Dan Charles

1 month ago | nhpr.org | Dan Charles

Mariangela Hungria, a microbiologist in Brazil, spent decades looking for bacteria in the soil that could act like fertilizer, boosting farmers' harvests. But she faced a lot of skepticism. "When I started my career, everybody was like, 'You're crazy! You will never succeed. This will never be possible,'" she recalls. Today, her work was rewarded with the World Food Prize, which recognizes advances in agriculture and nutrition.

2 months ago | science.org | Dan Charles

Feb 24, 2025 | science.org | Dan Charles

A science-driven effort to better manage the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) “gene banks,” launched shortly before President Donald Trump took office, is now in tatters, a victim of his assault on the federal workforce. Plant breeder Neha Kothari was hired in October 2024 to streamline and improve the department’s vast collections of seeds and living crops that are key to developing improved varieties.

Feb 20, 2025 | science.org | Erik Stokstad |Dan Charles

Researchers at Peru’s National Agrarian University La Molina have spent years developing a fast-growing cultivar of passion fruit and introducing it to farmers in the north of the country. The U.S.-funded effort, called PERU-Hub, is intended to diversify agricultural options in an area once known for the production of coca plants used to make cocaine.

Feb 17, 2025 | m.farms.com | Dan Charles |Erik Stokstad

By Dan Charles and Erik StokstadResearchers at Peru’s National Agrarian University La Molina have spent years developing a fast-growing cultivar of passion fruit and introducing it to farmers in the north of the country. The U.S.-funded effort, called PERU-Hub, is intended to diversify agricultural options in an area once known for cocaine production.