Sweet potato is a globally important food crop with rich nutritional value, widely used in food processing, feed production, and the pharmaceutical industry. Hainan Province in China has a history of sweet potato cultivation spanning over 300 years and has long been one of the major sweet potato-producing areas in southern China.

As the global population continues to grow, climate change intensifies, and agricultural resources become increasingly scarce, traditional agricultural production models are facing unprecedented challenges. It is predicted that by 2050, global food production will need to increase by 70% to meet demand. Against this backdrop, “Agriculture 4.0” has gradually emerged, with embedded technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and robotics widely applied in precision agriculture to improve production efficiency and sustainability.

In the field of modern agricultural machinery, pneumatic conveying seed-discharge systems have been widely adopted due to their compact size, high seed-discharge efficiency, and strong adaptability, which are particularly aligned with the current development trend of high-speed mechanized operations.

CRISPR-editing OsFAD2-1 boosts oleic acid and stabilizes rice bran oil. Edited lines maintain key agronomic traits of breeding-ready germplasm.

Scientists have found that adding biochar to farm soils can help steady the release of carbon dioxide during increasingly erratic rain and drought cycles, potentially supporting climate friendly agriculture and healthier soils.

Biochar has long been promoted as a climate-friendly soil amendment, but new research suggests that treating it as a one-size-fits-all solution may be limiting its full potential. A new open-access review published in Biochar shows that engineered biochar works best when it is carefully customized for specific agricultural and environmental goals, from boosting crop yields to suppressing soil-borne diseases and remediating contaminated land.