Inequality in agri-food chains: the Global South produces the food, but the Global North keeps the wealth
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 30-Oct-2025 12:11 ET (30-Oct-2025 16:11 GMT/UTC)
In the global agri-food system, most agricultural goods are produced in the Global South but value is captured by countries of the Global North through growth and control of the post farmgate sectors.
In a new study, a team of scientists determined the minimum natural habitat on agricultural land that will allow insect pollinators — including bumble bees, solitary bees, hoverflies and butterflies — to thrive. UW News reached out to co-author Berry Brosi, UW professor of biology, to learn more about these results and how habitat is important to two types of bees native to Washington.
Some termites form symbiotic relationships with fungus. When harmful fungi invade their carefully cultivated crops, these fungus-farming termites fight back with the precision of skilled gardeners, a new study reveals, smothering them in soil clumps enriched with microbial allies that inhibit fungal growth. Fungus-farming termites, like Odontotermes obesus, maintain a vital symbiotic relationship with the fungus Termitomyces, cultivating it in specialized nutritional substrates called combs that provide both a reliable food source for the termites and an ideal habitat for the fungus. However, these nutrient-rich combs also attract invasive fungal weeds, particularly the fast-growing Pseudoxylaria, which can quickly overtake the crop if left unchecked. While Pseudoxylaria is typically suppressed in healthy combs under termite care, it rapidly spreads when termites are removed, suggesting a critical role of termite activity in maintaining their fungal gardens. While It’s thought that termites use microbial agents to manage these fungal weeds, while sparing their cultivated crop, the precise behavioral mechanism by which they achieve such selective control remains unknown. Through experiments exposing O. obesus to varying severities of Pseudoxylaria outbreaks, Aanchal Panchal and colleagues found that the termites employ a flexible set of behaviors to suppress weeds, adjusting their tactics depending on the severity of the invasion.
When faced with small infections, termites actively remove Pseudoxylaria from contaminated comb and bury it under soil clumps (boluses), which effectively isolates the harmful fungus in an oxygen-deficient soil environment, suppressing further growth. In the case of severe outbreaks, termites fully isolate infected portions from healthy combs and, if necessary, smother entire sections in soil boluses to contain the threat. Notably, the authors found that the soil boluses the insects use are not just barriers – they contain a diverse community of microbes, including termite-derived bacteria with fungistatic properties. Termites deploy these fungistatic boluses only when weeds threaten their gardens, not on healthy fungal combs. According to Panchal et al., this indicates that O. obesus has evolved a highly targeted defense strategy, enlisting microbial allies to selectively combat harmful fungi while sparing their beneficial crop. “The findings of Panchal et al. elucidate how microbial symbionts can be used as part of a multifaceted pest management strategy,” write Aryel Goes and Rachelle Adams in a related Perspective. “Efforts to understand the molecules involved, and their relationship to host fitness, may reveal beneficial microbes that lead to natural product discovery for medicine, agriculture, and bioremediation.”
Improving biodiversity and maintaining yields at the same time? For many, this sounds like a contradiction in terms. However, a new study by the University of Würzburg shows that both are possible under the right conditions.
Scientists have reinvented a 19th-century pesticide breakthrough for modern agriculture. While copper-based bactericides like Bordeaux mixture (copper sulfate + lime) revolutionized crop protection in 1885, their heavy metal pollution and plant toxicity remain unresolved. Now, researchers apply cutting-edge single-atom material technology to create Cu1/CaCO3, a next-gen copper bactericide where isolated copper atoms are anchored on calcium carbonate. This atomic-level design delivers the same powerful disease protection while reducing copper residue by 20-fold and minimizing plant damage. More than just a new pesticide, this advancement bridges advanced materials science with sustainable agriculture, offering a blueprint for developing eco-friendly crop protection solutions that address both efficacy and environmental concerns.