Agricultural technology

Agricultural research (5)
Agriculture industry (8)
Agrochemical (11)
Breeding (38)
Farm machinery (9)
Farming technique (89)
Fertilizer (114)
Genetically modified plant (10)
Irrigation (58)
Pesticide (187)

Synopsis: Agricultural technology:

now his shop aisles and shelves are neatly stocked with everything from fertilisers to hybrid seeds, insecticides,

and micro-drip irrigation systems. The store holds demos, promotions, and free training sessions. One of the keys to Farm Shop radical overhaul is that it has done away with the incredibly cumbersome, slow,

Agricultural innovation in Africa claims that the greatest failure of Africa agricultural sector is the absence of investment in rural infrastructure. arkets cannot function

#California Unveils Strictest Rules on Pesticide California farmers now must abide by the nation's strictest rules for a widely used pesticide in a change designed to protect farmworkers

The restrictions announced Wednesday target chloropicrin, a pesticide injected into the ground before planting crops such as strawberries, tomatoes and almond orchards.

director of the California Department of Pesticide regulation, said Tuesday that the higher standard is needed in California, the nation's leading agricultural producer and most populated state,

"Under the new regulation, farmers are limited to applying the pesticide on up to 40 acres in one day, a reduction of 75 percent.

while applying the pesticide can follow less stringent regulations, said officials. Farmers use about 5 million pounds of the pesticide a year, most heavily in the Central Valley counties of San Joaquin and Fresno and along the coast in Monterey, Santa barbara, Santa cruz and Ventura counties.

The state has been talking with growers for more than a year about the new standards and will immediately begin implementing them,

The state documented 787 people as suffering from exposure to the pesticide drifting through the air between 2002 and 2011, according to the most recent records.

However, urbanisation, extensive irrigation and variations in rainfall patterns due to global climate change have led to serious water scarcity in many areas of the world.

and the human contribution can arise from activities such as mining, large construction works or water extraction for irrigation.

#BIOBROOM#Breeding flies to fight broomrape parasite weeds Can flies be bred as gardeners weeding undesirable pests from the crop?

herbicide-free control of parasitic weeds in all vulnerable crops. Tóth is assistant professor at the Slovak University of Agriculture in the city of Nitra where he teaches in agricultural entomology,

By contrast, the antibodies produced by PHARMA-PLANTA were derived from tobacco plants grown in greenhouses in Germany,

But now research is offering an intelligent irrigation system to monitor how much water is being held in the soil, automatically spraying when needed.

The waste is mainly down to inefficient irrigation systems. But better managed, it could mean more water resources for other basics like drinking, hygiene and cooking.

low power consumption wireless sensor network, sending the data to an intelligent web service software application for analysis. Once the numbers are crunched-taking due account for weather and other local parameters-it automatically activates the selected irrigation nodes in the areas

In The british trials, on Maris Piper potatoes, Waterbee used 56%less water than the local irrigation system in use.

through insecticide-treated bednets and indoor sprays, is one of the best ways to win the battle.

But mosquitoes are becoming resistant to insecticides potentially reversing the gains made so far. In response, the EU-funded MCD project has developed three new weapons against them a special coating that transfers insecticides effectively to mosquitoes landing on it,

insecticide-laced ave tubesto direct them to the coating, and a bednet patch. The project began work in December 2012

and is now negotiating with a manufacturer in Tanzania to mass produce these low-cost devices

This has been repurposed for mosquito control using the netting coated with insecticide at one end of tubes that are placed in the walls of the households.

and make contact with the insecticide. Eave tubes are potentially more effective than indoor spraying,

and land on a wall covered with insecticide, leaving them time to infect a person. ith these tubes,

insecticide is applied only to a small area the netting, he explains. his means a major reduction in insecticide use, by about 95,

%which is better for people health and for the environment. The team initially tested the eave tubes in 2013 in large outdoor cages in Tanzania.

'where the plastic with the insecticide-coated netting replaces a brick removed from a wall.

The researchers have created a piece of insecticide-treated netting, a patch that, placed on this area of the bednet, would kill 62%of the mosquitoes in the room within a night,

about the size of an A4 sheet of paper, can turn an untreated net into one that starts killing mosquitoes without the need to coat the whole bednet with insecticide.

people are less likely to come into contact with insecticide. This opens the way for more powerful alternatives to be used insecticides that remain effective against mosquitoes.

The project partners made up of three small and medium-sized European companies, a health institute in Tanzania and a US university plan to commercialise the eave tubes

Everyday products such as coffee, corn flakes, nuts or fertilizer all depend on this field of knowledge known as multi-physics.

Finally, for commercial facilities with landscaping, automatic drip-type irrigation systems another new technology are helping consumers

so that irrigation is released only when and as needed. Hoping for the Best California just had a wonderful rainfall event,

That month, Walmart said it will work with suppliers to reduce fertilizer use on up to 14 million acres in the US by 2020.

and scan for infection for exampleâ##synthetic gene circuits are especially useful for detecting things like contaminants pesticides heavy metals and counterfeit drugs.##

is contaminated the soil with pesticides? The gene circuits can answer these questions##says Pardee. But there s a problem.

#Iron-rich biochar filters arsenic from water Biochar may be a fast inexpensive and easy way to remove arsenicâ one of the world s most common pollutantsâ from water.

Because biochar can be produced from various waste biomass including agricultural residues this new technology provides an alternative

The resulting biochar which has the consistency of ground coffee was treated then with a saltwater bath to impregnate it with iron.

Plain biochar does not have the same effect Gao says. Current methods to remove arsenic include precipitation adding lime

Water treatment plants could use large biochar filters to extract the arsenic. Homeowners could use a small filter attached to their tap.

And open-heart surgery for dogs is only available at a few centers around the world. ur hope now is that breeders will be able to make informed breeding decisions

#Proteins could detox pesticides and sarin gas Scientists are developing a way to prevent brain damage among people exposed to poisonous chemicals found in pesticides and chemical weapons.

The work, published in the journal Chembiochem, centers on proteins called phosphotriesterases, which degrade chemicals in a class known as organophosphates.

Organophosphates are found in everything from industrial pesticides to the sarin gas used in chemical warfare. They permanently bond to neurotransmitters in the brain,

whether through exposure to pesticide or an intentional chemical warfare attack, explains Jin Kim Montclare, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at the New york University School of engineering. ee known that phosphotriesterases had the power to detoxify these nerve agents,

or pesticide exposure and would likely be developed first for military use, these proteins also could be critical

#Living near pesticides in pregnancy ups autism risk University of California Davis rightoriginal Studyposted by Phyllis Brown-UC Davis on June 23 2014pregnant women living

in close proximity to chemical pesticide application had a two-thirds higher risk of having a child with autism spectrum disorder or other developmental delay according to a new study.

The large multisite California-based study examined associations between specific classes of pesticides including organophosphates pyrethroids

and prenatal exposure to agricultural chemicals in California##says lead study author Janie F. Shelton a University of California Davis graduate student who now consults with the United nations.##

women who are pregnant should take special care to avoid contact with agricultural chemicals whenever possible.##

Statewide approximately 200 million pounds of active pesticides are applied each year most of it in the Central Valley north to the Sacramento Valley and south to the Imperial Valley on the California-Mexico border.

While pesticides are critical for the modern agriculture industry certain commonly used pesticides are neurotoxic and may pose threats to brain development during gestation potentially resulting in developmental delay or autism.

The study was conducted by examining commercial pesticide application using the California Pesticide Use Report and linking the data to the residential addresses of approximately 1000 participants in the Northern California-based Childhood Risk of Autism from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) Study.

The second most commonly applied class of pesticides was pyrethroids one quarter of which was followed esfenvalerate by lambda-cyhalothrin permethrin cypermethrin and tau-fluvalinate.

The addresses then were overlaid on maps with the locations of agricultural chemical application sites based on the pesticide-use reports to determine residential proximity.

which participants were exposed to which agricultural chemicals.####We mapped where our study participants lived during pregnancy and around the time of birth.

In California pesticide applicators must report what they re applying where they re applying it dates

and professor and vice chair of the department of public health sciences at UC Davis.##What we saw were several classes of pesticides more commonly applied near residences of mothers

##The researchers found that during the study period approximately one-third of CHARGE Study participants lived in close proximityâ##within 1. 25 to 1. 75 kilometersâ##of commercial pesticide application sites.

Exposures to insecticides for those living near agricultural areas may be problematic especially during gestation because the developing fetal brain may be more vulnerable than it is in adults.

Because these pesticides are neurotoxic in utero exposures during early development may distort the complex processes of structural development

and may well be where these pesticides are operating and affecting neurotransmission.####Research from the CHARGE Study has emphasized the importance of maternal nutrition during pregnancy particularly the use of prenatal vitamins to reduce the risk of having a child with autism.

While it s impossible to entirely eliminate risks due to environmental exposures Hertz-Picciotto says that finding ways to reduce exposures to chemical pesticides particularly for the very young is important.##

I wouldn t want to live close to where heavy pesticides are being applied.####The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the US Environmental protection agency supported the work.

Bannasch explains that common breeding practices have made the dog a unique animal model to help understand the genetic basis of naturally occurring birth defects.

#Iron-rich biochar filters arsenic from water Biochar may be a fast inexpensive and easy way to remove arsenic one of the world s most common pollutants from water.

and has been shown to cause cancer. ecause biochar can be produced from various waste biomass including agricultural residues this new technology provides an alternative and cost-effective way for arsenic removalsays Bin Gao associate professor of agricultural

The resulting biochar which has the consistency of ground coffee was treated then with a saltwater bath to impregnate it with iron.

Plain biochar does not have the same effect Gao says. Current methods to remove arsenic include precipitation adding lime

Water treatment plants could use large biochar filters to extract the arsenic. Homeowners could use a small filter attached to their tap.

#Biochar changes how water flows through soil Rice university rightoriginal Studyposted by Jade Boyd-Rice on September 25 2014new research could help settle the debate about one of biochar s biggest benefits#its seemingly contradictory ability

or biochar to soil to both boost crop yields and counter global climate change the study offers the first detailed explanation for this mystery. nderstanding the controls on water movement through biochar-amended soils is critical

to explaining other frequently reported benefits of biochar such as nutrient retention carbon sequestration and reduced greenhouse gas emissionssays lead author Rebecca Barnes an assistant professor of environmental science at Colorado College who began the research as a postdoctoral research associate at Rice university.

Biochar can be produced from waste wood manure or leaves and its popularity among DIY types

and gardening buffs took off after archaeological studies found that biochar added to soils in the Amazon more than 1000 years ago was still improving the water-and nutrient-holding abilities of those poor soils today.

Studies over the past decade have found that biochar soil amendments can either increase or decrease the amount of water that soil holds

In the new study biogeochemists at Rice conducted side-by-side tests of the water-holding ability of three soil types#sand clay and topsoil#both with and without added biochar.

The biochar used in the experiments derived from Texas mesquite wood was prepared to exacting standards in the lab of Rice geochemist Caroline Masiello a study coauthor to ensure comparable results across soil types. ot all biochar

is created equal and one of the important lessons of recent studies is that the hydrological properties of biochar can vary widely depending on the temperature

and time in the reactormasiello says. t s important to use the right recipe for the biochar that you want to make

When biochar is added to clay it makes the soil less dense and it increases hydraulic conductivity

which makes intuitive sense. dding biochar to sand also makes it less dense so one would expect that soil to drain more quickly as well;

but in fact researchers have found that biochar-amended sand holds water longer. tudy coauthor Brandon Dugan assistant professor of Earth science at Rice says e hypothesize that this is likely due to the presence of two flow paths

for water through soil-biochar mixtures. One pathway is between the soil and biochar grains

and a second pathway is water moving through the biochar itself. arnes says the highly porous structure of biochar makes each of these pathways more tortuous than the pathway that water would take through sand alone.

Moreover the surface chemistry of biochar#both on external surfaces and inside pores#is likely to promote absorption

and further slow the movement of water. y adding our results to the growing body of literature we show that

when biochar is added to sand or other coarse-grained soils there is a simultaneous decrease in bulk density

and breeders with a map they can use to home in on certain genes and by extension the plant s metabolic pathways.

what meets the tongue because in most plants those chemicals also confer defense against pests. epending on the cultivar in question breeders may want to change the biochemistrylyons says. ou could knock down chemicals you don t want

and move genes more rapidly through conventional breeding methods or through genetic modification techniqueswing says. he idea is to create a super-rice that will be higher yielding

but will have less of an environmental impact such as varieties that require less water fertilizer and pesticides. ardy high-yield crops will become increasingly vital for human survival as the world faces the environmental effects of climate change and an ever-growing global population.

Wing s research group specializes in developing what geneticists call physical maps a tool that enables scientists to understand the structure of the genome.

and have enabled since the discovery of hundreds of agriculturally important genes including genes that code for faster breeding cycles

and grackles are smaller-brainedshe says. ut they re really innovative So they may have a reason to pay attention to causal information like this. he next research phase will begin next month after the grackles breeding season ends

and parasites of honey bees along with various stressors such as pesticide exposure with the goal of providing information to help keep honey bees healthy. ur ability to find European honey bee populations free of invasive

It also extracts nutrients that can be reused as fertilizer. Currently the system produces about 50 gallons of water from 100 gallons of manure.

says Steve Safferman, an associate professor of biosystems and agricultural engineering at Michigan State university, who is involved with the project. bout 90 percent of the manure is water

and can be reused as fertilizer . or example, wee able to capture a large percentage of the ammonia that would otherwise be lost in the atmosphere,

The researchers are beginning to examine the effects of viruses pesticides and poor nutrition on queen pheromone quality to see

For example sophisticated vintners use precise irrigation to put regulated water stress on grapevines to create just the right grape composition for a premium cabernet or a chardonnay wine.

and coastal waters where fertilizer runoff and other organic waste can deplete oxygen levels and suffocate marine life.

#Use microbes, not pesticides, to boost crop yields Iowa State university Original Studyposted by Fred Love-Iowa State on September 9 2013.

The recommendations published in the Academy s Colloquium Reports set a goal of increasing yields by 20 percent over the next 20 years by enhancing the use of microbes while reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers by 20 percent.

and lessen the need for costly fertilizers and pesticides says team member Gwyn Beattie a professor of plant pathology and bacteriology at Iowa State university.

Reaching those goals would drastically cut input costs for farmers and produce a range of environmental benefits.

Much of the progress plant breeders have made in improving plant yields is actually due to delaying leaf senescence Gan says.

or#fancy#poultry breeders to identify at fine resolution the exact location of the mutation in the genome in blue egg laying chickens.

#Moreover when appearing in the population the unusual egg coloration must have attracted the attention of the owners who must be praised for having selected the trait in subsequent breeding.#

Breeding strategythe methods used in the study may also help breeders. This discovery explains what breeders call the maternal grandsire effect says co-senior author Doug Antczak equine geneticist at Cornell s College of Veterinary medicine.

Some genes like so-called speed genes in great racehorses skip a generation and only express in grandchildren if their carrier was a certain sex.

which could help breeders decision-making Better understanding of genomic imprinting may offer insights into several human diseases.

By transferring this gene to commercial wheat varieties wheat breeders will have a distinct advantage in controlling the epidemic the researchers say.

#Why some GM CROPS fail to fight pests University of Arizona rightoriginal Studyposted by Daniel Stolte-Arizona on June 18 2013u.

ARIZONA (US)# Some genetically modified crops deter pests for a decade or longer while others fail after a few years.

Since 1996 farmers worldwide have planted more than 1 billion acres (400 million hectares) of genetically modified corn and cotton that produce insecticidal proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt for short.

However some scientists feared that widespread use of these proteins in genetically modified crops would spur rapid evolution of resistance in pests.

for Agricultural research for Development or CIRAD in France scrutinized the available field and laboratory data to test predictions about resistance.

#We ve also started exchanging ideas and information with scientists facing related challenges such as herbicide resistance in weeds and resistance to drugs in bacteria HIV and cancer.#

and you get a prototype device known as the Farm Level Optimal Water management Assistant for Irrigation under Deficit or FLOW-AID.

so they don run their irrigation systems unnecessarily. FLOW-AID was developed by a group of 11 European companies and research institutes

when levels drop to the point that irrigation is required, at which point they can start their irrigation system remotely via their phone.

As soon as they see that sufficient moisture levels have been restored they can use their phone to turn the irrigation back off.

The system also incorporates software that takes location-specific factors such as plant properties, soil characteristics and water rationing limits into account.

it can additionally advise users on how often fertilizer should be applied this stops farmers from wasting money by over-fertilizing,

and minimizes the amount of excess fertilizer entering the environment. It estimated that the system could lead to a reduction in fertilizer use of up to 30 percent

#Pi-powered Kinograph makes preserving film heritage affordable As the Raspberry Pi Foundation (RPF) has worked to make computing more accessible,

which is exposed to different types of pollution from agrochemical residues to metals from leather tanneries.

#Explosives and Pesticides Can Be detected by Using Bee venom Scientists from MIT have discovered that by coating carbon nanotubes in bee venom,

as well as at least two different types of pesticides. This means that bees and their stingers could become important to making better environmental sensors.

But the sensors aren just useful for explosives the researchers found that the coated nanotubes can also detect two pesticides that contain nitro-aromatic compounds.

especially after we recently saw that scorpion venom can be used to create pesticides. Strano has filed for a patent on the sensor,

Submissions ranged from self-filling water bottles, to extreme dehumidification, to a large-scale water sources for greenhouse drip irrigation, to emergency water for lifeboats, to self-filling canteens for the military,

presented a simple elegant design for the emerging aquaponics and hydroponics industries. These small-scale agricultural operations require high humidity environments,

Fogquest is a Canadian nonprofit that uses modern fog collectors to bring drinking water and water for irrigation and reforestation to rural communities in developing countries around the world.

the Airdrop irrigation concept was developed for poor agricultural conditions in periods of severe drought. Extensive research into droughts revealed an increase in soil evaporation

Airdrop Irrigation works to provide a solution to this problem. Moisture is harvested out of the air to irrigate crops through an efficient system that produces large amounts of condensation A turbine intake drives air underground through a network of piping that rapidly cools the air to the temperature of the soil where it reaches 100%humidity

and pumped to the roots of crops via sub surface drip irrigation hosing. Developed by Joe Ellsworth in Seattle,

#Precision agriculture moves farmers into the high tech age The U s. has seen record-setting drought in recent years.

The key is precision farming: the convergence of digital technology that allows farmers to apply just the right amount of fertilizer and water on their fields.

Humans have practiced a rather crude form of agriculture for millennia: we douse fields to give them as much water

and fertilizer as we think they need. Yet field conditions may differ drastically within a few feet.

In Idaho, the nonprofit is collaborating with Millercoors to support farmers who upgrade their irrigation systems to new precision agriculture systems.

nozzles, and computer-controlled irrigation covering thousands of acres that conserve millions of gallons of water each day. s a brewer, we know that the area we can have the biggest impact in reducing water usage is within the agricultural supply chain,

Yet the central technology in this effortariable rate irrigation (VRI) asn a commercial endeavor delivered directly to farmers clamoring for the technology.

Yet the promise of precision agriculture is to find the right mix of profit and environmental protection. e are also seeing a changing of the guard,

The crisis is attributed generally to a mixture of disease, parasites, and pesticides. Other scientists are pursuing a different tack:

This includes a greater emphasis on urban agriculture such as vertical farming which, properly designed and planned, could provide the sustainable means to improve food supply we need.

They can use greenhouses in order to take advantage of the sun s energy, or grow indoors with the help of artificial lights.

Vertical farming is promising because it requires no soil, and can save space and energy and improve crop yield.

It takes advantage of the vertical space of city buildings rather than turning over wide expanses of land to agriculture and uses advanced greenhouse technology:

hydroponics or aeroponics, and environmental controls that regulate temperature, humidity and light to produce vegetables, fruits and other crops year-round.

Singapore has taken local urban farming to a high level Skygreens has built the world s first commercial vertical farm in large three-story greenhouses, providing a sustainable source of fresh vegetables.

The cost of growing Vertical farming s biggest limitation is energy consumption. Considerable energy is required to power a closed, indoor greenhouse facility s artificial lighting, heating and cooling

and hydroponic or aeroponic growing systems. The amount of energy required per unit of product is an important factor for ensuring

not only that the farm is sustainable, but that it is economically viable. Recently, more and more studies have focused on pairing solar panels

and wind turbines with greenhouses to provide self-generated renewable electricity on-site. But the single technology that will be key to making vertical farms possible is lighting.

New LED light technology is the key that makes it possible to build vertically integrated farms.

There is potential for these multifunctional techno-greenhouses built around LED grow lights to increase the quality of the food we eat

#Prescriptive planting technology is set to disrupt the farming industry The word innovation usually brings to mind small startups doing clever things with cutting-edge technology.

It could be the biggest change to agriculture in rich countries since genetically modified crops. And it is proving nearly as controversial

Last November another seed producer, Du pont Pioneer, linked up with a farm machinery maker, John Deere,

by introducing 100 percent pesticide free vegetable factories in Japan. The first Toshiba vegetable factory will open in a few months in Yokusuka, Japan.

But this isn just a greenhouse: Toshiba plant factory will be a high-tech facility. Itl include optimized lights set to a wavelength to grow perfect plants

creating a super-clean facility with plants that won need pesticides. Because of the clean environment, all plants will be germfree,

It certainly a good solution to providing nutrition in urban areas where fresh pesticide free produce is almost nonexistent

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