Tag - agriculture

 
 

AGRICULTURE

A Malawian subsistence farmer surveys her maize fields in Dowa near the capital Lilongwe.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 15, 2024
The AI revolution comes for farmers growing a third of our food
In Malawi, subsistence farmers are using an AI app to get tips on how to diagnose crop and farm animal diseases.
Water tanks used to cultivate seaweed on land by Three Lines in Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jun 3, 2024
Poor seaweed harvest prompts Kyushu University team to look toward land
The team has found some success with on-land farming, although increasing production yields for commercialization remains a challenge.
Farm minister Tetsushi Sakamoto stands as an amendment on Japan's farm policies clears parliament on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 30, 2024
Japan enacts revised 'constitution' for farm policies
The revised law newly underscores the necessity of ensuring food security at a time when supply chains are being destabilized.
A worker shovels soil next to irrigation channels and recently planted shoots of Xinjiang poplar at the Yangguan state-backed forest farm, on the edge of the Gobi desert on the outskirts of Dunhuang, China's Gansu province, in 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 23, 2024
China's food security dream faces land, soil and water woes
With limited land and water, China will have to sharply increase farming productivity.
Coffee trees in the Izumi district of Motobu, Okinawa Prefecture
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
May 20, 2024
New study finds Japan’s coffee cultivation has roots in Okinawa
Farmers in Okinawa hope the discovery will serve as a catalyst for boosting coffee production in the prefecture.
A plant set up at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Sewerage's Sunamachi Water Reclamation Center in Koto Ward to recover phosphorus from sewage sludge
JAPAN / Society
May 17, 2024
Tokyo to recycle phosphorus from sewage sludge for farm fertilizer
Phosphorus, along with nitrogen and potassium, is a crucial component of fertilizers.
George Guttridge-Smith brews tea at Kyoto Obubu Tea Farm in Wazuka, Kyoto Prefecture, where he serves as head of international development.
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 13, 2024
Is black the new green for Japan’s flagging tea farmers?
With coffee and bottled tea cutting into their potential profits, harvesters in Japan are dabbling in the less-regulated production of black tea.
The H5N1 bird flu virus, which has been found in cattle, is a pathogen that has loomed large in the minds of infectious disease experts for its potential to cause a deadly human pandemic.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2024
The bird flu outbreak brings more questions than answers
This is a pathogen that has loomed large in the minds of infectious disease experts for its potential to cause a deadly human pandemic.
Rice is responsible for about 10% of global methane emissions, due to the way it’s grown.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
May 9, 2024
Rice has a methane problem that a startup is promising to fix
Rice is responsible for about 10% of global methane emissions, due to the way it’s grown.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
JAPAN / Politics
May 1, 2024
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Widespread use of biomass as car fuel makes Brazil an ideal import partner for Japan.
A human tooth discovered at Taforalt Cave in Morocco. Isotopic analysis has uncovered unexpected dietary habits among preagricultural communities in the country.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 30, 2024
New study offers insight into what people ate before agriculture
Chemical markers in the bones and teeth from the remains of seven individuals were analyzed, along with several isolated teeth, dating back 15,000 years.
Researcher Mercury Wong holds a rice plant on April 1.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Apr 30, 2024
Hong Kong team plants seeds to safeguard legacy grains
Scientists and farmers in Hong Kong are tending to local varieties of grain they say could be an important food source in the face of climate change.
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Apr 28, 2024
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
As Japan’s rice farmers prepare for a new planting season, many will be hoping that this summer brings a reprieve from 2023’s brutal weather conditions.
Solar panels on Dave Duttlinger's farmland that he leased to Dunns Bridge Solar in Wheatfield, Indiana
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Apr 27, 2024
As solar capacity grows, some of America's most productive farmland is at risk
The solar industry is pushing into the U.S. Midwest, drawn by cheaper land rents and wide-open fields.
As of April 4, the bird flu virus had been confirmed in more than a dozen herds across six U.S. states, with Kansas, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas all reporting infected cows.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2024
Bird flu in cows demands vigilance, not panic
Bird flu had been confirmed in herds across six U.S. states, with Kansas, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas all reporting infected cows.
Workers clean argeli bark in the Ilam district of eastern Nepal. Thousands of miles away, in Japan, the bark will be used to make yen notes.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 16, 2024
On Himalayan hillsides grows Japan’s cold, hard cash
One of the poorest pockets of Asia supplies a primary ingredient for the economy in one of the richest.
Masafumi Kurisaka shows off a box of luxury Sakura Momo Ichigo strawberries, which can fetch a hefty price at auction.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Apr 15, 2024
Masafumi Kurisaka: 'The fewer the flowers, the bigger the strawberry'
Masafumi Kurisaka turned his back on a corporate job to go into the family business: luxury strawberries that fetch a hefty price.
Deer that are kept in a fenced-off area in the city of Nara
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2024
Nara Prefecture to expand area for culling iconic deer
The prefectural panel will discuss culling methods and other details to draw up a new protection program in fiscal 2025.
A chicken in its coop on Fogline Farm in Pescadero, California, on March 1. Unlike the coronavirus, the H5N1 virus has been studied for years. Vaccines and treatments are available should they ever become necessary.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 6, 2024
Is bird flu coming to people next? Are we ready?
Outbreaks have been found among dairy cows in multiple states, as well as at least one infection in a farmworker in Texas.
H5N1 has been discovered in dairy cows in the U.S. states of Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Michigan and Idaho.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 4, 2024
What to know about bird flu in dairy cows and the risk to humans
Health officials and scientists say the risk to humans remains low, but many questions remain.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?