Food and Agriculture News

November 20, 2024

Top Headlines

Will Agricultural Weeds Finally Claim the Upper Hand in a Changing Climate?

Nov. 19, 2024 — A few years back, a group of weed scientists showed that soil-applied herbicides are less effective against agricultural weeds in the context of our changing climate. Now, the same research group has shown the same is true of post-emergence (POST) ...

Revealing the Hidden Costs of What We Eat

Nov. 18, 2024 — Shifting our diets to be more sustainable can be a powerful way for each of us to address both climate change and global food insecurity, however making such adjustments at the large scales necessary to make a difference globally can be a delicate ...

Bee Alert: Pesticides Pose a Real Threat to Over 70% of Wild Bees

Nov. 18, 2024 — A new study reveals alarming risks that pesticides pose to ground-nesting bees, which are crucial for pollination and food production. As agriculture increasingly relies on pesticides to protect crops, the unintended consequences for these essential ...

The Blue-Green Sustainable Proteins of Seaweed May Soon Be on Your Plate

Nov. 13, 2024 — The protein in sea lettuce, a type of seaweed, is a promising complement to both meat and other current alternative protein sources. Seaweed also contains many other important nutrients, and is grown without needing to be watered, fertilized or ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:17pm EST

Heartier Heinz? How Scientists Are Learning to Help Tomatoes Beat the Heat

Nov. 8, 2024 — Biologists found what makes some types of tomatoes more heat-tolerant, yielding insights that could help crops adapt to climate ...

A New Piece in the Grass Pea Puzzle -- Updated Genome Sequence Published

Oct. 31, 2024 — An international research collaboration has completed the most detailed genome assembly to date of grass pea (Lathyrus ...

New Illinois Study Explores Adoption of Robotic Weeding to Fight Superweeds

Oct. 30, 2024 — Most corn and soybean fields in the U.S. are planted with herbicide-resistant crop varieties. However, the evolution of superweeds that have developed resistance to common herbicides is jeopardizing ...

Thermal Imaging May Help Fruits, Veggies Stay Fresher Longer

Oct. 28, 2024 — A recent review suggests new temperature measuring technologies could make that process much simpler, amid growing agricultural challenges fueled by fluctuating ...

Lab-Grown Pork Gets Support from Sorghum Grain

Oct. 28, 2024 — Meat grown in a lab isn't science fiction anymore. Cultured meats have existed for over a decade, and as of 2023, you might even find lab-grown chicken in restaurants (in the U.S., at least). Now, ...

Plant Diversity Enhances Soil Carbon Retention

Oct. 24, 2024 — A new study shows that increasing plant diversity in agriculture can be used to improve the carbon sequestration potential of agricultural soils. As the agricultural sector strives to reduce its ...

Harnessing Plant Odors to Revolutionize Sustainable Agriculture

Oct. 24, 2024 — Plants communicate through volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that help them respond to herbivorous pest attacks. This review explored the mechanisms behind these plant communications and their ...

With 'Electro-Agriculture,' Plants Can Produce Food in the Dark and With 94% Less Land, Bioengineers Say

Oct. 23, 2024 — Photosynthesis, the chemical reaction that enables almost all life on Earth, is extremely inefficient at capturing energy -- only around 1% of light ...

Honey Bees in Demand: New Contract Strategies to Support Pollination Services

Oct. 15, 2024 — As the world's native bee populations are declining, crop production requiring pollinators increasingly relies on commercial pollination services. In ...

Chickpeas: Sustainable and Climate-Friendly Foods of the Future

Oct. 16, 2024 — Climate change has a negative impact on food security. Researchers have now conducted a study to investigate the natural variation of different chickpea genotypes and their resistance to drought ...

Plastic Pollution Harms Bees, Review Finds

Oct. 16, 2024 — A new review systematically shows the harmful effects of nano- and microplastics on bees and other beneficial insects. Their function as pollinators is impaired by the plastic particles. This harbors ...

Changing Watering Practices to Improve Tomato Plant Health

Oct. 14, 2024 — Some people believe that talking to your plants makes them thrive. While there's limited scientific support for sound improving plant health, there's a growing amount of evidence about the ...

Having a Sweet Tooth Is Linked to Higher Risk of Depression, Diabetes, and Stroke, Study Finds

Oct. 9, 2024 — People with a preference for sweets are at a higher risk of developing depression, diabetes, and suffering a stroke, according to new ...

Invasive Apple Snail Could Spread Further in Africa, Study Reveals

Oct. 7, 2024 — New research reveals that the invasive Apple Snail -- which threatens rice crops -- could spread further in Africa. A team of researchers suggest that South West along Tana River, Western Kenya and ...

Toddlers Get Nearly Half Their Calories from Ultra-Processed Foods

Oct. 3, 2024 — Toddlers in the UK obtain nearly half (47%) of their calories from ultra-processed foods (UPFs), and this rises to 59% by the age of seven, according to a new study. The most common UPFs consumed by ...

Ant Agriculture Began 66 Million Years Ago in the Aftermath of the Asteroid That Doomed the Dinosaurs

Oct. 3, 2024 — According to a new study, colonies of ants began farming fungi when an asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago. This asteroid impact caused a global mass extinction but also created ideal ...

Methane Emissions from Dairy Farms Higher Than Thought -- But Conversion Could Reduce Emissions

Oct. 2, 2024 — New research has found methane emissions from slurry stores on dairy farms may be up to five times greater than official statistics suggest -- and highlights the huge potential for turning them into ...

Imaging of Pathogens on Lettuce Leaves in Real-Time

Sep. 30, 2024 — As the global population surpasses 8 billion, the challenge of producing sufficient food becomes increasingly pressing. The Netherlands stands as the world's second-largest food exporter, ...

Global Warming Leads to Higher Nitrogen Requirements: New Wheat Varieties Can Contribute to Food Security

Sep. 27, 2024 — Wheat is the world's most important grain. But it has high environmental costs due to the need to fertilize with nitrogen. Researchers have now determined that new wheat varieties produce better ...

Good Nutrition Boosts Honey Bee Resilience Against Pesticides, Viruses

Sep. 24, 2024 — In a new study, researchers have tackled a thorny problem: How do nutritional stress, viral infections and exposure to pesticides together influence honey bee survival? By looking at all three ...

Biologist Pioneers Increased Protein in Staple Crops, Helps Alleviate Global Protein Shortage

Sep. 23, 2024 — A biologist's groundbreaking research aims at improving global nutrition and ...

Transforming Agriculture from Carbon Source to Sink

Sep. 23, 2024 — The food system is one of the most significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions on the planet, making the reduction of emissions in this sector a priority for policymakers around the world. ...

African Food Future Looks Bright With Blueprint for Food Security

Sep. 19, 2024 — Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa can secure future food supplies by unlocking the potential of their people and farming ...

Can the MIND Diet Lower the Risk of Memory Problems Later in Life?

Sep. 18, 2024 — People whose diet more closely resembles the MIND diet may have a lower risk of cognitive impairment, according to a new study. Results were similar for Black and white participants. These results do ...

Soil Footprint: A Simple Indicator of a Crop's Impact on Soil Erosion

Sep. 17, 2024 — A research team proposes a method to calculate, compare and communicate how different crops affect the loss of agricultural soil, with the aim of raising awareness of this problem and promoting ...

Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture Suggests Even Greater Challenges to the Environment, Global Food Supply and Public Health

Sep. 12, 2024 — A sweeping global research review of the links between climate and agriculture reveals the likelihood of an emergent feedback loop whereby, as climate change puts more pressure on the global food ...

Sep. 12, 2024 — Researchers can harvest protein and vitamin B9 from microbes by feeding them nothing much more than hydrogen, oxygen, and CO2. The technology runs on renewable energy to produce a sustainable, ...

AI Can Slash Indoor Farming Energy Use

Sep. 9, 2024 — Integrating artificial intelligence into today's environmental control systems could reduce energy consumption for indoor agriculture by 25% -- potentially helping to feed the world as its ...

Growing Key Biomethane Crop on Peat Emits 3 Times More CO2 Than Using Natural Gas

Sep. 9, 2024 — There has been a rapid expansion in growing crops such as maize to produce biomethane as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels, to help reach Net Zero. But some of this increased cultivation, on ...

Making Baby Food Safer: Arsenic and Cadmium Contamination Levels in Rice

Sep. 5, 2024 — Researchers found that flooded rice fields tend to have higher amounts of arsenic and lower amounts of cadmium while drier rice fields have lower amounts of arsenic and higher amounts of cadmium. The ...