While beef already provides plenty of nutrients, a University of Florida scientist and her colleagues are starting to find that some beef cattle breeds might be healthier than others.
This infographic highlights the importance of wheat for food security
As we celebrate July 1-7 as National Clean Beaches Week, thousands, if not millions of people will flock to Florida’s shorelines. If visitors leave garbage, local residents will rid the debris from the shorelines, and some will get help from UF/IFAS Extension agents.
Agronomists and farmers are working hard to improve the sustainability of agricultural land. The June 22nd Sustainable, Secure Food blog explains which greenhouses gases are released in agriculture, and efforts to reduce them.
Dr. Jose M. Torres, President of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, will attend the first-of-its-kind State-Federal Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education Summit hosted by The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) on June 25-26, 2018, in Washington, D.C.
Unlike humans, crops in a field can't move to air conditioning to endure a heat wave. Scientists in Australia are working to understand how heat waves impact wheat.
In recent articles in Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, scientists optimize experimental design for understanding potential chemotherapeutic agents, delve into crop responses to salt-water stress, and present a better way to ensure consistency in long-term proteomics studies.
Researchers are evaluating the ability of Florida and Brazilian mosquitoes to transmit chikungunya because the virus was transmitted in Florida as part of an outbreak throughout the Americas in 2014.
West Virginia University could be at the forefront of solving a $57 billion dollar pollution problem and finding new ways to transform forestry waste into a cash crop for the state and region.
Plants can be genetically rewired to resist the devastating effects of disease – significantly reducing crop waste worldwide – according to new research into synthetic biology by the University of Warwick.Led by Professor Declan Bates from the Warwick Integrative Synthetic Biology Centre (WISB) and Professor Katherine Denby from the University of York, who is also an Associate member of WISB, researchers have developed a genetic control system that would enable plants to strengthen their defence response against deadly pathogens – so they could remain healthy and productive.
Iowa, known for its farms, also claims fame to a dramatic, rolling landscape known as loess hills. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) June 15 Soils Matter blog post explains what formed this feature, and why its soil requires special care.
Ecologists from the University of Michigan and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science are forecasting a larger-than-average Chesapeake Bay "dead zone" in 2018, due to increased rainfall in the watershed this spring.
Competition for faculty, staff, students and alumni to support entrepreneurship and innovation to advance IMSA’s mission to address one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
A new study shows that if current aquaculture and agriculture practices remain unchanged into the future, wild forage fish populations likely will be overextended by the year 2050, and possibly sooner. However, making sensible changes in aquaculture and agriculture production would avoid reaching that threshold.
The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) annouced today the appointment of Ute Baumann, Hikmet Budak, and Etienne Paux as new Board members of the organization.
Headed out on vacation? Don’t forget to observe the soil along the way! Soils Matter, Soil Science Society of America’s science-based blog, can points out the soil landmarks. Bon voyage!
NEW YORK (June 13, 2018)— An age-old challenge of determining the right amount of fish to harvest from the sea has finally been overcome with the creation of a new biomass-yield model that captures all the necessary factors for accuracy, according to a new WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) study.
A new federally funded center of excellence led by Iowa State University scientists will analyze various structures and mechanisms in the swine genome with the goal of allowing pork producers to predict with greater accuracy the traits in their herds. The institute will include personnel at Iowa State, Michigan State, The University of California at Davis, and the USDA Agriculture Research Service.
In sub-Saharan Africa, 20 to 80% of corn yields may be lost because of a semi-parasitic plant, Striga. In areas infested with Striga, farmers may even lose their entire crops. In a new study, researchers from southern Africa identified several varieties of corn resistant or tolerant to Striga. Importantly, these varieties also have improved nutritional content, particularly protein.
One of the iconic ingredients of the Mediterranean diet, which often has been associated with beneficial effects in the prevention of cancer as well as several other disorders, is extra-virgin olive oil. For thousands of years, olive trees were planted on Mediterranean coasts, initially by ancient Greek colonists, followed by several other civilizations and cultures, one generation after the other.
For desert, how about a scoop of ice cream flavored with vanilla from Florida’s farmers? Because so many consumers enjoy vanilla, University of Florida scientists hope to help Florida farmers grow the bean.
A new study shows that a fruit and vegetable prescription program can improve access to healthy foods for underserved children. The program, which was implemented in Flint, Michigan, could be replicated in other areas to address food insecurity in children.
Scientists have identified patterns in how and when sorghum plants flower that could help plant breeders and growers predict other important traits in a wide range of environments and geographic regions. The research team created an index based on photothermal time, a crucial phase in a plant’s development when it processes the environmental cues of sunlight and temperature. The research looked at sorghum, but the scientists believe the same method could be applied to a range of plants, including other crops.
ISCA Technologies, a Riverside, Calif. biotech firm, has acquired from Scotts Canada, Ltd., a subsidiary of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, intellectual property rights and assets developed by the Canadian company Contech to control insects and other pests in ways that greatly reduce reliance on harmful chemical pesticides.
A new study appearing online June 11 in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment considers which food type is more environmentally costly to produce: livestock, farmed seafood or wild-caught fish.
High school science and agriculture teachers are gettting Ideas for new curriculum units and the chance to network with university professors and other teachers through iLEARN.
Students in Gonzaga University’s Collegiate DECA Club kicked off the growing season recently in the GU Campus Garden, planting a variety of vegetables and learning to grow food using sustainable practices. Through their efforts, students learn the empowering nature of taking food security into their own hands.
Spring came later this year, but high inter-annual variability is not unusual, according to geospatial scientists who been tracking the growing season since 2000 using environmental satellite data.
We experience fortified food in items like vitamin D-fortified milk or fortified breakfast cereals. But what is biofortified food? The June 7th Sustainable, Secure Food blog explains what biofortified food is. It also explains how crop scientists are using it to solve malnutrition worldwide.
As we celebrate June as National Dairy Month, some UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences experts tout the benefits of dairy in the daily diet, while other UF/IFAS researchers help ensure cattle produce ample dairy to fill consumers’ needs.
New research results have potentially identified a fourth type of neutrino, a “sterile neutrino” particle. This particle provides challenges for the Standard Model of particle physics, if found to be a valid result in future experiments.
Rice production in Brazil is a multi-billion-dollar industry. It employs hundreds of thousands of people, directly and indirectly. Given the importance of rice farming in Brazil, researchers are working to develop improved rice varieties.
Technion researchers have found they can significantly increase agricultural yields, by using nanoscale delivery platforms that until now were used to transport drugs to specific targets in a patient's body. The technology increases the penetration rate of nutrients into the plant, from 1% to approximately 33%.
As climate change brings more severe, more frequent wildfires and droughts throughout the western United States, land managers are increasingly challenged to find the best restoration approaches—and the right kinds of seeds to plant for successful outcomes. At the same time, pollinators such as bees, birds and butterflies are in decline, which poses a major threat to both conservation and agriculture. A cross-disciplinary team of NAU ecologists recently received a five-year, $935,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study which plants are most fit for restoring damaged lands and capable of supporting diverse pollinator communities.
In a new article published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Donald Behringer and one of his co-authors, post-doctoral researcher Jamie Bojko, both of the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, point out many ways organisms try to escape diseases.
There are hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of organisms in just a handful of soil. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) June 1 Soils Matter blog explains the important role of soil microbes in freeing up soil nutrients for plants.
Recently published research from Iowa State University plant scientists maps the stress response detected by the endoplasmic reticulum, an organelle in cells of corn seedlings. The study shows how cells transition from adaptation to death when faced with persistent stress and could help plant breeders develop stress-resistant crop varieties.
They also want a landscape with pollinators, one that helps preserve the environment and one on which they can lie in a hammock for peace of mind, said Laura Warner, a UF assistant professor of agricultural education and communication.
New research supports the use of radish as a cover crop as a trap crop for fall nitrogen. However, what happens to that nitrogen afterward remains unknown.
Researchers discovered that honey bees alter their diet by the season. A spike in calcium consumption in the fall, and high intake of potassium, help prepare the bees for colder months when they likely need those minerals to generate warmth. Limitations in nutrient availability can have implications for the health of both managed and wild colonies.
A Bowling Green State University microbiology team played an important role in a scientific discovery about alcohol benefitting fungus farming in beetles. The beetle research, headed by an entomologist Christopher Ranger of USDA-ARS, discovered that alcohol, specifically ethanol, is important for the beetles’ food production, and part of the logic for their attraction to alcohol.
Genetic improvement of food crops sometimes gets a bad rap, but University of Florida researchers plan to educate consumers so they can make more informed decisions at the grocery store.
Effort leads to new Exploration Green nature park that will detain floodwater, clean runoff
Summertime is recreation time! While the wilds may call us, respect for ecosystems should guide us. Soils Matter, Soil Science Society of America’s science-based blog, explains why we should protect life underfoot.
Researchers have recently published results identifying the major sources of E. coli breakouts on several beaches on Lake Michigan. They have also researched an effective method of reducing the breakouts and the resulting beach closings.
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