What do you look for when you buy wine? Is price the main consideration? Or do you notice quality logos, region of production or alcohol content? Researchers at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture are studying how these attributes affect your decision. Their goal is to identify attributes Tennessee residents and visitors prefer when evaluating wines produced in the state.

 

In 2024, a research team from the UTIA Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics received a grant from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service to examine how wineries utilize social media marketing to promote their wines and vineyards. In 2026, the research team received an additional $189,000 in funding to extend the original study for two years. The expansion allows the team to collect additional data to examine how wine buyers value the new Tennessee Quality Assurance Program (QAP) logo, the alcohol content of the product, and whether the wine originated from grapes from an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Tennessee.

A new study reveals that a specially engineered form of biochar can dramatically enhance the natural ability of soil microbes to break down pollutants in rice paddies, offering a promising strategy for cleaner and more sustainable agriculture.

The study, carried out in Madrid and Seville during the spring of 2024, evaluated the use of agrovoltaic systems and regulated deficit irrigation to optimise water resources in tomato cultivation. The results show that, although using less water reduces the volume of the harvest, the overall outcome is a more efficient and sustainable process.

A new economic report analysing the financial impact of sequencing all complex life in the UK and Ireland has shown a huge return on investment and expected growth in scientific research.

Previously known as Food and Ecological Systems Modelling Journal (FESMJ), the now rebranded journal, Agricultural and Environmental Modelling (AEM), expands its scope and deepens its Open Science commitment, offering a publishing platform to cover the full lifecycle of agricultural, food systems, and environmental modelling research.