20 News & Press Releases found
Environmental News Network (ENN) News
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New soil map for African farmers
Responding to sub-Saharan Africa`s soil health crisis, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) announced this week an ambitious new effort to produce the first-ever, detailed digital soil map for all 42 countries of the region. This ...
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Saltwater solution to save crops
Technology under development at the University of New South Wales could offer new hope to farmers in drought-affected and marginal areas by enabling crops to grow using salty groundwater. Associate Professor Greg Leslie, a chemical engineer at ...
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A new biopesticide for the organic food boom
With the boom in consumption of organic foods creating a pressing need for natural insecticides and herbicides that can be used on crops certified as `organic,` biopesticide pioneer Pam G. Marrone, Ph.D., is reporting development of a new `green` ...
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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 ...
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Wastewater fears for urban farms
Urgent action is needed to remove pollutants from urban wastewater, which is often used in cities to grow food, an international study has warned. Data collected by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) found that 85% of cities ...
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US$4.8bn merger of Corn Products Int. and Bunge Ltd. prompts industry to take notice
This week`s US$4.8 billion merger of Corn Products International and Bunge Ltd. probably didn`t catch your eye, but with revenues projected to increase 29 percent this year to $4 billion, you might consider paying attention -- for the sake of your ...
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Abandoned farmlands are key to sustainable bioenergy
Biofuels can be a sustainable part of the world`s energy future, especially if bioenergy agriculture is developed on currently abandoned or degraded agricultural lands, report scientists from the Carnegie Institution and Stanford University. Using ...
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Crops and soil threatened by floods in the Midwest
Here, in some of the best soil in the world, the stunted stalks of Dave Timmerman`s newly planted corn are wilting in what sometimes look more like rice paddies than the plains, the sunshine glinting off of pools of collected water. Although time is ...
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New satellite sensing tool for improving agricultural land use observation
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) data indicate that annually 2500 km3 of freshwater are used for agricultural production, which amounts to 70% of the water resources the whole of humanity consumes in a year. With the ...
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Basic food crops dangerously vulnerable
In the case of wheat, for instance, as a deadly new strain of Black Stem Rust devastates harvests across Africa and Arabia, and threatens the staple food supply of a billion people from Egypt to Pakistan, the areas where potentially crop and ...
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Pew Commission calls for better US animal waste treatment
One step beyond her front door, Jayne Clampitt is greeted with the toxic fumes flowing from the roughly 1 million gallons of hog manure stored at her neighbor`s farm. She no longer dries her family`s laundry outside, her children avoid the nearby ...
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US `plans cut to global agricultural research funds`
Despite rising food prices and restrictions on food exports the United States is planning to cut funding to international agricultural research, scientists claim. In February this year officials from the US Agency for International Development ...
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World must reform agriculture now or face dire crisis: report
The world will face social upheaval and environmental disasters if agriculture is not radically reformed to better serve the poor and hungry, a landmark UN-sponsored report said last week. The warning in the report by the International Assessment of ...
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Local control can save forests, says new US research
There will likely be fewer wildfires and more trees for future generations if loggers abide by a set of international rules on forest management, says a new study by independent environmentalists. In releasing the 18-page study, the New York-based ...
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Settlement reached in lawsuit over illegal sheep grazing in Yellowstone ecosystem
The Center for Biological Diversity and Western Watersheds Project reached a settlement this week with the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station in eastern Idaho to resolve a lawsuit filed last summer. The settlement requires the U.S. Sheep Station to ...
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Using organic fertilizers could protect against climate change
Studies show that soil fertilized with organic materials, such as compost, could increase the amount of stored carbon and potentially help slow down greenhouse emissions. Applying organic fertilizers, such as those resulting from composting, to ...
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New developing country network seeks to break down science barriers
Scientific organisations and researchers working in developing countries will be brought together through a network to be launched later this year. The programme, Scientists Without Borders, is an initiative of the New York Academy of Sciences. It ...
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Making agriculture sustainable
Agriculture is possibly the most important sector of global activity. It is a source of foods, fibers and, increasingly, fuel. It provides livelihoods and subsistence for the largest number of people worldwide. It is vital to rural development and ...
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Don`t bother with the `green` consumer
It seems so logical on the face of it. A company wishing to go green should focus on the green consumer, right? Not so. Marketing to the green consumer has proved difficult, even downright dangerous, for companies large and small. Here`s why. ...
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Carbon credits to be used to fund GM food crops
US biotech firm Arcadia Biosciences has announced a plan to help fund the planting of genetically modified rice with carbon credits. The company will work with the Chinese government to give farmers who plant their crops carbon credits, which they ...