Agriculture News and Research

RSS

U-M to study disparities in access to healthy food across Michigan

Researchers at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment are leading a five-year, $4 million study of disparities in access to healthy food across the state.

8 Nov 2012

Leaders must continue to address food price volatility, food security

"Despite a sudden increase in July this year, prices of cereals on world markets remained fairly stable," Jose Graziano da Silva, director-general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), writes in an Inter Press Service opinion piece.

6 Nov 2012

Haiti faces rise in cholera cases after flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy

"Flooding in Haiti caused by Hurricane Sandy has triggered a surge in cholera, with three deaths and almost 300 suspected cases, adding to a death toll from the storm of 54," the Financial Times reports.

6 Nov 2012

Alnylam third quarter 2012 revenues decrease to $16.8 million

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today reported its consolidated financial results for the third quarter 2012, and company highlights.

6 Nov 2012

Weill Cornell researchers awarded Grand Challenges Explorations grants

Weill Cornell Medical College announced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

3 Nov 2012

Malaysia hopes to solve nutrition transition problem

With health problems like obesity and diabetes on the rise due to changing diets in emerging economies, Malaysia is forging new linkages between domestic and international scientists and institutions in hopes of mitigating the problem.

3 Nov 2012

Public-private partnerships can help improve nutrition worldwide

InterAction President and CEO Sam Worthington, as part of a series organized by the Chicago Council On Global Affairs' Global Agriculture Development Initiative and InterAction to highlight the importance of public-private partnerships in agricultural development, writes in the Chicago Council's "Global Food for Thought" blog that recent figures showing one in eight people in the world is undernourished is "a call to collective action."

3 Nov 2012

Better access to fresh, local food urged for underprivileged families

Initiatives that improve the ability of socially disadvantaged families to obtain local produce are sorely needed, say US researchers.

1 Nov 2012

Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason wins Grand Challenges Explorations grant

Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) announced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

1 Nov 2012

AOAC-PTM validates 3M Tecra Listeria Visual Immunoassay

3M Food Safety announced today that its 3M Tecra Listeria Visual Immunoassay (VIA) for Environmental Testing (#091201) has received validation from the AOAC Research Institute's Performance Tested Methods Program.

29 Oct 2012

Africa's agricultural sector must be developed in order to address food security issues

"With food security now on the global agenda, the world is turning to African agriculture as the answer to the question of how we feed the future," an editorial in Tanzania's "Daily News" states. The

26 Oct 2012

Scientists create yellow potatoes with high carotenoid levels

Potatoes with higher levels of beneficial carotenoids are the result of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) studies to improve one of America's most popular vegetables.

26 Oct 2012

Meat from wild animals is increasingly important in central Africa

Animals like antelope, frogs and rodents may be tricky to catch, but they provide protein in places where traditional livestock are scarce. According to the authors of a new paper in Animal Frontiers, meat from wild animals is increasingly important in central Africa.

25 Oct 2012

Old Order Amish children less likely to be overweight

Old Order Amish children are much more physically active and three times less likely to be overweight than non-Amish children, which may provide them with some long-term protection against developing Type 2 diabetes, University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers report in the journal Diabetes Care.

24 Oct 2012

ECOWAS, Germany, FAO launch Hunger-Free Initiative for West Africa

"A new project with the objective of eliminating hunger in West Africa has been launched by West African countries, Germany, and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)," BusinessDay reports.

23 Oct 2012

U.N. SG Ban says hunger fight needs political will, innovation at World Food Prize ceremony

"Innovative approaches and technologies as well as a strong political will from countries are essential to combat hunger," according to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who spoke Thursday night in Des Moines, Iowa, at an event to recognize the winner of the World Food Prize, the U.N. News Centre reports.

20 Oct 2012

High flavonoid intake may reduce risk of highly aggressive prostate cancer

A study by Susan Steck of the Arnold School of Public Health finds that a high intake of flavonoids, a group of compounds found in plants, may lower the risk for highly aggressive prostate cancer.

20 Oct 2012

Public-private cooperation can help establish sustainable farming for better nutrition, health

"Nothing could be more appropriate than the World Food Day focus on cooperatives this year," because "the collective power of cooperatives can enable better access to market, better returns, better access to inputs and services, and a better support network for smallholder farmers," leading to "higher returns" which allow farmers to "better provide for the nutrition, education and health of their families," Mark Bowman, managing director of SABMiller, writes in an AllAfrica.com opinion piece.

19 Oct 2012

U.N. SG says eliminating discrimination, providing nutrition, health care will help women care for families

"Highlighting the role in women in producing much of the world's food and caring for the environment, [U.N.] Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his message marking the International Day of Rural Women, Monday said that eliminating discrimination that prevents rural women from realizing their full potential is crucial to ending global hunger and poverty," the U.N. News Centre reports.

17 Oct 2012

U.S., Japan, South Korea pledge additional funds to Global Agriculture and Food Security Program

On the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Tokyo on Thursday, Japan and South Korea each pledged an additional $30 million over three years for the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), established in 2010 to help improve food security in low-income countries, Reuters reports.

16 Oct 2012