KFF Health News has a not-so-cheerful outlook on the US national health services in an article about livestock farms with a headline that starts “How America lost control of the bird… Read the rest “Ready for the next pandemic? Check with your local farmers.”
The American Chemical Society looks at homegrown (or farmed) tomatoes and finds that the way in which they’re watered can make a difference in how well they grow:
… Read the rest “The way you water your tomatoes matters, not just how much you water ’em.”Researchers reporting
Science News reports on a presentation at the recent Lunar and Planetary Science Conference by researcher Abhilash Ramachandran, who found that rice – one of our planet’s… Read the rest “Martian soil is nice for rice.”
PNAS reports on some unanticipated consequences of solar farming – but things that banks of solar panels that are unexpectedly good, not bad:
… Read the rest “Solar panels increase crop yields, insulate reservoirs, and can help farmers.”To generate as much energy as a conventional
Science News discusses two new studies that place the origins of domestic chickens in one specific place – Southeast Asia – and much more recently than we thought, and much … Read the rest “Chicken and rice go together – all the way to the origins of domestic fowl in grain fields.”
In 1947, Natural History Magazine took a deep dive into potatoes – where they came from and where they’re going … and growing. The story “Saga of the Earth Nut”… Read the rest “Science Art: Yearly Potato Production, from Natural History Magazine, March 1947.”
CNet reports on John Deere’s invention of an autonomous robot tractor you can control with your smartphone:
… Read the rest “Self-driving tractor ready for remote-control farming.”“It takes a while to get comfortable because … first of all,
Scientific American looks at scientific Kenyans, who have taken advantage of one of the few things elephants are actually afraid of – stinging honeybees – to keep their fields… Read the rest “African farmers use bee hives as elephant-proof fences.”
Science News looks beyond the domesticated honeybee for unsung pollination heroes: the bumblebees, mason bees, carpenter bees and other native bees that do an enormous amount of crop … Read the rest “Wild bees do $1.5 billion-worth of pollinating for six crops alone.”
The Scientist toasts the rediscovery of Coffea stenophylla, a relative of the C. arabica coffee plant our society runs on – that’s proved itself able to cope with some of the… Read the rest “Old coffee is coming back to save the business (and the species tastes great, too)”
Cell reveals a potential replacement for pollinators – the vital insects who keep plants from almonds to corn to quinoa reproducing – by using flying robotic bubble-makers… Read the rest “Substituting soap-bubble robots for pollinating insects.”
Swill-pail hogs from upstate New York, as featured on the front page of Moore’s Rural New-Yorker, a delightful paper that promised “Agriculture, Horticulture,… Read the rest “Science Art: Genesee County Hogs of the “Swill-Pail Breed,” from Moore’s Rural New-Yorker, March 22, 1862”
Growing Produce has a story that strikes me as super weird, about the first-ever commercial fungicide designed to be carried onto crops by bees:
… Read the rest “EPA approves a fungicide distributed *by bees*.”The EPA has recently approved Bee Vectoring
Digital Trends looks at how wearable devices could revolutionize farming and keep chickens healthier:
… Read the rest “Chickens with Fitbits. Future of farming.”Sitting neatly between these two size extremes is a new project coming out of the
Science News has a series of studies that show rising CO2 levels and other climate disturbances are taking minerals and vitamins out of our vegetable crops:
… Read the rest “Climate change is stealing nutrients from food.”The idea that surging carbon
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