Free-forming organelles help plants adapt to climate change
Plants' ability to sense light and temperature, and their ability to adapt to climate change, hinges on free-forming structures in their cells whose function was, until now, a mystery.
Plants' ability to sense light and temperature, and their ability to adapt to climate change, hinges on free-forming structures in their cells whose function was, until now, a mystery.
Plants & Animals
May 7, 2024
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20
Cornell researchers and collaborators have developed a new framework that allows scientists to predict crop yield without the need for enormous amounts of high-quality data—which is often scarce in developing countries, ...
Molecular & Computational biology
May 1, 2024
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89
Researchers led by a scientist at Keele University in Staffordshire have studied the previously unknown flight mechanisms of a common crop pest, to learn more about their movements in a bid to improve food security and prevent ...
Ecology
Apr 19, 2024
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21
Nitrogen fertilizers play an essential role in ensuring global food security. However, the applied fertilizer-nitrogen, particularly that exceeding crop demand and soil N retention capacity, can potentially escape into the ...
Ecology
Apr 16, 2024
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1
In 2020, global agricultural emissions were 16 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (an increase of 9% since the year 2000) and globally, the 2020 farm gate emission represented nearly half of total agricultural emissions, ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Apr 2, 2024
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21
More efficient use of phosphorus could see limited stocks of the important fertilizer last more than 500 years and boost global food production to feed growing populations.
Agriculture
Mar 25, 2024
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1
Spring equinox is fast approaching, on 20 March, but the changing seasons are playing havoc with UK wildlife and crops. This comes after England and Wales had their warmest Februarys on record, according to the Met Office.
Ecology
Mar 20, 2024
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1
Europe is the fastest-warming continent in the world and governments are too slow in taking action to reduce these climate risks. According to co-authors Robbert Biesbroek and Simona Pedde of Wageningen University & Research, ...
Economics & Business
Mar 11, 2024
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24
African countries will suffer significant economic loss after 2050 if global warming is not limited to below 2°C, a new study by the Center for Global Development has found.
Environment
Feb 29, 2024
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7
The world is becoming increasingly interconnected, which has many benefits. Shoppers in Colorado, for instance, can enjoy tropical fruits in the dead of winter, thanks to vast and complex trade networks.
Environment
Feb 28, 2024
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22
Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants (i.e. crops) creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and stratified societies. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science (the related practice of gardening is studied in horticulture).
Agriculture encompasses a wide variety of specialties and techniques, including ways to expand the lands suitable for plant raising, by digging water-channels and other forms of irrigation. Cultivation of crops on arable land and the pastoral herding of livestock on rangeland remain at the foundation of agriculture. In the past century there has been increasing concern to identify and quantify various forms of agriculture. In the developed world the range usually extends between sustainable agriculture (e.g. permaculture or organic agriculture) and intensive farming (e.g. industrial agriculture).
Modern agronomy, plant breeding, pesticides and fertilizers, and technological improvements have sharply increased yields from cultivation, and at the same time have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects.[citation needed] Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry such as intensive pig farming (and similar practices applied to the chicken) have similarly increased the output of meat, but have raised concerns about animal cruelty and the health effects of the antibiotics, growth hormones, and other chemicals commonly used in industrial meat production.[citation needed]
The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, raw materials, pharmaceuticals and stimulants, and an assortment of ornamental or exotic panget products. In the 2000s, plants have been used to grow biofuels, biopharmaceuticals, bioplastics, and pharmaceuticals. Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, and meat. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. Stimulants include tobacco, alcohol, opium, cocaine,and digitalis. Other useful materials are produced by plants, such as resins. Biofuels include methane from biomass, ethanol, and biodiesel. Cut flowers, nursery plants, tropical fish and birds for the pet trade are some of the ornamental products.
In 2007, about one third of the world's workers were employed in agriculture. However, the relative significance of farming has dropped steadily since the beginning of industrialization, and in 2003 – for the first time in history – the services sector overtook agriculture as the economic sector employing the most people worldwide. Despite the fact that agriculture employs over one-third of the world's population, agricultural production accounts for less than five percent of the gross world product (an aggregate of all gross domestic products).[dead link]
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