EurekAlert! News by Subject: Agriculture - News by Subject: Agriculture

Agriculture

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 10-Sep-2025 02:11 ET (10-Sep-2025 06:11 GMT/UTC)

New study challenges the story of humanity’s shift from prehistoric hunting to farming

University of Bath
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has turned traditional thinking on its head by highlighting the role of human interactions during the shift from hunting and gathering to farming - one of the biggest changes in human history - rather than earlier ideas that focused on environmental factors.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Professor receives pilot funding to conduct study to increase forest farming in Appalachia

Virginia Tech
Grant and Award Announcement

The $500,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission wants to improve economic development in the region through sustainable non-timber forest farming practices.

Mapping the Earth’s crops

National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Reports and Proceedings

Imagine you’re a farmer, and you’re planning what to grow this season. You may want to know what crop would be most valuable to grow. If you’re a policymaker, you might want to know if there would be a shortage of a particular crop and incentivize farmers to grow it through subsidies. To do this, you’d have to know what’s currently growing to make those decisions – that’s where crop mapping comes into play. Yi-Chia Chang, a Ph.D. student at the U. of I., used NCSA resources to conduct his research on crop mapping.

Four researchers honored by AAAS as Lifetime Fellows

University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Grant and Award Announcement

Four faculty members at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have been elected 2024 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Elected faculty are Professor Albrecht von Arnim of the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology; Alison Buchan, the Carolyn W. Fite Professor and associate head of the Department of Microbiology; Research Professor Susan Kalisz of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; and Herbert College of Agriculture Dean and Professor David G. White.

Human urine, a valuable resource as fertilizer for sustainable urban agriculture

Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The reuse of human urine would allow for the production of sustainable fertilizers for urban agriculture, with significant environmental benefits. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), which evaluates the environmental impact of nitrogen recovery from the yellow waters of buildings. In addition to promoting sustainable agriculture, it would reduce CO2 emissions and water consumption.

Journal: Resources Conservation and Recycling

Nature’s viny vampire: Discovering what drives parasitic Cuscuta campestris

Osaka Metropolitan University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Osaka Metropolitan University researchers have discovered the mechanism that drives the parasitic vine Cuscuta campestris to insert organs into plants after making contact with the hosts.

Journal: Plant and Cell Physiology
Funder: Ohsumi Frontier Science Foundation, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

The devastating human impact on biodiversity

University of Zurich
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Humans are having a highly detrimental impact on biodiversity worldwide. Not only is the number of species declining, but the composition of species communities is also changing. These are the findings of a study by Eawag and the University of Zurich published in the scientific journal Nature. It is one of the largest studies ever conducted on this topic.

Journal: Nature

73
74
75
76
77