Drought is spreading across farmland worldwide—and it’s only going to get more intense. New research offers a clue on how we might be able to continue to grow the staples we’re used to but with much less water.
The world is drying up all around us, but which crops can we use to shift the blame away from our cars, pools, and cartons of almond milk? Cast your eyes hard on these two culprits, right in your very own kitchen cabinet.
It’s been thirty years since the Chernobyl disaster and radiation levels in plants seemed to have died down. So why are levels of radiation in milk still peaking?
Scientists have created three new genetically modified crops to combat three of the world’s most troubling crop diseases. Each was tweaked in a slightly different way to be resistant to those specific diseases. The details appear in three new papers out today in Nature Biotechnology.
For the past two decades, the number of genetically-modified crops has been steadily skyrocketing around the globe. Until 2015, when the number saw its first recorded drop. What’s going on?
With the world population projected to soar past the 11 billion mark by 2100, we’re going to need to find some creative new ways of putting food on the table. The latest science-powered plan to feed the world? Hacking photosynthesis.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is undeniably fascinating: This concrete slab that juts out of the barren snowscape may represent humanity’s last hope in an apocalypse. But recently, plant scientists have questioned its mission.
If you've never lived around farms, it can be easy to miss just how much labor comes with every stage of the growing process. That's particularly true about harvesting, but these two pictures can give you a pretty good idea of just what you're missing.
This is why keeping our bee populations healthy is so important. A new study looking at rates of crop dependence on pollinators and global malnutrition found that those areas most dependent on pollinators are also the areas most in danger of nutrient deficiencies, especially in Vitamin A and iron.
Could we grow a garden in the soils of Mars and the Moon? A new study digs down deep into the interstellar dirt and says that, yes, the soil up there is capable of supporting plant germination. In fact, it might even be as good as some of the poorer soils here on Earth.
As our bee populations dwindle, could we also be facing down the prospect of a honey shortage?
California is in the middle of a crushing, and steadily worsening, drought. It's also one of our top agricultural producers. So just what does this drought mean for our food supply?
Could we feed an extra 3 billion people right now? A new study takes a comprehensive look at where our agricultural resources go and concludes that by changing some global farming practices, including raising fewer cattle and cutting crop waste, we could be feeding billions more a year.
It's a weed whose height rivals that of many NBA players, it's increasingly herbicide-resistant, and it's spreading. The Des Moines Register has the story of "superweed" Palmer amaranth's spread through Iowa which they say could knock out 2/3 of the state's corn and soybean crops if it continues.
A plague of locusts sounds like the kind of biblical torment that we'll never really need to worry about. But they're real, they happen—and boy do they cause trouble.
A new study suggests that the world's best-selling weedkiller and the GM maize resistant to it are linked to increased risk of tumor growth, multiple organ damage and premature death.
I always thought elephants were afraid of mice. But scientists and farmers in Kenya have found that the best way fend off a herd of passing elephants is to erect a fence covered in bees. Talk about creative.
The world is potentially headed into a serious food crisis, thanks to a combination of climate change, land degradation, and depletion of natural resources. And the solution to all this might mean taking plant species back to before their domestication.
It sounds like the start of some Syfy Channel original movie, but scientists are preparing to win the war on agricultural pests by using voodoo wasps that can turn other insects into living hosts for their offspring. Zombieinsectwar go!
