A study of 653 Ugandan common bean farmers finds that belonging to a digital market-linkage network significantly increases farmers' ability to act collectively, especially in group marketing, but this boost in "collective agency" is not shared equally between men and women. 

Across both networked and non-networked farmer groups, men consistently reported greater confidence in taking on leadership roles and higher rates of collective marketing than women; network membership did not close this gap and, on some measures, appeared to widen it. 

While network membership improved collective agency overall and was positively associated with women's agency, these gains were insufficient to eliminate underlying gender inequalities in leadership and participation. 

The researchers conclude that market-access programs alone cannot deliver gender equality in agriculture, a finding that lands directly in 2026, the UN-designated International Year of the Woman Farmer, which is calling for this kind of deliberate, gender-transformative action. 

Don’t assume an uptick in ant activity after setting out pesticide traps means the treatment failed. New UC Riverside research shows their behavior changes as chemicals make their way through a colony. 

Sunflowers are unable to fully recover from drought, new research has found, contradicting previous findings on the plant’s ability to reverse drought-induced failure of water-transporting tissues and revealing new insights into how drought impacts plants.

A new review from Hasanuddin University highlights how chitosan and alginate-based composite beads could be the next-generation solution for sustainable wastewater remediation. By combining naturally derived biopolymers with functional additives, these composite beads demonstrate improved adsorption capacity, mechanical stability, reusability, and stronger pollutant binding. The review outlines a roadmap for advancing such composites into stimuli-responsive smart materials and extending their applications beyond water treatment to circular bioeconomy, smart agriculture, and even precision medicine.

What if the secret to drought-resistant crops isn't how much water plants use, but when they use it? A new study identifies a daily window that could help breeders develop tomatoes that better withstand drought without sacrificing yield.