Farming and Agriculture

The UK's use of land is indefensibly inefficient. Roughly 5% is used for buildings and roads, 10% for forest and woodland, plus 20% for arable crops. But the largest share, around 50% of our country, is dedicated to livestock.... Read more

Maize serves as a vital model species for advancing our understanding of plant biology, yet many mysteries remain about the intricate processes governing how DNA works and organizes itself in the genome. A team of FSU researchers together with colleagues at North Carolina State University has made a breakthrough in... Read more

Potato dry rot leads to significant losses during storage and postharvest handling, making management of this disease critically important for potato farmers. Colorado State University researchers in the San Luis Valley—one of the top regions for potato production in the U.S.—have identified multiple fungal species causing dry rot in Colorado.... Read more

Chocolate produced in the Amazon is internationally recognized for its unique flavor. A study by researchers at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil has shown that it could be even more valuable. The analysis indicates that postharvest practices such as fermenting the beans from the fruit, combined with the... Read more

Two locations have been identified as the most likely entry points into Australia for a disease that poses a huge risk to the beef and dairy industries. A University of Queensland-led team has built the first geospatial model to map where insects carrying lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) could arrive... Read more

As the saying goes, there are plenty more fish in the sea—but climate change is rapidly challenging that notion, with fish stocks around the world under threat. New modeling from Monash University predicts how climate change will alter fishing yields in many regions, threatening food security, livelihoods and the future... Read more

A new Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) study has found that while regenerative agriculture practices can improve soil health and reduce emissions on sheep farms, farmers often face trade-offs between environmental and economic goals. The article, "Regenerative agriculture improves productivity and profitability while reducing greenhouse gas emissions on Australian sheep... Read more

In areas where freshwater is scarce, farmers often turn to treated wastewater to irrigate crops. And many regulators and consumers worry about exposing food to compounds routinely found in wastewater, including many psychoactive medications that treat mental disorders. But new research from Johns Hopkins University has found that certain crops—tomatoes,... Read more

A study has traced thousands of conserved regulatory elements back 300 million years, revealing deep principles of plant genome evolution—a discovery that could pave the way for more precise engineering of crop traits.... Read more

A team of international scientists, including researchers at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, reports a major advance in sorghum genomics: a powerful new resource designed to speed discovery of traits that help crops thrive under heat, drought, and highly variable growing conditions. The study is published in Nature.... Read more

A pioneering research-industry partnership has used advances in indoor farming technology to grow pea shoots fortified with vitamin B12, opening an exciting route to market for farmers and addressing a major public health need. The partnership between the John Innes Centre and the Quadram Institute, based at the Norwich Research... Read more

The larvae of the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) are considered a promising source of sustainable protein, as they contain high-quality protein comparable to soy protein. They can produce this protein from a wide variety of biomass sources, including by-products and residues from agriculture and food processing. However, while their... Read more

Plants are constantly on guard. Their roots are equipped with molecular alarm systems that detect invading microbes and trigger immune responses. Yet beneficial soil fungi routinely enter living root cells and establish close partnerships essential for plant nutrition. Scientists have now discovered that these fungi send small RNAs into the... Read more

Wild garlic, oyster mushrooms and sea beet were once regularly gathered and eaten as part of meals across the UK. Today, some people have concerns about eating food growing in the woods or hedgerows, but are keen to discuss why—as our research shows.... Read more

A University of Queensland analysis of genetic data from northern Australian cattle has identified key regions of the genome that influence traits like fertility, growth and body condition, sometimes all at the same time. Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation researcher Dr. Mehrnush Forutan said the study helps explain... Read more