News tagged with agricultural crop production

Breeder works to reduce aluminum toxicity in rice

(Phys.org) -- As rice farmers around the world begin to turn from wet paddies to dry fields in an attempt to conserve water and mitigate climate change, they are facing a new foe: aluminum.

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 08, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

How the ecological risks of extended bioenergy production can be reduced

For years experts have discussed the ecological impact of the extended cultivation of energy crops. Scientists have now developed a computer model that allows assessing the impacts and comparing the effectiveness ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Soybean can grow in New York, thanks to climate change

(PhysOrg.com) -- Warmer weather across northern New York could present an opportunity for farmers: soybeans.

Biology / Ecology

created Feb 16, 2012 | popularity 2.5 / 5 (4) | comments 8

Food crops damaged by pollution crossing continents

(PhysOrg.com) -- Man-made air pollution from North America causes Europe to lose 1.2 million tonnes of wheat a year, a new study has found.

Biology / Other

created Jan 30, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (17) | comments 21 | with audio podcast

Discovery of plant 'nourishing gene' brings hope for increased crop seed yield and food security

University of Warwick scientists have discovered a "nourishing gene" which controls the transfer of nutrients from plant to seed - a significant step which could help increase global food production.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jan 13, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Soil microbiologists discover Aberdeen microbe of global agricultural significance

(PhysOrg.com) -- Organisms that oxidise ammonia were first discovered in 1890. Although a natural process, a major consequence of the activities of such organisms in soil is the transformation and loss of ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

UN warns 25 pct of world land highly degraded

(AP) -- The United Nations has completed the first-ever global assessment of the state of the planet's land resources, finding in a report Monday that a quarter of all land is highly degraded and warning the trend must be ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 28, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 1

New projection shows global food demand doubling by 2050

Global food demand could double by 2050, according to a new projection by David Tilman, Regents Professor of Ecology in the University of Minnesota's College of Biological Sciences, and colleagues, including ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (5) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Genomics of wood for biofuels production investigated

A team of Virginia Tech researchers is working to characterize the genes involved in wood formation in poplar trees with the goal of improving the quality and quantity of wood as a feedstock for biofuels production.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 07, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Breakthrough in the production of flood-tolerant crops

As countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and parts of the United States and United Kingdom have fallen victim to catastrophic flooding in recent years, tolerance of crops to partial or complete submergence ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 23, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Improving sugarcane ethanol production -- the 'midway' strategy

An article in the current issue of Global Change Biology Bioenergy reviews the history and current state of ethanol production of sugarcane in Brazil and presents a strategy for improving future ecosystem services and pr ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Sep 13, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Protecting wild species may require growing more food on less land: study

In parts of the world still rich in biodiversity, separating natural habitats from high-yielding farmland could be a more effective way to conserve wild species than trying to grow crops and conserve nature on the same land, ...

Biology / Ecology

created Sep 01, 2011 | popularity 2.3 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Economic analysis reveals organic farming profitable long-term

Organic farming is known to be environmentally sustainable, but can it be economically sustainable, as well?

Other Sciences / Economics & Business

created Sep 01, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

New study suggests severe deficits in UK honeybee numbers

A study published by the University of Reading's Centre for Agri Environmental Research suggests that honeybees may not be as important to pollination services in the UK than previously supposed. The research was published ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jul 01, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Early agricultural piracy informs the domestication of rice

The origins of rice have been cast in a new light by research publishing in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics on June 9, 2011. By reconciling two theories, the authors show that the domestication of rice occurred at lea ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jun 09, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1