A team from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has identified beneficial bacteria that can stimulate tomato plant growth while protecting crops against bacterial canker, a disease that can cause significant production losses. The findings pave the way for the development of new biological solutions that could help reduce reliance on certain chemical inputs in agriculture. 

Bacterial canker, caused by Clavibacter michiganensis, is a disease that is particularly difficult to control, especially in greenhouse production. To identify sustainable alternatives, INRS Professor Éric Déziel and his team screened more than 500 bacterial strains from its microorganism collection, previously isolated from fields growing a variety of crops. 

The results were published today in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). 

Growing plastic waste requires new approaches beyond traditional recycling and disposal methods. Researchers developed a flexible bio-based plastic that can be chemically converted into fertilizer after use through ammonia treatment. By adding a specially designed plasticizer, they improved the flexibility of the previously brittle plastic, increasing its potential for future applications. Importantly, both the polymer and the plasticizer can be converted into fertilizer components. The fertilizer produced from the plastic could support plant growth

What makes more sense when farming wheat – strips of wildflowers along fields or organic farming? Both options provide financial support via the European Union as environmentally friendly and sustainable farming practices. An international research team, including researchers from the University of Göttingen, has now compared the ecological and economic benefits of these two farming methods in fields planted with winter wheat. They found that both measures increased biodiversity by 20 to 30 percent compared to conventionally farmed wheat fields. From an economic perspective, the organic fields were the most profitable. Although yields were only half as high as those of conventionally farmed wheat, profits were one and a half times higher. The results were published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

Researchers at Virginia Tech developed low-cost electrochemical sensors that detect infection as early as 5 days, compared to the up to two months required for physical symptoms to show.

A new book by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor of African American studies Bobby J. Smith II tells how the New Farmers of America taught tens of thousands of rural Black boys about farming and transformed rural Black life.

With food prices on the rise, dollar stores have played an increasingly important role in food retail, especially for low-income Americans and those living in areas with limited access to healthy foods. Wenhui Feng, an assistant professor of public health in the University of Rhode Island College of Health Sciences, is leading an interdisciplinary team of researchers on a three-year study of the impact dollar stores have on food purchases. The study is funded by a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.