Fertilizers News
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Locust plague threatens to trigger severe food crisis in Madagascar
Madagascar is in the grips of a largely uncontrolled locust plague and risks a serious food crisis. A large-scale emergency control campaign urgently requires a minimum of $22 million in funding to start in time for the next crop planting season in September. So far, FAO emergency appeals for Madagascar remain severely underfunded. By September, FAO expects that two-thirds of the country will be ...
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FAO Statistical Yearbook paints a big, and detailed, picture of food and agriculture
The 2013 edition of FAO's Statistical Yearbook released today sheds new light on agriculture's contribution to global warming, trends in hunger and malnutrition and the state of the natural resource base upon which world food production depends. Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture grew 1.6 percent per year during the decade after the year 2000, new FAO data presented in the yearbook show, ...
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Whey from NY`s Greek yogurt used to produce power
The Greek yogurt boom in New York is being harnessed to make electricity. More Greek yogurt production has meant more whey, a watery byproduct from the process. Yogurt makers commonly ship it back to farms for use as feed and fertilizer, but it's also is being used to generate power in several places. At the Gloversville-Johnstown wastewater plant west of Albany, it's pipelined from the nearby ...
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Legally binding ban proposed on ocean fertilisation
Australia has joined with Nigeria and South Korea to propose a legally binding ban on commercial ocean fertilisation. But the move would not prevent legitimate scientific research, according to Tony Burke, Australian Minister of the Environment. The proposal was sent to the London Convention and Protocol, which governs marine pollution and dumping at sea, on 16 May, and it will be considered ...
By SciDev.Net
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Tillage and reduced-input rotations affect runoff from agricultural fields
A new study from researchers at the USDA Agricultural Research Service provides information about runoff under different management practices and can help farmers choose the practice that is best for them. No-till management practices can reduce soil erosion, but evidence suggests they can also lead to increased runoff of dissolved phosphorus from soil surfaces. Meanwhile, farmers looking to ...
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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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JetBlue To Launch Composting Program At JFK´s Terminal 5
NEW YORK, May 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- JetBlue Airways (Nasdaq: JBLU), New York's Hometown Airline™, today announced a partnership with Air Ventures and Royal Waste Services to compost leftovers from select restaurants in Terminal 5 (T5) at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Air Ventures, the franchisee that owns and operates the Jamba Juice and Dunkin Donuts restaurants in T5 and ...
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Traditional knowledge `can enable precision farming`
Farmers in developing countries could take advantage of the emerging field of precision farming without needing the expensive technology usually associated with it, a geostatistics expert says. Crop yields could be improved by applying traditional knowledge to mirror precision techniques such as using the satellite Global Positioning System (GPS) to analyse farm land, says Margaret Oliver, a ...
By SciDev.Net
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Cassava`s huge potential as 21st Century crop
Save and Grow, an environmentally-friendly farming model promoted by FAO, can sustainably increase cassava yields by up to 400 percent and help turn this staple from a poor people's food into a 21st Century crop, FAO said today. In a newly-published field guide detailing Save and Grow's applications to cassava smallholder production, FAO noted that global cassava output has increased by 60 ...
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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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Seaweed Energy Solutions (SES) Makes Acquisition in Denmark to Cultivate 100,000 Tons of Seaweed
Seaweed Energy Solutions AS (SES) announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire 100 percent of Denmark's Seaweed Seed Supply AS, a move that sharply reinforces SES' position as Europe's leading player in large-scale seaweed cultivation for renewable energy and other uses. The acquisition of SSS marks a key step for SES in its strategy of pioneering large-scale seaweed farming due ...
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New plant protein discoveries could ease global food and fuel demands
New discoveries of the way plants transport important substances across their biological membranes to resist toxic metals and pests, increase salt and drought tolerance, control water loss and store sugar can have profound implications for increasing the supply of food and energy for our rapidly growing global population. That’s the conclusion of 12 leading plant biologists from around the ...
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When is a cow like a car?
Martin Barrow, Head of Footprinting at the Carbon Trust discusses the need for the meat industry to take action on carbon emissions. When is a cow like a car? It may sound like a joke, but the answer could be serious for meat producers. Red meat is suffering from a wave of bad press. Shoppers' confidence in beef products has been knocked by the horsemeat scandal which has also increased ...
By Carbon Trust
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Polluted urban soil damages lime trees
The impact of polluted urban soil on trees is highlighted in a recent study from Latvia. The researchers found that high salt levels from de-icing chemicals and nutrient imbalance in soil damaged lime trees growing in the city of Riga. Trees planted in cities are an important part of the urban landscape, providing a range of benefits, from enhancing biodiversity to promoting a feeling of ...
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Bolivian researchers sound alarm over quinoa farming
Bolivian scientists have warned that growing international demand for quinoa is endangering local farming practices and the environment, as well as denying access to local consumers. Their caution follows the UN's kick off last month (20 February) of a year-long series of cultural, artistic and academic activities — along with scientific research — to celebrate 2013 as the ...
By SciDev.Net
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Over a Dozen Georgia Police Offers Exposed to Chemicals & Mold at Marijuana Grow House
Earlier this month, the Ledger-Enquirer published a story about the bust of a marijuana grow house in Columbus, Georgia. According to the article, fourteen police officers served a search warrant on the grow house and were exposed to chemicals used to grow the illegal marijuana plants as well as mold due to the conditions inside the property. This all too common case highlights both the dangers ...
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Rice paddies synergise with fish farming
By combining aquaculture with wet paddy farming in its coastal areas Bangladesh can meet food security and climate change issues, says a new report. The approach promises more nutritious food, without causing environmental damage, and has the potential for a 'blue-green revolution' on Bangladesh’s existing crop areas extending to about 10.14 million hectares and an additional 2.83 million ...
By SciDev.Net
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European Union awards FIGARO consortium €6 million for new precision technologies to improve irrigation management
Tel Aviv, Israel – The European Union (EU) has awarded FIGARO (Flexible and Precise Irrigation Platform to Improve Farm Scale Water Productivity), an international Consortium led by Netafim Ltd , €6 million to develop new precision technologies to improve irrigation management to increase water productivity in major water-demanding crops. FIGARO researchers will focus their efforts ...
By FIGARO
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Can simple measures of labile soil organic matter predict corn performance?
Organic matter is important for soil health and crop productivity. While an indicator of soil quality, a lot of organic matter is in extremely stable forms, and the nutrients in such forms are difficult for plants to use. The active, labile fraction, however, is a modest but important part of the organic matter. “The labile fraction is small – usually less than 20 or even 10 percent, ...
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Overfishing Threatens Critical Link in the Food Chain
The fish near the bottom of the aquatic food chain are often overlooked, but they are vital to healthy oceans and estuaries. Collectively known as forage fish, these species—including sardines, anchovies, herrings, and shrimp-like crustaceans called krill—feed on plankton and become food themselves for larger fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. Historically, people have eaten ...
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