Directorate-General for Research & Innovation logo Horizon: the EU Research & Innovation magazine | European Commission logo
Receive our editor’s picks

Agriculture

Crowdsourced information on land cover can be used to make decisions in the areas of agriculture, health, and environmental management. Image: Shutterstock/Maciej Czekajewski
agriculture | ict
10 April 2015

Crowdsourcing in the developing world is helping understand the earth

Land-use information at the level of individual fields and forests is often scarce in developing countries and remote areas, but that could be changing thanks to the explosion of mobile phone ownership.

Prof. Caroline Dean believes that women can hesitate a tiny bit longer than men when asking themselves if they are good enough to run a laboratory.
women in science | agriculture
18 February 2015

Positive role models are key to gender equality - Prof. Caroline Dean

Female role models are an important way to promote gender equality among senior scientists, according to Professor Caroline Dean, a plant biologist at the John Innes Centre, in Norwich, UK. Prof. Dean is the winner of the 2015 European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) Women in Science Award for her work in plant biology and working to promote women in science.

Cryopreservation aims to prevent the formation of ice crystals in the freezing process and prevent damage to cell walls. Image: Wikimedia Commons, Marrabbio2
agriculture
27 October 2014

The antifreeze fish teaching us about cryopreservation

Cryopreservation, in which organic material is stored at extremely low temperatures, may not yet have reached the science fiction dream of placing people in suspended animation, but technology inspired by hard-to-freeze fish is helping make it an effective way of preserving genetic plant material for future use.

Chicken raised on a diet of insects may be in supermarkets sooner than we think. ©Shutterstock / zhangyang
bioeconomy | agriculture | environment
23 June 2014

Burgers made from bug-fed chicken coming to a supermarket near you

Researchers are preparing to conduct field trials of house fly larvae as a protein-rich supplement to animal feed made of cereals and corn.

The role of water is crucial in the spread of diseases like malaria, Rift Valley fever and schistosomiasis. Image courtesy of HEALTHY FUTURES.
health | ict | agriculture
11 November 2013

Predicting disease outbreaks in East Africa

Researchers are taking data from satellite observations and combining it with first-hand experience from health workers to make smart tools that can predict where outbreaks of diseases such as malaria might strike.

Collection of seaweed along the west coast of Ireland (Co. Donegal). ©AlgAran
health | agriculture | bioeconomy
06 September 2013

Health supplements from antioxidant-rich seaweed

Seaweed could become an important source of disease-fighting antioxidants, if EU scientists succeed in proving its benefits.

Plants on a conveyor belt in the plant laboratory near Dijon, France. © ABSTRESS
bioeconomy | agriculture | environment
04 September 2013

Breeding tough new vegetables to resist drought

European scientists are applying hi-tech breeding to develop vegetables that can grow through blight and drought – a GMO-free way to help Europe cut down on animal feed imports and help the environment.

Unused waste from trees and crops could be turned into everyday products. © Shutterstock/Taina Sohlman
public–private partnerships | agriculture | energy | innovation union
14 August 2013

Oil-free fuel from agricultural waste

Europe’s agricultural by-products could be increasingly used to give people greener everyday commodities, such as oil-free vehicle fuel and bio-plastics, thanks to a planned multi-billion-euro partnership between the EU and industry.

In the French region of Champagne, local farmers and industrial partners have developed a fully integrated industrial biorefinery. It takes advantage of the biomass, based on traditional agro-industries, for new applications of agro-resources to be used in the local area. © Getty
energy | bioeconomy | agriculture | industry
18 March 2013

Biorefinery sorts the chaff from the wheat

Among the vineyards and wheat fields of north-eastern France, a revolution in chemical manufacturing is quietly gathering momentum. Here, biomass is turned into valuable components and energy.

© Getty
bioeconomy | environment | industry | agriculture
18 March 2013

Bioeconomy: the new revolution

The industrial revolution made the world wealthy through a simple idea: to replace the physical labour of humans and animals with energy from fossil fuels. Two-and-a-half centuries after the revolution started, however, it is in trouble. The oil that powers much of the world’s economy is running out, and the greenhouse gases given off by the fuels are harming the planet. 

Pages