Tag - agriculture

 
 

AGRICULTURE

WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 11, 2015
Drug genes transferred from plant to plant
Researchers on Thursday said they have identified the genes that enable an endangered Himalayan plant to produce a chemical vital to making a widely used chemotherapy drug, and inserted them into an easily grown laboratory plant that then produced the same chemical.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2015
Who will suffer most from climate change?
When it comes to climate change, it is the world's poorest farmers who will suffer the most.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 20, 2015
Invasive plants pose billion-dollar threat to economies around the world
Many of the world's plants are turning "alien," spread by people into new areas where they choke out native vegetation in a worsening trend that causes billions of dollars in damage, scientists said on Wednesday.
WORLD
Aug 17, 2015
Chicken war with U.S. shows free trade threat to Vietnamese farmers
Hanoi chicken farmer Nguyen Huu Tuyen blames inexpensive poultry imported from the U.S. for the loss of almost $14,000 (¥1.7 million) this year.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2015
Scientists use bioengineered yeast to make opioids faster than with poppies
Scientists have invented a speedy method to make potent painkilling opioids using bioengineered baker's yeast instead of poppies, but need to fine-tune the process to make it commercially viable, according to a study published on Thursday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 14, 2015
Severe 'food shocks' more likely due to extreme weather, experts predict
Extreme weather such as intense storms, droughts and heat waves will cause more frequent and severe food shortages as the global climate and food supply systems change, British and American experts warned Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jul 20, 2015
Centrair emerges as key freight hub for agricultural exporters
Chubu Centrair International Airport in Aichi Prefecture has emerged as a key hub for agricultural exporters as they capitalize on local subsidies, a global washoku food boom and weakening yen.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 16, 2015
Genetic modification of diamondback moth brings hope of controlling pests
Scientists in Britain say they have developed a way of genetically modifying and controlling an invasive species of moth that causes serious pest damage to cabbages, kale, canola and other similar crops worldwide.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 9, 2015
U.S., Japan enter 'final' trade talks ahead of possible TPP agreement
Trade negotiators from the U.S. and Japan met Thursday in Tokyo to work out what they hope will be a final bilateral deal needed for the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2015
Vote by U.S. Congress stokes hope for TPP progress in July
With the U.S. Congress formally granting President Barack Obama trade promotion authority, proponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in Japan are hoping at least the broad outlines of a bilateral deal for agriculture and auto parts may be worked out when negotiations resume in July.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 19, 2015
Half of Indian kids are malnourished; girls suffer most
When Palak was found barely breathing buried under a mound of soil in an impoverished village in eastern India, doctors who treated the abandoned newborn girl knew that nursing her back to health would not be easy.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 5, 2015
Environmentalists sue to protect fish amid California drought measures
California environmental groups have sued state and federal water managers, claiming that their drought-management plan for projects below the crucial Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is pushing some species of fish to the brink of extinction.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 5, 2015
Climate change sparks tension in India's tea gardens
Usha Ghatowar smiles wryly when asked about the pay she earns picking leaves at a colonial-era tea garden in India's Assam.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 1, 2015
New avian flu viruses send U.S. scientists scrambling
Three highly pathogenic avian flu viruses that have infected poultry and wild birds in the U.S. Midwest appear unlikely to present a significant risk to humans. But the presence of the viruses in North America has scientists scrambling to understand their potential long-term threat.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2015
Time to stop taking the Earth's soil for granted
Healthy soils are crucial to human nutrition, but erosion and contamination are placing them under severe stress.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 24, 2015
Minnesota declares state of emergency over bird flu in poultry
Minnesota declared a state of emergency on Thursday over a fast-spreading strain of avian flu that has led to the extermination of more than 7.3 million birds in the country. It followed Wisconsin's action on Monday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2015
Obama, Abe poised to trumpet TPP deal next week, Japan's ambassador says
President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may be able to declare next week that the U.S. and Japan have all but completed their part of negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, Japan's ambassador to the U.S. said.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 21, 2015
Huge outbreak of bird flu reported at Iowa poultry farm
Iowa, the top U.S. egg-producing state, found a lethal strain of bird flu in millions of hens at an egg-laying facility on Monday, the worst case so far in a national outbreak that prompted Wisconsin to declare a state of emergency.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 12, 2015
California learns from Australia on coping with long-term drought
Australian farms and cities manage almost every drop of available water to make the most of supplies on the driest inhabited continent. No wonder California is looking Down Under for help with its record drought.
JAPAN / Politics / LOCAL POLLS '15
Apr 10, 2015
Voters in Saga face small candidate field, big issues
Saga is stuck with a paucity of candidates in the unified elections this month even as issues with both national and local implications stalk the ballot.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past