Detective Veterinarian Pursues Mysterious Globe-Trotting Virus

Minnesota veterinarian and researcher Scott Dee, of Pipestone Veterinary Services, fits his hands inside the gloves used to access a germ-free pen. During studies with PEDV, the germ-sealing qualities of the pen were used to keep the virus in, as piglets sampled feed spiked with it. (Photo: Amy Mayer | Harvest Public Media)

Editor’s Note: This is Part II of a two-part series from KCPT’s partner, Harvest Public Media, tracking the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea. To catch up on Part I, click here. Veterinarian and researcher Scott Dee doesn’t much look the part of a detective, in his jeans and company polo shirt. But when a virus never before seen…

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Deadly pig virus remains a mystery – and a threat

Editor’s Note: This is Part I of a two-part series from KCPT’s partner, Harvest Public Media, tracking the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea. Look for Part II tomorrow, Sunday, Dec. 20th, here on Flatland.  A fast-spreading virus never before seen in the United States hit the pork industry more than two years ago, racking up roughly $1 billion…

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Tracking a Virus

Piglets eat from a trough at a farm in Vermont in 2013.

In the spring of 2013, hundreds of baby pigs were dying off and nobody knew what was making them so sick. As a deadly virus hopscotched across farms, researchers went to work as disease detectives, hoping to contain, identify and track the cause. The virus was identified as Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea, never before seen in…

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Fuel: It’s What’s For Dinner

There are few places where the connection between energy and food is more obvious than at the Bright Agrotech warehouse in Laramie, Wyo. Most of the building is filled floor to ceiling with giant shelves of cardboard boxes and tubing—equipment Bright Agrotech sells to farmers—but in one corner of the warehouse, there’s a small farm:…

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EPA Increases Mandate For Ethanol

This independently owned ethanol plant near Plainview, Neb. takes in 27 million bushels of corn and produces 76 million gallons of ethanol each year. (Photo: Grant Gerlock | Harvest Public Media)

The amount of ethanol blended into the U.S. fuel supply will go up under new rules issued Monday. In releasing the details of the Renewable Fuel Standard, the policy that sets the amount of biofuels oil refiners must blend into the fuel supply, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it planned to continue to increase the…

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