From Lotion to Ocean Liner
University of DelawareAn eco-friendly technology for greener cosmetics and cleaner engine lubricants, made from approximately 50 percent biomass (grasses, corn husks, wood chips, etc.) and 50 percent common cooking oil.
An eco-friendly technology for greener cosmetics and cleaner engine lubricants, made from approximately 50 percent biomass (grasses, corn husks, wood chips, etc.) and 50 percent common cooking oil.
Digital innovations in agriculture, including robots, drones and artificial intelligence (AI), are part of a new arsenal of tools plant breeders are using to feed the world’s population. The Cornell Initiative for Digital Agriculture (CIDA) leverages digital innovations in agriculture to improve the sustainability, profitability, resiliency and efficiency of the world’s food systems.
The trick to boosting crops in drought-prone, food-insecure areas of West Africa could be a ubiquitous native shrub that persists in the toughest of growing conditions. Growing these shrubs side-by-side with the food crop millet increased millet production by more than 900 percent.
In a newly published study, researchers dug into how fertilizing with manure affects soil quality, compared with inorganic fertilizer.
Hungry Formosan termites farm antibiotics from their homes, which they make from their own recycled fecal waste, new University of Florida research shows. These beneficial bacteria make the destructive bugs immune to natural control methods.
Iowa State and Florida engineers are developing a system of "bury-and-forget" soil sensors connected to a wireless, data-collection network. Data collected by the system will help the engineers build better models of the interactions of fertilizer, soil and crops and could help reduce fertilizer use.
With the updated technology, a laser shoots infra-red energy pulses at citrus tree leaves. That energy cracks the cuticles on the leaves and increases the penetration of agrochemicals – including bactericides -- into the leaves by more than 4,000 percent.
Researchers have found a natural way to help plants retain water, using a strain of beneficial bacteria living right in the soil around the plant roots. The goal is to use this microbe on a larger scale to combat droughts and increase crop yields.
The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef and one of Australia's top tourist destinations, but its coral colonies have been dying at a startling rate in recent years and scientists believe that high levels of nitrogen in reef waters have played a role in the crisis.
Climate change hits home. It’s where you live. A warming world affects the Northeast region, and to demonstrate, the Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions (CICSS) has developed a new online tool: Climate Change in Your County.
A small beetle can cause big losses to bean crops. But a new study has narrowed down the genetic locations of several weevil resistance genes in the common bean.
Electrical engineer Koichi Takaki has used nanosecond-long pulses of high-voltage electricity and discharge plasma -- like that found in lightning -- to promote the growth of fruits, vegetables and edible fungi and to preserve the freshness of a variety perishable foods. Takaki will describe his findings at the AVS 65th International Symposium and Exhibition, Oct. 21-26.
Several Panhandle counties are facing similar circumstances to that found in Jackson County, said Judy Biss, director of UF/IFAS Extension Calhoun County.
Rising sea levels driven by climate change make for salty soil, and that is likely to force about 200,000 coastal farmers in Bangladesh inland as glaciers melt into the world’s oceans, according to estimates from a new study.
Preliminary research results suggest that young, HLB-affected trees benefit most from a “full ration” of water, a finding that surprised researchers.
Aspergillus fungi play roles in fields including bioenergy, health, and biotechnology. In Nature Genetics, a team led by scientists at the Technical University of Denmark, the DOE Joint Genome Institute, and the Joint Bioenergy Institute, present the first large analysis of an Aspergillus fungal subgroup, section Nigri.
Special issue of peer-reviewed journal addresses key questions in food systems planning efforts.
Grant support underwrites programs that include feeding a hungry world, improving nutrition among at-risk populations and ensuring sufficient safe water for a growing global population.
Ground penetrating radar measures the amount of moisture in soil quickly and easily. Researchers' calculations from the data informs agricultural water use and climate models.
Rice, the most widely consumed food crop in the world, takes a beating in hot weather. To combat the high temperatures, a global group of scientists, led by a University of Florida researcher, has found the genetic basis to breed a more heat-tolerant rice cultivar.
Dr. Keerti Rathore, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant biotechnologist, received word that Texas A&M’s “Petition for Determination of Non-regulated Status for Ultra-Low Gossypol Cottonseed TAM66274” has been approved by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Northern Arizona University professor Joe Busch studies the ticks that carry cattle fever, where were largely eradicated in the United States but are crossing the southern border and infecting cattle.
Lauren Diepenbrock works as the lead citrus extension entomologist focused on integrated pest management (IPM) programs at the Citrus Research and Education Center.
For the first time, a Cornell study of strawberry crops on New York farms tested this theory and found that wildflower strips on farms added pollinators when the farm lay within a “Goldilocks zone,” where 25 to 55 percent of the surrounding area contained natural lands. Outside this zone, flower plantings also drew more strawberry pests, while having no effect on wasps that kill those pests.
Adopting benchmarks similar to the fuel-efficiency standards used by the auto industry in the production of fertilizer could yield $5-8 billion in economic benefits for the U.S. corn sector alone, researchers have concluded in a new analysis.
FAU I-SENSE and K-Rain, a third generation privately-held company, have entered into a three-phase partnership to work on intelligent irrigation components that will be sold throughout major distribution channels.
Have you noticed wavy bands of soil along roads or paths? The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) Oct. 15 Soils Matter blog explains these horizontal soil waves and the unusual way they form.
“We want to enable farmers to produce more cocoa from less land,” said Dr. Howard Shapiro, Chief Agricultural Officer of Mars. “Benson Hill has built an impressive data and machine learning platform designed to provide insights that can improve crops faster.
Factors like how seeds are spaced when planting or soil moisture can affect the yield and nutritional value of crops. Scientists at the American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society annual meeting will discuss these factors and more.
The George Washington University has experts available to discuss the recently released report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Not only are pumpkins cool as a front porch decoration, they're healthy to eat, especially they're seeds.
Scientists develop edge-of-field practices so growers can keep the early planting offered by the tile drains while protecting nearby streams–and the Gulf of Mexico–from nitrate contamination.
Researchers from WVU have teamed up with collaborators at Lawrence Livermore National Lab to predict the future of these effects on Earth’s forest ecosystems and understand why soil under some tree species gain more carbon in response to nitrogen deposition than others.
Sustainable intensification is an approach that aims to increase crop yields on existing agricultural land while minimizing the negative environmental pressures and impacts of agricultural systems. Scientists at the American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society annual meeting will present a special symposium, “Sustainable Intensification for Improved Food Production and Environmental Quality.”
The state of Florida spent $365 million on springs’ restoration over the last seven years, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Given the value Florida puts on its springs, Xiang Bi led a study in which she and her colleagues wanted to estimate the recreational benefits for springs’ users.
A team of West Virginia University researchers are investigating the impact of the Clean Air Act on soil and tree growth in the eastern U.S.
An estimated three-quarters of the water used by farms, ranches and dairies in California originates as snow in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, but the future viability of that resource is projected to be at heightened risk due to global climate change.
When is an autumn hay ride not a hay ride? The October 7th Sustainable, Secure Food blog explains the difference between hay and straw--and what you're really sitting on during those farm adventures.
Water quality is threatened by a long history of fertilizer use on land, Canadian scientists find
Crops being irrigated with an overhead irrigation system.10/03/2018By Jennifer MatthewsUNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Global sustainability is important now more than ever due to increasing urban populations and the resulting stress it can have on natural resources. But increased populations in cities may lead to greater efficiency, as a team of Penn State researchers discovered when they analyzed the water footprint of 65 mid- to large-sized U.
A Rutgers University–New Brunswick-led team of researchers is calling for the creation of a global microbiota vault to protect the long-term health of humanity. Such a Noah’s Ark of beneficial germs would be gathered from human populations whose microbiomes are uncompromised by antibiotics, processed diets and other ill effects of modern society, which have contributed to a massive loss of microbial diversity and an accompanying rise in health problems. The human microbiome includes the trillions of microscopic organisms that live in and on our bodies, contributing to our health in a myriad of ways.
Satellites and other remote technology are able to gather information as varied as soil moisture, crop yields, and growing conditions. How will this improve food security world-wide? The Special Session Symposium, “Advances in the Use of Earth Observations for Crop Modeling and Monitoring for Food Security,” will address the topic.
Crop breeders are developing a biofortified wheat that could make proper nutrition easier.
Sea lettuce, a fast-growing seaweed that spawns massive “green tides,” is a prolific thief, according to research that for the first time sequenced the genome of a green seaweed
Farmers and agronomists must continue to focus on yield when creating their management plans, as the world’s population keeps growing. However, environmental quality–especially water and soil quality–deserve as much focus as yield. Scientists present their findings with this environmental focus in agriculture.
Scientists from the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) and Cornell have boosted a carbon-craving enzyme called RuBisCO to turbocharge photosynthesis in corn. The discovery promises to be a key step in improving agricultural efficiency and yield, according to new research in Nature Plants, Oct. 1.
CSUMB and the Grower-Shipper Association Foundation will host a forum entitled "The Farm of the Future: Agriculture Careers in Energy, Sustainability and Technology" October 3, 2018 at CSUMB.
A new study makes it clear that the constant threat of crop parasites repeatedly pushed evolution in strikingly similar directions in ants, creating structures that helped the ants reinforce their partnership with bacteria.