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Agriculture

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 16-Jun-2026 20:15 ET (17-Jun-2026 00:15 GMT/UTC)

Efficient breeding of high oleic rice cultivar by editing OsFAD2-1 via CRISPR/Cas9

KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
Peer-Reviewed Publication

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

Journal: Journal of Integrative Agriculture
Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, Key Research and Development Program of Jiangsu Province, China, Zhongshan Biological Breeding Laboratory, China

Biochar helps farmland soils withstand extreme rain and drought by steadying carbon loss

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

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.

Journal: Biochar

Tailored biochar could transform how crops grow, resist disease, and clean polluted soils

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

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.

Journal: Biochar

New study reveals major gaps in global forest maps

University of Notre Dame
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Are global forest maps reliable? New research from the University of Notre Dame shows satellite datasets agree only 26 percent of the time, undermining carbon storage estimates and international climate policy.

Journal: One Earth
Funder: Notre Dame Research and the Keough School’s Pulte Institute for Global Development through the University of Notre Dame Poverty Initiative.

Recycling urban soils

Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Excavated soil from construction sites usually ends up in landfills, but it has great potential. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) show how excavated soil can be enriched with organic waste so that it can be reused in cities. By adjusting the mixture, the specific properties can be adapted to each use case, such as fertile green spaces or for the protection of groundwater.

Journal: Basic and Applied Ecology

Open-sourcing the future of food

Tufts University
Business Announcement

The Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA), which seeks to enable production of meat, milk, and eggs from cells instead of animals, has teamed up with nonprofit partner Good Food Institute to salvage the intellectual property—the inventions and cell lines—of shuttered start-ups to make them publicly available to help nurture the industry.

Gamma rays quickly toughen nitrogen‑fixing bacteria

The National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Heat stress limits the performance of biofertilizer microbes in hot climates. Researchers at QST combined adaptive laboratory evolution with repeated, precisely dosed gamma irradiation to rapidly generate Bradyrhizobium strains that thrive at higher temperatures, suggesting a faster, non‑transgenic route to robust industrial microorganisms with broad sustainability benefits for agriculture, biomanufacturing, and renewable fuels.

Journal: Mutation Research/Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis

Earthworms turn manure into a powerful tool against antibiotic resistance

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Earthworms could become unexpected allies in the global fight against antibiotic resistance, by helping farmers turn manure into safer, high-value organic fertilizer through a process called vermicomposting. Researchers report that this low energy, nature-based technology can remove antibiotic resistance genes far more consistently than conventional composting, while also improving soil health and supporting sustainable agriculture.

Triple threat in greenhouse farming: how heavy metals, microplastics, and antibiotic resistance genes unite to challenge sustainable food production

Biochar Editorial Office, Shenyang Agricultural University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Invisible pollutants in high tech greenhouses may be quietly reshaping the food on our plates and the soil beneath our feet. A new open access review maps how heavy metals, micro and nanoplastics, and antibiotic resistance genes increasingly pile up together in intensive “facility agriculture” and why this triple cocktail demands urgent attention from scientists, farmers, and regulators.

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