News tagged with agricultural lands

What's the best irrigation canal liner?

There are an estimated 1.2 million acres of agricultural land in Texas irrigated via canals, and many are in need of renovation, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service expert.

Space & Earth / Environment

created May 25, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 4

Economists list cheapest ways to save the world

Leading economists have ranked how to best and most cost-effectively invest to solve many of the world's seemingly insurmountable problems, a Danish think-tank said Monday, calling for a shift in global priorities.

Space & Earth / Environment

created May 14, 2012 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (5) | comments 113

Italian engineer invents floating solar panels

Rays of the winter sun bounce off gleaming mirrors on the tiny lake of Colignola in Italy, where engineers have built a cost-effective prototype for floating, rotating solar panels.

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Feb 22, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 6

Study: Forested riparian zones important to nitrogen control, stream health

Human activities from agriculture to fossil fuel consumption have resulted in high levels of nitrates in many streams and rivers; now a new study suggests that nurturing riparian zone forests may be a key in maintaining healthy ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

New web tool to improve accuracy of global land cover maps

An interactive web tool has been developed to improve the accuracy and extent of global land use and forest cover information. The new 'Geo-Wiki' uses Google Earth and information provided by a global network of volunteers ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Algae may be sustainable alternative for animal feed

The pigs and poultry in Professor Xingen Lei's lab have been consuming feed one wouldn't expect in Ithaca: marine algae.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jan 19, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

What are the prospects for sustaining high-quality groundwater?

Intensive agriculture practices developed during the past century have helped improve food security for many people but have also added to nitrate pollution in surface and groundwaters. New research has looked at water quality ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 19, 2011 | 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

Excess heavy metals in 10% of China's land: report

About 10 percent of China's farmland contains excessive levels of heavy metals due to contaminated water and poisonous waste seeping into the soil, state media said Monday, citing a government survey.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 07, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Biologists identify light-regulated mechanism in cyanobacteria as aid to optimizing photosynthesis

(PhysOrg.com) -- Indiana University biologists have uncovered how a control system works in producing the important light-harvesting antennae that power photosynthesis in cyanobacteria, the microorganisms ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 03, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 4

Mississippi mud: More water behind river's sediment rise

(PhysOrg.com) -- During the past several decades, upper Midwest state and local agencies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on extraordinary conservation efforts to prevent the Upper Mississippi River ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Sep 29, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 1

New method cleans up textile industry's most dangerous chemicals

Textile dying is one of the most environmentally hazardous aspects of the textile industry. During dying, harmful chemicals that are difficult to break down are released, all too often into rivers and agricultural land. However, ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Sep 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

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

Reforestation's cooling influence -- a result of farmer's past choices

Decisions by farmers to plant on productive land with little snow enhances the potential for reforestation to counteract global warming, concludes new research from Carnegie's Julia Pongratz and Ken Caldeira. Previous research ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jul 26, 2011 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast