FARM NEWS - BIOTECHNOLOGY DAILY

Clearing wild vegetation doesn't improve crop health

Aug 10, 2015 (UPI)

In the wake of a 2006 outbreak of E. coli -- spread via packaged spinach harvested on a farm in Central California -- farmers began clearing wild vegetation aro...

Lack of funds threatens food aid for millions in Iraq

Aug 09, 2015 (AFP)

A major shortage of aid funding for Iraq threatens food assistance relied on by more than two million people, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for the country ...

Study to help suburbanites have a pretty and bee-friendly lawn

Aug 07, 2015 (UPI)

In suburban America, a clean slate of turf serves as the default for front and back yards. But with bee and butterfly populations in decline, some homeowners ar...

Crop pests outwit climate change predictions en route to new destinations

Aug 05, 2015 (SPX)

A paper from the University of Exeter has highlighted the dangers of relying on climate-based projections of future crop pest distributions and suggests that ra...

Great Plains agricultural greenhouse gas emissions could be eliminated

Aug 05, 2015 (UPI)

Researchers have recently completed a historical survey of greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural industries across the Great Plains. Their work has reveale...

Feed supplement greatly reduces dairy cow methane emissions

Aug 05, 2015 (SPX)

A supplement added to the feed of high-producing dairy cows reduced methane emissions by 30 percent and could have ramifications for global climate change, acco...

How bees naturally vaccinate their babies

Aug 04, 2015 (SPX)

When it comes to vaccinating their babies, bees don't have a choice - they naturally immunize their offspring against specific diseases found in their environme...

Romanian farm losses at 2bn euros from drought: associations

Aug 04, 2015 (AFP)

Romanian agriculture has been devastated by a drought over several months with losses estimated at two billion euros ($2.2 billion), farming associations said T...

Colombia to buy land for poor in post-war period

Aug 02, 2015 (AFP)

Colombia aims to buy land from private owners and redistribute it among the poor after its 50-year-old war ends, the government said Sunday, addressing the root...

Food tech startups raking in cash: survey

Jul 31, 2015 (AFP)

Farm and food tech startups were red-hot in the first half of 2015, pulling in $2.06 billion from investors, a new survey showed Friday. The figure for the firs...

Simulated seawater flooding decreases growth of vegetable seedlings

Jul 30, 2015 (SPX)

Crop production in coastal areas is threatened by seawater intrusion, which increases soil salinity. Excessive salinity in soil and irrigation water, in combina...

LED sole-source lighting effective in bedding plant seedling production

Jul 30, 2015 (SPX)

In northern latitudes, producers of bedding plants depend on supplemental lighting during the late winter and early spring growing seasons. Unfortunately, these...

Rice grains hold big promise for greenhouse gas reductions, bioenergy

Jul 30, 2015 (SPX)

Rice serves as the staple food for more than half of the world's population, but it's also the one of the largest manmade sources of atmospheric methane, a pote...

Chill-tolerant hybrid sugarcane also grows at lower temperatures

Jul 30, 2015 (SPX)

U.S. farmers have long hoped to extend sugarcane's growing range northward from the Gulf coast, substantially increasing the land available for sugar and biofue...

UV light can kill foodborne pathogens on certain fruits

Jul 30, 2015 (SPX)

The growing organic produce industry may soon have a new way to ensure the safety of fresh fruits. Scientists at Washington State University have shown that ult...

Greenhouse gas source underestimated from the US Corn Belt

Jul 29, 2015 (SPX)

Estimates of how much nitrous oxide, a significant greenhouse gas and stratospheric ozone-depleting substance, is being emitted in the central United States hav...

Consumers don't view GMO labels as negative 'warnings'

Jul 29, 2015 (SPX)

A new study released just days after the U.S. House passed a bill that would prevent states from requiring labels on genetically modified foods reveals that GMO...

Trigger found for defense to rice disease

Jul 29, 2015 (SPX)

Biologists have discovered how the rice plant's immune system is triggered by disease, in a discovery that could boost crop yields and lead to more disease-resi...

How a kernel got naked and corn became king

Jul 29, 2015 (SPX)

Ten thousand years ago, a golden grain got naked, brought people together and grew to become one of the top agricultural commodities on the planet. Now, Univers...

Rice disease-resistance discovery closes the loop for scientific integrity

Jul 28, 2015 (SPX)

When disease-resistant rice is invaded by disease-causing bacteria, a small protein produced by the bacteria betrays the invader. Upon recognizing that protein,...