Cotton is one of the world’s largest crops and is harvested with large, heavy machines. Robotic harvesting could yield higher-quality cotton with less damage to plants and soil.
The cut flowers could pay for themselves and even turn a profit.
Margi Rentis
Phosphorus and nitrogen contribute to water pollution and cause harmful algal blooms. New research shows how mats of floating flower beds can take advantage of these nutrients while cleaning the water.
Root nodules of legumes such as soybeans help fix nitrogen into the soil.
Lidiane Miotto/Shutterstock
Despite its 500-million-year history, the plant-fungi alliance holds mysteries that, once unravelled, could revolutionise agriculture and ecosystem management.
Small-scale farmers, organic producers and local markets receive a tiny fraction of farm bill funding.
Edwin Remsberg/VWPics/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
Farmers are contending with huge spikes in fertilizer prices. The Biden administration is paying US companies to boost synthetic fertilizer production, but there are other, more sustainable options.
Native grasses, long overlooked, have been shown to benefit cattle and diverse native animals.
Patrick Keyser
Roundup may be taking a beating in the US, where three juries have concluded that it gave plaintiffs cancer, but it’s still widely used around the globe.
A woman in Timor-Leste surveys her chili crop.
(Creative Commons)
New research shows that one-third of yearly nitrogen runoff from Midwest farms to the Gulf of Mexico occurs during a few heavy rainstorms. New fertilizing schedules could reduce nitrogen pollution.
More than 300,000 hectares of subtropical forest in Paraguay have burned since July due to illegal land clearing for agriculture, according to the National Security Ministry, Oct. 1, 2019.
AP Photo/Jorge Saenz
More than one-fifth of global warming emissions come from land use. Sustainable farming can make soil healthier and better able to soak up carbon, while saving energy and boosting food production.
Three scholars argue that agriculture is failing to sustain either the land or American farmers. They propose a modern version of the New Deal that centers on ecology and economic fairness.
Two driverless tractors spray vines in a Texas vineyard. Each one is controlled from a single command station (2012).
ASIrobots/Wikipedia
It’s easy to whip out the fly spray, but our fondness for pesticides can bring knock-on effects such as increased resistance, and harming beneficial insects in and around our homes.
Rock Hills Ranch in South Dakota uses managed grazing techniques to maintain healthy, diverse plant communities in its pastures.
Lars Ploughmann
US agriculture is dominated by large farms that rely on chemical inputs. In contrast, regenerative farming makes land and water healthier by mimicking nature instead of trying to control it.