Feature Channels: Agriculture

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A survey of ranchers shows that those who do not use rotational grazing see water and labor as major barriers to adopting the conservation practice.

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To deflect future world food crises created by climate change, a Cornell University-led international group has created a road map for global agricultural and food systems innovation.

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The unique partnership between root-dwelling microbes and the plants they inhabit can reduce drought stress.

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Older crops like Madsen wheat have lasting legacy

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The findings of a new report suggest that integrated strategies across food production, biodiversity, climate, and diets can meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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A team of Cornell University scientists will use acoustic technology to develop efficient and affordable ways to manage soil-dwelling pests and their predators, thanks to a two-year grant from the USDA.

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Research shows nitrogen efficiency and productivity not a tradeoff

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Growing crops in stony soils can be challenging, but feasible

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A common insecticide that is a major hazard for honeybees is now effectively detected in honey thanks to a simple new method.

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An international research collaboration, including scientists from the University of Adelaide’s Waite Research Institute, has unlocked new genetic variation in wheat and barley – a major boost for the global effort in breeding higher-yielding wheat and barley varieties.

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Soos Technology, a poultry biotechnology startup based in Israel, won the $1 million grand prize in the Grow-NY competition, a global challenge focused on strengthening food and agriculture innovation in upstate New York.

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A research team led by the University of Washington and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has shown that microbes taken from trees growing beside pristine mountain-fed streams in Western Washington could make phosphorus trapped in soils more accessible to agricultural crops.

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A Cornell University project will develop worm-like, soil-swimming robots to sense and record soil properties, water, the soil microbiome and how roots grow.

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A $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy will benefit Mississippi State researchers in the university’s Forest and Wildlife Research Center studying the economic and ecological benefits of growing trees for biofuel production.

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A multi-institution team co-led by a Cornell University researcher has identified the genetic mechanisms that enable the production of a deadly toxin called Victorin – the causal agent for Victoria blight of oats, a disease that wiped out oat crops in the U.S. in the 1940s.

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A new study details the latest efforts to predict traits in corn based on genomics and data analytics. The data management technique could help to “turbo charge” the seemingly endless amount of genetic stocks contained in the world’s seed banks, leading to faster and more efficient development of new crop varieties.

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Blame it on the bison. If not for the wooly, boulder-sized beasts that once roamed North America in vast herds, ancient people might have looked past the little barley that grew under those thundering hooves. But the people soon came to rely on little barley and other small-seeded native plants as staple food.

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A highly digestible fish, shrimp and young terrestrial animal feed ingredient produced from South Dakota soybeans is reaching a worldwide market.

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An important tactic for slowing climate change is for private companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, but knowing exactly how much they’re emitting can be a challenge. Working with Walmart Inc., Cornell University researchers have developed an online greenhouse gas emissions accounting tool to help quantify these emissions in crop production.

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Hertz Fellow Cheri Ackerman, Cofounder and CEO of Concerto Biosciences, has received the Hertz Foundation’s Harold Newman and David Galas Entrepreneurial Initiative Award. She plans to use the $25,000 grant to help her company find solutions for human health and agriculture using unique ensembles of microbes.

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Spark conversation with fun facts about Thanksgiving foods

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Epigenetic marks do not change the DNA sequence but can affect the activity of genes.

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Food allergies cost billions of dollars and cause enormous suffering for people. Researchers are trying to remove the source of food allergies altogether — troublesome proteins made by our favorite crops.

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Farmers and their advisers can attend national or regional webinars

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Food insecurity in America is reaching an all-time high during the COVID-19 pandemic. But large regional differences exist in the severity of the impact.

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The University of Adelaide is bringing together experts from around the world in a two-day virtual conference – the XIII International Terroir Congress on 17-18 November, 2020 – to discuss the science that creates and defines regionality in wine.

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This fall, Cornell AgriTech's Hudson Valley Research Laboratory donated 47,000 pounds of apples and pears to help the more than 40,000 people in need of food assistance in the Hudson Valley region.

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Cornell University has developed the first variety of spring malting barley designed to succeed in New York’s wet climate and support the state’s $5 billion craft beer industry. All it needs now is a name.

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Plastomics Inc., an agricultural biotech start-up developing the next generation of trait delivery technology, has been awarded a competitive grant from the United Soybean Board (USB) to develop disease resistant soybeans.

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The communities of Nunatsiavut in Northern Labrador, Canada, similar to other communities across Inuit Nunangat, the homeland of Inuit, are plagued by excessive food insecurity rates, which are estimated to be five times the level of food insecurity measured for households in Canada.

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UIC partners with energy companies, transportation agencies to protect monarch butterfly

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Plant breeding advances will help farmers growing oil palm, an important oilseed crop

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Diversifying agricultural systems beyond a narrow selection of crops leads to a range of ecosystem improvements while also maintaining or improving yields, according to a new study that analyzed thousands of previously conducted experiments. Diversification practices such as crop rotations and planting prairie strips can lead to “win-win” results that protect the environment without sacrificing yields, according to the analysis.

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A Cornell University-led, multi-institution, interdisciplinary team seeks to use computer vision, automation and robotics to optimize per-tree apple production, which is currently a highly manual and imprecise process.

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After a nuclear war, wild-catch marine fisheries will not offset the loss of food grown on land, especially if widespread overfishing continues, according to a Rutgers co-authored study. But effective pre-war fisheries management would greatly boost the oceans’ potential contribution of protein and nutrients during a global food emergency, according to the study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study for the first time explored the effects of nuclear war on wild-catch marine fisheries.

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As society grapples with deep concerns over racial inequities and other social justice issues, members of the Agronomic Science Foundation (ASF) have embarked on a mission to foster change from within.

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Organic crop farmers in the Northeast and Upper Midwest are facing an increasing number of challenges related to climate change and invasive pests, but a $2 million grant from the USDA will help them find sustainable solutions.

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Prabhu Pingali, director of the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition, has been named chair of the governing board of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.

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The University of Texas at El Paso received a $1.18 million grant from the National Science Foundation to work with researchers at Texas A&M University AgriLife Research Center at El Paso to learn more about greenhouse gas abiotic carbon dioxide dynamics in dryland systems through the study of irrigated pecan orchards throughout the El Paso region.

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Research from the lab of Kimberly Parker in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has discovered the mechanism that keeps formulations of the herbicide dicamba from going airborne. And they consider why it sometimes fails.

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The food preparation preferences of Chinese cooks — such as the technological choice to boil or steam grains, instead of grinding or processing them into flour — had continental-scale consequences for the adoption of new crops in prehistoric China, according to research from Washington University in St. Louis. A new study in PLOS ONE led by Xinyi Liu, associate professor of archaeology in Arts & Sciences, focuses on the ancient history of staple cereals across China, a country well known for its diverse food products and early adoption of many domesticated plants.

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The fabled Silk Road is responsible for one of our favorite and most valuable fruits: the domesticated apple. Cornell University researchers have now assembled complete reference genomes and pan-genomes for the apple and its two main wild progenitors.

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As climate change influences our ecosystems, microbes may help crops and environmental management solutions succeed in stressful conditions

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An examination of two documented periods of climate change in the greater Middle East, between approximately 4,500 and 3,000 years ago, reveals local evidence of resilience and even of a flourishing ancient society despite the changes in climate seen in the larger region.

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Mega-droughts - droughts that last two decades or longer - are tipped to increase thanks to climate change, according to University of Queensland-led research.

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In the driest state in the driest continent in the world, South Australian farmers are acutely aware of the impact of water shortages and drought. So, when it comes to irrigation, knowing which method works best is vital for sustainable crop development.