Showing results for: crop farming News
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Effects of chemical fertiliser and animal manure on soil health compared
Fertilising crops with cattle manure can lead to better soil quality than when synthetic fertiliser is used, recent research indicates. The use of cattle manure in the study led to greater soil fertility by encouraging higher microbial activity, and the researchers suggest that it could potentially improve soil’s ability to cope with periods of difficult growing conditions. The complex ...
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Climate data `has helped African farmers boost production`
Farming communities in Africa are benefitting from an exchange programme to improve access to, and understanding of, climate science, according to a report presented at a seminar. The seminar, held in in Dakar, Senegal, last month (20–21 November), discussed the results of the programme — which encompassed two demonstration studies in Kenya and Senegal — and identified the ...
By SciDev.Net
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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
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Understanding why rye works as a cover crop
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists may soon find a way to enhance the weed-killing capabilities of a cereal grain that enriches the soil when used as a winter cover crop. Rye is often grown in winter and killed in the spring, so the dead stalks can be flattened over soybean and vegetable fields to block sunlight and prevent spring weeds from getting the light they need to germinate. ...
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Growers: Wheat Nearing Critical Growth Stage, Time to Scout for Foliar Disease
Wheat in Ohio is nearing the critical growth stage, and with recent heavy rainfalls and the forecast calling for cooler temperatures over the next few days, growers should scout their fields for any indication of disease development, said a wheat expert from Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. The rainy weather helps to create conditions ...
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Satellite data plus conservation equals better crop yields
Combining remote sensing technology with water and soil conservation techniques can help raise crop yields in South Asia, scientists have reported. Satellite data can help identify specific problems on farmlands such as moisture shortage, excessive soil wetness and flood occurrence. Using the data along with appropriate resource conserving technology (RCT) will increase productivity, a study ...
By SciDev.Net
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Conference Seeks to Boost Profitability of Fish Farming
Learn more about seafood safety and the 2016 economic outlook for the aquaculture, or fish farming, industry during the Ohio Aquaculture Association Annual Conference Jan. 29-30. The conference will feature aquaculture experts with Ohio State University Extension, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center and Ohio State University South Centers as well as other industry ...
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Hemp homecoming: Rebirth sprouts in Kentucky
Call it a homecoming for hemp: Marijuana's non-intoxicating cousin is undergoing a rebirth in a state at the forefront of efforts to reclaim it as a mainstream crop. Researchers and farmers are producing the first legal hemp crop in generations in Kentucky, where hemp has turned into a political cause decades after it was banned by the federal government. Republican U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell ...
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Mixed crop-livestock farming could help adaptation in Africa
According to new research, African farms with both crops and livestock could be more resilient to climate change than farms that only grow crops. The research suggests that policy makers should support farmers in making the switch to integrated farming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has indicated that agriculture in tropical under-developed countries is the most vulnerable ...
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Ohio State Agronomy Workshop Jan. 19 to Focus on Soil Fertility
Healthy soils are a key ingredient to produce strong crop yields, and understanding what nutrients your soils need is a fundamental step in that process, says an educator in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University. Soil fertility is crucial to maximizing yield potential when growing crops, said Amanda Douridas, an Ohio State University Extension ...
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Two-Day Conference Focuses on Boosting Hops Production
Ohio hops growers experienced strong demand in 2015 for the specialty crop used as a key ingredient in craft beers, and, experts say, the demand isn’t likely to decline soon. Hops is a main ingredient beer manufacturers use to provide bitterness to balance the sweetness of malt sugars in their product. “Ten years ago, you could count all of Ohio’s breweries on your fingers and ...
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Lessons from the Critical Years of Agricultural Development in the Lower Mekong Basin
Jeffrey A. MCNEELY, Chief Scientist of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and Willem VAN LIERE launch a new book: Agriculture in the Lower Mekong Basin –Experience from the Critical Decade of 1965-1975 Bangkok, Thailand, 31 October 2005 (IUCN) – A new IUCN book describes agricultural development and natural resource management in the Lower Mekong Basin in the early days of the region’s ...
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Iowa Corn Hosts Lively Conversation about Food
The Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, in cooperation with the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) hosted Food Dialogue: Iowa on Tuesday, November 19 at the Scheman building on the Iowa State University campus. The event brought together several experts on food issues including farmers, for a panel discussion on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), ...
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Ohio State Aquaculture Research Program Looking to Recruit New or Beginning Fish Farmers
An innovative program offered by the Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences is looking to recruit, mentor and grow a new crop of fish farmers. The Ohio Center for Aquaculture Research and Development at the Ohio State University South Centers is offering 25 new and beginning fish farmers a hands-on approach to aquaculture and the business of fish ...
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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Are Flying to the Farm
Aerial drones, a technology perhaps best known for helping hunt terrorists on the other side of the globe, may soon begin helping U.S. farmers monitor what's happening in their fields collecting agriculture data. In Georgia, a group of state and federal officials - along with members of industry and academia - has been working since 2009 to develop a drone that can save a farmer's time and ...
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The realm of earthworms: NASA gets down to the nitty-gritty
When you hear the word 'NASA,' do visions of rocket ships dance in your head? Well think again. From now on, it's 'earthworms.' That's right. Using space technology, NASA is now studying the realm of earthworms, millipedes, and springtails -- the soil beneath your feet -- with a project called OMEGA (Observing Microwave Emissions for Geophysical Applications). Why would an agency whose cosmic ...
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Launch of research programme ‘Towards Precision Farming 2.0’
The launch date for the research programme 'Op naar Precisielandbouw 2.0' (Towards Precision Farming 2.0) is the 19th of June 2015. The aim of this public-private partnership within the Agri & Food top sector strategy is to conduct research together with more than 20 partners on strategic themes within precision farming. Over the next four years, the idea is to accelerate the implementation ...
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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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Four degree rise `would scupper African farming`
A widespread farming catastrophe could hit Africa if global temperatures rose by four degrees Celsius or more, according to a study that calls for urgent planning for a much warmer future and investment in technology to avert disaster. In most of southern Africa the growing season could shrink by as much as a fifth, according to scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) ...
By SciDev.Net
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Weather extremes slash cereal yields
Climate change may have already begun to take its toll of agriculture. New research suggests that drought and extreme heat in the last 50 years have reduced cereal production by up to 10%. And, for once, developed nations may have sustained greater losses than developing nations. Researchers have been warning for years that global warming as a consequence of rising levels of carbon dioxide in ...
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