News articles tagged with 'agriculture'
Ants and termites boost dryland wheat yields
— 2 Apr 2011 11:19 | EnvironmentAnts and termites have a significant positive impact on crop yields in dryland agriculture, according to a paper published today in the journal Nature Communications by scientists at…
Bats worth billions to agriculture
— 2 Apr 2011 11:16 | EnvironmentPest-control services provided by insect-eating bats in the United States likely save the U.S. agricultural industry at least $3 billion a year, and yet insectivorous bats are among…
Untapped crop data from Africa predicts corn peril if temperatures rise
— 13 Mar 2011 19:19 | EnvironmentA hidden trove of historical crop yield data from Africa shows that corn - long believed to tolerate hot temperatures - is a likely victim of global warming…
Multiple approaches necessary to tackle world's food problems
— 19 Feb 2011 10:18 | EnvironmentResearchers need to use all available resources in an integrated approach to put agriculture on a path to solve the world's food problems while reducing pollution, according to a Penn…
World phosphorous use crosses critical threshold
— 15 Feb 2011 15:51 | EnvironmentRecalculating the global use of phosphorous, a fertiliser linchpin of modern agriculture, a team of researchers warns that the world's stocks may soon be in short supply and that overuse…
Detroit's urban farms could provide a majority of produce for local residents
— 17 Nov 2010 10:15 | EnvironmentTransforming vacant urban lots into farms and community gardens could provide Detroit residents with a majority of their fruits and vegetables…
Expanding croplands chipping away at world's carbon stocks
— 2 Nov 2010 12:21 | EnvironmentNature's capacity to store carbon, the element at the heart of global climate woes, is steadily eroding as the world's farmers expand croplands at the expense of native ecosystem such…
A river ran through it
— 16 Oct 2010 10:21 | EnvironmentRivers and streams supply the lifeblood to ecosystems across the globe, providing water for drinking and irrigation for humans as well as a wide array of life forms from single-celled…
Groundwater depletion rate accelerating worldwide
— 24 Sep 2010 10:44 | EnvironmentIn recent decades, the rate at which humans worldwide are pumping dry the vast underground stores of water that billions depend on has more than doubled, say scientists who have conducted…
Plant nutrients from wastewater
— 8 Sep 2010 12:36 | EnvironmentPlants cannot thrive without nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous or potassium, therefore farmers usually use organic and industrially manufactured mineral fertilisers to supply…