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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
Ripe, juicy tomatoes are one of the hallmarks of a summer picnic – and a key ingredient in salads and the classic BLT. Like many of our modern crops, today’s tomatoes have […]
Soybean is one of the most important sources of vegetable protein globally. Valued as both a human and animal food source, soybeans are used to produce both soy meal and oil. The […]
Editor’s note: This year is 2020 is the International Year of Plant Health, as designated by the UN. Agronomists, crop, and plant scientists work to develop disease-resistant varieties and to track the […]