FARM NEWS - AFRICA DAILY

Jun 29, 2014 (SPX)

Wheat fields are often tilled immediately after the crop is harvested, removing the light-coloured stubble and crop residues from the soil surface and bringing ...

With new tech tools, precision farming gains traction

Jun 29, 2014 (AFP)

At Little Bohemia Creek Farm, the tractor pretty much drives itself, weaving through rows of corn using GPS technology as it injects carefully dosed amounts of ...

China govt money paid for French vineyards: auditor

Jun 25, 2014 (AFP)

Chinese government funds have been misused to buy French vineyards, pay for a trip to Las Vegas and more, the state auditor said in a document revealing more th...

IDing Livestock Gut Microbes Contributing to Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Jun 25, 2014 (SPX)

"Increased to levels unprecedented" is how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) described the rise of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide ...

Iraq crisis threatens food safety in the country: FAO

Jun 25, 2014 (AFP)

Iraq's food harvest is under threat with recent violence in the country driving more than a million people from their homes and farms, the UN's food agency said...

French scientists revive assault on pesticide, GM corn

Jun 24, 2014 (AFP)

Scientists who wrote a contested study linking pesticide-treated, genetically-modified corn with tumours and liver and kidney disease in lab rats returned to th...

Pesticides threaten birds and bees alike: study

Jun 23, 2014 (AFP)

Neurotoxic pesticides blamed for the world's bee collapse are also harming butterflies, worms, fish and birds, said a scientific review that called Tuesday for ...

Change in farming could lower Europe's temperature: study

Jun 23, 2014 (AFP)

If Europe adopted a style of farming that abstains from plowing after a harvest, local temperatures could drop as much as two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahre...

Vendors, activists face off at China dog meat festival

Jun 21, 2014 (AFP)

Animal lovers provoked an angry backlash from residents of a Chinese city after protesting a controversial festival Saturday in which locals celebrate the summe...

Obama orders review of pesticides' effect on bees

Jun 20, 2014 (AFP)

The White House on Friday ordered environmental regulators to review the effect that pesticides may be having on bees and other pollinators that have suffered s...

India authority orders Coke plant closed

Jun 18, 2014 (AFP)

Authorities in northern India have ordered the closure of a Coca-Cola bottling plant at the centre of protests that it is extracting too much groundwater, an of...

Findings may advance iron-rich, cadmium-free crops

Jun 16, 2014 (SPX)

With news reports of toxic, cadmium-tainted rice in China, a new study describes a protein that transports metals in certain plants and holds promise for develo...

Palmer amaranth threatens Midwest farm economy

Jun 13, 2014 (SPX)

An invasive weed that has put some southern cotton farmers out of business is now finding its way across the Midwest - and many corn and soybean growers don't y...

Famine fear won't sway minds on GM crops

Jun 13, 2014 (SPX)

A sack-hauling time traveler from the 21st century lands in an Irish potato field in 1849, just before a terrible famine, and asks: If you thought genetically m...

EU to allow states to decide to grow GM foods

Jun 12, 2014 (AFP)

The European Union will allow member countries to make their own decisions on growing genetically modified (GM) food in a compromise deal on Thursday that follo...

How much fertilizer is too much for the climate?

Jun 12, 2014 (SPX)

Helping farmers around the globe apply more-precise amounts of nitrogen-based fertilizer can help combat climate change. In a new study published in this week's...

Report supports shutdown of all high seas fisheries

Jun 10, 2014 (SPX)

Fish and aquatic life living in the high seas are more valuable as a carbon sink than as food and should be better protected, according to research from the Uni...

Retracing early cultivation steps: Lessons from comparing citrus genomes

Jun 10, 2014 (SPX)

Citrus is the world's most widely cultivated fruit crop. In the U.S. alone, the citrus crop was valued at over $3.1 billion in 2013. Originally domesticated in ...

Common bean genome sequence provides powerful tools to improve critical food crop

Jun 10, 2014 (SPX)

String bean, snap bean, haricot bean, and pinto and navy bean. These are just a few members of the common bean family - scientifically called Phaseolus vulgaris...

Drones give farmers an eye in the sky to check on crop progress

Jun 05, 2014 (SPX)

This growing season, crop researchers at the University of Illinois are experimenting with the use of drones - unmanned aerial vehicles - on the university's So...