Feature Channels: Agriculture

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New findings suggest soils exposed to salt release more greenhouse gas

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Some of the antibiotics we use end up in sewage sludge, together with a variety of antibiotic resistant bacteria present in feces.

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The Woodroofs developed methods still used today to grow, harvest and store crops. Also pioneers in their own right, they faced Depression-era economic difficulties, and later traveled to underdeveloped countries around the world to teach others how to process and preserve food.

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Engaging civil society and policy makers is essential for the future and mutual well-being both of people and insects.

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Genetic engineering makes cotton seeds safe for human consumption

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Currently, re-growing forests comprise roughly 21% of previously deforested areas in the Brazilian Amazon. However, these forests, referred to as secondary vegetation, have been little studied, despite occupying a total area similar to that of the United Kingdom.

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Scientists from the University of La Serena, Newcastle University, UK, and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile surveyed ranchers to find out what they thought were the drivers of conflict between people and guanacos (a wild camelid species closely related to the Llama).

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Five years ago, onion growers in New York state started reporting large incidents of premature leaf death in their fields. It affected nearly 75% of growers’ crops and put a dent in the state’s onion industry, which has a four-year average value of $44.7 million, based on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Researchers identified the culprit as Stemphylium leaf blight (SLB), a relatively new and increasingly devastating disease. In a recent study, researchers at Cornell AgriTech have identified better ways to manage SLB and use fungicide more effectively.

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Using an innovative genome sequencing technology, researchers assembled the complete genetic blueprint of two basmati rice varieties, including one that is drought-tolerant and resistant to bacterial disease. The findings, published in Genome Biology, also show that basmati rice is a hybrid of two other rice groups.

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Study shows improvement of soils and streams in the southern Appalachians

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The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center today announced the preliminary lineup of presentations and panel discussions by innovative thinkers for AgTech NEXT, the bold new food and agtech innovation summit will be held May 4 – 6, 2020 at the Danforth Center in St. Louis, MO.

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New research from the University of Notre Dame is shedding light on the unexpected effects climate change could have on regional instability and violent conflict.

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Wildfires significantly impact the health of economies in the western United States that are highly dependent on tourism, agriculture, and timber. David Blunck, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Oregon State University, has been selected by the U.S. Department of Defense to spearhead a $2.1 million study examining the burning behavior of live fuels in order to better predict and manage wildfires.

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Agricultural advances are primary culprit of the lost prairie

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Over the past few decades, Iowa’s agriculture has experienced a period of consistently high yields. The perfect distribution and timing of humidity, rainfall and heat have led to bumper crops of corn and soybeans. This “Goldilocks” period is partly due to global warming, but experts believe farmers shouldn’t expect it to last. In Physics Today, scientists Eugene Takle and William Gutowski describe the challenges farmers could expect to see to maintaining high yields if global warming continues along predicted trends.

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Soil scientists from Cornell and Rice Universities have dug around and found that although adding carbon organic matter to agricultural fields is usually advantageous, it may muddle the beneficial underground communication between legume plants and microorganisms.

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For the first time in more than 50 years, a joint team of Cuban and U.S. field scientists studied the water quality of twenty-five Cuban rivers and found little damage after centuries of sugarcane production. They also found nutrient pollution in Cuba’s rivers much lower than the Mississippi River. Cuba’s shift to conservation agriculture after the collapse of the Soviet Union—and reduced use of fertilizers on cropland—may be a primary cause.

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As the hemp industry grows, producers face the risk of cultivating a crop that can become unusable – and illegal – if it develops too much of the psychoactive chemical THC. Cornell University researchers have determined that a hemp plant’s propensity to ‘go hot’ – become too high in THC – is determined by genetics, not as a stress response to growing conditions, contrary to popular belief.

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The Southwest Harvest for Health pilot study pairs cancer survivors with local master gardeners who have been trained in gardening techniques that address New Mexico’s growing challenges. The pair will create a vegetable garden at the survivor’s home .

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Nearly everyone on Earth is familiar with corn. Literally. Around the world, each person eats an average of 70 pounds of the grain each year, with even more grown for animal feed and biofuel.

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It sizzles on the grill. But does it fizzle in terms of nutrition? That’s the question when it comes to the new burgers made of plant-based meat substitutes that are flying off grocery store shelves and restaurant tables.

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Traditional Chinese medicine used an herb, Stemona sessilifolia, as a remedy for parasitic infections. Researchers reporting in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry identified 10 compounds responsible for it's success.

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Many tomato growers are familiar with the scourge of bacterial canker – the wilted leaves and blistered fruit that can spoil an entire season’s planting. For those whose livelihoods depend on tomatoes, this pathogen – Clavibacter michiganensis – is economically devastating. In a new paper, Cornell University researchers showed that wild tomato varieties are less affected by bacterial canker than traditionally cultivated varieties.

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It's a staggering statistic — every year nearly 3 million cows in the U.S. die from health problems. And it's costing the cattle industry more than $1 billion. Could eyes in the sky be the answer? Jesse Hoagg, the Donald and Gertrude Lester Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kentucky, thinks so.

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Rising sea levels, a direct impact of the Earth’s warming climate, is intensifying coastal flooding. The findings of a new study show that the projected negative economy-wide effects of coastal flooding are already significant until 2050, but are then predicted to increase substantially towards the end of the century if no further climate action on mitigation and adaptation is taken.

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Bees are pollinators of many wild and crop plants, but in many places their diversity and density is declining.

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What do nutrients do for plants?

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Using a 22-year dataset of plant-caterpillar-parasitoid interactions collected within a patch of protected Costa Rican lowland Caribbean forest, scientists report declines in caterpillar and parasitoid diversity and density that are paralleled by losses in an important ecosystem service: biocontrol of herbivores by parasitoids.

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A team of West Virginia University experts wants to educate landowners, foresters and loggers on the nuances of southern sugarbush management.

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A new $2.5 million grant will help an interdisciplinary team of researchers analyze innovative approaches to improving urban sustainability. The team will study various approaches to bolstering local food production in Des Moines and the surrounding area and how those approaches could affect nutrition, waste and environmental impacts.

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Transferring genetic markers in plant breeding is a challenge, but a team of grapevine breeders and scientists at Cornell University have come up with a powerful new method that improves fruit quality and acts as a key defense against pests and a changing climate.

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Research shows tillage and vegetation can help alleviate compaction

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Researchers have identified a protein in foxtail millet that can help stave off atherosclerosis in mice genetically prone to the disease. They report their results in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

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A team of University of Florida scientists, in partnership with a team of Israeli researchers, is now looking into whether the gut bacteria of two invasive fruit fly species could hold the key to preventing future outbreaks.

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During the past 20 years, insecticides applied to U.S. agricultural landscapes have become significantly more toxic -- over 120-fold in some midwestern states -- to honey bees when ingested, according to a team of researchers, who identified rising neonicotinoid seed treatments in corn and soy as the primary driver of this change.

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The work of scientists from the Nebraska Food for Health Center, the Nebraska Center for Prevention of Obesity Diseases and the Food Allergen Research and Resource Center, along with a behavioral economist who studies food choice decisions, will be highlighted during Research Media Day at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Food Innovation Center.

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Winter-hardy hibiscus cultivars are what initially attracted Dariusz Malinowski, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant physiologist and breeder, to the world of flowers, but now he’s ready to splash a little tropical color into the market.

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Diversified crop rotations protect water quality and have other environmental benefits, but recent experiments show that farms can’t rely on such rotations to improve carbon storage in the soil. The findings contradict widely held expectations that the extensive root systems of perennials and cover crops would deposit carbon in soils.

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The first animal study of a pig virus’s potential to jump to another species shows that the virus, once introduced to a select group of birds, is easily transmitted to healthy chickens and turkeys.

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Soils releasing carbon as gas lead to challenges on valuable farmland

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The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center today announced the External Advisory Board (EAB) of AgTech NEXT, a bold new food and agtech innovation summit that will be held May 4 – 6, 2020 at the Danforth Center in St. Louis, MO. Members of the AgTech NEXT EAB are known for their impact and innovation and represent the diverse perspectives within the ag innovation community.

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The San Joaquin soil contributes billions of dollars toward the state’s economy.

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a plan to provide up to $75 million over five years for research to develop sustainable bioenergy crops tolerant of environmental stress and resilient to changing environmental conditions.

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Will robots someday replace farm workers? Do we want them to? Oregon State University College of Engineering agricultural robotics expert Joe Davidson talks about the potential benefits of using robots in agriculture, and what goes into designing the perfect robotic apple picker.

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Nematodes are tiny, ubiquitous roundworms that infect plant roots, causing more than $100 billion in crop damage worldwide each year.

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