Tag: agriculture

This Flying AI Robot Can Pick Fruit – Preventing Waste in the Process

It’s getting harder to find fruit pickers to harvest the world’s orchards. COVID-19 travel restrictions have prevented seasonal workers crossing borders, so some farmers are turning to AI drones to pick their...

Unless we Urgently Rethink Agriculture, More Diseases will Jump Species

As the world grapples with the current pandemic, other threats, not least our climate emergency, have not gone away. In 2020, the economic disruption from Covid-19 cost the world’s economy more than...

Protected Areas Are the Best „Tool“ for Nature Conservation

Headlines about the extinction of numerous plant and animal species have experienced the fate of the majority of bad news. They are multiplying and, unfortunately, drowning in a sea of information that...

How to Overcome Water Challenges in Agriculture

More than three billion people live in agricultural areas with high to very high levels of water shortages and scarcity, and almost half of them face severe constraints. Furthermore, available freshwater resources...

The East African Rift: Realising the Region’s Geothermal Potential

The East African Rift System (EARS) is one of the largest rifts in the world. Characterised by a spreading crust, the tectonically active region spans 6,400 kilometres in length and up to...

Impact of COVID-19 on People’s Livelihoods, Their Health and Our Food Systems

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic loss of human life worldwide and presents an unprecedented challenge to public health, food systems and the world of work. The economic and social...

Farmers Could Substantially Boost Productivity by Conserving Soil Biodiversity – IUCN Report

Gland, Switzerland (IUCN) – By increasing the biodiversity of soils through sustainable practices, farmers could deliver substantial benefits for food and water security as well as climate change mitigation and adaptation, according to...

Oil Spill in Mauritius Calls for More Efforts to Safeguard Coral Reef Ecosystems

On July 25, 2020, a Japanese cargo ship struck a reef on the southeast coast of Mauritius, leaking tons of oil into coral reefs, pristine turquoise water lagoons and unique ecosystems of...

Plants – You Owe Them Your Life

Protecting plants is vital for the future of our planet – that’s why 2020 is the International Year of Plant Health.Plants aren’t just a nice addition to your windowsill: they are the...

Status of Climate Risk Management in Latin American and Caribbean Banks

A survey among 78 financial institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean holding 54% of the total assets managed by the banking sector in the region, revealed that 38% of banks incorporate...

Cities – Where the Fight for a Green Recovery Will Be Won or Lost

Cities are home to 55 per cent of the world’s population, all jammed together cheek-by-jowl. Little wonder, then, that cities are being hit hardest by COVID-19: an estimated 90 per cent of...

An App Made in Heaven

Fresh Agriculture Technologies is developing software solutions to assist in fruit production. A team of seven people of different professions, from agronomists through developers to economists, contributed to the digitisation of agriculture...

This App Plants Trees When People Make Lower-Carbon Choices

Ant Forest is a mobile game that has become China’s largest private sector tree-planting scheme. The game has funded the planting of more than 120 million trees, covering more than 100,000...

Is It Possible to Grow Berries Under Solar Panels?

Together with its Dutch subsidiary, GroenLeven, BayWa r.e. has now built one of Europe’s largest AgriPV projects at the Piet Albers fruit farm in Babberich, as well as four new test projects...

10 Things You Should Know About Industrial Farming

There was a time when industrial agriculture seemed to be a panacea for a fast-growing world.  Synthetic fertilizers, chemical pesticides and high-yield cereal hybrids promised to reduce hunger, accommodate growing populations and...

Blanketing the United States in Solar Panels and Pollinator-Friendly Plants

It started as a trickle and now the floodgates are open. Solar arrays that once sat on barren ground are now festooned with plants that attract bees, birds, and butterflies. Even the...

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