climate change crop News
-
Fertiliser can offset heat for African farmers
[NAIROBI] African smallholders in dry areas can overcome climate change and even double crop yields if they invest in fertiliser use and harvest rainwater, researchers have found. Farmers in arid and semi-arid areas usually protect themselves from climate-related losses by investing as little as possible in farm inputs such as fertilisers. But in doing so they fail to grab opportunities for ...
By SciDev.Net
-
Population has bigger effect than climate change on crop yields, study suggests
Population pressure will be as significant a factor as climate change in reducing crop yields — and thus increasing food insecurity — in West Africa, according to a modelling study. The authors inserted different climate change, land use, and demographic change scenarios, into an internationally validated model to estimate maize yields in Benin from 2021–2050. They found that, ...
By SciDev.Net
-
2009 ASA–CSSA–SSSA meetings emphasize sustainability
The 2009 ASA–CSSA–SSSA International Annual Meetings are just around the corner, 1–5 November in Pittsburgh, PA. The theme of the meetings, “Footprints in the Landscape: Sustainability through Plant and Soil Sciences,” together with the location, emphasize sustainability. The meeting theme runs throughout the technical program that is built around daily plenary sessions, nine distinguished ...
-
Farming must change to feed the world
The world's farmers must quickly switch to more sustainable and productive farming systems to grow the food needed by a swelling world population and respond to climate change, FAO's top crops expert told an international farm congress here today. In a keynote speech to 1,000 participants at the IVth World Congress on Conservation Agriculture (CA) in New Delhi, Shivaji Pandey, Director of FAO's ...
-
Healthy soil is essential for a biobased & circular economy
The soil is the ground beneath our feet and the growth place for biomass. For a biobased & circular economy it is crucial to preserve this ‘pantry’ storage function of the soil. This is why Wageningen University & Research is performing dedicated research into various aspects of the soil, such as nutrients and organic material, smarter cultivation systems of a larger diversity ...
-
High temperatures `make wheat old before its time`
Global warming can cause premature ageing in wheat, according to computer modelling studies of the crop's response to growing conditions in northern India. The effects of warming on wheat growth and grain size are far worse than previous crop models indicated, David Lobell, assistant professor in environmental earth system science at Stanford University, United States, and colleagues wrote in ...
By SciDev.Net
-
Importance of ag research highlighted with funding
The continuing importance of agricultural research is evident with the proposed funding for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) in President Obama’s FY 2012 budget. Strong AFRI funding will support land grant, USDA, and industry scientists in meeting global challenges including food security needs, maintaining soil ecosystem health, adapting crops to a changing climate, and ...
-
Climate change to shift global spread and quality of agricultural land
New areas of land suitable for agriculture will open up under climate change’s effects, new research predicts, particularly in far northern regions of the world. However, the overall quality of land for farming will decline and many regions, including Europe, could lose large areas of suitable land. Demand for agricultural products is expected to rise by 70–110% by 2050. This is ...
-
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, ...
Need help finding the right suppliers? Try XPRT Sourcing. Let the XPRTs do the work for you