Today many regions rely on ever more sophisticated irrigation systems, using pumps and water sensors to grow crops on otherwise unworkable land as efficiently as possible. But not every part of the world benefits from modern irrigation and lack of freshwater is often the major limiting factor in crop production. Now a study reveals that global irrigation levels could sustainably increase by nearly 50%, boosting crop yields and feeding an additional 2.8 billion people.

Forests in the Pacific Northwest will be less vulnerable to drought and fire over the next three decades than those in the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada, computer modeling by researchers in Oregon State University’s College of Forestry shows.

Technology first used by NASA to grow plants extra-terrestrially is fast tracking improvements in a range of crops.

When temperatures drop, the enzyme that fuels plant growth and yield, Rubisco, gets sluggish. Many crops compensate by producing more Rubisco; however, scientists speculated that some crops may lack space in their leaves to boost the production of this enzyme, making them more susceptible to cold. A new study from the University of Illinois and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology refutes this theory but found these crops are far from reaching their photosynthetic potential.

Satellite images of the area around Paradise, California, on the morning of Nov. 8 captured the Camp Fire when it was only four hours old, yet had already burned halfway through the city.

The U.S. has less fresh groundwater than previously thought, according to research by UC Santa Barbara scientists.

An international study led by University of Miami tropical biologists reveals that tropical trees are migrating upslope to escape climate change, but not fast enough.

When the phone rang at 5 a.m., Graham Tapley felt the bottom of his stomach drop.

​​Up to 15 million hectares of the Brazilian Amazon is at risk of losing its legal protection, according to a new study from researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, and the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. This is equivalent to more than 4 times the entire forest area of the UK.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that around 45 million tons of phosphorus fertilizers will be used around the world in 2018. Much will be applied to soils that also received phosphorus fertilizers in past years.