A recent study by Cornell University showed that stories of how GM crops could have prevented the Irish Potato Famine were no more likely to boost support for disease-resistant genetically modified crops than were generic crop-disease descriptions.
White-bread lovers take heart. Scientists are now reporting that this much-maligned food seems to encourage the growth of some of our most helpful inhabitants — beneficial gut bacteria. In addition to this surprising find, their study in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry also revealed that when looking at effects of food on our “microbiomes,” considering the whole diet, not just individual ingredients, is critical.
Since the first plant genome sequence was obtained for the plant Arabidopsis in 2000, scientists have gene-sequenced everything from cannabis to castor bean.
A new study examined the mineral micronutrient content of four types of grain legumes. Grain legumes are often overlooked as valuable sources of micronutrients, such as zinc and potassium.
A Kansas State University agricultural economist explains why agricultural exports are projected to be so high this year and what that means for U.S. consumers.
That orange you’re enjoying may have been grown in Florida, but its deepest ancestral roots stretch back more than 5 million years, all the way to two wild citrus species from Southeast Asia.
A University of Florida research team is cautiously optimistic after finding a possible treatment in the lab for citrus greening, a disease devastating Florida’s $9 billion citrus industry. It is the first step in a years-long process to bring a treatment to market.
A UF scientist, with help from colleagues at eight institutions around the world, found the late-blight pathogen, which caused the 1840s Irish Potato Famine, originated in Mexico.
A University of Florida scientist has pinpointed Mexico as the origin of the pathogen that caused the 1840s Irish Potato Famine, a finding that may help researchers solve the $6 billion-a-year disease that continues to evolve and torment potato and tomato growers around the world.
A naturally occurring microbe in soil that inhibits the rice blast fungus has been identified by a team of researcher from the University of Delaware and the University of California at Davis.
There is a proven system for sustainable management of northern hardwood forests. Everyone subscribes to it, but a study shows few are actually doing it.
Leading public health researchers and trade experts will convene in Washington to address the spread of antibiotic resistance, the role of food animal production and the consequences of using the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership to weaken existing standards to facilitate trade.
New research from Stanford scientists shows that farmers in Europe will see crop yields affected as global temperatures rise, but that adaptation can help slow the decline for some crops.
An interdisciplinary Kansas State University research group is taking used coffee grounds from a campus coffee shop and using them as compost to cultivate gourmet mushrooms at the student farm.
The axiom, “growing like a weed,” takes on new meaning in light of changes in gene expression that occur when weeds interact with the crops they infest, according to plant scientist Sharon Clay. Using sophisticated genetic-mapping techniques, the South Dakota State University professor and her research team are documenting how corn and weeds influence one another.
“Weeds grow like weeds when they grow with corn,” says Clay. “They grow bigger, and taller in corn than by themselves.” And inversely, “corn grows less among weeds.”
A South American insect may hold the key to controlling the spread of the invasive Brazilian peppertree, which supplants native vegetation critical to many organisms in several states.
Two widely used neonicotinoids—a class of insecticide—appear to harm honey bee colonies over the winter, particularly during colder winters, according to Harvard School of Public Health researchers. The new study replicated a 2012 finding from the same research group that found a link between imidacloprid and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), in which bees abandon their hives over the winter and eventually die. The new study also found that a second neonicotinoid, clothianidin, had the same negative effect.
A new cultural psychology study has found that psychological differences between the people of northern and southern China mirror the differences between community-oriented East Asia and the more individualistic Western world – and the differences seem to have come about because southern China has grown rice for thousands of years, whereas the north has grown wheat.
A Virginia Tech team of researchers has proven that homemade, inexpensive stink bug traps crafted from simple household items outshine pricier models designed to kill the invasive, annoying bugs.
Locally-owned seed companies participating in a program to offer high-yield crop varieties to smallholder farmers across the continent have collectively become the largest seed producers in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new report released at the Grow Africa Investment Forum alongside World Economic Forum for Africa.
Interest in local, sustainable food sources is motivating more people to plant their own gardens each spring or shop their local farmers market. As a result, Iowa State University experts are fielding more questions.
Just in time for Mother's Day, UF/IFAS Horticultural Researcher Ria Leonard, demonstrates the proper way to select and care for cut flowers to keep them looking good for longer.
Researchers create model that can predict the effects of changing climate, planting and other agricultural variables. This could lead to optimized agricultural land use and improve regional food security.
The Mississippi State University Extension Service has assessment teams visiting farms to report damage to the Board of Animal Health and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. The Winston County teams near Louisville witnessed significant property losses, including residences, barns, poultry houses, equipment, fences, poultry and animals.
Increasingly harsh drought conditions may take a serious toll on corn and soybean yields over the next half-century, according to research published in the journal Science. Corn yields could drop by 15 to 30 percent, according to the paper's estimates.
The value of soybeans in Mississippi expanded $1 billion in six years, largely through the efforts of the Extension Service to make farmers better managers. The story takes a historic look at this significant row crop.
Annual carbon emissions from global agriculture can be reduced by as much as 50 to 90 percent by 2030—the equivalent of removing all the cars in the world—according to a comprehensive new report released by Climate Focus and California Environmental Associates. The study highlights twelve key strategies—led by reduced global beef consumption, reduced food waste and better farm nutrient management and production—that can deliver big climate wins while maintaining food security and building resilience.
Cornell University plant breeders have released a new alfalfa variety with some resistance against the alfalfa snout beetle, which has ravaged alfalfa fields in nine northern New York counties and across the St. Lawrence River in Canada.
In honor of Earth Day, the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) is highlighting the important role sustainable agriculture plays in feeding the world’s population.
A review of recent research on the domestication of large herbivores for “The Modern View of Domestication,” a special feature of PNAS, suggests that neither intentional breeding nor genetic isolation were as significant as traditionally thought.
A credit-card-sized anthrax detection cartridge developed at Sandia National Laboratories and recently licensed to a small business makes testing safer, easier, faster and cheaper.
Changing agricultural practices and ending food waste around the world are among recommendations made by scientists charged with looking at ways to mitigate global climate change. The scientists were authors who contributed to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
According to a new study, over the past couple of decades, global coffee production has been shifting towards a more intensive, less environmentally friendly style. That's pretty surprising if you live in the U.S. and you've gone to the grocery store or Starbucks, where sales of environmentally and socially conscious coffees have risen sharply and now account for half of all U.S. coffee sales by economic value.
Geologic and soil processes are to blame for significant baseline levels of arsenic in soil throughout Ohio, according to a new study. Every sample had concentrations higher than the screening level of concern recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Cornell scientists have created the first vaccines that can prevent metritis, one of the most common cattle diseases. The infection not only harms animals and farmers’ profits, but also drives more systemic antibiotic use on dairy farms than any other disease. The new vaccines prevent metritis infection of the uterus from taking hold and reduce symptoms when it does, a prospect that could save the United States billions of dollars a year and help curb the growing epidemic of antibiotic resistance.
Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory develops tests to identify pig viruses, hoping to prevent the further spread of diseases that have already killed almost 6 million pigs.
Corralling desperados with names like bacillus and paenibacillus will require ingenuity and an arsenal of weapons. These outlaws aren’t rustling cattle—they’re making milk sour and cheese soft and crumbly.
For more than a century, milk has been heated to kill any bacteria or pathogens that can affect consumer health and shorten the shelf life of the product. However, microbes-- known as thermoduric--can survive pasteurization, according to South Dakota State University dairy science professor Sanjeev Anand.
The Agricultural Experiment Station researcher has begun developing ways to combat heat-resistant microorganisms, a major challenge for the world’s dairy industry. His work is also supported by the Dairy Research Institute and the Midwest Dairy Food Research Center.
Charred grains of barley, millet and wheat deposited nearly 5,000 years ago at campsites in the high plains of Kazakhstan show that nomadic sheepherders played a surprisingly important role in the early spread of domesticated crops throughout a mountainous east-west corridor along the historic Silk Road, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.
In a new study from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF), researchers identified a range of factors and challenges related to the perceived risk of soil contamination among urban community gardeners and found a need for clear and concise information on how best to prevent and manage soil contamination.
A new international partnership seeks to increase wheat yields by 50 percent by 2034. This will address demand for wheat – one of the world’s most important crops – that is growing much faster than production.
A new treatment, using microparticles made from chitosan, could help dairy cattle stave off uterine diseases and eventually could help improve food safety for humans.
Wheat farmers in East Africa and the Middle East are on alert after a damaging strain of a plant disease called stem rust decimated more than 10,000 hectares of wheat in southern Ethiopia, the largest wheat producer in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), according to a report discussed today at an international gathering of the world’s top wheat experts.