The Jerusalem artichoke has revealed the genetic advantage of invasive species.

Invasive weeds have genetic advantage

A single trait, which developed independently in multiple situations, drives invasive success

They say a weed can grow almost anywhere, and researchers at the University of British Columbia have found the reason is genetic. They looked at one successful weedy plant, the Jerusalem artichoke, to see why it survives, thrives and spreads. Understanding how invasive plants evolve and the genetic underpinnings that enable them to thrive in

Modern behaviour rooted in farming legacy

Modern behaviour rooted in farming legacy

Researchers in China say even non-farmers reflect 
their agriculture heritage

There could be a lot of behaviour that’s rooted in historic agriculture, at least in modern China. Researchers there say they’ve been observing the social interactions of Starbucks customers in six cities. What they’ve found is that they can tell if a person comes from a rice- or wheat-growing area, regardless if that individual is


A farmer checks his soybean crop in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.

The ‘breadbasket’ of the tropics?

Brazil’s tropical grain growers are upending the conventional wisdom on grain production

One of your major grain-growing competitors has been turning the world on its ear by producing grain in a tropical locale. Historically the tropics have been among the poorest regions, with the lowest agriculture productivity and highest incidents of malnutrition. It wasn’t until the late-1990s the tropics began to emerge as a possible region for

This unassuming vine from Australia has given soybean yields a boost, researchers say.   PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Wild vine boosts soybean yield

Researchers were looking for resistance genes and found a yield boost too

A distant relative to soybean that’s native to Australia could soon lead to a big jump in soybean yields. The perennial vine, known as woolly glycine, or scientifically as Glycine tomentella, is a genetic resource that was part of a new study from researchers at the University of Illinois. “We saw yield increases of 3.5


Just exactly how cellulose is made by plants has always been 
a bit of a mystery.

Fuel cell insight gets powered up

Understanding how plant cells make cellulose could be 
the key to biofuel’s future

Scientists from Penn State University say they’ve gained valuable insight into how plants make cellulose — information that could help figure out how to break it apart to make ethanol. The researchers said, in a paper published online by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that they have identified the major steps

Wheat stripe rust, seen here, and oat crown rust, are the subjects of a joint U.S.-Australia study.

Winning the race against rust

The latest technology has scientists poised for a breakthrough 
on this tough crop disease

With its ever-evolving virulence, rust is a disease of major global concern for farmers. Now a group of scientists says cutting-edge genome sequencing technology could provide a better path forward than the traditional approaches using fungicides. The scientists, from U.S. and Australian government agencies and universities, recently released the results in mBio, a journal from


Plants crave light and even grow towards it. Now researchers understand how they do that.

Shine a light on plant growth

Researchers have discovered how plants respond to changes in light 
at the molecular level

Plants don’t have eyes, but it would seem they do “see” their surroundings using light. That’s made possible by proteins called photoreceptors that absorb light and convert it into a signal that turns genes on or off. Until now, scientists haven’t fully understood the molecular mechanism underlying that process, which allows plants to recognize when

Harvest goes hands free

Harvest goes hands free

British researchers have put automation to test in the farm field

A U.K. research project has planted, tended and harvested the first crop — of spring barley — that’s never seen direct human labour. Hands Free Hectare was aiming to test the concept in the field and consciously chose smaller machinery, said Jonathan Gill, a researcher at Harper University. “There’s been a focus in recent years


The wheat-like cereal emmer was one of the earliest crops to show evidence of human influence.

Early intervention

Humans appear to have influenced crop plants far earlier 
than previously understood

It turns out the roots for farming run deeper than previously thought — about 10,000 years deeper to be precise. New research from the U.K.’s University of Warwick has shown ancient hunter-gatherers began to systemically affect the evolution of crops as far back as 30,000 years ago. Professor Robin Allaby has discovered that human crop

Quebec researchers say a new treatment can remove atrazine from 
surface water.

Cleaning up chemicals

Atrazine is the most common weed killer found in Quebec surface water, which prompted the research

A group of Quebec researchers, at that province’s Institut National De La Recherche Scientifique, say they’ve identified an effective way to remove the pesticide atrazine from surface water. Atrazine, widely used as a weed killer, is known to have harmful effects on aquatic wildlife and presents a risk to human health by altering the action