Since I reached out to the Internet, the news about climate change I heard were increasing year by year. Everyone is talking about protecting the environment or saving our Earth Mother from something like greenhouse effect. I can feel the climate change in my own. Summer is getting warmer and warmer, and every winter isn’t that cold as last year. Then people won’t be willing to go outside. Therefore, they choose to stay in the room with air condition. And every shopping malls and restaurants have air condition, or they will lose clients. Air condition is a great invention. We can say that it saves our life from heat and cold. But people are getting addicted to it. Overuse of air condition make the possibility of enduring uncomfortable temperature less and less. When people don’t go outside, they can’t feel how bad the climate is now. It is hard to rise the awareness of protecting climate.
I am not an expert on this. But what I know is that if you can get to somewhere on foot don’t drive, and don’t run air condition lower or high temperature too much than outdoor temperature. These are just some small behaviors that we can do to protect climate.
Horse Racing has very deep roots in the culture of the world. But, for the United States we can trace are involvement all the way back to 1665. Thats when the first known track was laid out in Long Island. All standard breed horses in America can trace back their lineage to Hamiltonian. As for Delaware, we would get into horse racing in the 1760s and its all history from there. This was a great presentation with a ton of information in it. Mark Davis did a great job giving us a taste of what it would be like to be in the horse business. Also, about what we would need to know if we wanted to get in the horse business. Im sure there is a lot more we would need to know but he gave us a nice foundation to build on. This was are last guest lecture of the semester and it was a great way to finish.
“ Horse racing is one of the oldest sports, it’s been around for many years” (Mark Davis) Mark Davis, a manager of a horse farm within the harness racing industry, discussed with the University of Delaware’s understanding todays agriculture class about the harness racing industry in Delaware and the history that lies within it. Delaware’s harness racing industry, one of the oldest sports in the world, has undergone very little change in the past centuries in the races. However, in 1750, the jockey club was developed which created the many regulations on the horses and jockeys that enforces the jockey and horses to be continuously drug tested to prevent unfairness with the use of substances in the race as well as reduce the health issues that can arise with the use of drugs for both the horses and their riders. However, regardless of the drug testing, thorough bred horses experience more health problems then that of harness racing horses due to the amount of physical stress thoroughbreds experience with carrying a jockey and running at high speeds. While, in harness racing industry the horses stay at a trotting pace with only a carriage on the back of them to pull the rider. Although each part of the industry has their own unique characteristics associated with them, the industry has declined since its peak in 1989, due to the lack of interest in these generations individuals in this particular industry.
Horse racing began as early as the 12th century, being one of the oldest sports still practiced today. The horse was the third animal to be domesticated by humans (following the dog and cat) and were used especially in times of war for their agility and speed, therefore, a contest of speed was an inevitable progression. In 1750, American horse breeders and racers established the Jockey Club. The two types of horses used in horse racing are thoroughbreds and American standardbred horses. All American standardbred horses can trace back their lineage to the horse named Messenger and his son, Hamiltonian, known as the father of the American Standardbred breed. Today, horse racing is not as popular as it was 30 years ago causing the cost of horses to go up. For the first time in history, a standardbred horse was sold for a million dollars, very unusual for a standardbred but usual for a thoroughbred.
Mark Davis gave a guest lecture on the horse racing industry in Delaware. He began by providing some basic history of horse racing, which is considered one of the oldest sports, dating back thousands of years with almost no alterations. He then talked about the history of horse racing in America and the current state of American horse racing. Horse racing in America has a direct economic impact of $39 billion annually, while the economic impact with spending by industry suppliers and employees totals $102 billion. There are 9.2 million horses in the U.S., of which around 850,000 are used for racing.
In Delaware, the first horse racing facility dates back to 1760, when it was built in the town of Newark. Horse racing in Delaware has continued to thrive ever since, with harness racing being particularly popular in Delaware. In 2013 Delaware paid out $28 million in purses for harness racing and $13.5 million in purses for thoroughbred racing. The horse racing industry in Delaware accounts for approximately 4,200 jobs. In 1994, the Delaware General Assembly decided to allow horse-racing tracks to utilize slot machines to help boost their economic activity.
Mark Davis came into class to talk to us about the horse racing industry in Delaware. I found this lecture to be very interesting and I learned a lot of new things that I had previously not known about horse racing. I had never realized that horse racing has been around for so many years and that I was one of the first sports ever. I also found it interesting that this industry has a $102 billion impact on the US economy. Mark explained that there are over 775 thoroughbred house in Delaware, which I found interesting. He also explained all of the different regulations that go with each type of horse racing because each type of racing has slightly different set of rules and regulations. I never knew how many regulations actually went into horse racing though. There are surprisingly a lot of rules put into place for horse racing to make sure no-one is cheating as well as to make the wellbeing of the horse is always taken into consideration. Mark Davis also talked about how big of an industry horse racing is for Delaware and how that there is almost $182 million contributed to the Delaware economy annually.
Delaware’s Green Industry produces more than $21 million in sales and of those sales, over 62% come from containerized nursery products. Some examples of nursery products are evergreen trees, shade and flower trees, shrubs, and fruit and nut plants. Nursery crops are one of two types of crop groups, the other being floriculture crops. The green industry is responsible for maintaining agriculture in schools, city parks and recreation, golf courses, greenhouses, and irrigation. Jobs in the green industry include lawn and garden retailers, landscapers, land managers, and suppliers of equipment. DelDOT, Delaware Department of Transportation, is responsible for Delaware’s roadways, traffic, accident responses, and transportation services. They also are the largest landholder in the state of Delaware.
Mark Davis came in to talk about the horse racing industry. Horse racing is one of the oldest of sports out there. The origins of modern racing began in this century when English knights returned from the Crusades with swift Arabian horses. In 1750, American horse breeders and racers establish the Jockey Club. Today, the club still defines standards and regulations for thoroughbred racing, race courses and breeding. Horse racing in Delaware goes back as far as the colonial period. There are about 775 thoroughbreds in DE. There are many parts to the horse racing industry like horses, suppliers, land, betting public, commissions, and government. When I think of horse racing, I think of it as a more wealthy sport. Since it takes a lot of money to fund horse racing, like getting a horse, taking care of it, and making sure you have all the proper equipment and horse training, people with more money tend to partake in the sport. I have never watched a horse race in real life, but I have seen a lot in movies, so coming into the lecture, I didn’t know a lot about it.
On November 18th, Dr. Mark Davis gave the history of horse racing. The start of horse racing dates back to 12th century BC. The first start of horse racing the united states was in 1750 in this organization called the Jockey club. This organization introduced thoroughbred racing in the united states, which is the most popular form of racing, such as the Kentucky derby. However, Mark Davis specialized in harness racing which is also connected to casinos, and in the state of Delaware the only way there can be casino is if there is a horserace racetrack connected to it. Economically, the horse racing is mostly funded by the slot machines in the casino. In Delaware the longest running racetrack is the Harrington raceway and casino. Unfortunately, in more recent years popularity in horse racing has substantially dwindled.
Mr. Mark Davis came to our Agriculture class lecturing us about the Horse industry in Delaware. He is the Delaware’s Executive director of Harness Racing Commission. The horse racing in one of the oldest of all sports. It began in 12th century, invent by British, then introduce to America in 1665 in Long Island. There are 9.2 million horses in the United States. The horse industry has massive and direct economic impact on the U.S. economy. It creates $39 billion annually. Tremendous people in U.S. own horses and love horse racing. Compared to Harness racing and Standardbred racing, Thoroughbred racing has less race game per year but produce more money to the industry. A big industry always supports a lot of job opportunities. In 2014, the horse racing industry created 1500 jobs. In Delaware, there are about 100 farms housing 775 thoroughbreds and 300 farms housing 3000 standardbreds, 1000 of them are one-year-old racing horse and breeding stock. And the annual thoroughbred cost is also high than the standardbred.
Dr. David Mayondo lectured us about the industry and academia in the agriculture. He told us how agriculture looks like in the past. It is a job that required massive labor and time input. If you are a farmer or live in a farmer family, you may live with farm or agriculture for the whole life. But with the development of technologies, the yield and production increased and the labor and time decreased. The tools of pest management changes over time. In the beginning, farmers use hand or animal. Then it changed to machinal tools and chemical tools. Nowadays, farmers use the biological tools to control pest, like CRISPR, GMO, GWS, and RNAi. Proteins have the potential to be powerful tools for enhancing agricultural production, as well as being highly biodegradable and produced in plants that need them. There are several commercial products of biotechnology. For example, Roundup Ready Crops can allow farmer manage weeds in a more effective and efficient way, or YieldGard Corn can allow farmer control targeted pest without harming the beneficial and non-threatening insects.
The other day, Mr. Adkins made a presentation for us on irrigation. There are so many different ways for farms to get irrigated. This is a very important topic when in the agricultural industry. Without irrigation crops and soil would be very dry and it would be hard for them to grow. One thing that surprised me was that only 20% of farmlands are irrigated and 40% of the US food source is irrigated. I though that have been a much greater number. Over this was a great presentation and I was very interested. This is a key factor in farming and everyone in the industry should be educated on it.
Dr. David Mayondo spoke to our Understanding Today’s Agriculture class on the advancement of technology in agriculture. He talked about how agriculture in the past was a very hands on and labor intensive career. Over time farming has advanced in all areas putting technology in the forefront of the industry. One of the biggest advancements are in the area of biotechnology and GMOs. Dr. Mayondo spoke about the different characteristics found in GMOs like round up ready and DroughtGard Corn. He also spoke about gene silencing in corn to help defend rootworm. Rootworms attack the root of the corn plant causing nutrient deficiencies and harm to the structure of the crop. With the ability to defend the crop from harmful pest, we can produce a healthier and higher yielding crop.
On November 11th, Lecturer Dave Mayondo came to class and talked to us about the use of and innovations in technology related to agriculture. The integration of more advanced technologies in the agriculture industry has drastically decreased the amount of hands on labor required to operate a farm. Only on certain, more specialty crops, does one need a sizable manual work force.
This use of technology is beneficial to the farmers for many reasons. Firstly, they can spend less money on hired hands to work the fields, and they don’t have to strain their body through labor as much themselves. The technology also allows for more crop yield through things like precision agriculture and more advanced irrigation systems.
One of the things that Mayondo stated in relation to how technology has helped increase yields was the improvements in pesticides and pest control through GMO’s. Using these methods, pests can be controlled much more efficiently, with less human risk, and with less environmental impact.
On Monday, November 18th Mr. Mark Davis was a guest lecturer in my Understanding Today’s Agriculture class. Mr. Davis is a representative of Delaware’s Horse Racing Industry. He briefly discussed the history of horse racing and the difference between the two styles of horse racing. Harness racing is the style of racing were a driver is pulled in a small cart by the horse. Thoroughbred racing is your high-class racing, with a greater opportunity for winning large cash prizes. We also learned about the extremely strict regulations and how the horses and jockeys are given drug test to ensure there is no form of cheating. Many people must be involved in a horse to be profitable, this includes drivers, trainers, owners, vets, groomers, etc. Mr. Davis further explained the importance of purses in the equine racing industry. A purse is essentially the price for winning a race. The purse is then split in specific percentage and given to all the people involved in the success of the horse. I personally have never been involved with the equine racing industry, I’m glad that I had the opportunity to hear about it from an industry professional.
