agricultural research institution News
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Opinion: Helping Rural America Feed All of America
Every American has a part to play in slowing the spread of the coronavirus. While many are working from home, an important few are working overtime on farms and ranches to make sure grocery store shelves are stocked. From harvesting wheat in Kansas to picking blueberries in Georgia, producers are getting up before the sun every day, while also adapting their operations to keep workers safe. They ...
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High Tech Algae Farming Industry Gets Boost with Introduction of Bipartisan Algae Agriculture Act of 2018
The Algae Biomass Organization (ABO), the trade association for the algae industry, today applauded the introduction of the Algae Agriculture Act of 2018 (H.R. 5373), a bill that would give algae cultivators and harvesters many of the same advantages as other traditional crops in United States agricultural policy. The bill was introduced by Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) and sponsored by a ...
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FAO’s State of the World’s Forests Calls for Positive Interactions Between Agriculture and Forestry
It is not necessary to cut down forests to produce more food. Promoting more positive interactions between agriculture and forestry can stop deforestation, build sustainable agricultural systems and improve food security. This is the key message of 'The State of the World's Forests' (SOFO), the flagship publication of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), presented at the opening ...
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Genetic makeup of thousands of rice varieties placed in global seed data pool
Genome sequences of more than 3,000 rice varieties have been placed with the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) by the world's leading rice research institute in a move boosting plans to set up a global data exchange system for crop genetic resources. The Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Treaty (ITPGRFA) made ...
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Climate-smart farming takes root in Kenya
Like most African countries, Kenya is highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. There is growing concern about potential stress on fragile ecosystems and rural communities, especially in the arid and semi-arid agro-ecological zones and some humid highland areas of the country. In keeping with the Strategy for Revitalizing Agriculture (SRA) of Kenya 2010-2015 and Kenya's vision 2030, ...
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Give young people the tools to solve hunger, says expert
Young people are the key to innovations that could help feed billions of people in the decades ahead, according to Calestous Juma, an internationally recognised development expert. "Today's youth have access to new types of knowledge that were not available to their parents, such as genomic and geospatial data. The challenge is searching for this knowledge, adapting it to local conditions and ...
By SciDev.Net
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Horn of Africa `should grow more climate-hardy cassava`
Farmers in the Horn of Africa should focus on growing more improved cassava varieties, which are high-yielding and resilient to drought, according to researchers. The improved varieties developed by the Nigeria-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and tested in Ethiopia, may help tackle famine in the Horn of Africa, an area that was severely hit by drought and hunger in ...
By SciDev.Net
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South Asia nips on agricultural research funding
South Asian countries significantly increased funding for agricultural research and development (R&D) in the last decade but the numbers fell short of set targets, says a new report. South Asia as a whole more than doubled agricultural R&D spending between 1996 and 2009, riding largely on increased research allocation in India, the largest economy in the region. But, in Bangladesh, ...
By SciDev.Net
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Sub-Saharan Africa news in brief: 7–20 April 2011
Below is a roundup of news from or about Sub-Saharan Africa for the period 7–20 April 2011 Solar powered farms on the way Kenya is pioneering a solar powered 'green farm' — which would be the continent's first. Ephraim Mukisira, director of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) said that all farm activities, including the growing of crops and the rearing of livestock, ...
By SciDev.Net
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