Feature Channels: Agriculture

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Coconut oil production may be more damaging to the environment than palm oil, researchers say.

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A new Columbia Engineering study demonstrates that even when temperatures warm and cold stress is limited, light is still a major factor in limiting carbon uptake of northern high latitudes. The team analyzed satellite observations, field measurements, and model simulations and showed that there is a prevalent radiation limitation on carbon uptake in northern ecosystems, especially in autumn.

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New research from The University of Texas at Dallas suggests food deserts might be more prevalent in the U.S. than the numbers reported in government estimates.

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Applying zinc to the leaves of bread wheat can increase wheat grain zinc concentrations and improve its nutritional content.

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Oyster aquaculture poses minor changes to soils and bottom-dwelling communities

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A Cornell University-led team of researchers field-tested 14 active ingredients in insecticides, applied in a variety of methods, to understand the best treatment options against the Allium leafminer, a growing threat to onions, garlic and leeks.

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Precision agriculture technologies can improve efficiency on smaller farms

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Researchers have discovered that bacteria such as salmonella and E.coli have a backdoor to capitalize on our reliance on leafy greens for a healthy diet. Wild strains of salmonella are delivering foodborne illnesses by circumventing a plant’s immune defense system to get into the leaves of lettuce.

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Raw or unpasteurized cows' milk from U.S. retail stores can hold a huge amount of antimicrobial-resistant genes if left at room temperature, according to a new study from researchers at the University of California, Davis.

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Although most beer consumers can distinguish between different bitter tastes in beer, this does not appear to influence which beer they like. It seems they just like beer, regardless of the source of the bitterness.

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Testing microbial activity in soil columns helps researchers understand how carbon is stored in soils that are periodically waterlogged.

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Farmers can now grow this superfood with environmental and health benefits

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Researchers reporting in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have made transgenic rice that contains several anti-hypertensive peptides. When given to hypertensive rats, the rice lowered their blood pressure.

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A SDSU scientist is using inorganic salts to solubilize cellulose extracted from corn stover and make a flexible, biodegradable film.

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Researchers at Iowa State University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are combining their expertise in electronics, computing and crops to develop a cyber-physical system that will monitor fields at almost single-plant resolution.

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Forest conservation areas in oil palm plantations play a vital role in storing carbon and boosting rainforest biodiversity, a new study on palm oil agriculture in Borneo has revealed.

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A new app widget provides citizens with an opportunity to get involved in one of the world’s most challenging problems: how to provide enough, high quality, nutritious food to the ever expanding global population.

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Using technology is essential for predicting tuber crop yields in drought-heavy regions

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When Pulitzer Prize and Grammy award winner Kendrick Lamar rapped “I got millions, I got riches buildin’ in my DNA,” he almost certainly wasn’t talking about the humble tomato. But a new study unveiling more than 230,000 DNA differences across 100 tomato varieties which will allow breeders and scientists to engineer larger, juicier, more profitable plants, proves that tomatoes indeed have riches buildin’ in their DNA, too.

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A new analysis of difficult-to-access genetic variation is the most comprehensive ever conducted in plants. It could guide the improvement of tomatoes and other crops.

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New findings share how prescribed fire and no-till management impact soil microbes

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Despite the phase out of lead, urban soils a leading source of lead exposure

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A project led by Kaitlin Gold, assistant professor of plant pathology and plant microbe-biology at Cornell AgriTech, to study grape downy mildew has received a $100,000 USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant.

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Innovative plant breeders at Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are creating new fruits and vegetables that wow consumers, have longer growing seasons and are more resistant to diseases, insects and weather.

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A research collaboration has demonstrated the function of a genetic pathway for anther development, with this pathway proven in 2019 work to be present widely in the flowering plants that evolved over 200 million years ago.

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Skip the salt! Three species of sea vegetables could just be the new kale with the added benefit of a salty flavor. The 10-week study was designed to determine the optimal growing conditions for these sea vegetables that could soon be a great addition to salads, soups, pasta, rice and other dishes in the continental U.S. These nutritious plants for human consumption do not require fresh water and instead are grown in salt water.

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Potassium fertilization effects on quality, economics, and yield in pear orchard

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A new computational approach developed by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory offers a high-tech yet simple method for estimating groundwater: it pairs high-resolution images derived by satellite with advanced computer modeling to estimate aquifer volume change from observed ground deformation.

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S&T’s patent-pending process for foot-and-mouth disease vaccine creation is a global game-changer for one of the most destructive livestock diseases on the planet.

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Beneficial bacteria in reused poultry litter can reduce Salmonella levels

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Researchers summarize runoff water quantity and quality data from native tallgrass prairie and crop-livestock systems in Oklahoma between 1977 and 1999

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Smallholder farms supply majority of world’s food supply but still face poverty.

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Soybean yields decreased when planted after cereal rye

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Robots fitted with ultraviolet light lamps that roam vineyards at night are proving effective at killing powdery mildew, a devastating pathogen for many crops, including grapes.

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The mysterious capillary fringe has huge effects on the soil, and new research tells us how it works.

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Farmers have enough worries – between bad weather, rising costs, and shifting market demands – without having to stress about the carbon footprint of their operations. But now a new set of projects by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) could make agriculture both more sustainable and more profitable.

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SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) researchers received a patent for green wall technology that will provide craft breweries cost-effective and sustainable options for wastewater treatment. The team found a way to make the common Pothos and recycled glass an environmental solution to support the growing microbrewery trend in the region.

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Irvine, Calif., June 1, 2020 – The melting of glaciers and ice caps in places as diverse as the Himalayas and Andes mountain ranges, the Svalbard island group and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago has the dual effect of raising global sea levels and depleting freshwater resources that serve millions of people around the world.

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Using a newly developed approach, researchers have identified seasonal peaks for foodborne infections that could be used to optimize the timing and location of food inspections.

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Farmers in Bangladesh achieved significantly higher yields and revenues by growing insect-resistant, genetically engineered eggplant, a new Cornell study has found.

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A new study examines the symbiotic relationship between two types of bacteria and spittlebugs that helps the insect live on very low-nutrient food. The bacteria use a metabolic “trick” also employed by cancer cells to create the right conditions for converting the poor food into the necessary building blocks for survival.

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Research identifies tepary bean and guar as potential summer forages

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A new study unearthed patterns in datasets collected on rice plants across Asia that allowed researchers to develop a matrix to predict the traits of rice plants depending on their genetics and environment. The approach could lead to better predictability in crop production.

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Research uses biosolids and urban waste to create a sustainable topsoil mixture

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Cornell researchers have sequenced and analyzed the genome of a single-celled alga that belongs to the closest lineage to terrestrial plants and provides many clues to how aquatic plants first colonized land.

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Researchers develop new annual ryegrass for earlier fall planting in the southeastern U.S.