20/07/12: oil-free blowers; mill maintence from IAOM; Cargill

Hello, 

• Atlas Copco oil-free, low-pressure blowers help Becker Underwood protect bio-cultivation process.  Leading bio-control product manufacturer Becker Underwood has installed new Atlas Copco ZS low-pressure, oil-free blower technology at its manufacturing facility in Littlehampton, Sussex, to guarantee the essential supply of high quality, oil and contaminant free compressed air required for its bio-cultivation processes. 

• Upgrade your Mill Maintenance Knowledge with IAOM.  The IAOM Milling Maintenance I Course will be offered on Oct. 22-24 in Kansas City, Mo. A very full schedule of maintenance topics are planned, including: bearings; gates and valves; belts, chains and power transmissions; electric motors; sifters; process auditing; and automation. More information...

• Cargill and Institut Pertanian Bogor to establish Indonesia’s first oil palm teaching farm.  The teaching farm, essentially a scaled down commercial oil palm plantation, will also be the first such collaboration between a commercial oil palm grower and an educational institute. Located in the Jonggol sub-district of Bogor, the teaching farm will provide high quality and industry standards training on the latest plantation production and management techniques.  Read more...

See you on Monday
 

Oil palm fruits (Photo credit: CIFOR)

Presence of Giant Whitefly insect pest discovered in Indonesia

Scientists with a Virginia Tech-led program have discovered the presence of the giant whitefly (Aleurodicus dugesii) in western Java, the first known infestation of this pest in Asia. The scientists fear an infestation could cause widespread destruction of crops in southeastern and South Asia.

Muni Muniappan, entomologist and director of a multimillion dollar U.S. Agency for International Development-funded program at Virginia Tech, noticed the insect on a poinsettia plant along a roadside in Cipanas, Indonesia. Taxonomists soon confirmed whitefly's presence.

Muniappan was in Indonesia with partner scientists from Clemson University and Bogor Agricultural University in Bogor, Indonesia, inspecting program progress when he noticed telltale signs of the whitefly: a sooty black mold that covers the surface of infected leaves, making photosynthesis impossible. Read more ...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine from Perendale Publishers.