Crop yields are projected to decrease under future climate conditions, and recent research suggests that yields have already been impacted. However, current impacts on a diversity of crops subnationally and implications for food security remains unclear. Here, we constructed linear regression relationships using weather and reported crop data to assess …
The global emergence of biofuels over the last two decades has been met with increased concerns over climate change and sustainable development. This report addresses the core issue of biofuel sustainability and related feedstocks, drawing from a wide range of studies, reports and policy initiatives. The report critically examines the …
A technology called a ‘terminator’ was never going to curry much favour with the public. But even Monsanto, the agricultural biotechnology giant in St Louis, Missouri, was surprised by the furore that followed when it patented a method for engineering transgenic crops to produce sterile seed, forcing farmers to buy …
Vernon Hugh Bowman, a 75-year old Indiana farmer, says that switching to Monsanto Inc.'s "Roundup Ready" soybeans "made things so much simpler and better." Monsanto's patented beans can survive when they are sprayed with the herbicide glyphosate, also known as Roundup, which makes pest control much easier. Monsanto is less …
A freewheeling and almost entirely one-sided argument at the Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated that the justices would not allow Monsanto’s patents for genetically altered soybeans to be threatened by an Indiana farmer who used them without paying the company a fee. Monsanto’s patented Roundup Ready soybeans are resistant to …
The unrelenting drought gripping key farming states in the U.S. Plains shows no signs of abating, and it will take a deluge of snow or rain to restore critical moisture to farmland before spring planting of new crops, a climate expert said on Thursday. "It's not a pretty picture," said …
India’s overall foodgrain production in the 2012-13 crop marketing year that would end in June 2013 was expected to be around 250 million tonnes, nine million tonnes less than last year’s revised record output of almost 259 million tonnes because of low production during the kharif sowing season, Agriculture Secretary …
CUTTACK: To improve the economic condition of farmers, the district administration has been encouraging them take up soyabean cultivation. And the efforts have yielded desired results with 300 farmers cultivating soyabean in 550 acre in the district. District agriculture officers claim soyabean cultivation ensures lucrative returns with less input for …
The European Union on Tuesday took the debate about genetically modified crops to the public with a survey asking citizens to share their thoughts on organic farming. The bloc's 500 million consumers are invited to complete an anonymous online questionnaire on the European Commission's Agriculture and Rural Development website The …
Harvests will fall dramatically during severe heatwaves, predicted to become many times more likely in coming decades The world's food crisis, where 1 billion people are already going hungry and a further 2 billion people will be affected by 2050, is set to worsen as increasing heatwaves reverse the rising …
Across the world, countries are turning their backs on GM crops; perhaps the coalition in the UK could learn something from them Britain wants GM food to be grown commercially. After years of encouraging developing countries in Africa and elsewhere to grow them, but unable to allow its own farmers …
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a greenhouse gas that is also capable of destroying the ozone layer. Agricultural soil is the largest source of N2O. Soybean is a globally important leguminous crop, and hosts symbiotic nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria (rhizobia) that can also produce N2O. In agricultural soil, N2O is emitted from …
Soy farmers in Bolivia are urging leftist President Evo Morales to reconsider a ban on genetically modified seeds contained in a package of environmental regulation called the Mother Earth law. The Andean nation is a small producer of soybeans compared with its giant agricultural neighbors, Brazil and Argentina, but output …
Input cost for soya crop has gone up to Rs 7,000 a quintal against its market price of Rs 3,200 a quintal In an attempt to achieve 20 per cent return on farming activities, farmers in Madhya Pradesh are planning to chalk out a self-regulatory mechanism. A marathon meeting in …
Balancing productivity, profitability, and environmental health is a key challenge for agricultural sustainability. Most crop production systems in the United States are characterized by low species and management diversity, high use of fossil energy and agrichemicals, and large negative impacts on the environment. We hypothesized that cropping system diversification would …
At an estimated 117.18 million tonnes, it is, however, “better than expected,” says Pawar At an estimated 117.18 million tonnes, kharif production is expected to fall short of the target by 11.84 million tonnes this year, what with the delayed and deficient monsoon hitting production of coarse cereals, pulses and …
Report says 10% objective competes with food production and should be scrapped in effort to reduce food price spikes European targets to replace fossil fuels with biofuels are contributing to spikes in food prices and global hunger, according to the latest analyis by Oxfam. The aid organisation is calling for …
Based on previously published hydroponic plant, planktonic bacterial, and soil microbial community research, manufactured nanomaterial (MNM) environmental buildup could profoundly alter soil-based food crop quality and yield. However, thus far, no single study has at once examined the full implications, as no studies have involved growing plants to full maturity …
Farm income expectations in key Midwestern states for the third quarter have been badly dented by the harsh drought, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on Thursday. Crops have been stunted by withering heat across the U.S. heartland, with corn and soybean yields …
Joint statement on international food prices from the three Rome-based UN Agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP): Tackling the root causes of high food prices and hunger.
Urges govts to shore up programs to protect their most vulnerable populations World food prices jumped 10 percent in July as drought parched crop lands in the United States and Eastern Europe, the World Bank said in a statement urging governments to shore up programs that protect their most vulnerable …
