Sociology, meet ecology: How the variability of coffee harvests can teach us about sustainable farming
The rootstock of a coffee plant can live for 20 to 30 years. In that time, a generation, it will have good years and bad years, years where it bears large quantities of fruit and years where it fails to produce as expected.
Eating more but growing less: Stagnant Philippine farms linked to widening rice gap
As of 2022 alone, Filipinos were eating 2.3 million metric tons more rice than the country produced—an 18% shortfall that has locked the Philippines into deeper dependence on imported rice despite years of government programs to boost local harvests.
Adding limestone to farmland boosts carbon capture and crop yields, study finds
Adding crushed calcium carbonate—limestone—to agricultural fields can remove tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year while improving crop yields, a Yale-led study published in Nature Water found.
Plants can grow in near-darkness, new research shows—here are three promising benefits
(… might help growing plants in the moon if they can be kept passive for two weeks)
https://phys.org/news/2024-09-darkness-benefits.html
#plants #agriculture #argonomy #botany
Plants can grow in near-darkness, new research shows—here are three promising benefits
Plants can grow with much less light than previously thought, according to a new study on tiny water-based organisms called microalgae that has been published in Nature Communications. The German-led team of researchers lowered light sensors into Arctic water to a depth of 50 meters to test how low light levels must become before plant life ceases to exist, with incredible results.
Genetic discovery delays peach bloom, safeguards crops from spring frost
In a pivotal advancement for fruit agriculture, scientists have pinpointed a gene mutation in peach trees that governs the timing of flowering, a trait critical for evading spring frosts. This genetic insight could transform breeding practices, enabling the development of late-flowering fruit varieties that mitigate the risks of frost damage, thereby bolstering crop yields and farmer livelihoods.
Rice Farming Gets an AI Upgrade | Hakai Magazine
Agricultural drones are transforming rice farming in the Mekong River delta, cutting down the amount of pesticides and fertilizers that wash into the ocean in the process.
LEADER (Leaf Element Accumulation from DEep Roots): A nondestructive phenotyping platform to estimate rooting depth in the field
https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/csc2.21149
#argonomy #botany #biology #research #agriculture
Indigenous Zenù turn to ancestral seeds, agroecology to climate-proof their farming
MONTERÍA, Colombia — “Look at the rooms in our house,” says Remberto Gil, 45, during a sweltering day last September. “During this time of the year, they are typically overflowing with freshly harvested corn to the point where we only have space to sleep in hammocks hanging over the cobs.” An Indigenous Zenù farmer, Gil […]
Paul Houle