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| Sugar cane - Marianne North - 1870 |
This Tuesday news thread is a weekly feature here at Big Picture Agriculture. It is intended to help point the way forward by reporting positive developments in agricultural systems around the world.
INNOVATION / SCIENCE:
- British scientists have created a synthetic molecule that when applied to crops, has been shown to increase the size and starch content of wheat grains in the lab by up to 20 per cent. | FarmingUK
- Reduced lignin alfalfa could be game changer for yield, quality | Western Farm Press
- Flex Cropping – Storing More Carbon Under Challenging Environmental Conditions | Washington State
- USDA announces $5 million in funds for smart technology innovations in agriculture | EurekAlert!
- USDA Awards $3.4 Million for Research to Increase Wheat Yields | USDA
- One of the largest manufacturers of labor-saving mobile agricultural machines in the Pacific Northwest says he may want to work with the developer of a robotic apple picker. | Capital Press
- Are robots the cost-saving innovation that will help Australia's farmers stay in business? | Aljazeera
- "LED grow lights can drastically speed up flowering" | HortiDaily
- Researchers find neonicotinoid insecticides harm ability of bees to vibrate flowers and shake out pollen to fertilise crops | The Guardian
- Reinke irrigation offers ag data service with ReinCloud center-pivot system. | Farm Industry News
- ‘Zero kilometre’ food products start to take Spain by storm | EurActiv
- Red meat industry looks forward | Farm Weekly AU
- An (Edible) Solution to Extend Produce’s Shelf Life | NYTs
- Rooftop hydroponic systems in cities produce vegetables that are cheaper and healthier than rural farms | Quartz
- Blue River Technology Uses Robots, Artificial Intelligence to kill weeds | Successful Farming
- Pest Management: Time for Change | Choices
- The new report, “Alliances for Green Infrastructure: State of Watershed Investment 2016” shows watershed investments grew by an average of 12 percent per year between 2013 and 2015, and 2015 payments either protected, rehabilitated, or created new habitat on an area of land nearly 1.5 times the size of India. | Devex
SUSTAINABILITY / BIODIVERSITY:
- Cuba, a Model of Sustainable Agriculture Towards Global Food Security | coha.org
- Regenerative Organics: Drawing a Line in the Soil | Patagonia
- Slow Fashion – or the art of sustainable dressing – catching on fast in Maine | Portland Press Herald
- Halting biodiversity loss – legislation fails to deliver for NSW | Phys.org
- Farmers are abandoning traditional ploughing | BBC
- Soil health boosted by adding small grains and pasture to rotations | Phys.org
- Planting peas and other legumes alongside cereal crops could help make farming greener, say ecologists. | ScienceDaily
- Unified Support for Conservation as Good farming Practice Needed at USDA | NSAC
- 2016's Sustainable Winners and Losers in Textiles | Just-Style
- Wood production sees growth driven by housing and green energy markets | FAO
- North Dakota Farm Bureau should accept farming law | Grand Forks Herald
- Boulder County plans sustainable-agriculture research project | Times-Call
- Oregon's water watchdog agency is understaffed, overworked, has no plan for future | Oregon Live
- This fiscal year 2017, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will offer up to $3.8 million through a competitive grant program to support projects focused on research, education and extension related to organic transition. | NSAC
- USDA Announces Conservation Opportunities to Improve Water Quality | Granite Falls News
- Field to Market Highlights Sustainability Trends in U.S. Commodity Crop Production | Farm Bureau
- Commissioners updated on new buffer law, status of county ditches | Le Sueur
- Farming without soil seen as solution in land without water | Reuters
- How drip irrigation can save the world | Treehugger
- Around the world, plant breeders are resisting what they see as corporate control of the food supply by making seeds available for other breeders to use. | Ensia
ALTERNATIVE CROPS:
- Consumers gobble up heritage turkeys | Missouri Farmer Today
- Australian chickpea farmers on the pulse as prices peak after 'best crop ever' | The Guardian
- 2016 Hop Production Up 11 Percent From Last Year | USDA
- Quinoa in the Gulf Desert | Food Navigator
- Expert says Italy can increase nut production by 25% | Fresh Plaza
- Fresh hope for pastoralists as residents adopt potato farming | Daily Nation
- Michigan-Grown Poinsettias Grace America's Tables | USAgnet
- USDA Announces $250,000 Grant to Estancia Cheese Facility in New Mexico | KRWG
- Nova Scotia farmer sews what she sows processing flax into clothes | CBC News
- In Their 70S, Farming Brothers Look to Future with Organic Hay | Vermont Digger
THIS WEEK'S VIDEO:
A Varroa Mite Nimbly Infests a Foraging Honey Bee on a Flower
To view last week's LINKS, click here.
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