The eon-spanning clock of evolution -- the millions of years that generally pass before organisms acquire new traits -- belies a constant ferment in the chambers and channels of cells, as changes in genes and proteins have subtle ripple effects throughout an organism. In a study in the July 29 issue of Science, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Systems Biology and an international team of colleagues capture the first evidence of the evolutionary process within networks of plant proteins.
Phytophthora is Latin for "plant destroyer," and Phytophthora infestans is the pathogen that causes potato late blight. This pathogen is responsible for widespread devastation of potato crops, and is especially known as the cause of the mass starvation in Ireland in the 19th century. With about 100 million tons of potatoes consumed annually, worldwide losses from potato late blight amount to 6.7 billion dollars annually (statistics from Wageningen University, The Netherlands), which represents a serious effect on food security.
Scientists at Kew interested in the classification of legumes have been studying the chemistry of the Kentucky yellow-wood. Evidence from DNA sequencing suggested that this species is related to the pagoda tree, which contains several new flavonoids described recently at Kew. Flavonoids are a well studied group of plant constituents because of their potential health promoting properties.
Nowadays, half of all the fish we eat comes from fish farms. The problem is that these fish are increasingly being fed vegetable matter, which could lead to a build-up of residual pesticides in them. A new test shows how high the risk of contamination really is.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have found that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), a tool used by the military, may be suitable for keeping an eye on changing land-use patterns across vast tracts of western rangeland.
When a plant encounters drought, it does its best to cope with this stress by activating a set of protein molecules called receptors. These receptors, once activated, turn on processes that help the plant survive the stress.
When plants, including crops, are exposed to environmental stresses such as drought or high salinity, abscisic acid (ABA), a stress-responsive hormone is synthesized to induce a protective response. At the same time, the content of another plant hormone, cytokinin (CK), which is involved in regulation of plant growth, such as promotion of cell division or inhibition of senescence, is reduced. This phenomenon suggests that CK might play an essential role in regulation of plant adaptation to environmental stresses. However, how CK regulates plant response to stresses and how stresses regulate CK metabolism; these questions required answers.
Minnesota will be the nation's first test site for a novel federal program designed to stem the flow of agricultural pollution that is strangling some of the country's great waterways, including the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers have developed an inexpensive way to grade the ethanol potential of perennial grasses at the biorefinery's loading dock.
A new commercial processing technology is suitable for boosting the vitamin D content of mushrooms and has no adverse effects on other nutrients in those tasty delicacies, the first study on the topic has concluded. The technology, which involves exposing mushrooms to the same kind of ultraviolet light that produces suntans, can greatly boost mushrooms' vitamin D content. It appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Research shows that it takes about eight years from the time public research funds are invested in technology development to the time the technology is first implemented. In the agricultural sector it can take as long as 15 years before full adoption by stakeholders occurs. Because many technologies in the agricultural world become obsolete in 15 years, it becomes increasingly important to find ways to move technology more rapidly from research to adoption.
Agricultural processor Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Wednesday it will reduce its workforce by 3 percent, making it the latest agribusiness giant to make cuts in the face of volatile global markets.
While international pest management programs have long relied on farmer cooperation to spread pest control information at larger scales, a study by French researchers published in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology on Thursday 13th October 2011 reveals that slow information diffusion within farmer communities gives rise to significant lags in implementation of pest management procedures.
While the country bumpkin farmer stereotype might suggest otherwise, driving a tractor is difficult, requiring precision skills. Now Flemish engineers have announced a new self-driving tractor whose precision rivals that of a human driver. This could mean drastically lower operating costs for farmers, and a step towards automated agriculture.
In medieval times most castles were protected by large moats that would defend enemies from attacking nobles and servants. These large fortresses and moats were designed to withstand significant attackers from outside forces. The larger moats would enhance the defensive strategies and allow royal families to remain competitive.
Researchers meeting at a scientific conference in Aleppo this week reported that aggressive new strains of wheat rust diseases -- called stem rust and stripe rust -- have decimated up to 40% of farmers' wheat fields in recent harvests. Areas affected are North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucuses, including Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan, Morocco, Ethiopia, and Kenya.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack last week visited Agrivida, a small company working on a method it hopes will help deliver on the biofuels industry's promise of economically making fuel and chemicals from non-food crops. Vilsack toured the lab of Agrivida to draw attention to federal investments in renewable energy research and development.
An article published in the June issue of BioScience describes the early scale-up stage of a new biotechnology with environmental benefits and possible commercial potential. Algal turf scrubbers are field-sized, water-treatment systems that can extract excess nutrients from streams, canals, and lakes polluted by agricultural, domestic, and some industrial runoff. They use sunlight as their principal source of energy and simultaneously restore oxygen levels.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists trying to help Florida growers find a replacement for methyl bromide are studying an alternative soil treatment that uses molasses as one of its ingredients.
Genetic resistance to a parasitic nematode that infects sheep has been discovered by a team of scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).
Scientists are reporting the first evidence that consumption of a healthful antioxidant substance in apples extends the average lifespan of test animals, and does so by 10 percent. The new results, obtained with fruit flies - stand-ins for humans in hundreds of research projects each year - bolster similar findings on apple antioxidants in other animal tests. The study appears in ACS's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Monsanto Company, the agricultural biotech corporation that everyone loves to hate, is the world leader in the production of genetically modified (GM) crops -- plants that, among other things, prevent yield-decimating pests from overrunning agricultural production.
Loaded with antioxidants and phytochemicals, the artichoke is becoming more popular as consumer interest in specialty products swells. And while 90% of the artichokes grown in the United States come from California, growers in Texas are working to introduce globe artichokes as commercial specialty crop in their region.
For the conservation of species, hostile territory might sometimes have its advantages. That's according to a study of pollen flow among trees found only in remnant patches of native Chilean forest. The data show that the pollinators those rare trees rely on can be waylaid by the abundance of resources found in agricultural lands. As a result, trees growing in native forest patches are more likely to mate successfully when separated by resource-poor pine plantations than by those more attractive farmlands.
A world-first cattle vaccine based on nanotechnology could provide protection from the Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV), which costs the Australian cattle industry tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue each year.
It is hard not to be impressed by the almost frenetic activity of the Noda government during the past several weeks as has begun to address Japan’s many pressing political and economic issues. Also by the seeming ubiquity, as well as earnestness and purposefulness--indeed, the rarely uttered word “leadership” would be in order--of PM Noda himself. And, most importantly, by the real progress--which we also measure in the degree of specificity and clarity of the inevitably “tentative” government proposals--in addressing some of the major issues.
The whitefly is an major agricultural pest, and over the last six years the Southwest of America has seen the near total infection of the species by a symbiotic bacteria, which makes them super-breeders. The bacterium Rickettsia bellii was originally spotted in just a few specimens in 2000, but by 2006 was in 97% of the bugs. How did it spread so widely, so fast? The bacterium supercharged the the infected insects, and those carrying the symbiont had more offspring, developed faster, and were more likely to survive than the uninfected. The symbiont is passed on through the mothers and tweaked the infected to have a higher percentage of female offspring.
German chemicals giant BASF said Monday it has applied for EU approval for a genetically modified potato which is resistant to a disease that wipes out a fifth of the world's potato crops each year.
An international research team decoded the genetic blueprint of the two-spotted spider mite, raising hope for new ways to attack the major pest, which resists pesticides and destroys crops and ornamental plants worldwide.
From the crops we farm to the insects which blight them mankind has always had a complex relationship with nature, commanding some species while falling victim to others. In Biological Diversity: Exploiters and Exploited Paul Hatcher and Nick Battey explore the subject of biodiversity through the species that humans exploit, and the species which exploit humans.
The quality of agricultural seedlings is important to crop growth and yield after transplantation. Good quality seedlings exhibit characteristics such as thick stems, thick leaves, dark green leaves, and large white roots. Scientists have long known that plant development and physiology are strongly influenced by the light spectrum, which affects seedling structure.
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A new form of resistance to fungal disease has been discovered in oilseed rape, one of the world's most important crops, which could hold the key to developing disease resistant crops.
Breeding crops with roots a metre deeper in the ground could lower atmospheric CO2 levels dramatically, with significant environmental benefits, according to research by a leading University of Manchester scientist.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists working with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that future levels of ground-level ozone could reduce soybean yields by an average 23 percent.
Agricultural producers and waterfowl will benefit from a project at South Dakota State University that uses an innovative plant-breeding technique to shave perhaps two years off the time needed to produce winter wheat varieties for farmers in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America.
Modifying soybean seed to increase phosphorus content can improve animal nutrition and reduce feed costs and nutrient pollution. However, further research is needed to commercialize this valuable technology. Knowledge of soybean and other crops such as maize suggest that reducing phytate, the principle storage form of phosphorus in plant tissue, in seeds reduces seed germination and emergence of seedlings in the field. In soybean, however, researchers debate whether this problem exists, and suggest that other factors may be the cause.
In a radical overhaul of its controversial Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the EU plans a greener, fairer farm policy by tying subsidies to environmental concerns, according to documents seen by AFP.
One of the nation's most widely planted crops — a genetically engineered corn plant that makes its own insecticide — may be losing its effectiveness because a major pest appears to be developing resistance more quickly than scientists expected.
Ranchers in the central Great Plains may be using some of their winter downtime in the future to rehearse the upcoming production season, all from the warmth of their homes, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) soil scientists.
California dominates the nation in organic production of agricultural commodities, according to a nationwide survey of organic producers that was analyzed by a UC Davis agricultural economist.
California agricultural officials will release hundreds of tiny, stinger-less wasps this month to combat the fruit- and leaf-eating light-brown apple moth, in a move to find alternatives to aerial pesticide spraying.
A draft plan to conserve habitat for endangered and threatened fishes in the California Bay-Delta while continuing to divert water for agricultural and personal use in central and southern California has critical missing components, including clearly defined goals and a scientific analysis of the proposed project's potential impacts on delta species, says a new report from the National Research Council. In addition, the scientific information in the plan is fragmented and presented in an unconnected manner, making its meaning difficult to understand.
In 2006, Maria Otilia Carvalho, a researcher from the Tropical Research Institute of Portugal had an ambitious goal: to cut the huge losses of rice -- a staple food crop for half of humanity -- due to pests, without using toxic pesticides that are increasingly shunned by consumers worldwide. She realised she could not do it alone and turned to EUREKA to support an international collaboration to address a looming threat to world's rice supplies. Harvested rice is constantly under menace from pest insects and fungi - to avoid the pests, farmers and producers treat the rice with chemical pesticides, which leave residue on rice, potentially harming rice workers and consumers. Even the bigger problem is that insects are developing resistance to chemicals, slowly rendering it useless.
Foodies want to know everything about their animal-based dishes these days -- where the meat came from, what it ate, what its name was. OK, maybe not that last part. But there is a big difference between industrial cattle farms and grass-fed meat -- both in price and in nutritional considerations.
Recent movements aimed at managing environmental impacts of agriculture have spurred interest in the development and use of organic and natural fertilizers for commercial applications. Many organic fertilizers are byproducts of livestock, fish, food, and other processing industries. In Mississippi, where the poultry industry produces more than 730 million broiler chickens each year, and annual chicken litter production is estimated at more than 730,000 tons, there is a naturally abundant supply of chicken litter available for fertilizer.
"A new report released by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 'Bringing Agriculture to the Table: How Agriculture and Food Can Play a Role in Preventing Chronic Disease,' calls on the agriculture and food sector to play a role in mitigating the global rise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and identifies new opportunities for those in health and agriculture to work together to promote better health," Elizabeth Ramborger, a researcher and global agriculture consultant at the council writes in this post in its "Global Food For Thought" blog.
Chinese forestry officials have released some 600 million parasitic insects into the north China city of Baoding to combat the spread of the American White Moth that has been (in their caterpillar stage) eating the leaves off of forest and domestic orchard trees, as well as some farm crops. This is the fifth year in a row that Chinese officials have released wasps hoping to reduce the damage caused by the moths.
While the original blog focused on espionage that targeted Dow, the importance of this case extends beyond that one major company. Agribusiness is big business -- big international business. For emerging markets with large populations, often under-nourished and now seeking to raise the quality of their diet, the ability to increase agricultural yields may be a critical component in the ability to sustain economic transformation.
Rice -- which provides nearly half the daily calories for the world's population -- could become adapted to climate change and some catastrophic events by colonizing its seeds or plants with the spores of tiny naturally occurring fungi, just-published U.S. Geological Survey-led research shows.
Climate change is expected to alter the global industry in fruits and nuts dramatically as tree crops such as pistachios and cherries struggle in the rising temperatures, researchers said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday announced in a speech at the International Food Policy Research Institute that the U.S. has pledged an additional $17 million in emergency food aid to the Horn of Africa, with $12 million going to humanitarian operations in Somalia, VOA News reports. "Clinton said ... the new money - which comes on top of $105 million in U.S. assistance announced on Monday - would bring total U.S. humanitarian aid to the drought-hit region to more than $580 million this year," Reuters reports.
Ways to reduce the costs of phosphorus fertiliser use on farms -- critical for sustaining high agricultural production in many Australian farming systems -- have been identified in a new suite of journal papers.
Not all consumers share the same attitudes toward animal cloning, but the latest research from Sean Fox, Kansas State University professor of agricultural economics, shows that Americans may be more accepting of consuming cloned animal products than Europeans.
Factory trials conducted by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have led to recommendations for controlling or preventing starch buildup in processed raw sugars and products made with those sugars. The study was led by chemist Gillian Eggleston with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Commodity Utilization Research Unit in New Orleans, La. ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are showing Arizona cotton growers how to reduce their dependence on broad-spectrum insecticides by controlling sweetpotato whiteflies with greener alternatives.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have conducted studies to investigate the use of virgin cotton in nonwoven materials and products. The work was led by cotton technologist Paul Sawhney and his colleagues at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Cotton Chemistry and Utilization Research Unit in the agency's Southern Regional Research Center (SRRC) in New Orleans, La.
Estimates of how much food we can grow in a warmer world are out of date, argue Reimund Rötter (MTT Agrifood Research Finland), Timothy Carter (Finnish Environment Institute SYKE), Jřrgen Olesen (Aarhus University) and John Porter (University of Copenhagen) in their commentary article "Crop-climate models need an overhaul" in the July issue of Nature Climate Change.
In economic and epidemiological terms, the practice of culling on farms within a radius of 1 to 3 km of infected farms is the best method of combating Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Vaccinating chickens within a radius of 3 km of an infected farm may at first appear to be cheaper, but it is less effective because the epidemic spreads further and lasts longer. This was one of the findings of a study performed by LEI together with the Central Veterinary Institute (CVI), both part of Wageningen UR.
When populations around the globe started turning to agriculture around 10,000 years ago, regardless of their locations and type of crops, a similar trend occurred: The height and health of the people declined.
On one front, researchers identified defensive compounds, known as zealexins and kauralexins, which rapidly accumulate at fungal infection sites, impeding the microbes' continued spread.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are playing a key role in efforts to contain the emerald ash borer's destructive march through the nation's forests.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are helping meet the water demands of a riparian desert region that is home to a national conservation area and a thriving military base.
A scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is exploring how rangeland ecologists could use high-resolution digital panoramas to track landscape changes.
Researchers at the RIKEN Plant Science Center (PSC) have clarified a key epigenetic mechanism by which an enzyme in the model plant Arabidopsis protects cells from harmful DNA elements. Published in the online journal PLoS Genetics, the finding contributes to advancing our understanding of a broad range of biological processes in both plants and animals, opening the door to applications in cancer therapy and agriculture.
Most of what we have come to think of as our daily fruits, vegetables, and grains were domesticated from wild ancestors. Over hundreds and thousands of years, humans have selected and bred plants for traits that benefit us -- traits such as bigger, juicier, and easier-to-harvest fruits, stems, tubers, or flowers. For short-lived, or annual, plants, it is relatively easy to envision how such human-induced selection rapidly led to changes in morphology and genetics such that these plants soon become quite different from their wild progenitors.
A technique developed by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists for tracking pathogens has helped confirm that Escherichia coli is not likely to contaminate the internal vascular structure of field-grown leafy greens and thus increase the incidence of foodborne illness.
New Zealand's intense ultraviolet light may be bad for the skin, but it could provide a boost for vegetable production, according to new research by a Massey University crop scientist.
If developing nations shift to using ecological agriculture methods, which rely more on organic and sustainable practices rather than the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, they "can double food production within a decade," according to a study by Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, released on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
A method to use paper mill waste to produce ecologically friendly, industrial foams from renewable resources has been developed by a graduate student in agriculture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Bats in North America are under a two-pronged attack but they are not the only victim -- so is the U.S. economy. Gary McCracken, head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, analyzed the economic impact of the loss of bats in North America in agriculture and found it to be in the $3.7 to $53 billion a year range.
Agricultural innovation in developing countries can be hampered and discouraged by envy, according to research published today by academics at the University of East Anglia (UEA).
Western Europe's exceptionally dry spring is clear to see in maps generated using data from SMOS. While these maps offer an interesting view of the stark difference in soil moisture compared to a year ago, the data are also important for agricultural and hydrological applications.
There may be a natural solution to the mystery of how small amounts of a banned drug that disrupts thyroid function and plumps up livestock gets into their bodies -- and the bodies of humans, scientists are reporting. Their study, which appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, reports the first evidence that the substance can form naturally in feed and food.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have characterized the molecular mechanism behind some plants' ability to resist rice blast, a fungal disease that affects cereal grain crops such as rice, wheat, rye and barley and can cause yield losses of up to 30 percent. The fungus has been found in 85 countries worldwide, including the United States.
A major new study finds that nitrogen pollution is costing each person in Europe around £130 to £650 (€150 to €740 Euros) a year. The first European Nitrogen Assessment (ENA) was launched at a conference April 11, 2011 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
A group of leading scientists, economists and farmers is calling for a broad shift in federal policies to speed the development of farm practices that are more economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers and a university colleague have found several factors involved in blueberry splitting, a significant problem that can cause losses of $300 to $500 per acre.
Increasing women's access to land, technology and other agricultural resources could significantly reduce the number of hungry people worldwide, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Monday in a report, the Associated Press/FoxNews.com reports.
Worldwide cereal production is expected to increase in 2011-2012, but "there is uncertainty about the improvement's impact on food security because of the global economic slump and increased risks for recession," according to a U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report released on Thursday, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.
Researchers looked at changes in the behaviour of bluetongue -- a viral disease of cattle and sheep -- from the 1960s to the present day, as well as what could happen to the transmission of the virus 40 years into the future. They found, for the first time, that an outbreak of a disease could be explained by changes to the climate.
New technologies can improve agricultural sustainability in developing countries, but only with the engagement of local farmers and the social and economic networks they depend on, say Stanford University researchers.
Deadly tornadoes, record flooding, and one of the worst droughts in recent history are making this year an especially challenging one for crop growers. In Mississippi, some farmers are facing flooded fields side-by-side with fields that haven't seen significant rain in months.
Cattle that graze on rangelands in the western United States may soon have a new forage option, thanks to work by a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist.
Each community of soil microbes has a unique fingerprint that can potentially be used to track soil back to its source, right down to whether it came from dust from a rural road or from a farm field, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) soil scientist.
Researchers of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Universitat Autňnoma de Barcelona (UAB) and of the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, the National Institute for Agrarian Technology and Research in Madrid and Wageningen Research Center (WUR, the Netherlands) have published the first partial genome sequencing of an Iberian pig. Using next-generation sequencing techniques, researchers have been able to sequence and analyse 1% of the genome. This is the first time an individual pig genome-sequence is published. The project, coordinated by ICREA researcher Miguel Pérez-Enciso, has been published in the online edition of the journal Heredity.
Rice, which is sensitive to drought due to its high water requirement, is particularly vulnerable to how global climate change is altering the frequency and magnitude of floods and droughts. If rice plants' combined tolerance to flooding and drought could be improved, however, rice productivity could be protected and even substantially increased.
Burgers, meat loaf and other lean ground beef favorites may be made from "trim," the meat that's left over after steaks and roasts have been carved from a side of beef. A study conducted several years ago to ensure that imported beef trim is safe to eat has led to an ongoing collaboration between U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists who conducted the research and colleagues from Uruguay, which exports this in-demand beef.
With the curtain about to rise on a much-anticipated new era of "nanoagriculture" -- using nanotechnology to boost the productivity of plants for food, fuel, and other uses -- scientists are describing huge gaps in knowledge about the effects of nanoparticles on corn, tomatoes, rice and other food crops. That's the topic of the latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) award-winning "Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions" podcast series.
Billions of people owe their lives to nitrogen fertilizers -- a pillar of the fabled Green Revolution in agriculture that averted global famine in the 20th century -- but few are aware that nitrogen pollution from fertilizers and other sources has become a major environmental problem that threatens human health and welfare in multiple ways, a scientist said here today.
Now that communities across the state have dried out and are repairing damages from Tropical Storm Lee, a gardening expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences reminds backyard gardeners that fruits and vegetables are not safe to consume if they have been partially or completely submerged in flood water or have come in contact with contaminated water.
The next agricultural revolution may be sparked by fungi, helping to greatly increase food-production for the growing needs of the planet without the need for massive amounts of fertilizers according to research presented May 23 at the 111th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in New Orleans.
"G20 farm ministers settled a deal on Thursday to tackle high food prices, agreeing to a watered-down declaration that fell short of France's ambitious proposals to tighten regulation of commodity markets," Reuters reports.
"The G20 agriculture ministers seem to agree: they're all for food security, as long as it doesn't cost anything," according to a post on the Center for Global Development's "Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Blog." The authors conclude: "Perhaps the heads of state meeting at a November Summit, to whom the G20 ministers' recommendations will be submitted, will find the political will to take bolder action. Unless they do, this agriculture summit will be an example of 'a lot of hooey, but little dooey'".
"In the last few years, funding of agriculture has slowly been increasing after a generation of decline in investment in the sector, but not fast enough. In the L'Aquila pledge, the G8 made commitments to food security in 2009 of $20 billion. The G8 accountability report 2011 states that the group has already disbursed 22% of the money it pledged, and a further 26% is on the way," Lucy Muchoki, CEO of the Pan-African Agribusiness Consortium and a spokesperson for Farming First, writes in a Guardian "Poverty Matters Blog" post.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and China's Ministry of Science and Technology on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form a partnership to support new R&D and production of new products for global health and agriculture.
Genetically engineered microorganisms with improved properties are of vital interest in the advancement of modern medicine, as well as the agriculture and food industry. Biotechnology enables modification of specific genes in an organism to produce desirable properties--for example, the ability to withstand extreme environmental conditions or to catalyze a chemical reaction--but modifying complex traits can be time-consuming and expensive due to the large number of genes involved.
The DNA evidence is in, and Ben Franklin didn't do it. Genetic tests on more than 1,000 Chinese tallow trees from the United States and China show the famed U.S. statesman did not import the tallow trees that are overrunning thousands of acres of U.S. coastal prairie from Florida to East Texas.
In a potential new step for genetically modified food, babies could someday drink human-like milk derived from herds of genetically modified dairy cows, which scientists say could supplement breast milk and replace baby formula.
The DNA of rare and endangered macadamia species will soon be fingerprinted in an effort to determine the original wild tree or trees that launched the global macadamia industry.
The first genome-scale model for predicting the functions of genes and gene networks in a grass species has been developed by an international team of researches that includes scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), a multi-institutional partnership led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Called RiceNet, this systems-level model of rice gene interactions should help speed the development of new crops for the production of advanced biofuels, as well as help boost the production and improve the quality of one of the world's most important food staples.
Germany's agriculture minister Tuesday submitted draft legislation to limit the use of antibiotics in livestock amid a food warning that has made waves in the country's media.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have found strains of bacteria that could one day be used as environmentally friendly treatments to keep caterpillars and other pests out of gardens and cultivated fields.
Biotech companies will soon perform their own studies to determine whether their genetically modified seeds are safe for the environment, according to a new federal plan. That means companies like Monsanto, which provides about 90 percent of the world's transgenic crops, will help the government decide whether their own products should be approved.
For years government officials have tested meat for only one strain of E. coli. Now they will test for seven, a move that will hasten recalls of infected meat.
The widely used farm practice of grafting watermelon and other melon plants onto squash or pumpkin rootstocks results in larger amounts of certain pesticides in the melon fruit, scientists are reporting in a new study. Although only low amounts of pesticides appeared in the fruit in the study, the scientists advise that commercial farmers use "caution" when grafting watermelon plants to squash.
Grain crops that produce less carotene can produce more food, especially in Africa, as they are less affected by parasitic plants. This is the result of research by Muhammad Jamil at Wageningen University, part of Wageningen UR. Jamil studied processes and technologies that could improve the control of the parasitic weed Striga both in the lab and in the field. He discovered that rice plants that produce less carotene than usual are less infected by the Striga parasite.
The nursery and greenhouse industry is big business in the United States, accounting for more than $14.6 billion in agricultural sales. Most of the ornamental plants grown in the U.S. are produced in container-nursery or greenhouse operations. These operations are classified as "intensive agricultural systems" because they use a combination of expensive resources (labor, water, and fertilizers) to produce plants in large numbers on relatively small land areas. Increasing environmental concerns and legislation are prompting industry professionals and students to find sustainable ''best management'' approaches to production techniques in nursery and greenhouse operations. A new online knowledge center provides numerous resources to help nursery and greenhouse professionals and students design and implement more sustainable practices.
For the first time, Guinea is including a nutrition component in its agricultural investment strategy, a move that experts "say ... stems from an increasing recognition that agriculture must be harnessed to improve nutrition and health," IRIN reports.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist has confirmed the identity of a strange grass-like sedge discovered in a Mississippi graveyard, and believes the appearance of the potentially invasive plant is linked to the final resting places of several members of a royal Gypsy family.
Heavy agricultural machinery results in more permanent damage to the soil than previously believed by researchers. This may lead to poorer crop yields and increased pollution from agricultural land.
Two U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists may have discovered "the map to El Dorado" for the American elm-a previously hidden population of elms that carry genes for resistance to Dutch elm disease. The disease kills individual branches and eventually the entire tree within one to several years.
Honeybee populations have been in serious decline for years, and Purdue University scientists may have identified one of the factors that cause bee deaths around agricultural fields.
With the drastic rise in the disappearance of honeybee colonies throughout the world in recent years there has become a large focus on the study of honeybees and the effects of pesticides on their colonies. Termed 'colony collapse disorder' in 2006, the decline in honeybees throughout the world has been attributed to everything from pesticides to disease and parasites. The loss of the honeybee population is a concern for the agricultural community, given these bees are responsible for pollinating crops worldwide.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a harmful climate gas. Its effect as a greenhouse gas is 300 times stronger than that of carbon dioxide. Nitrous oxide destroys the ozone layer. In industrial agriculture, it is generated on excessively fertilized fields when microorganisms decompose nitrate fertilizers. Decomposition of nitrous oxide frequently is incomplete and strongly depends on environmental conditions. Researchers from Freiburg, Constance, and KIT have now identified the structure of the enzyme that decomposes nitrous oxide and the decomposition mechanism. Their results are published in the Nature journal.
The arid conditions in the southwestern United States make restoring degraded rangelands extremely difficult, but a U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist has found a way to help native grasses survive there so they can be closely studied as restoration tools.
Insurance can help farmers to survive dry periods. However, it can also result in the long term in overgrazing and therefore threaten their existence if insurance companies pay out in periods of moderate drought and farmers change their management strategies as a result. This is the conclusion of the world's first study on the ecological effects of rain-index insurance. As the international community decided at the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun to set up a fund with which industrial nations intend to support developing countries with 100 billion dollars per year from 2020 for climate adaptation, rain-index insurance might experience a boom in the next few years. Politicians should therefore be particularly cautious if they support such insurance with subsidies for example. Negative effects on the ecosystem can only be prevented if ecology and economics are taken into account, therefore securing the existence of farmers for the long term, according to the scientists in the journal Ecological Economics.
Searching for magnetic fields produced by plants may sound as wacky as trying to prove the existence of telekinesis or extrasensory perception, but physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, are seriously looking for biomagnetism in plants using some of the most sensitive magnetic detectors available.
University of Adelaide computer scientists are developing image-based technology which promises a major boost to the breeding of improved cereal varieties for the harsher environmental conditions expected under climate change.
Manure has long been used as a crop fertilizer, but the challenge of finding an efficient use of the nutrients found in manure is ever present. The ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus in manure is low in relation to the nutrient needs of most crops. Therefore, crops tend to be overloaded with manure to meet the nitrogen requirement of agricultural crops, but the excess phosphorus from the process can damage the environment.
Research involving scientists at The University of Nottingham has taken us a step closer to breeding hardier crops that can better adapt to different environmental conditions and fight off attack from parasites.
The continued growth of cropland and loss of natural habitat have increasingly simplified agricultural landscapes in the Midwest. A Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) study concluded that this simplification is associated with increased crop pest abundance and insecticide use, consequences that could be tempered by perennial bioenergy crops.
Europe's streams will in future be more heavily polluted with insecticides than before. This is the conclusion of a study by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) for which scientists compared the situation of 1990 with climate and land use change scenarios in 2090.
Plants adapt to the local weather and soil conditions in which they grow, and these environmental adaptations are known to evolve over thousands of years as mutations slowly accumulate in plants' genetic code. But a University of Rochester biologist has found that at least some plant adaptations can occur almost instantaneously, not by a change in DNA sequence, but simply by duplication of existing genetic material.
Farmers and field scientists can now instantly identify diseases attacking crops and plants, thanks to a Michigan State University professor's new invention.
Globally, irrigation increases agricultural productivity by an amount roughly equivalent to the entire agricultural output of the U.S., according to a new University of Wisconsin-Madison study.
Crop specialists in Central America announced today that a major rescue effort is underway in one of the heartlands of ancient agriculture to regenerate thousands of unique varieties of coffee, tomatoes, chili peppers, beans and other major crops through a partnership between the Global Crop Diversity Trust and 19 Latin American genebanks.
Floods, tornadoes, droughts and wildfires: They are all weather-related, but blaming the latest meteorological disaster on climate change has always been a tricky matter that climate scientists have been shy to do. After all, how can you point to a specific and local event, such as a tornado or dry spell, and say it is caused by something as long-term and huge as global warming?
A Kansas State University geographer is part of a research team out to prove what environmental scientists have suspected for years: Increasing the production of soybean and biofuel crops in Brazil increases deforestation in the Amazon.
The famous Inca city of Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes was rediscovered by American explorer Hiram Bingham in July 1911 and the area plans to hold a special 100 year celebration this year. However, the famous city and the Inca civilization have already hit the spotlight in a new study published in Antiquity that links the use of llama dung to the Inca success in high altitude agriculture.
Low-input farming for cocoa, cassava and oil palm has resulted in widespread deforestation and degredation of West Africa's tropical forest area, according to a new study by researchers at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). The study was published online this week in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Management.
Like diamonds, sugar crystals ideally are very pure and low in color. Now studies led by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) chemist Gillian Eggleston have provided a better understanding of the source of undesirable color in factory sugar.
Texas Agrilife Research fire and brush control studies in the Rolling Plains on a working ranch-scale showed the benefits and limitations of managed fires for reducing mesquite encroachment while sustaining livestock production.
specializing in timberland management, forest inventories, timber harvest planning, appraisals, forest economics and policy analysis, and special studies.
Dust blows across once fertile fields in north Mexico, where the worst drought in 70 years has left thousands of cattle dead and destroyed more than two million acres (almost one million hectares) of crops.
Traditional agricultural practices can make a major contribution to preserving biodiversity in the EU's new member states in Central and Eastern Europe. By contrast, the construction of roads and the intensification of agriculture currently encouraged by EU farming subsidies pose a threat to amphibians. The rich natural environment still extant in many accession countries is under threat, according to scientists writing in the journal Biological Conservation.
We know them from our garden, from damp cellars or from the fridge -- mould fungi can be found almost everywhere. Their success is due to their remarkable versatility: depending on external conditions, they can choose quite different lifestyles. Sometimes fungi can be very useful for plants. They can shield the plants from diseases and at the same time boost their growth. Genetic studies at the Vienna University of Technology show that fungi can be used as an eco-friendly alternative to conventional fertilizers and plant protecting agents.
Satellite views of the Midwestern United States show that ozone levels above 50 parts per billion (ppb) along the ground could reduce soybean yields by at least 10 percent, costing more than $1 billion in lost crop production, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists.
Nourishing crops with synthetic ammonia (NH3) fertilizers has increasingly pushed agricultural yields higher, but such productivity comes at a price. Over-application of this chemical can build up nitrate ion (NO3--) concentrations in the soil--a potential groundwater poison and food source for harmful algal blooms. Furthermore, industrial manufacturing of ammonia is an energy-intensive process that contributes significantly to atmospheric greenhouse gases.
Researchers at the Basque Institute For Agricultural Research and Development (Neiker-Tecnalia) are to develop a computer tool - already tried out in other sectors -- applied to the requisites of the wine and grape-growing industry (including legal and market conditions, ecolabelling, Carbon Footprint, etc). The software, amongst other functions, will manage the main environmental impact of and will incorporate the Best Available Techniques for grape-growing and wine production. The computer tool will contribute to improving the competitiveness of viticulture companies and will favour sustainable development in its economic, social and environmental aspects.
Neutron scientists have discovered for the first time how 'antifreeze' in arctic fish blood kicks in to keep them alive in subzero conditions. The results could provide benefits for areas as diverse as cryosurgery, food processing and agriculture.
A new livestock disease causing deformities at birth has been detected in at least five European countries, including the Netherlands and Germany, a Dutch agriculture ministry spokesman said Thursday.
A quicker freeze-dry technique used to process salmon cubes could potentially be applied to add value to meat components considered to be less appealing, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researcher.
Researchers at Vanderbilt looking for better ways to control the spread of malaria have stumbled across an insect repellent that is thousands of times stronger than DEET. But it doesn't just work to confuse malaria-carrying mosquitoes. This new compound works against all insects, including flies, ants, and moths.
The productivity and health of horticultural crops depends on the ability of the plant cover to intercept light energy. This ability is a function of the amount of leaf area, the architecture of the vegetation cover, and plants' ability to convert light energy. One estimate of a crop's ability to capture light energy is the leaf area index (LAI). Introduced in 1947, the concept of the LAI was defined as the ratio of leaf area to a given unit of land area. Today, understanding LAI is critical for successful crop management.
Some crunchy, good-for-you tree nuts like almonds and pistachios are vulnerable to attack by a troublesome mold known as Aspergillus flavus. The mold produces cancer-causing natural compounds called aflatoxins.
Beautiful ornamental caladiums, valued for their bright, long-lasting, and colorful leaves, are prized throughout the world as container and landscape plants. In Florida, where more than 95% of the world's caladium tubers are produced, researchers are continuously working to develop new varieties to satisfy consumer demand.
A team of researchers led by Professor Bruce Fitt now at the University of Hertfordshire has found a new form of resistance to the damaging pathogen that causes light leaf spot in oilseed rape -- one of the world's most important crops.
New rice varieties that offer new options for U.S. growers and expanded market opportunities for the U.S. rice industry have been developed by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and cooperators.
As concerns about air pollution from large dairies and other concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) continue to mount, scientists are reporting a practice that could cut emissions of an exceptionally abundant agricultural gas -- ammonia -- by up to 30%.
A study published by the University of Reading's Centre for Agri Environmental Research suggests that honeybees may not be as important to pollination services in the UK than previously supposed.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist has discovered what may be an effective tool for cleaning up soils and waterways in parts of California's San Joaquin Valley: a drought-tolerant cactus.
Cereal grains such as wheat and barley are viable alternative hay crops and can provide valuable grazing opportunities. Due to drought resistance, good yields and ability to break pest cycles of perennial crops, annual forages can be a good fit in northern Great Plains production systems. An ongoing study provides preliminary nitrogen guidelines for some annual forage crops in Montana.
The common fig is a subtropical, deciduous fruit tree grown in most Mediterranean-type climates. Although some believe that figs may be the oldest cultivated fruit species on earth, global expansion of fig crops has been hindered by the narrow research base pertaining to production practices and the limited number of fig cultivars currently available. Recently, three black figs were established in the Mediterranean-type climate of Western Cape Province of South Africa to provide fruit for fresh markets throughout South Africa and Europe.
Organic tomato juice contains more phenolic components than juice from conventionally grown crops, according to a new study published in the journal Food Chemistry.
Around a third of the food produced in the world every year -- around 1.3 billion tons -- gets lost or wasted, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Wednesday.
While residents of the United States and much of Europe think of locust plagues as biblical references, locust swarms still have devastating effects on agriculture today, especially in developing countries in Asia and Africa.
Storing fruits and vegetables in ozone-enriched environments reduces spoilage explains a scientist at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Harrogate. Dr Ian Singleton explains how ozone treatment could be a safe, effective replacement for pesticides as it leaves no residue on foods.
Whiteflies can be biologically controlled in Florida greenhouse tomatoes, according to a new University of Florida study, which helps reduce the need for pesticide applications.
A new, open-access article in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management examines the Pecan Pest Information Platform for Extension and education (PIPE), a program that provides a new informatics resource that targets 5,000 pecan stakeholders located primarily in the southern tier of the United States.
Wholesale food prices rose last month by the most in 36 years, and experts can't say how high they'll ultimately go. As the effects appear everywhere from the supermarket to fast food restaurants, an economist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences said farmers probably won't be reaping much of the increase.
Pesticides are a bigger problem than had long been assumed. This is the conclusion of a study in which scientists analysed data on 500 organic substances in the basins of four major European rivers. It was revealed that 38 per cent of these chemicals are present in concentrations which could potentially have an effect on organisms.
Some consumers may have a problem with genetically modified food crops, but in at least one case described in an Iowa State University researcher's paper there's one customer that's happy to consume Monsanto's GM corn: rootworms, the very pest the corn is modified to thwart. According to the paper, western corn rootworms in at least four northeast Iowa corn fields have developed a resistance to the natural pesticide in corn seed produced by Monsanto, marking the first time a major Midwest pest has developed a resistance to GM crops.
Soil chemistry plays an important role in the composition of surface waters. In areas with limited human activities, properties of catchment soils directly relate to the exported nutrients to surface waters. Phosphate sorption research is common in agricultural and forest soils, but data from alpine areas are limited.
Toxin proteins are genetically engineered into our food because they kill insects by perforating body cell walls, and Professor Rikard Blunck of the University of Montreal's Group for the study of membrane proteins (GEPROM) has detected the molecular mechanism involved. In recognition of his breakthrough, he received the Traditional Paul F. Cranefield Award of the Society of General Physiologists yesterday evening. "This study is about gaining a better understanding of the basic functioning of the toxin proteins in order to judge the risks of using them as pesticides for our nutrition," Dr. Blunck explained.
Two University of Alberta researchers have published a step by step plan to one-day end the use of environmentally harmful chemicals on commercial crops by developing plants that produce their own fertilizer.
Plant growth retardants, or PGRs, are used in greenhouse operations to produce uniform, compact, and marketable plants. Although PGRs can be applied using a variety of methods, most common applications are foliar sprays or substrate "drenches." Research has shown that drenches provide more uniform results and increase the duration of effectiveness compared with sprays, but the efficacy of drenches can be affected by factors such as the amount of solution applied and the substrate components used.
Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have opened up the black box of plant immune system genetics, boosting our ability to produce disease- and pest-resistant crops in the future.
With Florida's $9 billion citrus industry threatened by a deadly bacterial disease, Rick Kress '73 asked scientists at Cornell's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva for help. Three years later, the researchers have delivered several genetically engineered orange trees that could provide a long-term solution.
Antioxidants are popular anti-aging ingredients in skin creams, and now scientists are reporting a new source of these healthful substances leaf buds of poplar trees. Their study appears in the ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
The ability to promote agricultural and conservation successes in the face of rapid environmental change will partly hinge on scientists' understanding of how plants adapt to local climate.
Farmers who rotate pulse crops with wheat have reduced energy usage and a higher wheat yield than farmers growing wheat exclusively, according to an MSU study.
A new University of Florida study shows a hybrid plant species may experience rapid genome evolution in predictable patterns, meaning evolution repeats itself in populations of independent origin.
Radiation spewing from Japan's severely damaged nuclear facilities following the recent earthquake and tsunami is not endangering the United States' food supply, according to a food-safety expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural sciences.
Flax seeds can grow in radioactive soil near the contaminated site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident without much change to their proteins, experiments show. This study may point the way to growing crops in space, on the Moon, or on Mars.
Wildfires cause tragic losses to life, property, and the environment. But even after the fire rages, the damage is far from done. Without vegetation, bare, burnt soil lies vulnerable to erosion, which can impede efforts towards natural forest regeneration.
The majority of countries participating in a major global effort to reduce greenhouse emissions caused by forest destruction cite agriculture as the main cause of deforestation, but very few provide details on how they would address the link between agriculture and forestry, according to a new analysis by experts probing the effect of climate change on food security.
At the same time that demand for food is soaring along with the world's population, the soil's ability to sustain and enhance agricultural productivity is becoming increasingly diminished and unreliable.
A cumbersome and time-consuming federal regulatory process is stifling commercial investment in the development of genetically engineered animals for food and has serious long-term implications for agriculture and food security in the United States, reports a task force of experts led by a UC Davis animal scientist.
After being hammered by record high food prices in 2011, which helped ignite the Arab Spring uprisings, consumers worldwide may find some relief in 2012 if U.S. farmers, induced by last year's high crop prices, plant more fields to grain this year.
Factoring health and related costs into decision making is essential to confronting the nation's health problems and enhancing public well-being, says a new report from the National Research Council, which adds that a health impact assessment (HIA) is a promising tool for use by scientists, communities, and government and private sector policymakers. The report offers guidance to officials in the public and private sectors on conducting HIAs to evaluate public health consequences of proposed decisions -- such as those to build a major roadway, plan a city's growth, or develop national agricultural policies -- and suggests actions that could minimize adverse health impacts and optimize beneficial ones.
Research led by the Warwick Crop Centre in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick has developed a unique collection of information about the disease resistance of 96 of the world's onion varieties. It will be a crucial resource for commercial growers and seed producers trying to combat one of the most difficult diseases affecting onion crops. This work may also have key-benefits of reduced fertiliser consumption and enhanced drought tolerance.
With global demand for wheat exceeding 20 billion bushels a year, producers need more high-yielding crops that can survive in the extreme climate of the Canadian Prairies.
Using barley as the raw material for ethanol production results in an additional product -- dried grains for animal feed. But the presence of a fungal pathogen sometimes found in barley can result in a lethal toxin, called mycotoxin, in the animal feed. Now, Virginia Tech and Agricultural Research Service, USDA researchers have shown that newly developed transgenic yeast used during fermentation will help modify the mycotoxin in the animal feed product to a less toxic form. The research is published online in the September issue of Biotechnology for Biofuels.
Irrigating agricultural crops places huge demands on water resources around the globe. In Spain for instance, where agriculture is a major contributor to the nation's economy, 85% of country's total water demand comes from the agricultural sector. The excessive use of irrigation water has resulted in serious environmental concerns in Mediterranean countries, where rising demand has deteriorated groundwater resources, depleted aquifers, and accelerated saltwater intrusion. Scientists in Spain are working on new technologies to classify and monitor irrigated crops with a goal of promoting sustainable agricultural practices.
A method for increasing solubility (the ability of one substance to dissolve into another), developed by a graduate student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Casali Institute of Applied Chemistry, has yielded promising commercial benefits for industry, particularly in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and agriculture.
Research performed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and published recently in the journal Crop Science has demonstrated that mineral levels in new varieties of broccoli have not declined since 1975, and that the broccoli contains the same levels of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium and other minerals that have made the vegetable a healthy staple of American diets for decades.
Published in the current edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the comprehensive study focused on understanding the effects of conventional, in-feed antibiotics in U.S. farms.
An international team of researchers led by investigators in the U.S. and Germany has shed light on the inner workings of the endocycle, a common cell cycle that fuels growth in plants, animals and some human tissues and is responsible for generating up to half of the Earth's biomass. This discovery, led by a geneticist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and reported Oct. 30 in Nature, leads to a new understanding of how cells grow and how rates of cell growth might be increased or decreased, which has important implications in both agriculture and medicine.
For decades, scientists and farmers have attempted to understand how a bacterial pathogen continues to damage tomatoes despite numerous agricultural attempts to control its spread.
The Australian National University and Bayer CropScience have signed a research agreement to develop new technology with the potential to produce higher yielding food crops.
Using commercially available parts, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and colleagues have developed a new automated system for detecting insects based on the peculiar sounds the insects make while moving.
Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have found a way to cut the amount of fuel consumed by non-road mobile machinery by half. This new technology captures energy, which up to now has been lost by the machinery when working, and uses it instead of fuel. The fuel consumption of construction and mining machines, agricultural machines and material handling machines is reduced significantly.
The problem is stark: One billion people on earth don't have enough food right now. It's estimated that by 2050 there will be more than nine billion people living on the planet.
As crop growers and homeowners brace for another year of infestations by the brown marmorated stink bug, Penn State researchers have released a Web-based tool that they hope will help enhance their understanding of this invasive insect pest. Developed in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the mapping tool is embedded in a website
There is literally a way to undercut dust emissions in the very driest parts of the Pacific Northwest's Columbia Plateau region, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist.
Scientists at UQ, in collaboration with JCU, may have found a way to offset up to 2.5 percent of Australia's annual greenhouse gas emissions and secure economic benefits for regional communities.
Researchers at the University of Missouri have found a key process in a plant's immune system response that may help future crops fight off dangerous diseases.
While last month's climate negotiations in Durban made incremental progress toward helping farmers adapt to climate change and reduce agriculture's climate footprint, a group of international agriculture experts urges scientists to lay the groundwork for more decisive action on global food security in environmental negotiations in 2012.
Researchers from the University of Southampton have contributed to a major international United Nation's (UN) report into the current status of the world's land and water resources for food and agriculture.
Transformative changes in markets, policy and science, rather than just incremental changes in farming practices and technology, will be critical if the United States is to achieve long-term sustainability in agriculture, according to a nationwide team of agriculturists that includes a University of California, Davis, animal scientist.
The last of seven cotton gins is being tested this year as the fieldwork for a major 4-year cotton gin dust sampling project draws to a close. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists organized the project to intensively sample emissions from seven cotton gins across the Cotton Belt.
When soil moisture levels increase, pesticide losses to the atmosphere through volatilization also rise. In one long-term field study, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists found that herbicide volatilization consistently resulted in herbicide losses that exceed losses from field runoff.
Surfactants, which are wetting agents that lower a liquid's surface tension, have a long list of uses, from detergents and cosmetics to paints and pesticides. Most surfactants are petroleum-based. But in Peoria, Ill., a team of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists has focused their attention on sophorolipids, surfactant-like molecules produced by naturally occurring yeasts.
On farmland around the globe, a silent war rages, between crops and the diseases that attack them. Crop diseases cost the world an estimated $220 billion every year and put millions at risk of starvation.
To defeat an enemy, know its lifestyle, where it works and its secret hiding places. That's what researchers have done in a 10-year battle against two insects that bore into grassy crops such as rice, sugarcane, sorghum and corn.
Immigration reform and stricter enforcement of current immigration laws could significantly boost labor costs for California's $20 billion fresh fruit, nut and vegetable crops, according to agricultural economists at UC Davis and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
A recent study reports that the geographical range of some agricultural crops -- such as corn and beans -- may be greatly reduced if temperatures continue to rise. While some farmers may be able to readjust what they grow, others may have to give up, producing a disaster.
With the curtain about to rise on a much-anticipated new era of "nanoagriculture" -- using nanotechnology to boost the productivity of plants for food, fuel, and other uses --scientists are reporting a huge gap in knowledge about the effects of nanoparticles on corn, tomatoes, rice and other food crops.
Salt can have drastic effects on the growth and yield of horticultural crops; studies have estimated that salinity renders an about one-third of the world's irrigated land unsuitable for crop production. Imbalances in soil salinity can cause ion toxicity, osmotic stress, mineral deficiencies, and drastic physiological and biochemical changes in plants.
Professor Yi Li's Laboratory in the University of Connecticut's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources has developed a seedless variety of the popular ornamental shrub Euonymus alatus, also called 'burning bush,' that retains the plant's brilliant foliage yet eliminates its ability to spread and invade natural habitats.
AgroAtlas is a new interactive website that shows the geographic distributions of 100 crops; 640 species of crop diseases, pests, and weeds; and 560 wild crop relatives growing in Russia and neighboring countries. Downloadable maps and geographic information system (GIS) software are also available, allowing layering of data, such as that relating major wheat production areas to concentrations of Russian wheat aphids.
When wireworms feast on potatoes, the results aren't pretty: The spuds' surfaces are left punctured, pitted and unappealing. For the past few years, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and their colleagues have sought a solution in the form of spuds with genetic resistance to the worms, with special attention focused on two wild potatoes from Chile and Bolivia: Solanum berthaultii and S. etuberosum.
Two University of Alberta researchers have published a step by step plan to one-day end the use of environmentally harmful chemicals on commercial crops by developing plants that produce their own fertilizer.
A newly identified chemical sex attractant, or pheromone, of the emerald ash borer could mean improved traps for monitoring and controlling the tree-killing beetle. That's the goal of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) entomologist Allard Cossé and his colleagues.
Dr. Chris Thornton and colleagues at the University of Exeter are examining whether adding a safe and harmless fungus to compost boosts the growth and proliferation of crops' roots, helping them grow with less water. Not only that, trials currently underway with a supplier to a major supermarket are investigating whether the plants exposed to the fungus can also be grown in the absence of fertilizer.
Scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK's Measurement Institute, have developed an imaging technology which can identify the ripeness of strawberries before they are picked. The developers now hope to work with the agricultural industry to turn it into fruit picking robots that will reduce food waste and improve productivity.
The right combination of compounds produced by a beneficial fungus could lead to grasses that require fewer pesticides and are safer for wildlife and grazing animals, according to Purdue University scientists.
Every year, plant diseases wipe out millions of tons of crops, lead to the waste of valuable water resources and cause farmers to spend tens of billions of dollars battling them.
Scientists from the American Chemical Society have released an article that describes the lack of knowledge about the impact caused by nanoparticles on various food crops such as tomatoes, corn, and rice.
Bigger harvests using an alternative cultivation method without high-tech. A method developed by a priest in Madagascar. Scientists turn their backs on it, but the African method is reliable and sound.
An SDSU study shows agricultural land values are booming again in South Dakota, charting a 16.5 percent increase in 2010-2011, the third-largest since South Dakota State University economists began tracking the farm real estate market in 1991.
The Seattle Times on Sunday examined efforts by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation "to boost the levels of vitamins and minerals in crops many Africans rely on for the bulk of their diets."
In an article that may bring smiles to the faces of vegetarians who consume no dairy products and vegans, who consume no animal-based foods, scientists have identified seaweed as a rich new potential source of heart-healthy food ingredients. Seaweed and other "macroalgae" could rival milk products as sources of these so-called "bioactive peptides," they conclude in an article in ACS's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are making sure that money spent on sustaining and repairing arid rangeland ecosystems is spent on programs that work.
Most people experience X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanners when they are evaluated for a suspected tumor or blood clot. But in the lab of Dr. Quin Liu, PhD., in Wuhan China, rice plants were the patients in a novel use of CT scanners as part of an agriculture study to increase rice yield.
Nitrogen pollution in our coastal ecosystems, the result of widespread use of synthetic agricultural fertilizers and of human sewage, leads to decreased water transparency, the loss of desirable fish species, and the emergence of toxic phytoplankton species--such as the algae behind the renowned "red tides" that kill fish.
A hormone that determines the size and shape of crops could improve harvests, and help in the control of a vampire plant according to Queensland researchers presenting their work today at the International Botanical Congress in Melbourne, Australia.
Pathogens causing plant diseases are an enormous threat in agriculture. They can spread rapidly and cause massive crop losses, particularly in today's large-scale monocultures. To infect a plant successfully, pathogens must overcome the intricate defence systems of host plants.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agronomist Greg McMaster has developed computer software that tells farmers when to spray pesticides. McMaster works at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Agricultural Systems Research Unit in Fort Collins, Colo. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.
Organisms that oxidise ammonia were first discovered in 1890. Although a natural process, a major consequence of the activities of such organisms in soil is the transformation and loss of nitrogen fertilisers used to improve crop production, resulting in groundwater and atmospheric pollution.
Nitrogen is both an essential nutrient and a pollutant, a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion and a fertilizer that feeds billions, a benefit and a hazard, depending on form, location, and quantity.
The importance of protein in the human body is undeniable. However, the idea of what makes a protein a "quality protein" has not been as easy to determine.
The first screening by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists of the American ancestors of soybeans for tolerance to ozone and other stresses had an eye-opening result: The world superstars of stress resistance hailed from a little village in far northern Sweden, called Fiskeby.
Christa Schleper, head of the department of Genetics in Ecology at the University of Vienna, along with a few other colleagues, have obtained an ammonia oxidizing archaeon from soil, which is available in its pure form. The team has worked to study the physiological activity of archaeal ammonia oxidizers, also known as the Nitrososphaera viennensis.
provides agricultural consulting services such as feasability studies, market research, development of partnership and joint-ventures, and implementation of quality systems.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have identified a number of stem rust-resistant wheat varieties and are retesting them to verify their resistance.
Blossom or fruitlet thinning is a labor-intensive part of commercial peach and nectarine production. The use of mechanical string blossom thinners has been shown to reduce labor requirements and improve fruit size in peach crops, but stone fruit producers have needed more information about the range of thinning times. New research from Tara Auxt Baugher and colleagues from The Pennsylvania State University and Penn State Cooperative Extension gives producers sought-after data about optimum thinning times.
After corn is processed to make ethanol, what's left of the corn looks something like slightly dampened cornmeal, though a somewhat darker yellow, and not as finely ground. Known as "wet distiller's grains with solubles" (WDGS), this byproduct is sometimes used as a cattle feed ingredient. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists in Clay Center, Neb., are studying the pros and cons of that practice.
Sander Nieuwenhuis and his associates from the Netherlands have done a study on one particular type of statistical error that apparently crops up in an inordinately large number of papers published in neuroscience journals. In their paper, published in Nature Neuroscience, they claim that up to half of all papers published in such journals contain the error.
Total losses from managed honey bee colonies nationwide were 30 percent from all causes for the 2010/2011 winter, according to the annual survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA).
Fire, cattle and even prairie dogs all could play a role in sustaining the biodiversity of the western Great Plains, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researcher.
Farming has always been about man, says David Dourhout, but man is now the limiting factor in agriculture. The future of farming is not about getting more efficiency out of each farmer--the human farmer has already been pretty well optimized by technology.
Sweetpotato is gaining popularity in the United States, where health-conscious consumers have created increased demand for the tasty, versatile food. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, per capita consumption of the crop increased over 24% from 1998-2008 and the value of the U.S. sweetpotato crop in 2009 exceeded $400 million.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are using a technology known as "Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflection" (FTIR-ATR) spectroscopy to rapidly identify with 95 percent accuracy citrus plant leaves infected with the devastating disease known as citrus greening.
Many energy researchers and environmental advocates are excited about the prospect of gaining more efficient large-scale biofuel production by using large grasses like miscanthus or switchgrass rather than corn. They have investigated yields, land use, economics and more, but one key factor of agriculture has been overlooked: water.
With the extended statewide dry spell, researchers at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Uvalde and elsewhere have been focusing their attention on improving varieties of more drought-tolerant crops, particularly melons, said the center's administrator.
The biotech industry boosted farming across the globe to the tune of almost $65 billion during the period 1996 to 2009, according to the latest analysis published in the International Journal of Biotechnology. $65 billion is the increase in net farm income, the farm level benefit after paying for the seed and its biotech traits. The study's authors estimate that almost half of that was derived by farmers in the developing world.
Large, persistent populations of genetically engineered canola 1 have been found outside of cultivation in North Dakota. As genetically engineered crops become increasingly prevalent in the United States, concerns remain about potential ecological side effects.
Over the centuries, many unexpected things have come to the United States from Germany and caught on -- lager beer, sauerkraut, bratwurst and the Volkswagen Beetle are a few that come to mind -- but don't necessarily expect the novel strain of E. coli that is responsible for more than 2,800 cases of illness and 27 deaths in Germany to show up immediately in this country, advises a foodborne-disease expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
The cayenne tick has been identified as one of the vectors of equine piroplasmosis in horses in a 2009 Texas outbreak, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists.
The USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded $4.9 million to the University of Michigan to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity among Head Start preschoolers in Michigan.
Better understanding of plant defense systems, and the potential to generate stress-tolerant plants and even new malaria drugs, may all stem from the documentation of a molecular mechanism that plays a significant role in the response of plants to physical injuries, such as cuts. A team of agricultural researchers in Japan, led by Fuminori Takahashi of the RIKEN Plant Science Center in Tsukuba, found that the key protein in the complex mechanism is MPK8, which is fully activated by two signaling pathways working in concert.
Modern agriculture would be inconceivable without phosphate fertilizers - and it needs more and more of them. Experts warn of an imminent phosphorus shortage. But not Roland Scholz from the Institute of Environmental Decisions. For him, the main problems are the open phosphorus cycle and non-sustainable resource management.
Although phosphorus is an essential nutrient for all life forms, essential amounts of the chemical element can cause water quality problems in rivers, lakes, and coastal zones. High concentrations of phosphorus in aquatic ecosystems are often associated with human activities in the surrounding area, such as agriculture and urban development. However, relationships between specific human sources of phosphorus and phosphorus concentrations in aquatic ecosystems are yet to be understood. Establishing these relationships could allow for the development, implementation, and evaluation of management strategies to reduce nutrient pollution.
Research performed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and published recently in the journal Crop Science has demonstrated that mineral levels in new varieties of broccoli have not declined since 1975, and that the broccoli contains the same levels of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium and other minerals that have made the vegetable a healthy staple of American diets for decades.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is expected to announce that 33 states and Puerto Rico will receive a share of more than $300 million in emergency funds to help them recover from an unusually intense year of natural disasters.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are leading the way in learning more about "biochar," the charred biomass created from wood, other plant material, and manure.
Studies by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists indicate that organic farmers who need to periodically amend their soils with compost after planting can still control weeds -- and hold down costs -- by using fabric ground covers. This will be welcome news to organic farmers who till composted manure into their crop fields after planting.
Research conducted in part at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has confirmed that in some production systems, planting potatoes in flat beds can increase irrigation water use efficiency.
Detergent-like compounds called saponins are best known for their cleansing properties, but U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are studying these compounds' potential for helping protect plants from insect attack.
While the popularity of locally and regionally grown food is on the rise among Americans, food accessibility remains a major concern for those with limited financial resources. Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is collaborating with West Virginia University and North Carolina State University to develop, implement, and evaluate a food security strategy to enhance the resiliency of the Southern Appalachian region, with a special focus on local food access and affordability for low-income populations.
"Drought in some areas and heavy rain in others are keeping world food prices near record levels, threatening the food supply for poorer, food-importing countries," the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said in its biannual report on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reports. The report predicts that volatile food price spikes are "likely to prevail for the rest of the year, and into 2012," the Guardian's "Data Blog" reports.
Research at Nanjing University has found that strands of RNA from vegetables make it into our bloodstream after we eat them, and can regulate the expression of our genes once they're inside us.
Spring was so wet this year in parts of Pennsylvania that eventual crop yields may be in jeopardy due to delayed planting, according to experts in Penn State's College of Agriculture Sciences.
Intensive agriculture practices developed during the past century have helped improve food security for many people but have also added to nitrate pollution in surface and groundwaters. New research has looked at water quality measurement over the last 140 years to track this problem in the Thames River basin.
To help farmers make the best use of limited irrigation water in the arid West, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers are helping farmers determine how much water major crops actually need.
Wheat's genetic resistance to Hessian flies has been failing, but a group of Purdue University and U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists believe that other plants may soon be able to come to the rescue.
The environmental impact of plaice and cod caught wild in the North Sea is similar to that of imported farmed fish like salmon, tilapia and pangasius. It is expected that there will be a considerable reduction in the environmental impact of plaice and cod fishing following the application of technological innovations.
KPLU 88.5's "Humanosphere" blog reports on the World Food Prize symposium and Borlaug Dialogue taking place in Iowa this week, where "about 1,000 people, including many former heads of state and top agricultural policy folk, are gathered together to talk about... how to feed the planet's growing population." The blog examines the debate around a "new proposed Green Revolution for Africa," led by "the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which was launched largely thanks to support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation," and provides links to recent media coverage related to global food security and hunger.
Familiar blueberries and their lesser-known wild relatives are safeguarded by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and curators at America's official blueberry genebank. The plants, collected from throughout the United States and more than two dozen foreign countries, are growing at the USDA Agricultural Research Service National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis, Ore.