Longer, more diverse rotations of crops fertilized with livestock manure have many environmental benefits, but carbon sequestration isn’t one of them, according to a new study led by Iowa State University researchers.

Developing rice with tolerance to higher nighttime temperatures has become a focus for rice breeders because studies are showing nights are getting warmer in rice-growing regions. Vibha Srivastava, professor of plant biotechnology in the crop, soil and environmental sciences department for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, explores the topic of breeding rice and the potential for gene editing to tolerate night heat in the December issue of Current Opinion in Plant Biology with an article titled “Beat the heat: Breeding, genomics, and gene editing for high nighttime temperature tolerance in rice.”

A study by researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities offers new insights into how alternating corn and soybean crops can help increase crop yield in a changing climate.

Estimating global precipitation is vital for managing water-related disasters, yet it is often challenging due to sparse rain gauge data in certain areas. To improve these predictions, Assistant Professor Yuka Muto and Professor Shunji Kotsuki, a research duo from Chiba University, developed a new tool using the Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter technique for rain gauge observations and reanalysis precipitation. Their method offers promising results for improving disaster management and sustainable water supply strategies.

Tree crops – for example, apple, cherry, olives, nuts, coffee, and cacao – cover more than 183 million hectares worldwide, yet remain largely overlooked in agricultural policies, despite their critical role in achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). An international research team, with the participation of Göttingen University, highlight how these crops are not only essential to feed the world and for global economies, but also hold immense potential for protecting biodiversity and the climate, as well as improving livelihoods for millions of people worldwide. The findings were published in a Perspectives article in Nature Sustainability.