CEOs need to accelerate their action plans to safeguard the production of commodities critical to the global population and economy as heat stress and drought risk rise around the world, according to PwC's report, Climate Risks to Nine Key Commodities: Protecting People and Prosperity, published. The report, which analysed nine …
Wheat, rice, sugar, cotton and maize are among the essential internationally traded crops in the global economy. To produce these crops many countries rely on irrigated agriculture that accounts for about 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals, according to the United Nations Water program. One freshwater source is underground aquifers, …
Casablanca – Morocco’s imports of wheat from Russia has increased by 300 percent over the last season, indicating a new level of economic cooperation between Morocco and Russia. Morocco’s importation of wheat quadrupled during the previous season. This increase was due primarily to the poor agricultural year 2015-2016 which resulted …
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) released its assessment of national policies and the vulnerability of industries to climate change in selected sub-sectors in Egypt, Kenya, Senegal and South Africa. The report resulted from the first phase of the project titled “Low-carbon and climate-resilient industrial development in Africa (LCCR)”, …
An infection that struck wheat crops in Sicily last year is a new and unusually devastating strain of fungus, researchers say — and its spores may spread to infect this year’s harvests in Europe, the world’s largest wheat-producing region. Original Source
Scientists are concerned over the proliferation of highly virulent fungal wheat diseases, including two new races of yellow rust – one in Europe and North Africa and the other taking hold in East Africa and Central Asia – and a new race of stem rust emerging in Europe. The collaborative …
Rabat – Two new fungal diseases capable of destroying whole wheat crops around the world have been discovered, with crops in the Mediterranean at particular risk, according to a study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). One of the fungal diseases is called “TTTTF” …
Rome — Wheat rust, a family of fungal diseases that can cause crop losses of up to 100 per cent in untreated susceptible wheat, is making further advances in Europe, Africa and Asia, according to two new studies produced by scientists in collaboration with the United Nations. The reports, highlighted …
The food supply is being increasingly challenged by climate change and water scarcity. However, incremental changes in traditional cropping systems have achieved only limited success in meeting these multiple challenges. In this study, we applied a systematic approach, using model simulation and data from two groups of field studies conducted …
While outlining strategies to increase availability of pulses at affordable prices, it is argued that increasing domestic production of pulses is the only option. Access to one or two protective irrigation sources during the growing season can lead to sizeable increases in pulse production. The har khet ko paani initiative …
Attempts to measure the impacts of climate change on agriculture must invariably rely on models that translate changes in climate to changes in agricultural outcomes. This need for models exists even when assessing the impacts of climate trends that have already occurred, since simultaneous changes in other factors that affect …
UDF-led opposition staged a walkout from the assembly on Wednesday alleging government's failure in the distribution of ration commodities in the Malabar region. Food and civil supplies minister P Thilothaman said the latest crisis came out due to the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA). From November 14, …
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa agriculture suffers from very low productivity, with risks of crop failures owing to persistent weather anomalies. The Climate Change Centre at the University of Agriculture, Peshawar, has warned the provincial government that the surging temperature will make the land unsuitable for cultivating wheat, maize and sugarcane. The most …
Although the integrated indicator methods have become popular for assessing vulnerability to climate change, their proliferation has introduced a confusing array of scales and indicators that cause a science-policy gap. I argue for a clear adaptation pathway in an “integrative typology” of regional vulnerability that matches appropriate scales, optimal measurements …
University of Guelph plant scientists have shown for the first time how an ancient crop teams up with a beneficial microbe to protect against a devastating fungal infection, a discovery that may benefit millions of subsistence farmers and livestock in developing countries. Their discovery may also point the way toward …
As climate change continues to alter our planet, humans will soon be forced to find new ways to feed the growing population. It’s estimated that the amount of food produced will have to double in order to meet the needs of over nine billion people that could occupy Earth in …
A team of researchers led by the University of Birmingham warns that without significant improvements in technology, global crop yields are likely to fall in the areas currently used for production of the world's three major cereal crops, forcing production to move to new areas. With a worldwide population projected …
One of the biggest concerns about climate change is the effect it will have on agriculture. Many studies have suggested that rising temperatures could be harmful to farms around the world, although there’s plenty of uncertainty about how bad things will get and which food supplies we should worry about …
The potential impact of global temperature change on global crop yield has recently been assessed with different methods. Here we show that grid-based and point-based simulations and statistical regressions (from historic records), without deliberate adaptation or CO2 fertilization effects, produce similar estimates of temperature impact on wheat yields at global …
Japan and South Korea have both taken steps to block certain imports of U.S. wheat after unapproved genetically-modified (GMO) plants from Monsanto Co seeds were found growing in Washington state, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Monday. Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said …
New research could lead to the fine-tuning of pesticide formulations to further increase crop yield. The findings also show a way to develop advanced performance formulations which will interact reversibly with plant surfaces and will leave their protective cuticles unharmed. New research published today could lead to the fine-tuning of …
