Returning land to nature with high-yield farming

The expansion of farmlands to meet the growing food demand of the world's ever expanding population places a heavy burden on natural ecosystems. A new IIASA study however shows that about half the land currently needed to ...

Insect bites and warmer climate means double-trouble for plants

Recent models are telling us that, as our climate warms up, herbivores and pests will cause increased damage to agricultural crops. One study predicted that crop yield lost to insects increases 10 to 25 percent for every ...

A new tomato ideal for urban gardens and even outer space

Farmers could soon be growing tomatoes bunched like grapes in a storage unit, on the roof of a skyscraper, or even in space. That's if a clutch of new gene-edited crops prove as fruitful as the first batch.

Helpful insects and landscape changes

We might not notice them, but the crops farmers grow are protected by scores of tiny invertebrate bodyguards. Naturally occurring arthropods like spiders and lady beetles patrol crop fields looking for insects to eat. These ...

Study: Biodiversity improves crop production

Ecologists and biologists compared data of about 1,500 agricultural fields around the world, including corn fields in the American plains, oilseed rape fields in southern Sweden, coffee plantations in India, mango plantations ...

Analysis IDs ag practices to fight flood, drought

A synthesis of 89 studies across six continents has helped clarify which agricultural practices hold water when it comes to helping soils soak up precipitation—a factor critical to mitigating floods, outlasting drought ...

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