A new CABI-led study has found that mass media campaigns aimed at changing pesticide use to fight crop pests and diseases are more effective when farmers are exposed to multiple forms of communication.
Aerial imagery is a valuable component of precision agriculture, providing farmers with important information about crop health and yield. Images are typically obtained with an expensive multispectral camera attached to a drone. But a new study from the University of Illinois and Mississippi State University (MSU) shows that pictures from a standard red-green-blue (RGB) camera combined with AI deep learning can provide equivalent crop prediction tools for a fraction of the cost.
Coffee is important to the economies of coffee producing regions. A study published in PLOS Climate by Doug Richardson at CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia and colleagues suggests that climate change may significantly affect land where coffee is cultivated.
The National Institutes of Health recently pledged $2.6 million towards the Center for C. elegans Anatomy, also known as WormAtlas. The center provides anatomical resources for researchers studying C. elegans, the tiny nematode worm that serves as a model organism for higher animals, including humans. Of the total award, $950,000 goes to co-principal investigator Nathan Schroeder of the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES).
Growing commercial crops on solar farms can both increase commercial food production and improve solar panel performance and longevity, according to new Cornell University research published in the journal Applied Energy.
The study, published in the journal Science, suggests that the harsh climate during the Pleistocene era resulted in the fragmentation of wild ecotypes, which paved the way for the domestication of grapevine about 11,000 years ago in the Near East (Israel) and the Caucasus.
Citrus, caramelized sugar, vinegary, puckering, sour, and solvent. These are just a handful of the 33 terms that researchers in the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences found after conducting a sensory descriptive analysis of hard cider. This lexicon didn’t previously exist for hard cider, and its development will aid producers in Virginia’s robust cider industry as well as anyone who chooses to enjoy these beverages. Producers will be able to describe their products with precision and clarity because of the study conducted in the Sensory Evaluation Lab at Virginia Tech.
Midwestern agriculture contributes the vast majority of nitrogen in the Gulf of Mexico, causing an oxygen-starved hypoxic zone and challenging coastal economies. State and federal policies have tried for decades to provide solutions and incentives, but the hypoxic zone keeps coming back.
The research groups led by Iowa State's Carmen Gomes and Jonathan Claussen will be part of a new coast-to-coast, industry-university research hub called the Center for Soil Technologies, or SoilTech. Researchers from four universities just launched the center with a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
New research led by the University of Delaware shows transnational agricultural large-scale land acquisitions (TALSLAs), and the forest loss associated with them, pose a threat to biodiversity in the Global South — broadly defined as the nations of the world with low levels of economic and industrial development that are typically located to the south of more industrialized nations.
The University of South Australia is ensuring that mental health and wellbeing remain a top priority in rural communities as a grassroots wellbeing and suicide prevention tool is launched today to support Australian farmers. The free online multimedia site – Taking Stock – has been designed by and for Australian farmers, to help them tackle the everyday struggles of living on the land.
Climate change isn’t the only threat facing California’s birds. Over the course of the 20th century, urban sprawl and agricultural development have dramatically changed the landscape of the state, forcing many native species to adapt to new and unfamiliar habitats.
A new study shows that a 2018 California bill banning routine antibiotic use in livestock is linked with reduction in some antibiotic-resistant infections
Calves’ well-being, including their physical and emotional health, is always top of mind for those in the dairy industry, particularly during the weaning stage.
Lecturers of the Faculty of Science, and the Center of Learning Network for Region (CLNR) Chulalongkorn University successfully planted trees in the forests in Nan and Saraburi provinces through innovative seedlings with ectomycorrhiza fungi, motivating villagers and farmers to “plant trees and get mushrooms”, for extra income.
Betalains are a class of plant pigments that are responsible for the characteristic red-violet (betacyanin) or yellow (betaxanthin) color of certain fruits and vegetables.
Groups of spiders could be used as an environmentally-friendly way to protect crops against agricultural pests. That's according to new research, led by the University of Portsmouth, which suggests that web-building groups of spiders can eat a devastating pest moth of commercially important crops like tomato and potato worldwide.
A new Iowa State University research project will explore how to grow crops and keep bees amid solar panels. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, most of the research will be conducted a few miles south of Ames, where Alliant Energy plans to begin construction in April on a 1.35 megawatt solar farm.
When a devastating disease wiped out New Jersey farmers' basil fields, growers turned to Rutgers scientists for help. Fields of Devotion, a science-in-action film, follows the unique partnership between local farmers and Rutgers scientists.
Vegans and vegetarians have long argued their approach to eating is the kindest—to animals and to our planet. But new research from the University of Georgia suggests that might not actually be the case. The paper found that a diet of mostly plants with local and humanely raised meat is likely the most ethical way to eat if we want to save the environment and protect human rights.
Scientists have for the first time constructed the reference genome for the source of the popular fibre supplement, psyllium husk, which could boost supplies of the versatile plant-derived product.
A fungus that plagues rice crops worldwide gains entry to plant cells in a way that leaves it vulnerable to simple chemical blockers, a discovery that could lead to new fungicides to reduce the substantial annual losses of rice and other valuable cereals.
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) scientists explore key issues such as water supply and extreme weather events, like drought, through the laboratory’s energy and environmental research efforts.
Susanne Wengle has been following the effects of the war on Ukrainian agriculture, the products of which account for roughly 40 percent of the country’s export earnings.
Harrison Hall spends a lot of time staring at fungus. A senior in Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois, Hall has worked for two years in a research lab studying the fungus responsible for a devastating wheat disease. For the former IT professional, it’s perhaps an odd passion, but it came naturally after Hall entered the PRECS program through Parkland College and U of I.
The U.S. is a major world supplier of cotton, exporting much of the production to markets in Asia, where it goes into textile manufacturing. However, growing competition from Brazil and the effects of recent trade policies are shifting global market trends. A new study from the University of Illinois investigates how U.S. cotton exports are impacted by these patterns.
Around 12,000 years ago, the Neolithic revolution radically changed the economy, diet and structure of the first human societies in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East.
Bing Yang, PhD, member and principal investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and professor of plant science, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri – Columbia, has been elected as a 2022 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for his distinguished contributions to plant gene editing and understanding plant disease.
Scientists from the University of Minnesota’s GEMS Informatics Center, and CABI’s Dr Roger Day, Global Advisor, Plant Health, have highlighted how almost the entire African maize crop is grown in areas with climates that support seasonal infestations of the pest.
The development of stimuli-responsive polymers has brought about a wealth of material-related opportunities for next-generation small-scale, wirelessly controlled soft-bodied robots.
Early exposure to pesticides can affect health later in life, including negative effects to the nervous and endocrine systems in the body. The SWCPEH has partnered with promotores, or community health workers, from Familias Triunfadoras Inc. to educate the local migrant farmworker community. These underserved communities often have poor access to basic necessities and are most in need of preventative and routine health care.
Michigan State University researchers have solved a puzzle that could help switchgrass realize its full potential as a low-cost, sustainable biofuel crop and curb our dependence on fossil fuels.
A University of Queensland-led study has shown that expanding global seaweed farming could go a long way to addressing the planet’s food security, biodiversity loss and climate change challenges.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative awarded a two-year grant for Advancing Imaging Through Collaborative Projects to Kirk Czymmek, PhD, director of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center’s Advanced Bioimaging Laboratory, Michele Darrow of Rosalind Franklin Institute, and Paul Verkade of the University of Bristol, along with an international team of eight additional scientists.
The North American Plant Phenotyping Network (NAPPN), a partner of the International Plant Phenotyping Network (IPPN), will host its annual conference at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center February 13–17.
A new IIASA policy brief outlines the recommendations, tools, and key findings of the FACE-Africa project, co-developed with Gambian food system stakeholders to help the country adapt to climate change and ensure sufficient healthy food for its people.
The EU regularly exports large quantities of poultry meat to West African countries. These exports have been criticized for harming importing countries in West Africa and exacerbating poverty there.
The composition of foodstuffs, but also the sequence of dishes, is important for the perfect taste experience of a menu. This insight, based on experience, is well known.
In a new study, University of Illinois scientists demonstrate a way to accurately map tilled land in real time by integrating ground, airborne, and satellite imagery.