soil science News
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Preparing Plants for our Future Climate
Planning is something we all do. As individuals, we may be planning for next weekend or our future retirement. Farmers and plant breeders are also planning for a future. The crops we currently depend on will need grow under different conditions – due to climate change. Some weather conditions are easy to control. Scientists can set the temperature in a greenhouse and control how much ...
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Forest soils recovering from effects of acid rain
Before the United States 1970 Clean Air Act, rainfall all over the country was acidic. As precipitation would fall from the sky, it would mix with gases from industrial plants, emissions from cars, and especially coal and fossil fuel consumption. That caused the water to become acidic – also called “acid rain.” Besides the air pollution hurting plants and humans, this acid rain ...
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Drones effective tools for fruit farmers
People have used the phrase “drone on and on” for a long time. Webster’s dictionary defines this figure of speech as “to speak for a long time in a dull voice without saying anything interesting.” Yet, in agriculture, drones aren’t dull, at all! Farmers use drones to be more efficient. Drones help farmers improve yields and stay ahead of problems before they ...
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Star fruit could be the new “star” of Florida agriculture
It’s not just oranges that grow in Florida. Carambola, or star fruit as most in the United States call it, is gaining popularity. One researcher from Florida International University is researching how cover crops can help the sustainability of star fruit farms.“Tropical fruit production has become a prominent practice in Miami-Dade County,” says Ariel Freidenreich. “For ...
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New product innovations by CID Bio-Science to debut at international conference
New tech will be the focus of US firm CID Bio-Science, Inc. at the 2019 ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting, one of the largest global gatherings of scientists and researchers in the plant and environmental science community in November. The conference, Embracing the Digital Environment, is being organized by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil ...
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Helping quinoa brave the heat
Quinoa is a healthy food many know and love. As its popularity grows, more farmers are interested in planting it. However, the plant doesn’t do well in high temperatures, so plant breeders are trying to help. Many of the current methods for seeing if a quinoa plant is heat tolerant are time-consuming and expensive. Researchers, led by professor Kevin Murphy at Washington State University, ...
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Mineral content of soils key to physical and chemical behavior
Many aspects of the physical and chemical behavior of soils are directly related to the minerals present. “This includes shrink-swell behavior, soil structure, availability of nutrients, and the fate of contaminants that enter the soil,” according to Judith Turk, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The “Soil Mineralogy” symposium at the Managing Global Resources for a Secure ...
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Treating citrus greening with copper: Effects on trees, soils
Citrus greening is a major challenge for Florida growers. The disease destroys the production, appearance, and economic value of citrus trees and their fruit. Trees decline and die within three years. Researchers at the University of Florida and other institutions are searching for cures and treatments to reduce citrus greening effects. The “Influence of Foliar Copper Application Rate on ...
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Carbon cycling in forest soils research presented
Just as individual humans have different microbial communities in their guts, the microbial communities living in soils vary from site to site as well. Recent research compared the decomposition rates of wood stakes over eight sites to gain an understanding of soil microbes in forests. The activity of soil microbes can also tell a story of the value of carbon storage in soil. The ...
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Mining for answers on abandoned mines
Soil scientist Jim Ippolito believes in local solutions to local problems. The problem he’s working on is contaminated soils near abandoned mines. In the western United States 160,000 abandoned mines contaminate soils in the region. Ippolito, associate professor of soil science at Colorado State University, hopes to solve this problem with biochar, a charcoal-like substance that can ...
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Soil moisture for crop health topic of symposium
Soil moisture sensing through either contact or remote technology captures soil-plant-water information that relates closely with plant water availability and use. Innovations in remote sensing technologies can inform plant health assessments and more. The “Soil Moisture Sensing for Crop Health Assessment and Management” symposium planned at the Resilience Emerging from Scarcity ...
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UF/IFAS apps give irrigation, growing tips and more
Looking to save money and water when you irrigate? UF/IFAS scientists have developed an app for that. Want to know what plants to grow in your garden? You guessed it: UF/IFAS has an app for that as well. UF/IFAS’ so-called “smart irrigation apps” include an urban lawn app that estimates how long you’ll need to water your lawn to meet current plant water demand. It uses a ...
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Food security may be increased by new agricultural production modeling
Farmers are used to optimizing crop production on their own lands. They do soil tests to choose the right amount of fertilizers to apply, and they sometimes plant row crops on some fields while keeping others in pasture. But is it possible to optimize production across a much bigger area—say, the whole East Coast of the United States? That’s the question a team of USDA-ARS scientists ...
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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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Kansas senator honored with soil stewardship award
A long-time champion for agriculture, research, and the United States’ soil resources, Senator Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, will be presented today (Mar. 18) with the 2013 Excellence in Soil Stewardship Award by the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). The award recognizes policy makers whose exemplary leadership has strengthened the U.S. agricultural enterprise and the natural ...
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ASA, CSSA and SSSA applaud PCAST for agricultural research enterprise report
Today (Dec. 7) the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released a new report on Agricultural Preparedness and the Agriculture Research Enterprise. The report represents an important analysis of the public and private agricultural research structure and current levels of investment. “We are pleased that PCAST focused on the unique challenges and goals of ...
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At the interface of humans and nature
A new book describes urban-rural interactions and the issues facing both people and ecosystems at those interfaces With the world population passing seven billion earlier this year, human activities are affecting more and more natural spaces as subdevelopments pop up in former corn fields and strip malls edge out forests. The ways in which people are changing and interacting with ecosystems is ...
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Ag scientists and community members speak out in support of science research
More than 1350 scientists and members of the agricultural community signed a petition asking lawmakers to avoid sequestration Late yesterday (Nov. 14), the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), the American Society of Plant Biologists, and the National Association of Plant Breeders urged lawmakers to act to avoid the ...
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Benefits of collaborative research highlighted in ASA, CSSA, SSSA webinar
In these fiscally constrained times, federally-funded researchers face more pressure than ever before to show the greater societal benefits of their research. To that end, many researchers are now working in multidisciplinary teams that combine agricultural, environmental, economic, and social science research in order to better understand the economic and social benefits associated with basic ...
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ASA, CSSA, and SSSA Present 2012 Scholarships and Fellowships
The American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) announce the following 2012 Scholarships and Fellowships. These awards will be formally presented during their Annual Meetings, Oct. 21-24, 2012 in Cincinnati, OH. American Society of Agronomy Scholarships: The Hank Beachell Future Leader Scholarship, funded through the ...
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