New wireless network to revolutionise soil testing
A University of Southampton researcher has helped to develop a wireless network of sensors that is set to revolutionise soil-based salinity measuring. Dr Nick Harris, from Electronics and Electrical Engineering, worked with a group of professors from the University of Western Australia (UWA) to produce the revolutionary sensor that can carry out non-destructive testing of […]
A grass roots approach to flooding
Scientists at Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), are working with partners at Rothamsted Research North Wyke in Devon to develop new grasses that enable grassland soils to capture increased volumes of rainfall, thereby reducing the risk of flooding downstream. The 5 year £2.5 million LINK project named SUREROOT is funded […]
New group’s research to improve food production
The Agri-Food Technology Research Group aims to develop new technological solutions for all stages of food production including cultivation, harvest, processing and packaging. Agri-food is the largest industry in Lincolnshire and food security is also one of the major challenges identified by the UK Research Councils. Demand for food will grow by 40 per cent […]
Farmers urged to embrace technology and research for a brighter future
Opening the conference FUW president Emyr Jones said: “Significant inroads have been made in ‘producing more from less’ but margins remain tight and we farmers must continue to work towards maximising outputs whilst controlling production costs. “Technological advances in agriculture are not the result of adopting a one-tool technique but, instead, represent numerous different types […]
Why seedlings always grow towards the light
During earlier research the discovery was made that the cells in the seedling stems responded to blue light used in the microscope. The scientists have now discovered how the blue light causes small structures in the cell, the microtubules, to grow perpendicular to their normal growth direction. As a result, the growth direction of seedlings […]
Putting biological nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers
A pan-African project aimed at improving legume technologies to counter the debilitating impact of low-nitrogen soils on agricultural production is generating higher yields and new income streams for smallholder farmers. Since it began in 2009, N2Africa set out to increase the adoption of improved nitrogen fixing legumes – specifically soybean, cowpea, groundnut and common […]
Yields of new varieties of agricultural crops continue to increase
Despite recent concerns that important crops in high-yielding regions have reached their production maximum, the rise in yield potential of new cultivars does not yet level off in the Netherlands. The fact that plant breeding can still lead to increases in production has therefore been shown by this research at Wageningen University. Businesses, consultants and […]
Royal and political backing for Coventry University’s calls to mainstream agroecology in fight for food security
The paper will be launched on Wednesday 16th October at a Westminster lunchtime event hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Agroecology to coincide with World Food Day. It features a prestigious Foreword from Prince Charles in his role as Patron of Garden Organic, the UK’s leading organic growing charity and a partner in CAFS. […]
Multi-million pound boost for innovation in agricultural technology
Agricultural science and technology is one of the world’s fastest-growing markets. It is driven by global changes: a rising population, climate change, the rapid development of emerging economies, and growing geopolitical instability around shortages of land, water and energy. Breakthroughs in nutrition, informatics, satellite imaging, remote sensing, meteorology and precision farming mean that there are […]
