Sandy soils are among the most challenging environments for agriculture because water drains quickly and nutrients are easily lost. A new long-term field experiment shows that combining biochar with compost and sludge can dramatically improve how sandy soils retain water, offering a practical strategy for farming in drought-prone regions.

Change is afoot in the U.S. beef supply chain. More dairy cattle seem to be specifically bred to generate a calf to be sold as beef, but so far documentation for the trend is mostly anecdotal.

In an invited talk at the USDA’s 102^nd Annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, University of Tennessee agricultural economist Charles Martinez is poised to show the impact of beef on dairy crossed cattle on the U.S. beef supply chain and propose a new category for recording cattle market data: beef on dairy. Martinez says documenting this developing market will help industry analysts understand the true nature of the U.S. beef supply chain as well as the economic state of the beef and dairy industries.

Research shows that allowing natural vegetation to grow back in mountainous areas and on steep slopes and moving production to more fertile areas will both reduce climate emissions and increase biodiversity.

When it comes to biodiversity, researchers and the public tend to focus on large-scale patterns. This overlooks a hidden but precious diversity: small, inconspicuous wasps, midges, flies, beetles and other insects that live in plants. These tiny creatures are actually very common, as shown by a team of researchers at the University of Göttingen and the Hungarian HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research. The researchers measured, dissected and searched for insects in over 23,000 shoots of grass. They found 255 species of insects in ten perennial grass species, which last year-round, but not a single one in five annual, short-lived grass species. The longer the shoots of the perennial grass species, the higher the diversity of insects found in them. Around a third of the insect species feed directly on the grass. The remaining species, mostly wasps, live parasitically on the insects that feed on plants. Almost two-thirds of insects specialize in grasses, half of them even in specific grass species. The conclusion is that areas in grassland should not be mown for several years: stable insect populations need undisturbed refuges with intact shoots of grass. The results were published in Basic and Applied Ecology.

First large-scale experiment shows fire whirls burn oil spills faster and cleaner than fire pools, proving their game-changing potential for ocean cleanups.

Larry Steckel, Extension weed specialist and researcher in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, has been named a Fellow of the Weed Science Society of America.

What’s the key to growing resilient crops that can survive tough conditions? Researchers at the University of Missouri are getting to the root of it — literally.

The European Union has set the target of reducing the production of fossil-based plastics by 20% and microplastic emissions into the environment by 30% by 2030. The persistent accumulation of plastics leads to the release of microplastics and toxic substances that contaminate soil and threaten ecosystems. In this respect, plastics currently used in agriculture are a particularly relevant example, as they are in direct contact with the environment and their recovery is not always feasible, meaning they may ultimately be released. In recent years, bio-based and biodegradable materials have emerged, but further research is needed to improve their performance so that they can become a real alternative to conventional plastics. Likewise, it is essential to analyse the environmental impact of these new materials and compare it with that of existing ones to confirm that they represent a genuine improvement.

The INSOIL project, which brings together 16 centres from eight European countries and is coordinated by the Institute of Packaging, Transport and Logistics Technology, with the participation of the Universitat Jaume I of Castelló, addresses pollution caused by plastics, fertilisers and plant protection products in agriculture. It does so through the development of three families of fully bio-based, safe and soil-biodegradable plastic products—mulch films, seedling protectors and coatings for controlled-release fertilisers—aimed at contributing to more sustainable agricultural production.

To create these new products, INSOIL will make use of six types of second- and third-generation bio-based raw materials (biogenic CO₂ emissions, waste from the pulp and forestry industry, by-products from agriculture and food processing, and microalgal and microbial biomass) and will develop functional prototypes of plastic products. These products will be validated under real conditions with end users, namely leading fruit and vegetable producers in southern and northern Europe.