Food production doesn't have to be a victim of climate change. New research from Michigan State University suggests that crop yields and the global food supply chain can be preserved by harnessing the critical, and often overlooked, partner in food supply -- soil.

Conservation practices like no-till that save soil are also good for water quality, right? In many ways that’s true, but not in the case of nitrates and no-till.

Healthy soils are necessary to produce healthy food and achieve sustainable global food security.

Conservation practices like no-till that save soil are also good for water quality, right? In many ways that’s true, but not in the case of nitrates and no-till. In fact, largely because no-till increases infiltration—a good thing for reducing erosion and runoff—nitrate losses through underground leaching are higher with no-till than with conventional tillage.

Conservation agriculture is a system that utilises soils for the production of crops with the aim of reducing excessive use of the soil and maintaining crop residues on the soil surface in order to minimise damage to the environment.

Modern conservation tillage practices do not affect crop yield in a negative way, according to a study by North Dakota State University.

Among the many challenges that Africa faces on a daily basis, the food and agriculture sector has been receiving some added attention.

 South Africa has a well-developed, but highly dichotomous, agricultural sector.

Researchers aim to help plant breeders develop strategies to target nitrogen fixation in cover crops.

Our continent is bleeding to death: megatons of topsoil wash out to sea every year due to soil structure degraded by ploughing.

South Africa has to ramp up its conservation efforts, including in the protection of threatened and endangered species, in order to meet its international commitments by 2030 as a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity.