Montana Soil Health Symposium to discuss challenges, technology

Ranchers, farmers, and small acreage owners across Montana and beyond are talking about soil, their successes, ongoing challenges, the latest and greatest technologies, and lessons learned.The Montana Association of Conservation Districts is hosting the second annual Soil Health Symposium Feb.9-10, 2022. This two-day event is centered around peer-to-peer conversations and experience-based presentations from many aspects of agriculture.

Virginia Tech researchers among team awarded $10M from USDA to bring cultivated meat closer to dinner plates

Cultivated meat — animal cells grown in vitro to form anything from chicken tenders to salmon fillets — is pushing the boundaries of food production at a time when the agriculture industry is racing to keep up with growing demand. Researchers from Virginia Tech are part of a team awarded $10M from the USDA to usher in the era of lab-to-table protein to help to fill that gap.

U.S. soybean, corn yields could be increased through use of machine learning | Penn State University

Research guided by a plant pathologist in the College of Agricultural Sciences suggests that machine-learning algorithms that are programmed to recognize changing weather patterns could show producers and agricultural managers how to increase soybean and corn yields in the United States.

Breaking News: Pollinators contribute to flowering plant diversity » Holden Forests & Gardens

Holden Forests & Gardens (HF&G) Scientist Na Wei, Ph.D., and her collaborators from the University of Pittsburgh and East Tennessee State University discovered how pollinators may contribute to the maintenance of flowering plant diversity. This study that accelerates our understanding of biodiversity conservation is now published in the journal Nature. “For years, scientists have been... Read more »

New platform speeds up effort to turn crops into fuel

Researchers led by José Avalos have developed a new platform for breaking down cellulose, the world's most abundant organic compound, and simultaneously fermenting it for use in biofuel production.

Scientists take step to improve crops’ photosynthesis, yields

Blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) are known to photosynthesize more efficiently than most crops, so researchers are working to put elements from cyanobacteria into crop plants. A new study describes a significant step towards achieving that goal. “Absence of Carbonic Anhydrase in Chloroplasts Affects C3 Plant Development but Not Photosynthesis,” published August 11 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

No-till production farmers can cut herbicide use, control weeds, protect profits | Penn State University

Farmers using no-till production — in which soil never or rarely is plowed or disturbed — can reduce herbicide use and still maintain crop yields by implementing integrated weed-management methods, according to a new study conducted by Penn State researchers.

Helping India's smallholder farmers | UDaily

UD study suggests diversifying nutritional strategies in India to improve diets

Ripple effect: Cornell helps restore Long Island’s shellfish