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.
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.
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.
In Wyoming, about $4 million worth of rangeland cattle and sheep were lost to predators in 2005. Using a computerized model, researchers have now simulated an individual ranch’s economic impact of livestock losses to predators such as wolves and coyotes. Both short-term profitability and long-term viability were found to be affected by predation.
This summer, Donald Sparks, S. Hallock du Pont Chair in Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Delaware and director of the Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN), will receive the Liebig Award from the International Union of Soil Sciences for outstanding contributions in soil science research, revealing new discoveries, techniques, inventions, or materials related to soils and the environment.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), and Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (C-FARE) will sponsor a briefing on agricultural adaptation to climate change on June 16th, in Washingtion, D.C.
Iowa State University researchers are testing between-row cover grasses as part of research looking at ways to reduce soil runoff and keep vital nutrients in the soils while crop residue, called stover, is removed from farm fields to produce biofuels. With U.S. government targets requiring a 30 percent displacement of petroleum consumption with fuels made from biomass by the year 2030, agronomy researchers are studying methods of harvesting more and more stover, which previously was left on the field.
By unlocking the genetic secrets of sorghum, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found a way to make one of the world’s most important cereal crops a better option for growers.
American Society of Agronomy and Cereal System Initiative for South Asia launch certification to benefit millions of farmers with increased productivity.
South Dakota State University research shows a traditional Asian flatbread called chapathi, or chapati, gets a big boost in protein and fiber when fortified with food-grade distillers grains.
Carbon dioxide emissions from agricultural activity in the United States can now be tracked with unprecedented resolution because of a method developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
To help tomorrow’s cut flowers and potted plants stay fresh longer, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) plant physiologist Cai-Zhong Jiang is investigating the gene-controlled mechanisms of plants' aging.
Using cover crops to prevent nitrogen leaching into waterways and reduce soil erosion; future research points to integration of legume cover crops with synthetic fertilizer.
Scientists use genetic fingerprints to protect maize farmers from mistaken or stolen seed identity by distinguishing strains of open pollinated varities from each other.
Sweet corn growers will lose their principal method of weed control and be faced with increased expenses if use of the herbicide atrazine is eliminated as a result of a comprehensive re-evaluation being carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Potatoes come in all shapes, sizes and colors-including tubers with red, yellow, orange and purple flesh. This diversity also applies to phytonutrients, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Prosser, Wash., are discovering.
Conventional wisdom has long held that grazing livestock on rangelands in good to excellent condition is the most productive, both ecologically and economically. However, ranchers generally maintain a lower level of range condition and neither profitability nor sustainability have been negatively affected.
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are tapping into the biochemistry of one of the world’s most damaging insect pests to develop a biocontrol agent that may keep the pest away from gardens and farms.
A team of scientists estimated net global warming potential for three grazing management systems located in central North Dakota. The results indicate that grazinglands are strong sinks of soil organic carbon and minor sinks of methane, but small to moderate sources of nitrous oxide.
Algae--already being eyed for biofuel production--could be put to use right away to remove nitrogen and phosphorus in livestock manure runoff, according to an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist.
A North Carolina State University study shows that out-of-work agricultural laborers from small farms that do not provide unemployment insurance spend fewer weeks unemployed and then earn less than other workers when rehired.
Using herbicides to sterilize rather than to kill weedy grasses might be a more economical and environmentally sound weed control strategy, according to a study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and a cooperator.
Stem canker caused by a fungus, can severely create losses in soybean crop yield. Midwestern and north central regions of the United States and Ontario, Canada were plagued by the northern fungus in the late 1940s and early 1950s that was eradicated. Southern stem canker arose in the 1970s and continues to be a significant problem. The northern fungus now appears to have returned.
The Titan Arum, known as the Corpse Flower, housed in the Western Illinois University Botany Greenhouse began blooming during the afternoon and evening hours Sunday, May 2.
Researchers investigate the use of fossil fuels in different cropping systems. Two-rotations of corn/soybean are compared to more diverse three and four-year rotations. Fossil energy is reduced with more diverse cropping systems and manure application, but labor costs increase.
Scientists use a new version of the Root Zone Water Quality Model to estimate unsaturated zone nitrogen mass balances at four agricultural fields. The new version of the model can make predictions down to 30 meters, enabling estimation of water quality effects well beyond the root zone.