Agriculture

Agriculture

Bees increase coffee profits

Scientists studying a Costa Rican coffee farm have estimated the monetary value of conserving nearby wooded habitat for the bees that pollinate coffee plants.

Agriculture

Plastic vs. Plants: Mulch method changes tomato’s gene activity

A suite of at least 10 genes in a tomato plant behaves differently depending on the farmer's mulch-and-fertilizer routine.

Agriculture

A Maize-ing Travels

Corn, an American native, has taken root the world over and is becoming increasingly important to agriculture in nations beyond the West.

Agriculture

Coming Soon—Spud Lite

A new variety of baking potato has about 25 percent fewer calories and 30 percent fewer carbohydrates per unit weight than the typical brown-skinned Idaho potato.

Agriculture

Rethinking Refuges? Drifting pollen may bring earlier pest resistance to bioengineered crops

Pollen wafting from bioengineered corn to traditional varieties may be undermining the fight to keep pests from evolving resistance to pesticides.

Agriculture

Fishy Alpha Males

As a way to protect wild fish stocks, raising genetically engineered fish may be futile should some of these modified fish escape into the environment.

Agriculture

Calling All Cows

Last May, tissues from the carcass of a North American cow turned up positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy–the ailment responsible for mad cow disease. Within hours, the Canadian government traced the animal to the Alberta farm where it had been raised for its 8 years of life. In short order, other members of its herd […]

Agriculture

Spying Genetically Engineered Crops

Environmental Protection Agency scientists are exploring the use of satellites to monitor genetically engineered crops. At ground level, genetically modified corn plants don’t look any different from conventional ones, but data suggest that satellite sensors may be able to read different spectral signatures from the two types of the crop. USDA Most of these genetically […]

Agriculture

Fluid Security—Overcoming Water Shortfalls in the 21st Century

About 70 percent of Earth’s surface is covered with water, some 1.4 billion cubic kilometers of it. Too bad almost 96.5 percent of it’s salty, and another 2 percent is locked away as ice in remote places such as Greenland and Antarctica. All told, just a little more than 1 percent of our planet’s water […]

Agriculture

Local Foods Could Make for Greener Grocers

There was a time not so long ago when people tended to select the ingredients for their meals either from what was available that week at local markets or from out-of-season home-canned, -smoked, or -pickled goods in the family larder. No longer. Maryland cooks can pick up New Zealand lamb or Icelandic salmon any time […]

Agriculture

Mad Cow Future: Tests explore next generation of defenses

As Canadian health officials investigate mad cow disease within the country's borders, researchers are already working on the next generation of defenses.

Agriculture

Global Food Trends

Last year, for the third year in four, world per-capita grain production fell. Even more disturbing in a world where people still go hungry, at 294 kilograms, last year’s per capita grain yield was the lowest in more than 30 years. Indeed, the global grain harvest has not met demand for 4 years, causing governments […]