One billion people on Earth don’t have enough food right now. It’s estimated that by 2050 there will be more than nine billion people living on the planet. Meanwhile, current agricultural practices are amongst the biggest threats to the global environment. This means
The devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March caused a nuclear disaster that left high quantities of radioactive cesium and other toxins in the soil in around the Fukushima prefecture. But a recent campaign has been launched by civil servants and ind
More of the United States was in exceptional drought in July 2011 than in any other month in the past 12 years, according to the National Climatic Data Center. The worst of the drought is spread across Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and parts of Arizona, Colorado,
Texans just can’t catch a break this summer. In the midst of this historic drought now there’s a grasshopper problem. A large seasonal population of grasshoppers is taking ranchers’ land. The pests are eating the grass intended for cows and other animals.The drought
Winter cover crops are an important component of nutrient cycling, soil cover and organic matter content. Although its benefits are well documented, cover crop use in farming systems is relatively low. Research has shown that time and money are the two primary reasons
University of Illinois researchers identified the top pathogens, pests and weeds affecting soybean production. Soybean aphid, soybean rust, soybean cyst nematode, Sclerotina stem rot and the exotic pathogen, red leaf blotch, were featured as some of the top biotic
Rain in Central and South China is expected to drench drought-hit regions over the next three days, which could help to ease the dry spell, but experts warned the local public to prepare for heavy rains and even floods.At least light to moderate rains would
A report released Thursday from a consortium of national climate experts said Texas saw the highest levels of drought over the last week — rated as "exceptional" — jump from 43.97 percent of the state to 50.65 percent of the state. Devastating drou
Large swarms of locusts have laid waste to vast tracts of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with authorities expecting the plague to worsen as the weather heats up. The locust plague began in the pastureland of the Ili River Valley and Taer Basin in
On April 15 peruvian president Alan García signed a decree allowing the import and planting of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the country. The official decree puts at risk the genetic diversity of the Peruvian Andes, including the tuberous crop we know as
