Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

A microbiological detection device will help speed up the measurement of contamination in raw meat, thus minimising costs and food waste.

Lower costs, less wastage and higher-quality milk on the horizon for dairy farmers, thanks to a new optical sensor that scans for contaminants and proteins in 5 minutes.

An EU initiative incorporates climate science, hydrology and economics data to help decision-makers boost resilience and adaptation capacity.

Consumers want high-quality, organic berry products available in larger quantities. An international team of researchers has set out to meet their demands.

An agricultural robot harvesting sweet peppers will help automate labour in greenhouses.

A team of researchers have shown that micro-size granular particles in plant cells behave like liquids when they respond to gravity. Their findings could pave the way for new engineering design and technological applications that mimic biological systems.

Chemical-free and remote sensing technologies can help prevent bee colony losses. Here’s how.

The potential benefits of less cultivated varieties of cereals are garnering more interest in a drive towards healthy nutrition.

Agriculture – both victim and cause of climate change. New research shows moving away from animal protein towards legumes makes sense nutritionally and environmentally.

An abundant food source in a time of food insecurity, just one snag – how can we break the ‘yuck’ barrier and get insects onto our plates?

A study supported by the EU-funded SPACERADARPOLLINATOR project reveals the roles that visual experience, visual learning and foraging activity, have on the neural structure of bumblebees.

With EU nations throwing away 88 million tonnes of food a year, a group of experts from 13 countries have launched a platform to share knowledge with consumers, producers and retailers in the hope of bringing that figure down.

Scientists analysing earthenware jugs say residue contains wine compounds dating back 8 000 years.

With food security issues becoming ever more pressing, much research is being done to strike the right balance between high yields and low environmental impact. A major EU-funded project has run a successful pilot bringing together data from sensors and satellites to boost yields while accurately identifying levels of fertilisers needed.

Just like great wine needs time, great grapes require continuous attention and reliable assessment tools. Noting the absence of a convincing alternative to manual sampling and analysis, an EU-funded consortium has developed VineRobot, an ‘Unmanned ground vehicle’ (UGV) equipped with non-invasive sensor technology.

The WINESENSE project has successfully developed a novel extraction process for grape marc, resulting in higher polyphenol content. The consortium is already working on products for the cosmetics industry.

Climate change is increasing water scarcity around the world and the inter-dependencies of global trade mean that the impact could ripple far and wide, including across Europe, as the EU-funded project IMPREX warns.

A new study, building on a previously funded EU project, explores the influence of groundwater locations on East African ancestral survival, with the suggestion that they also acted as a spur for evolution.

A technology able to accurately predict future yields, without human intervention, would be a dream come true for vine growers across Europe. If all goes as planned, such technology should be available to them in less than two years.

The latest Research*eu Results Magazine is now available in free, accessible PDF.

With ULTRAWINE, Spanish SME AGROVIN promises a revolutionary ultrasound equipment for wineries, one that will accelerate the grape maceration process and reduce energy use drastically — all this whilst guaranteeing the great wine colouration and quality.

The EU-funded MYCOKEY project reports early success in the hunt for a faster, reliable and more environmentally friendly way to detect food contamination.

Identifying the environmental factors driving larval settlement is crucial to understanding the population dynamics of marine invertebrates. EU-funded research feeds into a new study that takes three environmental factors into consideration in an attempt to predict larval presence and intensity.

Will we have enough fertile land to grow the food our increasing population needs? Is it possible to adapt food production to climate change? How do we define responsible research and innovation in relation to food security? An EU-funded project, which aims to encourage people to debate the issues and articulate their views, has just published a toolkit settig out the steps to maximise grass-roots engagement.

With competition for the use of forest resources ever increasing, the EU-funded project DIABOLO sets out to track disturbances and degradation more effectively.