Feature Channels: Agriculture

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Lecturers of the Faculty of Science, and the Center of Learning Network for Region (CLNR) Chulalongkorn University successfully planted trees in the forests in Nan and Saraburi provinces through innovative seedlings with ectomycorrhiza fungi, motivating villagers and farmers to “plant trees and get mushrooms”, for extra income.

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Iowa State University researchers may have solved a long-standing challenge associated with accelerated development of pure genetic lines.

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Betalains are a class of plant pigments that are responsible for the characteristic red-violet (betacyanin) or yellow (betaxanthin) color of certain fruits and vegetables.

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Groups of spiders could be used as an environmentally-friendly way to protect crops against agricultural pests. That's according to new research, led by the University of Portsmouth, which suggests that web-building groups of spiders can eat a devastating pest moth of commercially important crops like tomato and potato worldwide.

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A new Iowa State University research project will explore how to grow crops and keep bees amid solar panels. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, most of the research will be conducted a few miles south of Ames, where Alliant Energy plans to begin construction in April on a 1.35 megawatt solar farm.

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When a devastating disease wiped out New Jersey farmers' basil fields, growers turned to Rutgers scientists for help. Fields of Devotion, a science-in-action film, follows the unique partnership between local farmers and Rutgers scientists.

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Vegans and vegetarians have long argued their approach to eating is the kindest—to animals and to our planet. But new research from the University of Georgia suggests that might not actually be the case. The paper found that a diet of mostly plants with local and humanely raised meat is likely the most ethical way to eat if we want to save the environment and protect human rights.

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Scientists have for the first time constructed the reference genome for the source of the popular fibre supplement, psyllium husk, which could boost supplies of the versatile plant-derived product.

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A fungus that plagues rice crops worldwide gains entry to plant cells in a way that leaves it vulnerable to simple chemical blockers, a discovery that could lead to new fungicides to reduce the substantial annual losses of rice and other valuable cereals.

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Idaho National Laboratory (INL) scientists explore key issues such as water supply and extreme weather events, like drought, through the laboratory’s energy and environmental research efforts.

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Susanne Wengle has been following the effects of the war on Ukrainian agriculture, the products of which account for roughly 40 percent of the country’s export earnings.

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Harrison Hall spends a lot of time staring at fungus. A senior in Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois, Hall has worked for two years in a research lab studying the fungus responsible for a devastating wheat disease. For the former IT professional, it’s perhaps an odd passion, but it came naturally after Hall entered the PRECS program through Parkland College and U of I.

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Danforth Center scientists and their collaborators improve disease resistance in cassava using an innovative technology called targeted methylation.

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The U.S. is a major world supplier of cotton, exporting much of the production to markets in Asia, where it goes into textile manufacturing. However, growing competition from Brazil and the effects of recent trade policies are shifting global market trends. A new study from the University of Illinois investigates how U.S. cotton exports are impacted by these patterns.

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Around 12,000 years ago, the Neolithic revolution radically changed the economy, diet and structure of the first human societies in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East.

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Bing Yang, PhD, member and principal investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and professor of plant science, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri – Columbia, has been elected as a 2022 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for his distinguished contributions to plant gene editing and understanding plant disease.

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Scientists from the University of Minnesota’s GEMS Informatics Center, and CABI’s Dr Roger Day, Global Advisor, Plant Health, have highlighted how almost the entire African maize crop is grown in areas with climates that support seasonal infestations of the pest.

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The development of stimuli-responsive polymers has brought about a wealth of material-related opportunities for next-generation small-scale, wirelessly controlled soft-bodied robots.

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Early exposure to pesticides can affect health later in life, including negative effects to the nervous and endocrine systems in the body. The SWCPEH has partnered with promotores, or community health workers, from Familias Triunfadoras Inc. to educate the local migrant farmworker community. These underserved communities often have poor access to basic necessities and are most in need of preventative and routine health care.

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Michigan State University researchers have solved a puzzle that could help switchgrass realize its full potential as a low-cost, sustainable biofuel crop and curb our dependence on fossil fuels.

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A University of Queensland-led study has shown that expanding global seaweed farming could go a long way to addressing the planet’s food security, biodiversity loss and climate change challenges.

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The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative awarded a two-year grant for Advancing Imaging Through Collaborative Projects to Kirk Czymmek, PhD, director of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center’s Advanced Bioimaging Laboratory, Michele Darrow of Rosalind Franklin Institute, and Paul Verkade of the University of Bristol, along with an international team of eight additional scientists.

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The North American Plant Phenotyping Network (NAPPN), a partner of the International Plant Phenotyping Network (IPPN), will host its annual conference at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center February 13–17.

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A new IIASA policy brief outlines the recommendations, tools, and key findings of the FACE-Africa project, co-developed with Gambian food system stakeholders to help the country adapt to climate change and ensure sufficient healthy food for its people.

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The EU regularly exports large quantities of poultry meat to West African countries. These exports have been criticized for harming importing countries in West Africa and exacerbating poverty there.

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The composition of foodstuffs, but also the sequence of dishes, is important for the perfect taste experience of a menu. This insight, based on experience, is well known.

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In a new study, University of Illinois scientists demonstrate a way to accurately map tilled land in real time by integrating ground, airborne, and satellite imagery.

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Intact forests are important climate regulators and harbors of biodiversity, but they are rapidly disappearing.

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People from marginalized gender and sexual identities can have safer experiences participating in ecological field research when leaders incorporate better field safety protocols and advocate for systemic changes, according to a new paper authored by scientists from Earlham College, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and other institutions.

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With a five-year, $10 million federal grant, a team of researchers from Iowa, Indiana and Illinois are working to plant the seeds for greater crop diversity in the Midwest.

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A University of Florida scientist receives a national Institute of Food and Agriculture grant to develop a computer model using his existing technology to more quickly and accurately count damaged or dead crops.

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While humans have been evolving for millions of years, the past 12,000 years have been among the most dynamic and impactful for the way we live today, according to an anthropologist who organized a special journal feature on the topic. Our modern world all started with the advent of agriculture, said Clark Spencer Larsen, professor of anthropology.

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RUDN University biologists have discovered a new type of pathogenic fungus that infects potatoes and leads to massive crop loss. Fungi in this genus were previously known to be harmful to potatoes and other plants, but this species was considered harmless.

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Journalists who register for the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) will have access to more than 10,000 presentations on topics. ACS Spring 2023 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in-person in Indianapolis on March 26-30 with the theme “Crossroads of Chemistry.”

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RUDN University agronomists have studied the thermodynamics of hydrogels, which must absorb water from the air and hold it in the ground to prevent evaporation. It turned out that this approach is unlikely to help save agriculture from drought - hydrogels retain water too well and give it poorly.

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A new study identifies the genetic underpinnings for why broccoli heads become abnormal when it’s hot, providing insight into effects of climate-induced warming for all crops and pointing the way for breeding heat-resistant new varieties.

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University of California, Riverside, scientists have moved a step closer to finding a use for the hundreds of millions of tons of plastic waste produced every year that often winds up clogging streams and rivers and polluting our oceans.

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The study will concentrate on azalea compounds, a class of fungicides widely used in agriculture and to treat human infections.

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A RUDN University biologist and colleagues from Iran have found bacteria that can become a potential biological drug against a pest fungus that infects rice. Unlike chemical fungicides, such a bio-agent is harmless to the environment and does not lead to the formation of biological resistance.

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Wind, sewage sludge, and waste water carry tyre wear particles from roads onto farmland. A new lab study shows: The pollutants contained in the particles could get into the vegetables grown there.

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Plant life and soil conditions impact tidal marsh carbon storage

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Plants can detect blue light, but instead of causing sleepless nights, it could help make their fruits taste better. Researchers now report in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that mangoes can become redder, sweeter and more ripe when exposed to blue light over several days.