A study conducted by researchers at ESPOL has developed genetically improved bean varieties that are capable of withstanding water scarcity conditions. This discovery is crucial for developing more efficient agricultural strategies. Growing drought-resistant bean varieties will not only ensure stable production but also reduce dependence on excessive irrigation. This promotes more sustainable agriculture.

A recent study by the RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau shows extensive pesticide contamination in the landscape of the Upper Rhine Region. The research team led by Carsten Brühl shows for the first time that synthetic chemical pesticides from conventional agriculture do not remain on the cultivated areas, but spread from the lowlands to the Black Forest and the Palatinate Forest. The results show that the entire landscape is contaminated with pesticide mixtures, shedding new light on the potential environmental impacts of conventional agriculture. According to the researchers, pesticide use must be reduced urgently in order to protect areas around fields, orchards and vineyards.

As climate change and population growth increase pressure on global food production, regional-scale crop growth and associated process (CROP-AP) models have become essential tools for understanding and predicting agricultural productivity. A new review, published in Science China Earth Sciences, categorizes these models into four types—statistical models, crop growth models, hydrology-crop coupling models, and ecosystem models. The study explores their main functions from five aspects: crop yield prediction, crop water consumption, agricultural non-point source pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change impact and responses, and identifies key future research directions, including model validation and calibration, the ability to simulate the coupling of crop physiology and human activities, enhancing model scalability, multi-model ensembles, data and code sharing, and the integration of artificial intelligence.

This study shows that there is a complex and close interaction between plants and the root microbiota in nutrient utilization. Environmental nutrient conditions and plant nutrient-related genes jointly regulate the composition and assembly of the root microbiota, while the root microbiota significantly affects the plant's nutrient utilization efficiency by improving nutrient availability and regulating plant hormones.