• Nuclear War Would Cause Global Famine

    More than 5 billion people would die of hunger following a full-scale nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia, according to a global study that estimates post-conflict crop production. Even a regional nuclear conflict would devastate crop production.

  • Rise of Precision Agriculture Exposes Food System to New Threats

    Farmers are adopting precision agriculture, using data collected by GPS, satellite imagery, internet-connected sensors and other technologies to farm more efficiently. These practices could help increase crop yields and reduce costs, but the technology behind the practices is creating opportunities for extremists, terrorists and adversarial governments to attack farming machinery, with the aim of disrupting food production.

  • Growing the Impacts of Climate-Smart Agriculture

    A range of ‘climate-smart’ farming practices have the potential to lower that impact, and also help sequester carbon dioxide emitted by other parts of the economy. For example, planting cover crops in between plantings of cash crops can absorb CO2 into the soil, among other benefits. However, cover crops and other climate-smart practices aren’t yet the norm.

  • For Advance Drought Warning, Look to the Plants

    Among the extreme weather impacts resulting from climate change, drought is a growing problem around the globe, leading to frequent wildfires, threats to water resources, and greater food insecurity. Researchers find signals in vegetation can help forecast devastating ‘flash’ droughts.

  • Amid Climate Change and Conflict, More Resilient Food Systems a Must: Report

    Increased demand for water will be the No. 1 threat to food security in the next 20 years, followed closely by heat waves, droughts, income inequality and political instability.

  • Is Australia’s Biosecurity System Ready for Foot-and-Mouth Disease?

    Several reports have highlighted the inevitable and growing threats to Australia’s security and prosperity. Chief among these are the biosecurity risks that threaten one of Australia’s greatest strategic advantages: The country’s ability to feed and clothe twice its own population, its food security, and ultimately its national security.

  • Groundwater Depletion Causes California Farmland to Sink

    A new study simulates 65 years of land subsidence, or sinking, caused by groundwater depletion in California’s San Joaquin Valley. The results suggest significant sinking may continue for centuries after water levels stop declining but could slow within a few years if aquifers recover.

  • China’s Growing Agricultural Problems Pose Risks for the U.S.

    China is facing a growing demand on its agricultural production. The Chinese government has taken several domestic initiatives to address the growing problem, but it has also gone abroad to address its needs through investments and acquisitions of farmland, animal husbandry, agricultural equipment, and intellectual property (IP), particularly of GM seeds These efforts present several risks to U.S. economic and national security.

  • Food Production Vulnerable to Cyberattacks

    Wide-ranging use of smart technologies is raising global agricultural production but cyber experts warn this digital-age phenomenon could reap a crop of another kind – cybersecurity attacks.

  • Water Scarcity Predicted to Worsen in More than 80% of Croplands Globally

    Global warming is inexorably leading to water scarcity, and more than 80 percent of the world’s croplands will be affected by this scarcity by 2050. One way to mitigate the effects of growing scarcity is improving irrigation infrastructure and irrigation efficiency.

  • Farming the Next Front in Russia’s War on Ukraine

    In recent months, food shortages resulting from the war in Ukraine have circled the globe, with price hikes of 20% to 50% for ordinary bread reported from Brazil to Pakistan and Egypt. Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s most important food exporters, providing more than a quarter of the world’s wheat supply, along with other important crops such as corn, sunflower seed oil and barley.

  • Why the Food Crisis Will Pass

    Even though the food crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine is now causing acute problems, there is no reason for panic, according to University of Copenhagen food economist Henning Otte Hansen. High food prices will not last because the agricultural sector is equipped to ramp up production and stabilize markets.

  • The Information Age Is Starting to Transform Fishing Worldwide

    The post-industrial area – with its robots, sensors, artificial intelligence, and machine learning — has transformed manufacturing and farming. Commercial fishing, one of the oldest industries in the world, is a stark exception, with industrial fishing, factory ships, and deep-sea trawlers still the dominant hunting mode in much of the world. This approach has led to overfishing, stock depletions, habitat destruction, the senseless killing of unwanted by-catch and wastage of as much as 30% to 40% of landed fish. But these patterns are starting to change.

  • New Network to Improve Biosecurity in Livestock

    Health and welfare, safety and sustainability are crucial elements for ensuring the future of livestock production. Biosecurity aims to prevent the introduction and spread of pathogens within and between farms and, consequently, results in better welfare, increased food safety and better sustainability. A new network to improve biosecurity in livestock.

  • Redefining the Longest Drought

    Maps of the American West have featured ever darker shades of red over the past two decades. In some areas, conditions have blown past severe and extreme drought into exceptional drought. But rather than add more superlatives to the descriptions, one group of scientists believes it’s time to reconsider the very definition of drought.