Fresh Produce Discussion Blog

Created by The Packer's National Editor Tom Karst

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Petrossian’s NY restaurant offers special Caviar Menu to celebrate its 25th anniversary

Petrossian’s NY restaurant offers special Caviar Menu to celebrate its 25th anniversary
Petrossian NY’s 25th Anniversary celebration continues into 2011 with a sumptuous Caviar-centric menu available every evening. The $100 per person Anniversary menu is total indulgence! It begins with Petrossian’s exclusive Caviarcube Martini and 30 grams of Petrossian’s Royal Transmontonus caviar served with blinis.
Seared Diver Scallops or Seared West Coast Sturgeon, both with caviar as well, are followed by a selection of Petrossian’s delicious deserts. To view:
http://www.petrossian.com/index.php?file=restaurant/menu&irest_id=4&imenu_id=78
New York's Petrossian restaurant is housed in the historic Alwyn Court Building on Manhattan's West Side, one block from Carnegie Hall and four blocks from Lincoln Center. Owned by the Petrossian family, it serves a French-influenced contemporary menu that features the caviar, smoked fish, and foie gras delicacies for which Petrossian is known throughout the world. Lunch, dinner, and brunch can be enjoyed at either the art deco style mirrored bar or in the dining room. Designed by Ion Oroveanu, the restaurant features Lalique crystal wall sconces, bronze sculptures from the 1930's, etched Erte mirrors, Limoges china, Lanvin chandelier and pink Finnish granite, all harmonizing to create a visual ambiance that can be savored equally with the unsurpassed gourmet experience.

Petrossian New York is located at:
182 West 58th Street
(58th St. at 7th Ave.)
New York, NY 10019

Hours:
Monday-Thursday: Lunch, 11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m., Dinner, 5 p.m. - 11 p.m.
Friday: Lunch, 11:30 a.m - 3 p.m., Dinner, 5:30 p.m. - 11 p.m.
Saturday: Brunch, 11:30 a.m - 3 p.m., Dinner, 5:30 p.m. - 11 p.m.
Sunday: Brunch, 11:30 a.m - 3 p.m., Dinner, 5 p.m. - 11 p.m.

Smart breeding technology a topic at SD meeting

Cibus Global Leadership to Present at Plant and Animal Genome XIX Conference
Local San Diego-Based Biotech Leader to Discuss their RTDSTM Technology

San Diego, Calif. (January 12, 2011)—Cibus Global, a pioneering plant trait development firm, will host a workshop on Tuesday, January 18 at the 2011 International Plant and Animal Genome Conference. At the workshop, which will be held from 1:30 - 3:40 p.m. in Royal Palm Salon 4, Cibus scientists will discuss their proprietary Rapid Trait Development System (RTDS™), an environmentally-safe, non-transgenic smart-breeding technology that enables seed producers to develop crops with commercially valuable characteristics.

The workshop will be conducted by members of Cibus’ science management team including Senior Vice President of Research, Dr. Peter Beetham, Vice President of Research, Dr. Greg Gocal, Research Fellow, Dr. Christian Schöpke and Director of Biochemistry, Dr. Mark Knuth. The management team bios are available at www.cibus.com. “We are pleased to present the latest developments in Cibus’ RTDS technology to the larger scientific community right in our own backyard,” said Gocal.

Cibus’ first commercial canola crop is close to being introduced in North America, and the company is also currently working with flax, rice and a wide range of other essential crops. RTDS™ provides a viable alternative to transgenic crops by copying natural methods in a highly targeted way. Unlike a transgenic approach, RTDS™ is a directed mutagenesis procedure that effects a precise change in the very same plant species being altered, thus avoiding the introduction of foreign genetic material from one plant species into another.

“This is an exciting time for Cibus, and the International Plant and Animal Genome Conference will provide an ideal backdrop to discuss current and potential applications for RTDS,” Gocal added.

The Plant and Animal Genome XIX Conference will be taking place from January 15-19, 2011, at the Town and Country Convention Center in San Diego, Calif. PAG XIX will provide an opportunity for leading genetic scientists and researchers from around the world to gather and discuss advances in plant and animal research and related areas. Organizer Scherago International estimates that scientific attendance is expected to be 2,200-2,300.

In addition to their workshop, Cibus will also host a booth (#126) on the exhibition floor, where executives from the company will be able to talk with interested guests on a more personal level. Visit the PAG XIX website (http://www.intl-pag.org/) for a full schedule of planned workshops and a floor plan of exhibition booths.

State of the world 2011 - Worldwatch Institute

Worldwatch Institute's State of the World 2011 Shows Agriculture Innovation Is Key to Reducing Poverty, Stabilizing Climate
Report provides a roadmap for food security and agricultural investment, revealing
15 high- and low-tech solutions that are helping to reduce hunger and poverty in Africa
New York, 12 January 2011-Worldwatch Institute today released its report State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet, which spotlights successful agricultural innovations and unearths major successes in preventing food waste, building resilience to climate change, and strengthening farming in cities. The report provides a roadmap for increased agricultural investment and more-efficient ways to alleviate global hunger and poverty. Drawing from the world's leading agricultural experts and from hundreds of innovations that are already working on the ground, the report outlines 15 proven, environmentally sustainable prescriptions.

"The progress showcased through this report will inform governments, policymakers, NGOs, and donors that seek to curb hunger and poverty, providing a clear roadmap for expanding or replicating these successes elsewhere," said Worldwatch Institute President Christopher Flavin. "We need the world's influencers of agricultural development to commit to longstanding support for farmers, who make up 80 percent of the population in Africa."
State of the World 2011 comes at a time when many global hunger and food security initiatives-such as the Obama administration's Feed the Future program, the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)-can benefit from new insight into environmentally sustainable projects that are already working to alleviate hunger and poverty.

Nearly a half-century after the Green Revolution, a large share of the human family is still chronically hungry. While investment in agricultural development by governments, international lenders and foundations has escalated in recent years, it is still nowhere near what's needed to help the 925 million people who are undernourished.  Since the mid 1980s when agricultural funding was at its height, the share of global development aid has fallen from over 16 percent to just 4 percent today.
In 2008, $1.7 billion dollars in official development assistance was provided to support agricultural projects in Africa, based on statistics from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a miniscule amount given the vital return on investment. Given the current global economic conditions, investments are not likely to increase in the coming year. Much of the more recently pledged funding has yet to be raised, and existing funding is not being targeted efficiently to reach the poor farmers of Africa.

"The international community has been neglecting entire segments of the food system in its efforts to reduce hunger and poverty," said Danielle Nierenberg, co-director of Worldwatch's Nourishing the Planet project. "The solutions won't necessarily come from producing more food, but from changing what children eat in schools, how foods are processed and marketed, and what sorts of food businesses we are investing in."

Serving locally raised crops to school children, for example, has proven to be an effective hunger- and poverty-reducing strategy in many African nations, and has strong parallels to successful farm-to-cafeteria programs in the United States and Europe. Moreover, "roughly 40 percent of the food currently produced worldwide is wasted before it is consumed, creating large opportunities for farmers and households to save both money and resources by reducing this waste," according to Brian Halweil, Nourishing the Planet co-director.

State of the World 2011 draws from hundreds of case studies and first-person examples to offer solutions to reducing hunger and poverty. These include: 

•         In 2007, some 6,000 women in The Gambia organized into the TRY Women's Oyster Harvesting producer association, creating a sustainable co-management plan for the local oyster fishery to prevent overharvesting and exploitation. Oysters and fish are an important, low-cost source of protein for the population, but current production levels have led to environmental degradation and to changes in land use over the last 30 years. The government is working with groups like TRY to promote less-destructive methods and to expand credit facilities to low-income producers to stimulate investment in more-sustainable production.

•         In Kibera, Nairobi, the largest slum in Kenya, more than 1,000 women farmers are growing "vertical" gardens in sacks full of dirt poked with holes, feeding their families and communities. These sacks have the potential to feed thousands of city dwellers while also providing a sustainable and easy-to-maintain source of income for urban farmers. With more than 60 percent of Africa's population projected to live in urban areas by 2050, such methods may be crucial to creating future food security. Currently, some 33 percent of Africans live in cities, and 14 million more migrate to urban areas each year. Worldwide, some 800 million people engage in urban agriculture, producing 15-20 percent of all food.

•         Pastoralists in South Africa and Kenya are preserving indigenous varieties of livestock that are adapted to the heat and drought of local conditions-traits that will be crucial as climate extremes on the continent worsen. Africa has the world's largest area of permanent pasture and the largest number of pastoralists, with 15-25 million people dependent on livestock.

•         The Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) is using interactive community plays to engage women farmers, community leaders, and policymakers in an open dialogue about gender equity, food security, land tenure, and access to resources.  Women in sub-Saharan Africa make up at least 75 percent of agricultural workers and provide 60-80 percent of the labor to produce food for household consumption and sale, so it is crucial that they have opportunities to express their needs in local governance and decision-making. This entertaining and amicable forum makes it easier for them to speak openly.

•         Uganda's Developing Innovations in School Cultivation (DISC) program is integrating indigenous vegetable gardens, nutrition information, and food preparation into school curriculums to teach children how to grow local crop varieties that will help combat food shortages and revitalize the country's culinary traditions. An estimated 33 percent of African children currently face hunger and malnutrition, which could affect some 42 million children by 2025. School nutrition programs that don't simply feed children, but also inspire and teach them to become the farmers of the future, are a huge step toward improving food security.

The State of the World 2011 report is accompanied by other informational materials including briefing documents, summaries, an innovations database, videos, and podcasts, all of which are available at www.NourishingthePlanet.org. The project's findings are being disseminated to a wide range of agricultural stakeholders, including government ministries, agricultural policymakers, farmer and community networks, and the increasingly influential non-governmental environmental and development communities.

In conducting this research, Worldwatch's Nourishing the Planet project received unprecedented access to major international research institutions, including those in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research(CGIAR) system. The team also interacted extensively with farmers and farmers' unions as well as with the banking and investment communities.

The Worldwatch Institute and the Nourishing the Planet project are gratefully supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and additional foundations, governments, and institutions including the Rockefeller and Surdna Foundations, the United Nations Foundation, the Goldman Environmental Prize, the Shared Earth Foundation, the Wallace Global Fund, the Winslow Foundation and many more.
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