Trip to Australia

As mentioned in the previous post, I had the opportunity to attend the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ISSCT) Breeding & Germplasm Workshop held near Cairns, Queensland, Australia, with Dr. Anna Hale, peer research geneticist at our Sugarcane Research Laboratory in Houma. The workshop was held at the Novotel Rockford Palm Cove Resort about 30 kilometers north of Cairns. To get a flavor of Palm Cove, check out the embedded video at the palmcoveaustralia website. We were in Australia during their winter, but this part of Australia is tropical, so even at night, we didn't see the temperature dip below 60 F. In fact, the weather couldn't have been more perfect during our trip. The beach was only a stone's throw away from the resort, and all the restaurants in Palm Cove were along the beach front. We were actually delayed in getting to our destination because of a missed connection (air traffic related). We should have flown from Newark NJ to Hong Kong-Brisbane-Cairns. Instead we ended up going to the Narita Airport near Tokyo, then to Guam for a 23-hr layover, then to Cairns, missing a pre-workshop Genomics meeting held at Port Douglas, Queensland, but getting to our destination before the Workshop began. The view from the balcony side of my room that greeted me the morning after we arrived, reminded me of Tennessee (see first pic). Over 70 fellow sugarcane researchers (geneticists and related disciplines) were at the Workshop from 17 countries. This was Anna's first trip, so now she can finally connect faces with names she is already familiar with.

One of the really neat things that happened at this meeting was that two presentations were given from other countries that I knew I had impacted. One was from the Island of Reunion (France) where I was part of a team of consultants in 1984. At that time, we strongly recommended that sugarcane seedlings be evaluated across the extreme range environments that sugarcane was grown on the Island, and not at just one location. Another recommendation we gave was that modifications be made to their breeding facility to assure better flowering, allowing for a wider range of crosses to be made. The thrust of the Reunion presentation at this workshop was that the number of advanced clones with commercial potential had increased greatly as a result of following our recommendations. The two young scientists from Reunion seemed thrilled to meet me, as I was one of the members of the 1984 consulting group. The other presentation I had an impact on was from South Africa. The South Africans adopted single-stalk small pot culture of plants used on crossing carts (as opposed to air-layering stalks of plants in a large container) following my presentation in a similar Workshop held in South Africa six years ago. They reported that small-pot culture proved to be far more efficient and less labor intensive than their old method, and that the number of flowers they annually achieve has remained constant.

The Workshop went from Monday through Friday (Aug 17-21). On Wednesday, we visited Australia's premier sugarcane breeding station located just south of Brisbane and saw their photoperiod and crossing facilities. We also went to a variety yield trial, and learned more about how selection and yield testing is done in Australia.

Following the Workshop, Anna and I spent a full day taking in the Outer Great Barrier Reef (stopping for 2-hrs at Green Island), then a second day going north as far as Cape Tribulation, returning by way of the Atherton Tableland above the Cairns coastal region, stopping briefly to take in the famed Barron Falls at Kuranda. Our final day was spent in Cairns, where we did some shopping for gifts before returning home. Thankfully, our return home was without incident.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, JULIE!

So strange. Last night, I was talking with my wife, Judy, about how forgetful I am becoming, and how even people at work are commenting about my forgetfulness. Judy had some good advice for me. I was probably being a little more defensive than I needed to during our conversation. At any rate, throughout the whole day, it didn't occur to me that yesterday was our youngest daughter's birthday.

Sorry about that, Julie. I hope you had a great birthday! Also, it's great to see that your youngest daughter, Megan, is doing so well, and getting along so well with Lauren, who will be a pre-schooler. And it's exiting to know that Allison is taking the big step into kindergarten this year. I bet she's really excited about that. I'm sure Matt is excited too in his role as a school administrator. I wish you all the best.

I will be off to Cairns, Australia for almost two weeks (Aug 12-25) going to the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ISSCT) Breeding & Germplasm Workshop with a fellow scientist, Dr. Anna Hale, from our Station. Following the meeting, we will spend a couple of extra days in Australia. We will join a post-meeting tour group for at least one day in order to experience the world-famous Great Barrier Reef. I will try to post a blog or two during our travels.

BP and Verenium Announce Vercipia Biofuels

BP and Verenium Corporation announced on Wednesday (July 29) that its 50-50 joint venture company will operate under the name Vercipia Biofuels. Corporate headquarters will be located in Florida. Quoting from their website, "Vercipia, which means 'green beginnings', will utilize dedicated energy canes and [other tall-stature] grasses, both abundant biomass feedstocks, in conjunction with novel enzymatic conversion technology being developed by its parent companies, Verenium and BP, in its production process. Vercipia plans to develop one of the first fully integrated cellulosic ethanol production facilities..." The plant will have a production capacity of 36 million gallons of ethanol per year, or about 25 times the capacity of the plant they built near Jennings, Louisiana. As can be seen on their PDF fact sheet, this location is in Highlands County, Florida, just NW of Lake Okeechobee, and not too far from Florida's sugarcane country, which is mostly on the south side of Lake Okeechobee. Vercipia Biofuels has entered into a long-term agreement with Lykes Bros., Inc, a well-known, family-owned Florida agricultural business, to provide the energy grasses for conversion to fuel. I can only assume Lykes Bros. plans to grow energy cane as well as forage sorghum on their farm, based on the short list of feedstocks mentioned in the fact sheet. Presumably, they will use energy canes that were bred at the USDA Field Station in Canal Point by Dr. Peter Tai. Dr. Tai's semi-wild canes certainly looked superior to Louisiana's released energy canes in the energy crop test I saw last winter in Florida, which should be no surprise, since they were selected in that environment.

Our summer garden nearly over with

Once we harvest the last watermelon left in our garden (see picture), the summer garden is essentially over with. We do have some sweet potatoes growing in our garden in a semi-wild condition. I don't even know if there will be much to harvest in the end. I do know that the sweet potato vines would eventually take over the whole garden if we let them. In a month or so, we will start thinking about what to plant in our fall/winter garden...that is, unless we are thinking about how get out of the way of a hurricane approaching us.

USDA introduces The People's Garden Initiative

Go to the USDA webpage that I have hyperlinked and learn about The People's Garden Initiative. Our new Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack explains it in a video that can be accessed at the USDA webpage by clicking on the words to the right of the icon.

What was the idea behind this? As explained by Secretary Vilsack, the USDA wants to showcase what we are involved in at the USDA, and to encourage folks to consider local production and local consumption. It is a charge to those of us who work at the USDA to roll up our sleeves in our respective communities, set an example, help create a movement toward self sustainability across the country, helping people to better connect with the earth that we all depend on for our sustainance.

Report on our 4th of July Tennessee Trip

This was our second trip to Sewanee Village and our property in Tennessee. Judy posted pictures that we took during this trip (1-45) together with the previous trip (46-85) on her Shutterfly site. We left at 2:00 a.m., in order to reach our desination by noon and thereby meet with a TDEC representative to get a septic tank permit. It turns out that the man never showed up that day, so our very early start was all for naught. He was going to be out of town for the next two weeks, so this was a disappointment. But, we took advantage of the extra time we had, and were ultimately able to do some tree clearing with a brand new chainsaw that Judy had gotten a good deal on. It took me a little while to get used to the chainsaw. I got a good work out, and we were able to indicate with land clearing and a blue ribbon that I happened to have, where we wanted our future house to be. As things turned out, a different TDEC representative showed up while we were temporarily away, and he prepared a septic tank design based on where we had indicated we wanted the house, and signed off on the septic tank permit, so all ended well. We camped at a campsite in Monteagle, TN, not the greatest but at least reasonably close to our property.

We spent basically two days on the road looking at modular homes. We actually visited a site in Pulaski, TN (Modular One) where modular homes were being built. The assembly line production of these homes was impressive indeed. There is no doubt that modular homes are very well built...certainly up to the standards of a regular home...and beyond. We spent a good two hours the following day talking to a modular home dealer in McMinnville, TN referred by Fred Day of Modular One. This lady was very thorough in trying to determine exactly what we wanted in our home. Judy liked a certain design from another modular home builder, so the lady worked from that plan, modifying it according to our needs and wants. We would like to have a basement, so that had to be worked into the plan (location of stairway, etc.).

On our travel to McMinnville via Manchester, we quickly realized why this area is considered one of the most important in the country for the growing of landscape trees and shrubs. Landscape nurseries were everywhere, and they were unbelievably large and emaculate. We were told that the nursery business in this area is a $500,000,000 business. We actually stopped at a research facility in McMinnville that houses researchers from Tennessee State University and USDA scientists from the U.S. National Arboretum (Wash. D.C.) that use McMinnville as a worksite. The few scientists who were there on Thursday were busy with last-minute reports and getting ready for the 4th of July holiday, so we weren't able to get the usual tour.

We returned to Monteagle from McMinnville along a very scenic route (Hwy 56) that took us through a town called Altamont. The name is so strange for me to hear, because I attended Altamont Elementary and High School in Altamont, Utah. Altamont, TN has the distinction of having the largest concentration of Latter-day Saints of any town east of the Mississippi River. Apparently, even to this day, a majority of the population in the town is LDS (so we were told), though there are a lot of inactives. We took a picture of a historical LDS building that was right in town. There is even an older historical building. Apparently, the modern chapel is on a different highway, not Hwy. 56, explaining why we didn't see it. Ironically, if we lived on the other side of the Sewanee Creek that borders on the development, we would be in Altamont Ward in a different Stake, and be in a different temple district (Nashville, not Atlanta).

The Miller Family went all out to have a great 3rd Annual 4th of July Event. On the 3rd, Judy and I followed a trail built down to Sewanee Creek about 400 feet below the development area. In the evening, we watched two movies at the ampitheatre that has been built in the development. It made for a long evening, but both movies were impressive, one entitled "The Power of Community-How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" about how Cuba's population coped with the severe reduction of petroleum in their lives in the post-USSR era (something we can learn from in our future... remembering that petroleum is NOT a renewable resource), the other a musical film entitled 1776, which I thought was extremely well done and appropriate for the occasion. I was getting very tired at the end. On the 4th, Grant Miller brought in a terrific band, who performed for a smattering of guests at the ampitheatre. Unfortunately, we missed the band, because we were anxious to take advantage of what little time we had to clear our property. We had a potluck barbeque to which Judy prepared dutch oven cooked chicken and cherry dump cake. Both were big hits. We had fireworks and another movie on the 4th, which we weren't able to stay for because we had gotten too tired. We went to church on Sunday and enjoyed the afternoon with the Millers with leftovers from the potluck. The Millers were great hosts for us throughout our second trip here. The weather held up through most of the week...until the late evening on the 4th, at which point we had already retired to bed. We really enjoyed our second trip, and look forward to returning to prepare to build our future home in a beautiful part of Tennessee.

Traveling to Tennessee over the 4th of July

Tomorrow, we will be traveling to Tennessee to join in the 3rd Annual Independence Day Celebration at the Village on Sewanee Creek. This trip will also give us some time to familiarize ourselves with the property we purchased in the Village, and take the necessary steps toward the eventual building of our future home there. We will give a detailed report on our trip after we return on the 6th of July. I borrowed the above picture from the Photo Gallery of the Sewanee Creek website. Credit: Grant Miller.