Farmers love tools. The prospect of a fully stocked tool shed ranges from badge of honor to true obsession. Plants, too, can be used as tools. Integrating cover crops into a […]
How do radishes work as a cover crop?
Reviewing the importance of International Year of Plant Health
The United Nations (U.N.) declared 2020 the International Year of Plant Health. This sent a powerful message to the world: Plants are life. Sadly, the COVID-19 crisis changed a lot of 2020 […]
Urban agroforestry and its potential integration into city planning efforts
Should we reimagine a “garden city” that could help adapt our urban areas for a variable and uncertain future? One that provides several benefits, like cooling the city, providing green areas for […]
What is the status of public plant breeding programs in the United States?
Most plant-based foods we eat today are a product of innovative plant breeding programs. Careful choice of plant parents is followed by a multitude of intentional, hand-pollinated blooms. These result in thousands […]
How can various cultivars influence the history of a crop?
Not many of us see Model T cars on the road today. This 1920’s era car made car travel accessible for the middle class, but its last production was in 1927. Yet, […]
How does growing corn in perennial groundcover work?
Using perennial groundcovers, farmers can merge high yield agriculture with natural resources conservation, while maintaining or improving profitability. How does it work? Farmers first seed their acres with a groundcover, such as […]
Coconuts: Trees that keep on giving
Thinking about coconut, one image that comes to mind is lounging on a warm, sunny beach. Cool, sweet water from a freshly opened coconut, garnished with an orchid flower and a little […]
How can crops that are not grown from seeds be conserved in gene banks?
Plant genebanks, such as the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS), conserve vast collections of crops. They are saved for use in breeding and research programs. These collections are primarily conserved as […]
What can the wild chile teach us about conserving crop wild relatives?
There is a humble, wild chile pepper that grows in Arizona. Commonly called chiltepín, it is the wild relative of hundreds of domesticated pepper varieties grown (and eaten) all over the world. […]
Giving flax a perennial upgrade with crop wild relatives
Flaxseed is one of humanity’s oldest, and most widely adopted multi-use crops. For over ten thousand years, the oil-rich seeds have been an important source of nutrition for both humans and livestock. […]