agriculture cover News
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Farmers struggle to adopt climate-smart methods
Preliminary results from a project aimed at helping Malawi, Vietnam and Zambia make the transition to a "climate-smart" approach to agriculture show that some farmers are struggling to adopt the new methods, while others are finding ways to cope well with climate-change problems like late rains. "To broaden the options available to farmers, we believe that increased investment, coming from both ...
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‘Science of Soil Health’ Videos Feature OSU Extension Experts
Soil researchers across the Midwest, including agronomists and scientists from Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, want to help growers unlock the secrets of soil health to improve yields, lower input costs and increase farm income. A new series of YouTube videos, called “The Science of Soil Health,” is designed to provide new ...
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New ORNL tool gets handle on cropland CO2 emissions
For the first time, farmers have data that tracks at the county level on-site and off-site energy use and carbon dioxide emissions associated with growing crops in the United States. This information is vital for examining changes in cropland production and management techniques and could play an even bigger role as more land is devoted to bioenergy crops, said Oak Ridge National Laboratory's ...
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Herbicide reduction can preserve crop yields as well as biodiversity benefits of weeds
Pesticide-sparing approaches to farming do not have to compromise on crop yields, new research suggests. A study that explored the impact of reduced herbicide use across a variety of different farming contexts found that herbicideefficient systems could be just as productive as conventional systems — and more so than organic systems — whilst having other important environmental ...
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Harnessing carbon financing to boost sustainable farming
Some 100 experts from five continents have met to chart the way to harnessing a large new flow of funding – carbon finance – to agricultural development and to improving the lives of poor farmers the world over. Billions of dollars are available every year under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism to finance initiatives helping reduce the amount of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions into ...
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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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Cover Crops Add to Farm Sustainability
A potentially record-setting U.S. corn harvest is underway. Many farmers can attribute the use of cover crops as one of multiple best management practices (BMPs) that help them increase yield year after year. Combined with BMPs of The Fertilizer Institute’s 4R Nutrient Stewardship program that promotes the application of nutrients at the right source, right rate, right time and right place, ...
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Nitrogen applied
Combating soil erosion is a primary concern for agricultural producers in the United States, and many have incorporated conservation tillage systems in their effort to maintain a profitable crop output. Cover crops are an important tool in this cycle, and while it is known that using nitrogen fertilizers can increase these crops biomass, the resulting levels of nitrogen for the following cash ...
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Iowa’s Corn Farmers Celebrate Soil & Water Conservation Week
Iowa has 71,665 miles of streams and more than 11,000 different types of soil. Both resources are precious to the productivity of our state. Farmers celebrate soil and water every day but, Soil and Water Conservation Week April 28 to May 2, is a good time to recognize Iowa’s innovations to conserve both soil and water resources. “We haven’t reached perfection, yet” said ...
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Farming must change to feed the world
The world's farmers must quickly switch to more sustainable and productive farming systems to grow the food needed by a swelling world population and respond to climate change, FAO's top crops expert told an international farm congress here today. In a keynote speech to 1,000 participants at the IVth World Congress on Conservation Agriculture (CA) in New Delhi, Shivaji Pandey, Director of FAO's ...
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Conservation Tillage Conference March 2-3 Offers Tips for Farmers in Tight Economy
High input costs coupled with low grain prices anticipated in 2016 means that growers have to make smarter, calculated choices to grow profitable crops this year. Also important is the need to build and maintain healthy soils to help ensure good water quality, said Randall Reeder, a retired Ohio State University Extension agricultural engineer. Reeder is an organizer of the annual Conservation ...
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Efficiency as competitive edge
In a scenario for the year 2050 described by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), a world population of around nine billion (i.e. one-third more than today) will need to be supplied with food, raw materials and energy. To keep pace, food production must increase by about 70 percent – a massive challenge that is aggravated by the impacts of climate change, water ...
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Climate-smart farming takes root in Kenya
Like most African countries, Kenya is highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. There is growing concern about potential stress on fragile ecosystems and rural communities, especially in the arid and semi-arid agro-ecological zones and some humid highland areas of the country. In keeping with the Strategy for Revitalizing Agriculture (SRA) of Kenya 2010-2015 and Kenya's vision 2030, ...
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