Farming

Why Scientists Want to Engineer Spicy Tomatoes

With genetic tinkering, the fruits may offer an easy source of capsaicin, the beneficial compound that gives peppers their heat

By regrowing trees from stumps, farms can produce sustainable, pesticide-free pine trees.

Stump-Grown Christmas Trees Are the Gift That Keeps on Giving

Using the sustainable and ancient method of coppicing, evergreen Christmas trees can be regrown indefinitely

A pipe from the Lower Yukon region of Alaska.

North America's Earliest Smokers May Have Helped Launch the Agricultural Revolution

As archaeologists push back the dates for the spread of tobacco use, new questions are emerging about trade networks and agriculture

The co-founders of the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Mily Treviño-Sauceda and Mónica Ramírez (foreground), stand with members of Líderes Campesinas on a farm in Oxnard, California.

The Time's Up Initiative Built Upon the Work Done by These Labor Activists

How the leaders of a farmworkers' alliance reached across cultural divides to fight sexual harassment

Gourds come in all shapes and sizes—some sweet and delicious, some stiff and bitter, and some that are just plain odd.

The Science Behind Decorative Gourd Season

Gourds are the runts of their family of fruits, too tough and bitter to eat, but they remain one of the most popular crops of fall

Europe's First Dogs Disappeared After Neolithic Farmers Arrived With Their Own Pups

Genetic analysis shows ancient canines from the Near East slowly replaced indigenous dog populations of that period

A robotic arm performs a transplant operation.

This Robotic Farming System Could Be the Answer to Labor Shortages

Hydroponics startup Iron Ox is automating indoor produce farming

Duncan Grant’s studio

Bloomsbury Group’s Countryside Hub Opens to Visitors Year-Round

A new expansion has helped the Charleston Museum overcome conservation and space concerns that once forced it to shut down during winter

Aerial view of crop circles

How Center Pivot Irrigation Brought the Dust Bowl Back to Life

Crop circles saved the Great Plains when farmer Frank Zybach invented a new sprinkler system in the 1940s

Rhyta, a type of ancient vessel, were found to contain traces of cheese.

Traces of 7,200-Year-Old Cheese Found in Croatia

A new study posits that cheese production may have helped ancient farmers expand into Europe

Emmer wheat

Sequencing of Wheat Genome Could Lead to a Breadier Future

It took 200 scientists 13 years to finally figure out the complex genome of the important grain

Europe Applies Strict Regulations to CRISPR Crops

A court has ruled that plants modified with CRISPR technology are subject to the restrictions of the 2001 GMO Directive

Emirates Flight Catering and Crop One Holdings announced plans this week for what would be the world’s largest vertical farm, to be based in Dubai. This is another one of Crop One’s vertical farms, which don’t use pesticides and are more water-efficient than their soil counterparts.

Dubai Will Be Home To the World’s Biggest Vertical Farm

An indoor megafarm might be the best way for the United Arab Emirates—a country that imports an estimated 85 percent of its food—to attempt to feed itself

Optimizing cows

This Connecticut Farm Is Milking Cows for Data

Robotic milkers, video cameras and even sensors hidden inside cows will help the facility get the most milk from a healthy herd

Painting of four species of rat, including the Polynesian rat (right).

Rat Bones Reveal How Humans Transformed Their Island Environments

Rodent remains prove an ideal tool for investigating changes on three Polynesian island chains

Grape breeding PhD student Laise Moreira collects flower tissue for analyzing sex trait in grapevine as part of the VitisGen2 project at the University of Minnesota Horticultural Research Center in Excelsior, MN.

The Quest to Grow the First Great American Wine Grape

Genetics might be the key to creating vineyards that both resist disease and don’t taste like skunk

Flying Dog plans to release a seasonal beer each year with hops grown from the project.

The East Coast May Be On the Brink of a Hop Renaissance

Can a farmer and a brewer come together to bring hops back to the eastern United States?

A lithograph from printers Currier & Ives depicted swill milk as the root of many vices

The Surprisingly Intolerant History of Milk

A new book provides an udderly fascinating chronicle of the controversial drink

A young Walden resident, circa 1974, appears none too happy about being kept inside, or having her picture taken.

This Photographer Spent 46 Years Documenting the Vanishing World of Vermont's Remote Northeast Kingdom

A spectacular sinkhole the length of two football fields and the depth of a six-story building has opened up on a New Zealand farm.

Massive Sinkhole Opens Up in New Zealand

The gaping chasm has revealed 60,000-year-old volcanic deposits

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