All posts tagged: farming

New plant pest control discovery will advance sustainable farming

New plant pest control discovery will advance sustainable farming

Published by skeptic

As global food demand continues to increase, effective pest control remains one of agriculture’s most pressing challenges. Worldwide, farmers apply nearly 4 million tonnes of chemical pesticides annually to protect their crops, representing a $60bn industry. While these compounds have significantly boosted agricultural productivity, their widespread use has raised concerns regarding environmental impact, health risks, and the long-term sustainability of modern farming. To shed light on this, a research team led by Professor Gen-ichiro Arimura from the Department of Biological Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, closely examined the fine molecular interplay that occurs between spider mites and their host plants to test the theory of plant pest control. Limitations in conventional pest control The two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, exemplifies the limitations of conventional pesticide-based pest control in agriculture and horticulture. These microscopic arachnids infest a wide range of crops and fruit trees and can reproduce extremely quickly. More importantly, unlike many other pests, they rapidly develop resistance to chemical pesticides, making control efforts increasingly challenging. With pesticide resistance on the rise, farmers …

Five reasons why vertical farming is still the future, despite all the recent business failures

Five reasons why vertical farming is still the future, despite all the recent business failures

Published by skeptic

Plant factories are failing, with multiple companies closing or going bankrupt in recent months. This includes the largest vertical farm on the planet, in Compton, Los Angeles. Owned by San Francisco-based startup Plenty, the farm opened in 2023 to grow salads in partnership with Walmart. It was mothballed at the end of 2024, with the company citing the rising cost of energy in California as a major problem. Despite raising over US$1 billion (£802 million) from investors, the company’s value has reportedly plummeted from US$1.9 billion to below US$15 million. It now aims to focus solely on strawberry production in Virginia. New York-based Bowery Farming also halted all operations in late 2024, having previously being valued at US$2.3 billion. Fellow American vertical farmers AeroFarms, Kalera and AppHarvest have similarly filed for bankruptcy in the past two years, as has the UK’s Growing Underground, among various others. Clearly these are major setbacks. Year-round illuminated greenhouses and stacked, controlled-environment warehouses for producing food have been hailed as a sustainable alternative to traditional farming, promising fresh food close …

Justice for the Rural Poor | Catherine Coleman Flowers

Justice for the Rural Poor | Catherine Coleman Flowers

Published by skeptic

Of the forty-six million Americans in rural communities, more than seven million dwell in stubborn, relentless, abject poverty. They may live in neglected rental properties: a family might be so worried about eviction or a rent hike that they don’t want to call attention to the fact that the oven doesn’t work and the toilet overflows because it’s connected to a failing septic tank. Or they may live in a mobile home that started losing its value the moment it was towed off the lot. The roof and the floors are buckling from water damage. Temperature control doesn’t exist, so the winters and summers are unbearable. And they still owe $15,000 on the damn thing. The rural poor live with their parents, maybe even their grandparents, and their kids. There is never enough money to cover food and clothes, utility payments, and anything that goes wrong—and something always goes wrong. Checks from the government appear every month for the seniors, sometimes the kids receive meager disability payments, and that’s what keeps the family afloat. Thank …

The FTC Suing John Deere Is a Tipping Point for Right-to-Repair

The FTC Suing John Deere Is a Tipping Point for Right-to-Repair

Published by skeptic

Today, the US Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against farming equipment manufacturer Deere & Company—makers of the iconic green John Deere tractors, harvesters, and mowers—citing its longtime reluctance to keep its customers from fixing their own machines. “Farmers rely on their agricultural equipment to earn a living and feed their families,” FTC chair Lina Khan wrote in a statement alongside the full complaint. “Unfair repair restrictions can mean farmers face unnecessary delays during tight planting and harvest windows.” The FTC’s main complaint here centers around a software problem. Deere places limitations on its operational software, meaning certain features and calibrations on its tractors can only be unlocked by mechanics who have the right digital key. Deere only licenses those keys to its authorized dealers, meaning farmers often can’t take their tractors to more convenient third-party mechanics or just fix a problem themselves. The suit would require John Deere to stop the practice of limiting what repair features its customers can use and make them available to those outside official dealerships. Kyle Wiens is the …

Tomato plants are covered in tiny anti-pest booby traps

Tomato plants are covered in tiny anti-pest booby traps

Published by skeptic

The hairs on tomato plants are actually tiny pest traps Jalaal Research Group/University of Amsterdam For hungry insects, walking along a tomato stalk in search of a green meal can be like navigating a minefield. Jared Popowski at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands was trying to measure the mechanical properties of tomato plants in the lab. Then a tiny hair on one of the stalks started oozing liquid – and it happened so quickly that his camera barely caught it. He had inadvertently triggered one of the plant’s pest-protection mechanisms. Source link

Could this be the future of farming? Inside Europe’s biggest vertical farm | Money News

Could this be the future of farming? Inside Europe’s biggest vertical farm | Money News

Published by skeptic

Outside it is the bleak midwinter. We are smack bang in the middle of some of the country’s best agricultural land. But inside the cavernous warehouse where we’ve come, you wouldn’t have a clue about any of that: there is no daylight; it feels like it could be any time of the day, any season of the year. We are at Fischer Farms – Europe’s biggest vertical farm. The whole point of a vertical farm is to create an environment where you can grow plants, stacked on top of each other (hence: vertical) in high density. The idea being that you can grow your salads or peas somewhere close to the cities where they’re consumed rather than hundreds of miles away. Location is not supposed to matter. Image: The main growing tunnels are the beating heart of the vertical farm Image: Farm 2 of Fischer Farms So the fact that this particular one is to be found amid the fields a few miles outside Norwich is somewhat irrelevant. It could be anywhere. Indeed, unlike most …

Stonehenge May Have Been Built to Unite Early British Farming Communes

Stonehenge May Have Been Built to Unite Early British Farming Communes

Published by skeptic

This has been a monumental year for further insight about Stonehenge‘s creation. Researchers are now positing that the iconic stone circle may have been erected in an effort to unite ancient farming communities, CNN reported. Earlier this year, experts discovered that Stonehenge’s central six-ton altar stone may have come from more than 450 miles away in Scotland. It was previously known that the sarsen stones came from 16 miles away from the site, in what is now the British town of Marlborough, and that the smaller bluestones were brought from 125 miles away, from the Preseli hills in what is now Wales. Related Articles Mike Parker Pearson, a professor of British later prehistory at University College London, has proposed that Stonehenge’s very creation may hinge on the stone’s geographical distance. Stonehenge, he claims, may have been the result of early efforts to unite farmers and their communities across the British Isles during a time of social change. The stones could have been a gift or signified a political alliance. “Stonehenge stands out in being a …

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves bombarded with 30,000 emails demanding farm tax U-turn | Politics | News

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves bombarded with 30,000 emails demanding farm tax U-turn | Politics | News

Published by Sam

Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have been bombarded with emails demanding that they U-turn over Labour’s tax on family farms. The drive, set up by campaigner and former Reform UK candidate for Mayor of London, Howard Cox, urges people against the policy to email the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer to “get the Farmer Inheritance tax policy scrapped”. More than 30,000 have already, with the aim to get to 50,000 by the next protest by farmers in Whitehall tomorrow. Mr Cox told Express.co.uk: “Over 5,000 farmers are supporters of FairFuelUK backing my hugely successful campaign that has stopped fuel duty hikes for 15 years, and that they have benefitted from. “I was delighted that hundreds of them asked me to help fight Labour’s crass inheritance tax so I set up an easy way for the public to email the Chancellor and Prime Minister, calling on them both to scrap this needless and spiteful Budget policy. “Over 30,000 have done so and counting.” The change to inheritance tax for farms was announced by …

UoG leading farming and food research in bid to help UK meet net zero targets

UoG leading farming and food research in bid to help UK meet net zero targets

Published by skeptic

The University of Gloucestershire is leading a project to identify potential changes to what we eat and how we farm in the county to help the UK meet its net zero targets. The Gloucestershire Food and Farming for Net Zero (Integrating Local Climate Policies) project has been awarded £30,000 in funding by UK Research and Innovation’s Agri-Food Net Zero Network+ to support the country’s target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It will report in May next year. READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Uni of Gloucestershire’s new Vice Chancellor lays bare her ambitions The university is working with the public sector and farmers on the initiative. Dr Aimee Morse, who is leading it, noted that any transition must continue to “support jobs in the food and farming sector, and ensure people can access healthy, affordable food”. “Our new project will build on the strength of food and farming expertise, as well as our strength in collaboration,” she said. “It brings together a range of organisations to identify actions that local councils and their partners can take …

The plan to save European farming – POLITICO

The plan to save European farming – POLITICO

Published by Sam

On the other hand, this income-based program should not depend on whether farmers comply with additional environmental rules — meaning those that go beyond existing EU law, such as nitrate pollution or habitat protection rules. Instead, a separate set of payments should be distributed among farmers that use sustainable practices, and would be handled by both agricultural and environmental authorities. The participants also asked for an “annual substantial increase” in environmental support. Business as usual is no longer an option for European farmers. | Chrisophe Archambault/Getty Images 2. Sustainable food systems The next two elephants in the room were sustainable diets and meat consumption. The experts agreed that it was crucial to support ongoing reductions in the consumption of animal-based proteins — e.g. meat and dairy — in favor of plant-based alternatives.  They also called for a review of EU food labeling legislation and urged that food marketing to children be addressed, while advocating tax reductions and other social and fiscal incentives. “The sustainable choice needs to become the choice by default,” the report said. …