A scientist displays a young cassava plant at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) laboratories in Seibersdorf, some 50 kilometres (some 31 miles) southeast of Vienna. REUTERS/Herwig Prammer
FFAR Joins $45M Project to Boost Crop Yields through Photosynthesis
The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research has joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department for International Development in contributing to a $45 million grant to the University of Illinois for the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency project. The project aims to harness plants’ photosynthesis process to increase output in food crops including soybeans, cassava, and cowpeas, easing food insecurity around the world.
In the Future, the World Could Face a Massive Food Shortage. One Accelerator Plans to Change That
Agricultural productivity must increase by 60 percent by 2050 to meet the world's food demands—and that increase in production must also happen in an environmentally sustainable system. The Yield Lab, a St. Louis-based accelerator that invests $100,000 in six to eight agricultural technology companies per year, invests in tech that will help farmers feed more people and do that in a sustainable way.
Scientists Work to Grow Food in Space
When NASA astronauts are sent into space for a long journey—like to Mars—they probably won't be able to bring everything they need for survival with them, like enough food and water to survive for months or even years. The director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center at the University of Arizona has worked with NASA to develop a kind of greenhouse so astronauts can grow crops while in space.
Cities Turn to Other Cities for Help Fighting Climate Change
The C40 Cities Climate Leadership group has announced plans for a leadership team to prepare and share detailed climate roadmaps for city leaders to mitigate global warming. The real problem, though, will be knowing if any cities are getting it right. All the pledges and coalitions in the world don’t matter if cities don’t know what they need to do, or can’t do it.
Startups Are Leading to Vital Changes in India's Farm Sector
By 2020, around 315 million Indians living in rural areas will be connected to the internet in the future, as compared with about 120 million now. As nearly 70 percent of rural households still depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihood, farmers are forming a very significant chunk of this population now accessing the internet in rural areas.
Sheep Gene Insights Could Help Farmers Breed Healthier Animals
Fresh insights into the genetic code of sheep could aid breeding programs to improve their health and productivity. Scientists have now mapped which genes are turned on and off in the different tissues and organs in a sheep's body, including insight into the function of genes linked to immunity and meat quality.