Feature Channels: Agriculture

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The only counties not to have reported laurel wilt are Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Gulf, Franklin and Wakulla – all in the Panhandle, said Crane, a faculty member at the UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead, Florida. “Eventually, all Florida counties will have laurel wilt,” Crane said. Crane is giving homeowners tips on how to deal with laurel wilt.

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When It Comes to Spring Allergies, Oak Pollen More Potent Than Pine; Food Allergies of Low-Income Kids Are Poorly Managed; Flowers Not to Blame for Allergies, and More in the Allergies Channel

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Kansas State University meat scientists have found that the brand name on grocery store beef makes a difference in how consumers perceive flavor, texture, juiciness, tenderness and overall liking of the product.

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Scientists have found that rain triggers the release of a mist of particles from wet soils into the air, a finding with consequences for how scientists model our planet’s climate and future. The evidence comes in the form of tiny glassy spheres, less than one-hundredth the width of a human hair, discovered in the Great Plains.

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pH of soil affects the soil health – and your plants’ health, too

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Entomologists of the universities of Jena and Kiel shed light on bizarre mating mechanisms of native twisted-winged parasites.

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Scientists are working diligently to prepare for the expected increase in global population — and therefore an increased need for food production— in the coming decades. A team of engineers at Washington University in St. Louis has found a sustainable way to boost the growth of a protein-rich bean by improving the way it absorbs much-needed nutrients.

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Students who earned honors from the University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at its April 14 banquet show exemplary scholarship, leadership and commitment to the community.

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A team of researchers examined the impact of intellectual property protection of seeds in a new study. They found intellectual property protection benefits both plant breeders and society.

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Professor Courtney Meyers is part of a USDA project with two other universities that will utilize case studies to increase students’ critical thinking skills.

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Honey bee colonies in the United States are in decline, due in part to the ill effects of voracious mites, fungal gut parasites and a wide variety of debilitating viruses. Researchers from the University of Maryland and the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently completed the first comprehensive, multi-year study of honey bee parasites and disease as part of the National Honey Bee Disease Survey. The findings reveal some alarming patterns, but provide at least a few pieces of good news as well.

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A group of Clemson University students believes everyone should have access to healthy foods. The students are developing Tiger Gardens to demonstrate how healthy vegetables can be grown anywhere, even on concrete.

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This latest IWGSC infographic illustrates the origin of today's wheat used to make bread and pasta (and other delicious wheat-based foods).

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CINCIA will serve as an international hub for Peruvian and foreign scientists and affiliates to collaborate on critical priorities in Madre de Dios – restoration and reforestation, the reduction of human health threats from environmental mercury, detection of deforestation threats, and sustainability.

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A futuristic farming model that uses 90 percent less water and 80 percent less fertilizer than traditional farms by HomeGrown Farms won first place at this year’s New Venture Competition sponsored by the George Washington University.

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The contributions to avocado research are suggesting that some Hass-like avocado selections may be grown under Florida conditions and provide attractive options for growers, said Mark Ritenour, UF/IFAS associate professor of horticulture.

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Former FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, Clinton Foundation President and former U.S. Secretary of Health Donna E. Shalala, and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman headline a unique conference focused on food issues, “Vote Food 2016: Better Food, Better Health,” on June 3 in Washington, DC. Registration is now open.

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Humans aren’t the only farmers out there. Five years ago, the Queller-Strassmann lab at Rice University, now at Washington University in St. Louis, demonstrated that the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum — affectionately nicknamed “Dicty” — can maintain a crop of food bacteria from generation to generation, giving these farmers an advantage when food is scarce.

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The iCOMOS conference is a global forum to communicate the importance of science in solving pressing health issues at the interface of humans, animals and the environment.

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The United States produced more than 500 million pounds of blueberries with a farm gate value of $860 million in 2011, making the it the largest blueberry-producing country, accounting for almost two-thirds of the world’s production.4/21/2016UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Industrial engineers from Penn State are part of a nine-university, four-year, $4.

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Scientists, environmentalists, human and animal health professionals economists, ethics and public health specialists will gather to explore the science behind One Health-- and issues of importance to animal, human and environmental health throughout the world.

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Faced with a pathogen, important signaling chemicals within plant cells travel different routes to inform the plant to turn on its defense mechanisms, according to a recent University of Kentucky study.

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Muscadine grapes are grown only in the South and are not very well known in other parts of the country, said UF/IFAS Professor Charles Sims said. Apparently, more consumers are apt to buy muscadine grapes if they know about them, at least according to a recent UF/IFAS experiment.

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Researchers have figured out what makes certain chemicals accumulate to toxic levels in aquatic food webs. And, scientists have developed a screening technique to determine which chemicals pose the greatest risk to the environment.

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Cows in Brazil might start bellowing "leguuume" rather than "moo." Researchers there found tree legumes in a silvopastural system provide an important and affordable source of nitrogen to replenish the soil.

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Italian celebrity chef Carlo Cracco is working with the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) Recipes for Change campaign to highlight the threats small scale farmers in developing countries are facing as a result of climate change.

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Lutz Goedde, a leading expert in strategies to improve agricultural productivity around the world, has joined the board of directors of the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan.

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The six University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences faculty members who were recognized are trying to solve global issues as wide-ranging as better alternative fuels and nutrient absorption.

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Speakers from the forefront of the scientific and production-based issues of industrial hemp

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William Anderegg and his colleagues looked for patterns in previous studies of tree mortality and found some common traits that characterized which species lived and which died during drought. The results, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, can help chart the future of forests.

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A new analysis shows that if tropical farming intensifies, there could be a staggering cost: millions of tons of phosphorus “tax” that must be paid to the soil.

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Though cassava is easy to cultivate, it is particularly vulnerable to plant pathogens which can significantly reduce crop yields. With the help of genomics, researchers hope to apply advanced breeding strategies that can improve cassava’s resistance to diseases and improve crop yields.

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“Even though the industry acknowledges that greening has reached epidemic proportions across the state, estimates of the level of infection and its impact on citrus operations are scarce,” the researchers wrote in the paper.

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Women live longer in areas with more green vegetation, according to new research funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health. Women with the highest levels of vegetation, or greenness, near their homes had a 12 percent lower death rate compared to women with the lowest levels of vegetation near their homes. The results were published Apr. 14 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

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How soil testing is done in the future may change to include microbial content

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Whether it’s hybrid termites, grain pathogens, mosquito mating or something in between, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers are studying important topics and helping to solve global issues.

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Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have reduced protein in goldenrod pollen, a key late-season food source for North American bees, a Purdue University study shows.

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New field research measured how far common bacteria—including Salmonella and E. coli—are likely to travel downwind from manure application sites. Proper spacing can ensure food safety.

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Maple syrup protects neurons and prevents the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in C. elegans worms, according to a study by college students, now students at the university level, and published today in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Supervised by PhD student Martine Therrien and by researcher Alex Parker, Catherine Aaron and Gabrielle Beaudry added maple syrup to the diet of these barely 1 mm-long nematodes.

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Culex erraticus is more abundant than Culiseta melanura, the study shows. So it may be more important than scientists originally thought in transmitting EEE virus, at least in the Southeast. EEE virus, transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito, can be passed to a wide range of animals including birds, reptiles and mammals. But once infected, horses and humans appear to suffer the most adverse effects.

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Research finds massive phosphorus buildup.

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Just like humans, when plants are cut they clot at the site of the wound. Just how they do it is has been a botanical mystery until now. Two University of Delaware researchers have uncovered the enzymes that produce this response. The findings will be published on Monday in Nature Plants.

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Research shows extraordinary commitment to science and soil physics and support of soil physicists

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New simulations by researchers at the University of Warwick and UCL’s Institute of Archaeology of plant evolution over the last 3000 years have revealed an unexpected limit to how far useful crops can be pushed to adapt before they suffer population collapse. The result has significant implications for how growers, breeders and scientists help agriculture and horticulture respond to quickening climate change.

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Longer monsoon seasons with increased daily rainfall, aspects of climate change, are contributing to reduced tea yield in regions of China, with implications for crop management and harvesting strategies, according to findings by a global interdisciplinary team led by Tufts University researchers and published online today in Climate.

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Plants share their carbohydrates with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi that colonize their roots and, in exchange, these fungi provide their hosts with nitrogen and phosphorous. By exploiting this relationship, scientists may be able to increase the biomass production of bioenergy crops and the yield of food crops and to reduce the required fertilizer inputs. This could improve the environmental sustainability of agricultural production systems according to professor Heike Bücking of South Dakota State University.

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While farm soil grows the world’s food and fiber, scientists are examining ways to use it to sequester carbon and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

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A multi-university collaboration has issued a report on steps to reduce harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie

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Sequencing the genomes of hundreds of strains of the wine yeast S. cerevisiae has revealed little genetic diversity and high levels of inbreeding. In many cases, yeast strains sold by different companies were almost genetically identical. The results, published in the April issue of G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics, a publication of the Genetics Society of America, suggest that winemakers attempting to develop improved wine yeasts will need to look to creating hybrids with more exotic strains.

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Even as 60 million people around the world face severe hunger because of El Niño and millions more because of climate change, top European and American media outlets are neglecting to cover the issues as a top news item, says a new research report funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) today.