Agriculture sciences

Leaf fleas are a horror for fruit growers. The so-called psyllids sting the plant with their sucking mouthparts and suck out the plant sap. In this way, the parasitic leaf fleas sometimes cause high crop losses. Until now, fruit growers have tried to control the pest with the help of synthetic chemical pesticides. An international team of researchers with the participation of the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) has now, by chance, found a suitable antagonist in a parasitic fungus to eliminate the leaf flea in fruit growing in a natural way.

Wheat is one of the most important foods in Germany. According to the Federal Statistical Office, 22 million tons of winter wheat were harvested in Germany last year - around five percent more than the year before. But the grain is sensitive to environmental influences, as the past heat years have shown. In Hesse alone, a third of the harvest was lost to heat and drought in 2018. Technology, fertilizers and artificial irrigation also reached their limits.

Already to be found in some supermarkets: glass mini-farms in which lettuce or herbs grow on several floors in a special nutrient solution without pesticides under LED light and are sold freshly harvested directly on site. This controlled and resource-conserving plant cultivation in so-called vertical farms is not only sustainable, but the yields are also significantly higher, according to experts. For companies in the food industry, urban plant cultivation thus opens up entirely new opportunities.

With their high protein content, legumes are healthy and are now an integral part of many plant-based foods. The consumer trend toward healthy eating is causing demand for vegan foods to rise further. Seed specialist KWS Saat SE & Co. KGaA and the Berlin-based start-up company VF Nutrition GmbH, better known under the brand name vly, have now agreed a development partnership lasting several years.

Climate change and industrialization put pressure on ecosystems worldwide - including the valuable resource soil. Especially its ability to store important greenhouse gases is being impaired. It has long been known that microorganisms play an important role in the conversion of organic carbon in the soil. However, how biological and environmental processes affect carbon storage in soils was largely unknown until now. An international team of researchers with the participation of the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena now provides answers.

In agriculture, large quantities of fertilizers are often used to increase yields per unit area. However, this practice has long been controversial because it damages soils, the environment and the climate alike. In addition, heat and drought are putting increasing pressure on soils and crops, leading to crop failures. How can we prevent soils from drying out while increasing yields to ensure food security in the future? A study led by the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) provides promising results.

Agricultural and food systems are under increasing pressure due to climate change. Both the management of fields and the production of food must therefore be adapted to the new challenges in order to ensure food security and protect the environment. The cultivation of legumes has great potential: Legumes such as lentils and peas are not only rich in protein, but at the same time act as natural soil conditioners, which can save on the use of fertilizers.