news

Environment - Agronomy / Food Science - 25.11.2022

Biodiversity in drylands can mitigate climate change
International team of researchers completes first global field study on the ecological impact of grazing in drylands Grazing is a form of land use which sustains the livelihood for billions of people. It is especially important in drylands, which cover around 41 percent of the Earth's land surface, hosts one in three humans inhabiting our planet and over 50 % of all livestock live.

Agronomy / Food Science - 11.11.2022

Researchers warn of nutritional hoaxes and launch a campaign to detect them on social networks
The CADENUSA project (Awareness Campaign on Misinformation and Hoaxes in Nutrition and Food Safety), funded by the UNESCO Chair and directed by three researchers from the ScienceFlows group of the Un

Agronomy / Food Science - 09.11.2022

Better welfare for chickens and pigs
The health and welfare of animals that produce our food is of great importance. Researchers from the University of Utrecht and the Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Nutrition (ILVO) in Flanders, among others, received almost eight million euros from the European Union to develop in cooperation with the industry innovative measuring equipment to monitor the welfare of broiler chickens and fattening pigs as they are loaded, unloaded, transported and slaughtered.

Life Sciences - Agronomy / Food Science - 08.11.2022

Motivation is affected by oxidative stress, nutrition can help
Motivation is affected by oxidative stress in the brain, a study by EPFL and Nestlé shows. The findings also suggest motivation can be improved through nutritional interventions. In life, motivation can be the difference between success and failure, goal-setting and aimlessness, well-being and unhappiness.

Health - Agronomy / Food Science - 08.11.2022

Study confirms that processed foods key to rising obesity 
The modern pallet's preference for highly processed and refined foods over a protein-rich diet is a key contributor to the high obesity rates in the Western world. A year-long study of the dietary habits of 9,341 Australians has backed growing evidence that highly processed and refined foods are the leading contributor of rising obesity rates in the Western world.

Life Sciences - Agronomy / Food Science - 04.11.2022

Measuring Protein Digestibility in the Laboratory while Reducing Animal Testing
How much of the proteins present in foods can the human body absorb and how high is the quality of these proteins? These are the key questions in discussions about a healthy and sustainable diet. Agroscope has developed a method that can reliably measure the protein digestibility of different foods in the laboratory.

Life Sciences - Agronomy / Food Science - 02.11.2022

Ambrosia beetles breed and maintain their own food fungi
Experiment at the University of Freiburg provides first evidence of a bark beetle species' agricultural capability Freiburg, Nov 02, 2022 Ambrosia beetles practice active agriculture: A bark beetle species breeds and cultivates food fungi in its nests and ensures that so-called weed fungi spread less.

Environment - Agronomy / Food Science - 02.11.2022

A comprehensive view of the world food system
Agriculture practices that preserve resources? Enough food to make sure that everyone can enjoy a healthy and balanced diet? We still are a long way from that, finds Robert Finger - and outlines the most important fields of action to make the food system more sustainable. Today, the global system that supplies us with food is facing major challenges.

Environment - Agronomy / Food Science - 25.10.2022

Mapping the pressures of global food production
A map showing the environmental pressures from global food production has been developed by researchers, to identify ways of creating more sustainable and just food systems. The analysis looked at greenhouse gas emissions, water use, habitat disturbance and pollution, such as effluent or fertiliser run off from farms.

Agronomy / Food Science - 19.10.2022

Food safety monitoring could be more effective
How can we make food safety monitoring as effective as possible with the available resources? That is the question that the Chair of Food Safety Economics is tackling. This is the central topic of the inaugural address of special professor Ine van der Fels-Klerx on October 20, 2022. The title of her speech is: 'Integrating economics in food safety monitoring: what, where and how?' Food safety is under pressure Despite the fact that food in the Netherlands and Europe has never been so safe, as it is today, there are all kinds of developments that put this safety under pressure.

Environment - Agronomy / Food Science - 19.10.2022

Nitrogen boundaries exceeded in many world regions
It has long been known that humanity is exceeding planetary boundaries for nitrogen use. Scientists have now mapped those exceedances regionally for the first time. Whereas countries in north-western Europe and parts of India and China are emitting far too much nitrogen, there is actually room for intensification of nitrogen use across much of Africa and South America.

Environment - Agronomy / Food Science - 10.10.2022

Non-native species are also beneficial to the ecosystem
A team of scientists makes the case for reevaluating maligned non-native species. Awareness of non-native species - often called ''invasive'' - has vastly increased over the past fifty years, to the point where anyone with green conscience has heard of them and their negative effects, whether it is the zebra mussel or ragweed.

Innovation - Agronomy / Food Science - 07.10.2022

Food from the printer
Printing food sounds futuristic, but that future is approaching fast. And Wageningen is at the forefront; the latest success is a 3D plant-based 'meat' printer.

Environment - Agronomy / Food Science - 29.09.2022

Turtle studies help trace evolutionary changes
Since Darwin, we have known that evolutionary adaptation is reflected in the appearance and function of species' bodies under environmental changes. One of the questions commonly asked by evolutionary biologists is how body shape relates to a specific ecological feature, such as diet. In a recent study published in the journal Evolution , Guilherme Hermanson and his team at the University of Freiburg looked at the environmental factors that affect the shape of turtle skulls.

Health - Agronomy / Food Science - 28.09.2022

Trial with three vaccines against bird flu
Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR) has started a trial with bird flu vaccination. In Lelystad vaccines against bird flu of three different pharmaceutical companies are tested. In the trial vaccines against the current H5 viruses are tested in laying hens. "More information about the potential vaccines against bird flu is required before these can be applied in the field," explains bird flu researcher Nancy Beerens.

Agronomy / Food Science - Chemistry - 27.09.2022

Germany’s oldest beer scientifically considered
Study reveals molecular profile of 19th century beer sample After almost 140 years, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) opened a lager beer that had been kept at room temperature throughout to analyze it. The beer, dating back to 1885, has now been characterized sensorially and analytically.

Agronomy / Food Science - Environment - 26.09.2022

Majority of Gen Z unaware of how meat consumption impacts climate
A survey of young Australians by a University of Sydney researcher found that while the majority believe climate change is anthropogenic - caused by humans - fewer than half understand the impact of livestock and meat consumption. Generation Z - those born after 1995 - overwhelmingly believe that climate change is being caused by humans and activities like the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and waste.

Agronomy / Food Science - 21.09.2022

Combating malnutrition
Combating malnutrition - Egg powder suitable as a food supplement? Category: Research, Top-News Malnutrition is a key challenge not only in African countries. As an international study now shows, egg powder is a food with great potential to improve the nutritional situation of children in deprived areas.

Agronomy / Food Science - 21.09.2022

New Royal Veterinary College study finds low-cost thermal image devices could be as effective as expensive alternatives in detecting lameness in dairy cattle
The research reveals that the low-cost devices could be as effective as diagnostics that are up to 50 times more expensive A new study, led by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), has determined that low-cost thermal imaging devices show minimal difference in effectiveness of detecting lameness in dairy cattle when compared to more expensive devices.

Environment - Agronomy / Food Science - 19.09.2022

Agriculture drives more than 90% of tropical deforestation
Halting deforestation will require a step-change in approach, and to be effective measures must address underlying and indirect roles of agriculture, says a recently published study in Science. This research finds that between 90 and 99 percent of all deforestation in the tropics is driven directly or indirectly by agriculture.