Biochar has often been praised as a “black gold” for sustainable agriculture, pollution control, and carbon storage. Yet despite its promise, its wider use has been limited by a practical challenge: compared with materials such as activated carbon, graphene, and carbon nanotubes, biochar often has lower surface area and electrical conductivity. Expensive post-treatment methods can improve its performance, but they may also increase cost, energy use, and secondary pollution.

A new robotic “gripper” designed to pick fruit could mean supermarket shoppers enjoy better quality produce as well as new options like pawpaws, according to West Virginia University researcher Anand Mishra.

A new study found that plants may reveal recent PFAS contamination linked to airborne deposition that can go undetected in soil analyses. Conducted in agricultural fields near the conflict zone in southern Israel, the research showed that potato leaves contained substantially higher concentrations of certain PFAS than the surrounding soils, suggesting direct exposure from the atmosphere rather than uptake through roots alone. While the study did not identify specific sources and found no clear relationship between soil PFAS concentrations and distance from the conflict zone, the findings raise the possibility that military-related activities, including the use of aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) and potentially explosives-related sources, may contribute to atmospheric PFAS deposition. The results suggest that vegetation can serve as a sensitive indicator of recent airborne contamination and complement traditional soil-based environmental monitoring.

Encapsulating Beauveria bassiana in a biopolymer made of cellulose and aluminum increased the viability of the fungus from 69% to 85% after five months of storage, providing a more sustainable alternative that releases the bioinsecticide over an extended period and reduces the need for new applications.

Wheat plants can do more than grow grain. Research shows that their roots release natural compounds that slow down soil microbes and keep nitrogen in the soil potentially cutting losses, greenhouse gas emissions and costs for farmers.

Managing the 1.7 billion tons of pig manure produced globally each year presents a dual challenge for agriculture: preventing air and water pollution while retaining valuable nutrients for fertilizer. Aerobic composting is a common solution, but the process releases significant amounts of ammonia (NH₃), an air pollutant, and nitrous oxide (N₂O), a potent greenhouse gas. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences have developed an effective and scalable solution by creating an iron-modified biochar (FeBC) that simultaneously cuts these emissions and improves compost quality.

The research team, led by Qingwen Zhang, prepared the additive by infusing biochar derived from corn stover with an iron solution. This simple modification produced a material with a 4.6-fold increase in specific surface area and a richer array of surface functional groups compared to untreated biochar. In a controlled composting experiment with pig manure, the addition of 5% FeBC dramatically reduced cumulative NH₃ emissions by 46.7% and N₂O emissions by 41.7% relative to the unamended control. The iron-fortified biochar also outperformed standard biochar, demonstrating its superior ability to lock nitrogen into the compost.