Crops Content

Little Birds, Little Poops, Little Food Safety Risk

Katherine E Kerlin — January 21, 2025 - 2:16pm

It doesn’t require a degree in ornithology, a lab test or even an app for most growers to determine whether bird poop near their crops presents a food safety risk. They just need to ask themselves a simple question: How big is it?

Growing Crops with Less Groundwater

Amy M Quinton — April 25, 2023 - 12:08pm

Learn about �鶹��ý’ innovative approach to growing crops with less groundwater in drought-prone regions like California. Farm sustainably for a better future.

Rice Breeding Breakthrough to Feed Billions

Andy Fell — January 10, 2023 - 2:28pm

An international team has succeeded in propagating a commercial hybrid rice strain as a clone through seeds with 95% efficiency. This could lower the cost of hybrid rice seed, making high-yielding, disease resistant rice strains available to low-income farmers worldwide. The work was published Dec. 27 in Nature Communications.

Maximizing Use of Water Stored in Soil Could Result in Savings for Farmers

Amy M Quinton — May 14, 2019 - 10:00am

As California faces more frequent and severe droughts, agriculture, which relies on irrigation from surface water and groundwater, could become expensive and unsustainable. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, looked at using a “free” resource — rain water stored in the soil — and found that optimizing its use could go a long way to help meet demand for five California perennial crops. Their findings appear in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

Rice Plants That Reproduce as Clones From Seed

Andy Fell — December 12, 2018 - 1:21pm

Plant biologists at the University of California, Davis, have discovered a way to make crop plants replicate through seeds as clones. The discovery, long sought by plant breeders and geneticists, could make it easier to propagate high-yielding, disease-resistant or climate-tolerant crops and make them available to the world’s farmers.

The researchers published their findings Dec. 12 in the journal Nature.

Study Finds Indigenous Mexican Variety of Corn Captures the Nitrogen It Needs From the Air

Amy M Quinton — August 07, 2018 - 11:01am

Researchers from �鶹��ý, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Mars, Incorporated have found that an indigenous variety of corn can "fix nitrogen" from the atmosphere, instead of requiring synthetic fertilizers. If this trait could be bred into conventional varieties of corn, it may reduce the need for added fertilizer.

�鶹��ý Students Breed Beans for Organic Farming

Amy M Quinton — April 11, 2018 - 3:14pm

Breeders at the University of California, Davis, have begun field tests on high-yield, disease-resistant organic bean varieties.

Tracking Down the Jumping Genes of Maize

Andy Fell — August 23, 2017 - 2:46pm

The “jumping genes” of maize have finally been mapped by an international team led by researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The discovery could ultimately benefit the breeding and production of maize, one of the world’s most important crops.

Breeding Crops Today for an Uncertain Tomorrow

Patricia Bailey — March 09, 2017 - 2:57pm

Variable weather is creating extreme challenges for crop breeding in California. How do you develop crops that will thrive under certain conditions when you can no longer predict what those conditions will be?

Diversity as Natural Pesticide

Katherine E Kerlin — October 12, 2016 - 11:50am

Monoculture crops provide the nutrient levels insect pests crave, explains a study led by the University of California, Davis, in the journal Nature. Returning plant diversity to farmland could be a key step toward sustainable pest control.