Insects have been in a feature in agriculture since the end of the 19th century. Using a combination of new and old control methods is the best way to deal with our food competitors.
Open-air irrigation: so last century.
Bidge/Wikimedia Commons
Agroecological techniques that mimic nature – the antithesis of GMOs and high-cost fertilizers – have made farmers in developing countries more resilient to extreme weather.
The Sahel, the transition zone between the arid north of Africa and tropic south, has highly variable rainfall.
Center for International Forestry Research.
Field trials in Senegal show native shrubs can access deep-soil water and make it available to adjacent crops – a technique that could alleviate drought conditions in marginal lands around the world.
The Murray-Darling: a complex river system with a complex set of regulations to match.
AAP Image/Caroline Duncan Photography
Water isn’t straightforward. And by putting the Nationals in charge of policy for water assets like the Murray-Darling Basin, the government will trigger a complex round of bureaucratic musical chairs.
An Ethiopian girl sells barley seeds in northern Tigray. The sub-Saharan Africa seed industry remains largely informal.
REUTERS/Radu Sigheti
The seed industry in sub-Saharan Africa suffers from many challenges. India, which has one of the biggest seed markets in the world, offers some lessons on how these challenges could be overcome.
Not all is good on the ‘technified’ coffee farm.
mckaysavage/flickr
High demand for coffee has pushed growers toward sun or ‘reduced-shade’ plantations that require more water and pesticides while reducing biodiversity.
Africa needs to support small and medium-sized enterprises across the value chain of the agribusiness sector.
Reuters/Noor Khamis
Over the past 60 years, China has experimented extensively with policies and programmes to encourage the growth of rural enterprises. Africa could do well by following in these footsteps.
South African exports to the rest of the continent have more than doubled over the past 20 years. This has been driven by agricultural products, including maize.
Shutterstock
The demand for agricultural products in Africa is expected to rise over the next 35 years due to factors such as population growth, urbanisation, economic growth and changing diets.
A South African farmer from Piketberg 100km outside Cape Town inspects the dry soil in his field of sewn wheat. It is cheaper to import the crop than to grow it commercially.
Epa/Nic Bothma
South Africa’s agricultural industry has struggled over the past 20 years due to the country’s rush to liberalise the sector while other countries continued to support their farmers.
The Liverpool Plains near Gunnedah in New South Wales where the Watermark coal mine would be built.
Tim J Keegan/Flickr
The controversial Shenhua Watermark coal mine in New South Wales recently cleared another hurdle along the way to being granted full approval to proceed. But there are major environmental risks which should still call the project into question.
Conservation action is needed to save the DRC’s forests and slow global climate change.
Julien Harneis, Creative Commons.
Data from all over the globe suggest that bees are in decline, and we may lose a lot more than honey if bees are unable to cope with the changing climate and increasing demand for agricultural land.
Algae overload: Lake Erie algal bloom 2011.
NOAA/NASA
The same conditions – ultimately tied to nutrient runoff – that created the damaging toxic blooms and dead zones in US waterways of recent years are forecast to return this year.
Soil and water are crucial resources that need to be carefully studied and preserved.
Pete Hill/Flickr
There will be increasing demands placed on our soil and water in coming years, so we need greater research into how to preserve and maintain these precious resources.
A plant heavily colonized by a bacterial pathogen.
Jeannette Rapicavoli/UC Riverside
Jeannette Rapicavoli, University of California, Riverside
Vaccines aren’t just for animals anymore. Research shows priming plants with pathogen-derived compounds strengthens their immune systems and enhances protection against future attack.
Can science help the developing world stave off a food crisis?
UNAMID
The challenges of feeding a hungry planet are many. Gene editing crops to be more productive, nutritious or hardy could help, but concerns about GMOs abound.
National priorities can help focus our research efforts.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
The nine science and research priorities will help focus and coordinate our efforts, and aid government departments in supporting the future of Australian science.
Managing Director, Triple Helix Consulting; Chief Executive Officer, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research; Professorial Fellow, ANU Fenner School for the Environment and Society, Australian National University