Sowing News
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Marrone Bio Innovations` Regalia® Biofungicide Label Significantly Expanded
DAVIS, Calif., Jan. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Marrone Bio Innovations today announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a significant label expansion for Regalia®, a biofungicide that boosts plants' natural defenses to fight fungal and bacterial diseases. The label expansion includes new soil applications, instructions for yield improvement in corn and soybeans, ...
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US–Nepal hybrid maize project runs into criticism
Uncertainty hangs over a proposed partnership between US and Nepalese scientists to promote hybrid maize in the Himalayan country, after the project sparked local concerns over the potential loss of traditional local varieties and weak biotechnology regulation. The pilot project of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Nepal's Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and US ...
By SciDev.Net
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Comparing soybean production methods
In the Mid-South, twin-row soybean production is becoming a popular growing technique for soybean producers. An estimated 80% of the total hectares grown in the Mississippi Delta are planted in this configuration. While growers report this method increases seed yields, especially when used with specific cultivars planted in April or early May, there is no research data to support their claims. ...
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Corn silage hybrids and seeding rates
Recent studies report that corn hybrids released in the late 2000s, especially Bt hybrids, require higher seeding rates than commercial hybrids released in the 1990s to reach maximum yields. Expectedly, corn seeding rates in the USA have increased significantly in the past 10 years. However, limited data is available on silage yield and quality responses of recently released hybrids to seeding ...
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Disaster relief seeds `should be more diverse`
African farmers who lose their seeds in floods and droughts could restore their crop biodiversity quicker by trading local seed varieties at markets and through informal social links than by receiving seeds from aid agencies, a study suggests. The genetic diversity of crops allows plant populations to adapt to changing environments and provides the raw materials for crop improvement programmes. ...
By SciDev.Net
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Ecotopia Social Gamers Click to Plant 25,000 Real Trees
In an effort to demonstrate how online games can effect positive change in the real world, independent games studio Talkie leveraged its presence at the annual Games for Change Festival to issue a challenge to fans of its eco-friendly social game, Ecotopia™, to plant 25,000 trees in-game in 25 days or less. If the challenge is met, Talkie committed to planting ...
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`Push–pull` pest control to reach more African farmers
A farming technology that uses intercropping to repel insect pests from food crops has been given a new lease of life by a programme to expand its uptake. The 'push–pull' strategy intercrops cereals with a repellent plant bordered by an attractive trap plant. For example, maize can be intercropped with desmodium, which repels ('pushes') pests such as the maize stem borer away from the ...
By SciDev.Net
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‘Seeding’ the next generation of smart materials
Working with a team of international collaborators, Dr Paolo Falcaro and Dr Dario Buso from CSIRO’s Future Manufacturing Flagship have developed a revolutionary way to control the growth, and provide additional functionality, to a family of smart materials known as metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs. MOFs consist of well-ordered ultra-porous crystals which form multi-dimensional structures ...
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Less is more in Soybean row widths
Soybean production has continued to increase in the Northeast United States with more and more first time growers planting the crop and many experienced growers planting alongside corn crops. To save on time and expenses, some farmers plant soybeans with a corn planter in 30-inch rows instead of 7.5-inch rows with the regularly used grain drill. Dr. William Cox, a Cornell University scientist, ...
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Mission markets presents to northwest leaders network on impact investing (NW-LNII)
Mission Markets Blog Mission Markets CEO Mike Van Patten presented the Mission Markets investment platform to the Northwest Leaders Network on Impact Investing (NW-LNII) last week in Portland. Below is a write up on the event from the Springboard Innovation Blog. "Mission Markets Founder Presents to NW-LNII" Mike Van Patten, a 20-year veteran of Wall Street, recently launched a platform for ...
By 3BL Media
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Sloppy seed-sorting main culprit in GM crop escapes
Careless handling of seeds may be the key reason for the unintended spread of genetically modified (GM) crops, a study has found. The discovery challenges the widespread belief that the main source of GM contamination is the transfer of pollen by bees from GM crops to non-GM counterparts in neighbouring fields. Human error during seed production and handling is the more likely culprit, say the ...
By SciDev.Net
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Afghanistan: New Survey Techniques improve Opium Poppy Monitoring
Accurate monitoring of opium poppy production in Afghanistan – responsible for 90% of the world’s supply of the illegal crop – has become increasingly difficult with rising security concerns, but remote sensing survey techniques developed by Cranfield University have proved critical in providing accurate information to inform UK and international policy and counter-narcotics ...
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Floods wash away Pakistan`s crop research efforts
The recent Pakistan floods have caused substantial damage to the country's crop research, washing away new seed varieties and test crops planted in the fields, and damaging buildings and equipment, leaving the country's research institutes in disrepair. So far, the floods have killed more than 2,000 people and affected a further 21 million, killed 200,000 livestock and destroyed 4.25 million ...
By SciDev.Net
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SG Biofuels Develops Jatropha Hybrid Seed Production Technology
SAN DIEGO - SG Biofuels, a bioenergy crop company developing and producing elite seeds of Jatropha, today announced it has established a proprietary technology for large-scale Jatropha hybrid seed production. Hybrid seeds result in greater yield, uniformity and vigor while significantly reducing handling and deployment costs for plantation developers. The company made the announcement at ...
By SG Bio Fuels
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Genetics not enough to increase wheat production
The deep gene pool that has allowed wheat to achieve ever increasing gains in yield may be draining. Crop scientists estimate that 50% of the gain in wheat production over the past century has been due to breeding. According to a new study, however, that improvement has been slowing since the late 1980s, with little chance that future increases in yield can be met by breeding efforts alone. The ...
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Scientists find new home for threatened orchids
Scientists at the Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research (CPBR) have been researching the natural history of three rare and endangered orchids on Alum Mountain, Bulahdelah NSW, as part of a relocation project funded by the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA). The plants are being relocated to allow construction of a road bypass. Native orchids, known for their beauty and exuberance, are quite ...
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Cover crops reduce erosion, runoff
Cover crops may be more effective at reducing soil erosion and runoff after maize harvest than rough tillage, according to scientists from the Université Catholique de Louvain, in collaboration with the Independent Center for the Promotion of Forage (CIPF). The three-year study, supervised by Charles Bielders and conducted by Eric Laloy, measured erosion and runoff losses from silt loam ...
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Method to differentiate open pollinated varieties of maize developed
Open pollinated varieties of maize are going to be easier to distinguish from each other, thanks to scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Africa and Mexico. They have developed a new technique to differentiate the genes of one open pollinated variety from another, particularly important to African farmers, most of whom do not plant hybrid varieties. The ...
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Sundance Channel and Isabella Rossellini explore the seduction tactics employed by bugs, fish & more in five-part short film series `Seduce Me` premiering online on April 20th
Timed to the fourth season of THE GREEN, Sundance Channel will debut the five-part original series 'Seduce Me' exclusively online at sundancechannel.com on April 20th. Directed, written by and starring Isabella Rossellini, the five two-minute portraits explore the unconventional seduction rituals of creatures ranging from bugs to cuttle fish. In the same vein as Rossellini's multiple Webby ...
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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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