Soil pathogen testing – critical to farming, but painstakingly slow and expensive – will soon be done accurately, quickly, inexpensively and onsite, thanks to research that Washington State University scientists are sharing.

The city of Cape Town, South Africa is under extreme water rationing and heading towards complete depletion of its municipal water supply. When Day Zero — the day the tap runs dry — arrives, it will be the first major city in the world to run out of water.

Enhanced rock weathering involves adding minute rock grains to cropland soils which dissolve chemically taking up carbon dioxide and releasing plant essential nutrients.  Unlike other carbon removal strategies enhanced rock weathering doesn’t compete for land used to grow food or increase the demand for freshwater.  Other potential benefits include reducing the use of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, lowering the cost of food production and increasing farm profitability.

The Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), a lepidopteran pest that feeds on leaves and stems of as many as 100 plant species, is able to hop between different crops and cause serious damage due to its resistance to both insecticides and transgenic plants that are genetically engineered to express proteins with insecticidal action obtained from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Bt).

University of Lethbridge student Katie Quinn had the opportunity recently to complete an applied study at Lethbridge County that focused on agricultural superclusters and how one would best contribute to the county. Her research culminated in a special presentation to Lethbridge County Council.

Perhaps you missed the news that the price of hummus has spiked in Great Britain. The cause, as the New York Times reported on February 8: drought in India, resulting in a poor harvest of chickpeas. Far beyond making dips for pita bread, chickpeas are a legume of life-and-death importance—especially in India, Pakistan, and Ethiopia where 1 in 5 of the world’s people depend on them as their primary source of protein.

Spraying weeds with chemicals has always been costly. Now it is costly and ineffective, with resistance to herbicides pervasive and demanding a new strategy to protect crops.

Breeding temperature-resilient crops is an “achievable dream” in one of the most important species of commercially-cultivated plants, according to a new study.

As a unique soil mapping system consistently gains popularity across Canada, a new researcher at Dal’s Faculty of Agriculture is thrilled to be able to bring his expertise on the subject to Atlantic Canada.

Some calves are inherently optimistic or pessimistic, just as humans are, a new University of British Columbia study has found.

Recognizing these individual personality differences is important to ensure animals are treated well, says professor Marina von Keyserlingk, who led the research team from UBC’s animal welfare program in the faculty of land and food systems.