If Pleistocene megafauna -- mastodons, mammoths, giant sloths and others -- had not become extinct, humans might not be eating pumpkin pie and squash for the holidays, according to an international team of anthropologists.
A study published in the journal, Nature, adds to growing evidence that the people of Europe’s DNA underwent widespread changes, altering their height, digestion, immune system and skin color with the spread of agriculture.
University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences students are learning how to breed better peppers under the guidance of Professor Bala Rathinasabapathi. And by “better,” we mean a more savory taste, among other characteristics. Florida produces $207 million worth of bell peppers annually, according to the Florida Department Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS). In fact, as of 2012, Florida ranked second nationally in the value of bell peppers. Improving traits may help the Florida pepper industry grow even larger.
After a decade of battling the highly destructive citrus greening bacterium, researchers with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences have developed genetically modified citrus trees that show enhanced resistance to greening, and have the potential to resist canker and black spot, as well. However, the commercial availability of those trees is still several years away.
When corn prices increase farmers reap higher yields by making changes. According to a recent University of Illinois study, about one-third of the yield increase derives from more intensive management practices and two-thirds from cropping additional acreage. Agricultural economist Madhu Khanna says the findings dampen the ongoing debate about the food price and land use changes due to corn ethanol.
Results of new University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences research may help control some dangerous species of fungi, known as phytophthora -- or water molds -- that can cause millions of dollars in damage annually to ornamental plants and some fruit trees.
University of Florida researchers have found an algorithm to help them detect laurel wilt, the deadly pathogen that threatens Florida’s $100 million-a-year avocado industry.
A report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warns that the widespread practice of giving antibiotics to livestock for growth promotion and the prevention of disease among animals in agriculture is making the drugs ineffective when they are needed to treat infections in people.
More than 40 gardeners currently have plots in the church’s raised-beds on four acres of land that was once a pasture.
A new Kansas State University study finds that the over-tapping of the High Plains Aquifer's groundwater beyond the aquifer's recharge rate peaked in 2006. Its use is projected to decrease by roughly 50 percent in the next 100 years.
University of Florida researchers have found an algorithm to help them detect laurel wilt, the deadly pathogen that threatens Florida’s $100 million-a-year avocado industry.
Soils can store carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere
Coffee rust has ravaged Latin American plantations for several years, leading to reductions in annual coffee production of up to 30 percent in some countries and threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of small-scale farmers in the region.
A recently published study from two Iowa State University scientists shows that a gene found only in a single plant species can increase protein content when introduced into staple crops.
Urbanization is known to degrade the quality of soil. Researchers compared the soil under residential prairie gardens to the soil under the adjacent lawns to see if there were any differences.
UF/IFAS Extension and Bok Tower Gardens are offering programs to empower local communities to lead healthier lives and ensure responsible environmental stewardship.
To better compete with Mexico, Florida strawberry growers must produce more fruit earlier in the growing season -- in November and December – to keep a competitive advantage in the global market, UF/IFAS researchers found. Florida and California combine to produce 99 percent of the United States’ strawberries, and Florida ranks as the biggest producer of winter strawberries, with a value of $366 million annually.
Kansas State University researchers are discovering more about how adding amino acids to swine feed helps the animal grow safely while reducing producer's costs and a farm's environmental impact.
A product that helped stop a 100-year-old battle with a cotton disease in Texas has been proven effective in stopping the same fungus from devastating vineyards, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant pathologist.
Manure management is serious business for a meat-hungry world. A single cow, depending on its size, can generate between 43 and 120 pounds of manure a day. Cow manure can be a low-cost fertilizer for farmers’ crops. But manure can also host antimicrobial resistant bacteria. Researchers have been testing creative ways to target antimicrobial resistance genes in manure.
The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) announced today that it has started a new project to speed up gene discovery in bread wheat. It will provide plant breeders around the world with essential resources to accelerate their breeding programs and develop more sustainable wheat varieties with increased tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses.
The Asian Citrus Psyllid is loathed by orange farmers because they spread an even more pernicious foe: the bacteria Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, which cause a disease called citrus greening that turns the trees' leaves a sickly yellow and makes the fruit bitter and stunted. There is no cure, and the infected trees usually die within a few years. To halt the spread of the disease, researchers are developing vibration traps that hijack psyllid mating calls to locally bring their populations under control.
More than 70 vendors sell at the Saturday morning market.
A web-based irrigation system developed by researchers at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences saved 21 percent in water use without reducing growth of container-grown landscape plants, a new study shows.
High school students will have an opportunity to combine science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) principles with their interest in horses at the first Horse Science Academy at Oklahoma State University.
New Mexico State University’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences’ Forage Team strives to help farmers meet the state’s forage needs.
Piled Higher and Deeper - an analogy for PhD
In the recent sci-fi hit, The Martian, the main character, astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon), manages to grow potatoes on the planet with a mix of ingenuity, science, and a bit of Hollywood make-believe. Could it work?
Soils help moderate global temperatures, store carbon
To understand and harness the capabilities of Earth’s microbial ecosystems, nearly fifty scientists from Department of Energy national laboratories, universities, and research institutions propose a national effort called the Unified Microbiome Initiative.
Simulation models can help prepare for potential foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks in livestock, such as the one used in recent research led by Dustin Pendell, a Kansas State University agricultural economist who specializes in animal health economics. The research found that adopting an emergency vaccination approach to protect and prepare the industry and markets for a potential FMD outbreak could be warranted in certain situations.
Working model has successfully increased crop yields on half the land area in trials
The equipment used to farm geoducks, including PVC pipes and nets, might have a greater impact on the Puget Sound food web than the addition of the clams themselves.That's one of the findings of the first major scientific study to examine the broad, long-term ecosystem effects of geoduck aquaculture in Puget Sound.
Beavers, once valued for their fur, may soon have more appreciation in the Northeastern United States. There they are helping prevent harmful levels of nitrogen from reaching the area’s vulnerable estuaries. By creating ponds that slow down the movement of water, they aid in removing nitrogen from the water.
Since bee colonies started declining at alarming rates over the past few decades, some scientists have identified a group of pesticides called neonicotinoids that are commonly used on crops as a potential contributor. Now one team reports in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology that bees could be getting an unexpected dose of neonicotinoids from wildflowers on farms. Their results suggest past studies may have underestimated the bees' exposure to these compounds.
Food scientists and farmers alike are keenly interested in boosting crop yields and shortening harvest times, without affecting food safety. A team of researchers led by plasma engineer Kazunori Koga, an associate professor at Kyushu University in Japan, has now developed a new technique to safely achieve both goals using a non-thermal plasma -- a type of partially ionized, low-temperature gas currently used in a wide variety of applications including decontaminating ready-to-eat foods and their packaging, sterilizing medical instruments, reducing pollutants in exhaust gas, and even for wound healing and cancer therapy.
Through the University of Florida Marion County Extension’s second annual STEM program, students will visit nine stations at the Extension office to understand what goes into producing the food they eat.
Organic rice is increasingly desired by U.S. consumers, but farmers know that growing the grain chemically free can mean providing a feast for insects, diseases and weeds. That’s why the U.S. Department of Agriculture has put $1 million on a multi-state team of scientists with a track record of battling pests toward the goal of making organic rice profitable for farmers and more available for consumers. The grant also establishes the first Center of Excellence for organic rice research in the U.S.
Farmers markets have been growing in popularity throughout the last decade as consumers discover the benefits of buying farm-fresh food directly from small-scale, local growers. However, increasing popularity has also raised food safety concerns for produce sold at those markets.
To help stop the spread of antibiotic resistance, UC San Francisco scientists are urging hospitals around the country to stop buying meat from animals that were given antibiotics for growth promotion.
A brand new technology developed by researchers at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, has the potential to reduce crop losses across the developing world and boost the incomes of subsistence farmers. The technology is designed to combat parasitic ‘nematodes’ - microscopic worms which infect crop plants from the soil, and are responsible for a 12.3% reduction in global agricultural productivity, a loss of around £100 billion annually.
UF/IFASis hosting a workshop from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Friday, Oct. 16, at the Anna Maria Public Library to help residents understand the precautions they can take to reduce coyote encounters.
University of Florida researchers say new research can help grain handlers and grain inspectors find key locations for pathogens and pests along rail routes in the United States and Australia.
A potential revolution is unfolding on out-of-the-way logging roads. Foresters and researchers are innovating unique ways to make use of forest residues—low quality trees, tree tops, limbs, and chunks that formerly would have been left in slash piles and burned, or worse, left to rot.
Exploring soil beyond local borders helpful for growers, scientists
In a new analysis in the journal BioScience, UF/IFAS researchers evaluated how wheat moved along rail networks in the United States and Australia. Through their analysis, researchers identified U.S. states that are particularly important for sampling and managing insect and fungal problems as they move through the networks, said Karen Garrett, a UF/IFAS plant pathology professor and senior author of the study. The new knowledge could help make the food supply safer and save farmers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
Crop advisers identify features such as disease, nutrient deficiencies, and plant injury quickly and accurately in order to maximize field production. Undergraduate students of agronomy, crops, and soils will demonstrate this skill during the Crops Competition Showcase at the Synergy in Science ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, MN, on Monday, November 16, 2015.
William Thatcher, an active emeritus UF/IFAS faculty member, is considered one of the world’s leading experts in animal reproduction. He played a key role in establishing links between the intake of fatty acids by dairy cows and their effects on improving reproduction.
Peat is currently a major component of many potting soil blends. Peat is the layered accumulation of partially degraded organic material over hundreds of years. But in some parts of the world, peatland habitats are shrinking. The harvest of peat may also release additional carbon, contributing to climate change. Efforts are underway to find suitable replacements—a considerable challenge given the airy, absorptive nature of peat that is ideal for plant growth.
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