Agriculture

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 16-Jun-2025 10:11 ET (16-Jun-2025 14:11 GMT/UTC)

9-Jan-2025

A fungus to save plants?

Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute -
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The soil fungus Mortierella alpina has the potential to make agriculture greener and more sustainable: The fungus produces bioactive molecules called malpinins, which could protect plants from destructive worms. A research team from Jena has now been able to understand and describe their mode of action for the first time. The study was published in the renowned Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS).

Journal

Journal of the American Chemical Society

9-Jan-2025

The biobattery that needs to be fed

Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A battery that needs feeding instead of charging? This is exactly what Empa researchers have achieved with their 3D-printed, biodegradable fungal battery. The living battery could supply power to sensors for agriculture or research in remote regions. Once the work is done, it digests itself from the inside.

Journal

ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

8-Jan-2025

Blueberries beware: Powdery mildew spreading across the globe

North Carolina State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Research on fungus spread could help growers predict, monitor and control powdery mildew disease affecting blueberries.

Journal

New Phytologist

Funder

U.S. National Science Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research

8-Jan-2025

Montana State graduate students publish new explorations of wheat stem sawfly management

Montana State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Jackson Strand and Lochlin Ermatinger have researched sawfly biocontrols and the use of remote sensing to model infestation in fields.

Journal

Journal of Economic Entomology

8-Jan-2025

Scientists leverage artificial intelligence to fast-track methane mitigation strategies in animal agriculture

US Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study from USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Iowa State University (ISU) reveals that generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help expedite the search for solutions to reduce enteric methane emissions caused by cows in animal agriculture, which accounts for about 33 percent of U.S. agriculture and 3 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Journal

Animal Frontiers

8-Jan-2025

UTIA researchers receive grant to improve pest management in grain storage

University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture
Grant and Award Announcement

Researchers at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture and the USDA Agricultural Research Service have received a more than $324,000 grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop efficient monitoring systems for insect infestations in grain storage and large-scale food processing facilities.

8-Jan-2025

Study assesses the benefits of alfalfa-almond intercropping

Wiley
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research published in Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment reveals the increased land use efficiency and environmental benefits in an alfalfa–almond intercropped ecosystem under a Mediterranean climate.

Journal

Agrosystems Geosciences & Environment