The most comprehensive assessment yet of a powerful greenhouse gas shows which countries are driving the increase, and which ones are successfully cutting emissions.
Did the Green Revolution, which brought high-tech agriculture to developing nations in the 1960s, prevent famine? Recent research takes a much more skeptical view.
Bringing advanced technologies to the ancient practice of farming could help feed the world’s growing population, but it could also open the door for people looking to disrupt the global food system.
Donald Boesch, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and Donald Scavia, University of Michigan
Nutrient pollution fouls lakes and bays with algae, killing fish and threatening public health. Progress curbing it has been slow, mainly because of farm pollution.
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.
The world is facing one of the century’s biggest challenges: How to nutritiously feed the growing population, address climate change and not destroy the ecosystems on which we all depend for life.
Grain and fertilizer shortages, higher shipping costs and a strong dollar are all pushing food prices up and increasing hunger in dozens of vulnerable countries.
Plants communicate with the fungi on their roots, but the effects on the ecosystem of deliberately adding fungi as a fertilizer are unknown — and might be harmful.
An expert on organic agriculture argues that the US is missing an economic and environmental opportunity by not working to scale up organic production.
Harmful algae blooms are an increasing problem in Florida. Once nutrients are in the water to fuel them, little can be done to stop the growth, and the results can be devastating for marine life.
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.
This transformation provides lessons for the rest of world, for shifting away from chemical agriculture towards a healthier system for people and the planet.
The solids from wastewater plants are usually dumped into landfills because they are contaminated with heavy metals. Now there is a way to remove the metals so the waste can be used as fertilizer.
The ‘used water’ that flows from our showers, dishwashers and toilets isn’t a waste to engineers – it contains valuable materials. The challenge is recovering them and turning them into products.
Director and Institute Professor, Center for Earth System Science and Global Sustainability, Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, Boston College