Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found that good nutrition enhances honey bee resilience against viral threats and exposure to pesticides. Their study, published in Science of the Total Environment, examined how the interplay of three factors— nutritional stress, viral infections and exposure to pesticides— together influence honey bee survival. Specifically, the team looked […]

A new report compiled by researchers from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Berkeley, Food Insight Group, Berkeley Food Institute, and USDA documented the benefits to farmers and the environment from California’s investment in farm to school programs. The report shows that 57% of the farmers participating in the state’s Farm to School Incubator Grant […]

USDA Farm Service Agency announced the launch of the Distressed Borrowers Assistance Network, an initiative designed to provide personalized support to financially distressed farmers and ranchers across the nation. Through a series of Cooperative Agreements, this national network will connect distressed borrowers with individualized assistance to help them stabilize and regain financial footing. Network partners […]

North Carolina berry grower Cal Lewis has succeeded in growing raspberries on the Carolina coast with the long cane method, reports North Carolina State University. Although the climate is ordinarily too warm to produce raspberries on a commercial scale, Lewis and NC State researchers tried production with primocanes grown in containers in a cooler climate. […]

Scientists have analyzed data from a study conducted by Carl Linnaeus 275 years ago to determine livestock preferences for different varieties of plants. Linnaeus conducted tests with 643 different plant species and several different species of livestock, but the results were never analyzed. Now, researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden have compiled and analyzed the […]