With less than 5% of native vegetation remaining on private properties and roadsides on the Yorke Peninsula of South Australia, University of South Australia researchers are calling for dramatic changes to land management measures in order to retain native ecosystems and prevent further biodiversity loss.
An invasion of apple snail could be “disastrous” for rice production and food security in Kenya as well as other rice growing regions across Africa, according to a new CABI-led study published in the journal Pest Management Science.
Grocery shoppers may have recently noticed that strawberries seem to be closer to the size of small apples. According to one Virginia Tech expert there are reasons for this change and it doesn’t include injecting them with chemicals to get the larger than life fruit. Jayesh Samtani, a small fruit expert at Virginia Tech, researches how to optimize berry production and determine the kinds that grow best in certain regions.
Approximately a third of all anthropogenic methane is emitted by ruminant livestock. These animals get nutrients through fermenting food in four-chambered stomachs found in cows, sheep, and goats.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Disaster Assessment and Recovery, DAR, unit is expanding its statewide disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts following the appropriations to support the “Keeping Texas Prepared” initiative in the 88th legislative session.
Since the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) approved the use of ultrasound to promote the extraction of grape compounds back in 2019, its application for obtaining superior red wines has been studied extensively.
Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists are studying how pollen diversity affects the nutritional quality of honeybee diets, including asking foundational questions about how nutrition can sustain healthier colonies.
Researchers from the University of Notre Dame, in a study recently published in Nature, found that removing invasive vegetation at water access points in and around several Senegalese villages reduced rates of schistosomiasis by almost a third. As a bonus, the removed vegetation can also be used for compost and livestock feed.
Food waste is a major problem around the world. In the United States, an estimated 30 to 40% of edible food is lost or wasted, costing billions of dollars each year.
Dana Porter, PE, knew from an early age, living and working on her family’s farm in the Texas Panhandle, how agriculture production impacted the world around her.
The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN²), a technology incubator and platform funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), announced today it selected seven startups to participate in the program’s 12th cohort.
The 69th annual Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course in Bryan-College Station will offer some cutting-edge information and ranch technology, along with basic beef cattle production information.
For those whose primary experience with corn is the butter-drenched cob variety, it might come as a surprise that other forms of sweet corn are in trouble. A new University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign analysis shows sweet corn production for frozen and canned products has been steadily shrinking in the U.S. over the past 27 years, particularly in rainfed portions of the Midwest.
The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University will host United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack at the Universal Food Forum on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, through its organics program, will lead the Texas Transition to Organic Partnership Program, or Texas TOPP, designed to recruit, train, mentor and advise farmers who want to transition to organic production.
How will future climate change affect nitrogen loss, and will cover crops still be effective in removing nitrogen from drainage water? A new study investigating near- and far-term climate change in Illinois suggests cover crops will still be beneficial, but not to the same degree. The report also forecasts major declines in corn production across the state in the future.
The School of Agricultural Resources, Chulalongkorn University, organized the opening ceremony of the “Innovation Center for Research and Development of Sustainable Thai Cocoa: ISTC” on Thursday, May 18, 2023, at Room 702, Chaloem Rajakumari 60th Anniversary Building (Chamchuri 10 Building), Chulalongkorn University. Prof. Dr. Chakkaphan Sutthirat, Vice President for Chula Research Affairs, presided over the event and delivered the opening speech. During the event, a speech titled “Passion & Vision in ISTC” was given, after which Asst. Prof. Dr. Tansiphorn Na Nan, Head of the “Innovation for Cocoa Value Chain Management in the Cocoa Business Ecosystem, Nan Province” project discussed the missions of ISTC.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has funded a new Texas A&M AgriLife Research project expected to bring researchers even closer to developing the “holy grail” of tomatoes.
With a push to the future for farmers to grow renewable energy plants, limited water is a challenge. A Texas A&M AgriLife-led team is addressing that issue by evaluating biobased feedstock cropping systems with both water and carbon resiliency.
Researchers investigated how large-scale urbanization and irrigation in the United States affect the three dominant types of summer precipitation in the mid-Atlantic region. They found that urbanization suppresses all three types of precipitation. Irrigation enhances non-convective and isolated deep convection precipitation, and its effects on mesoscale convective systems (MCS) depends on whether an MCS formed locally or remotely.
Exploding populations of wild pigs and macaque monkeys in Southeast Asia are threatening native forests and disease outbreaks in livestock and people, according to research led by The University of Queensland.
A new study revealing that huge expansions of extensive large-scale agriculture is making the South American plains more vulnerable to widespread flooding should act as a “wake-up call”, say researchers.
The joint research team of Dr. Namgoo Kang from the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) and Dr. Minseok Kang from the National Center for Agro Meteorology (NCAM) developed a novel technology that enhances the reliability of measurement of methane emissions from rice paddy fields.
In its simplest form, popcorn is pretty uncomplicated. Most supermarket varieties offer the choice of two kernel colors, yellow or white, and two kernel shapes, pointed or pearl. When popped, the flake typically expands into one of two shapes: mushroom or butterfly. But there’s more to popcorn than meets the eye. New research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign reveals a wealth of untapped diversity lurking in popcorn’s genetic code.
Multiflora rose may sound like a bountiful variant of the classic flowering bush, but its unexpected white blooms and red berries conceal one of Mother Nature’s sinister surprises: The invasive shrub is a thorny foe that threatens native plants in more than 40 states, including West Virginia and neighboring Pennsylvania.
Northeastern and central Illinois are now experiencing severe drought, as dry conditions persist across the state in the second week of June, causing soil moisture levels to drop and record-low water levels in some areas of the Illinois River.
Computer scientists at DePaul University applied a bioinformatics workflow to reconstruct one of the most complete genomes of a top cotton species. Experts say the results give scientists a more complete picture of how wild cotton was domesticated over time and may help to strengthen and protect the crop for farmers in the U.S., Africa and beyond.
For the first time, researchers have developed a genome-scale way to map the regulatory role of transcription factors, proteins that play a key role in gene expression and determining a plant’s physiological traits. Their work reveals unprecedented insights into gene regulatory networks and identifies a new library of DNA parts that can be used to optimize plants for bioenergy and agriculture.
Rice that is resistant to some of the worst crop-destroying diseases but can still produce large yields could soon become a reality for farmers worldwide. A University of Adelaide researcher is part of an international team which has identified a new gene variant in a type of rice that can be modified to improve the performance of the crop.
New research by an international team of researchers sheds light on the challenges and opportunities facing the African continent in securing sufficient food supplies with a particular focus on rice.
Green Bronx Machine will welcome Con Edison, community members, local officials, students, parents, and guests from Google to tour the newly-reopened Con Edison Claremont Village Community Garden at CS55.
A new study published in the CABI Agriculture and Bioscience journal has revealed a willingness of smallholder papaya farmers in Kenya to reduce their chemical pesticide use to fight the papaya mealybug (Paracoccus marginatus).
If urban landfills disappear under the new European regulation, some endangered birds such as the Egyptian vulture will need alternatives to their feeding patterns in order to survive in the future.
New research looks at how crop production shocks – sudden crop declines – are affected by variations in planted and harvested areas. The research shows climate extremes explain a substantial portion of these shocks and that strategic crop planting can be an important form of climate adaptation.
Bioenergy crops such as miscanthus and switchgrass provide several environmental benefits, but low returns and profit risks are barriers for investment by farmers. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign shows that carbon mitigation payments could increase net returns and reduce income risk, potentially enticing more farmers to grow these crops.
A team of scientists – including UC Irvine’s Distinguished Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Brandon Gaut and UC Davis’ Professors of Viticulture & Enology Dario Cantù and Andy Walker – has made a significant breakthrough in the battle against a devastating disease affecting grapevines.
As we enter the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere and the possibility of extreme heat becomes more common, it’s important to stay up-to-date on the science of heat waves and take measures to protect ourselves from this growing public health threat.
Many people study photosynthesis in plant leaves, but since the pods and immature seeds (edamame) of soybean plants are also green, they are receiving chlorophyll and should be studied as well. Researchers with the RIPE Project discovered that chlorophyll in soybean pods plays a vital role in the plant’s photosynthetic process and significantly contributes to soybean yield.
Meat processing plants in the U.S. have garnered considerable public attention in recent years, often focusing on production and labor issues. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the vulnerability of large, concentrated plants, as major shutdowns led to reduced output and higher meat prices for consumers. Policy makers have launched initiatives at the state and federal levels to increase meat processing capacity and industry resilience, often favoring small and medium-sized plants. But little research exists to determine what factors make plants more likely to succeed. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looks at meat processing plants across the United States, aiming to identify characteristics associated with plant survival and provide crucial information for legislators.
Cultural exchanges and interbreeding between African hunter-gatherers, Neolithic European farmers, and East-Saharan herders shaped changes in lifestyles, cultural expression and genetic makeup in the Maghreb between 5500 and 4500 BC, according to a study published today in Nature.
In collaboration with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Binghamton University, State University of New York has announced a New Educational and Research Alliance (New ERA) with six historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs): Alabama A&M University, Central State University, Tuskegee University, Prairie-View A&M University, the University of the District of Columbia and Virginia State University.