The natural world has had billions of years of evolution to perfect systems, creating elegant solutions to tricky problems.

A growing world population means that more food is needed which in turn may require more land to grow food crops. More agriculture, however, results in increased irrigation, particularly for food crops such as maize and wheat – especially in dry regions. Combined with the use of fertilizer, this leads to salt accumulation in soils. To be able to use saline soils, naturally salt-tolerant plants, the so-called halophytes, are of great interest. The pseudo-cereal quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is one of them. Quinoa originated in the Andean region and is adapted to harsh environmental conditions. In the South American mountain range, the cereal-like plant has been used as a food crop for 7000 years. Gluten-free and high in vitamins, the edible seeds have now found their way into European supermarkets.

Connecting Environmental Sustainability with the Science oBrock University biology professors are among a group of researchers participating in a Canada-wide research cluster aimed at boosting the nation’s organic farming sector.

Insect pollinators that have survived the impacts of agricultural intensification may have a greater ability to resist future environmental changes than previously thought, a new study has found.

Scientists have discovered that moths may play a much broader role as plant pollinators than previously suspected.

New research suggests that crop yields and the global food supply chain can be preserved by harnessing the critical, and often overlooked, partner in food supply – soil.

Agriculture that appears to be more eco-friendly but uses more land may actually have greater environmental costs per unit of food than “high-yield” farming that uses less land, a new study has found.

A new study from Florida State University researchers indicates that common satellite imaging technologies have vastly underestimated the number of fires in Florida.

If the majority of dairy farms in Pennsylvania fully adopt conservation best-management practices, the state may be able to achieve its total maximum daily load water-quality target for the Chesapeake Bay, according to researchers.

In one video, you can see a hungry caterpillar, first working around a leaf’s edges, approaching the base of the leaf and, with one last bite, severing it from the rest of the plant. Within seconds, a blaze of fluorescent light washes over the other leaves, a signal that they should prepare for future attacks by the caterpillar or its kin.