Central America battles to save coffee from fungus

Central America is scrambling to contain a coffee-eating fungus that has invaded a third of the impoverished region's crops, threatening to cost the vital industry hundreds of millions of dollars.

Formidable fungal force counters biofuel plant pathogens

Fungi play significant ecological and economic roles. They can break down organic matter, cause devastating agricultural blights, enter into symbiotic relationships to protect and nourish plants, or offer a tasty repast. ...

Mutant fungus threatens global wheat supply: scientists

Scientists have identified four new strains of a wheat-killing fungus that could endanger the global food supply, according to research presented Wednesday ahead of a conference in Russia.

Scientists gain in struggle against wheat rust

(AP) -- Researchers are deploying new wheat varieties with an array of resistant genes they hope will baffle and defeat Ug99, a highly dangerous fungus leapfrogging through wheat fields in Africa and Asia.

New fungus to help Australian farmers fight fast-spreading weed

Farmers now have a new biocontrol tool to help fight one of Australia's most challenging agricultural weeds, flaxleaf fleabane, which causes grain crop revenue losses of more than $43 million each year. Researchers from Australia's ...

Fungus that eats fungus could help coffee farmers

Coffee rust is a parasitic fungus and a big problem for coffee growers around the world. A study in the birthplace of coffee—Ethiopia—shows that another fungus seems to have the capacity to supress the rust outbreaks ...

Engineered beans show promise for Africa

Slender green beans air-freighted from Kenya to markets in Western Europe are a profitable crop for high-altitude farms across sub-Saharan Africa. Breeding efforts at Cornell could help their lower altitude neighbors also ...

Scientists: 'Super' wheat to boost food security

(AP) -- Scientists say they're close to producing new "super varieties" of wheat that will resist a virulent fungus while boosting yields up to 15 percent, potentially easing a deadly threat to the world's food supply.

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