Waitrose working to encourage sustainable food production
The region’s orchards are an integral part of the landscape and an important source of biodiversity. They are also a rich, but under-researched, historical record. Now the Landscape Group, part of the University of East Anglia’s (UEA’s) School of History, has been awarded £477,700 of National Lottery funding for a three-year project, Orchard’s East, to survey […]
Rothamsted Research has secured government funding to kick-start its new five-year strategic programme, Smart Crop Protection (SCP), to control sustainably the pests, pathogens and weeds that destroy nearly a third of crops grown worldwide. The investment of circa £6.3 million covers the programme’s first three years.
UK crop research organisation NIAB has warned that the EU Commission’s hardline negotiating stance on Brexit is already damaging prospects for UK agri-science, and has called on Ministers to safeguard the UK science base. Speaking in Cambridge today (30 June), NIAB Chairman Jim Godfrey said the collateral damage of the Brexit talks was becoming a […]
One of biology’s most charismatic relationships, credited with helping plants to colonise land more than 400 million years ago, has yielded a fundamental survival secret with implications for agriculture and biotechnology. Plant scientists have discovered that a particular form of fungi, which invades plant roots and then helps the colonised plants to absorb nutrients from […]
Researchers exploring how planting trees alongside crops could help put Britain on track to reduce its climate change impact have been awarded a share of £8.6m funding. Agroforestry involves farmers planting rows of trees in crop fields to act as greenhouse gas removers. Co-delivery of food and climate regulation by temperate agroforestry, led by Dr Martin […]
Timing the harvest and transport of highly perishable, hand-picked crops such as strawberries so these delicate products reach consumers at peak flavor and freshness is an intricate dance that partners Mother Nature with manual labor. However, many of the “smart farming” techniques and technologies that help growers harvest more of what they sow faster and […]
There are many people suffering from “hidden hunger” across the world; people that have enough food to eat but have access only to food which does not contain adequate nutritional value. Micronutrients, or minerals, are an essential part of a healthy diet, gained from the soil via the crops we eat, yet many people don’t […]
Scientists at the John Innes Centre (JIC) are developing a new line of fast-growing sprouting broccoli that goes from seed to harvest in 8–10 weeks. It has the potential to deliver two full crops a season in-field or it can be grown all year round in protected conditions, which could help with continuity of supply, as […]
Professor Kenneth Wilson of Lancaster Environment Centre has flown to Zambia to assess the Fall armyworm outbreaks that are devastating crops in southern Africa. The Fall armyworm – a caterpillar that eats its way through staple cereal crops, like maize, and other crops, including beans and peas – poses a major threat to food security […]
Trees may be easy to spot on the plains of Africa but they are often overlooked as a source of income for farmers. A University of Illinois (USA) study shows trees on farms may help reduce rural poverty and maintain biodiversity.
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