FARM NEWS - AFRICA DAILY

Food science expert: Genetically modified crops are overregulated

Feb 21, 2013 (SPX)

It has been almost 20 years since the first genetically modified foods showed up in produce aisles throughout the United States and the rest of the world, but c...

Dustbin to dinner: ministers served binned food

Feb 19, 2013 (AFP)

The green beans are fresh, the broccoli crunchy and the baby corn sweet, but having failed "cosmetic" tests of international supermarkets, the Kenyan-grown food...

US Court tilts toward Monsanto in battle with farmer

Feb 19, 2013 (AFP)

The US Supreme Court appeared on Tuesday to side with Monsanto against an Indiana farmer accused of having pirated the genetically-modified crops developed by t...

Advance promises to expand biological control of crop pests

Feb 19, 2013 (SPX)

A new discovery promises to allow expanded use of a mainstay biological pest control method, which avoids the health, environmental and pest-resistance concerns...

Marsh plants actively engineer their landscape

Feb 18, 2013 (SPX)

Marsh plants, far from being passive wallflowers, are "secret gardeners" that actively engineer their landscape to increase their species' odds of survival, say...

Buffaloes a divisive link to Hong Kong's past

Feb 18, 2013 (AFP)

A short journey from the skyscrapers at the hectic centre of Hong Kong, water buffaloes lumber over jungle-clad hills and through secluded villages where they o...

Mexico to slaughter a half million chickens over bird flu

Feb 15, 2013 (AFP)

Mexico will slaughter 486,000 chickens after an outbreak of bird flu was detected in the central state of Guanajuato, officials said Friday. Poultry producer Ba...

Agrichemical giant Syngenta faults EU bee plan

Feb 15, 2013 (AFP)

Swiss-based agrichemical giant Syngenta on Friday urged Brussels to withdraw plans to slap a two-year ban on so-called neonicotinoid pesticides, saying blaming ...

X-rays reveal uptake of nanoparticles by soya bean crops

Feb 14, 2013 (SPX)

Scientists have, for the first time, traced the nanoparticles taken up from the soil by crop plants and analysed the chemical states of their metallic elements....

Low-arsenic rice could have major health benefits

Feb 14, 2013 (SPX)

Millions of people worldwide are regularly exposed to arsenic through drinking water and eating rice grown in soil and water containing high amounts of arsenic....

Labile soil organic matter promotes better corn performance

Feb 14, 2013 (SPX)

Organic matter is important for soil health and crop productivity. While an indicator of soil quality, a lot of organic matter is in extremely stable forms, and...

Isotopic data show farming arrived in Europe with migrants

Feb 14, 2013 (SPX)

For decades, archaeologists have debated how farming spread to Stone Age Europe, setting the stage for the rise of Western civilization. Now, new data gleaned f...

Plants cut the mustard for basic discoveries in metabolism

Feb 14, 2013 (SPX)

You might think you have nothing in common with mustard except hotdogs. Yet based on research in a plant from the mustard family, Salk scientists have discovere...

Widely used nanoparticles enter soybean plants from farm soil

Feb 14, 2013 (SPX)

Two of the most widely used nanoparticles (NPs) accumulate in soybeans - second only to corn as a key food crop in the United States - in ways previously shown ...

Nitrogen from pollution, natural sources causes growth of toxic algae

Feb 14, 2013 (SPX)

Nitrogen in ocean waters fuels the growth of two tiny but toxic phytoplankton species that are harmful to marine life and human health, warns a new study publis...

Unchecked antibiotic use in animals may affect global human health

Feb 14, 2013 (SPX)

The increasing production and use of antibiotics, about half of which is used in animal production, is mirrored by the growing number of antibiotic resistance g...

Romania horse slaughterhouse says it has nothing to hide

Feb 14, 2013 (AFP)

Opening its doors to prove it has nothing to hide, a Romanian abattoir at the heart of a food scandal that has engulfed Europe insists it has never tried to pas...

Pioneering Finns share leftovers to cut waste

Feb 13, 2013 (AFP)

Jukka Peltonen has just come home from the shop with a bag of clementines, but he's disappointed to discover they're too acidic for his taste. Instead of throwi...

Benefits of Bt corn go beyond rootworm resistance

Feb 13, 2013 (SPX)

Engineered to produce the bacterial toxin, Bt, "Bt corn" resists attack by corn rootworm, a pest that feeds on roots and can cause annual losses of up to $1 bil...

Preserving biodiversity can be compatible with intensive agriculture

Feb 13, 2013 (SPX)

Preserving genetically diverse local crops in areas where small-scale farms are rapidly modernizing is possible, according to a Penn State geographer, who is pa...