Back in 2015, we heard about a prototype vineyard-monitoring robot known appropriately enough as VineRobot. Now, its successor has been unveiled in Portugal. Developed via a European Union research consortium, it's called VineScout.
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Beer is generally thought to be about 7,000 years old, but now archaeologists have found clues that could date beer-making to almost twice that age, meaning it predates agriculture and represents the oldest record of man-made alcohol.
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After a massive international effort involving over 200 scientists across 20 countries, the entire wheat genome has been finally sequenced. The landmark human achievement is hoped to lead to more efficient wheat breeding and production of crops.
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Although the scent of freshly-cut grass may SEEM nice, what you're actually smelling is a distress signal. Thanks to a recent-conducted study, scientists from the University of Delaware now believe that such signals could be used to summon insect-eating birds to valuable crops.
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We've had autonomous cars, autonomous trucks, and autonomous buses, and now Osaka-based diesel engine manufacturer Yanmar is introducing a new line of robotic tractors that operate in autonomous and semi-autonomous modes.
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Nitrogen is a vital nutrient for plants, but they can't pull it out of the air, hence the need for artificial fertilizer. But now, researchers have engineered bacteria that can efficiently suck nitrogen out of the air, and the long-term goal is to develop crops that can do the same.
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Although it's associated with nasty cigarettes, the tobacco plant is also a potential source of vaccines, biofuel and antibiotics. Now, a chemical from the plant is also being used as a bug repellent for crops, which could replace eco-unfriendly insecticides.
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Missouri has become the first US state to pass a bill defining what products can and can't be classified as "meat." The legislation prohibits plant-based products from using the term and also removes the possibility of lab-grown meat hitting the market shelves in the future with the "meat" moniker.
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Scientists have found that two of the world’s most damaging pests have hybridized, creating a dangerous mega-pest with pesticide-resistant genes. The new hybrid has only been identified in Brazil but the researchers warn that its spread across the globe could be devastating.
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A statement issued by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue last week has clarified that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) currently does not, and has no plans to, regulate gene edited plants or crops.
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