crop yield News
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Variable crop sowing dates `produce higher yields`
Cropping systems with variable sowing dates adapted to changing climatic conditions — as opposed to those with fixed sowing dates — will result in increased mean future crop yields, a modelling study has found. Multiple cropping systems, including growing two or more crops at the same time on the same plot (intercropping); after each other in a sequence (sequential cropping); or with ...
By SciDev.Net
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Global Land Temperatures Warmest Ever in January, April
GENEVA, Switzerland, August 8, 2007 (ENS) - Global land surface temperatures for January and April will likely be ranked as the warmest since recordkeeping began in 1880, the United Nations World Meteorological Organization reported Tuesday. 'Weather and climate are marked by record extremes in many regions across the world since January 2007,' the WMO said.The global weather agency is working ...
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African soil diversity mapped for the first time
A team of international experts has drawn up the Soil Atlas of Africa — the first such book mapping this key natural resource — to help farmers, land managers and policymakers understand the diversity and importance of soil and the need to manage it through sustainable use. They say that despite soil's importance, most people in Africa lack knowledge about it, partly because ...
By SciDev.Net
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Cereal Crops Feeling the Heat
LIVERMORE, California (ENS) - Warming temperatures since 1981 have caused annual losses of about US$5 billion for six major cereal crops, new research has found. This is the first study to estimate how much global food production already has been affected by climate change. From 1981 to 2002, fields of wheat, corn and barley throughout the world have produced a combined 40 million metric tons ...
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Urgent Action Needed to Address Africa’s Soil Health Issues, Say Experts
One of the best prospects for feeding Africa’s rapidly growing population is to increase the sustainable use of fertilizers, a high-level panel of experts is expected to say today at an international meeting of the World Food Prize. Despite 10-year-old commitments to expand the use of fertilizer in African agriculture, the continent still averages around one-tenth of fertilizer use per ...
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In organic cover crops, more seeds means fewer weeds
Farmers cultivating organic produce often use winter cover crops to add soil organic matter, improve nutrient cycling and suppress weeds. Now these producers can optimize cover crop use by refining seeding strategies, thanks to work by an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist. In moderate climates, suppressing weeds in winter cover crops is important because weeds that grow throughout ...
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Switch to organic farming may boost yields and incomes
Switching to organic and resource-conserving methods of farming can improve smallholder crop yields, food security and income, a review study has found. But a more-extensive evidence base founded on rigorous and consistent research methods is needed before the findings can be generalised to other situations, according to the study published in the current issue of the International Journal of ...
By SciDev.Net
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Transitioning to organic farming
As the organic food trend continues to grow; more farmers are converting from conventional agriculture to organic production. One of the fastest growing markets in the U.S. is the production of organic milk. The growth of this industry has prompted many farmers to transition their land to organic feed grain production. With transition on the rise, it is necessary for these farmers to have ...
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Indicators for more sustainable phosphorus management
Phosphorus is essential for modern agriculture. Supplies are dwindling and markets are concentrated, presenting a serious threat to food security. Tackling this emerging global sustainability risk requires effective governance to ensure phosphorus is available and accessible to farmers worldwide. This study presents a series of phosphorus security indicators to support this goal. Phosphorus is ...
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Warming Climate Undermines World Food Supply
Global agriculture could go into steep, unanticipated declines due to complications that scientists have so far inadequately considered, say three new reports authored by U.S. and international researchers. Developing countries may lose 334 million acres of prime farm land to climate change in the next 50 years, scientists estimate. After mid-century, continuing temperature rises, expected to ...
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Crop water use efficiency
Crop water use efficiency (WUE), or yield per unit of water used, can be improved through irrigation management and methods, including deficit irrigation (irrigating less than is required for maximum yields) and supplemental irrigation (irrigating to supplement precipitation so as to avoid crop failure or severe yield decline). Thus, WUE is key for agricultural production with limited water ...
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New initiative enables Somali farmers to produce food assistance
For the first time, Somali farmers are turning themselves into suppliers of high-quality food assistance for their fellow Somali people. A new initiative backed by the European Union (EU), the government of Austria and two United Nations food security agencies has helped Somali farmers achieve this major agricultural breakthrough in a region of the country that was gripped by famine less than ...
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American farmers confront `big data` revolution
Farmers from across the nation gathered in Washington this month for what has become an annual trek to seek action on the most important matters in American agriculture, such as immigration reform and water regulations. But this time, a new, more shadowy issue also emerged: growing unease about how the largest seed companies are gathering vast amount of data from sensors on tractors, combines ...
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Agricultural industry shows confidence at Agritechnica
Today Agritechnica, the world's largest trade fair for agricultural machinery and equipment, already shows great visitor turnout halfway through the show. Agritechnica organizer DLG (German Agricultural Society) today announced that Agritechnica 2015 so far has been visited by around 200,000 visitors since it opened last Sunday on 8th November. This figure is of similar levels to Agritechnica ...
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Flexible management better for coexistence of GM and non-GM crops
Flexible measures, such as pollen barriers, for regulating the cultivation of GM and non-GM crops in the same landscape are more likely to encourage the adoption of GM technology by farmers than rigid measures, such as isolation distances, according to a recent study. The EU has recommended guidelines1 for developing national strategies by all Member States for the coexistence of genetically ...
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Ancient crops preserved for future generations in Arctic seed vault
Varieties of one of the world's most important staple crops will be stored for perpetuity deep in the Arctic ice today. José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is joining scientific experts and delegations from Peru, Costa Rica and Norway to witness a ceremony here this afternoon that will help to preserve these vital ...
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2025: United behind the African agenda to eradicate hunger
Heads of State and Government of African Union Member States, together with representatives of international organizations, civil society organizations, private sector, cooperatives, farmers, youths, academia and other partners have unanimously adopted a Declaration to end hunger in Africa by 2025. The declaration calls for a combination of policies to promote sustainable agricultural ...
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International institutions join forces on Africa water initiative
Agricultural growth in sub-Saharan Africa is vital to poverty reduction and to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals set by the international community. Despite its importance, however, investments in agricultural water have seen a continuous decline since the late 1980s, with only a slight recovery in recent years. In response to the decline, five international organizations (the ...
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World Water Council and FAO step up their partnership
The World Water Council (WWC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have agreed to intensify their collaboration in a bid to strengthen global water and food security. Long-time partners, the two organizations will expand their joint work on a number of fronts, including: knowledge and technology development to enhance water productivity; the education of water ...
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One Billion Hungry: ASA offers new program in South Asia
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization released a report on June 19, 2009 stating that one in six people in the world — or more than 1 billion — is now hungry, a historic high. Compared with last year, there are 100 million more people who are hungry, meaning they receive fewer than 1,800 calories a day, the Food and Agriculture Organization said in the new estimate of food insecurity. ...
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