FARM NEWS - BIOTECHNOLOGY DAILY

Soil microbes flourish with reduced tillage

Oct 12, 2016 (SPX)

For the past several decades, farmers have been abandoning their plows in favor of a practice known as no-till agriculture. Today, about one-third of U.S. farme...

High number of pesticides within colonies linked to honey bee deaths

Oct 12, 2016 (SPX)

Honey bee colonies in the United States have been dying at high rates for over a decade, and agricultural pesticides - including fungicides, herbicides and inse...

Globalization hasn't affected what we grow and eat as much as you might think

Oct 12, 2016 (SPX)

Walk through the produce aisle in a grocery store nearly anywhere in North America and you are likely to find fruits and vegetables imported from abroad alongsi...

Biodiversity is a natural crop pest repellent

Oct 12, 2016 (UPI)

Monoculture growing fields attract a plethora of pests, while a plot rich in biodiversity repels them. But why? A new study offers answers. To find out exactly ...

Invasive insects cost the world billions per year

Oct 12, 2016 (SPX)

Ecologists have estimated that invasive (non-native) insects cost humanity tens of billions of dollars a year - and are likely to increase under climate change ...

After Hurricane Matthew, Haiti has lost its breadbasket

Oct 10, 2016 (AFP)

Mist begins its usual descent around her small house but tonight is not like the rest, and Marie-Therese Jean won't be cooking a warm meal over a few coals. Her...

As arable land disappears, here come the vertical farmers

Oct 09, 2016 (AFP)

As cities expand, eating up swathes of countryside in the process, agricultural pioneers are finding new ways to grow the fresh produce we need, in containers, ...

Madagascar hillsides stripped bare as locals seek land

Oct 09, 2016 (AFP)

"Last time, I burnt a section about that big," says Mihareta Laivoa, pointing to a parcel of land about the size of a football field, as the farmer admitted to ...

Australian-Chinese bid for massive cattle estate

Oct 09, 2016 (AFP)

Australia's richest woman and a Chinese property developer joined forces Sunday to bid for one of the world's largest cattle estates, despite Canberra's rejecti...

Flower attracts pollinating flies by mimicking smell of attacked bee

Oct 06, 2016 (UPI)

When a honeybee succumbs to a spider, it releases a scent revealing its distress. Flies know the smell well. To them, the smell works like a dinner bell. The kl...

Salt's secret success in ancient Chaco Canyon

Oct 05, 2016 (SPX)

A team of University of Cincinnati researchers had to go deep to uncover brand new knowledge that they say will "shake up" the archaeological field in the south...

Foreign farms increase the risk of conflicts in Africa

Oct 05, 2016 (SPX)

For the first time, researchers point to areas in Africa where foreign agricultural companies' choice of crops and management of fresh water are partly responsi...

Invasive insects cause tens of billions in damage: study

Oct 04, 2016 (AFP)

Invasive insects cause at least $77 billion (69 billion euros) in damage every year, according to a study released Tuesday that says this figure is "grossly und...

Soil management may help stabilize maize yield in the face of climate change

Oct 04, 2016 (SPX)

How will we feed our growing population in the face of an increasingly extreme climate? Many experts suggest the answer lies in breeding novel crop varieties th...

Chinese giant turns to France to meet soaring demand for baby formula

Sep 28, 2016 (AFP)

China's third largest baby formula producer on Wednesday opened a vast plant in France's Brittany region, whose prized dairy cows are set to contribute 100,000 ...

Review of studies finds genetically engineered crops are safe

Sep 28, 2016 (SPX)

Genetically engineered (GE) crops are no different from conventional crops in terms of their risks to human health and the environment, according to a report pu...

China removes 13-year-old ban on some US beef products

Sep 22, 2016 (AFP)

China has removed an almost 13-year-old ban on some US beef products, its quality inspection regulator said Thursday. A ban on imports of "American bone-in beef...

How plant roots sense and react to soil flooding

Sep 19, 2016 (SPX)

While we already knew that plant roots were capable of sensing many individual soil characteristics (water, nutrients and oxygen availability), we did not have ...

In Uruguay, green school 'plants seeds' for planet

Sep 18, 2016 (AFP)

A building made of tires and glass and plastic bottles, off the grid and non-polluting: a village in Uruguay is home to a fully sustainable school -- and a bold...

Study quantifies enviromental impact of genetically modified crops

Sep 16, 2016 (UPI)

The largest, most comprehensive analysis of genetically modified crops suggest the practice has led to a reduction in insecticide use but a spike in the employm...