FARM NEWS - BIOTECHNOLOGY DAILY

Climate Change Shifting Wine Grape Harvests in France and Switzerland

Mar 22, 2016 (SPX)

A new study from NASA and Harvard University finds that climate change is diminishing an important link between droughts and the timing of wine grape harvests i...

Sorghum: Not so ho-hum

Mar 21, 2016 (SPX)

It's an ancient grain that has been cultivated for thousands of years. Yet you may not even have heard of it. Sorghum was first grown more than 6,000 years ago ...

Mongolia herders face disaster: Red Cross

Mar 18, 2016 (AFP)

Hundreds of thousands of farm animals have perished in a slow-moving natural disaster in Mongolia and the international aid response has been insufficient, the ...

French MPs slash 'Nutella tax' after Indonesia, Malaysia protest

Mar 18, 2016 (AFP)

French lawmakers have voted to slash a surtax on imported palm oil -- dubbed the Nutella tax because the commodity is used in the popular chocolate spread -- af...

How more Research funding can hasten green revolution

Mar 18, 2016 (SPX)

"Most people know we are frying the planet," says MIT economist Daron Acemoglu, referring to the effects of climate change. After all, 2015 was the hottest year...

Hindu cow activists drink pesticide in India, one dies

Mar 18, 2016 (AFP)

Eight Hindu cow rights activists drank pesticide as part of a protest in India calling for the animals to be given greater protection, with one protester dying ...

Network of germ sleuths heads off nearly 276,000 foodborne illnesses a year

Mar 17, 2016 (SPX)

An elderly woman in Phoenix. A Toledo toddler. An accountant in Indianapolis. All poisoned by food. Quickly uncovering that their illnesses are connected can ma...

Fertilizer applied to fields today will pollute water for decades

Mar 17, 2016 (SPX)

Dangerous nitrate levels in drinking water could persist for decades, increasing the risk for blue baby syndrome and other serious health concerns, according to...

Pesticides affect bees' ability to locate flowers, drink nectar

Mar 14, 2016 (UPI)

Bumblebees exposed to even low levels of pesticides have trouble acquiring the pollination skills necessary to retrieve nectar from some wildflowers -- especial...

Unease over Chinese investors buying farms Down Under

Mar 13, 2016 (AFP)

With Chinese buyers eyeing farm land in Australia and New Zealand, authorities are coming under growing pressure to balance the need for foreign investment agai...

US gives tentative OK to testing genetically modified mosquitoes

Mar 12, 2016 (AFP)

US regulators tentatively agreed on Friday to permit a field test of genetically modified mosquitoes that are designed to help limit the spread of Zika virus an...

Urgent need to transform key food producing regions in Africa by 2025

Mar 08, 2016 (SPX)

Agriculture in parts of sub-Saharan Africa must undergo significant transformation if it is to continue to produce key food crops, according to a new study publ...

Impact of climate change on agriculture may be underestimated

Mar 08, 2016 (SPX)

One of the most critical questions surrounding climate change is how it might affect the food supply for a growing global population. A new study by researchers...

South Africa says drought cost farmers $1 billion

Mar 08, 2016 (AFP)

South Africa's agriculture sector lost a billion dollars over the past year due to the worst drought in a century, the government announced on Tuesday. Poor rai...

Recoupling crops and livestock offers energy savings to dairy farmers

Mar 04, 2016 (SPX)

For Pennsylvania dairy farmers, producing feed grain on-farm requires significantly less energy than importing it from the Midwest, according to Penn State rese...

Climate change poised to hurt food supplies: study

Mar 03, 2016 (AFP)

The effects of climate change on food production could cause 500,000 extra deaths by 2050 compared to a world without global warming, according to a study relea...

NGOs sue Monsanto, EU food safety watchdog over pesticide

Mar 02, 2016 (AFP)

A group of European NGOs on Wednesday sued agri-giant Monsanto and the EU's food safety watchdog for allegedly distorting scientific data on the carcinogenic ef...

S.Africa's economy slows as record drought hits farming

Mar 01, 2016 (AFP)

South Africa's economy grew at an annualised 0.6 percent in the last quarter of 2015, as the country battles the worst drought in a century, official statistics...

Study: Eliminating GMOs would hurt environment, economy

Mar 01, 2016 (UPI)

Researchers at Purdue University simulated a GMO ban in the United States, and the outputs weren't positive. The scientists found lower crop yield would have ne...

In grasslands, longer spring growing season offsets higher summer temperatures

Mar 01, 2016 (SPX)

Grasslands across North America will face higher summer temperatures and widespread drought by the end of the century, according to a new study. But those negat...