Tara (Israel)

Tara () is an agricultural cooperative (co-op) in Israel specializing in milk and dairy products. It is the leading private dairy producer in Israel and the second largest dairy processor after Tnuva.
Tara was created in 1942 by dairy farmers from the Tel Aviv neighbourhood of Nahalat Yitzhak and the surrounding area, in order to unite under one organization that would represent them with regard to the British mandatory authorities and concentrated purchasing of fodder rations as well as selling the agricultural produce. The name apparently was decided by the British clerk when the co-op representative came to register the firm did not have a name. A warehouse for fodder as well as a refrigeration room to keep milk on the Shabbat was built on a half-dunam (500 m²) plot of land. The increase in productivity as well as quantities of milk provided a surplus that led the co-op to begin producing cream and cheeses.
With the establishment of the State of Israel, a dairy department was created in the new Ministry of Agriculture, and with it new regulations with regard to production including required pasteurization, a standard 3.5% level of fat, and that dairy farmers work from concentrated areas and independently. This led to more dairy farmers to join from Giv'atayim, Jaffa, and Petah Tikva as well as production expanding to hard cheeses.
At the beginning of the 1960s, during the period that Moshe Dayan was Minister of Agriculture, the government decided to change the zoning of the Nahalat Yitzhak neighbourhood from agricultural to urban-industrial. Subsequently, the local farmers were forced to move their enterprises elsewhere. The elimination of its main source of milk required Tara to purchase milk from new farmers as well as Tnuva.
Until the late 1990s, Tara was still run by representatives of the original owners. In 1997, it was decided to hire 'professional' management. In 2004, the Central Bottling Company Ltd., the local licensee of Coca-Cola, purchased the company for $39 million.
In 2006, Tara signed a licensing and know-how deal with Müller of a European dairy product manufacturer based in Germany.
As of 2006, Tara employs over 360 workers and produces about 135 million liters of milk yearly, which is about 450,000 liters of milk daily on average, with a market share of 10-13%. Estimated revenues in 2005 were 500 million NIS, with a loss of about $10 million.
In August 2007, the "Gilead Dairy" owned by Tara, acquired "Tzuriel Farm" for under NIS 20 million. The 'Tzuriel Farm' dairy, specializing in hard-cheese, goat-cheeses, and other semi-firm cheeses was established in 1986 and since 1999 has operated a unique line of soy-based products.


Aasmund Halvorsen Vinje

Aasmund Halvorsen Vinje (25 July 1851 – 4 December 1917) was a Norwegian farmer, teacher, leader of a police district, civil servant and politician for the Moderate Liberal Party. He served as Minister of Agriculture 1905–1906.
He was mayor of Kopervik from 1884 to 1890 and a member of the Parliament of Norway 1885–1906.


Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo

Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, 577 U.S. ___ (2016), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court affirmed the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which held that representative evidence could be used to support the claims of the class. The case arose as a class action lawsuit against Tyson Foods. The Supreme Court affirmed the Eighth Circuit's judgment that the class satisfied the predominance requirement of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure's Rule 23 and that the use of representative evidence was allowable in this case. It has been cited by lower courts and has spawned significant academic discussion.
Background.
Employees brought suit in federal district court against Tyson Foods for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Iowa Wage Payment Collection Law. The employees worked in an Iowa pork processing plant in the cut and retrim and kill departments. As part of their work, the employees needed to wear protective gear, and the FLSA required for them to be compensated for time spent doing things "integral and indispensable" to their work. The employees claimed that the time spent putting on and taking off their protective gear, "donning and doffing," met the standard and that Tyson Foods should have been paying them for the time that they did so. Instead, Tyson Foods compensated some employees for four to eight minutes of that activity and others for none at all.
The employees sought to certify their class under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Tyson Foods argued that the class should not be certified because of the individual variance in the employees' protective gear.
The district court held that there were sufficiently-common questions to certify the class, such as whether the donning and doffing qualified as work under the FLSA. The case was tried and went to a jury, which had to decide whether the donning and doffing qualified as work and how much time that took but was not paid for by Tyson Foods. The claims were based on overtime work and so only employees who, after including donning and doffing time, worked more than forty hours per week would be able to recover.
However, Tyson Foods did not keep records of the time that employees spent to put on and take off their protective gear. The employees, therefore, relied on their statements, videos of people putting on and taking off protective gear, and a research study. The study had people put on and take off gear and averaged how long it took, which was considered "representative evidence."
Tyson Foods asked the judge to bifurcate proceedings so that the jury would first answer whether the FLSA covered time taken to put on and take off protective gear and how long the donning and doffing took, and the jury would then determine which employees would be eligible to recover.
However, Tyson Foods did not question the representative evidence used, such as by moving for a "Daubert" hearing, and instead emphasized that there was too much individual variance for the issues to be resolved in a class.
The representative evidence presented would have supported an award of $6.7 million. The jury found that donning and doffing was compensable under the FLSA but awarded only $2.9 million to the class.
Tyson moved to set aside the jury verdict by alleging improper class certification. The Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit disagreed, affirmed the judgment, and held that the use of representative evidence was appropriate in this case.
Decision.
The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Eighth Circuit. The parties were in dispute over whether the class met the predominance inquiry required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3), which requires the district court to ask whether common questions predominate over individual ones. That examination is meant to ensure that it makes sense to adjudicate the claims as a class. The predominance inquiry is different from the commonality inquiry in class actions since it asks not only whether there are common questions but also whether the common, class-wide issues are more important or arise more frequently than the individual ones.
Tyson Foods maintained that the common questions did not predominate because it was the questions of each individual's work time that predominated. The employees, by contrast, argued that the representative evidence could replace individual inquiries. The permissibility of the representative evidence, therefore, was central to the case.
The Supreme Court looked to the practical need for representative evidence and recognized that in some cases, it is the only evidence available. Since Tyson Foods had failed to keep records on employee time, representative evidence was necessary. The key inquiry, according to the Supreme Court, was whether the employees would have similarly used the representative evidence in individual lawsuits if they had brought individual suits instead of a class action.
It was on that point that the Court distinguished "Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes", 564 U.S. 338 (2011). In "Wal-Mart", the class had failed to meet the more basic commonality requirement of class actions. The plaintiffs wanted to use representative evidence to show that there was a common policy of discretion in employment. However, in that case, since the employees were not similarly situated, they would not have been able to use the representative evidence even if they had brought individual lawsuits.
In "Tyson Foods", however, the representative evidence could be used to support a finding for individual plaintiffs. The Court noted that Tyson Foods did not challenge the expert testimony or the study on which the plaintiffs relied. Also, Tyson Foods argued that because not all class members would be found to be injured and receive compensation, the employees haf to show a clear mechanism by which the district court could identify the class members who were not injured and so should not recover. That question was not presented in the lower courts, and the record was not developed on that point, however, so the Supreme Court remanded for further proceedings on that matter.
Concurrence.
Chief Justice Roberts concurred, joined by Justice Alito in Part II. Part I suggested that the Court was not relaxing rules for representative evidence in this case but had found that the study met the required standard of proof. Part II expressed concern that there is no clear way to determine how much time the jury thought should be compensated for donning and doffing since it awarded a sum lower than the study suggested to ve appropriate. To be compensated, each employee must have gone uncompensated for some of the donning and doffing time and must have worked overtime once that time was factored in. However, since the jury did not report how much time they found should be compensated for the different departments, it is unclear how the district court would be able to award damages only to employees who were found by the jury found to be injured.
Dissent.
Justice Thomas dissented, joined by Justice Alito. The dissent believed the district court was wrong in finding that the class satisfied Rule 23's predominance requirement because it did not recognize that whether each employee worked overtime was a critical individual issue. Because the district court did not appropriately analyze the class certification requirements, according to the dissent, Tyson Foods could be held liable to a large group without proof that each individual within the class was injured. The dissent suggested that the majority also opinion improperly construed the predominance inquiry, relaxed the rule for representative evidence, and failed to adhere to prior precedent.
Implications.
"Tyson Foods" made headlines when it reached the Supreme Court. Legal commentators also blogged about the case.
Though relatively recent, it has already been cited in other cases and been a popular topic of legal scholarship. Experts continue to discuss "Tyson"’s legacy, particular how the case will impact the predominance inquiry and whether the use of representative evidence will expand.


Peder Tollefsen Ilsaas

Peder Tollefsen Ilsaas (9 May 1777 – 17 February 1847) was a Norwegian farmer and politician.
He was born on the Ildsaas nordre farm in the parish of Åmot in Hedmark, Norway. He inherited the family farm from his father. He worked as a farmer and forest-owner.
He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 1815, representing the constituency of Hedemarkens Amt (now Hedmark).
He served only one term.


Chalone Vineyard

Chalone Vineyard is located in the Chalone AVA south of San Francisco, California, United States, on an unusual geological formation called the Gavilan benchland. The soil is rich in limestone and calcium carbonate and also contains a significant amount of decomposed granite. This soil has a mineral composition similar to the Champagne region of France. Chalone is situated in an arid chaparral environment, in which temperatures can vary as much as 50°F in one day. The climate is very dry, only 12 to of rain fall per year. These factors combine to create a unique "terroir", the signature profile of a wine growing region.
History.
The original vineyard was planted in the 1890s by a Frenchman, Charles L. Tamm, who thought the soil similar to that in Burgundy. In 1964, the property was purchased by new owners with a commitment to producing fine wine. Under the guidance of California wine pioneer Richard H. Graff, the vineyard expanded when new vineyards were planted and the winery was moved from a converted chicken shed to a bigger location adjacent to where a newer (and much larger) winery stands today.
Graff wanted to establish a Burgundian-Style, top-flight Chardonnay, and with his brothers, John Graff and Peter Watson-Graff, began producing some of the earliest barrel-fermented and aged wines in the United States. In addition to introducing California to oak barrels, Graff brought to California the process of malolactic fermentation in white wines. In 1971 he was joined by Phillip Woodward and the two began what would later become the Chalone Wine Group. The finishing of Chardonnays with oak barrel fermentation/ aging and the addition of the malolactic process makes the Chards similar to the Bourgogne rule book.
Chalone Vineyard achieved third rank out of ten from France and the U.S. in the historic Judgment of Paris wine competition. All 11 judges awarded their top scores to either Chalone Vineyard or Chateau Montelena, also of California.
Chalone grew and prospered first with Richard Graff and brothers John and Peter Watson-Graff, then Michael Michaud as winemaker. During this time the Chalone Wine Group expanded to include six wineries in California and two in Washington. Chalone Wine Group also owned about 24% of the Chateau Duhart-Milon estate in France. In 2005, Chalone Wine Group was purchased by beverage giant Diageo. In early 2016 it was sold to Foley Family Wines.
Today, Chalone Vineyard produces Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Pinot blanc, Chenin blanc, Syrah, Grenache and Grenache Rose.


Hawaan Forest

The Hawaan Forest is situated in Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is a large remnant of a climax dry coastal dune forest and the last of its kind. This forest grows on a dune that dates back 18,000 years. The Hawaan forest is currently under the guardianship of the Wildlife and Environment Society of Southern Africa (WESSA), but is owned by the Tongaat Hulett Group. The property was originally owned by the Campbell family who first settled there in 1859 and the Hawaan Forest has been protected since 1860. The Hawaan Forest Estate is known for being one of the most exclusive estates in the country.
Etymology.
The origin of the name "Hawaan" is obscure. This is not an isiZulu word, and the closest words in isiZulu are "hawe" usually used as "hawe ma" and used as an exclamation of surprise or disappointment, and "ihawu" meaning "small shield". Neither of these words seem appropriate as an origin for the name Hawaan. It has been suggested that the name stems from indentured Indian labourers who were brought to South Africa to work on sugar-cane plantations. Much of the area surrounding Hawaan Forest was sugar-cane plantations, and it is thought that the Indian labourers who practiced Hinduism used the forest for religious ceremonies, particularly those associated with "Havan". A Havan is a sacred purifying ritual in Hinduism that involves a fire ceremony and is a ritual of sacrifice made to the Fire god, Agni. The vessel used to perform the havan is called the "Ôhavan kund". After the fire is lit in the Ôhavan kund, things such as fruits, honey and wooden goods are placed in the sacred fire. It is thought that the forest now known as the Hawaan Forest was a source of fruits, honey and wood to be used in the Havan ceremonies and that the forest was thus called Havan or Hawan, now Hawaan.
Wildlife.
The Hawaan Forest is home to various wildlife, the largest of which include; bushbuck, red duiker, blue duiker, bushpig, African rock python and crowned eagle. Other smaller species found here include the KwaZulu dwarf chameleon, coast purple tip butterfly, and the forest dwelling millipedes: "Ulodesmus spiralipes", "Centrolobus anulatus", "Spinotarsus lobatus" and "Doratogonus cristulatus". Birds include the crested guineafowl and endangered spotted ground-thrush.
Hawaan Forest Estate.
The Hawaan Forest Estate covers and has been meticulously planned and designed with the help of architect Stefan Antoni and indigenous gardener, Geoff Nichols, who has complemented this with his horticultural expertise and understanding of the neighbouring forest.
All properties are strategically placed, affording them corridor views towards forest and ocean, while gardening is strictly indigenous and homeowners have a list of 600 plants from which to choose when planting on each property. No pets are allowed on the estate, a necessary sacrifice to protect the birds and wildlife.


Irving F. Rice

Irving F. Rice (October 17, 1867 – March 8, 1936) was an American farmer and politician from New York.
Life.
Rice was born on October 17, 1867 in Truxton, New York. His great-grandfather, Moses Rice, was one of the first settlers in Cortland County.
Rice initially worked as a mechanic in Cortland. After two years of poor health, he decided to live in the country instead. In around 1896, he bought a 16-acre farm a mile and a half away from Cortland and began raising poultry. He became known as one of the most successful single-comb white leghorn breeders in the country and an expert on poultry issues. He frequently served as a judge for prominent poultry shows, including the Madison Square Garden Poultry Show and the New York State Fair. He was one of two New York men to be in the Jury of Awards at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition. He was also a lecturer for the Farmers' Institute, president of the Farm Bureau's Organization, and a Master in his local and county Grange.
In 1918, Rice was elected to the New York State Assembly as a Republican, representing Cortland County. He served in the Assembly in 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, and 1933.
Rice died at home on March 8, 1936. He was buried in Cortland Rural Cemetery.


James Dwyer (politician)

James Dwyer (1881 – 17 December 1932) was an Irish politician and farmer. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Cumann na nGaedheal Teachta Dála (TD) for the Leix–Offaly constituency at the Leix–Offaly by-election on 18 February 1926 caused by the disqualification of Seán McGuinness of Sinn Féin. He was re-elected at the June 1927 and September 1927 general elections but lost his seat at the 1932 general election.


Bodegas Vicente Gandia

Bodegas Vicente Gandia (Vicente Gandia Pla S.A.), is a Valencian wine producer and seller company founded in 1885. Hoya de Cadenas, its family-owned estate, is located in Utiel, Spain. The cellar produces and sells wines from different appellations of Origin including Utiel-Requena, Valencia, Alicante, Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Rías Baixas, Rueda and cava (sparkling wine).
The cellar has presence in 85 countries spread all over the world, including USA, where Bodegas Vicente Gandia recently opened its subsidiary company Vicente Gandia USA Inc. Russia, Japan, China, Mexico and Ireland are other of the Bodegas Vicente Gandia main wine markets. Bodegas Vicente Gandia is one of the top 15 cellars in Spain as well as one of the top 100 European wine companies according to Plimsoll ranking; a listing that also considers Vicente Gandia as one of the top 46 profitable cellars in Europe.
History.
Bodegas Vicente Gandia was founded in 1885 by Vicente Gandia, a wine seller who saw the possibility to start a business around the wine sector. At that time, the trading of Vicente Gandia wines was focused, as well as the rest of Valencian wines, on exporting to European countries in big casks.
The second generation, led by José María Gandia Ferri, had to experience the toughest time of the company: Spanish Civil War, World War II and their corresponding post-wars, which affected Spain as well as the rest of the international markets where the company had presence.
The current president of the company, José María Gandia Perales, is responsible for a qualitative leap for Bodegas Vicente Gandia: the sales of bottled wine. Castillo de Liria is the first wine to be bottled in the Valencian Community; a reference for the other cellars of the region which at the end imitated this new concept. Under José María´s presidency, wines as Ceremonia, Hoya de Cadenas or Fustanova are created in a dynamic and active international trading context.
Besides consolidating the company´s growth, the fourth generation is known for improving the quality of the wines, creating a new line of wines for young people with El Miracle, trading wines from other Spanish Appellations of Origin (Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Rueda, Rias Baixas and sparkling wine) as well as developing the cultural project Art in Cask, an exposition of wine recipients customized by artists like Carmen Calvo, Miquel Navarro, Javier Mariscal etc.
Hoya de Cadenas Estate.
Hoya de Cadenas is a ecologic paradise located away from Valencia. It has a perfect microclimate that favours the accumulation of polyphenols in grapes.
Beside the cellar, at the vineyard, Bodegas Vicente Gandia has a 12.000 oak casks from Missouri and Allier (France) that produce of wine including Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Tempranillo, Bobal and Petit Verdot varieties.
"Arte en Barrica" Museum.
Without any doubt, the main attractive of Hoya de Cadenas is its Manor house built in 1820. The name of Hoya de Cadenas refers to the privileges that their original owners had – the Fernández Córdova – to host people who did not want to join the army.
The vineyards at Hoya de Cadenas have a 200 hectare area, being Vallejo Arroyo and Chacelas the most attractive zones with their clayey soil that produce wines and grapes from different Appellations of Origin including Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay, Sauvingnon Blanc and Bobal – symbol of Utiel-Requena Appellation of Origin.
Beside this Manor house, in a 19th-century cellar, people can find the exposition room Art in Casks; a cultural project whose aim is to link wine and arts. To this purpose, Bodegas Vicente Gandia gathered a group of Valencian avant-garde artists that could make this real.
Awards.
• Internationalization award by Chamber of Commerce of Valencia
• Best cellar of the Valencian Community by the Technical University of Valencia
• José María Gandia, named member of the Noble Order of Wine Knights
• International award for a life directed to wine by Fenavin
• Aster award to entrepreneurial management


James Stein

James Stein (c.1804 – 25 October 1877) was a pioneering settler of the Mid North of South Australia and founder of the Kadlunga pastoralism estate.
Early life and family.
James Stein was closely associated with Scottish nobility. A scion of an important whisky distilling family, he was born c.1804 in Scotland, a son of John Stein (b.1769-c.1814), of Kilbagie, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, a London banker and member 1796-1802 of the House of Commons for Bletchingley.
James Stein’s sister, Anne Duff (Stein) (1788-1859), Countess of Fife, was married to General Sir Alexander Duff. Their son James was created Baron Skene, whose son Alexander, 1st Duke of Fife, married Princess Louise, eldest daughter of King Edward VII.
In 1829, the distillery interests of Stein’s father and uncles, who had earlier been much connected at Canonmills with whisky distillers James and John Haig, struck financial difficulties and all related partnerships were dissolved. Young James Stein, having the benefit of a good education, then sought to make his own fortune in Australia, arriving at Sydney in September 1833 on the ship "Sir John Roe Reid".
Australia and overlanding.
He then engaged in squatting pursuits in New South Wales as a pioneering grazier, firstly in the Goulburn district and then in the Yass district. Being an accomplished cross-country rider, Stein was actively involved in the local hunt club as a participant and organizer of the Argyle Hounds. Along with other 'sporting gentleman' he rode horses in both match races and steeplechases. His neighbor and friend at Yass was William Hardy, brother of John Richard Hardy (1807–58), Yass newspaper editor and police magistrate.
In 1839 in Sydney he joined up with several other young gentlemen of the Yass district, namely Charles Campbell, Evelyn Sturt, and William Hardy in a livestock overlanding venture. By then, within this group and more commonly, he was called Jamie Stein. They hired 24 men and during April to July 1839 overlanded 5,000 sheep, as well as 200 head of cattle and twenty horses, from Bathurst to Adelaide, this being the first livestock overlanding party to follow the Murrumbidgee River. With 513 ewes from this flock, Stein and Sturt then went into a short-term pastoralism partnership at Meadows, just south of Adelaide. Campbell and Stein then became close business associates, jointly undertaking a further two overland livestock expeditions during 1839-40.
Pastoralism in Mid-North South Australia.
In 1841, following the 1839 explorations and discoveries of John Hill and Edward John Eyre in South Australia's Mid North, both Campbell and Stein took out occupation licences there and pioneered their own sheep runs. Campbell's was at Hill River, while Stein's run extended from Mount Horrocks, through the Farrell Flat district around the headwaters of the Wakefield River, stretching over surrounding rolling hills and plains to include parts of Burra Creek. Other parts of that creek were on the pastoral run of William Peter of Gum Creek, near present Manoora.
Among Stein's shepherds, watching his flocks upon the unfenced run, were several "Afghan" men, also described as "coolies", originally brought as servants from India by E.B. Gleeson, a settler at nearby Clare. They are reputed to have named Burra Burra Creek, a part of Stein's run, although this etymology is strongly disputed. It was here that in 1845 William Strear (or Streair), a shepherd employed by Stein, found the ore sample that led to discovery of the fabulously profitable Burra copper mines, although Stein gained no personal profit.
Kadlunga Estate.
The base of Stein’s holdings was Kadlunga homestead, which he founded in a vale beneath Mount Horrocks, about three kilometres west of present Mintaro. An early partner (and successor) in Stein’s Mid North pastoralism ventures was John Oakden, a nephew of Colonial Treasurer Osmond Gilles. At times Oakden managed Kadlunga Station for Stein, while at other times he leased it from Stein (or from Stein’s creditors).
Stein participated prominently in community life in the Mid North, including as a promoter and judge of horseracing events, magistrate, and (until his resignation in 1853) as Justice of the Peace. Not wishing to seem partisan, he participated in multiple fraternal lodges including Oddfellows and Freemasonry. He was fondly remembered as 'the life and soul' of any celebration. During that period, despite apparent wealth and influence, he carried increasing debts and mortgaged his wide-ranging estate. His declaration of insolvency in September 1848 was an irreparable step.
His Kadlunga Station later became a merino sheep stud and Percheron horse stud, being successively owned by John Chewings (1816–79), Sir Samuel Way (1836-1916), and then Sir John Melrose (1860-1938).
Impoverished later life.
In the mid-1850s Stein moved to the South East of South Australia. For the next twenty years, in contrast to the sharp dress, wealth, and eminence of his early life, Stein’s life was marked by destitution and then invalidity. Nevertheless, he was an aristocrat to the end, recognised for maintaining a proud, gentlemanly, and genial demeanour, while still being visited by influential friends.
Employed as a humble pound keeper at The Springs Ponds near Millicent, he enforced the "Livestock Impounding Act" while residing in a mere hut. Suffering prolonged feeble health, he died at Mount Gambier on 27 October 1877, aged 73 years. There is no record that he had ever married.
His detailed biography and portrait appear in "Pastoral Pioneers of South Australia". His portrait photograph is also held by the State Library of South Australia.
Legacy.
The original picturesque stone homestead buildings of Kadlunga estate, founded by Stein, remain a tribute to pioneer builders. The reputation of Kadlunga became much enhanced in the hands of later owners as a place of Australian national significance, being a famed sheep, cattle, and horse stud associated with a succession of prominent South Australians, each adding intrinsic architectural features. Kadlunga was listed on the Register of the National Estate in 1978.
Stein Hill, 605m, a prominence in the north Mount Lofty Ranges about 7.5 kilometres south east of Burra, bears his name. Stein Hill is part of the Stein Hill Land System which represents the east facing slopes of the Burra Hills south of the
Burra - Morgan road.


History of agriculture in Scotland

The history of agriculture in Scotland includes all forms of farm production in the modern boundaries of Scotland, from the prehistoric era to the present day.
Scotland's good arable and pastoral land is found mostly in the south and east of the country. Heavy rainfall, wind and salt spray, in combination with thin soil and overgrazing, made most of the western islands treeless. The terrain often made internal land communication difficult, encouraging a coastal network. In the Neolithic period, from around 6,000 years ago, there is evidence of permanent settlements and farming. The two main sources of food were grain and cow milk. From the Bronze Age, arable land spread at the expense of forest. From the Iron Age, there were hill forts in southern Scotland associated with cultivation ridges and terraces and the fertile plains were already densely exploited for agriculture. During the period of Roman occupation of Britain there was re-growth of trees indicating a reduction in agriculture.
The early Middle Ages were a period of climate deterioration, resulting in more land becoming unproductive. Self-sufficient farms were based around a single homestead or a small cluster of homes. Oats and barley were grown more than other grains, and cattle were the most important domesticated animal. From c. 1150 to 1300, warm dry summers and less severe winters allowed cultivation at greater heights and made land more productive. The system of infield and outfield agriculture may have been introduced with feudalism from the twelfth century. By the late Medieval period, most farming was based on the Lowland fermtoun or Highland baile. These were settlements of a handful of families that jointly farmed an area notionally suitable for two or three plough teams, organised in run rigs. Most ploughing was done with a heavy wooden plough with an iron coulter, pulled by oxen. The rural economy boomed in the thirteenth century and in the immediate aftermath of the Black Death was still buoyant, but by the 1360s there was a severe falling off in incomes to be followed by a slow recovery in the fifteenth century.
As feudal distinctions declined in the early modern era, the major landholding orders, or heritors, were the lairds and yeomen. Others with property rights included husbandmen and free tenants. Many young people left home to become domestic and agricultural servants. The early modern era also saw the impact of the Little Ice Age, necessitating the shipping of large quantities of grain from the Baltic. Under the Commonwealth, the country was relatively highly taxed, but gained access to English markets. After the Restoration customs duties with England were re-established. Economic conditions were generally favourable, as landowners promoted better tillage and cattle-raising. The closing decade of the seventeenth century saw a slump, followed the failed harvests of the "seven ill years", but these shortages would be the last of their kind. After the Union of 1707 there was a conscious attempt to improve agriculture among the gentry and nobility. Enclosure displaced the run rig system and free pasture. The resulting Lowland Clearances saw hundreds of thousands of cottars and tenant farmers from central and southern Scotland forcibly removed. The later Highland Clearances saw the displacement of much of the population of the Highlands as lands were enclosed for sheep farming. Those that remained many were now crofters, living on very small, rented farms with indefinite tenure, dependent on kelping, fishing, spinning of linen and military service. Scotland suffered its last major subsistence crisis when the potato blight reached the Highlands in 1846.
In the twentieth century Scottish agriculture became susceptible to world markets. There were dramatic price rises in the First World War, but a slump in the 1920s and 1930s, followed by more rises in the Second World War. In 1947 annual price reviews were introduced in an attempt to stabilise the market. There was a drive in UK agriculture to greater production until the late 1970s, resulting in intensive farming and increasing mechanisation. The UK joined the European Economic Community in 1972. Some sectors became viable only with subsidies. A series of reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy from the 1990s attempted to control over-production, limit incentives for intensive farming and mitigate environmental damage. A dual farm structure emerged with large commercial farms and small pluralised and diversified holdings.
Geography and climate.
Scotland is roughly half the size by area of England and Wales, but has approximately the same amount of coastline. It has only between a fifth and a sixth of the amount of the arable or good pastoral land (under above sea level), most of which is located in the south and east. This made marginal pastoral farming and fishing the key factors in the pre-modern economy. Its east Atlantic position causes very heavy rainfall: at the end of the twentieth century about per year in the east and over in the west. This encouraged the spread of blanket peat bog, the acidity of which, combined with high levels of wind and salt spray, made most of the western islands treeless. The existence of hills, mountains, quicksands and marshes made agriculture and internal communication difficult.
Prehistory.
At times during the last interglacial period (130,000–70,000 BCE) Europe had a climate warmer than it is today, and early humans may have made their way to Scotland, though archaeologists have found no traces of this. Glaciers then scoured their way across most of Britain, and only after the ice retreated did Scotland again become habitable, around 9600 BCE. Mesolithic hunter-gatherer encampments formed the first known settlements, and archaeologists have dated an encampment near Biggar to around 8500 BCE. Numerous other sites found around Scotland build up a picture of highly mobile boat-using people making tools from bone, stone and antlers. The oldest house for which there is evidence in Britain is the oval structure of wooden posts found at South Queensferry near the Firth of Forth, dating from the Mesolithic period, about 8240 BCE.
In the Neolithic period, from around 6,000 years ago, there is evidence of permanent settlements and farming. This includes the well-preserved stone house at Knap of Howar on Papa Westray, dating from around 3500 BCE and the village of similar houses at Skara Brae on West Mainland, Orkney from about 500 years later. Evidence of prehistoric farming includes small plots of improved land, with simple stone boundaries. In Shetland these have been found under peat and on the mainland they are associated with cairnfields (piles of rocks that have been cleared from fields). Archaeological evidence of pollen, pottery, settlements and human remains indicates that the two main sources of food were grain and cow milk, in a pattern that probably remained constant until the High Middle Ages. There is also some limited evidence of the cultivation of flax from this period.
From the beginning of the Bronze Age, about 2000 BCE, extensive analyses of Black Loch in Fife indicate that arable land spread at the expense of forest. From the Iron Age, beginning in the seventh century BCE, as elsewhere in Europe, hill forts were first introduced. Some of these forts in southern Scotland are associated with cultivation ridges and terraces. Over 400 souterrains, small underground constructions, have been discovered in Scotland, many of them in the south-east, and although few have been dated, those that have suggest a construction date in the second or third centuries CE. They are usually found close to settlements (whose timber frames are much less well-preserved) and may have been for storing perishable agricultural products. Aerial photography reveals extensive prehistoric field systems that underlie existing boundaries in some Lowland areas, suggesting that the fertile plains were already densely exploited for agriculture. During the period of Roman occupation of what is now northern England, and occasional advances into Southern Scotland, there was re-growth of birch, oak and hazel for five centuries, suggesting that the Roman invasions had a negative impact on the native population and the extent of agriculture.
Middle Ages.
The early Middle Ages were a period of climate deterioration, with a drop in temperature and an increase in rainfall, resulting in more land becoming unproductive. With a lack of significant transport links and wider markets, most farms had to produce a self-sufficient diet of meat, dairy products and cereals, supplemented by hunter-gathering. Limited archaeological evidence indicates that throughout Northern Britain farming was based around a single homestead or a small cluster of three or four homes, each probably containing a nuclear family, with kinship relationships likely to be common among neighbouring houses and settlements, reflecting the partition of land through inheritance. The climate was more favourable for oats and barley than for corn. The evidence of bones indicates that cattle were by far the most important domesticated animal, followed by pigs, sheep and goats, while domesticated fowl were very rare.
In the period c. 1150 to 1300, the warm dry summers and less severe winters of the Medieval Warm Period allowed cultivation at much greater heights above sea level and made land more productive. Arable farming grew significantly, but was still more common in low-lying areas than in high-lying areas such as the Highlands, Galloway and the Southern Uplands. The feudalism introduced under David I, particularly in the east and south where the crown's authority was greatest, saw the placement of lordships. Land was now held from the king, or a superior lord, in exchange for loyalty and forms of service that were usually military. Barons, who held feudal tenures, had the right to hold baronial courts, which could deal with matters of land ownership. However, the imposition of feudalism continued to sit beside existing systems of landholding and tenure and it is not clear how this change impacted on the lives of the ordinary free and unfree workers. In places, feudalism may have tied workers more closely to the land. The predominantly pastoral nature of Scottish agriculture may have made the imposition of a manorial system, based on the English model, impracticable in some areas. Obligations appear to have been limited to occasional labour service, seasonal renders of food, hospitality and money rents.
The system of infield and outfield agriculture, a variation of open field farming widely used across Europe, may have been introduced with feudalism and would continue until the eighteenth century. This expanded from the use of small enclosed fields, which continued from the prehistoric era. The infield was the best land, close to housing. It was farmed continuously and most intensively, receiving most of the manure. Crops were usually bere (a form of barley), oats and sometimes wheat, rye and legumes. The more extensive outfield was used largely for oats. It was fertilised from the overnight folding of cattle in the summer and was often left fallow to recover its fertility. In fertile regions the infield could be extensive, but in the uplands it might be small, surrounded by large amounts of outfield. In coastal areas fertiliser included seaweed and around the major burghs urban refuse was used. Yields were fairly low, often around three times the quantity of seed sown, although they could reach twice that yield on some infields. The main unit of land measurement in Scotland was the "davoch" (i.e. "vat"), called the "arachor" in Lennox. This unit is also known as the "Scottish ploughgate". In English-speaking Lothian, it was simply ploughgate. It may have measured about , divided into four "rath"s.
By the late Medieval period, most farming was based on the Lowland fermtoun or Highland baile, settlements of a handful of families that jointly farmed an area notionally suitable for two or three plough teams, allocated in run rigs to tenant farmers, known as husbandmen. The average amount of land used by a husbandman in Scotland might have been . Below the husbandmen, lesser landholders and free tenants were the cottars, who often shared rights to common pasture, occupied small portions of land and participated in joint farming as hired labour. Farms also might have grassmen, who had rights only to grazing.
Run rigs, of a furrow and ridge, usually ran downhill so that they included both wet and dry land, helping to offset some of the problems of extreme weather conditions. Most ploughing was done with a heavy wooden plough with an iron coulter, pulled by oxen, which were more effective on heavy soils and cheaper to feed than horses. Obligations to the local lord usually included supplying oxen for ploughing the lord's land on an annual basis and the much resented obligation to grind corn at the lord's mill. Key crops included kale (for both humans and animals), and hemp and flax for cloth production. Sheep and goats were probably the main sources of milk, while cattle were raised primarily for meat. The rural economy appears to have boomed in the thirteenth century and in the immediate aftermath of the Black Death, probably the bubonic plague, which reached Scotland in 1349 and killed perhaps over a third of the population, was still buoyant, but by the 1360s there was a severe falling off in incomes that can be seen in clerical benefices, of between a third and half compared with the beginning of the era, to be followed by a slow recovery in the fifteenth century. Towards the end of the period average temperatures began to reduce again, with cooler and wetter conditions limiting the extent of arable agriculture, particularly in the Highlands.
Early modern era.
While barons held increasingly nominal feudal tenures local tenants-in-chief, who legally held their land directly from the king and who by the sixteenth century were often the major local landholders in an area, grew in significance. As feudal distinctions declined, the barons and tenants-in-chief merged to form a new identifiable group, the lairds, roughly equivalent to the English gentlemen. Below the lairds were a variety of groups, often ill-defined. These included yeomen, later characterised by Walter Scott as "bonnet lairds", often owning substantial land. The practice of feuing (by which a tenant paid an entry sum and an annual feu duty, but could pass the land on to their heirs) meant that the number of people holding heritable possession of lands, which had previously been controlled by the church or nobility, expanded. These and the lairds probably numbered about 10,000 by the seventeenth century and became what the government defined as heritors, on whom the financial and legal burdens of local government increasingly fell. Below the substantial landholders were those engaged in subsistence agriculture, who made up the majority of the working population. Those with property rights included husbandmen, lesser landholders and free tenants. By the early modern era in Lowland rural society, as in England, many young people, both male and female, left home to become domestic and agricultural servants. Women acted as an important part of the workforce. Many unmarried women worked away from their families as farm servants and married women worked with their husbands around the farm, taking part in all the major agricultural tasks. They had a particular role as shearers in the harvest, forming most of the reaping team of the "bandwin".
The early modern era also saw the impact of the Little Ice Age, of colder and wetter weather, which peaked towards the end of the seventeenth century. Almost half the years in the second half of the sixteenth century saw local or national scarcity, necessitating the shipping of large quantities of grain from the Baltic, referred to as Scotland's "emergency granary". This was particularly from Poland through the port of Danzig, but later Königsberg and Riga, shipping Russian grain, and Swedish ports, would become important. The trade was so important that Scottish colonies were established in these ports. In the early seventeenth century famine was relatively common, with four periods of famine prices between 1620 and 1625. The English invasions of the 1640s had a profound impact on the Scottish economy, with the destruction of crops and the disruption of markets resulting in some of the most rapid price rises of the century. Under the Commonwealth, the country was relatively highly taxed, but gained access to English markets. After the Restoration the formal frontier with England was re-established, along with its customs duties. Economic conditions were generally favourable from 1660 to 1688, as land owners promoted better tillage and cattle-raising. By the end of the century the drovers roads, stretching down from the Highlands through south-west Scotland to north-east England, had become firmly established as routes for Highland cattle to reach English markets. The closing decade of the seventeenth century saw the generally favourable economic conditions that had dominated since the Restoration come to an end. There was a slump in trade with the Baltic and France from 1689 to 1691, caused by French protectionism and changes in the Scottish cattle trade, followed by four years of failed harvests (1695, 1696 and 1698–99), known as the "seven ill years". The result was severe famine and depopulation, particularly in the north. The famines of the 1690s were seen as particularly severe, partly because famine had become relatively rare in the second half of the seventeenth century, with only one year of dearth (in 1674) and the shortages of the 1690s would be the last of their kind.
Eighteenth century.
Increasing contacts with England after the Union of 1707 led to a conscious attempt to improve agriculture among the gentry and nobility. The Society of Improvers was founded in 1723, including in its 300 members dukes, earls, lairds and landlords. Haymaking was introduced along with the English plough and foreign grasses, the sowing of rye grass and clover. Turnips and cabbages were introduced, lime was put down to combat soil acidity, marshes were drained, roads built and woods planted. Drilling and sowing and crop rotation were introduced. The introduction of the potato to Scotland in 1739 greatly improved the diet of the peasantry. Enclosures began to displace the run rig system and free pasture, creating the landscape of largely rectangular fields that characterises the Lowlands today. New farm buildings, often based on designs in patterns books, replaced the fermtoun and regional diversity was replaced with a standardisation of building forms. Smaller farms retained the linear outline of the longhouse, with dwelling house, barn and byre in a row, but in larger farms a three- or four-sided layout became common, separating the dwelling house from barns and servants quarters.
Early improvement was carried out with the traditional tools, but new technology was increasingly important. Lighter ploughs were adopted, including from 1763 James Small's cast iron and curved mould board. It was first adopted in the south-east and spread to rest of the country in the 1770s. From 1788 Andrew Meikle's automated threshing mill speeded up a vital part of the harvesting process. There was increasing regional specialisation. The Lothians became a major centre of grain, Ayrshire of cattle breading and the Borders of sheep.
The result of these changes were the Lowland Clearances, by which hundreds of thousands of cottars and tenant farmers from central and southern Scotland were forcibly moved from the farms and small holdings their families had occupied for hundreds of years. Many small settlements were dismantled, their occupants forced either to the new purpose-built villages built by the landowners such as John Cockburn of Ormiston to house the displaced cottars on the outskirts of the new ranch-style farms, or to the new industrial centres of Glasgow, Edinburgh, or northern England. Tens of thousands of others emigrated to Canada or the United States, finding opportunities there to own and farm their own land.
Nineteenth century.
Improvement continued in the nineteenth century. Innovations included the first working reaping machine, developed by Patrick Bell in 1828. His rival James Smith turned to improving sub-soil drainage and developed a method of ploughing that could break up the subsoil barrier without disturbing the topsoil. Previously unworkable low-lying carselands could now be brought into arable production and the result was the even Lowland landscape that still predominates.
While the Lowlands had seen widespread agricultural improvement, the Highlands remained very poor and traditional. A handful of powerful families, typified by the dukes of Argyll, Atholl, Buccleuch, and Sutherland, owned enormous sections of Scotland and had extensive influence on political affairs (certainly up to 1885). As late as 1878, 68 families owned nearly half the land in Scotland. Particularly after the end of the boom created by the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815), these landlords needed cash to maintain their position in London society. They turned to money rents and downplayed the traditional patriarchal relationship that had historically sustained the clans.
One result of these changes were the Highland Clearances, by which much of the population of the Highlands were evicted as lands were enclosed, principally so that they could be used for sheep farming. The clearances followed patterns of agricultural change throughout the UK. The result was a continuous exodus from the land—to the cities, or further afield to England, Canada, America or Australia. Many that remained were now crofters, living on very small rented farms with indefinite tenure used to raise various crops and animals. For these families kelping, fishing, spinning of linen and military service became important sources of additional revenue. Scotland suffered its last major subsistence crisis, when the potato blight that caused the Great Famine of Ireland reached the Highlands in 1846. Some 150,000 people whose food supply was mainly potatoes faced disaster. They were rescued by an effective emergency relief system that stands in contrast to the failures of relief in Ireland, but the danger of starvation remained into the 1850s.
The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional subject and was violently challenged in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. After the report of the Napier Commission of 1883, the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. Explicit security was given for the Scottish smallholders; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants and a Crofting Commission was created in 1886.
Twentieth century to the present.
In the twentieth century Scottish agriculture became susceptible to the ups and downs of world markets. There were dramatic price rises in the First World War, but a slump in the 1920s and 1930s, in which perhaps 40 per cent of Scottish land changed hands, followed by more price rises in the Second World War. In 1947 annual price reviews were introduced in an attempt to stabilise the market. A series of Acts of Parliament followed, designed to give price support and grants to farmers. After the Second World War and the associated rationing, there was a drive in UK agriculture to greater production. This lasted until the late 1970s, resulting in more intensive farming. More areas of marginal land were brought into production with government subsidies. At the same time, the amount of forest was increased by a factor of three. There was increasing mechanisation of Scottish agriculture. The horse was replaced by the tractor and the combine harvester. This meant that farming became less labour-intensive. In 1951, 88,000 people worked in Scottish agriculture full-time, but by 1991 it had fallen to about 25,000, leading to more depopulation of rural areas. This helped make Scottish agriculture among the most efficient in Europe.
In the 1960s and 1970s, 76–77 per cent of output by value was livestock farming and, although this has fallen to about 64 per cent since 1990, arable farming remains a minority of the sector and two-thirds of agricultural land is rough pasture. One result is that chemicalisation and arable-based subsidies have had less impact on Scottish biodiversity than is the case in England where farming is overwhelmingly arable. The UK membership of the European Economic Community (later the European Union) in 1972 began a re-orientation for Scottish farming. A preference for Commonwealth markets was replaced by EU obligations. Agriculture became dominated by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU, which made farming dependent on market support and direct grants to farmers. As a result, some sectors, particularly hill sheep farming, became viable only with subsidies. Eight-four per cent of Scottish land qualified for extra support as a Less Favoured Area (LFA), but 80 per cent of the payments were going to only 20 per cent of the farmers, mainly large commercial arable farms in the Lowlands. A series of reforms to the CAP from the 1990s attempted to control over-production, limit incentives for intensive farming and mitigate environmental damage. As part of an attempt to mitigate the depopulation and commercialisation of Scottish farming, the Crofting Act of 1976 made it easier for crofters to buy their farms, but most were insufficient to support a family, and many small farmers turned to fish farming and tourism to supplement their incomes. A dual farm structure has emerged with agriculture divided between large commercial farms and small pluralised and diversified holdings. Scotland has the highest average farm size in the European Union, almost ten times the average.


Chitomborwizi

Chitomborwizi is a farming area in Mashonaland West in Zimbabwe formerly known as Chitomborwizi African Purchase Area. The farms are small to medium (20 to 100 ha) sizes. Areas like these were created for black farmers during the colonial era, similar areas are Musengezi near Chegutu, Mushagashe near Chatsworth, Zimbabwe, Wilshere in Chivhu, Matepatepa in Mt Darwin to mention just a few.
Location.
Chitomborwizi is located about 20 km south of Chinhoyi town (which is the provincial capital) and about 25 km north of Murombedzi. It is sandwiched between Chirau communal lands to the south and former white commercial farms to the north. The area is subdivided into three regions Chitomborwizi East, Central and West. Chitomborwizi east comprises farms which are to the east of Chinhoyi-Chegutu highway. This region is separated to former white commercial farms by Manyame river (pronounced Mhanyaame by local people or Hunyani by white settlers). Some farmers in this area use water from the river which flows throughout the year for irrigation. Manyame river flows into Biri dam which is also used by farmers for irrigation and fishing. It is not all farmers who have access to Manyame river who are utilising it for irrigation. The reason is not quite clearly maybe lack of capital or lack of interest thereof.
Chitomborwizi central is made up of farms which are between the east and west areas of Chitomborwizi. The area has a business centre known as Matoranjera to serve the whole farming region. The Makonde district council offices, a high school, a clinic and some few grocery shops are located at this township. This is the most developed area of Chitomborwizi with electricity available at a number of farms and at Matoranjera business centre.
Chitomborwizi west, it shares borders with Chitomborwizi central, Chirau and Makonde communal lands. The area covers Muchichiri, Rwenhombo and Mburungwe.
Farming Activity.
The main crop cultivated is maize (Zimbabwe's staple food), followed by cotton and recently tobacco has come onto the scene. The latter crop has proved to be popular mainly due to lucrative prices despite being labour-intensive. Chitomborwizi west farmers are known for their cotton farming prowess. Historically some of Chitomborwizi's best cattle was found in the western area. However farmers from this area have not benefited from the country's much talked about rural electrification programme. The majority of farmers are now farming on semi-subsistence level. There are a handful farmers who are utilising their farms commercially.
Economic Meltdown effects.
The downturn of Zimbabwe's economy which started in the late '90s to 2008(before the formation of the unity government between the MDC and ZANU–PF) did not spare Chitomborwizi as well. As the old adage goes "whenever elephants fight, it's the grass that suffers", the same happened to Chitomborwizi farmers. Most farmers were reduced to mere paupers during this period of economic meltdown when Zimbabwe had runaway inflation running into millions per year. Farmers' income was greatly eroded because of the nature of their income (once per season/year) this means most farmers would fail to plant crops the next season due to high input cost and run away inflation. To make matters worse the economically active young people from the farms left the area and migrated to neighbouring SADC countries and some to overseas countries like the UK, US, Canada etc. Thus the much needed labour was no longer available as most farmers rely on their families for labour (very few farmers have hired labour).
The Missing Generation.
The sad story of Chitomborwizi is that mostly farms are inherited from one generation to another. However most beneficiaries lack the skills and funds to become successful farmers. Some end up selling the farms or simply leave the farm lying idle. Then there was a knock on effect of the economic meltdown alluded earlier on; the next generation of beneficiaries (new owners) are no longer residing on farms. The few young people who did not migrate to other countries have gone to the city in search of better living conditions and a guaranteed monthly paycheck. This has turned most farms into a place where people come and meet during bereavements to bury their beloved ones. There is a real danger that next generation are not going to take farming as a serious business, some of the blame have to be shoved to government policies. There is little or no professional and financial support provided to farmers in Chitomborwizi. Problems affecting Chitomborwizi farmers are different from those of government's controversial land reform as the former have title deeds.
Challenges.
Most of the challenges facing Chitomborwizi have already been discussed. The roads in Chitomborwizi have not improved in the past decades or so but indeed the opposite has happened. The maintenance of is a responsibility shared between the government run DDF (District Development Fund under Ministry of Transport) and the rural district council. Both organisations are badly funded and managed. The latter relies on tax from farmers which is not enough and some farmers simply default on payment. Another element which is affecting Chitomborwizi is lack of funds. Farming is a business, time and again businesses need access to cheap/affordable capital to fund their business and this is not available to Chitomborwizi farmers. Farmers need to have boreholes so as to utilise their farms throughout the season and not rely on seasonal field crops only. Another problem facing farmers is skills shortage.


Bernardo Davanzati

Bernardo Davanzati (1529 – 1606) was an Italian agronomist, economist and translator.
Davanzati was major translator of Tacitus. He also attempted the concision of Tacitus in his own Italian prose, taking a motto "Strictius Arctius" reflecting his ambition.
He wrote on economics as a metallist. His works included "Notizie dei cambi" (1582) and "Lezione delle monete" (1588).
His "Scisma d'Inghilterra" was first published in 1602 in Rome. It was a concise version of a work of Girolamo Pollini, on the English Reformation, which itself was dependent on a Latin work of 1585 written by Nicholas Sander and Edward Rishton. John Milton used its imprimaturs (from the 1638 edition) as an illustration on his "Areopagitica".


Noven Belleza

Noven Gonzaga Belleza (November 26, 1994) is a Filipino singer-songwriter. He won as the first champion at "Tawag ng Tanghalan" of the noon-time television show "It's Showtime". He was born and raised in Victorias City.
Biography.
Noven Belleza was born on November 26, 1994 in Hacienda Salome, Victorias City, province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. He is the oldest child of Reynaldo and Rosie Belleza, and has seven siblings. Belleza is the son of a farmer, and dreamed of becoming a well-known singer one day. He went to Doña Andrea Palanca Elementary School and Victorias National High School. Singing runs through his father's family. It was his father who taught and trained Belleza to sing better. Belleza was seven years old when he started joining singing competition locally. His father pursued him to join and to be one of the contestants in a singing contest at their city.
Martin Nievera, Basil Valdez, Air Supply, and Journey are his favourite musical artists.
Career.
"Tawag ng Tanghalan".
Belleza tried to audition at "The Voice of the Philippines" and "Pilipinas Got Talent", but with no luck. He later tried to audition at "Tawag ng Tanghalan" in "Showtime" and made it on air.
A month later, he was one of the finalists at the Grand Finals along with Sam Mangubat and Froilan Canlas. He sang "May Bukas Pa" by Rico J. Puno to book his place to the top three. Then he sang the Air Supply's "The One That You Love", "Now and Forever" and "Without You", which amazed the judges. Then, garnering of 99.96% of final score, Belleza was declared as the winner with a house and lot from Camella, 2 million pesos, a "negosyo" package, a recording contract with Star Music, a trophy and a GB musical instrument.
Present.
After winning "Tawag ng Tanghalan", many projects awaited Belleza. He was a guest at Wish 107.5 wherein he sang his winning songs. His story was featured in "Maalaala Mo Kaya", wherein Khalil Ramos played Belleza. He has also been a guest on "Magandang Buhay", "Gandang Gabi, Vice!", "ASAP", "Tonight with Boy Abunda", and "It's Showtime".
Sexual Assault.
On July 19, 2017, Belleza was said to be involved of sexual assault to a 19-year-old girl. Belleza was arrested on July 16 after appearing on Vice Ganda's concert in Cebu. Himself asserts that he did not commit the crime and he will prove that he is innocent.
On August 31, 2017, the sexual assault case of the singer has been dropped by the accuser. The case was eventually dismissed on September 11, 2017.


Cherangani Hills Forest

Cherangani Hills Forest (Cherangany Hills Forest) is a collection of thirteen forest reserve blocks in western Kenya, located in the Cherangani Hills on the western ridge of the East African Rift. The forested area is about , of which has been gazetted into forest reserves. These forest reserves form the upper catchments of the Kerio and Nzoia and Turkwel rivers.
Forest types.
The three western blocks, Kapkanyar, Kapolet and Kiptaberr, are larger and more consolidated and constitute about 20% of the Cherangani Hills Forest. Most of the rest of the forests are fragmented, cut by grasslands, bushlands, and croplands. The forests themselves are quite varied in composition. To the west, the lower elevations are ""Aningeria"-"Strombosia"-"Drypetes" forest, grading into mixed "Podocarpus latifolius" forest on the higher elevations. To the east are "Juniperus"–"Nuxia"–"Podocarpus falcatus" forest, particularly on south facing slopes. On the eastern slopes these are interspersed with "Podocarpus falcatus" forest, much disturbed by human activities. sizeable remnants of "Juniperus"–"Maytenus undata"–"Rapanea"–"Hagenia"" forest can be found in the high valleys. In some of the stream valleys tree ferns such as "Cyathea manniana" can be found as well as small patches of the bamboo "Yushania alpina".
Flora and Fauna.
In total, 1296 species, including 17 endemic species have been documented found in the Cherangani Hills Forest, belonging to 130 families and 608 genera. This flora represents 18.50% of the Kenyan species, 43.83% of the Kenyan genera and 54.17% of the Kenyan families.
Threatened plants include; "Peucedanum aculeolatum" Engl., "Pimpinella lindblomii" H. Wolff, "Polyscias kikuyuensis" Summerh., "Ethulia vernonioides" (Schweinf.) M.G. Gilbert, "Euryops brownei" S. Moore, "Gutenbergia rueppellii" Sch. Bip., "Senecio pseudosubsessilis" C. Jeffrey, "S. rhammatophyllus" Mattf., "Helichrysum meyeri-johannis" Engl., "Guizotia jacksonii" (S. Moore) J. Baagøe., "Impatiens hoehnelii" T.C.E. Fr., "Impatiens meruensis" Gilg, "I. pseudoviola" Gilg, "I. tinctoria" A. Rich., "Cynoglossum cheranganiense" Verdc., "Lobelia aberdarica" R.E. Fr. & T.C.E. Fr., "L. cheranganiensis" Thulin, "Lobelia deckenii" (Asch.) Hemsl., "L. duriprati" T.C.E. Fr., "Wahlenbergia scottii" Thulin, "Euphorbia brevicornu" Pax, "Trifolium cheranganiense" J.B. Gillett, "Hypericum kiboense" Oliv., "Galega lindblomii" (Harms) J.B. Gillett, "Abutilon mauritianum" (Jacq.) Medik., "Diaphananthe montana" (Piers) P.J. Cribb & J. Stewart, "Habenaria altior" Rendle, "Polystachya bella" Summerh., "Calamagrostis hedbergii" Melderis, "Delphinium macrocentrum" Oliv., "Rubus scheffleri" Engl., "Galium kenyanum" Verdc. "Spermacoce minutiflora" (K. Schum.) Verdc. and "Cyphostemma cyphopetalum" (Fresen.) Desc. ex Wild & R.B. Drumm.
Conservation issues.
The Cherangani Hills Forest is threatened by increased pressures from a growing local population, as well as by pressure from downstream inhabitants. The problems range from overgrazing, to conversion of the forest to cropland, to excessive use of forest products in making charcoal and providing local lumber.


Salisbury Fish Hatchery

The Salisbury Fish Hatchery is a state-operated fish hatchery on Vermont Route 53 in Salisbury, Vermont. Established in 1931, it produces broodstock trout for distribution to the other hatcheries in the state. Its facilities were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. The facility may be toured by arrangement, but there is no visitors center.
Description and history.
The Salisbury Fish Hatchery is located on both sides of Vermont Route 53, about east of its junction with United States Route 7. The facility takes up more than , although the improved area is relatively modest. Most of the production complex is located on the south side of the highway, with a long and narrow wood-frame structure covering a concrete raceway in which some rearing takes place. The main complex includes a residence and the main hatchery building, which houses a series of troughs in which breeding occurs. The entire complex is fed by a series of freshwater springs and an aquifer, a critical element in the decision to locate the hatchery here. The breeding operating is highly dependent on a continuous supply of fresh water.
The hatchery was established in 1931, and was the first not located near a railroad, previously the method by which the state's other hatcheries delivered their stock to its destinations. Designed by Walker and Walker of Montpelier, the hatchery buildings are more architecturally distinctive than earlier hatcheries, with a number of Craftsman touches. It was established due to a documented decline in the number of fish in the state's waterways, primarily the result of sport fishing. In the 1950s, the facility was expanded by the addition of a feed storage building, and in the 1960s concrete raceways were added. The breeding and rearing facility north of the road houses an unusual light-managed environment to facilitate continuous propagation of fish.


Theodore A. Kiesselbach

Theodore Alexander Kiesselbach (1884–1964) fondly referred to as "Mr. Corn" was an Agronomist, educator, author or co-author of over 140 articles, and an internationally renowned major developer of corn hybrids who lived in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Kiesselbach was born in Shelby, Nebraska to Alexander and Caroline Bayrhoffer Kiesselbach on March 14, 1884. He trained as both an undergraduate and graduate student at the University of Nebraska where he trained with Charles Bessey, receiving a BS in 1908, an MA in 1912, and a PhD in 1918. He joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska first as a field instructor in 1909 and in 1912 became a professor and member of the graduate faculty, a position he continued to hold until his retirement in 1952.
He played a key role in developing hybrid varieties of corn and helped improve other crops through his team’s research in the Agronomy Department at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, College of Agriculture. In 1913 he developed the first hybrid corn variety in the western United States, and by the 1940s hybrids he developed were widely adopted, accounting for $42M of farm income in Nebraska alone in 1949. In 1949 he published "The Structure and Reproduction of Corn", a reference work which was widely adopted and reprinted until at least 1998. Among the students he trained at the University of Nebraska was Charles O. Gardner.
Kiesselbach was elected as a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy in 1927 and was received the Hoblitzell National Award in 1951.


Heinrich Vollmer (winery)

Weingut (winery) Heinrich Vollmer is a German winery situated in Ellerstadt/Palatinate.
History.
Heinrich Vollmer (*1948), born in Durbach/Baden, was designated for the takeover of the fatherly farm, which also included some vineyards. Already at the age of eight years Heinrich Vollmer was introduced to the winegrower's craft. At the age of 15 years he took part in the exchange program of the GFY (German French youth work) and worked during four years as a trainee on the renowned vineyard Bouchard Père et Fils in Montrachet in French Burgundy. After his return in 1968 discrepancies occurred between him and his father about the future management of the estate and Heinrich Vollmer moved to the Palatinate region. In 1972, he acquired a vineyard in Ellerstadt and built up one of the biggest German privately held vineyards. In springtime 1987, Vollmer was sentenced by the district court of Neustadt/Weinstrasse to 72 days of custody or 72 daily rates of 100 Deutsche Mark and the immediate removal of his Cabernet Sauvignon vines. At that time, the cultivation of these vines was not permitted in Germany due to the contemporary law. The accusation was dropped during the second hearing. After that, Heinrich Vollmer built up the first German experimental plant originated for Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in cooperation with the land research institution of Rhineland-Palatinate. Today, the Cabernet Sauvignon vines that have been removed in 1987, are growing at Bodega Enrique Vollmer, the Argentine vineyard of Heinrich Vollmer in the Uco valley southwest of Mendoza, Argentina.
In the wine cellar of the winery, about 450,000 litres of white wines as well as 450,000 litres of red wines are produced annually. Private wine connoisseurs count to the established clientele of Heinrich Vollmer as well as wine traders, restaurants, retail shops (Rewe, Tengelmann, Edeka) and airlines (German Lufthansa, Condor).
Since 1987 Heinrich Vollmer also owns and operates a vineyard in Argentina, Bodega Enrique Vollmer.
Wines/Grapes.
On account of his French winegrower's education, French grape varieties belong to Heinrich Vollmer's specialities, among them Cabernet Sauvignon, Saint Laurent, Pinot blanc, Pinot gris, Pinot noir, Sauvignon blanc, Chardonnay and Auxerrois. But also the traditional German sorts of Riesling, Dornfelder and Portugieser grapes are cultivated. The vineyard traditionally focuses on selective vintage and careful processing of the grapes. The production of the white wines takes place in modern high-grade steel tanks, while the red wines are fermented traditionally on the must and further developed in wooden barrels. The "great wines" mature up to 18 months in Barrique barrels in the cellar of the Ellerstadt estate.
The winery Heinrich Vollmer cultivates currently 104 hectares of vineyards all around Ellerstadt/Palatinate in the sites of Dürkheimer Feuerberg, Deidesheimer Hofstück, Ellerstadter Bubeneck and Ellerstadter Kirchenstück. These are partly in the possession of the wine-growing estate and are leased to the other part by a specially founded producer's community.
Awards.
Since foundation of the wine-growing estate Heinrich Vollmer, numerous awards were acquired, just recently a gold medal for the 2009th ALTUM Cabernet Sauvignon dry Barrique and for the 2010th Pinot Gris dry.


List of plantations in the United States

This is a list of plantations and/or plantation houses in the United States of America that are national memorials, National Historic Landmarks, listed on the National Register of Historic Places or other heritage register, or are otherwise significant for their history, association with significant events or people, or their architecture and design.
U.S. Virgin Islands.
As of 1728, there were 91 plantation lots defined on Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands. As of 1800, maps showed 68 plantations outside the villages of Cruz and Coral Bay. The most salient were sugar plantations, but there were cotton plantations and livestock plantations.


Tenuta San Guido

Tenuta San Guido is an Italian wine producer in the DOC Bolgheri in Toscana, known as a producer of "Super Tuscan" wine. It produces Sassicaia, a Bordeaux-style red wine. The estate also produces a second wine, Guidalberto, and a third wine, Le Difese. Tenuta San Guido is member of the Primum Familiae Vini.
History.
Tenuta San Guido was established by marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, who was also co-owner of the race horse Ribot. Considered the seminal "Super Tuscan", the name Sassicaia (Italian "sasso" meaning "stone", indicating a stony field) originated in 1948 when first produced by Incisa della Rocchetta using Cabernet Sauvignon vines and for years only used for family consumption. A story about these vines being sourced from Château Lafite-Rothschild, was dismissed by Mario's son, Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta, as the vineyard was planted from "cuttings from 50-year-old vines from a friend’s estate near Pisa".
Though for years Sassicaia remained the marchese’s personal wine, his son Nicolò and nephew Piero Antinori convinced him to release it commercially, starting with the 1968 vintage, which was unveiled in 1971. Initially there were only a few thousand bottles available, but those created a demand for more. Mario Incisa della Rocchetta hired consulting enologist Giacomo Tachis to further refine the wine while increasing production.
At a 1978 "Decanter" tasting of "great clarets", a panel including Hugh Johnson, Serena Sutcliffe and Clive Coates awarded the 1972 Sassicaia first place over a field of 33 wines from 11 countries.
In 1994 Sassicaia was granted its own DOC (Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC), the only wine from a single estate in Italy to enjoy this privilege. Before that, and in similarity to other wines made outside the traditional DOC/DOCG regulations, Sassicaia was classified as an Indicazione geografica tipica (IGT). Initially it was a Vino da tavola.
Production.
Tenuta San Guido cultivates fruit from several plots around Bolgheri, extending , with a grape variety distribution of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc. The annual production is approximately 180,000 bottles.
The second wine, Guidalberto, was introduced in 2000. Its first vintage was composed of 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 20% Sangiovese. Newer vintages do not contain any Sangiovese. The wine has an annual production of 150,000 bottles.
The most recently added wine, Le Difese, is composed of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Sangiovese, with an annual production of 120,000 bottles.


Savoy wine

Savoy is a wine region situated in the Savoy region in eastern France, and is sometimes referred to as the country of the Allobroges.
The Savoy landscape is distinctly alpine. Between lakes and mountains, the Savoy vineyards hang from slopes or clutch at hillsides in little islands that produce their special growth, from Fréterive in the South, to Evian in the North, passing through Apremont and Jongieux.
With grape varieties Jacquère, Roussanne, Altesse (also known as Roussette) and Gringet for white wines, and Mondeuse for the reds, Savoie is characterised by a number of varieties which are very rare elsewhere.
The Savoyard appellations (labels) are distributed through four departments: Haute-Savoie, Ain, Isère and Savoie. Crépy near Lake Geneva and Seyssel in the Ain are easy to locate. But wines labelled Roussette de Savoie and Vin de Savoie can come from anywhere in the wine growing area, unless the label display the name of a village in addition to the appellation. There are 4 Roussette villages: Frangy, Monthoux, Marestel and Monterminod. And there are no fewer than 17 "Vin de Savoie" villages, the most well known being Apremont, Chignin, Chautagne and Arbin.


Wilkatana Station

Wilkatana Station is a sheep and cattle station in the Australian state of South Australia located north of the regional city of Port Augusta and south of Lake Torrens. It covers an area of which is located within the gazetted localities of Wilkatana Station in the west and Yarrah in the east.
The station consists of an arid plain between the Flinders Ranges and Lake Torrens, and exhibits some salt flats.
The traditional owners of the area are the Barngarla people.
In April 2013, the land occupying the appropriate western half of the Wilkatana Station was gazetted by the Government of South Australia as a locality under the name Wilkatana Station.


March for the Animals

The March for the Animals on 10 June 1990 was a significant early protest by the Animal Rights Movement in Washington D.C.. An estimated 25,000 animal rights activists gathered for the march. The event however did not immediately attract significant media attention, and was relatively small among List of rallies and protest marches in Washington, D.C. compared, for example, to the Rally for Life in January 1990 which had gathered 700,000 people. Among the celebrity supporters of the march was singer Grace Slick who performed the Jefferson Airplane song "Panda" from the band's final album of the previous year. The majority of marchers were women, but female activists were not the majority of speakers on the roster.


Alfred Theodor Michelsen

Alfred Theodor Michelsen (17 December 1874 – 12 March 1941) was a Norwegian farmer and politician for the Liberal Left Party.
He was born in Bergen, took middle school and the Jønsberg School of Agriculture. He lived in the United States for some years, working on a farm and in a bank. From 1901 he was a farmer at Mork in Eidsvoll.
He was a member of Eidsvoll municipal council, and chaired the local dairy and electricity works. He was elected as a deputy representative to the Parliament of Norway from Akershus in 1927, and served through one term.


Banda University of Agriculture and Technology

Banda University of Agriculture and Technology (BUAT), is an agricultural university at Banda in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
About University
Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda has been established as a full-fledged State University, having unique honour of being the "First Agricultural University of Bundelkhand Region". The University was notified vide Government Order No. 301/79-V-1-10-1 (Ka) 27-2009 Lucknow and established on 2 March 2010 under Uttar Pradesh Agriculture University Act (Sanshodhan) 1958 Gazette-Adhiniyam 2010. Initially it was named as "Manyawar Shri Kanshiram Ji University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda", which was changed as "Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda" vide Uttar Pradesh Agriculture University Act (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam, 2014, No. 1528(2)/LXXIX-V-1-14-1(Ka)-13-2014 dated 4 December 2014.
The University has been established for the development of the agriculture and allied sectors in the Uttar Pradesh on the whole and Bundelkhand region in particular. It is committed to serve the Bundelkhand region with trinity concept, i.e. complete integration of teaching, research and extension for the development of agriculture and allied sectors in order to ensure food security and enhance socio-economic status of inhabitants. State Government of Uttar Pradesh has assigned the University with the responsibilities of (a) human resource generation and development, (b) generation and perfection of technologies, and (c) their dissemination to the farmers, orchardists and dairy farmers in the Chitrakoot Dham and Jhansi divisions. The Chirtrkoot Dham Division consists of four districts, namely Banda, Chitrakoot (Karvi), Mahoba and Hamirpur whereas Jhansi Division consists of Jhansi, Lalitpur and Jalaun (Orai) districts.
Faculty
1.College of Agriculture
2.College of Horticulture
3.College of Forestry
4.College of Animal and Veterinary Sciences
5.College of Home Science
6.College of Agriculture Engineering


Caldes rabbit

The Caldes rabbit is a Spanish breed of rabbit. It is a terminal sire used to cross breed with other rabbits for meat. They are primarily found in albino.


Taru Moana

Taru Moana (died 1 August 1988) was a Cook Islands chief and politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1965 to 1974.
Biography.
Moana was a farmer, chief and church leader, serving as president of the Kouti Nui group of chiefs in Arorangi and as a spokesman for the Tinomana ariki.
A supporter of the Cook Islands Progressive Association, he joined the Cook Islands Party after its establishment in 1964. He contested the Puaikura seat in the 1965 general elections and was elected to the Legislative Assembly. He was re-elected in 1968 and 1972, but lost his seat in the 1974 elections.
He died in Arorangi in August 1988.


Paddy Cunneen

Patrick J. Cunneen (born 1936) is an Irish retired hurler who played at club level with St. Patrick's and at inter-county level with Limerick.
Career.
From the St. Patrick's club, Cunneen first came to prominence on the inter-county scene with the Limerick junior team that overcame London to win the 1955 All-Ireland Junior Championship. Promotion to the senior side followed, with Cunneen lining out in goal when Limerick surprised Clare to win the 1955 Munster Championship. The team, labelled "Mackey's Greyhounds" after their trainer Mick Mackey, were subsequently beaten by eventual champions Wexford in the All-Ireland semi-final.


Sudarat Keyuraphan

Sudarat Keyuraphan (, ) is a Thai politician and former chairwoman of Pheu Thai Party's strategic committee. She held various positions in the cabinet and served multiple terms as a Member of Parliament. She was her party's prime minister candidate in the 2019 Thai general election.
Family and personal life.
Sudarat was born in Bangkok to Mr. Sompon Keyurapan and Mrs. Renu Keyuraphan. Her father was the former Member of Parliament from Nakhon Ratchasima Province. Sudarat graduated high-school from St. Joseph Convent School in Bangkok. She earned her bachelor's degree from Chulalongkorn University in commerce and accountancy and a master's degree from the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration. In 2018, she earned her doctoral degree in Buddhist studies from Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University.
Sudarat is married to Mr. Somyos Leelapunyalert, who is a real estate entrepreneur. They have 3 children whose names are Phumphat, Peeraphat, and Yossuda.
Political work.
Sudarat began her political career as part of the Palang Dharma Party, being elected an MP for Bangkok's District 12 in the election of March 1992. She was reelected in September of the same year and was appointed deputy government spokesperson for Chuan Leekpai’s Government.
In 1994, Sudarat was appointed Secretary-General of the Palang Dharma Party and was also appointed Deputy Minister of Transport.
In the 1995 Election, Sudarat was re-elected MP and was appointed Deputy Minister of Interior in Banharn Silpa-archa’s Government.
In 1996, Sudarat was once again elected MP and was the only member to be elected from Palang Dharma.
Two years later, in 1998, Sudarat co-founded the Thai Rak Thai Party together with Thaksin Shinawatra and 21 others, including Somkid Jatusripitak, Thanong Bidaya, Purachai Piumsombun, Thammarak Isaragura na Ayuthaya, and Prommin Lertsuridej. Sudarat was appointed Deputy Leader of Thai Rak Thai
In the 2001 election, Sudarat was elected a Member of Parliament and was appointed Minister of Public Health on February 17, 2001 under the Thaksin government. She was involved in a long-running scandal over the purchase of overpriced computers for hospitals by the Ministry of Public Health.
The 2006 election saw her party win over 61% of the vote, becoming the largest party, and Sudarat was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives. She lost her position following the September 2006 coup.
As one of 111 executive members of the TRT, she was banned from political activities for five years after the 2006 coup d'état.
Sudarat later returned to Thai politics, contesting the 2019 election as a party-list MP and prime ministerial candidate for the Pheu Thai Party. However, although the party won the most constituency seats, it did not win any party-list seats.
Royal decorations.
 1996 Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand
 1999 Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant
 2005 Member of the Most Illustrious Order of Chula Chom Klao
 2005 Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of the Most Admirable "Order of the Direkgunabhorn"


Bymarka

Bymarka is a large park and nature reserve on the west side of the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway.
Location and use.
Bymarka is situated to the west of the city center and has an area of , with more than of walking tracks. Bymarka is very popular for cross-country skiing in the winter, and for walks, hiking or jogging in the summer. There is a golf course on the fringe near the city. Bymarka borders the Byåsen district, and can be reached by the Gråkall Line tram line or by car.
Forests and habitats.
The elevation in Bymarka is from above sea level, except in the hilly northern part, which reaches down to the Trondheimsfjord. There are more than 10 lakes, and many bogs. However, Bymarka is largely covered with forest, much of it planted between the years 1870 and 1940. Some non-native trees were planted, such as European Larch and Douglas fir, and there is also Sycamore maple and European ash at the lowest elevations. The most common tree species are the native Norway spruce, Scots pine and Downy birch. Storheia, Bosbergheia, and Gråkallen are mountains that reach above the treeline (which is at approx above sea level) and have some alpine vegetation. As there are no higher mountains nearby, there is a nice view over Trondheim, the fjord, and mountain ranges including Trollheimen to the south and Sylane (which is partly in Sweden) to the east.
Part of the northern area of Bymarka is protected and preserved as a nature reserve, stretching from an elevation of around near Herbernheia and northwards down towards the fjord. This reserve therefore includes several vegetation zones: North boreal (above above sea level), middle boreal (, the most common in Bymarka) and southern boreal (below ), the latter zone is rare among protected areas as it is heavily used for farming in Norway. The lowland on the southern (Gaulosen) and western (Byneset) fringes of Bymarka contains areas of more southern hemiboreal vegetation. One of these locations has an especially rich understory, and has traditionally been used by the locals for collecting plants believed to have medical properties, hence the name "Apoteket" (The Pharmacy).
Fauna.
Moose, red fox, hare and squirrel are the most common animals, but there are also healthy populations of roe deer, beaver, badger and also some otters. As of spring 2006, even one wolverine has been verified as living in Bymarka, which is rare, as this elusive predator usually stays in the higher mountains, far from any cities. There are trout in many lakes, and a rich bird life.


Kronopark

A Kronopark ("crown park"), in Sweden, is a forest or forested area owned by the state (formerly, the "crown") who has access to it and can develop it for various purposes. They are managed by Sveaskog or by Statens fastighetsverk (the National Property Board of Sweden).
In 1994 the total area covered by Kronoparks amounted to about 4.5 million hectares, almost 90% of which in Norrland and Dalarna. Starting in the 1870s the government began establishing the parks to limit the number of settlements that were being established on government-owned lands, though in the 1900s land in the individual Kronoparks was allotted to individual tenants. Kronoparks were established in Svealand and Götaland mainly through acquisitions of land by the state. By 1905 there were 1082 Kronoparks in Sweden.
During the past decades the area owned by the state has declined by about 5%, because parliament decided that Sveaskog should sell parts of its forest holdings to strengthen private forestry.


Lillomarka

Lillomarka is an area located to the northeast of Oslo, Norway. It is a part of Oslomarka and serves as a popular recreational area. Lillomarka is bordered by Maridalen and Nordmarka in the west, Nittedal and Gjelleråsen in the east, the suburbs Bjerke and Grorud in the south and the Gjøvik rail line and Movatn in the north.
The name.
The first element is the name of the farm "Lillo" (see Storo), the last element is the finite form of "mark" f 'woodland, forest'.
History.
Lillomarka contains the old Gothalfske copper mines, Alnsjø lake (one of Oslo’s sources of drinking water), and Breisjø lake. Several of the lakes in Lillomarka were used for harvesting ice; the ice dam at Årvoll and Vesletjern (Lilletjern) at Ammerud were both important sources of ice for the people of Oslo. Vesletjern was used until 1945, whereas ice was harvested from the ice-dam at Årvoll until as late as 1967-68. Today, Vesletjern is a public lake for swimming. In recent years Lillomarka has become a popular area for outdoor pursuits and physical recreation. The sports lodge at Linderudkollen is the site of a popular training facility for ski jumping.
[Linderud Mines or] "Linderud gruver" in Lillomarka had road infrastructure built in 1880.
Outdoor pursuits in Lillomarka.
Lillomarka’s location makes it quite accessible and it has become a popular setting for outdoor pursuits for the people who live around this forest. Lillomarka is considered by the Association for the Promotion of Skiing (Skiforeningen) as a good alternative to Nordmarka, especially during winter. The forest has many ponds and lakes that are suitable for camping trips. Fishing is also allowed throughout the forest in all ponds and lakes except for the drinking water reservoirs Alunsjø and Breidsjø. Both hiking and bridle path run through the area.
Lodges in Lillomarka.
Lillomarka has four sports lodges that are open most of the year: Lilloseter, Linderudkollen, Sinober and Trollvannstua. The Norwegian Trekking Association operates Fjellvang Lodge in Lillomarka, which can be rented for the night by the associations members. Additionally, located north of Kjulstern and south of Sinober, is the privately run Sørskogen lodge. At Steinbruvann, Grorud sports club has a club and ski waxing house.
Swimming.
Between Ammerud and Grorud is Lake Steinbruvann, a popular swimming place. The dam was established when Steinbruvann was a drinking water reservoir (1936-1971) and itself closed for swimming. At Ammerud is Lake Vesletjern and near Grefsenkollen is Trollvann lake, not far from Trollvann lodge.
For education.
Schools and kindergartens use Lillomarka both for short and longer trips in nature both summer and winter. The sports studies course at Bjerke upper secondary college utilise the forest for condition training (hiking, jogging and running), orienteering courses and outdoor pursuits courses.
The Military college at Linderud has made and maintains good jogging and running paths. They have marked the paths every 1 and 5 kilometres.
Orienteering.
Lill-O-Dilten is the orienteering course for walkers, set up by Lillomarka Orienteering Team. Lillodilten consists of many posts of varying difficulty that are open during the warmer six months of the year. The easiest route is called Mini-O-dilten with posts close to Grorud and Ammerud. The more difficult maps have posts located far apart with some quite far north in the forest.
In the 1830s a local thief and robber, Ole Høiland (1797–1848), had a hideout in Lillomarka. The Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT) organises regular trips to Ole Høiland’s cave.
Winter pursuits.
In the winter Lillomarka has a good selection of prepared ski trails, several of which are lit. The city of Oslo takes care of most of the trails in Lillomarka.


William Heritage Winery

William Heritage Winery (formerly known as Heritage Vineyards) is a winery in the Mullica Hill section of Harrison Township in Gloucester County, New Jersey. A family produce farm since 1853, the vineyard was first planted in 1998, and opened to the public in 2002. Heritage is one of the larger winegrowers in New Jersey, having 40 acres of grapes under cultivation, and producing 13,000 cases of wine per year. The winery is named after the family that owns it.
Wines.
Heritage Winery is in the Outer Coastal Plain AVA, and produces wine from Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chambourcin, Chardonnay, Concord, Grenache, Malbec, Merlot, Muscat blanc, Petit Verdot, Pinot gris, Pinot noir, Sauvignon blanc, Sémillon, and Syrah grapes. Heritage also makes fruit wines from apples, blueberries, peaches, and sugar plums. It is the only winery in New Jersey that produces wine from sugar plums. Heritage is best known for its signature Bordeaux-style wine. The winery was a participant at the Judgment of Princeton, a wine tasting organized by the American Association of Wine Economists that compared New Jersey wines to premium French vintages.
Features, licensing and associations.
During the autumn harvest season, Heritage offers pumpkin picking and hayrides, and throughout the year the winery operates a petting zoo and a bistro that sells breads, cheeses, and dips. Heritage has a plenary winery license from the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which allows it to produce an unrestricted amount of wine, operate up to 15 off-premises sales rooms, and ship up to 12 cases per year to consumers in-state or out-of-state. The winery is a member of the Garden State Wine Growers Association and the Outer Coastal Plain Vineyard Association.


Langhorne Creek wine region

Langhorne Creek wine region is a wine region in South Australia that is located on the plains southeast of the town of Strathalbyn along the lower reaches of the Bremer River and Angas River to Lake Alexandrina. The region received appellation as an Australian Geographical Indication (AGI) in 1998 and as of 2014, has a total planted area of and is represented by at least 24 wineries.
Extent and appellation.
The Langhorne Creek wine region is one of five wine regions forming the Fleurieu zone which is located to the south of Adelaide city centre in South Australia. The Langhorne Creek wine region extends southeast of the town of Strathalbyn along the Bremer River and Angas River to Lake Alexandrina, centred on the town of Langhorne Creek.
The term ‘Langhorne Creek’ was registered as an AGI on 16 October 1998.
Grapes and wine.
As of 2014, the most common plantings in the Langhorne Creek wine region within a total planted area of was reported as being Shiraz () followed by Cabernet Sauvignon (), Chardonnay () and Merlot (). Alternatively, red wine varietals account for of plantings while white wines varietals account for of plantings.
The total 2014 vintage is reported as consisting of of crushed red grapes valued at A$32,351,720 and of crushed white grapes valued at A$4,835,751.
As of 2014, the region is reported as having 24 wineries.


Ernest Crawford Carson

Ernest Crawford Carson (June 9, 1894 – October 21, 1952) was a rancher and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Lillooet in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1928 to 1933 as a Conservative and from 1941 to 1952 as a member of the Coalition. He was reelected in 1952 as a Progressive Conservative.
He was born on the family ranch in the Cariboo country and was educated there and in Vancouver. After high school, Carson worked on a railway survey crew. He served overseas during World War I and on his return took over the operation of the family ranch. In 1921, Carson married Halcyon Emma Hills. He served as postmaster at Pavilion from 1936 to 1941. Carson was defeated when he ran for reelection in 1933. He later served in the provincial cabinet as Minister of Mines and Trade and Industry and as Minister of Public Works. In 1952, Carson died in office of a heart attack in Oak Bay at the age of 58.
His brother Robert also served in the assembly.