Agriculture and Food News

January 31, 2025

Top Headlines

New 'Matchless' Grass Variety Yields High Seed Count Without Need for Field Burning

Jan. 30, 2025 — A new grass variety, 'Matchless,' offers seed growers higher yields without the harmful impacts of burning. It also provides consumers with the option of a more environmentally friendly ...

New Technology Tracks Dairy Cows for Improved Health and Productivity

Jan. 30, 2025 — High-quality milk remains in high demand, but managing the health of dairy cows is becoming increasingly challenging. To tackle this, researchers have developed an innovative location information-based technique that uses multi-camera systems to ...

Freshwater Alga Could Be the Next Superfood That Feeds the World

Jan. 30, 2025 — A green alga that grows in lakes and rivers could be the next 'superfood' -- helping scientists to tackle global food security challenges while promoting environmental ...

Protecting the Plains: Conserving Prairie Dogs Will Revitalize North America's Grasslands

Jan. 29, 2025 — Researchers have identified priority areas for conserving the black-tailed prairie dog in the United States. Protecting these regions will also benefit North America's Central Grasslands and the many ...

Latest Headlines

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Promoting Cacao Production Without Sacrificing Biodiversity

Jan. 30, 2025 — The productivity of cacao trees decreases with time, forcing farmers to renew their plantations by either cutting down the old trees or establishing a new crop elsewhere. Frequently, new plantations ...

Discovery of a Unique Drainage and Irrigation System That Gave Way to the 'Neolithic Revolution' in the Amazon

Jan. 29, 2025 — A pre-Columbian society in the Amazon developed a sophisticated agricultural engineering system that allowed them to produce maize throughout the ...

Complexity of Tree-Planting Schemes

Jan. 28, 2025 — Research with smallholder farmers in Kenya shows that tree-planting schemes must account for complex local issues and ...

Damage Caused to Crops by Barnacle Geese Can Be Mitigated With Designated Set-Aside and Repelling Fields

Jan. 28, 2025 — A team of researchers examined the foraging behavior of barnacle geese in Northern Karelia, Finland. In this region, geese feeding on agricultural ...

Scientists Predict What Will Be Top of the Crops in UK by 2080 Due to Climate Change

Jan. 23, 2025 — While climate change is likely to present significant challenges to agriculture in coming decades, it could also mean that crops such as chickpeas, ...

'Buzz Me In:' Bees Wearing Itty Bitty QR Codes Reveal Hive Secrets

Jan. 23, 2025 — Several hundred bees in rural Pennsylvania and rural New York are sporting tiny QR codes on their backs to track when they go in and out of their hives. The work, a collaboration among entomologists ...

Little Birds, Little Poops, Little Food Safety Risk

Jan. 21, 2025 — Smaller poops from smaller birds carry very low risk of foodborne pathogens on farms, finds a new ...

The Importance of Eco-Friendly Sensors in Global Food Supply

Jan. 21, 2025 — Researchers present paper-based temperature and humidity sensors that are accurate, reliable, and eco-friendly. The team created the sensors by printing silver lines on commercially available paper ...

Direct Measurements Can Reduce Uncertainty in Soil Carbon Credit Markets

Jan. 17, 2025 — Scientists find a 'measure and remeasure' approach is a feasible method of verifying soil carbon storage in croplands for climate ...

Researchers (Plus Dogs) Discover New Truffle Species

Jan. 17, 2025 — Researchers, citizen scientists and their 'truffle dogs' -- have discovered two new species of truffle. Tuber canirevelatum, meaning the 'dog-found' truffle, was named in honor of truffle dogs and ...

Reading the Genome and Understanding Evolution: Symbioses and Gene Transfer in Leaf Beetles

Jan. 17, 2025 — Scientists explored the evolutionary success of leaf beetles, the most diverse herbivores on Earth. They showed that symbioses with bacteria have evolved repeatedly and independently in different ...

Gene-Edited Soil Bacteria Could Provide Third Source of Nitrogen for Corn Production

Jan. 16, 2025 — If corn was ever jealous of soybean's relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, advancements in gene editing could one day even the playing field. A recent study shows that gene-edited ...

Biochar Reduces the Risks of DDT-Contaminated Soil

Jan. 16, 2025 — DDT soil pollution is still a major problem in many parts of the world. Researchers have developed a new method to manage ecological risks from the toxin by binding it with biochar. When they mixed ...

Dung Data: Manure Can Help to Improve Global Maps of Herbivore Distribution

Jan. 16, 2025 — Detailed livestock models are important for land-use planning, disaster relief and food ...

Pesticide Impacts on Bees More Complex Than Expected

Jan. 15, 2025 — A new study shows distinct effects of neonicotinoid pesticide exposure in different bumble bee body parts, explaining why pesticides have diverse harmful effects and highlighting the need for more ...

Protein Protects Biological Nitrogen Fixation from Oxidative Stress

Jan. 15, 2025 — A research team has discovered how the 'Shethna protein II' protects the nitrogen-fixing enzyme nitrogenase from damage. The oxygen sensor protein could help to make nitrogenase usable in ...

Diversified Cropping Systems Boost Nitrogen Supply but Not Soil Carbon

Jan. 15, 2025 — Longer, more diverse rotations of crops fertilized with livestock manure have many environmental benefits, but carbon sequestration isn't one of them, according to a new ...

Bird Flu Is Mutating, but Antivirals Still Work

Jan. 15, 2025 — Researchers have identified nine mutations in a bird flu strain from a person in Texas. Bad news: this strain is more capable of causing disease and replicates better in the brain. Good news: ...

Small-Scale Fisheries Essential to Global Nutrition, Livelihoods

Jan. 15, 2025 — Small-scale fisheries play a significant but overlooked role in global fisheries production and are key to addressing hunger and malnutrition while supporting livelihoods around the world, according ...

Could This Fundamental Discovery Revolutionize Fertilizer Use in Farming?

Jan. 15, 2025 — Researchers have discovered a biological mechanism that makes plant roots more welcoming to beneficial soil ...

What Makes Some Plant Species 'Ripe' for Domestication

Jan. 14, 2025 — Researchers have proposed that some wild plant species possess certain attributes which make them more suitable for human cultivation than ...

Study on Hemp May Lead to More Sustainable Farming Methods

Jan. 14, 2025 — A new study of hemp microbes may lead to more sustainable farming methods, using nature to boost the growth of the plant which has become increasingly popular for its versatile uses: CBD-rich ...

Just as Gouda: Improving the Quality of Cheese Alternatives

Jan. 14, 2025 — Scientists are working to produce plant-based cheese with all the characteristics of real cheese, but with better health benefits. To create a cheesy product with the same texture as the real thing, ...

Study Shows How Plant Roots Access Deeper Soils in Search of Water

Jan. 10, 2025 — Scientists have discovered how plants adapt their root systems in drought conditions to grow steeper into the soil to access deeper water ...

States Struggle to Curb Food Waste Despite Policies

Jan. 9, 2025 — Current state policies aren't enough to curb food waste. Study shows states are falling short of the reduction goals set by the U.S. Environmental Protection ...

Scientists Leverage Artificial Intelligence to Fast-Track Methane Mitigation Strategies in Animal Agriculture

Jan. 8, 2025 — A new study reveals that generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help expedite the search for solutions to reduce enteric methane emissions caused by cows in animal agriculture, which accounts ...

Explorations of Wheat Stem Sawfly Management

Jan. 8, 2025 — Students researched sawfly biocontrols and the use of remote sensing to model infestation in ...

Blueberries Beware: Powdery Mildew Spreading Across the Globe

Jan. 8, 2025 — Research on fungus spread could help growers predict, monitor and control powdery mildew disease affecting ...

Reducing Irrigation for Livestock Feed Crops Is Needed to Save Great Salt Lake, Study Argues

Jan. 7, 2025 — The Great Salt Lake has lost more than 15 billion cubic yards of water over the past three decades, is getting shallower at the rate of 4 inches a year, and an analysis of its water budget suggests ...

U.S. Corn Belt: Intensive Farming and Shallow Groundwater Affect Precipitation Patterns

Jan. 6, 2025 — New research shows that the sweeping land use changes and irrigation of the U.S. Corn Belt, along with the influence of the area's shallow groundwater, have significantly altered precipitation ...