Scientists in Saudi Arabia have developed and piloted what could be a useful tool to help curb food insecurity in regions facing water accessibility issues.   The technology, called WEC2P, is a green energy system that uses solar panels to suck up moistur... read more

A study conducted by the University of California Davis found that keeping natural habitats surrounding farmland intact can reduce the spread of pathogens and damage from wild birds to crops. The experiment, published last month in the Journal of Applied ... read more

For a potato farmer, there are few moments as discouraging as a run-in with the potato cyst nematode, which causes yellowing leaves and stunted spuds to be covered in legions. The pest has been identified in 58 countries, where it has seeped into the soil... read more

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Planting season for corn and soybeans across the US will begin as soon as March in Southern states and then move north. As farmers plant, they w... read more

A new study found that streptomycin, a popular antibiotic sprayed on food crops, negatively impacts the behavior of bumblebees. The study, funded by a USDA grant and conducted by scientists at Emory University and the University of Washington, showed that... read more

After recent years of record-high temperatures and raging wildfires, Oregon farmworkers will now be entitled to overtime pay under a bill passed by the state legislature last week.  The legislation states that farmworkers will eventually be entitled to ov... read more

Arkansas farmer Matt Miles knows his way around pastures—and he has the records to prove it. In 2013, he harvested a 107.63-bushel soybean field, smashing the state yield record. Six years later, in 2019, he surpassed his own record, producing a whopping ... read more

When Sandra Baer and Lynn Cassells met in 2012 while working as rangers for the UK’s National Trust, they felt an instant connection, as if there were larger forces at work pushing the two women together, and they simply had to surrender to the journey. B... read more

The USDA has a long history of discrimination against minority farmers.  The department’s discriminatory practices factored into 90 percent of Black farmers losing the 14 million acres of land they once owned in the 20th century. The USDA was even found t... read more

The country’s first national hemp survey was released last week, applying data to trends many have already observed. Although hemp was sold to farmers as the next big agricultural advancement, it has largely failed to live up to the hype, with fewer growe... read more

This article is republished from The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. Read the original article. As Ukraine continues to fight against Russian forces, experts warned of potential fallout for the US agriculture industry. On Feb. 24, Russian Pres... read more

As California entered a second year of drought last spring, the slash in water allocation didn’t catch Rachel Krach and Greg Massa, owners of Massa Organics, by surprise. The real shocker came when they went to plant their Sacramento Valley rice fields: a... read more

There might be more to regenerative agriculture than its ability to enhance farm ecosystems, capture carbon or boost soil biodiversity. Recent research has pointed to perks going beyond the farm and all the way to your fork—suggesting food grown on regene... read more

Just a few years ago, hemp was sold as the next big cash crop, with the 2018 Farm Bill pushing production along. The bill formally distinguished between hemp and cannabis and opened up the market for producers to flood in. Thousands of people began farmin... read more

Ashley Scott got a glimpse of what it means to be self-sufficient far before the era of pandemic gardening. It was 2014, and Scott, fresh out of college, decided to grow a patch of cucumbers in her backyard as a small pet project.  Weeks later, however, h... read more

In 2012, after the Great Recession, legislation was introduced in Hawaii that acknowledged and attempted to solve the archipelago’s dangerous dependence on imported food.  At the time, 92 percent of Hawaii’s food was coming from somewhere else. However, b... read more

Ian McConachie has spent much of the past 50 years tramping through the rainforest on the hunt for wild macadamia trees. “Finding a wild macadamia is akin to the thrill of finding gold,” he says. Yet it’s not the sweet buttery nuts that command up to $25 ... read more

On the terraced hillsides of Liguria in Northern Italy, the fragrant scent of basil fills the air, much of it destined to be crushed in a mortar with olive oil, garlic, pine nuts, salt, parmesan and pecorino cheese to make traditional pesto Genovese. It’s... read more

As the global amount of arable land steadily decreases, some scientists and entrepreneurs are looking to the stars as the next great agrarian frontier. A concept as old as the first science fiction story, humanity’s escape to a life in space hinges on the... read more

In hopes of discovering ways to reinvent how cotton grows, botanists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have sent the plant to space.  On Earth, gravity is the primary factor in a plant’s root systems digging into the ground. This experiment, dubbed T... read more