AgriTech Review

Nitrogen is essential for life. It's needed to build proteins, DNA and many other components of cells. Although nitrogen gas makes up almost 80% of Earth's atmosphere, most organisms cannot use it directly. Certain microbes solve this problem through a process called nitrogen fixation, which converts nitrogen gas into ammonia. This process is carried out by an enzyme called nitrogenase.

A new bibliometric review charts how Brazilian soil computed tomography evolved from homemade gamma-ray scanners in 1985 to synchrotron imaging today, revealing a mature, internationally connected research field with outsized impact on tropical agriculture and climate science.

A landmark landscape genetics study of 243 Guinea baboons reveals that intensive monoculture farming severs gene flow across West Africa, while rivers and heterogeneous habitats keep populations connected.

A five-year field and laboratory study shows that incorporating half of the harvested rice straw boosts paddy soil fertility while adding only about 3 percent to global warming potential, thanks to methane-oxidizing and nitrous oxide-consuming microbes.

Fermenting whole-wheat dough with specific Bacillus subtilis strains rebuilds the gluten network, softens steamed buns, and reduces off-odors, according to a new study in npj Science of Food.

A new study links satellite-derived vegetation and soil moisture anomalies with farmer surveys across four Nigerian states, showing that these indicators improve drought impact monitoring for rainfed rice yields beyond what rainfall indices alone can achieve.

A study of 360 Brown Swiss cows shows that the dry period and early lactation are the most metabolically stressful phases of the production cycle, with novel adipokines and the ER stress marker GRP78 offering new early-warning biomarkers for herd health.

The Canadian government launched its first National Food Security Strategy in June 2026. The strategy aims to invest $750 million to increase year-round Canadian production of fruits and vegetables, including on so-called vertical farms.

The new research should act as a tool for food companies when building the next consumer purchasing journey. The post Regen-organic food can be ‘measurably more nutritious,’ says new research from Edacious and ROA appeared first on AgFunderNews.

Do people eat insects when there is nothing else to eat? Are insects really "food for the poor" or famine food?

A new national framework coupling cropland health, productivity, and connectivity identifies 14.67 percent of China's farmland for managed fallow, concentrating urgent zones in the north and remediation zones in the south.

A new evidence map of 72 studies shows that remote sensing reliably tracks surface-expressed forest soil damage from wildfire and harvesting, while subsurface degradation still requires field measurement.

A localized convolutional neural network trained on ASCAT satellite radar data outperforms the operational soil moisture product and, during heavy rainfall events, can detect how soil moisture changes within a single day.

A large metagenomic study of Iowa homes finds that bedroom dust contains more antimicrobial resistance genes when residences sit closer to intensive livestock operations.

A calibrated watershed model shows that combining irrigation, high-density planting and improved maize hybrids can raise yields and stabilise them against drought while curbing soil erosion in the Mollisol granaries of China and the United States.

Walk into the quality office of almost any established food plant and you’ll find years of batch records.

A sweeping analysis of nearly 146,000 US food and beverage launches finds that on-package claims frequently fail to reflect, and sometimes contradict, a product's overall nutritional quality.

A new study shows that three years of air-dried storage nearly doubled water-extractable organic carbon in archived soils, casting doubt on a popular soil health indicator.

A large Czech field study of 519 dairy cows finds that farm and lactation stage dominate milk composition and metabolic indicators, while five lipogenic genes play only a minor role and milk BHB emerges as a practical herd-level marker of ketosis risk.

Timed foliar sprays made from weed-derived bio-formulations increased fruit set, yield, quality and leaf nutrients in high-density 'Gala Schniga Schnico' apple orchards, a two-year Indian field study found.

A new study in Nigeria's Guinea Savanna shows that machine learning algorithms, led by Cubist, dramatically outperform traditional Ordinary Kriging for mapping soil clay content using satellite and terrain data.

Researchers in Morocco have isolated five salt-tolerant Pseudomonas strains from the roots of a wild coastal legume that dramatically boost plant biomass and could help restore degraded saline soils.

A two-strain bacterial consortium combining Bacillus subtilis SL-44 and Klebsiella oxytoca RS-5 boosts rapeseed growth through both direct plant stimulation and a reshaping of the rhizosphere microbiome, according to a new study in Plant and Soil.

A new study of 109 little free-tailed bats in Eswatini reveals highly individual gut microbiomes rich in potential bacterial pathogens such as Mycoplasma and Salmonella, yet surprisingly unresponsive to agricultural land cover change.

The DNA Series: This is the last blog in the DNA Series (boo!), and we’re delving into the world of gene editing. For this series, … The post DNA Series: Gene Editing appeared first on SAIFood.

A 27-year analysis of British Columbia's commercial salmon fisheries shows that the stabilising portfolio effect of biodiversity extends from fish populations through catches, prices and revenues, though synchronised Chinook declines reveal hidden vulnerabilities.

BIOAGRI 2026 was held in Hyderabad, bringing together industry leaders, scientists, researchers, startups and policymakers to discuss biological agriculture and smart farming. The summit focused on soil health, biological solutions, scientific innovation, investment opportunities, emerging technologies and sustainable agriculture, highlighting the growing role of biological solutions in India’s agricultural future.

Researchers have identified a novel microRNA, miR65, that represses the transcription factor MsbZIP11 and acts as a key negative regulator of saline-alkali stress tolerance in alfalfa by coordinating photosynthesis, sugar accumulation, and redox homeostasis.

First-principles calculations reveal that a new boron-carbon-nitride monolayer remains stable under wide tensile strain while its bandgap, light absorption, and exciton binding energy can be tuned for optoelectronic applications.

A thirteen-month greenhouse experiment shows that potassium locked in clay minerals supplied up to 74 percent of alfalfa's uptake in alkaline Mediterranean soils, revealing that standard exchangeable-potassium soil tests dramatically underestimate the nutrient truly available to crops.

arXiv:2610.08807v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Precision pesticide spraying is essential for optimizing application efficiency and ensuring uniform chemical distribution. Spraying performance is influenced by multiple factors, including environmental conditions such as temperature and wind speed, pesticide type, and the robot's capability to accurately perceive crops and target spray locations. Existing approaches predominantly emphasize crop detection and rely on predefined spraying parameters, whereas human operators dynamically adjust their spraying strategies by considering environmental conditions, region-specific crop characteristics, and the type of pesticide being applied. In this study, we propose a context-aware adaptive spraying framework based on Vision-Language Models (VLMs), which enables robots to leverage spatial reasoning and integrate information from multiple sources, including crop type, pesticide type, and weather data, to make adaptive and optimized spraying

A high-throughput phenotyping study shows that mixtures of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi produce additive, synergistic, and antagonistic effects on tomato growth and disease resistance that cannot be predicted from single-isolate performance.

High-resolution mapping in a subtropical Chinese forest reveals that patchy soil sodium is a dominant, previously overlooked driver of tree species richness, with effects that hinge on mycorrhizal type and tree size.

Researchers used explainable machine learning and multi-objective optimization to design a biodegradable Zn–Mg–Li alloy that overcomes the strength–ductility trade-off for medical implants.

Australia can now boast of record amounts of wind farm construction starts this year, but it remains at a standstill in the state that needs it most to replace ageing coal. The post Australian wind farm starts hit record levels, but the technology is dead in the state that needs it most appeared first on Renew Economy.

Crawling through muddy soybean fields to inspect several plant-mounted microphones was not on Emily Sur's graduate school bingo card, but she's not mad about it. Her research offers a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of entomology, agriculture and emerging technologies while still doing what she loves.

Kyoto University researchers used a female-attracted flight interception trap to turn Platycerus stag beetle captures into the first spatially explicit habitat assessment for operational broadleaf forestry.

A two-year field trial in India shows that cutting recommended fertilizer doses by 25 to 50 percent while adding foliar micronutrient sprays improves soil microbial health and produces sweeter, more antioxidant-rich Dashehari mangoes.

Researchers have built a unified scoring framework that combines climate, soil, and groundwater data to assess the health of irrigated farmland in Uzbekistan's Jizzakh Region.

Factors such as sunlight and stage-specific nutrient application determine crop success in urban agriculture, far beyond fixed recipes or miracle solutions. The findings are published in the journal Agronomy for Sustainable Development.

A field study across seventeen German farms shows that organic management boosts masked bee abundance and alters the sex ratios and cuticular lipid chemistry of Hylaeus communis.

At the University of Missouri, plant scientist Ron Mittler is rewriting the playbook for how scientists study life by asking what happens when living organisms face multiple stresses at once.

University of Tennessee researchers are combining plant-derived nanocellulose with metal-organic frameworks to create portable materials that detect and break down pesticide and fertilizer residues under ultraviolet light.

The University of Stirling has won £2.4 million to lead a 48-month transdisciplinary project tackling antimicrobial resistance in Vietnam's pangasius catfish aquaculture industry.

Treating excised Bacopa monnieri plantlets with methyl jasmonate triples bacoside content within 24 hours by switching on key triterpenoid biosynthetic genes, offering a simple post-harvest strategy to boost the medicinal quality of this Ayurvedic memory herb.

Last year saw a "solid breakthrough" in the exports of Russian agricultural technologies, Oksana Lut said

A new study on ancient food production in tropical Belize, co-led by the University of New Mexico and published in Communications Earth & Environment, provides evidence that people in the Maya-speaking region were dedicated farmers thousands of years before the first large villages emerged.

Researchers have encapsulated fragile gardenia yellow pigment inside a zinc L-aspartate bio-metal-organic framework to create a stable solid hybrid pigment that dyes silk with good fastness and added antibacterial and antioxidant properties.

A new study explores what goes on in the brain when mice get high on marijuana

New capital will help Myca widen its geographical footprint across Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and India. The post Myca raises $1.3m pre-seed to put AI agents in charge of agribusiness field operations appeared first on AgFunderNews.

A new RUSLE-GIS study maps soil erosion across India's drought-prone Jonk River Basin with 97 percent accuracy, identifying steep, unprotected plateau terrain as the dominant driver of soil loss.

DoorDash, the leading food delivery app, processed 970 million orders in its second quarter this year and generated $4.5 billion in revenue. A 10-person startup called Bites is a blip in comparison: It has just around 300 restaurants signed up in the Bay Area, where it's operating as a pre-seed startup. But this summer, Bites caught DoorDash's attention. In August, a slew of restaurants in the Bay Area received a strange email from DoorDash, warning businesses that they may be listed without their consent on Bites. The form letter, copies of which were seen by The Verge, said that DoorDash had heard from "several partners" that were adde … Read the full story at The Verge.

The fifth annual Farm Robotics Challenge will enable students from middle school through graduate school to enter agricultural automation projects and compete for prizes. The contest is held each year by the University of California and USDA.

Colorado State University researchers planted 40,000 native sedge seedlings in Yosemite's degraded Tuolumne Meadows and found that while soil health is slowly improving, full carbon recovery will take 25 to 50 years.

arXiv:2610.08603v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Early stress detection in crops is a necessity today to improve efficiency and reduce waste of time, money, and effort. However, most modern techniques, such as hyperspectral imaging and AI-based systems, are too costly and complex for medium and small-scale farmers to implement. This paper showcases CropSentry, a low-cost, ground-based multi-robot system that uses multimodal leaf sensing to continuously monitor crop health by tracking stress levels. The system comprises two autonomous bots that continuously detect leaf color and environmental data row by row. The observations are spatially mapped and sent over to the master bot, which uses color-coded row segments to generate a real-time web-based dashboard displaying crop health. After 63 observations were collected during the experiments, the results showed an overall crop health classification accuracy of 84.12%, with 82.60% for healthy plants, 88% for nutrient-deficient plants, and

arXiv:2610.07087v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Despite rapid advances in artificial intelligence, reliable real-world plant disease detection remains a persistent challenge. Visual and deep learning approaches have shown promising results, but their deployment under field conditions remains limited. A key bottleneck is the reliance on laboratory-generated datasets that lack environmental diversity, realistic backgrounds, and balanced class distributions, resulting in poor generalization. In contrast, datasets collected directly from agricultural environments capture natural variability and better reflect challenges faced by farmers across regions. This review presents a critical analysis of visual and deep learning approaches for plant disease detection, with emphasis on plant disease datasets. It establishes a taxonomy based on acquisition setting, accessibility, plant diversity, disease composition, class structure, and imbalance severity, and examines their implications for model

A 60-day incubation study of Loess Plateau orchard soils shows biodegradable PLA microplastics sharply increased carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions while conventional PE and PET plastics suppressed them, revealing a climate trade-off in biodegradable plastics.

A field study in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture shows that loading the plant hormone gibberellic acid into biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles more than doubled grape cluster weight compared with conventional treatment, pointing toward greener and more efficient crop production.

A field trial in arid sandy land shows that mixing crushed alfalfa and ryegrass residues into topsoil slows infiltration, curbs evaporation, and more than doubles vegetation coverage and biomass.

A field study in Alabama used X-ray computed tomography to show that pine biochar applied to sandy soil clogs and reshapes existing pores rather than improving water retention within a single growing season.

Farmers use a manufactured version of a natural plant hormone called gibberellic acid to improve the health and growth of crops, but it is highly sensitive to heat and light. A study in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture shows that loading gibberellic acid into biodegradable nanoparticles can improve grape yield and quality, making it a promising and environmentally friendly approach for sustainable agricultural production.

A new review in Plant and Soil shows that engineered nano-micro materials and plant growth-promoting bacteria can protect and enhance each other, offering a synergistic route to sustainable crop production.

A sweeping review finds that intercropping, agroforestry, and crop rotation can rebuild degraded soils, cut pest pressure by up to 50 percent, and secure food supplies for a growing planet.

Climate change and agricultural development have brought a new goose population to China with unique migratory patterns, a study has found. In an article on the Chinese Academy of Sciences website, researchers from the CAS Institute of Zoology said they had discovered a “genetically distinct” population of swan geese that emerged in Beijing over the past century. They said the timing of their arrival coincided with environmental shifts in the region during the early 20th century – namely climate...

A $1 million USDA-funded study led by the University of Rhode Island will examine how the rapid rise of dollar stores shapes food purchases and nutrition in rural and low-income communities.

A first-of-its-kind systematic review of 190 studies finds that HASM, Euclidean-enhanced machine learning, and Bayesian Maximum Entropy each excel under different data conditions, with no universal winner for predicting soil properties.

A new review maps how the molecular structure, processing history, and triacylglycerol architecture of insect oils determine their quality, digestion, and readiness for food applications.

A new bibliometric analysis of 543 publications maps three decades of exponential growth in research on biochar as a remedy for the world's water- and nutrient-starved sandy soils.

Research by INRAE and AgroParisTech suggests that global warming could have an overall positive effect on sorghum yields in Europe. Sorghum is a promising alternative to maize in livestock feed. Additionally, the crop requires less water and can tolerate higher temperatures. The researchers carried out simulations that used past climate data and future climate scenarios with the broader goal of developing new strategies for European agriculture. Their results were published in Earth's Future.

Researchers in Aligarh, India, developed a new Standard Weight Scoring method for soil quality indices that outperforms traditional approaches in detecting chemical degradation of farmlands irrigated with polluted Kali River water.

Fabrice Diangoné Bi Tra, a doctoral student in the 100 Ph.D.s for Africa program of the UM6P-EPFL Excellence in Africa initiative, has published a new study in Agriculture.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Massimo Iorizzo, a horticultural science professor with expertise in plant breeding, genetics and nutritional genomics of small fruit and vegetable crops, will become director of NC State University’s Plants for Human Health Institute (PHHI), effective Oct. 1. Iorizzo, who has served as the associate director of PHHI since 2024, will lead a team of […] The post Massimo Iorizzo Named Director of NC State’s Plants for Human Health Institute appeared first on Morning Ag Clips.

CLEMSON, S.C. — A Clemson University doctoral student has developed a $21 floating platform that drones carry into remote wetlands, helping researchers record wildlife in places not easily reached on foot. Akshit Suthar’s design carries an autonomous recording unit, or ARU, which records sounds from birds and other wildlife. A drone lowers the unit onto […] The post Clemson Student Uses Drones to Bring Wildlife Recorders Into Remote Wetlands appeared first on Morning Ag Clips.

Microalgae (microscopic organisms that use light and carbon dioxide to grow) can be used to make ingredients and food for animals, pigments and potentially renewable fuels. But growing microalgae efficiently at an industrial scale is difficult.

Researchers found microalgae can be grown using waste from cultivated meat production, before being processed and fed back

A survey of 219 communal cattle farming households in Lupane District, Zimbabwe, identifies affordability, awareness, and institutional trust as the key barriers to insurance adoption and proposes a tri-modular AI framework combining biometric identification, satellite drought triggers, and voice-first local-language interfaces to overcome them.

A study of 187 farms in Ecuador's Amazon found that cacao and coffee agroforestry and silvopastoral systems store 20 to 27 percent more topsoil carbon and maintain better fertility than monocultures and treeless pastures.

A Brazilian field study shows that rainfall and soil moisture, not a fixed calendar interval, determine how quickly atrazine dissipates after burndown applications and whether soybean can be safely sown sooner.

A new study shows that 50% ethanol extracts of Indian borage and neem leaves deliver strong antioxidant activity while 95% ethanol extracts excel at killing foodborne pathogens, revealing solvent polarity as a simple lever for designing natural preservatives.

A comprehensive review maps the molecular machinery of plant gravitropism and predicts 69 candidate genes that could let breeders engineer denser planting, stronger stalks and deeper roots in maize and other crops.

A rural Georgia farmer who voted for Donald Trump says a friend's father's deportation led her to plan a vote for Sen. Jon Ossoff.

ODYSS N1 uses a camera and AI to log meals automatically, but its food recognition and calorie estimates still lack independent device-specific validation. The post ODYSS N1 AI Necklace Wants to Track Everything You Eat Without Food Logging appeared first on TechRepublic.

A new book by University of Illinois professor Bobby J. Smith II recovers the history of the New Farmers of America, the segregated-era organization that taught tens of thousands of rural Black boys about farming and leadership.

A conceptual study proposes adapting cement grinding techniques, combined with biochar and solar power, to transform coarse desert sand into water-retaining, nutrient-holding agricultural soil.

Researchers in India show that Brassica juncea leaf extracts rich in isothiocyanates and other allelochemicals suppress green amaranth germination, growth, and photosystem II photochemistry through overwhelming oxidative stress, suggesting a plant-based alternative to synthetic herbicides.

Replacing soil in renovated pear orchards doubles tree yields by reshaping rhizosphere microbes and eliminating a growth-inhibiting alkaloid, a new study finds.

Researchers at Chiba University have developed a flexible bio-based plastic that, after its useful life, can be chemically converted into fertilizer that successfully grows crops.

A three-year Chinese field trial shows that pairing controlled-release blended fertilizer with dense planting raises rice yields by up to 45 percent while keeping methane, nitrous oxide, and ammonia losses low.

A systematic review of 11 studies finds that SNAP participation among older US adults is associated with lower healthcare use and costs, better medication adherence, and no evidence of harm.

A landmark special issue of Plant and Soil shows that soil and plant microbiomes can be harnessed to help crops withstand drought, salinity, contaminants and disease.

Whole-genome sequencing of the soil bacterium Enterobacter ludwigii I42 reveals the genetic basis of its ability to unlock soil phosphorus and significantly boost maize seedling growth.

A first-year field trial in Labrador shows hardwood biochar and peat with limestone rapidly relieve the acidity and nutrient retention problems of newly converted boreal Podzolic soil, enabling substantial oat and pea forage production within a single growing season.

New research from Italy shows that compost amendments keep enhancing cobalt retention in Mediterranean soils for up to a decade after applications cease.

A field study shows that inoculating rice with a Penicillium fungus significantly reduces chromium, cadmium, lead, and antimony accumulation by reshaping rhizosphere bacterial communities and reprogramming root metabolic pathways.

Isaac Larsen, an associate professor in the College of Natural Sciences' Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences, is a lead author of "Status of the World's Soil Resources 2026," a new report produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that draws on recent scientific literature and contributions from hundreds of experts around the world.

Researchers found that sterilized, crushed waste natural rubber latex gloves mixed into soil at ten percent by weight boosted plant biomass by 20 to 35 percent and enriched phosphorus, manganese, copper, and sulfur levels without altering soil pH.

SUNY Cobleskill Ag & Tech has received a $30,000 USDA-NIFA grant to build a prototype virtual reality agricultural engineering course aimed at bringing technical training to rural, place-bound farmers.

A nationwide survey of 213 soils finds that pH, carbon-nitrogen stocks, and threshold-dependent micronutrient availability, rather than microbial diversity, control how well legume-based farming systems deliver multiple soil functions across China's climatic zones.

A systematic review of 41 studies spanning 1970 to 2025 compiles India's first national map of soil biodiversity, revealing 205 faunal species, stark regional gaps and the toll of intensive farming.