FARM NEWS - AFRICA DAILY

Canada federal police hunt for bee killer

Sep 18, 2014 (AFP)

Federal police were investigating Thursday the alleged poisoning deaths of millions of bees in the Canadian prairies. These were "highly suspicious deaths," Roy...

Boosting global corn yields depends on improving nutrient balance

Sep 17, 2014 (SPX)

Ensuring that corn absorbs the right balance of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium is crucial to increasing global yields, a Purdue and Kansas State University ...

Drought hits Brazil coffee harvest

Sep 16, 2014 (AFP)

Coffee output in Brazil, the world's chief exporter, will slide this year after the worst drought in decades, agricultural agency Conab said Tuesday. The drough...

Diversified farming practices might preserve evolutionary diversity of wildlife

Sep 15, 2014 (SPX)

As humans transform the planet to meet our needs, all sorts of wildlife continue to be pushed aside, including many species that play key roles in Earth's life-...

Food safety fears see farming return to high-rise Hong Kong

Sep 14, 2014 (AFP)

It's a rural tradition that faded out decades ago as Hong Kong turned into a neon-lit megacity: rice seedlings being dropped into watery paddy fields with gentl...

EU tightens rules to prevent new horsemeat scandal

Sep 12, 2014 (AFP)

The EU said Friday it has tightened rules to prevent horsemeat inadvertantly or fraudulently ending up in food across the bloc and avoid a repeat of last year's...

Shift in Arabian Sea Plankton May Threaten Fisheries

Sep 11, 2014 (SPX)

A growing "dead zone" in the middle of the Arabian Sea has allowed plankton uniquely suited to low- oxygen water to take over the base of the food chain. Their ...

Globalization threatens benefits of an African 'green revolution'

Sep 11, 2014 (SPX)

A prospective "green revolution" in Africa could boost land use and carbon emissions globally, according to a study co-authored by a University of British Colum...

Dietary recommendations may be tied to increased greenhouse gas emissions

Sep 10, 2014 (SPX)

If Americans altered their menus to conform to federal dietary recommendations, emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases tied to agricultural production coul...

It's the Pits: Ancient peach stones offer clues to fruit's origins

Sep 10, 2014 (SPX)

As peach trees in the Niagara Region of Ontario give up the last of their fruit for the season, their ancestors halfway around the globe are clamouring for atte...

China's graft crackdown hits France's wine, spirits exports

Sep 09, 2014 (AFP)

China's anti-corruption and frugality drive has hit France's wine and spirits industry hard as exports dropped more than 7 percent in the first semester, a lead...

Hard times for 'red gold' divers in Morocco's El Dorado

Sep 09, 2014 (AFP)

Harvesting mineral-rich seaweed on Morocco's Atlantic coast, Attibari Lemkhanter worries that the plant known locally as "red gold" is becoming increasingly sca...

McDonald's sales hit by China meat scandal

Sep 09, 2014 (AFP)

Sales at McDonald's restaurants dropped in August, hurt by a food-safety scandal in China and heavy competition in the US, the company said Tuesday. The US fast...

Taiwan oil supplier fined $1.67 mn over gutter oil

Sep 09, 2014 (AFP)

Taiwan on Tuesday fined a leading supplier more than $1.6 million for selling hundreds of tonnes of "gutter oil" and sparking a food safety scare that gripped t...

Paraguay Indians threaten pot growers with arrows

Sep 09, 2014 (AFP)

The indigenous Ache people in Paraguay threatened Tuesday to open fire with bows and arrows on farmers who invade their land to plant marijuana or cut down tree...

The coffee genome has finally been mapped

Sep 08, 2014 (UPI)

Scientists have now mapped the genome of the Coffea canephora plant species, better known as the Robusta, which constitutes around a third of coffee sold worldw...

Hong Kong tests for tainted Taiwan cooking oil

Sep 08, 2014 (AFP)

Sweet buns and dumplings were pulled from the shelves in Hong Kong as authorities checked Monday whether they contained the recycled Taiwanese cooking oil that ...

Ozone pollution in India kills enough crops to feed 94 million in poverty

Sep 05, 2014 (SPX)

In one year, India's ozone pollution damaged millions of tons of the country's major crops, causing losses of more than a billion dollars and destroying enough ...

Rising risk of failed seasons as climate change puts pressure on Africa's farmers

Sep 05, 2014 (SPX)

Small-scale family farmers across Africa- already struggling to adapt to rapidly rising temperatures and more erratic rains-risk being overwhelmed by the pace a...

Chinese firm serves up 'smart chopsticks' for food-wary diners

Sep 04, 2014 (AFP)

From recycled cooking oil to fox meat and chemicals, a litany of food scandals have turned Chinese diners' stomachs, but a new "smart chopsticks" concept by Int...