sustainability
Agriculture companies accelerate biopesticide development amid consumer pressure for less chemical-intensive farming
Agribusiness is increasingly turning to natural and sustainable alternatives to chemicals as consumers rebuff genetically modified foods and concerns grow ...
Natural coloring from purple carrots could replace some synthetic food dyes
Purple Carrots sound like something straight out of the creative mind of Dr. Seuss. But they might just become North ...
GMOs: fastest adopted crop technology in ‘history of modern agriculture’
Biotech crops are considered as the fastest adopted crop technology in the history of modern agriculture, according to ISAAA Pocket ...
Podcast: How nitrogen-fixing bacteria can cut fertilizer use 30-50%
In the early 20th century, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch revolutionized agriculture. The two German chemists developed a technique, now ...
Could ‘ultrasonic squeals’ from plants help farmers protect water-starved crops?
Although it has been revealed in recent years that plants are capable of seeing, hearing and smelling, they are still ...
Microbe-coated seeds survive salty growing conditions in new study
Researchers at Florida International University have found coating seeds with a fungus and a bacterium could help valuable crops block ...
Manipulating plant microbiome could yield healthier crops, cut chemical use, study shows
A new study by University of California, Berkeley, microbial ecologists used experimental evolution to help identify the core microbiome of ...
Millennials turn to tech to solve African farming challenges
For generations our farmers were told that they will be the next richest people of the world, due to a ...
Recent deforestation, agriculture intensification may accelerate biodiversity declines, study warns
Biodiversity across the globe could be in a worse state than previously thought as current biodiversity assessments fail to take ...
New ‘Cosmic Crisp’ apple with year-long storage life poised to hit stores in December 2019
An apple a day... a year in the fridge, they may stay. A new type of apple was launched [December ...
3D ‘bioprinting’ could help produce customized, sustainable and more nutrias lab-grown meats
Researchers at IIT-Guwahati [Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati] have developed lab-grown meat, which is nutritious and will be a step ...
CRISPR, disease-sensing technologies could yield a ‘cornucopia’ of healthier, tastier foods
Consumers may soon begin purchasing fun-sized fruits and vegetables, as well as processed foods that incorporate healthier ingredients .... And ...
Nanotechnology helps farmers battle increasingly pesticide-resistant weeds, insects with fewer chemicals
A University of Toronto graduate school project is now extending the life of widely used crop protection products. Vive Crop ...
Redesigning photosynthesis in key crops could help sustain global food production, study shows
Scientists have solved the structure of one of the key components of photosynthesis, a discovery that could lead to photosynthesis ...
Commonly used pesticide 1,3-D has smaller impact on soil microbes than tillage, cover crops or irrigation, study shows
It started with curiosity. How does a fumigant, commonly used for nematode management in potato cropping systems, influence soil microbial ...
‘Post-organic produce’: Expanding indoor farming industry aims to make agriculture more sustainable
If you live in the U.S., the last time you ate a salad, the lettuce inside it almost certainly came ...
Microsoft previews ‘data-driven’ farming platform as solution to global food demand boom
The global population is expected to increase by 2.2 billion by 2050, and the world’s farmers will have to grow ...
Farmers know switch to organic means lower yields, but expect price premium to make up for losses
For decades, the conventional wisdom surrounding organic farming has been that it produces crops that are healthier and better for ...
Viewpoint: World must embrace CRISPR, synthetic biology to boost food production in the face of climate change
New breeding technologies may hold the key to preventing a global “push into poverty.” ...
Viewpoint: New study provides clear evidence of substantial insect biomass and biodiversity losses
There are certain times in life .... when we think that we know something but the evidence is less than ...
Robot-powered plant science helps grape growers predict yields, detect pest threats
For grape growers, accurately predicting each season’s yield is key to a successful harvest. Underpredict, and you won’t have enough ...
Soil fungi turn struggling wheat into ‘climate-smart’ crop with boosted nutrient uptake in new study
Introducing fungi to wheat boosted their uptake of key nutrients and could lead to new, 'climate smart' varieties of crops, ...
Engineered molecule could protect key food crops from intensifying droughts as climate changes
An engineered small molecule called opabactin that targets the receptor for the hormone abscisic acid (ABA), which plants release in ...
Viewpoint: How agroecology can improve life for Africa’s smallholder farmers
The gravity of the numerous problems faced by smallholders is too great to allow for scientifically promising alternatives like agroecology ...
Viewpoint: From biofuels to food flavorings, here’s 10 ways biotechnology boosts sustainability
As climate change looms over our future, many industries are turning to biology for solutions to make all aspects of ...
‘Synthetic biology doesn’t have to be scary’: It could offer us new medicines, biofuels and everything in between
Though hacking organisms and rearranging genomes may sound scary, there is definitely a Light Side to this narrative (a balance, ...
Podcast: Synthetic fertilizer pollution threatens our ecosystems. Are nitrogen-fixing microbes the answer?
Farmers need nitrogen fertilizer to maximize crop yields. Without it, our food supply would be nowhere near as abundant as ...
