The war over genetically modified foods is entering a new phase. At last, the GM industry has produced what it promised at the outset: a product designed to have real benefits for consumers. It's an oil from soybean modified to produce omega-3 fatty acids essential for health and proven to reduce the risk of heart disease. It can be added unobtrusively to ordinary food products, potentially bringing health benefits to millions. (Editorial)
Rain water conservation techniques, like large compartmental bunding and furrow opening in between the crop rows in combination with organic sources were evaluated for their impact on increasing the productivity of cotton+soybean intercropping system.
Alarmed that genetically engineered crops may be finding their way into organic and natural foods, an industry group has begun a campaign to test products and label those that are largely free of biotech ingredients.
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Top, Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times; Above, Genetic ID
A campaign hopes to back up claims some food makers are already making.
While news reports and disaster movies remind us about tipping points for Arctic melt and sea level rise, some things closer to home get less attention. Take food supply: new modelling studies show that there are climate tipping points here too, beyond which crop yields will collapse.
Aparna Pallavi and Archita Bhatta From what to sow to when to reap, farmers need weather forecast at every step. It can make or break them The monsoon forecast in May said India would receive good rains this year, and the onset was predicted for the first week of June. Accordingly, farmer Lakshinarain Baghel bought 25,000 kg soybean seeds for his 25 hectares (ha) at Rs 30 a kg. He chose a
U.S. farmers and foresters could earn more money from carbon contracts than they pay in higher costs from legislation to control greenhouse gases, the Agriculture Department estimated on Wednesday.
The concept of local food is appealing to many consumers. But it is difficult to define what actually constitutes local food. Given the globalised nature of agricultural markets, bread baked in a small village bakery in England may be made from grain grown in Canada. Similarly, many of the inputs to a West Country dairy farm selling local ice cream may come from outside the UK.
