#agriculturalscience — Public Fediverse posts

🌱🔬 Seeds as microbial taxis: How bacteria travel across plant generations. The microbiome of plants transported in seeds can shape the development of the next generation of plants - and how they cope with stressors, such as drought.
https://www.zalf.de/en/aktuelles/Pages/PB1/Seeds.aspx

#Microbiome #AgriculturalScience

Registration open for UW Extension’s online Master Gardener training | Local News https://www.allforgardening.com/1928700/registration-open-for-uw-extensions-online-master-gardener-training-local-news/ #AgriculturalScience #agriculture #botany #gardening #GardeningWyoming #horticulture #LocalBriefs #MasterGardenerProgram #NaturalEnvironment #PlantAgriculture #PlantsAndHumans #PrimarySectorOfTheEconomy #SustainableAgriculture #UniversityOfWyoming #UwExtensionMasterGardenerProgram #wyoming

August in the Yard & Garden | Price County Review https://www.allforgardening.com/1925291/august-in-the-yard-garden-price-county-review/ #AgriculturalScience #agriculture #agronomy #archaeplastida #botany #fertilizer #flower #garden #gardener #gardening #herbicide #horticulture #Kingdoms(biology) #maintenance #plant #PlantAgriculture #plants #PlantsAndHumans #PrimarySector #soil #SoilTest #Vegetable #weed

A highly contagious avian herpesvirus that causes Marek's disease, which manifests as tumors and paralysis in poultry, and has progressively evolved to evade multiple generations of vaccines.
#Virology #EvolutionaryBiology #Genomics #AgriculturalScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/08/vi08032601.html

Recent research demonstrates that varying intensities of drought stress fundamentally alter the biochemical interactions and susceptibility of sugar beet plants to their primary pest, the beet leaf miner (Pegomya cunicularia).
#AgriculturalScience #Entomology #PlantPhysiology #CropEcology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/07/agri07292601.html

update on my WIP mega-zine about industrial ag:

i think i've had a good breakthrough in my research on the green revolution.

the book is called "Geopolitics and the Green Revolution: Wheat, Genes, and the Cold War" by john h. perkins.

he covers the scientific development of the dwarf varieties of wheat in USA, mexico, UK, and india; and the spread of these varieties that is commonly referred to as the green revolution.

he writes: "Between 1945 and 1955 a series of events, studies, and conceptual syntheses created a climate in the United States that saw plant breeding and all of the modern agricultural sciences as a critically important adjunct in the battle between capitalist freedom and the tyranny of communism."

he spells out the theory that they were operating under: "The American intellectual and political climate from 1945 to 1955 was critically shaped by the development of the cold war, a part of which included a theory that purported to link causally overpopulation, resource exhaustion, hunger, political instability, communist insurrection, and danger to vital American interests. As a convenient shorthand, the theory can be called the population-national security theory (PNST)." 🤯

i read that and i was like "yesssssss this is it".

he even made a nice little graphic (see below).

i've been reading a lot of primary sources, and PNST thinking was in a lot of them, but having a historian lay it out so clearly and succinctly is soooo helpful.

additionally, i found the full text of a speech by allen dulles (head of the CIA at the time) on "the communist challenge to free government." it's a rich example of the kind of paranoid thinking that was happening at the top of the US political structure at the time. in the speech, he asserts that communists are everywhere, trying to turn the various recently-decolonized peoples toward communism...soviets put out propaganda on the radio, via printed materials, and *secretly* via various unions and international associations, and via the world peace council.

he writes that communism is (of course) not very enticing to those of us in the free world, because of our material plenty and our forefathers' commitment to liberty or whatever. BUT, to a subject of a newly-decolonized nation, who is hungry and desperately trying to catch up to the modern world, communism is very appealing (supposedly). 🙄

the whole speech really helped me get inside the thinking that i think perkins would describe as PNST. i don't know if any quotes from the dulles speech will make it into the zine (if i have room, hopefully!), but it's still a really helpful primary source (i like a good primary source).

if you want to read the text of the dulles speech, it's available here: archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp62s00545a000100090040-3

as a bonus, i've included the cover of a publication called "man, land, and food", from USDA in 1963. yes, it shows a rough graphic of a naked black person holding up an empty bowl, with a graphic of the globe behind them. so yea, that's where these guys were at. they saw the recently decolonized peoples as a sort of undifferentiated mass of hungry mouths. extremely dehumanizing.

#USHistory #research #GreenRevolution #agriculture #ColdWar #AgriculturalScience #USPol #history #decolonization #wheat #wip

Storm debris to food security: Turning downed trees into a productive garden | Featured Columnists https://www.allforgardening.com/1871113/storm-debris-to-food-security-turning-downed-trees-into-a-productive-garden-featured-columnists/ #AgriculturalScience #agriculture #botany #crop #debris #EarthSciences #farmer #garden #guam #hügelkultur #horticulture #leaf #Mound #NaturalEnvironment #OrganicMatter #plant #PlantAgriculture #PlantsAndHumans #PrimarySector #soil #SoilScience #storm! #tree #Vegetable #wood

The increasing reliance on digital technologies and quantitative data to monitor soil health risks overlooking the complex biological life and local context essential to understanding soil as a living system.
#EnvironmentalScience #SoilEcology #DigitalAgronomy #AgriculturalScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/07/env07062601.html

Researchers have engineered a chemically modified form of the naturally occurring clay mineral Montmorillonite that absorbs and retains large quantities of ethylene gas, effectively delaying the ripening and degradation of agricultural produce.
#MaterialsScience #PhysicalChemistry #AgriculturalScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/06/ms06222601.html

Certain agricultural soils function as dynamic living systems capable of naturally inhibiting the infection and survival of devastating fungal pathogens, such as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.
#AgriculturalScience #SoilEcology #Microbiology #PlantPathology #Botany #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/05/agri05282601.html

A specialized functional food intervention combining high-lycopene tomato juice and soy isoflavone extract has been shown to significantly lower pro-inflammatory proteins in healthy adults with obesity.
#NutritionalScience #MolecularBiology #AgriculturalScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/05/nut05262601.html

Botrytis cinerea, commonly known as gray mold, is a highly destructive necrotrophic agricultural fungus capable of infecting over a thousand plant species and causing massive global crop losses. Recent research reveals that the pathogen dynamically adjusts its infection strategy based on the specific plant it is attacking, defying previous assumptions about plant-pathogen interactions.
#PlantPathology #AgriculturalScience #Botany #Genetics #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/05/agri05202601.html

Soil algae are highly diverse, adaptable microorganisms inhabiting the surface soils of arable land, contributing significantly to the global microbiome and Earth's total vegetation production.
#Microbiology #Phycology #AgriculturalEcolog #Agronomy #AgriculturalScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/05/mcb05182601.html

Researchers are extracting the naturally occurring, honeycomb-like fiber networks from prickly pear cactus waste to develop sustainable, low-carbon composite building materials.
#MaterialScience #Engineering #AgriculturalScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/05/ms05152601.html

Exposing edible mushrooms to moderate, optimized doses of ultraviolet (UV) light significantly increases their vitamin D₂ content. Excessive exposure can lead to nutrient degradation or a plateau effect, establishing the need for carefully balanced treatment parameters.
#NutritionalScience #AgriculturalScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/05/nut05042601.html

Waverly Community Sharing Garden Spring Planting Day | Local https://www.allforgardening.com/1737408/waverly-community-sharing-garden-spring-planting-day-local/ #AgriculturalProduction #AgriculturalScience #agriculture #agronomy #botany #Crops #EdiblePlants #garden #gardening #horticulture #PlantAgriculture #plants #PlantsAndHumans #PrimarySectorOfTheEconomy

SFA Gardens seminar focuses on plant propagation | Local News https://www.allforgardening.com/1736066/sfa-gardens-seminar-focuses-on-plant-propagation-local-news/ #AgriculturalScience #agriculture #agronomy #archaeplastida #biology #botany #garden #gardening #HorticulturalTechniques #horticulture #Kingdoms(biology) #NaturalEnvironment #NaturalResources #organisms #PlantAgriculture #PlantPropagation #PlantReproduction #plants #PlantsAndHumans #PrimarySectorOfTheEconomy #StephenFAustinStateUniversity

A novel circular upcycling model utilizing industrially harvested black soldier fly larvae to consume and process abundant Canada goose feces into valuable insect biomass and nutrient-rich fertilizer.
#Environmental #Ecology #Entomology #AgriculturalScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/04/env04212601.html

Driven by climate change and past management practices, natural disturbances such as wildfires, extreme winds, and pest outbreaks are projected to increasingly impact ##European forests, potentially doubling the affected area by 2100 under worst-case warming scenarios.
#Ecology #Climatology #ClimateChange #Environmental #AgriculturalScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/04/eco04172601.html

Plants adjust to fluctuating environmental temperatures by dynamically altering the expression of Rubisco, the critical and highly abundant protein responsible for fixing carbon during the first step of photosynthesis.
#Botany #MolecularBiology #Biochemistry #AgriculturalScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/04/bot04162501.html

To meet global demand, forest farmers in the northeastern United States are cultivating American ginseng using seeds sourced from large, artificial-shade farms in the Midwest and Canada, a practice that is unintentionally altering the genetic makeup of naturally occurring, "wild" #ginseng populations.
#Botany #AgriculturalScience #Genetics #Conservation #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/04/bot04152601.html

Exposure to light directly enhances the structural adhesion between the outermost epidermal layer and the inner tissues of plant stems. This physiological response acts as a mechanical regulatory system that limits internal tissue expansion and governs overall plant growth.
#Botany #PlantPhysiology #CellBiology #AgriculturalScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/04/bot04132601.html

The most optimal durum #wheat varieties for balancing high productivity and environmental stability are those exhibiting vigorous initial growth and early maturation, contradicting the traditional assumption that prolonged leaf greenness at the end of a season ensures better crop outcomes.
#Agronomy #PlantPhenomics #Botany #ArtificialIntelligence #AgriculturalEngineering #AgriculturalScience #AI #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/04/arga04102601.html

GRACE FO Soil Moisture Within Continental United States: Monitoring Drought 🌎🌑🧑‍🚀

#Agriculturalscience #Agriculture #Artemis #ClimateIndicators #Drought #DroughtEffect #DroughtIndices #Earth

⏩ 4 new pictures and 4 new videos from NASA (SVS) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ListFiles?limit=22&user=OptimusPrimeBot&ilshowall=1&offset=20260408072754

A precision #agriculture system developed by UC Riverside utilizing an autonomous robot to map soil moisture on a tree-by-tree basis. The technology aggregates dynamic field data with stationary sensors to create highly accurate statistical models of water distribution across entire orchards.
#AgriculturalScience #Robotics #Engineering #Technology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/04/agri04022601.html

The #sorghum pangenome is a comprehensive, high-definition library of genetic blueprints that captures the full genomic diversity of the global sorghum crop. It replaces the traditional "one-size-fits-all" reference genome by integrating genetic variations from multiple varieties worldwide.
#Genomics #Biotechnology #AgriculturalScience #Botany #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/03/geno03312601.html

Implementing simple, low-cost modifications to agricultural water points—such as raising #cattle troughs—prevents invasive cane #toads from accessing vital water during dry seasons, effectively halting their survival and spread in semi-arid regions.
#Ecology #Conservation #AgriculturalScience #Zoology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/03/eco03302601.html

Researchers have identified two specific strains of bacteria (AP9 and AP12) capable of entering into a symbiotic relationship with plants to enhance survival, root development, and seedling growth in highly saline soils. These microorganisms function as living biofertilizers that protect crops, such as wheat, from osmotic and ion-specific toxicity.
#Microbiology #AgriculturalScience #Biology #Biotechnology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/03/mcb03302601.html

Agroseismology is an emerging interdisciplinary scientific field that applies seismological techniques and geophysical monitoring tools to agricultural environments.
#Agroseismology #AgriculturalScience #EarthScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/03/cat03282602.html