World’s largest user of groundwater for agriculture looks to solar for a more sustainable future.  

Indigo, a Boston-based agritech start-up, plans to pay farmers to store carbon in soil - part of a growing field of climate-related agricultural practices that seek to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Lauren Fedor discusses the growing focus on environmentally friendly farming methods with Leslie Hook and Emiko Terazono.

Contributors: Katie Martin, capital markets editor, Lauren Fedor, technology reporter, Emiko Terazono, commodities correspondent, and Leslie Hook, environment correspondent. Producer: Fiona Symon

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Large numbers of farmers have opted for a way of cultivation that does away with chemical pesticides, and most importantly, uses less water in a water-starved state. The dramatic results are nowhere more visible than in Rajasthan's Shekhawati belt, reports Deepa A.

The agrarian crisis has seen over a lakh of women farmers lose their husbands. But survivors like Kalavati Bandurkar - with seven daughters - still run their farms, writes P Sainath.

The struggle to feed themselves and their families round the year drives millions of farmers in India to desperate measures. Abhijit Mohanty’s story shows how sustainable agriculture has helped transform the lives of farmers in Odisha’s backward Kalahandi district.

Historic farming retains a connection to field and yield that modern farming does not. Farmer Ed Shultz describes the animals and methods he uses at Great Hopes Plantation.

Part of Subhiksha Keralam project launched by govt.

As the government battles to keep food inflation within manageable limits, the annual Economic Survey of the Finance ministry said that existing price support mechanism, should not be the sold tool to incentivize farming, but instead methods other ...

Policy on price and procurement support should not encourage more production of abundant crops

In the very first year of the 11th Five Year Plan, the agriculture sector in Uttar Pradesh has suffered a setback...

They slogged to make it to prestigious engineering colleges of the country. Only to return to the farms in their villages and try their hand at something.....

For the past year and a half, Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner Y S Matta is doing organic farming on his 30 acres of land in Kalomajra village....

If the Congress-led government returns to power, it will help resume exports of wheat and rice and continue existing policies but if it needs the support of its Leftist allies....

When he would come home from his modest half-acre farm after sundown, Ramesh Pradhan wouldn''t go near his children and wife until he had bathed and changed his clothes.

Assam has drawn up an ambitious plan to cultivate jatropha to boost farmers'' income and produce bio-diesel

To explore markets elsewhere in the country and abroad for its saffron, basmati rice and rajmash among various other agricultural produce, the Jammu-Kashmir government is adopting organic farming in a systematic manner

State accounts for nearly 40% of total area under certified organic farming in India.

US-returned businessman sets up modern dairy farm, shares equipment and know-how with locals

Tractor sales pick up; govt promotes use of implements, launches schemes for machines on rent and at subsidy

In Salinas Valley, about an hour and a half south of San Francisco, farmers and tech types are joining forces to turn this place into a kind of Silicon Valley for agriculture.

How do we feed a growing population in areas where land is scarce? Produced for Mouser Electronics by the WIRED Brand Lab

Torabi, Nooshin, author

This week we have two interviews from the annual meeting of AAAS in Washington D.C.: one on the history of food and one about our own perceptions of food and food waste.  First up, host Sarah Crespi talks with Christina Warinner from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany, about the history of dairying. When did people first start to milk animals and where? It turns out, the spread of human genetic adaptations for drinking milk do not closely correspond to the history of consuming milk from animals. Instead, evidence from ancient dental plaque suggests people from all over the world developed different ways of chugging milk—not all of them genetic. Next, Host Meagan Cantwell speaks with Sheril Kirshenbaum, co-director of the Michigan State University Food Literacy and Engagement Poll, about the public’s perception of food waste. Do most people try to conserve food and produce less waste? Better insight into the point of view of consumers may help keep billions of kilograms of food from being discarded every year in the United States. This week’s episode was edited by Podigy. Download the transcript (PDF) Ads on the show: Columbia University and Magellan TV Listen to previous podcasts. About the Science Podcast [Image:  Carefull in Wyoming/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

Micro-organisms live inside everything from the human gut to coral—but where do they come from? Host Meagan Cantwell talks to Staff Writer Elizabeth Pennisi about the first comprehensive survey of microbes in Hawaii’s Waimea Valley, which revealed that plants and animals get their unique microbiomes from organisms below them in the food chain or the wider environment. Going global, Meagan then speaks with Erle Ellis, professor of geography and environmental science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, about a project that aggregated the expertise of more than 250 archaeologists to map human land use over the past 10,000 years. This detailed map will help fine-tune climate models. This week’s episode was edited by Podigy. Ads on this show: Science Sessions Podcast; Kroger Download a transcript (PDF)  Listen to previous podcasts. About the Science Podcast [Image: Chris Couderc/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

Online Resource

Online Resource

González, Roberto J. (Roberto Jesús), 1969-

Shorrocks, Victor M., author

Barton, Greg (Gregory Allen), author

Historic farming retains a connection to field and yield that modern farming does not. Farmer Ed Shultz describes the animals and methods he uses at Great Hopes Plantation.

Natural farming, termed Zero Budget Natural Farming in India, has been adopted by upwards of 972 villages.Will all of India's 650,000 villages take to it?Will all of India's 650,000 villages take to it?Sanjeeb Mukherjee examines the pros and cons.