https://phys.org/biology-news/agriculture/ en-us Agriculture, livestock, farming and food processing news An insect-driven disease that causes high mortality in white-tailed deer and mimics the symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle is still rare in New York state, but the warming climate may increase its future spread. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-virus-sickens-cows-deer-rare.html Veterinary medicine Wed, 21 Oct 2026 20:40:01 EDT news711802216 Systemic changes are needed across the entire agri-food supply chain to address the global impact of conflict and climate change on food shortages, writes an expert in The BMJ's climate issue. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-agri-food-chain-tackle-global.html Agriculture Wed, 21 Oct 2026 18:30:09 EDT news711793868 Most plants do not gather nutrients from the soil entirely on their own. Many form partnerships with microscopic fungi that grow inside their roots and extend into the surrounding soil. These partnerships, known as arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses, help plants access nutrients, especially phosphorus. In return, the fungi receive carbon-rich compounds from the plants. But how does a plant coordinate the many signals needed to build and maintain this exchange? https://phys.org/news/2026-10-rice-partner-beneficial-soil-fungi.html Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 21 Oct 2026 18:20:01 EDT news711798606 Small fish such as sardinella are an affordable source of protein and essential nutrients for millions of people across West Africa. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-wild-fish-precious-resource-aquaculture.html Agriculture Wed, 21 Oct 2026 17:20:26 EDT news711797534 Research in New Phytologist reveals a gene that regulates tea plants' flavor and cold tolerance, providing insights on how to expand the potential for better-tasting tea to be grown in a wider variety of locations. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-gene-tea-flavor-cold-tolerance.html Plants & Animals Wed, 21 Oct 2026 03:10:15 EDT news711635342 Public and private investments must address the financial barriers preventing women from benefiting fully from digital technologies and artificial intelligence as multiple global crises and aid cuts bite. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-women-farmers-benefit-ai.html Agriculture Tue, 20 Oct 2026 22:20:01 EDT news711714260 Advances in weed management technology could reduce reliance on herbicides and manual labor, but a new review from the University of Mississippi and Cornell University indicates those tools also bring steep costs and potential challenges. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ai-weed.html Biotechnology Tue, 20 Oct 2026 20:00:07 EDT news711718874 It is a dietary staple found in sushi, rice wraps and ramen toppings. Commonly known as nori in Japan and gim in Korea, red seaweed is especially popular across Asia. Yet, despite its widespread consumption, many of its nutritional benefits remain poorly understood. Now, research led by Hokkaido University scientists has discovered that digestion of a particular red alga releases a peptide, or a small fragment of protein, with potential benefits for blood glucose control and diabetes prevention. The study was published in Food Bioscience. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-scientists-blood-sugarregulating-compound-red.html Biotechnology Tue, 20 Oct 2026 11:40:14 EDT news711708140 After a cyclospora outbreak and recalls of imported beef over the summer, a recent Gallup poll found that Americans' confidence in food safety has fallen to a record low, and consumers may be wondering how foodborne illness outbreaks can be tracked and mitigated. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-qa-technology-track-foodborne-pathogens.html Molecular & Computational biology Mon, 19 Oct 2026 21:40:01 EDT news711626869 John Innes Centre researchers have trained scientists from across Tanzania to use new loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assays to rapidly detect wheat blast, a looming fungal threat to wheat harvests. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-wheat-disease-tool-tanzania.html Biotechnology Mon, 19 Oct 2026 17:00:13 EDT news711628817 A previously unknown population of immune cells in chickens has been discovered by researchers from the University of Bristol Veterinary School in collaboration with The Pirbright Institute. The finding could help transform the way poultry vaccines are developed. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-discovery-chicken-immune-cells-pave.html Veterinary medicine Mon, 19 Oct 2026 15:00:11 EDT news711621732 The use of robots, drones and AI tools in agriculture is already paying off on 42% of the world's cropland. This could increase to 50% in the next 20 years and to as much as 75% if every country tightened environmental regulations. If every country loosened its regulations, it would fall to 31%. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-smart-farming-profitable-regions-global.html Biotechnology Mon, 19 Oct 2026 15:00:01 EDT news711618121 Faba beans are rich in protein and can easily be grown in Denmark—yet they are more often used as animal feed than as food for people. One of the main reasons is that their flavor does not meet consumer expectations compared with beef, pork or chicken. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ancient-technique-bland-beans.html Agriculture Mon, 19 Oct 2026 12:20:18 EDT news711613510 Infecting a maize plant is no simple task for a fungal pathogen such as Ustilago maydis. A group of researchers led by Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has now uncovered how the fungus detects that it has successfully entered its host. This signal triggers changes in fungal growth, as the researchers report in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-unwittingly-fungal-pathogens.html Evolution Mon, 19 Oct 2026 11:20:10 EDT news711621008 A brief period of heat and drought early in a corn plant's life can affect its growth and flowering months after the stress ends, according to new research from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and the University of Minnesota. The findings could help guide efforts to develop crops better equipped to withstand hot, dry growing conditions. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-early-drought-stress-effects-corn.html Biotechnology Mon, 19 Oct 2026 08:40:02 EDT news711609310 Depending on the cultivar, higher concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere can significantly alter the protein composition of wheat. This affects not only baking quality but potentially also the tolerability of wheat products. This is the conclusion of a new study led by the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich. According to the study, the adaptation of crops to climate change should in the future focus not only on high yields but also on quality characteristics such as protein composition. The research is published in the journal Food Chemistry. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-climate-affects-quality-world-important.html Agriculture Sun, 18 Oct 2026 15:00:01 EDT news711368337 With up to 75% of the world's soils degraded, restoration projects try to reestablish functional and biodiverse environments to secure adequate food production, biodiversity, climate regulation and human well-being. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-replanted-landscapes-soil-fungi-lag.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 16 Oct 2026 14:40:17 EDT news711369123 Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering mustard plant used worldwide as the primary genetic model in plant biology, was long believed incapable of forming relationships with underground fungal networks. New research published in Current Biology led by professor Katie Field demonstrates for the first time that it can establish a fully functional, resource-sharing partnership with an ancient soil fungus known as a Mucoromycotina fine root endophyte (MFRE). https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ancient-fungus-secret-major-food.html Ecology Fri, 16 Oct 2026 13:00:01 EDT news711366938 A steep drop in baby lobsters provided an early warning of the sharp decline in adult lobsters along Maine's midcoast, a new University of Maine study shows. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-baby-lobster-decline-foreshadows-major.html Ecology Thu, 15 Oct 2026 17:20:09 EDT news711285731 A University of Queensland study has outlined a practical pathway for accelerating the development of heat-adapted chickpeas using data from new 'omic' technologies. Ph.D. candidate Callum Jamie said the suite of technologies offered tremendous opportunities to understand how a complex trait like heat tolerance works. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-chickpea-yield.html Biotechnology Thu, 15 Oct 2026 08:00:02 EDT news711263415 Consumers may not fully understand precision fermentation yet, but many are curious enough to taste the results. New qualitative research from the EIT Food Consumer Observatory, published ahead of World Food Day on Oct. 16, suggests that this curiosity creates an important opportunity for food innovation, provided companies can answer consumers' questions clearly and deliver on the first bite. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-consumers-clearer-precision-fermentation.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 14 Oct 2026 23:40:01 EDT news711200540 A new report by CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, has found a growing suite of promising options already available to reduce on-farm emissions, as well as further opportunities for practical solutions for Australian producers. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-investment-priorities-emissions-agriculture.html Agriculture Wed, 14 Oct 2026 23:00:01 EDT news711192671 Agriculture in the Global South remains under pressure to produce more food while responding to climate change and resource constraints. Policy responses have focused on increasing production. But what about postharvest losses? Globally, about one-third of food produced for human consumption is estimated to be lost or wasted. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-food-lost-farmers-postharvest-losses.html Agriculture Wed, 14 Oct 2026 19:40:12 EDT news711194714 Busoga, in eastern Uganda, is a low, fertile plateau surrounded on three sides by Lake Victoria, the Nile River and Lake Kyoga. Most of its 4.3 million people farm small, rain-fed plots. Yet hunger is common: in the 2024 census, about a third of Busoga households reported going whole days without food. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-uganda-sugarcane-boom-families-hungry.html Agriculture Wed, 14 Oct 2026 19:20:11 EDT news711194653 Two new research papers shed light on the growing practice of grazing sheep in fields with solar arrays. One demonstrates that, in the right numbers, sheep grazing increases populations of beneficial insects like bees and lady beetles compared to mowing around solar panels. The other research describes a decision-making support tool to help farmers profitably grow their solar grazing herds. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-sheep-grazing-solar-fields-farmers.html Ecology Wed, 14 Oct 2026 15:40:07 EDT news711192374 An international team of scientists recently collaborated to identify a mysterious viral disease damaging pepper and tomato crops in Chile. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-border-virus-chilean-pepper-tomato.html Plants & Animals Wed, 14 Oct 2026 14:40:26 EDT news711191895 Energy production in our cells, oxygen traveling in our blood and immune cells fighting infection all depend on iron, an essential mineral that enters the food chain when plants absorb it from soil. But iron is often scarce—likely increasingly so as global weather and temperatures continue to change—and we aren't the only ones that need it. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-microbial-invasions-iron-protein.html Plants & Animals Wed, 14 Oct 2026 14:01:05 EDT news711190801 Plants—like people—come in all shapes and sizes. And just like scientists want to understand the components of the human body to treat disease and improve our lives, they also want to understand how plants thrive, develop disease, succumb or survive. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-method-proteins-involved-health-disease.html Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 13 Oct 2026 17:00:01 EDT news711115034 Rice is one of the world's most familiar staple foods, but how does a single cell develop into a rice plant with specialized tissues and organs? A new study offers a detailed look at this process through a three-dimensional (3D) spatiotemporal atlas covering 10 organs and 61 developmental stages across the rice life cycle, from seed to seed. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-3d-rice-gene-entire-life.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 13 Oct 2026 16:00:01 EDT news711116942 Researchers from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) and Semmelweis University have investigated what happens to horse chestnut leaves when they are attacked from within by the horse chestnut leaf miner. Their findings show that the functioning of the leaf changes while the damage is still barely visible to the naked eye. The results have been published in the journal Plant Stress. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-leaf-miner-horse-chestnut-function.html Plants & Animals Tue, 13 Oct 2026 15:20:01 EDT news711108613