EurekAlert! News by Subject: Agriculture - News by Subject: Agriculture

Agriculture

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 1-May-2025 05:08 ET (1-May-2025 09:08 GMT/UTC)

22-Apr-2025

First microbes blast off testing production of food for space travel

Imperial College London
Business Announcement

A miniature lab has been launched into Earth orbit containing microbes designed to produce edible proteins in space.

21-Apr-2025

Should farm fields be used for crops or solar? MSU research suggests both

Michigan State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

As farmers debate whether fields should be used for agriculture or solar panels, new research from Michigan State University says the answer could be both.

Jake Stid, a graduate student in the College of Natural Science Hydrogeology Lab, analyzed remote sensing and aerial imagery to study how fields have been used in California for the last 25 years. Using databases to estimate revenues and costs, Stid found that farmers who used a small percentage of their land for solar arrays were more financially secure per acre than those who didn’t.

Journal: Nature Sustainability

21-Apr-2025

Illinois leads most rigorous agricultural greenhouse gas emissions study to date

University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Farmers apply nitrogen fertilizers to crops to boost yields, feeding more people and livestock. But when there’s more fertilizer than the crop can take up, some of the excess can be converted into gaseous forms, including nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that traps nearly 300 times as much heat in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. About 70% of human-caused nitrous oxide comes from agricultural soils, so it’s vital to find ways to curb those emissions.

Journal: Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

21-Apr-2025

Simulations predict how pesticides may affect honeybee colonies

American Chemical Society
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Honeybees are essential pollinators for agriculture and natural ecosystems. Stressors like climate change, habitat loss and pesticide exposure threaten their ability to forage for pollen, a critical resource for colony survival. Researchers in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology demonstrate that an artificial intelligence (AI)-based monitoring system combined with a computer model can link the exposure of neonicotinoid pesticides on individual honeybees to the health of the whole colony.

Journal: Environmental Science & Technology

21-Apr-2025

How bacteria use sneaky chemistry to disable plant defenses

Boyce Thompson Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In the microscopic battlefield of plant-microbe interactions, plants are constantly fighting off invading bacteria. New research reveals just how clever these bacterial invaders can be.

Journal: Science

20-Apr-2025

Neolithic agricultural revolution linked to climate-driven wildfires and soil erosion - new study finds

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study reveals that the Neolithic Revolution in the southern Levant may have been triggered by catastrophic wildfires and climate-driven soil erosion. Using charcoal records, isotopic data, and sediment analysis, the research identifies a natural tipping point around 8,200 years ago that forced early communities to adopt agriculture. Fertile soils formed in valley basins after hillslope degradation became hotspots for settlement and farming. The findings challenge the idea of a purely cultural or anthropogenic transition, pointing instead to climate-induced environmental collapse as a driving force.

Journal: Journal of Soils and Sediments

18-Apr-2025

March research news from the Ecological Society of America

Ecological Society of America
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Linking elk pregnancy to elk “foodscapes”, climate impacts on bee gut microbiomes and more from ESA’s journals.