FARM NEWS - AFRICA DAILY

Giant tobacco plants that stay young forever

Jan 15, 2013 (SPX)

Tobacco plants bloom when they are just a few months old - and then they die. Now, researchers have located a genetic switch which can keep the plants young for...

Foods identified as 'whole grain' not always health

Jan 15, 2013 (SPX)

Current standards for classifying foods as "whole grain" are inconsistent and, in some cases, misleading, according to a new study by Harvard School of Public H...

Lady Beetle Diet Influences Its Effectiveness as Biocontrol Agent

Jan 15, 2013 (SPX)

By examining what lady beetles eat, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are learning more about the movement of these beneficial insects in farm fi...

EU releases all data on GM corn linked to cancer

Jan 14, 2013 (AFP)

The EU's food safety agency challenged its doubters on Monday, making available all the scientific information used to clear a genetically modified corn which a...

Making whole wheat bread taste and smell more appetizing

Jan 14, 2013 (SPX)

The key to giving whole wheat bread a more appetizing aroma and taste may lie in controlling the amounts of a single chemical compound that appears in the bread...

Nuclear fears contaminate sales for Japan farmers

Jan 14, 2013 (AFP)

Mayumi Kurasawa's seaweed company saw seven of its factories swept away by Japan's 2011 tsunami. Nearly two years later, sales continue to be eroded by consumer...

KFC parent company sorry over China chicken scare

Jan 11, 2013 (AFP)

US fast food giant Yum! Brands has apologised to customers of its Chinese KFC restaurants after a scandal over tainted chicken that dented sales at the popular ...

Invading species can extinguish native plants despite recent reports

Jan 11, 2013 (SPX)

Ecologists at the University of Toronto and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) have found that, given time, invading exotic plants wi...

Outside View: U.S. food safety a big issue in 2014

Jan 10, 2013 (UPI)

In the first week of 2014 the news has been dominated by stories related to the safety of food in the United States. The first few days of the New Year brought ...

Report: World wastes half of its food

Jan 10, 2013 (UPI)

Billions of tons of food are wasted because of inadequate storage, strict sell-by dates and a desire for cosmetically perfect food, a British report says. The r...

Analysis: Pesticide levels high on some Canadian organic produce

Jan 10, 2013 (UPI)

Levels of pesticide residue found on some organic produce in Canada strongly indicates synthetic chemicals were used deliberately, a CBC analysis indicated. A s...

Bugs need symbiotic bacteria to exploit plant seeds

Jan 10, 2013 (SPX)

Aggregations of the red and black colored firebugs are ubiquitous under linden trees in Central Europe, where the bugs can reach astounding population densities...

KFC draws China customers despite food scare

Jan 09, 2013 (AFP)

Chinese customers of KFC, the biggest fast food chain in the country, said Wednesday they would still patronise it despite a government food safety investigatio...

Corn could help farmers fight devastating weed

Jan 09, 2013 (SPX)

Versatile and responsive to management, corn is grown throughout the world for everything from food to animal feed to fuel. A new use for corn could soon join t...

Scientists join forces to bring plant movement to light

Jan 08, 2013 (SPX)

Elementary school students often learn that plants grow toward the light. This seems straightforward, but in reality, the genes and pathways that allow plants t...

German diners feast on 'trash' to cut waste

Jan 08, 2013 (AFP)

Two socially-aware Berlin women with a culinary flair have given "leftovers for dinner" a fresh twist by organising communal suppers conjured up from unsold foo...

Finding Chicago's food gardens with Google Earth

Jan 08, 2013 (SPX)

Urban agriculture is promoted as a strategy for dealing with food insecurity, stimulating economic development, and combating diet-related health problems in ci...

Drainage Ditches Can Help Clean Up Field Runoff

Jan 08, 2013 (SPX)

Vegetated drainage ditches can help capture pesticide and nutrient loads in field runoff, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists report. These ditches...

Monsanto earnings jump on corn seed, pesticide sales

Jan 08, 2013 (AFP)

Agricultural giant Monsanto Tuesday posted a large increase in quarterly earnings on strong results in corn seed sales in the US and Latin America and better sa...

Improving DNA amplification from problematic plants

Jan 07, 2013 (SPX)

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a common technique used to amplify, or copy, pieces of DNA. Amplified DNA is then used in genetic analyses for everything...