Hacker News with Generative AI: Agriculture

Vintner making wine in Catalonia since 1870 may have to move to higher altitudes (theguardian.com)
A leading European winemaker has warned it may have to abandon its ancestral lands in Catalonia in 30 years’ time because climate change could make traditional growing areas too dry and hot.
Cows get GPS collars to stop them falling in river (bbc.co.uk)
Cows have been fitted with GPS collars to try to stop them falling into a river.
US banana giant Chiquita fires thousands over Panama strike (aljazeera.com)
Banana producer Chiquita has announced mass layoffs in Panama amid an ongoing strike.
Rice inherits tolerance to cold without DNA changes (nature.com)
Rice plants can inherit tolerance to cold without changes to their genomes, according to a decade-long study1 carried out by researchers in China.
How AppHarvest’s indoor farming scheme imploded (2023) (lpm.org)
The workers had spent the morning of November 8, 2021, clipping, trussing, and trellising hundreds of thousands of tomato plants that twisted almost four stories into the air. They were inside one of the world’s largest high-tech greenhouses, which sat on more than 60 acres of a former cattle field in Morehead, Kentucky.
The Trump Administration Is Tempting a Honeybee Disaster (theatlantic.com)
Bees are dying. Federal funding cuts aren’t helping.
Ricepedia (ricefact.com)
For every one billion people added to the world’s population, 100 million more tons of rice need to be produced each year. But the challenges facing rice production are great.
Giant Robotic Bugs Are Headed to Farms (ieee.org)
Ground Control Robotics’ giant centipede robot is designed for data collecting and weeding on challenging farm terrain.
How the humble chestnut traced the rise and fall of the Roman Empire (bbc.com)
The chestnut trees of Europe tell a hidden story charting the fortunes of ancient Rome and the legacy it left in the continent's forests.
X's Grok AI is suddenly hyper-fixated on South African farmers (bsky.app)
Eucalyptus for Brazil's steelmaking dries out communities in Minas Gerais (mongabay.com)
Eucalyptus plantations in Brazil’s Alto Jequitinhonha Valley, grown to make charcoal for the steel industry, have drastically reduced local water resources, harming rural communities, locals and experts warn.
Farmers Sued over Deleted Climate Data. So the Government Will Put It Back (nytimes.com)
The Agriculture Department will restore information about climate change that was scrubbed from its website when President Trump took office, according to court documents filed on Monday in a lawsuit over the deletion.
Chile develops a rice variety that doesn't need to be drowned (france24.com)
A cold, dry part of Chile might not sound like the best place to grow rice, a famously thirsty grain that thrives in tropical conditions.
Scientists discover new way to convert corn waste to low-cost sugar for biofuel (news.wsu.edu)
RICHLAND, Wash. — Scientists at Washington State University have found a new way to produce sugar from corn stalks and other crop waste, potentially opening a new pathway to sustainable biofuels.
Catastrophic fires and soil degradation: possible link with Neolithic revolution (springer.com)
The Levant is one of the main centers of domestication of wild plants for human use during the early Holocene Neolithic revolution, evidencing the first transition to agriculture (Wood 2011).
Deadly Screwworm Parasite's Comeback Threatens Texas Cattle, US Beef Supply (bloomberg.com)
After being eradicated in the US in the 1980s, the screwworm could be back as soon as this summer.
The US has approved CRISPR pigs for food (technologyreview.com)
Pigs whose DNA makes them resistant to a virus could be the first big consumer product using gene editing.
Art of the Hedgerow (engelsbergideas.com)
It is often quoted that, since 1945, 50 per cent of English hedgerows have ‘disappeared’ from the landscape.
One-sixth of the planet's cropland has toxic levels of one or more metals (elpais.com)
The first 30 centimeters of soil are the foundation of life. This foot-deep slice of the pedosphere is the vital space for most plant roots. When roots go deeper, it’s to anchor the plant, not to nourish it. Within this narrow band, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and countless other microscopic organisms form the so-called biological crust, which in turn supports the larger life forms above.
There Is One Clear Winner in the Corn vs. Solar Battle (cleantechnica.com)
“Solar energy is often framed as a threat to croplands. However, vast croplands in the Midwestern United States already support corn ethanol biofuel, a form of energy with a greater land-use footprint per unit energy (~30×) and potential environmental impact (e.g., excessive fertilizer application) than solar energy. We envisioned sustainable agro-ecosystems that can result from converting a small proportion of corn ethanol croplands into ecologically informed solar facilities (i.e., ecovoltaics).
Catastrophic fires and soil degradation: possible link with Neolithic revolution (springer.com)
The agricultural revolution of the Neolithic period in the Levant has puzzled researchers trying to resolve climatic vs. anthropogenic chain of events.
Controversial tree farms powering Apple’s carbon neutral goal (technologyreview.com)
The tech behemoth is betting that planting millions of eucalyptus trees in Brazil will be the path to a greener future. Some ecologists and local residents are far less sure.
Remineralizing soils? The agricultural usage of silicate rock powders: A review (sciencedirect.com)
Soil nutrient depletion threatens global food security and has been seriously underestimated for potassium (K) and several micronutrients.
A dozen states sue the Trump administration to stop tariff policy (apnews.com)
Vineyards in NY wine country push sustainability as they adapt to climate change
Chinese-owned farms press for repeal of California animal welfare law (kiowacountypress.net)
The largest pork producer in America is owned by a Chinese company, and a lot of people don’t like that.
Pollen-replacing food for honey bees brings new hope for survival (news.wsu.edu)
Scientists have unveiled a new food source designed to sustain honey bee colonies indefinitely without natural pollen.
The complex origin story of domestic cats (phys.org)
Researchers looking into the origin of domestic cats have long considered that cats likely accompanied early farmers during the Neolithic, spreading through Europe alongside the adoption of agriculture.
Inactive components in agricultural runoff may contribute drinking water hazard (phys.org)
Inactive ingredients in agricultural, pharmaceutical, and other common products have typically been excluded from consideration as potential contaminants in drinking water.
The 'king of poisons' is building up in rice (grist.org)
As the planet heats up, this popular process of growing rice is becoming increasingly more dangerous for the millions of people worldwide that eat the grain regularly, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Lancet Planetary Health.
Baby chickens became America's hottest commodity (grist.org)
Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply in Helena, Montana, doesn’t often see a crowd. But, these days, the line to get in the door can be hours long. People have yelled at one another as they jockey for position and, inside, employees field as many 200 calls a day from eager patrons. Everyone is after the same thing: baby chickens.