Not to scare you but it happens every year, constantly. There is always another new disease or an new mutation to an older disease that is attacking crops.
It's only by constant research, phytosanitary processes and breeding efforts that our food supply is as secure as it is.
It makes more sense if you use it as intended. It's designed to be a simple way for farmers/gardeners to classify the basic soil composition by particle size.
Take a cup of dirt, put it in a mason jar, fill it full of water, put a lid on tight and shake the hell out of it. Come back in 3-4 days and measure the layers.
This comes in helpful in applying pesticides and basic water management. It's pretty much pointless for anything else.
It usually indicates as shortage of available calcium in the plant as the tuber grows. Basically the same thing as blossom end rot in tomatoes, peppers etc.
Some varieties are more prone to developing this than others.
I have seen lot of nonsense spouted by the "experts." PhD levels who are making bad assumptions outside of their field of expertise. I would say only about 1 in 10 papers I read is worth the time to download it.
It's an ongoing issue with the high level of specialization in the sciences, especially in academia. Any topic which covers multiple disciplines turns into a clusterfuck.
Market requirements are not necessarily driven by capitalism.
Throughout history, needs of the culture determine the plant breeding efforts. Often flavor and nutrition have been traded for yield and storage.
For example the absolute worst watermelon I ever ate was in Uzbekistan. The soviet's created a long-storage melon that lasts up to 10 months. It's was about as bad as eating cardboard.
There are many things that are unsupported in this article
First off, the laboratory methodology changed for testing food. Modern testing techniques much more accurate than the ones in the 50's and 70's. They did not run the older methodologies on modern food. So basically the entire premise is comparing apples to oranges. We don't know if the changes are due to reality or procedure changes.
The second study on rice had me smiling. From somebody who knows nothing about breeding cereal grain it would seem to be a slam dunk, however reality is more complicated. All cereal breeders struggle with the tradeoff between maximizing yield and lodging resistance. Lodging is when the stalk falls over. When it falls over major yield losses can occur (50%+ depending on the stage). It also causes major difficulties with harvesting on equipment and time. Extra CO2 increases plant size and kernal size. A taller plant with a heavier seed head that a slight breeze will knock over. Breeders will select genetically smaller kernals and smaler stature plants to compensate for increasing CO2. This is the major reason that all hybrid wheat attempts have failed. It makes a huge plant that falls over.
Some basics on nutritional density of vegetables.
Fruit size: in general the larger the fruit lower the nutritional density. The plant only has so much it can create or pull from the soil.
Nutrient density is affected by position on the plant where it is grown. Earlier set fruit tend to have higher nutritional density than later set fruit. You can look up more on this on source/sink studies.
Nutrient availability: plants that are slightly nutritionally deficient will produce smaller fruits/seeds. The smaller size will make the fruit more nutrient dense.
The weather is the single largest determining factor. When a plant is happy with ideal conditions the nutrient density is lower. When the plant is stressed and grows more slowly, it produces less yield with higher density food.
Genetics: Sometimes plant breeders select for higher nutritional density like watermelons. Sometimes they select for lower density like strawberries. It all depends on the market requirements.
Mormons only have around a 30% activity rate to what their records say or 3 out of 10. Right in line with the rest of them.
So if we assume that 55% of those don't attend do not associate the corrupt organization known as the Mormon church on the poll. Then 67% of the remaining 45% is 30%. The 15% who associate but don't attend are jackmo's.
You have to hunt really, really, hard to find a model without all the shit. I picked up my teenager an outlander Sport last summer.
All the reviews said: the infotainment is dated and older. The engine and transmission hasn't changed in 5 years with no major issues.... Perfect.
Lots of physical buttons and the infotainment center is not critical for the car to function. No climate control settings on it etc. Carplay and AndroidAuto only play through the USB. No OnStar, wifi, or cellphone connectivity.
I do most of my own maintenance after having some clusterfucks at mechanics. I simply follow the manual and check things off. It's the easiest car I have maintained since the 80's. An oil change on it takes 5 minutes. On my wife's Ford escape it takes 5 minutes to get the fucking cover off to get to the oil plug.
I will probably buy another one for my other son in a year when he starts driving.
Originally I went through stacks of books. Even when ereaders came out I didn't like them. I built two massive floor to ceiling bookcases to hold them all. It's full with most shelves doubled up.
Then I started traveling all over the globe and I couldn't pack enough books for two weeks and 20+ flights. So I got an ereader and eventually transitioned to a tablet. Last I counted I have around 10,000 e-books.
Recently audiobooks have been my go-to. I drive a lot for work now so I listen to them on my trucks speaker system. When I am home I am always doing something else like cooking dishes, yardwork, etc. I have gotten use to listening to a book through my earbuds as I do other things. In the evening I often relax and listen to a book while playing a video game. I will go through 20-30 audiobooks per month.
High value crop consultants - good ones can make a surprising amount of money (200k+) This isn't your dumbfuck row crops like corn and soy. Think fruit trees, nut trees, viticulture, vegetables, organic production etc.
Many college graduates have a job offers their junior year. Anymore you'll want to have a double major of biology/Ag.
I have worked outside at those temps and humidity. The only way I could survive was by putting ice under my large floppy hat. There is no other way to keep yourself cool under those conditions. I would go through a gallon of water every hour and still be dehydrated. It was brutal.
I would go home and fill up a tub of cool water and sit in it for 30 minutes to cool down. I was fully acclimatized to temps 40-45C then too.
Imagine a solid hardwood pallet, mostly oak. The supplier sends them out on a deposit. If you don't return them they charge you the full replacement fee.
It's just a bottle of ink that you pour into the tank. You can find generic ones for $7-8.
My wife prints 1-2 boxes of paper per year in color. About 10% of those are photograph quality. A laser printer wouldn't cut it for the photographs so I got her an ecotank.
The tanks hold 130ml of ink so they last a long time. The largest HP cartridge held like 49ml of ink of I recall correctly. Most of them had under 10ml.
If you print infrequently or an absolute ton (like an office) a laser printer is better. If you print a case or two of paper per year and photographs, the inkjet is better.
I am an expert in crops. I have traveled the globe to learn about them. I have created new varieties to plant. Landowners around the globe seek me out for knowledge and seeds.
Insurance and medical care for my wife with another autoimmune disease has been as high as 30% of our income.
She started a union job with better negotiated insurance. It's down to 10% of our income now.