A native parasitic plant found commonly throughout south-eastern Australia, is showing great promise as a potential biological control agent against introduced weeds that cost millions of dollars every year to control.
Assessing multiple biophysical and socioeconomic outcomes
Avocado growers now have data to support their use of a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences mobile irrigation app works well to save money while maintaining crop yields. This data, reported in a new study, is critical for an industry that has a $100 million a year economic impact on Florida.
International Year of Pulses highlights role of sustainable crops, nutritious foods
The grant from the National Science Foundation will fund a Missouri-based team of researchers in understanding how root systems of grapevines affect the parts of perennial plants used most commonly in food production.
The White House will recognize Dr. Kevan Main of Mote Marine Laboratory as one of 12 Champions of Change for Sustainable Seafood on Friday, Oct. 7. Main's sustainable aquaculture research is critical - aquaculture provides over half the world's seafood and is expanding offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
Andrew Koeser and a colleague from the University of Illinois studied carbon neutrality in trees.
Missouri Collaboration Focuses on Understanding How Root Systems of Grapevines Affect the Vine’s Stems, Leaves and Fruits.
Danforth Center research is addressing environmental issues related to production agriculture.
Conference tour tells story of desert resilience
A better understanding of how bacteria fix nitrogen gas into nitrogen-carrying ammonia could lead to energy savings in industrial processes. Researchers are studying the bacterial enzyme that does this, a complicated enzyme called nitrogenase. In new work, researchers discovered that the two sides of nitrogenase cooperate in producing ammonia, alternating through different steps in a way that makes efficient use of the complex enzyme.
Ecologists have estimated that invasive (non-native) insects cost humanity tens of billions of dollars a year – and are likely to increase under climate change and growing international trade.
Growers in Florida’s $300 million-a-year strawberry industry now have proof that the latest UF/IFAS-bred variety lasts longer on the shelf and tastes sweeter than two UF/IFAS cultivars, making it more attractive to faraway markets.
A new study led by an Iowa State University agronomist may help scientists sift through vast amounts of plant seeds stored in gene bank facilities across the globe to identify those useful to plant breeders attempting to produce better varieties.
An eccentric enzyme known so far only to exist in a single type of bacterium breaks down a toxin related to TNT and pesticides with counterintuitive moves.
Soil is all around us and easy to ignore. However, locked inside is a dynamic ecosystem of amazing complexity. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) October 1st Soils Matter blog post explains how soil’s physical, chemical, and biological activities make soil more than dirt.
The University of North Dakota, in partnership with Iowa State University, Kansas State University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is leading a multi-institution Digital Agriculture Spoke grant of about $1 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF describes the UND-led project as Digital Agriculture - Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Plant Sciences and Education.
Most of the world’s coca—the plant source of cocaine—grows in the Amazon forests of the Andean countries of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, where many think this illicit crop causes deforestation. However, a team led by Stony Brook University Professor of Ecology and Evolution Liliana M. Dávalos, shows most deforestation isn’t caused by coca cultivation. In fact, the study, published in Bioscience, found that deforestation and coca both share a common origin in the implementation of an infrastructure plan from the 1960s to open the Amazon frontier through road construction and development projects.
Agriculture and soil science fit with environmental health
Ancient grains have become staples in many diets due to their health benefits and exotic appeal. In fact, the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend daily intake of whole grains to be at least half of total grain consumption. IFT Past President Mary Ellen Camire, PhD, CFS, discussed various ancient grains and their dietary benefits with IFT Food Facts to create this video.
Wastewater from oil drilling and hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – is often laden with salts and can spill, contaminating soils. In a recent study, researchers at North Dakota State University tested a method that extracted a large percentage of the salt present in soils contaminated by brine spills.
GUIDE-Seq technology observes DNA damages and speeds the detection of DNA repair. "Without DNA repairing, we wouldn't be able to survive," says Guiliang Tang, a professor of biological sciences at Michigan Tech who helped lead a new study exploring how the technology could improve the detection of DNA damage and repair processes in plants.
Hot dogs are the perfect summer fare. But knowing for sure what you're getting inside a bun can be difficult. Now scientists have devised a method that could help prevent frankfurter fraud, which is especially important for those who can't eat certain types of meats. They report their approach in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
High value cropping systems to be discussed
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a novel toolkit based on modified yeast cells to tease out how plant genes and proteins respond to auxin, the most ubiquitous plant hormone. Their system allowed them to decode auxin's basic effects on a diverse family of plant genes.
High yields and an excellent disease resistance package—these are qualities producers can expect from Oahe, the new winter wheat cultivar released by the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station. From 2013 to 2015, Oahe ranked No. 1 in mean grain yield among hard red winter wheat trials in the North Regional Performance Nurseries, which has test plots from northern Kansas through Montana and into Canada.
University of Guelph plant scientists have shown for the first time how an ancient crop teams up with a beneficial microbe to protect against a devastating fungal infection, a discovery that may benefit millions of subsistence farmers and livestock in developing countries.
Several solutions adaptable by agricultural systems to be discussed
In one of television’s more bizarre recent offerings, the History Channel show “Appalachian Outlaws” follows a band of West Virginians as they hunt rugged forests for American ginseng, a medicinal root worth hundreds of dollars per pound. The show has high stakes: These men poach on federal lands, risking fines and jail time, and guard private patches with shotguns and homemade land mines. Most of them are out of work, out of savings and worried about paying for food and heat. Ginseng gives them a way to get by.
A team's finding that CRISPR-Cas9 is a reliable method for multi-gene editing of this particular plant species was published in PLOS ONE on Sept. 13.
About 1.56 million people worked full- or part-time in Florida's agriculture, natural resources and food industries in 2014, an increase of about 40,000 workers from 2013, and nearly 29 percent from 2001.
New frontiers of soil and plant sciences may grow crops in space
Plant diversity in intercropping leads to more diversity below ground too. Researchers work to find the right combination for optimal crop and soil performance.
A college student designed a 3-D animated video that simulates landscape and vegetation changes on New Mexico’s Jornada Basin from the 1850s to the present.
A team of researchers led by the University of Birmingham warns that without significant improvements in technology, global crop yields are likely to fall in the areas currently used for production of the world’s three major cereal crops, forcing production to move to new areas.
University of Adelaide researchers have made a breakthrough in investigating salt tolerance in plants which could lead to new salt tolerant varieties of crops, and also answer unresolved questions in plant biology.
Although small in acreage planted, they have high nutritional and environmental value
The applied science team for the recently established SERVIR West Africa will develop tools to use NASA satellite-based Earth imaging data to monitor natural resources. The first priorities are critical regional issues, such as food security, water resources and land use change, in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger and Senegal. Professor Michael Wimberly will utilize Landsat images to track the changes in forest reserves, while professor Niall Hanan will use Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, images to evaluate grazing lands.
Plants can better tolerate drought and other stressors with the help of natural microbes, University of Washington research has found. Specifically, plants that are given a dose of microbes stay green longer and are able to withstand drought conditions by growing more leaves and roots and using less water.
An Iowa State University scientist is exploring the adaptations that have allowed corn to be cultivated in a wide range of elevations and environments across the Americas. Comparing corn varieties adapted to low elevations with those adapted to high elevations reveals some striking differences and could help plant breeders develop varieties more resistant to environmental stresses.
As researchers nationwide try to get college students to eat healthier foods, they’re finding that gardening may lead to a lasting habit of eating more fruits and vegetables.
Unleashing the creativity of farmers and agroecologists
Researchers at the University of Delaware studied the behavior of watermelon consumers and found that participants were more willing to pay a premium for watermelons labeled as grown on preserved farmland — as opposed to fruit bearing no label.
The U.S. cut flower industry all but wilted over the past 20 years, but much of the loss stems from lack of progress, which could blossom under more university research, according to Jim Daly, keynoter at the Ellison Chair in International Floriculture lecture at Texas A&M University.
Underneath our feet, soil’s complex system of tiny channels has huge implications for water. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) September 15th Soils Matter blog post explains how water’s movement through soil affects us all.
Leon Kochian was named the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Food Systems and Security at the University of Saskatchewan—a $20-million initiative that will use cutting-edge plant and soil science to help feed a growing world.
Farmers have been using a mix-and-match approach to practices for growing their organic veggies. Which combination of practices was best, however, was uncertain. Recent research sheds light on long-term effects of different combinations to productivity and soil.
An international team led by the U.S. Geological Survey and co-organized by Biodiversity Research Institute, recently documented widespread mercury contamination in air, soil, sediment, plants, fish, and wildlife at various levels across Western North America.
From seed to closet, transforming the fashion industry through plant science.
The newest Cornell University strawberry variety concentrates intense flavor in a berry big enough to fill the palm of your hand
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