News by Subject Agriculture

A genetic analysis of fruit in the mandarin family has unraveled a complex journey from the mountainous region of southern China to the markets of Okinawa, says researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University.

More than 820 million people in the world don't have enough to eat, while climate change and increasing competition for land and water are further raising concerns about the future balance between food demand and supply. The results of a new IIASA-led study can be used to benchmark global food security projections and inform policy analysis and public debate on the future of food.

Natto, a fermented soybean dish often served for breakfast in Japan, originated at the turn of the last millennium but may hold an answer to a modern problem: COVID-19, according to a new study based on cell cultures.

Tomato fruits inform the mother plant when they are being eaten by caterpillars, shows a new study. Little is known about whether a fruit can communicate with the plant to which it's attached, which could be important for warning the plant of threats. This early evidence shows that pest attacks do trigger defensive electrical and biochemical responses across the plant. This could provide more effective monitoring strategies for detecting agricultural pests in the future.

In a new review in the Journal of Dairy Science, a team from Iowa State University Department of Animal Science critically reviews the current accepted understanding of cow health between giving birth and beginning to produce milk to investigate the reasons for persistent health problems. Their findings suggest lines of inquiry that may prove more effective and call into question methods and conclusions of previous research and how such work has been applied in the dairy industry.

African swine fever (ASF), first detected in Germany in domestic pigs on 15 July 2021, does not pose a health hazard to humans. "The ASF pathogen cannot be transferred to humans", explains Professor Dr. Dr. Andreas Hensel, President of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). "No risk to health is posed by direct contact with diseased animals or from eating food made from infected domestic pigs or wild boar."