Diagnostic Researchers Can Discuss Emergence of Porcine Virus in U.S.

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New DNA Profiling Technique Beefs Up Cattle Genomics

A pioneering genomics technique developed at Cornell University to improve corn can now be used to improve the quality of milk and meat, according to research published May 17 in the online journal PLOS ONE.

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Crop Rotation with Nematode-Resistant Wheat Can Protect Tomatoes

A resistant strain of wheat can reduce nematode numbers in the soil and protect the next rotation of tomato plants.

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Texas Tech Expert: Monsanto Ruling Won't Have Affect on Consumers

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Supreme Court Decision Closes Loophole in Monsanto’s Business Model

The Supreme Court’s unanimous opinion in Bowman v. Monsanto holds that farmers who lawfully obtain Monsanto’s patented, genetically modified soybeans do not have a right to plant those soybeans and grow a new crop of soybeans without Monsanto’s permission. “The Court closed a potential loophole in Monsanto’s long-standing business model, prevents Monsanto’s customers from setting up ‘farm-factories’ for producing soybeans that could be sold in competition with Monsanto’s soybeans, and it enables Monsanto to continue to earn a reasonable profit on its patented technology,” says Kevin Collins, JD, patent law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis

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Less O2 Triggers Grasshopper Molting, Farmers Could Benefit

Less oxygen = shorter time between molts = shorter life-span = fewer hungry grasshoppers. And for farmers, that’s very good news. A recent study conducted by Scott Kirkton, associate professor of biology at Union College, offers insight into the relationship between respiratory function and molting that could help farmers save more of their crops.

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Poultry Drug Increases Levels of Toxic Arsenic in Chicken Meat

Chickens likely raised with arsenic-based drugs result in chicken meat that has higher levels of inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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Soil May Harbor Answer to Reducing Arsenic in Rice

Harsh Bais and Janine Sherrier of the University of Delaware’s Department of Plant and Soil Sciences are studying whether a naturally occurring soil bacterium, referred to as UD1023 because it was first characterized at the University, can create an iron barrier in rice roots that reduces arsenic uptake.

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U.S. A Surprisingly Large Reservoir of Crop Plant Diversity

North America isn’t known as a hotspot for crop plant diversity, yet a new inventory has uncovered nearly 4,600 wild relatives of crop plants in the United States, including close relatives of globally important food crops such as sunflower, bean, sweet potato, and strawberry.

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Fertilizers Provide Mixed Benefits to Soil in 50-Year Kansas Study

In a Kansas study, 50 years of inorganic fertilization increased soil organic carbon stocks but failed to enhance soil aggregate stability—a key indicator of soil structural quality that helps dictate how water moves through soil and the soil’s resistance to erosion.

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