https://phys.org/biology-news/agriculture/ en-us Agriculture, livestock, farming and food processing news To people, salt is a kitchen staple. But to crops, too much of it can be devastating. Across coastal regions and irrigated agricultural land, salt is accumulating in soils, making it harder for plants to absorb water and reducing harvests. Scientists estimate that around half of the world's irrigated farmland is now affected by salinity to some degree. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-secret-life-roots-salty-soils.html Ecology Thu, 09 Jul 2026 14:20:04 EDT news702820742 Decaying matter shapes life in soil, but it can also create hostile zones for growing roots. Professor Jiří Friml of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) and international collaborators have now identified "saprotropism," a root response that guides plants away from decaying plant-derived matter—but not animal-derived decay. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-newly-saprotropism-roots-decaying-animal.html Ecology Thu, 09 Jul 2026 14:00:09 EDT news702793687 A smartwatch can tell us the level of oxygen in our blood, when our sleep is restless or the number of steps we take in a day. Now imagine that kind of tracking ability for plants. By the time farmers see curling leaves or stunted growth in their fields, their crops may already have spent days under stress. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-wearables-track-health-farmers-real.html Biotechnology Thu, 09 Jul 2026 10:20:07 EDT news702807380 More than 20 years ago, the Chinese government instituted the Scientific Outlook on Development (SOD) program, tying local leaders' job performance evaluations to environmental quality improvements. More than 350 river monitoring stations measured their success. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-china-pollution-declines.html Ecology Thu, 09 Jul 2026 07:20:09 EDT news702799562 A study by the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) has highlighted the impact Varroa mites will have on crop pollination in Tasmania if the parasitic mites become established in the state. The study was prompted by the spread of Varroa on mainland Australia, which is wreaking havoc on European honeybee colonies. Managed honeybee colonies can be monitored and treated for Varroa by beekeepers, but feral honeybee colonies are unmanaged and likely to be at greater risk if Varroa becomes prevalent in Tasmania. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-varroa-tasmanian-crop-pollination.html Ecology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 23:20:02 EDT news702724558 Farmers are getting more tools in their toolbox, thanks to new research from the University of Missouri that shows how they can tweak planting practices to make the most of every acre. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-future-ai-farm.html Biotechnology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 19:20:03 EDT news702729348 Across North America, in places such as Illinois, Iowa and Texas, farmers are busy growing the crops the world depends on for food, fuel and fiber. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-fertilizers-hidden-soil-crucial-microbes.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 15:20:05 EDT news702734701 Maize (corn) is a major dietary staple in Maya communities past and present because of its reliability, potential for surplus, and suitability as both food and fodder. It became so important to ancient Mesoamerican communities that it even became central to many of their religious beliefs, and arguably, they built their societies on it. Yet maize has a major nutritional limitation. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-maize-fed-animals-maya-farmers.html Ecology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 15:10:01 EDT news702741654 Research has shed intriguing new light on the genetics underlying the diverse plant organ shapes seen in agriculture and nature. Despite more than a century of scientific investigation into the role of inner and outer tissues, there is still much to learn about how leaves, stems, fruits and grains get their genetically determined shapes. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-uncover-story-growth.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 11:00:09 EDT news702638397 Fish hatcheries are a critical part of the effort to restore salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest. But hatchery fish are less likely than wild ones to return from the ocean to spawn—and one reason may be hatchery noise. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quiet-hatchery-salmon-noise-spawn.html Ecology Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:40:01 EDT news702721381 The U.S. is the fourth-largest wine-producing country by output volume, and approximately 80% of its production occurs in California. Ever since the 19th century, California's premier wine-growing regions have been the Napa Valley and Sonoma County, thanks to their favorable microclimate. But grape yield and quality are very sensitive to the local environment, which means the climate crisis could shake up California's wine industry. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-global-wildfire-threaten-viability-california.html Agriculture Wed, 08 Jul 2026 00:00:03 EDT news702570941 Ongoing research reveals how the aroma of cannabis is influenced not only by the chosen cultivar, but also by different drying and storage methods. Through a combination of high-resolution chromatography and human-perception aroma assessments, this project provides detailed insights into the impact of preparation and transportation on cannabis chemistry and how humans perceive and interpret its aromas. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-scents-cannabis-cultivar-methods-aroma.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 07 Jul 2026 03:30:02 EDT news702538021 In a major step toward enhancing food security and exploring the potential to bring rice farming back to Hawaiʻi, an international research team has successfully cultivated premium Japanese rice varieties on Kauaʻi using a water-saving, upland cultivation method. The rice matured approximately one month earlier than it typically does in Japan, yet produced yields comparable to those of upland rice grown in Japan, with superior grain appearance and quality. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-rice-hawaii-japanese-cultivars-yield.html Agriculture Mon, 06 Jul 2026 17:20:04 EDT news702552957 A new genetic analysis of hundreds of cacao trees representing traditional Amazonian varieties grown on farms across Peru has revealed four previously unidentified, genetically distinct groups. Lambert Motilal, with colleagues from the Cocoa Research Center, The University of the West Indies, and Martha S. Calderon and Danilo E. Bustamante, with their colleagues from the Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza, partnered to explore Peru's untapped cacao diversity. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-groups-indigenous-cacao-varieties-peru.html Ecology Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:00:05 EDT news702287213 Sheep farmers could soon be able to estimate their flock's live weight and fleece weight in real time, without the need for labor-intensive handling. The new system, being developed by CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, will capture measurements in real time as animals move naturally through their environment. FlockMate is a two-year research project. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-approach-sheep-liveweight.html Agriculture Mon, 06 Jul 2026 07:40:03 EDT news702538610 Summer came too early to Europe's most important rice-growing region, and weeds are taking over Sharon Angoli's parched paddies in Italy's Pavia province. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-europe-rice-bowl-drought.html Agriculture Sat, 04 Jul 2026 16:00:01 EDT news702399511 Diseases spread by insects in the Brazilian Amazon are not randomly distributed but form distinct regional patterns linked to land use, rural economies and environmental change, according to new research led by the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) at the University of Oxford. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-insect-borne-diseases-amazon-linked.html Ecology Fri, 03 Jul 2026 20:40:01 EDT news702290375 Scientists have grown wheat containing supersized starch granules—a leap forward in biological engineering with potential benefits for our daily diets and a raft of industrial applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-giant-wheat-starch-granules-biological.html Biotechnology Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:00:10 EDT news702286264 A few years ago, Austin Wrenn noticed something unsettling in his strawberry greenhouses at Wrenn's Farm in Zebulon, North Carolina. He was one of the first growers in the state to experience losses from an unexpected, aggressive fungal pathogen known as Neopestalotiopsis, or Neo-P. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-emerging-threat-strawberry-crops.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 03 Jul 2026 10:00:07 EDT news702287003 Researchers at National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), in collaboration with researchers from The University of Electro-Communications (UEC) and Akita Prefectural University, have discovered a new insect pathogen that invades the gut symbiotic organ of stink bugs by mimicking their symbiotic microorganism, ultimately killing the host bugs. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-trojan-horse-microorganisms-exploit-symbiotic.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 02 Jul 2026 18:00:02 EDT news702222902 Many fungi lead triple lives—acting as deadly insect pathogens, decomposers in the soil, and helpful partners living inside and transferring insect-derived nitrogen to plant roots. Scientists have long wondered what allows a single species to pull off these very different roles. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-broader-fungus-diet-insects.html Ecology Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:40:01 EDT news702216721 Worker bees are the first line of defense when it comes to removing contamination in honeybee colonies, but a queen has her ways, too. A honeybee queen facing chronic exposure to pesticides will take up that contamination and pass it along to her eggs, a process researchers call maternal offloading. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-honeybee-queens-pesticides-eggs-offspring.html Ecology Thu, 02 Jul 2026 11:00:05 EDT news702201061 Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have found how plant cells respond to stress. If their energy supply is disrupted by heat, drought or saline soils, chloroplasts—the cells' powerhouses—send an intracellular distress signal by forming tiny, finger-like projections. This signal specifically activates protection programs that help limit damage. The study, published in Plant Physiology, reveals the function of these previously mysterious structures and presents an approach for making crops more resilient to climate stress. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-stress-triggers-emergency.html Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 02 Jul 2026 10:40:03 EDT news702204580 A new resilience test for merino sheep is using hereditary markers to help producers identify which animals are better able to cope with stressors in their environment. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-genomic-tool-resilience-merino-sheep.html Plants & Animals Thu, 02 Jul 2026 10:20:05 EDT news702204302 Small farms grow much of the world's food, but from space they are nearly invisible. Their fields are tiny and ill-defined, and the satellite tools built to track crops were designed for the large, uniform fields of industrial agriculture, not the sub-hectare plots that feed many of the world's poorest people. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ai-satellite-crop-world-vulnerable.html Biotechnology Thu, 02 Jul 2026 09:52:24 EDT news702204668 There are some magical limits to how much energy we can get out of a heat pump. This story is about pushing the technical limits. It is about getting more energy out than you put in. And it's about how SINTEF—one of Europe's largest applied research organizations—the renewable energy company Aneo, and the Norwegian agricultural cooperative Felleskjøpet together managed to shift the recovery of process heat from theoretical calculations in researchers' notebooks to becoming an industrial electricity-saving project on a large scale. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-huge-specially-norwegian-agricultural-cooperative.html Biotechnology Wed, 01 Jul 2026 21:00:01 EDT news702128391 Before a leaf dies, plants recover nutrients that the rest of the plant can reuse for growth and survival. Researchers at Umeå Plant Science Center have now identified a metabolic "point of no return" linked to the amino acid arginine. The study suggests that plants use arginine as a signal to determine whether recovery remains possible or whether cells should commit to death, a discovery that could eventually help improve crop resilience under environmental stress. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-amino-acid-dying.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:40:05 EDT news702125581 Beneath the surface of soybean fields, an invisible threat is costing farmers billions. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri are uncovering how nature itself may hold the key to fighting back. The soybean cyst nematode—a microscopic worm that attacks plant roots and siphons off nutrients—devastates soybean yields worldwide, leaving crops stunted, weakened and prematurely yellow. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-advantage-enzyme-mutation-soybeans-billion.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:00:11 EDT news702127083 Plants need nitrogen to grow. Many legumes meet this need through a symbiotic relationship: They harbor bacteria that fix atmospheric nitrogen and make it available to the plant. Until now, it was largely unclear how a perennial plant regulates this symbiosis without destroying its bacterial partners. An international team led by TU Braunschweig has now described a previously unknown mechanism: The black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) employs a newly discovered family of small proteins that specifically "reprogram" its symbiotic bacteria for nitrogen fixation while keeping them alive. The findings are published in Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-black-locust-deploys-peptides-root.html Plants & Animals Tue, 30 Jun 2026 18:00:03 EDT news702042901 Researchers report some corn plants are genetically predisposed to develop longer, less constricted water-conducting tissues and deeper roots, which helps them deal with drought. That's the conclusion of a team led by Penn State researchers that conducted a study of the plant's xylem tissue, which moves water upward from the roots to the leaves. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-newly-corn-trait-crop-drought.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 30 Jun 2026 17:20:01 EDT news702042223