian Diers and Randy Nelson will lead the breeding portion of the research. Dan Reynolds at Mississippi State will develop and lead the regions first soybean field station to provide much needed agronomic research. Kathleen Ragsdale and Lindsey Peterson, also of Mississippi State will head up the project's research into the impact of soybean on gender equity. Jill Findeis and Kristin Bilyeu of the University of Missouri will lead, respectively, the economic and grain quality research areas. Craig Gundersen and Bridget Owen of the National Soybean Research Laboratory will lead the human nutrition effort. Rita Mumm of the University of Illinois will lead the breeder training and education component and Jeremy Guest also of the University of Illinois will lead the research program on environmental impacts of soybean. The research relies on key partnerships with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, Catholic Relief Services, Technoserve, and the International Fertilizer Development Council. Mike Lacy of the University of Georgia will lead the livestock nutrition program, and the partnership will also feature the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, and Delaware State University as additional key partners.
"This research-for-development design will provide the research foundation that can readily be adopted by the development community to boost soybean production and improve the nutrition and market linkages for small holder farmers, which in turn will raise incomes, increase food security, and improve household nutrition," said Robert Hauser, dean of the College of ACES at the University of Illinois.
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