It is difficult to find fault with a process that can create food from sunlight, water and air, but for many plants, there is room for improvement. Researchers have taken an important step towards enhancing photosynthesis by engineering plants with enzymes from blue-green algae that speed up the process of converting carbon dioxide into sugars. [...]
OVER the past five years, as farm wages soared, sugar-cane growers in southern China looked across the border to Vietnam for help. They hired Vietnamese workers—nearly a quarter cheaper than Chinese ones—to tend their fields, especially during the winter harvest. The immigrants were illegal but local authorities looked the other way. Some 50,000 Vietnamese streamed [...]
The United States' agricultural industry must continue to adapt, improvise, consolidate and automate in order to overcome the challenges of a rising population and an increased scarcity of resources. Robotics, smart technology and drones are among the technologies that will be increasingly incorporated into the industry as agricultural producers cope with increased global demand, declining [...]