Feature Channels: Agriculture

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Students have built two 10X10-foot air-conditioned walk-in packing sheds on the university farm that will keep produce fresh for market.

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As fat summer tomatoes dangle in profusion from vines in gardens and farms across the country, researchers at Wake Forest University are looking for a way to make future harvests hold up better against drought or lack of nutrients.

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More than 100 years after an explorer first brought yellow-flowered alfalfa from Siberia to North America, South Dakota State University scientists are exploring one of his century-old ideas: use yellow-flowered alfalfa to boost the nutrition in semiarid grasslands.

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A team of scientists from USDA and a cooperating company are working to make corn-derived plastics more heat tolerant—research that may broaden the range of applications for which these plastics could be used as an alternative to petroleum-based plastics.

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Genetic diversity in lima beans is sharply reduced from wild populations

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Tests of the potential vaccine against “Ich” ― the dreaded “white-spot” disease that plagues fish in commercial fish farms, public aquariums, pet fish retail outlets and home aquariums ― are raising hopes for finally controlling the disease, scientists reported here today at the 240th national Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

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Proponents of organic farming often speak of nature's balance in ways that sound almost spiritual, prompting criticism that their views are unscientific and naïve. At the other end of the spectrum are those who see farms as battlefields where insect pests and plant diseases must be vanquished with the magic bullets of modern agriculture: pesticides, fungicides and the like.

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Health conscious consumers who hesitate at the price of fresh blueberries and blackberries, fruits renowned for high levels of healthful antioxidants, now have an economical alternative. It is black rice, one variety of which got the moniker “Forbidden Rice” in ancient China because nobles commandeered every grain for themselves and forbade the common people from eating it. Scientists will present the study at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.

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Scientists at the 240th American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting & Exposition today described development and successful initial tests on a substance that acts as a sunscreen for the microscopic spores of a fungus, brightening prospects for wider use of the fungus as a means of wiping out insect pests that attack food crops.

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Blood hounds may soon have a new partner ― disease detector dogs ― thanks to an unusual experiment in which scientists trained mice to identify feces of ducks infected with bird flu. Reported at the American Chemical Society’s 240th National Meeting, the study may pave the way for development of biosensors-on-four-feet that warn of infection with influenza and other diseases.

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Many pharmaceuticals have a lot in common with herbicides. In fact, for years most pharmaceutical companies had accompanying agrochemical divisions. When particular biological functions are targeted by a chemical compound, it could apply both to humans and to plants, as in the case of a fungicide. A compound developed as a pharmaceutical has at times found a better use as an herbicide or pesticide, and vice versa.

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In a study that promises to fill in the fine details of the plant world's blueprint for surviving drought, a team of Wisconsin researchers has identified in living plants the set of proteins that help them withstand water stress.

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Scientists today reported the first evidence that eating blueberries, strawberries, and acai berries may help the aging brain stay healthy in a crucial but previously unrecognized way. Their study, presented at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), concluded that berries, and possibly walnuts, activate the brain’s natural “housekeeper” mechanism, which cleans up and recycles toxic proteins linked to age-related memory loss and other mental decline.

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Scientists develop framework to monitor second-generation transgenic crops.

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Scientists in Japan are busy zapping potatoes and, as a result, the fifth most popular food consumed around the world may one day become an even more healthful vegetable. The researchers reported their results at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) being held here this week.

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Reducing the runoff from plant nutrients that can eventually wash into the Chesapeake Bay could someday be as easy as checking the weather forecast, thanks in part to work by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists.

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Have wheat breeders reached the maximum potential for grain yield?

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Arsenic in food supplements passes through chickens, then passes through the field.

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Web-based tool helps farmers reduce greenhouse gas losses and gain economic advantage.

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Scientists at the University of Arkansas and their colleagues have found populations of wild plants with genes from genetically modified canola in the United States.

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Apathetic aphids – which become accustomed to ignoring genetically engineered chemical alarms in plants and alarms sent by fellow aphids – become easy prey for ladybugs. That’s good news for farmers, according to researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research and Cornell University.

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Beautiful wildflowers might someday be planted in "bee pastures," floral havens created as an efficient, practical, environmentally friendly, and economically sound way to produce successive generations of healthy young bees. The pesticide-free pastures could be simple to establish, and--at perhaps only a half-acre each--easy to tend, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) entomologist James H. Cane.

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A simple and inexpensive demonstration of soil water retention and field capacity.

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Long-term study digs up new information on biochar’s ability to reduce nitrous oxide emissions from soils

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Finding strong differences in how Kentucky bluegrass varieties stand up to wear.

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Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-funded scientists have conducted an animal-model and cell-culture study showing that white button mushrooms enhanced the activity of critical cells in the body’s immune system.

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The University of Adelaide has established a new research institute to help overcome the major threats facing world agricultural production.

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Shade-grown coffee farms support native bees that help maintain the health of some of the world's most biodiverse tropical regions, according to a study by a University of Michigan biologist and a colleague at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Procedure will improve research in plant nutrient uptake, organic matter decomposition, and production of greenhouse gases.

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A new organization will link African agricultural professionals abroad and in Africa together to strengthen the continent’s agricultural and rural development.

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A research team examined 618 articles from five North American newspapers using the content analysis technique. The analysis found 41.4 percent of the articles had a neutral tone toward organic agriculture and food, 36.9 percent had a positive tone, 15.5 percent were mixed and 6.1 percent were negative.

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Fast-growing farm-raised salmon and trout that are sterile can now be produced using a method developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists. Blocking reproduction can enhance growth, and is important for fish being reared in situations where reproduction is undesirable.

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K-State research team using gene-silencing nanoparticles to deliver dsRNA into mosquito larvae to make developing insects more susceptible to pesticides.

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Researchers discover cassava varieties that resist post-harvest deterioration, which will benefit farmers in developing countries.

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Changes in soil microbial communities reduce plant decomposition rates and affect carbon cycling

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Crop and food industries will benefit from a new $31 million biotechnology Center of Excellence to be headquartered at the University of Adelaide's Waite Campus.

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Armed with dart guns and medical pellets, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are vaccinating bison in and around Yellowstone National Park against brucellosis.

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Report documents the status of cotton seed collections across eight countries.

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Scientists compile field studies across U.S. to identify influences on biomass yield.

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There's no substantial quality difference between organically and conventionally produced eggs. That's one of a number of findings in an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) study examining various aspects of egg quality.

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Scientists analyze root-to-shoot ratios in seedlings to estimate future yield and response to water stress.

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Scientists examine the absorption potential of decomposing plant materials

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A team of researchers from Washington State University and the University of Georgia have found that organic farming increases biodiversity among beneficial, pest-killing predators and pathogens. In potato crops, this led to fewer insect pests and larger potato plants.

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New research by UC Davis wheat geneticist Jorge Dubcovsky and his colleagues could lead to new strategies for improving freezing tolerance in wheat, which provides more than one-fifth of the calories consumed by people around the world.

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New research identifies greater molecular diversity in commercial Virginia-type peanut cultivars, useful for disease resistance.

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Study examines the effects of a one-time tillage on yield and soil structure in no-till crop production

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Anaerobic manure treatment lagoons may release more methane that current rules allow.

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Scientific journal features research on how water moves through soil and bedrock

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Grassed waterways including compost filter socks reduce soil erosion and herbicide concentrations from fields.

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Using soil structure and chemistry to define yield influences.