agriculture policy News
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2012 Farm Bill Passes U.S. Senate
The U.S. Senate passed the 2012 Farm Bill today, meaning the measure is a big step closer to enactment. The Farm Bill, renewed every five years, is the largest source of funding for conservation on America's working farmland, ranchland and private forestland. In addition to funding federal conservation and nutrition programs, the bill also authorizes risk management and other programs that ...
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When biofuels and biosecurity meet
“New agricultural non-food crops, especially those developed to meet the growing demand for biofuels and other renewable industrial needs in the 21st Century, will have to meet triple bottom line – people, planet, profit – criteria,” says CSIRO Entomology’s Dr Andy Sheppard. “Sustainable management of pests in new crops and minimisation of any invasive threats these crops pose to the environment ...
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Limiting bioenergy crops to marginal land would not work, says study
Large-scale cultivation of bioenergy crops on marginal land is unfeasible, according to a recent study. While limiting bioenergy crops to less productive land could cut the sector’s impact on food prices, the financial incentive to grow crops on more productive land may be too strong for landowners to ignore, the researchers suggest. During recent decades, there has been a growing interest ...
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EU and FAO help six countries achieve Millennium Development Goal on hunger
Less than two years before the deadline set to achieve international development goals, the European Union (EU) and FAO step up their efforts to reduce world hunger assisting two million people in six countries with agricultural development activities worth nearly €60 million. The funding comes from a €1 billion EU initiative that aims to foster speedier progress towards the Millennium ...
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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
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Pakistan needs a new crop forecasting system
Pakistan's outdated crop yield forecasting system needs a revamp, says Ibrar ul Hassan Akhtar. Like most developing countries, Pakistan is staring at the spectre of food insecurity, with its food production out of sync with population growth. The food availability scenario is further complicated by changing weather patterns with recurring severe droughts and floods that affect crop production. ...
By SciDev.Net
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New ORNL tool gets handle on cropland CO2 emissions
For the first time, farmers have data that tracks at the county level on-site and off-site energy use and carbon dioxide emissions associated with growing crops in the United States. This information is vital for examining changes in cropland production and management techniques and could play an even bigger role as more land is devoted to bioenergy crops, said Oak Ridge National Laboratory's ...
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Report highlights conflict in agricultural research
Efforts to increase food production are clashing with efforts to reduce agriculture's greenhouse gas emissions says a group of international scientists. Agricultural research to improve food security often depends on technology to increase yields and crop intensification -- resulting in greenhouse gas emissions that damage the environment and help increase climate change, an independent ...
By SciDev.Net
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