agriculture research News
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Less nitrogen could increase profit & sustainability
More fertilizer doesn't always mean more profit. That's one conclusion from a 10-year study conducted by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists at the agency’s Soil Plant Nutrient Research Unit in Fort Collins, Colo., and colleagues at Colorado State University. From 1998 to 2008, the researchers evaluated and compared potential management strategies for reducing nitrogen and nitrate ...
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Squeezing more crop out of each drop of water
Studies in China and Colorado by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and cooperators have revealed some interesting tactics on how to irrigate with limited water, based on a crop’s critical growth stages. Laj Ahuja, research leader at the ARS Agricultural Systems Research Unit in Fort Collins, Colo., and colleagues conducted the studies. As one example, with wheat in China, they ...
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Scientists search for solutions to Iraq`s salty farmland
The high level of salt threatening two-thirds of Iraq's irrigated farmland — as well as many other countries — is being targeted by a group of Iraqi and international researchers and policymakers. The Iraq Salinity Project aims to develop long-term strategies to manage salinity in central and southern Iraq. It is coordinated by the International Center for Agricultural Research in ...
By SciDev.Net
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IWMI elevates research collaboration in Bangladesh
The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) signed an MOU with the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) on March 24, 2024, as it opened the doors of its new Bangladesh office in the capital Dhaka. IWMI and BARC’s partnership is a collaborative effort to strengthen research in irrigation and agriculture water management aligning with the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100. The ...
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All About Innovation: Brown University Trial Shows Potential of Plasma-Treated Water to Aid Plant Growth
That’s the year when the world population reaches the count of 9 billion, a sobering contrast to 2.5 billion inhabitants in 1950, and 7.5 billion today. It’s also the year when global food production, according to the World Bank, must rise by 50% to feed this unprecedented mass of humanity. Only a dramatic uptick in innovative technological activity throughout the agricultural ...
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ALERT: Congressional briefing on anniversary of landsat satellites, future importance
Forty years ago, Landsat Satellites began a vigilant watch, protecting and enhancing the quality of life on Earth by tracking changes on the surface over time, and creating a vast global record of amazing land images and data. But could this effort become even more significant during the next forty years, and beyond? The American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil ...
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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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New - SM300 moisture sensor - soil moisture content + soil temperature
The new SM300 is a precision sensor that measures volumetric water content and soil temperature. It can be used in all soil types and is suited to applications in research, horticulture, agriculture and irrigation. Research grade accuracy ± 2.5% (%vol) Excellent performance in mineral, organic and saline soils Easy to use The SM300 has strong measurement rods that minimise soil disturbance ...
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Decision support-based approach for sustainable water reuse application in agricultural production - DSWAP
Launched in July 2019, the main goal of DSWAP is to develop modular cost- and energy-efficient wastewater treatment systems specifically designed for wastewater reuse in the context of crops irrigation that safeguard public health, environmental and soil quality and long-term agronomic sustainability. This goal encompasses five specific objectives: Optimization and evaluation of ...
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Early cotton planting requires irrigation
Cotton growers can produce more cotton if they plant early, but not without irrigation. That’s the finding of an article published in the September-October 2010 Agronomy Journal, a publication of the American Society of Agronomy. Bill Pettigrew, a scientist with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service in Stoneville, Mississippi, tested the performance of cotton under irrigated and ...
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Barren middle east fights water shortfall
Seven Middle-Eastern countries have joined forces to share ideas about how farmers can get the most out of water resources in the region's driest areas. Launched in Jordan last week (1–4 February) at an international conference on food security and climate change, The Water and Livelihood Initiative (WLI) will involve rural communities in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Iraq and ...
By SciDev.Net
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Marrone Bio Innovations Sponsors Biopesticide Roundtable Hosted by Association of Applied IPM Ecologists
As part of an ongoing educational outreach effort, Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI) today sponsored a Biopesticide Roundtable at the University of California, Davis, examining the importance of biopesticides as effective tools in integrated pest management (IPM) programs. The interactive roundtable, hosted by the Association of Applied IPM Ecologists, featured university and industry experts who ...
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Identifying factors in Atrazine’s reduced weed control
Invasive broadleaf weeds can destroy corn crops and fallow fields. Farmers use the chemical atrazine in herbicides to protect their plants. Despite atrazine’s controversial environmental impacts, it can provide long term residual control of many weed species. However, the loss of atrazine’s effectiveness has been a challenge for farmers in northeastern Colorado. In a collaborative ...
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Rural India left out of S&T system
Scientific research in India needs to integrate better with rural development issues say Rajeswari S. Raina and Kasturi Mandal. India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised in January 2012 a massive expansion of funding and facilities for Indian science. The 12th Five-Year Plan (2012–2017) pledges inclusive development through scientific knowledge and technological interventions ...
By SciDev.Net
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Annan to Head Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
Cape Town, South Africa (ENS) - The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa today announced the appointment of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan as its first chairman. Speaking at the World Economic Forum on Africa meeting in Cape Town, where he is delivering a keynote address on African agriculture, Annan said he hopes to use his new positon to help farmers across the ...
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Egyptian invention cuts rice irrigation water by haf
Experts and stakeholders in Egypt warn of imminent water poverty as a result of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is about to become operational. Meanwhile, agricultural production consumes about 85 per cent of the country’s water resources, half of which goes towards rice irrigation. Rice cultivation consumes more than 10 billion cubic meters of water annually, or more than one-sixth ...
By SciDev.Net
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UF/IFAS hosting Florida Agricultural Policy Outlook Conference in January
Florida agriculture and food industries are among the largest economic contributors in the state. Agricultural producers manage 9.5 million acres, growing more than 300 commodities, including everything from citrus and cows to peanuts and potatoes. Agricultural products are shipped to national and international markets. On January 28, some of the state’s top agriculture thinkers will ...
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Water reform urgently needed in Asia to feed extra 1.5bn people by 2050, says new report
A comprehensive new study of irrigation in Asia warns that, without major reforms and innovations in the way water is used for agriculture, many developing nations face the politically risky prospect of having to import more than a quarter of the rice, wheat and maize they will need by 2050. This warning, along with related forecasts and possible solutions, appear in a report entitled, ...
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Irrigation method saves 50 percent of water needed for potato growth
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers have found an irrigation method that uses 50 percent less water than traditional systems to grow potatoes – an important finding for the $131 million-a-year Florida crop. The system is called “hybrid center pivot irrigation.” With this method, about two-thirds of the water used to help grow potatoes ...
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Irrigation threatening steppe birds in Mediterranean wetlands
Intensive irrigation of agricultural land in a Mediterranean water basin is altering the habitats of associated wetlands and changing the balance of the bird population living there, according to a recent study. The Mar Menor coastal lagoon is located in the Southeast of Spain. Inland there are an associated series of wetlands of ecological interest, protected by the Natura 2000 Network1. The ...
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