Two new varieties of kidney beans – Talon and Rosie – have recently been released. Both show improved resistance to root diseases that commonly cause crop loss.
According to a new U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded study, 64 percent of American farmers report having pre-existing conditions. Lack of access to affordable health insurance is one of the most significant concerns facing farmers, the survey found.
In May 2015, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) broke ground on the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) main laboratory space in Manhattan, Kansas. Scheduled to open in 2023, NBAF will feature advanced laboratory technologies that allow for catastrophic disease research on livestock.
After colleges working at the family nursery, Dean Kopsell he got his hands dirty – in a different way -- toiling for nearly 20 years in research fields and labs and teaching plant sciences. Now, he has been named chair of the UF/IFAS department of environmental horticulture.
A group from the USDA Agricultural Research Station (ARS) has introduced a web-based application to help farmers. It allows users to access important historical information about the past climate in their area. This could allow them to better plan for the current year.
Iowa State University scientists are untangling the complex genetic mechanisms that control growth and stress response in plants. A recently published paper from the researchers identifies a group of proteins that may be of interest to plant breeders eager for crop varieties that will withstand dry conditions.
For the study, UF/IFAS researchers grafted seedless watermelon onto squash rootstocks to ward off soil-borne diseases such as fusarium wilt. Study results showed no loss in taste and major fruit quality attributes like total soluble solids and lycopene content, Zhao said.
In the same year the University of Florida’s Citrus Research and Education Center celebrates its 100th anniversary, Nian Wang believes he may be close to finding the “off switch” for greening, the disease devastating Florida’s multi-billion-dollar-a-year citrus industry.
Researchers with the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of New Hampshire have succeeded in quadrupling the length of the Granite State’s strawberry growing season as part of a multi-year research project that aims to benefit both growers and consumers.
Kansas State University scientists are part of a breakthrough study in which an international team of researchers has successfully deciphered all 10 billion letters in the genetic code of a wild ancestor of wheat.
A University of Kentucky plant pathologist is part of an international team of researchers who have uncovered an important link to a disease which left unchecked could prove devastating to wheat.
Researchers at the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute, in collaboration with the Joint Genome Institute, are reporting the first whole-genome sequence of a mutant population of Kitaake, a model variety of rice. Their high-density, high-resolution catalog of mutations facilitates the discovery of novel genes and functional elements that control diverse biological pathways.
Triticale is a winter cover crop that limits farmers' gamble with a trifecta of benefits. Triticale is a wheat-rye hybrid from the late 1800s. In New York State, 15 years of research finds triticale brings benefits to the field, the growers’ pockets, and dairy cows’ diets.
Researchers have discovered the earliest evidence of wild potato use in North America. This is the first archaeological study to identify a spud-bearing species native to the southwestern United States, the Four Corners potato (S. jamesii), as an important part of ancient human diets.
The world’s open grasslands and the beneficial fires that sustain them have shrunk rapidly over the past two decades, thanks to a massive increase in agriculture, according to a new study led by University of California, Irvine and NASA researchers published today in Science.
As a scientist and tropical fruit Extension specialist, Jonathan Crane has spent most of his adult life trying to help South Florida farmers grow crops in the Sunshine State’s hot, humid weather.
Researchers use equations and on-the-ground analyses to the follow water held in the soil versus fresh rainfalls. This can improve water management in drought- and flood-affected areas.
A tiny mite is causing major problems for New York’s honeybee population and is threatening the fruit and vegetable crops that are a major part of the state’s agriculture industry.
Synesis, a University of Wisconsin-Madison spinoff developing a patented formula for liquid nutrition, is advancing a plant-based additive designed to reduce or eliminate severe side effects of tube feeding.
Benjamin Koch and his co-authors treated bacteria the way they would any ecosystem, using genomic "tags" to track bacterial transmission.
More than half the cattle in the world live in hot and humid environments, including about 40 percent of beef cows in the United States, Mateescu said. By using genomic tools, researchers aim to produce an animal with superior ability to adapt to hot living conditions and produce top-quality beef.
Sabine Grunwald likes to get her hands dirty, and in the process, try to conserve the environment.
The USDA Forest Service in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area (BWCWA) will continue to use controlled burns without worrying about fish health in associated watersheds.
Cows and humans have something in common: If you take better care of the mother during pregnancy, her children are likely to be healthier – and this impact should last a lifetime, a University of Florida scientist says.
Big on flavor, aroma and size, Cornell University’s newest grape lacks one defining feature: a name. Grape breeder Bruce Reisch spent years developing the grape, and now he’s offering the public the chance to name it.
A chess-like board game developed by University of Michigan researchers helps small-scale Mexican coffee farmers better understand the complex interactions between the insects and fungi that live on their plants—and how some of those creatures can help provide natural pest control.
With closer inspection, researchers have recognized that what appears to be a randomly dispersed herd peacefully eating grass is in fact a complex system of individuals in a group facing differing tensions. A team of mathematicians and a biologist has now built a mathematical model that incorporates a cost function to behavior in such a herd to understand the dynamics of such systems.
The projected world population by 2056 is 10 billion. If researchers succeed in improving the yield potential of 40 percent of global land area under arid and semi-arid conditions, it will lead to a significant contribution to future food security.
Retaining walls are a popular feature for hilly residential lots. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) June 15 Soils Matter blog post explains what factors to consider—and when to call in the pros.
Unbeknownst to most consumers, roughly 30 percent of the potatoes harvested spoil before they reach a grocery store shelf. Boise State and Idaho State University researchers were recently awarded a one-year $413,681 Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission (IGEM) grant to develop a wireless sensor network that would be able to detect temperature, humidity levels, and carbon dioxide and ammonia levels in real time, to help with early detection of potato rot.
Changing over from all wheat to wheat-pea rotations can be uncertain. To help, researchers have been studying how pea genetics interact with the environment to affect crop yields, pea protein and starch content for market demands.
UF/IFAS assistant professor Shinsuke Agehara said that the ‘Imperial Artichoke’ shows the most promise of growing in Florida’s warm, humid climate. Growers will need to use a natural plant hormone called gibberellic acid to maximize growth.
A chemical currently being used to ward off mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus and a commonly used insecticide that was threatened with a ban in the United States have been associated with reduced motor function in Chinese infants, a University of Michigan study found.
Among his many goals, Jason Ferrell hopes to work with state agencies and UF/IFAS Extension faculty to bridge the knowledge gap among some clientele. Some of those clients seem to have qualms about such invasive control techniques as pesticides or herbicides, Ferrell said.
Australian consumers in Adelaide are taking part in a University of Adelaide research study to help realise the potential for edible insects as a food industry. Consumer attitudes are being put to the test with an offering of roasted crickets and ants, mealworm cookies and cricket energy bars.
Nutritious feed for cattle is complex. As the summer season progresses, grass can become harder to digest. However, researchers found by supplementing with dried distillers’ grains, this effect can be minimized. Dried distillers’ grains are left over after ethanol production. They are what remains of the ground corn used for fermentation.
Penn State University joined the International Alliance for Phytobiomes Research as a sponsoring partner, both organizations announced on June 6.
A new study by scientists at the University of Birmingham has revealed a group of cells that function as a ‘brain’ for plant embryos capable of assessing environmental conditions and dictating when seeds will germinate.
Researchers say this will help growers as they try to manage pests in areas where they cause the most trouble.
We've just begun National Dairy Month, a good time to remind consumers where their milk and other dairy products come from. UF/IFAS researchers use genomic testing to ensure farmers produce the best dairy cattle.
Corn, beans, and squash—the “three sisters”—have traditionally been grown together for best results. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) June 1 Soils Matter blog post explains how companion plantings use plants’ strengths to their best advantage.
Camille Delavaux studies mycorrhizal fungi and plant pathogens in the context of plant invasion in tropical ecosystems.
In the western United States 160,000 abandoned mines contaminate soils in the region. Researchers hope to solve this problem with biochar, a charcoal-like substance that can reduce the toxic consequences of mining for metals.
Nature Geoscience study analyzes global satellite observations, shows vegetation alters climate and weather patterns by as much as 30%. The researchers used a new approach and found feedbacks between the atmosphere and vegetation can be strong, explaining up to 30 percent of variability in precipitation and surface radiation. The paper is the first to examine biosphere-atmosphere interactions using purely observational data, could improve weather and climate predictions critical to crop management, food security, and more.
As part of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s International Wheat Yield Partnership Program, researchers aim to improve wheat yields by increasing grain size and weight using a precise gene-editing tool known as CRISPR/Cas9.
Education and research are the two areas where the university has helped make the High Plains one of the top grape-growing regions in the U.S.
A new study looks at how three varieties of camelina perform when grown in two different regions within the Great Plains. The end goal is to find the camelina variety that performs best in each location or environment--beyond the genetics involved.
RSS
Medicine keyboard_arrow_right
Sciencekeyboard_arrow_right
Life keyboard_arrow_right
Business keyboard_arrow_right
Journal News keyboard_arrow_right
By Location keyboard_arrow_right
Meetings, Grants, and Events keyboard_arrow_right