News tagged with crop production

Brazil to lead world in biotech crops: association

Brazil is on course to dislodge the United States as the world's top producer of biotech crops in the coming years, a leading promoter of farm biotechnology said Tuesday.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Food crops damaged by pollution crossing continents

(PhysOrg.com) -- Man-made air pollution from North America causes Europe to lose 1.2 million tonnes of wheat a year, a new study has found.

Biology / Other

created Jan 30, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (17) | comments 21 | with audio podcast

Climate-driven heat peaks may shrink wheat crops

More intense heat waves due to global warming could diminish wheat crop yields around the world through premature ageing, according to a study published Sunday in Nature Climate Change.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 29, 2012 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (14) | comments 22

Study shines light on ways to cut costs for greenhouse growers

Greenhouse bedding plant growers can save themselves time, money or possibly both by giving cuttings in propagation more light, according to a Purdue University study.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Researchers study potential effects of geoengineering on global food supply

Carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of coal, oil, and gas have been increasing over the past decades, causing the Earth to get hotter and hotter. There are concerns that a continuation of these trends could have catastrophic ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 22, 2012 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (9) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Findings prove Miscanthus x giganteus has great potential as an alternative energy source

Concerns about the worldwide energy supply and national, environmental and economic security have resulted in a search for alternative energy sources. A new University of Illinois study shows Miscanthus x ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jan 19, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 3

Discovery of plant 'nourishing gene' brings hope for increased crop seed yield and food security

University of Warwick scientists have discovered a "nourishing gene" which controls the transfer of nutrients from plant to seed - a significant step which could help increase global food production.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jan 13, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Grain crops with lower carotene levels are less affected by parasitic plants

Grain crops that produce less carotene can produce more food, especially in Africa, as they are less affected by parasitic plants. This is the result of research with which Muhammad Jamil hopes to obtain his ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jan 12, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Soil microbiologists discover Aberdeen microbe of global agricultural significance

(PhysOrg.com) -- Organisms that oxidise ammonia were first discovered in 1890. Although a natural process, a major consequence of the activities of such organisms in soil is the transformation and loss of ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Improved rainwater harvesting system promising

Ridge and furrow rainwater-harvesting (RFRH) systems with mulches were first researched in the flat, lowland, semiarid conditions of northwest China to improve water availability and to increase crop production. ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Salt-tolerant crops show higher capacity for carbon fixation

Salt can have drastic effects on the growth and yield of horticultural crops; studies have estimated that salinity renders an about one-third of the world's irrigated land unsuitable for crop production. Imbalances in soil ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 12, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

UN warns 25 pct of world land highly degraded

(AP) -- The United Nations has completed the first-ever global assessment of the state of the planet's land resources, finding in a report Monday that a quarter of all land is highly degraded and warning the trend must be ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 28, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 1

New projection shows global food demand doubling by 2050

Global food demand could double by 2050, according to a new projection by David Tilman, Regents Professor of Ecology in the University of Minnesota's College of Biological Sciences, and colleagues, including ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (5) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Toward more cost-effective production of biofuels from plant lignocellulosic biomass

In 1925, Henry Ford observed that fuel is present in all vegetative matter that can be fermented and predicted that Americans would some day grow their own fuel. Last year, global biofuel production reached ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 16, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Genomics of wood for biofuels production investigated

A team of Virginia Tech researchers is working to characterize the genes involved in wood formation in poplar trees with the goal of improving the quality and quantity of wood as a feedstock for biofuels production.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 07, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0