Agribusiness Update for Wednesday 06/03/15

The Environmental Defense Fund announced a collaboration with Campbell Soup Company and its subsidiary, Pepperidge Farm, Incorporated, to improve water quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by optimizing fertilizer use and improving soil conservation in the company's wheat sourcing areas. Campbell's sustainable agriculture programs work to drive improvement in five priority areas: greenhouse gases, water, fertilizer and pesticide reduction, and soil quality. The company is expanding its fertilizer optimization programs to 70,000 acres by 2020.

Researchers are developing vaccines for the H5N1 and H7N9 strains of avian influenza - which can be transmitted from poultry to humans. H5N1 currently is active in Southeast Asia and North Africa. H5N1 has infected more than 700 people around the world and killed about 60-percent of them so far. The H5N1 vaccine was developed by combining two viruses - Newcastle and H5N1. Tests show the vaccine protected chickens against H5N1 and the Newcastle disease virus.

That's today's Agribusiness Update from the Ag Information Network of the West.