Food & Agriculture Stories
How do we feed a growing and more affluent population without the environmental collateral damage? The Anthropocene’s coverage of food and agriculture digs deep into innovations in farming, aquaculture, filling the global protein gap, reducing the carbon footprint of supply chains, and more.
Growing crops in darkness could save land and advance sustainable agricultural
Researchers advance the science of 'artificial photosynthesis', a process that bypasses the need for sunshine to grow food—and does so more efficiently than the conventional way.
Material scientists set out to beat plastic packaging on three fronts. They succeeded.
They've brewed up a plastic alternative that is transparent, nonabsorbent (i.e., won’t get soggy) and disappears in two months—and for a bonus, it’s edible.
Milk Without the Cow. Eggs Without the Chicken.
Yeast-derived “animal products” may soon be part of an environmentally balanced diet
The more bees the merrier farmer
Crops benefit from a diversity of pollinating bees, and the benefits grow the longer scientists track them.
Researchers reorient monocultures to intercropping in just two generations
Seeds bred for monoculture become more suitable for intercropping when they're habituated to other crops, new experiments show.
If you can’t beat ’em, eat ’em.
A photo essay on the rise of edible packaging
To protect forests, sequester carbon, and produce protein, consider mushrooms on trees
New research weighs up the potential of mycoforestry: The only form of protein production that actually sequesters carbon
A crop-by-crop comparison of urban vs conventional farms yields turns up some surprising results
A first-of-its-kind meta-analysis of urban farms in 53 countries suggests that city plots can produce up to 4 times more food than conventional ones.
Researchers dig deep into the huge potential value of industrial food waste
Starch-heavy foods such as popcorn and old pizza can be used to make bioplastics and high fiber wastes like tomato peels and eggshells are excellent fillers for tires and other rubber products
Succulence is one thing that meat alternatives lack. High-tech engineering could change that.
Researchers cracked the code using three main ingredients: plant proteins, water, and an artificial tongue.
