Agriculture

The latest on what's growing and what's faltering across the world's farms—and the resources they use to keep running.

Latest in Agriculture

Drill boring hole in ancient mollusk shell in laboratory

Neanderthals dined on shellfish much earlier than humans

chopped bamboo pieces

How to remove bamboo from your yard

By Debbie Wolfe

Very big ripe, refreshing watermelons at the market, green and yellow

Why is everyone talking about watermelon buttholes?

By Annie Colbert

white flowering tree in front of apartment building

Why spring smells like semen and rotting fish

a lobster in a pot of boiling water

Yes, your lobster dinner probably died an excruciating death

By Margherita Bassi

Woman's hands washing red apples in kitchen sink

Biodegradable wash keeps grapes fresh for 2 weeks at room temperature

a close up of a baby chick

Baby chicks like gentle pets—like really gentle

By Margherita Bassi

One of the dogs sampled in the paper from the Skateholm site in Sweden, buried alongside a human.

Europe’s first domesticated dogs arrived over 3,000 years earlier than we thought

By Laura Baisas

Detail view of stacked whisky and wine wooden barrels in vintage style

Mushy bourbon sludge recycled into battery electrodes

Close up of two people clinking together red wine glasses

This pinot noir hasn’t changed in 500 years

Close up of non-dairy cheese made with rice proteins in dish

Rice cheese may be the next big thing

trees and shrubs are surrounded by a bright yellow weed

Weed that smells like paint thinner takes over Arizona

By Laura Baisas

a horse standing in a green field with its mouth open

Horse whinnies are weirder than they sound

By Margherita Bassi

a large goat with grey fur and large horns

Ireland’s native goats date back to Bronze Age

By Laura Baisas

a large group of yellow bananas

New discovery could help stop banana extinction

By Laura Baisas

African striped mouse and pups

Biologists discover gene that may determine ‘good’ and ‘bad’ dads

a swarm of locusts in the sky

Locust swarms may meet their match in protein-enriched crops

By Nidhi Sharma

a brown cow with a large stick in her mouth and mountains in the background

Veronika the Cow shocks scientists by using a tool

By Laura Baisas

A shark tooth next to a spoon used to excavate it from sand in Oman

In ancient Arabia, people dined on sharks and stingrays

A top-down photograph of a pile of fresh, green okra pods resting on a rustic, beige linen napkin with a red striped border. The pods are scattered across the fabric and a weathered wooden tabletop, with the wooden handle of a kitchen knife visible in the upper right corner.

Why is okra so slimy? Blame the mucilage.

By Andrew Coletti