Idso and Idso (2000) have described how the aerial fertilization effect of the ongoing rise in the atmosphere's CO2 concentration can boost the yields of current crop varieties and help avert this disaster, as we discuss in more detail in our Editorial of 4 Sep 2002. Background There is growing concern that it will be difficult to feed the expanding human population of the planet just a few decades from now without the taking of great quantities of land (Waggoner, 1995; Tilman et al. CO2...

Under the agreement, both parties would work together to identify a suitable technology that would be used to develop improved seed and agricultural production systems for Malaysia and other markets. The CAAS is a prominent global agricultural research and development organisation with a membership of 39 research institutes and a graduate school. It would also help farming businesses comply with international standards and obtain international certification, thus improving their export...

The decline in sugar prices should serve as an encouragement for rice farmers to diversify their rice production as alternative sources of income, Mr Kumar said. Growing rice in rain fed areas allows for better utilisation of resources in unit area, he said. Rewa Rice Limited which expects 3000 tonnes of paddy a year did not get even half the targeted quota, he said. They will be happy even with the 1500 tonnes of paddy equivalent to break even, but even this they are not getting, he said....

But now, the research center has 78 white faced ibis babies and 70 ibis eggs, brought in by a bird rescue organization which plucked them from a rice field near Marysville just before it was to have been harvested. When they are hatched, the tiny birds have striped beaks, and as care workers reach into pens to feed them, the birds jump and peck aggressively. They live in colonies usually away from developed areas, and bird watchers in the Central Valley say only on rare occasions have they...

The government's move to combat global warming by cutting methane emissions from paddy fields is misguided because agriculture releases only small amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, a leading environmentalist says. A researcher found farmers could reduce methane gas emissions by not releasing water into their paddy fields when the paddy began to produce ears of rice. The academic indicated that greenhouses gases from the farm sector were a ''necessary evil'' as the emissions...