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Organic food and crop production, and the business activities accompanying organic farming, helps lower poverty and increase household incomes in rural America, new research shows. The White Paper was prepared by Penn State Agricultural Economist Dr Edward Jaenicke. The study finds organic hotspots – counties with high levels of organic agricultural activity whose neighboring counties […]

Pharmaceutical and chemicals company Bayer has made an offer to buy US seed giant Monsanto for $62 billion US dollars. The German group confirmed on Monday it made an all-cash offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock of Monsanto for $122 per share in a deal that would create

The equivalent of almost 400 million meals of edible food waste from UK supermarkets and manufacturers each year is not redistributed to those in need, new research shows. According to analysis by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap), an estimated 1.9 million tonnes of food is wasted in the UK grocery supply chain every

One in five of the world’s plant species are estimated to be threatened with extinction, according to the State of the World’s Plants released on Monday by experts at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. The biggest factors threatening plant species is the destruction of habitats, including for farming, but the report also reveals that there

Water scarcity, exacerbated by climate change, could hinder economic growth, spur migration, and spark conflict, the World Bank warned on May 3. A new report finds that water will become scarce in world regions where it is currently plentiful – such as Central Africa and East Asia – and scarcity will further worsen in regions

The US is putting pressure on the EU to lower environmental and consumer protection standards, leaked TTIP documents reveal. Greenpeace Netherlands has published secret negotiation texts for the TTIP free trade deal between the United States and the European Union reflecting about half of the draft text as of April 2016, prior to the start

Soil microbes may not be as adaptable to climate change as expected, according to new research published in the journal PLOS One. The study raises concerns that the tiny bacteria, fungi and other micro-organisms that determine soil health and exert enormous influence over the earth’s carbon cycle might struggle to carry out essential ecosystem functions

Some 175 countries signed the Paris climate agreement at UN headquarters on Friday in a ceremony timed to coincide with Earth Day. The agreement was adopted in Paris last December by the 196 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the COP21 conference. Its objective is to limit global temperature rise

Feeding a growing world population in 2050 without the need to clear forests is possible, also with organic farming, if we cut down on meat, new research shows. Scientists at the Alpen-Adra University in Vienna looked at 500 different scenarios taking into account a variety of key factors such as future yields, land-use intensity, various

The global area planted with genetically modified crops has decreased for the first time since the commercial introduction of GM crops in 1996. The worldwide acreage reached 179.7 million hectares in 2015, down by one per cent from 181.5 million hectares in 2014. These figures were published on April 13 by the GMO-friendly organisation “International