Recalculating the global use of phosphorous, a fertilizer linchpin of modern agriculture, a team of researchers warns that the world’s stocks may soon be in short supply and that overuse in the industrialized world has become a leading cause of the pollution of lakes, rivers and streams.
ASU's Sustainable Phosphorus Summit was the first international gathering on U.S. soil and an important milestone in the emerging global dialogue around phosphorus scarcity and sustainability. A consensus statement, released Feb. 10, reflects the optimism coming out of the summit around solution-building.
Cultivating coca bushes, the source of cocaine, is speeding up destruction of rainforests in Colombia and threatening the region’s “hotspots” of plant and animal diversity, scientists are reporting in a new study.
A team of researchers America identified the most important questions that future generations will face when dealing with changes in soil structure. These questions will serve as a guide for direction of soil science research.
Crop yields from India’s first genetically modified crop may have been overemphasized, as modest rises in crop yields may come at the expense of sustainable farm management, says a new study by a Washington University in St. Louis anthropologist.
In time for the chocolate-giving and chocolate-eating fest on Valentine’s Day, scientists are reporting discovery of how this treat boosts the body’s production of the “good” form of cholesterol that protects against heart disease. Polyphenols in chocolate rev up the activity of certain proteins, including proteins that attach to the genetic material DNA in ways that boost “good” cholesterol levels. Their report appears in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Scientists analyzed five classical long term experiments using a process-based carbon balance model. They simulated experiments to predict the potential of no tillage management to maintain soil organic carbon.
RTI International has hired pioneer in the field of microbial ecology Daniel (Niels) van der Lelie, Ph.D., to lead the new center for Agricultural and Environmental Biotechnology, which seeks to unlock the mysteries of the plant-microbe interaction and apply that knowledge to a wide range of applications.
A Cornell University scientist investigated the response of 2 soybean varieties in 3 row widths at 4 seeding rates to measure emergence rates of soybean, growth, yield components, and seed yield of soybeans.
In a study funded by the U.S. EPA and administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, biologists at Virginia Commonwealth University measured the nutrient removal capacity of the Eastern oyster.
In a collaborative study the USDA-ARS Water Management Research Unit and Colorado State University, soil samples were analyzed to determine the extent of atrzine degradation in northeastern Colorado.
A student’s scholarship-winning project at South Dakota State University may help scientists better understand how grapes and other plants respond to drought. The study could pay off in better production as plant breeders develop varieties for regions facing increased drought stress due to climate change.
Encroaching woody plants such as the eastern redcedar are affecting many privately owned grasslands in the Midwestern United States. The attitudes and behaviors of private landowners to redcedar expansion are essential to preserving the remaining tallgrass prairie. Landowners must join forces to identify management strategies that will minimize this threat to grassland ecosystems. However, the owners’ attitudes toward taking steps to manage the restoration of the grasslands may affect efforts to preserve the prairie.
A Kansas State University research team is working to reduce the percentage of cattle affected by bovine lameness.
Scientists have identified the genes related to leaf angle in corn (maize) – a key trait for planting crops closer together, which has led to an eight-fold increase in yield since the early 1900s.
An international team of researchers have completed the first DNA sequence of any strawberry plant, giving breeders much-needed tools to create tastier, healthier strawberries. UNH’s Tom Davis was a significant contributor to the genome sequence of the woodland strawberry, which was published in the journal Nature Genetics.
Scientists have developed a method of accounting for spatial trend in single crop field trials.
University of Utah researchers developed a new concept in water treatment: an electrobiochemical reactor in which a low electrical voltage is applied to microbes to help them quickly and efficiently remove pollutants from mining, industrial and agricultural wastewater.
Research supports what Cape Cod cranberry growers already suspected: The traditional “flow-through” bogs have a negative impact on stream quality compared with modern bogs.
Weizmann scientists and a global team have produced the full genome of the woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca). The wild strawberry has important nutritive properties, as well as qualities that make it an ideal model plant; e.g., it could provide insight into related agricultural crops from the rose family, including apple and almond trees.
Georgia Tech Regents professor Mark Borodovsky led efforts in identifying protein-coding genes in the newly sequenced woodland strawberry genome. The development is expected to yield tastier, hardier varieties of the berry and other crops in its family.
Researchers at the University of California-Davis, Kansas State University, and the USDA Cereal Disease Laboratory in Minnesota have mapped and characterized a gene resistant to Ugandan stem rust.
A Kansas State University professor is part of a national research team that discovered that streams and rivers produce three times more greenhouse gas emissions than estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The United States is being invaded and the “aliens” coming into our country are exotic plant species—weeds, that is.
Faculty, staff, students and members of the Western Illinois University community have the opportunity to support organic crop research, pick up a stocking stuffer or holiday gift this season and show school spirit -- all with one little bag of popcorn. WIU's School of Agriculture is once again selling its Rocky Popcorn, purple and gold (WIU's colors) popcorn, grown on WIU's Allison Organic Research and Demonstration Farm in Warren County (IL).
Creating a trading market giving farmers financial incentives for using best fertilizer practices can benefit water quality, help fight climate change, and raise farmer income, finds a new study by the University of Maryland's Center for Integrative Environmental Research. Md. is one of a handful of states considering both fertilizer and CO2 markets.
As public concern grows about preserving open rangeland for future generations, it becomes clear that those future generations must be taught to manage and appreciate the land themselves. Educating today’s youth about their natural environment is the best way to ensure stewardship of public lands for tomorrow. The 4-H program can provide a platform for this.
John Wiersma, a researcher at the University of Minnesota Northwest Research and Outreach Center at Crookston, concluded a study examining the effect of nitrogen based fertilizers on soybean crops grown in iron deficient soil.
Rice production faces the threat of a growing worldwide water scarcity. Approximately, 75% of the world’s rice is grown in flooded, lowland conditions. Scientists have developed a rice crop that is not only drought tolerant but high yielding.
In Uganda, the sweet potato is a major staple crop. In an effort to identify, collect, evaluate, and mitigate the loss of important types, a study was conducted by the National Crops Resources Research Institute in Namulaong, Uganda.
The well-reported arsenic contamination of drinking water in Bangladesh – called the “largest mass poisoning of a population in history” by the World Health Organization and known to be responsible for a host of slow-developing diseases – has now been shown to have an immediate and toxic effect on the struggling nation’s economy.
A study recently published in the Journal of Environmental Quality by a team from Cornell University and the University of Illinois-Urbana found that tile drainage systems in upper Mississippi farmlands – from southwest Minnesota to Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio – are the biggest contributors of "dead zone" fueling nitrogen runoff into the Gulf of Mexico.
Scientists are learning more about the life stages and biology of an insect that may compete with humans for the energy crops of the future — the insect some scientists are calling the switchgrass moth.
Researchers at Iowa State University, China Agricultural University and the Beijing Genomics Institute in China recently re-sequenced and compared six elite inbred corn (maize) lines, including the parents of the most productive commercial hybrids in China and found entire genes that were missing from one line to another.
The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) has established a set of Grand Challenges to help steer the direction of research to critical areas with the most need of exploration, examination, and development.
Higher concentrations of hormones in waterways have been found to cause physiological and sexual impairment in fish. A new study examines estrogen concentrations in runoff from agricultural plots fertilized with chicken manure.
Hair clippings, cayenne pepper and raw eggs – these are just a few of the odd ingredients recommended to keep those pesky deer away from your backyard garden. But what about farmers who have hundreds of acres of Christmas trees to protect? North Carolina State University extension specialists have now found an effective, inexpensive alternative to available commercial products to keep the deer at bay.
Researchers at Iowa State University examined 12 varieties of sorghum grass grown in single and double cropping systems to test the efficiency of double cropping sorghum grass to increase its yield for biofuel production.
New hemlock hybrids that are tolerant to the invasive insect known as hemlock woolly adelgid have been created by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists.
A team of international researchers led by ancient DNA experts from the University of Adelaide has resolved the longstanding issue of the origins of the people who introduced farming to Europe some 8000 years ago.
In a study funded by the Commonwealth Government of Australia, the soil retention of three types of selenium was tested. Since selenium deficiency is prevalent in Southeast Asia, researchers are studying the best biofortification for lowland rice production.
A recently patented invention from a Kansas State University research team aims to control a devastating parasite that causes millions of dollars in crop damage each year.
The best method to combat weeds is not one method, but a combination of approaches. “Integrated weed management” merges several single-management strategies, such as crop rotation, optimal timing of planting, spacing of crops, and chemical weed control, to successfully suppress weeds.
Which are the best pieces of pork, what their texture is, how moist they are – the secrets pigs keep from even the most skilled butchers – are about to be revealed, thanks to a sophisticated new technique that has been developed by McGill University researchers in conjunction with Agriculture Canada and the pork industry.
A common roadside plant could have the right stuff to become a new source of biofuel, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) studies.
When you think of a ranch, images of cattle roaming miles of wide-open rangeland come to mind. People may not be in the picture at all. But it is the people behind the ranch who make it a success. Principles of human resource management must apply to ranch employees just as they do to workers in an office or a hospital.
Communication is essential to any relationship—including that between weed scientists and farmers.
Nature’s capacity to store carbon, the element at the heart of global climate woes, is steadily eroding as the world’s farmers expand croplands at the expense of native ecosystem such as forests. A group of universities is releasing a study on the topic.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $43,809 in funding for South Dakota State University to plan for the development of a sustainable organic tribal bison production system.
Agronomists, Crop and Soil Scientists Convene in Long Beach Oct. 31-Nov. 3 to Discuss Agriculture and Environmental Sustainability.
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