FARM NEWS - AFRICA DAILY

Western demand for cashmere said a threat to endangered Asian species

Jul 24, 2013 (UPI)

Some of the planet's rarest large mammals may become "victims of fashion" as the cashmere trade threatens ecosystems, U.S. conservationists say. Expanding goat ...

Britain funds agri-tech strategy to reinvent food supply chain

Jul 24, 2013 (UPI)

Britain says it will invest $245 million in a new agricultural technology strategy meant to boost the global competitiveness of its food production chain. Scien...

Hunting said pushing central African forests to point of collapse

Jul 23, 2013 (UPI)

Hunting of important animal species in central Africa could be pushing forests to the point of ecological collapse, an international research team says. Scienti...

Drinks firm Diageo takes control of Chinese venture

Jul 23, 2013 (AFP)

Diageo, the world's biggest producer of alcoholic drinks, said Tuesday that it has won approval to take control of its Chinese joint-venture Sichuan Chengdu Shu...

Major global analysis offers hope for saving the wild side of staple food crops

Jul 23, 2013 (SPX)

Global efforts to adapt staple foods like rice, wheat and potato to climate change have been given a major boost today as new research shows the whereabouts of ...

Maize trade disruption could have global ramifications

Jul 22, 2013 (SPX)

Disruptions to U.S. exports of maize (corn) could pose food security risks for many U.S. trade partners due to the lack of trade among other producing and impor...

Irish Potato Famine-Causing Pathogen Even More Virulent Now

Jul 22, 2013 (SPX)

The plant pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840s lives on today with a different genetic blueprint and an even larger arsenal of weaponry to ...

Why crop rotation works

Jul 22, 2013 (SPX)

Crop rotation has been used since Roman times to improve plant nutrition and to control the spread of disease. A new study to be published in Nature's 'The ISME...

Scientists sound new warning for arsenic in rice

Jul 22, 2013 (AFP)

Rice tainted with high levels of arsenic has been linked to genetic damage that heightens the risk of cancer, a study published on Monday said. Naturally-occurr...

Driverless tractors till German high-tech farm

Jul 21, 2013 (AFP)

As the harvest nears, the employees of German farmer Klaus Muenchhoff are busy making the final checks on imposing tractors ready to roll into the golden fields...

Malawi faces food shortage

Jul 20, 2013 (AFP)

Nearly 10 percent of Malawi's 13 million people face hunger due of low yields of the main staple maize, prolonged dry spells and flooding, a report released Sat...

How rice twice became a crop and twice became a weed - and what it means for the future

Jul 19, 2013 (SPX)

The evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould once asked whether the living world would be different "if the tape were played twice." If there were a duplicate E...

Avocado farmers face unique foe in fungal-farming beetle

Jul 19, 2013 (SPX)

Beetles with unusual "green thumbs" for growing fungi are threatening avocado crops and could transform into a more destructive pest, according to an internatio...

Monsanto gives up on new GM crops in EU

Jul 18, 2013 (AFP)

Faced with widespread concerns in Europe over its genetically modified foods, US agro-chemicals giant Monsanto said Thursday it was giving up on plans to grow n...

Tapid detection and identification of downy mildew in basil

Jul 17, 2013 (SPX)

Downy mildew (Pernospora belbahrii Thines) is a relatively new disease to North America. First reported in 1933 in Uganda, downy mildew has spread rapidly acros...

Chew More to Retain More Energy

Jul 17, 2013 (SPX)

Almonds may still be considered one of the highest energy food sources but it's not about how much you bite off, instead it's about how much you chew, according...

New study addresses trade-offs between food security and climate change mitigation

Jul 17, 2013 (SPX)

Improving crop yields using sustainable methods could cut greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 12% per calorie produced according to a new study published in ...

Revealed the keys to reducing the impact of agriculture on climate change

Jul 17, 2013 (SPX)

Land is not being used to its best advantage according to a new study by Ikerbasque Professor Unai Pascual from the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) and U...

EU bans yet another pesticide harmful to bees

Jul 16, 2013 (AFP)

The European Union on Tuesday restricted the use of the insecticide Fipronil, the latest move to protect honey bees after a May ban on three other insecticides....

Study: Ancient Neolithic farmers used sophisticated growing techniques

Jul 16, 2013 (UPI)

Europe's first farmers were far more sophisticated than previously thought, say researchers who found they manured and watered crops as early as 6,000 B.C. Whil...