Bacteriophage has Important Role in Agriculture and Aquaculture

Jan 05, 2021

Crop plants and animals can be infected by bacterial pathogens that reduce yield, cause food wastage, and carry human pathogens that spread disease on consumption. Bacteriophage can play an important role in microbial control, according to a new Special Issue on Agriculture and Aquaculture published in the peer-reviewed journal PHAGE: Therapy, Applications, and Research. Click here to read the issue.

"Although the number of problems associated with bacterial diseases in agriculture and aquiculture has increased, food producers are under pressure to reduce their reliance on antibiotics. There is therefore a clear need for effective antimicrobials to prevent and treat infections in food animals, to both reduce food waste, and prevent human infection. Clearly if developed properly, phages can at least in part, help to solve this need," says Martha Clokie, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of PHAGE and Professor of Microbiology, University of Leicester.

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Video: How American Farmers Harvest 1.15 Billion Pounds of Sunflowers

Across the open plains of North Dakota and South Dakota, sunflower fields turn the American landscape into a sea of gold. In this farming documentary, we go inside modern sunflower farming to see how farmers plant, grow, harvest, clean, dry, process, and transform sunflower seeds into valuable products used every day.

In 2024, American farmers harvested about 1.15 billion pounds of sunflowers. This video follows the full journey from warm spring planting to combine harvesting, seed cleaning, storage, oil extraction, refining, roasting, packaging, and animal feed production.

You will see how sunflower seeds are processed into cooking oil, roasted snacks, bakery ingredients, birdseed, livestock feed, and useful byproducts. From golden fields to modern processing plants, this is the story of how a beautiful flower becomes one of America’s important oilseed crops.

Watch until the end to discover how sunflower farming connects farmers, machines, factories, food production, and sustainable agriculture.