crop development News
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New crop of plant scientists emerges at CSIRO
Under the CSIRO Plant Industry Summer Student Program, 17 students are engaged in a range of important agricultural research projects designed to discover, for example, how high temperatures affect crops and the genetic bases of crop development. The Program, which runs from 6 December to 11 February, provides university students with real insights into the day-to-day working lives of some of ...
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Overcoming obstacles to GM crop adoption
This policy brief, published by the UK's Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), examines the potential benefits and challenges of using genetically modified (GM) crops for agricultural development in the developing world, and highlights policy approaches that could support a positive contribution to food security. With the majority of the workforce in developing countries ...
By SciDev.Net
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Crop pests ‘vastly underestimated’ warns study
The number of different pests plaguing crops in the developing world may be vastly underestimated, contributing to severely reduced harvests in some of the world’s most important food-producing nations, say researchers. About 200 pests and pathogens per country fly under the radar of researchers and policymakers in the developing world due to a lack of technical capacity to detect them, ...
By SciDev.Net
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Sustainable Agriculture to Promote Biodiversity
• Biodiversity affects key ecosystem services, such as the primary production of food for humans and the rest of nature, plus the recycling of nutrients and water. • One hectare of land contains a lot of biodiversity in the soil – equivalent to the weight of one cow of bacteria, two sheep of protozoa, and four rabbits of soil animals such as earthworms. The INSPIA* project is ...
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2014 Guide on Corn, Soybean, Wheat and Alfalfa Available for Growers
With wet weather continuing to create harvest and planting delays, a new guide developed by agronomists from Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences is available to help growers check their crops’ development. The 2014 Corn, Soybean, Wheat and Alfalfa Field Guide is now available for $12.50 and can be purchased through the Ohio State ...
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Making agriculture sustainable
Agriculture is possibly the most important sector of global activity. It is a source of foods, fibers and, increasingly, fuel. It provides livelihoods and subsistence for the largest number of people worldwide. It is vital to rural development and therefore critical to poverty alleviation. Up to 40% of the land’s surface is used for agriculture, along with 70% of the world’s fresh water supply. ...
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Biodiversity is the basis for Integrated Pest Management
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is now the norm in agriculture and horticulture. All stakeholders – national and European government agencies and public bodies, agriculture and horticulture organisations, businesses, universities and research institutes – agree with this statement. "More biodiversity and the use of resistant plants are crucial to the successful implementation of ...
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Practical, free workshops again for farmers at Agritech Expo in Chisamba in April
The upcoming Agritech Expo, taking place from 16-18 April at GART in Chisamba, offers a range of free, practical workshops to assist farmers in the use of the latest technologies to improve their productive capacity and to become more competitive. More than 10 000 people are expected to descend on the centre of agriculture in Zambia again next month, following the hugely successful launch of the ...
By VUKA Group
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FIGARO to start field tests of new innovative precise irrigation system in nine European countries
Kavalla, Greece -- FIGARO, an EU-funded international project focused on developing new precision technologies to improve irrigation management for the purpose of increasing water productivity in major water-demanding crops on farm level, today announced that it has begun conducting field tests of its new innovative precise drip irrigation system in nine European countries. FIGARO (Flexible and ...
By FIGARO
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Fertiliser Storage Tanks and the Latest ADAS Farming Report
The latest arable crop report from the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service (ADAS) was recently published, revealing that winter drilled crops were in good condition at the end of March. It also reveals that winter wheat crops were in good condition at the end of the month with typical crops at the end of late tillering stage. The control of black-grass and broadleaved weeds was good, ...
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IGS to deliver vertical farming solution supporting first solar-powered commercial scale farm in Perth, Australia
IGS has secured a partnership with Eden Towers, the hyper-efficient vertical farming business, to power a commercial scale vertical farm in Western Australia to grow leafy greens, specialty crops and begin the development of indigenous crops to support the local indigenous community and enter new markets. The farm will be an Australian-first, located next door to the Shire of Murray’s ...
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Cassava disease monitoring goes mobile
Mobile phones are the unlikely weapons being used to fight cassava disease in Tanzania, in a collaboration between scientists and farmers. As part of the Digital Early Warning Network (DEWN) farmers from ten districts in the Lake Zone region of Tanzania will be trained to recognise the symptoms of Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) and Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD). They will then send monthly ...
By SciDev.Net
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GODAN Action - Enabling practical engagement with open data in agriculture and nutrition
As the world’s population grows, global demand for food is predicted to nearly double. The number of people at risk of hunger in the developing world is estimated to grow to more than a billion people by 2050. New data-driven solutions in agriculture and nutrition are increasingly being seen as a way to tackle this challenge. GODAN Action is a three-and-a-half-year programme led by Alterra ...
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Satellites help keep Chesapeake Bay clean
Space-age technologies to help Maryland implement and monitor an expanded winter cover crop program that is vital to the Chesapeake Bay's health are being developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Beltsville, Md. Soil scientist Gregory McCarty and colleagues Dean Hively, Ali Sadeghi and Megan Lang with the ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory in Beltsville are ...
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Banana compost could boost crop yields, a study finds
Using old banana trees to make compost may help boost crop yields while cutting down water and fertiliser use, according to an Egyptian researcher. Banana-based fertiliser could cut about 20 per cent of the water used in irrigating maize and lead to better yields and improved soil properties — such as availability of micronutrients and soil moisture — a researcher at Egypt's National ...
By SciDev.Net
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India-UK fund to boost agro-innovation in Africa and Asia
The Indian and UK governments are tapping into agricultural innovation outside the traditional international development community with the launch of a £20 million (US$32 million) programme for food security. Sustainable Crop Production Research for International Development (SCPRID) will allow scientists to research stressors, ranging from pests to climate change, on five key crops ...
By SciDev.Net
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High-yield crops have curbed agricultural land expansion, but care needed to avoid negative biodiversity effects
The widespread use of higher-yielding improved varieties of crops as part of the Green Revolution’ has averted the conversion of between 18 to 27 million hectares of forests, woodlands and pastures in the period 1965 to 2004, according to a recent study. However, its authors caution that the relationship between these crops and land use change is complex, and good governance is needed to ...
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Agricultural biotechnology `should be open source`
Open source biotechnology, through which biotechnology inventions are made freely available for others to use and improve upon, could help developing countries overcome hurdles created by stringent intellectual property rights (IPRs), a study says. The concept is based on open source in software development. To date, open source software's free accessibility, low cost, openness to modification ...
By SciDev.Net
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Africa, India to boost agricultural technology cooperation
[CHENNAI] Africa and India will boost cooperation in agricultural technologies for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a view to achieving food security by 2015. The Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the European Market Research Centre (EMRC) this month, to facilitate ICRISAT's ...
By SciDev.Net
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Improved crops can double European agriculture production
Roadmap Will Help to Make Food Crops “Future-Proof” Wageningen University & Research is working within the CropBooster-P EU project on a roadmap to make agricultural crops future-proof. The project will develop a pathway to sustainably doubling Europe’s crop yields by 2050 and preparing these crops for the needs and the future climate of Europe Ensuring sufficient food ...
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