Farming and Agriculture

Next time you see a bee hovering around a fruit tree, you're probably witnessing pollination in action. Pollination is what enables a plant to produce seeds and fruit—and, as research has shown, pollination by insects can greatly improve the quality and quantity of fruit produced.... Read more

In the wake of unprecedented market shocks in the fed cattle industry, researchers at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture teamed up with Mississippi State University and Texas A&M University to analyze the factors affecting price ranges in negotiated cash sales. The study indicates that additional information from the... Read more

During heavy rains, Hawaii's streams, rivers, and nearshore waters change on microscopic levels. Bacteria in these aquatic systems increase, and some of these bacteria can be harmful to human health. They can cause problems like gastroenteritis—also known as the stomach flu—as well as skin and respiratory diseases.... Read more

The little things living in a calf's nose could be key to combating bovine respiratory disease, the single most costly illness affecting the beef industry.... Read more

Edible seaweeds and algae—or sea vegetables—are a group of aquatic plants that are found in the ocean. Kelp, dulse, wakame and sea grapes are all types of seaweeds that are used in seaweed-based dishes.... Read more

Researchers from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) identified the first monocot plant viral resistance gene encoding a nucleotide-binding, leucine-rich repeat immune receptor (NLR) protein from a wild grass Brachypodium to improve the cereal crops (wheat and barley) resistance to Barley... Read more

Australian jackfruit is a tropical treasure: a fruit rich in vitamins, minerals and many phytochemicals that are known to have positive health benefits, and it is incredibly versatile in its culinary uses.... Read more

A new study from North Carolina State University shows soil temperature can be used to effectively monitor and predict the spread of the corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea), a pest that ravages corn, cotton, soybeans, peppers, tomatoes and other vegetable crops. The ability to better monitor the pest and make predictions... Read more

Cold stress at the booting stage leads to lower seed setting rate and seriously threatens the production and quality of rice.... Read more

A new way of using compost could boost global crop production and deliver huge benefits to the planet, according to a study co-led by The University of Queensland.... Read more

Aphids are one of the least welcome garden visitors. These small insects can cause substantial damage in agriculture, but how do they actually choose their host plants? What are the basic mechanisms behind this? Researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Kassel now present two novel models that can be... Read more

UC Riverside scientists are on the hunt for a chemical that disrupts "evil" weevils' mating and could prevent them from destroying California's supply of avocados.... Read more

A team of researchers from Sweden, China and the U.S. has developed a much cheaper way to produce pheromones as a crop pest repellent. In their paper published in the journal Nature Sustainability, the group describes how they genetically altered a plant to force it to produce a pheromone that... Read more

In a new paper published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and partners in the U.K., Germany and the U.S. have decoded the world's oldest plant genome, using Neolithic-era watermelon seeds collected at an archaeological site in the Sahara Desert in Libya.... Read more

A Policy Forum article published today in Science calls for a new approach to regulating genetically engineered (GE) crops, arguing that current approaches for triggering safety testing vary dramatically among countries and generally lack scientific merit—particularly as advances in crop breeding have blurred the lines between conventional breeding and genetic... Read more