Nutella has turned into a global phenomenon, which is boosting the demand for hazelnuts. ; Credit: Ingrid Taylar/Flickr

Nutella, that sinfully indulgent chocolate-hazelnut spread, turns 50 this year, and it's come a long way, baby.

There's even a "Nutella bar" in midtown Manhattan, right off Fifth Avenue, tucked inside a grand temple of Italian food called Eataly. There's another Nutella bar at Eataly in Chicago. Here, you can order Nutella on bread, Nutella on a croissant, Nutella on crepes.

"We create a simple place," explains Dino Borri, Eataly's "brand ambassador," a man so charming that he should be an ambassador for the whole Italian country. "Simple ingredients, few ingredients. With Nutella, supertasty, supersimple. When you are simple, the people love!"

Nutella was the product of hard times. During World War II, an Italian chocolate-maker named Ferrero couldn't get enough cocoa, so he mixed in some ground hazelnuts instead. Then he made a soft and creamy version.

"It was one of the greatest inventions of the last century!" says Borri.

It's a bold claim, but greatness, you have to admit, is a matter of taste. In any case, Nutella conquered Italy and, eventually, the world.

The recipe for world domination, it turns out, isn't too complicated: Sugar, cocoa, palm oil and hazelnuts. Three of those ingredients are easy to get. Sugar, cocoa and palm oil are produced in huge quantities.Hazelnuts, though, which some people call filberts, are a different matter. Most of them come from a narrow strip of land along the coast of the Black Sea in Turkey.

Karim Azzaoui, vice president for sales and marketing at BALSU USA, which supplies hazelnuts to the U.S., says the hazelnut trees grow on steep slopes that rise from the Black Sea coast. The farms are small; grandparents and children help to harvest the nuts, usually by hand. "It's a very traditional way of life," Azzaoui says. "The Turkish family farmers are extremely proud of the hazelnut crop, as it has been part of their family history for centuries. Farmers have been growing hazelnuts here for 2,000 years."

Nutella is now making this traditional crop extremely trendy.

Ferrero, the Nutella-maker, now a giant company based in Alba, Italy, uses about a quarter of the world's hazelnut supply — more than 100,000 tons every year.

That's pushed up hazelnut prices. And this year, after a late frost in Turkey that froze the hazelnut blossoms and cut the country's hazelnut production in half, prices spiked even further. They're up an additional 60 percent this year.

Because they're so valuable, more people want to grow them. Farmers are growing hazelnuts in Chile and Australia. America's hazelnut orchards in Oregon are expanding.

And now, one can even find a few hazelnuts in the Northeastern United States, where they've never been successfully grown before. They're standing in a Rutgers University research farm, an oasis of orchards tucked in between highways, just outside New Brunswick, N.J.

"All the green leafy things you see here are hazelnut trees. But in the beginning, they all used to die from disease," says Thomas Molnar, a Rutgers plant scientist who is in charge of this effort.

The disease, called Eastern Filbert Blight, is caused by a fungus. Some relatives of the commercial hazelnut, native to North America, can withstand the fungus. But the European hazelnut, the kind that fetches high prices, cannot. When the fungus attacks, it ruptures the bark around each branch, and the tree dies.

About 10 years ago, though, a plant breeder at Rutgers named C. Reed Funk embarked on a quest for hazelnut trees that could survive Eastern Filbert Blight. Similar efforts have been underway at Oregon State University, because Eastern Filbert Blight has made its way to Oregon as well, threatening the orchards there.

"I personally went and made seed collections in Eastern Europe, Russia, Poland, Ukraine," says Molnar. "I collected thousands of seeds. We grew them as we normally would, and I'd say that 98 percent of them died."

The other 2 percent, though, did not. They carried genes that allowed them to survive the blight. Molnar cross-pollinated these blight-resistant trees with other hazelnut trees, from Oregon, that produce lots of high-quality nuts. He collected the offspring of that mating, looking for individual trees with the ideal genetic combination: blight resistance and big yields.

Molnar shows me a few candidate trees. They're thriving, and producing lots of nuts. Molnar and his colleagues now are conducting field trials of these trees in 10 locations around the Eastern U.S. and Canada to see whether they yield enough nuts to be commercially successful.

Molnar is optimistic. His efforts have even caught the attention of Ferrero, the Nutella-maker. "They've come here several times," Molnar says. "They've told me, if we can meet their quality specifications, they'd be interested in buying all the hazelnuts that we can produce."

If you just want to get one of these trees and grow hazelnuts in your backyard, though, Molnar does have a warning. "I haven't seen any other food that drives squirrels more crazy than hazelnuts," he says. Squirrels will do almost anything to get their greedy little paws on the nuts before you do.

So your hazelnuts may need a guard dog — one that likes to chase squirrels.

Key element is access to robust online auction platform for the efficient procurement of motor vehicles.

VIENNA, 22 July 2016 - Violence against women and girls is one of the most serious and pervasive human rights violations. More needs to be done to eliminate this problem so that women can participate without barriers in all spheres of life, said participants of a high-level OSCE conference today in Vienna.

The conference, organized by the OSCE Gender Section and Germany’s 2016 OSCE Chairmanship, brought together representatives of governments of OSCE participating States, international organizations and civil society to discuss the progress, and to exchange good practices and lessons learned in the efforts to end violence against women..

“One in three women worldwide has experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime, perpetrated by intimate partners, family members, acquaintances and strangers,” said OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, opening the conference. “While we should take note of past and current achievements and activities, we need to now translate our commitments into concrete action”.

 Ambassador Zannier referred to the 2004 OSCE Action Plan on the Promotion of Gender Equality and OSCE Ministerial Council Decisions of 2005 and 2014, which called on participating States to address gender-based violence through legislation, supporting victims’ access to justice, education of relevant institutions and ensuring that women and girls receive special consideration in terms of protection and assistance.

Baroness Joyce Anelay, the UK’s Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development was one of the prominent speakers of the event.

"The OSCE Action Plan on the Promotion of Gender Equality is clear that this agenda is essential to achieving comprehensive security across the OSCE region. We all have a responsibility to promote women's empowerment and their full political, social and economic participation," she said.

Baroness Anelay is also UK Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. Earlier this week she addressed representatives of OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation at meetings of the Forum for Security Co-operation and the Permanent Council on the need to promote the role of women in conflict prevention and resolution.

Ambassador Eberhard Pohl, Chair of the OSCE Permanent Council and representing Germany’s OSCE Chairmanship, said: “The protection of women and girls needs our special attention. Violence against women is not only a traumatizing experience for individuals; it has an adverse impact on the stability of societies as a whole. As the OSCE Chairmanship we call for the joint political will in the OSCE to speed up combating violence against women. It is a violation of human rights and all OSCE participating States have committed to ensuring human rights for all its inhabitants equally.”

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By Michael McKenna A friend of mine recently asked me why, despite my generally contrarian nature, especially towards politicians, I respected House Speaker Mike Johnson. It is an immediately relevant question, given that the House Republicans are scheduled to vote this Wednesday for their leaders, including the speaker. As you may remember, the last time […]

The post Speaker Johnson Is Just What The MAGA Movement Needs appeared first on Liberty Unyielding.

Leading health researchers have urged Africans to embrace clinical trials, emphasising their vital role in addressing local health challenges and boosting economic opportunities. Ahead of the 2024 Impact Africa Summit in Lagos, the group of experts highlighted the need to create a robust and sustainable clinical trial ecosystem in Sub-Saharan Africa. They noted that this

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Online marketing is an industry that is constantly changing. The search engines are constantly rolling out updates and data refreshes, pay per click advertising platforms are always revealing new features and social media marketing is always evolving.

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Cash flow is a common concern among many small business owners, with many business models dependent on incoming cash flow at various, often unpredictable times a year versus a steady flow of income. Sound familiar to you, by chance? If you are among the thousands of businesses that are not sure when your next paycheck will come in, pay attention.

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1. Have a point of view and unique product offering

Commodity businesses such as books and electronics were the first to see e-commerce really squeeze out mom and pop stores. The product offering is uniform and easily comparable.

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Running your own business is no simple task. From hiring and payroll to other day-to-day operations, there are a million different responsibilities needing your attention throughout the work week. With a few of these tools, you can make your business run more efficiently and in turn, take the stress off of your shoulders.

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Businesses are incredibly difficult ventures to start. More than half of all businesses fail within five years of starting, according to statistics gathered in 2016. While this is far better than the traditional belief that half fail within a single year of starting, it is still clearly a challenge to start and continue running a small business.

6 Things Your Small Business Needs to Spend More Money On

Despite recent stock market turmoil, everywhere you looked this year someone was heralding the strength of the economy, which grew at 3.5 percent in the third quarter. However, not all economic growth favors small businesses, and some even detracts from it. The Inc. Entrepreneurship Index, which measures the quarterly health of the U.S. startup economy, currently sits at 83 out of 100 for the third quarter of 2018. This is down two points from the second quarter and a full nine points from the first quarter of 2017, when our Index peaked. Our indicator sees one factor in particular still dragging like an anchor on the startup economy: job growth.

Even though overall economic conditions have been largely favorable, small businesses have hit a growth ceiling as larger companies--bolstered by generally strong market conditions, favorable tax policies, support from local governments, and easing federal regulations--have been gobbling up talent. This is why, for the past year, the Index has shown a startup economy that is strong but slowing.

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Whether you’re just starting out and need a brand new website for your small business, or you already have a site up (but it doesn’t seem to be doing anything for your business), you could benefit from determining what your website actually needs. Just having a site is not enough. Remember, a website is your most important digital asset and should be your central, online marketing piece. So putting some extra thought into that is [...]

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Keys in life to staying fit, healthy and happy,

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If you've recently moved from Hawaii to the mainland and shipped your car as well, it's a good idea to have your car detailed as soon as possible. The elements of weather and nature in Hawaii can wreak havoc on vehicles in so many ways. A professional car detailing service will remove salt, sand, soil, and residue so your vehicle looks like it just came off of a showroom floor instead of from an island in Hawaii. Here's why your car should be detailed and where attention needs to be focused on the most. 

Harsh Conditions for Vehicles in Hawaii 

While you likely enjoyed being outdoors in Hawaii and the weather conditions, Hawaii is harsh for vehicles.

• Salt. The salt in the air and sea spray from the ocean can cause significant damage to your vehicle's hard surfaces. Salt can eat away at the clear coat, paint, and undercarriage. Extensive rust is commonly found on vehicles in Hawaii. The salt can also leave residue which causes spots on the glass, so your windows, mirrors, and lights may have mineral spots on them that need to be carefully removed so as not to scratch the glass. 
• Sand. When living on an island, sand can get into every nook and cranny. Even if you religiously cleaned your vehicle at a neighborhood carwash, there's probably sand somewhere in your vehicle. If some sand is in your wheels, it can damage your brake pads and wheel bearings. 
• Soil. Volcanic soil is corrosive. Therefore, any soil from Hawaii remaining on your car can cause corrosion. Ask the car detailing service to pay particular attention to the undercarriage and wheel wells to remove the soil and the corrosive residue from the soil. Also, volcanic soil has a dye-like substance, so you'll want to have the detailing service give the interior a deep clean as well. 

Focus Attention Everywhere 

When detailing a car that has been in Hawaii for an extensive period of time, attention needs to be focused pretty much everywhere the salt air has touched to remove salt and salt residue. The detailer should also remove all sand, soil, and soil residue. Be prepared to replace the floor mats, as they may have discoloration on them from the dye-like substances in the volcanic soil. Also, be sure to have the trunk of the car detailed as well, especially if you placed items in it from excursions to the beaches, parks, and volcanos. 

Contact a car detailing service near you to learn more. 

Cancel culture is a culture of hate, division, and destruction. Join Michael as he uses the Gospels and other scripture to show just how wicked this culture is; what the current culture is doing to us; why we are knowingly or unknowingly participating in it; and what we should do to combat it.

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Education choice is succeeding in other states

Aim/Purpose: Drone technology has been increasingly used in education. This paper reports a study of assessing teachers’ readiness and training needs for using drone technology in their teaching. Background: New technology promotes new ways of practices. With the sophisticated design and the affordance to explore our world from a bird’s eye perspective, a drone has been increasingly used to support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. However, it also brings challenges to teachers to integrate drone technology in their teaching. It is therefore important to obtain a better understanding of various aspects of integrating drone technology in education. Methodology: A group of pre-service teachers was engaged in a case study conducted using a designed-based approach. The participants were randomly assigned into three groups. They were required to develop lesson plans with the application of drone technology in teaching. The lesson plans were subsequently analyzed using the TPCK framework to identify teachers’ readiness and training needs. Findings: The participants, to a large extent, have sufficient competence to master the skills and knowledge of drone technology and to integrate it into their teaching. However, they were required to strengthen the pedagogical knowledge, subject content knowledge, and technological content knowledge in order to maximize the potential benefits of drone technology in education. Contribution: This paper reports the level of readiness and training needs of teachers regarding the use of drone technology in their teaching. Recommendations for Practitioners: To conduct teacher training regarding the use of drone technology in education, a particular focus should be put on enhancing teachers’ pedagogical knowledge, subject content knowledge, and technological content knowledge. Recommendations for Researchers: Researcher may further explore the strategies to integrate drone technology in teaching. Impact on Society: This paper suggests the area of teacher training regarding the use of drone technology in education. The teaching and learning effectiveness could be improved. Future Research: Future research may study the safety issue and ethical issue of using a drone in education.