A flooded farm from the Loddon river in Serpentine, Victoria.
Luke Milgate
Farmers face a multitude of challenges in future. Crops and livestock are not only on the line, but also the mental health of rural communities.
When sugarcane bagasse is burned, the ash contains silica. The race is on to extract this for various uses.
Geoff Sperring/Shutterstock
There are ‘jewels’ among the piles of ash that remain once sugarcane’s fibrous material is burned.
Photo by OJ Koloti/Gallo Images via Getty Images
South Africa’s land reform programme is designed for a socio-economic context that doesn’t exist.
Dave Hunt/AAP
Worsening droughts and flooding likely threaten the future of cotton farming – by far the most important crop in the basin.
Bees look for water on an outdoor tap in Berlin, Germany during a hot spell, June 19, 2022.
Wolfram Steinberg/picture alliance via Getty Images
Honey bees, wild and native bees face threats from parasites, pesticides and habitat loss. Shorter winters, more extreme weather and more habitat destruction won’t help.
Workers at a fig processing operation.
Klaus Vedfelt / Getty Images
Small-scale farmers find it difficult to commercialise and add value to the food chain.
Spraying from either a ground-based vehicle or an airplane is a common method for applying pesticides.
Edwin Remsburg/VW Pics via Getty Images
Published in 1962, ‘Silent Spring’ called attention to collateral damage from widespread use of synthetic pesticides. Many problems the book anticipated persist today in new forms.
In the face of governmental efforts to dismantle Indigenous agricultural economies, Indigenous communities have made important strides toward food sovereignty.
(Shutterstock)
A lack of data prevents governments and agri-food organizations from knowing what kinds of supports should be provided to reinvigorate Indigenous agricultural economies.
The RSPB, National Trust and Wildlife Trust have a combined 8 million members.
Chedko/Shutterstock
Environmental groups have criticised the government’s approach to nature – but what is this approach and why is it concerning?
Northern Ghana was treated as a periphery outpost by colonial administrators.
Flickr
Ghana’s northern region would be more developed now had it received a fairer share of colonial investments.
Heavy metals can be toxic to plants - and humans, too.
Andrii Yalanskyi/Shutterstock
Plants have evolved several ways to deal with heavy metals that might otherwise poison or kill them.
Shutterstock
To maintain our role as a global food bowl, Australia has to keep innovating in agricultural technology.
Stalagmites grow from the cave floor up as water drips down.
Gayatri Kathayat
As water dripped in a remote cave, it left behind evidence of every monsoon season for a millennium. Scientists say it holds a warning for a country about to become the most populous on Earth.
Microalgae are a diverse group of microscopic aquatic organisms.
Maryna Lahereva/Shutterstock
The research reviewed the available evidence on microalgae as food supplements, livestock feeds, biofertilisers, biostimulants and biochar feedstocks.
Organic fertilisers, but also littering, tire wear and mulch films all contribute to microplastic pollution in agricultural soils.
Christof Stache/AFP
Synthetic fertiliser prices have shot up amid the war in Ukraine. Could organic fertilisers provide a worthy alternative?
A high-yielding maize variety (H-513) developed by the Kenya Seed Company. James Wakibia/SOPA Images/LightRocket via
Getty Images
Kenya’s new administration needs to prioritise investing in sustainable solutions to fix perennial maize shortages.
Researchers have found that honeybees are effective blueberry pollinators.
Dr Keanu Martin
Honey bees have what it takes to pollinate blueberries, boosting the quality and quantity of the popular fruit.
South Africa needs to develop and produce its own vaccines to protect cloven-hoofed animals from foot-and-mouth disease.
Lucas Ninno/Getty Images
Foot-and-mouth disease rarely kills animals, but it leads to production losses and economic knocks.
Gilberto Olimpio/Unsplash
Biodiversity market schemes can help – but they are not a silver bullet, and can be gamed if poorly designed.
A young farmer spreads fertiliser on young crops in Ethiopia.
Edwin Remsberg/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Farmers who use little or no fertiliser can use ecological practices to increase their yields.