news 2021

Sustainable agriculture will not be achieved by one universal solution. A meta-analysis by the University of Basel shows that the current focus on no-till farming does not achieve the desired results. A sustainable system of agriculture must be designed for local needs and in dialog with local farmers.

Fraudulent practices in food production, especially false claims of geographical origin, cause billions of dollars in economic damage every year. Botanists at the University of Basel have now developed a model that can be used to determine the origin of food in an efficient and low-cost manner. Strawberries from Switzerland or olive oil from Italy can be sold at much higher prices than the same products from other countries.

Today, molecular genetic methods can be used to breed sustainable crops - such as multinutrient rice. Researchers are calling for the risk of new plant varieties to be assessed not on the basis of the breeding method, but on the basis of their characteristics. When it comes to food, many people yearn for nature in its most pristine state.

What holds true for meadows would seem to apply to arable land, too: mixed cultures are more fruitful than monocultures. This was the outcome of an ETH Zurich research project led by Christian Schöb. Monocultures dominate arable land today, with vast areas given over to single elite varieties that promise a high yield.

Intense agricultural use is causing soil degradation in many areas. Now researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a rapid test for measuring soil quality on site. This should allow farmers to monitor the health of their land themselves in the future. Many of us pay hardly any attention to the ground and simply stride across it unseeing.

The Zambezi River Basin in southern Africa is a high-quality waterscape. But current rapid development threatens the waters of the Zambezi, particularly its tributaries. The challenge will be to ensure that mitigation measures keep up with population and economic growth to avoid degradation of water quality degradation.

The shift from fossil to renewable energy sources is essential for climate mitigation but will also significantly reduce the atmospheric input of the nutrients sulphur and selenium into soils. Sustainable solutions are therefore needed to supply intensively used agricultural soils with sufficient nutrients and to ensure a safe and healthy diet for the world's population.

Fields of opium poppies once bloomed where the Zurich Opera House underground garage now stands. Through a new analysis of archaeological seeds, researchers at the University of Basel have been able to bolster the hypothesis that prehistoric farmers throughout the Alps participated in domesticating the opium poppy.

The climate action potential of carbon capture during the processing of biomass feedstock is considerable, ETH Zurich researchers have calculated. If this potential is to be fully exploited in practice, however, there are challenges to overcome. Over the coming decades, our economy and society will need to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions as called for in the Paris Agreement.

Many plant and animal species depend on habitats shaped by agriculture. Where and with what frequency do which species occur in the agricultural landscape? What is the state of their habitats? How effective are the measures taken to increase biodiversity? Agroscope's biodiversity monitoring programme 'ALL-EMA' records species and habitat diversity in the Swiss agricultural landscape.

Never did Jagannath Biswakarma think that a Tweet about one of his academic articles would receive attention from world-leading media outlets. Yet, that is exactly what happened and how his work was promoted internationally. Bioavailable iron is essential for all living organisms. Iron deficiency amongst plants influences agricultural production.

How can the environmental impact of our food be reduced? Agroscope calculated that the environmental impact can be improved if food is imported from countries of origin with especially environmentally friendly agricultural production systems. The avoidance of food loss and waste is even more effective in achieving this aim.

Scientists from the University of Geneva and UPF have analysed the skeletons of several Bronze Age communities that lived in Western Switzerland in order to reconstruct the evolution of their diet. The Bronze Age (2200 to 800 BC) marked a decisive step in the technological and economic development of ancient societies.

Optimised on-farm grain storage boosts food security in sub-Saharan Africa, as an ETH study in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic shows. As the end of the lean season approaches, things get tricky for many smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. It's the time of year between harvests - the last one was a long time ago, but the next one is not yet due.