The importance of crop genetic diversity

In North Carolina, the seventh most-productive blueberry state in the U.S., blueberries ripen between June and August. But North Carolina shoppers can buy blueberries throughout the year. That's because most people only eat ...

Researchers use 'banker plants' to help battle whitefly pests

A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist is showing growers how to combat whiteflies and other crop pests by using plants as storehouses for predatory insects that can migrate to cash crops and feed on the pests ...

New model shows how crop rotation helps combat plant pests

A new computational model shows how different patterns of crop rotation—planting different crops at different times in the same field—can impact long-term yield when the crops are threatened by plant pathogens. Maria ...

Researchers develop new method to synthesize antimalarial drug

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) have developed a method to synthesize the highly potent antimalarial drug artemisinin, which could lead to a more cost-effective treatment ...

The secret agents protecting our crops and gardens

Insect pests cause a huge amount of damage to crops globally. In Australia alone, pests are responsible for around A$360 million of crop losses a year. Controlling pest outbreaks is crucial for food security and human health. ...

Designer wheat fails anti-aphid field test

The scientific quest for pest-resistant crops suffered a blow Thursday when disappointed British researchers announced their designer wheat failed to repel aphids in the field.

Biofuel crops pose invasive pest risk

Researchers with the University of Hawaii Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit have examined the impact of unregulated planting of biofuel crops for their potential invasiveness and raised concerns about their impacts on Hawaii's ...

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