Conservation's hidden costs take bite out of benefits

Returning croplands to forests is a sustainability gold standard to mitigate climate change impacts and promote conservation. That is, new research shows, unless you're a poor farmer.

Mowing urban lawns less intensely increases biodiversity, saves money and reduces pests

The researchers combined data across North America and Europe using a meta-analysis, a way of aggregating results from multiple studies to increase statistical strength. They found strong evidence that increased mowing intensity of urban lawns -- which included parks, roundabouts and road verges -- had negative ecological effects, particularly on invertebrate and plant diversity. Pest species, on the other hand, benefitted from intense lawn management.

Stand out from the herd: How cows communicate through their lives

Farmers might finally be able to answer the question: How now brown cow?

Research at the University of Sydney has shown that cows maintain individual voices in a variety of emotional situations.

Comparing heirloom and modern wheat effects on gut health

Amid concerns about gluten sensitivity, increasing numbers of people are avoiding wheat. Most have not been diagnosed with a wheat-related medical condition, yet they seem to feel better when they don't eat gluten-containing foods.

Fossils of the future to mostly consist of humans, domestic animals

As the number and technology of humans has grown, their impact on the natural world now equals or exceeds those of natural processes, according to scientists.

Agricultural parasite avoids evolutionary arms race, shuts down genes of host plants

A parasitic plant has found a way to circumvent an evolutionary arms race with the host plants from which it steals nutrients, allowing the parasite to thrive on a variety of agriculturally important plants. The parasite dodder, an agricultural pest found on every continent, sends genetic material into its host to shut down host defense genes.

Plant-eating insects disrupt ecosystems and contribute to climate change

A new study from Lund University in Sweden shows that plant-eating insects affect forest ecosystems considerably more than previously thought. Among other things, the insects are a factor in the leaching of nutrients from soil and increased emissions of carbon dioxide. The researchers also establish that the temperature may rise as a result of an increase in the amount of plant-eating insects in some regions.

Grain traits traced to 'dark matter' of rice genome

Domesticated rice has fatter seed grains with higher starch content than its wild rice relatives -- the result of many generations of preferential seed sorting and sowing. But even though rice was the first crop to be fully sequenced, scientists have only documented a few of the genetic changes that made rice into a staple food for more than half the world's population.

Fungi could reduce reliance on fertilizers

Introducing fungi to wheat boosted their uptake of key nutrients and could lead to new, 'climate smart' varieties of crops, according to a new study.

Merry Christmas from Food Farm News

May your home be filled with joy and love