A computer simulation shows that carefully designing government interactions with rural indigenous people is critical for protecting the sustainability of people, wildlife and the land.
Farmers can use fewer resources to grow food.
Umcompacted sides and soil lead to more robust plants
To examine the fate and persistence of the most common commercial herbicides used for agricultural and urban applications, University of Delaware researchers have used isotopic signatures as a method of source tracking. The goal is to minimize any potential environmental harm.
According to a recent study, the size of a common ground-nesting bee – an important crop pollinator – has grown smaller in heavily farmed landscapes.
Healthy soil is the foundation for a healthy America
“Breeding is a numbers game—the more combinations we test, the more likely we are to identify a superior plant,” said winter wheat breeder Sunish Sehgal. He develops more than 500 new genetic combinations each year to increase winter hardiness, yield and disease and drought resistance in South Dakota wheat varieties.
Dartmouth-led study illuminates pollutant's movement from aquatic to land food webs.
Mark Hostetler, a professor of wildlife ecology and conservation, sees educational signs in neighborhoods as a way to nudge people to change their landscape practices, among other activities. Hostetler is confident the signs can work in any urban subdivision in America.
Dangerous nitrate levels in drinking water could persist for decades, increasing the risk for blue baby syndrome and other serious health concerns, according to a new study published by researchers at the University of Waterloo.
A fungal disease that poses a serious threat to cacao plants - the source of chocolate - reproduces clonally, Purdue University researchers find.
Large-scale changes to agricultural practices will be required to meet the goal of reducing levels of algae-promoting phosphorus in Lake Erie by 40 percent, a new University of Michigan-led, multi-institution computer modeling study concludes.
Recently published research from a team of Iowa State University veterinarians takes a close look at the epidemiology of bovine digital dermatitis, revealing new information on how the disease develops and how likely it is to recur after treatment. The disease is the leading cause of lameness in dairy cows and has grown as a concern among beef producers in recent years.
How long do you shower? Would you be willing to set a timer for yourself while you bathe? That may be something to consider as you try to reduce your water consumption, say University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers. In a study that used an online survey of 932 Floridians, UF/IFAS researchers sought to identify characteristics of so-called “high-water users,” based on residents’ perceived importance of plentiful water and their water conservation behaviors.
More than three quarters of Florida’s strawberries are shipped to American markets east of the Mississippi River. Most of those out-of-state consumers enjoy the fruit, but some mistakenly think Sunshine State strawberries aren’t available at their grocery stores, a new University of Florida study shows.
Researchers recently released 40 varieties of early-flowering sorghum bred for use in cooler, more temperate areas. These early-flowering varieties of sorghum are critical for the spread of the crop to more new locations.
Human use of copper dating back to the Bronze Age has shaped the evolution of bacteria, leading to bugs that are highly resistant to the metal’s antibacterial properties.
Integrated pest management that focuses on the soil seed bank may be a solution for weeds in chile crops. An interactive model was developed to help determine how much hoeing or harvesting time would be saved. Growers may input information regarding morning glory infestation estimates, expected chile crop yield and herbicide details.
Chemical use can leads unhealthy soil, fertilizer getting in watersheds, etc.
Kansas State University and Texas Tech University beef cattle researchers are collaborating on a feedlot cattle production and health research study.
The fish-farming industry is increasing its use of plant-based ingredients in its feed and moving away from traditional feed made from fish, which could impact some of the health benefits of eating certain types of seafood, suggests a new analysis from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
A $714,000 USDA grant to MTSU will support partnership to discover novel ways of land management and solve important ecological problems in changing climates and agricultural management.
A new method to detect a wide range of pesticides could help save bee populations.
Common blight is a devastating bacterial disease. It greatly reduces the yield and quality of bean crops across the world. Conventional breeding techniques can be used to generate cultivars of common bean that are resistant to the common blight. But it remains challenging to breed cultivars of common bean that combine the desired high yield and quality with resistance to diseases.
To draw lipids out of algae, scientists must starve the algae of nitrogen. Among the hundreds of proteins modulated by nitrogen starvation, the synthesis ROC40 was the most induced when the cells made the most oil. Such information is of great importance for the development of superior strains of algae for biofuel production.
One of the most critical questions surrounding climate change is how it might affect the food supply for a growing global population. A new study by researchers from Brown and Tufts universities suggests that researchers have been overlooking how two key human responses to climate -- how much land people choose to farm, and the number of crops they plant -- will impact food production in the future.
Food scientists at Mississippi State University and a Kansas State University entomologist have developed coatings that protect age-cured hams from mites, reducing the need for a previous treatment that is harmful to the ozone layer.
Identifying Corrective Actions from Agricultural Response, or ICAAR, is a new tool being developed by Kansas State University's National Agricultural Biosecurity Center to help with agricultural emergency management.
Arundo donax, a giant reed that grows in the Mediterranean climate zones of the world, isn't like other prolific warm-weather grasses, researchers report. This grass, which can grow annually to 6 meters (nearly 20 feet) in height, uses a type of photosynthesis that is more common to crop plants like soybeans, rice and peanuts.
Changing crop prices was the No. 1 factor that farmers in the Prairie Pothole region of eastern South Dakota and southeastern North Dakota considered when deciding whether or not to convert grassland to cropland. Of the 1,026 producers who responded to the 2015 Farmland Decision Survey, 40 percent had converted some native or tame grassland to cropland in the last 10 years.
A deeper understanding of phytobiomes, or the networks of interactions among the various components of an ecosystem, can unlock a vast range of benefits for farmers and consumers the world over. An Iowa State University researcher has helped to launch a new effort to emphasize phytobiomes in agriculture.
Special collection presents the state of science for evaluating antibiotic resistance in agroecosystems
As strategies for energy security, investment opportunities and energy policies prompt ever-growing production and consumption of biofuels like bioethanol and biodiesel, land and water that could otherwise be used for food production increasingly are used to produce crops for fuel.
Farmers or those who aspire to grow fruits and vegetables crops can attend the third UF/IFAS Regional Small Farms Conference on April 1-2 in Fort Myers, Florida. This event provides an opportunity to share practical farming knowledge that can help growers across the region.
Making milk powder seems simple, but it’s not. Creamer must dissolve very quickly in hot coffee, but powder density is critical for infant formula. Dairy scientists from South Dakota State University and chemical engineers from Monash University in Australia are using a single-droplet spray dryer and computation fluid dynamics modeling to determine the drying parameters needed to produce powders with those specific properties.
For Pennsylvania dairy farmers, producing feed grain on-farm requires significantly less energy than importing it from the Midwest, according to Penn State researchers whose findings may help dairy farmers save energy and money in the face of rising feed costs.
As fresh water resources become scarce, one option for water-conscious farmers is to water crops with treated wastewater. This effluent is becoming a more popular option for applications that don’t require drinking-quality water. However, there are still questions about how the effluent interacts with and affects the rest of the ecosystem. Researchers set out to follow the environmental paths of pharmaceutical and personal care products found in effluent when it is used to spray irrigate wheat crops.
Leaf litter, plant debris decomposed by nature into healthy soil
“Plant diagnostic labs and specialists are your plant emergency room, family doctor and physical therapist all in one," said Carrie Harmon, a UF/IFAS Extension specialist in plant pathology and director of the UF/IFAS Plant Diagnostic Center. "Our connection to anyone who works with plants is built on the Extension system, supporting the state and federal departments of agriculture goals to protect crops and livelihoods across the country."
Higher food prices, a significant boost in greenhouse gas emissions due to land use change and major loss of forest and pasture land would be some results if genetically modified organisms in the United States were banned, according to a Purdue University study.
Farm-grown fish are an important source of food with significant and worldwide societal and economic benefits, but the fish that come from these recirculating systems can have unpleasant tastes and odors. To clean contaminated water for farmed fish, drinking and other uses, scientists are now turning to an unlikely source — the mucilage or inner “guts” of cacti. Researchers will be presenting their latest findings at the 251st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Hops, those little cone-shaped buds that give beer its bitter flavor, pack a surprisingly healthful punch. They are widely studied for their ability to halt bacterial growth and disease. Now, researchers report that they are close to synthesizing the healthful hops compounds in the lab, which could help scientists more easily create medicines from these compounds. The researchers present their work at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
The blueberry, already labeled a “super fruit” for its power to potentially lower the risk of heart disease and cancer, also could be another weapon in the war against Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers present their work today at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
Do you want to know if it’s the right time of year to plant a vegetable? Want to buy Florida produce but you don’t know whether it’s in season? UF/IFAS has a new app to guide you. It’s called the “Florida Fresh” veggie app, and you can now download it for free on your mobile device.
New journal, Agricultural & Environmental Letters, supports rapid scientific communication.
Two thirds of urban farmers have a social mission that goes beyond food production and profits, finds new research led by NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
On 25 February 2016, a group of scientific societies, companies, research institutes, and governmental agencies launched the Phytobiomes Roadmap presenting a new vision for agriculture to increase health, productivity, and sustainability of our current cropping and forest systems.
A newly discovered insect species in prairie cordgrass may explain why increasing seed production has been so difficult, according to South Dakota State University entomologist Paul J. Johnson, a professor in the plant science department. The larvae feed on the developing seed within the plant. This is part of U.S. Department of Agriculture supported research to develop native grasses as a source of biobased transportation fuels.
Researchers have found the molecular marker -- a pattern in the plant's natural DNA -- for calcium in potatoes. This will save time in breeding high-quality, high-calcium potatoes that resist rot.
Berkeley Lab scientists have shown for the first time that an enzyme can be tweaked to reduce lignin in plants. Their technique could help lower the cost of converting biomass into carbon-neutral fuels to power your car and other sustainably developed bio-products.
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