Senior Researcher Fiona Hay from the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University is the new President-Elect of the International Society for Seed Science.

High productive agriculture is at a crossroads, where the need for change is imminent to avoid the rapidly growing threat of a climate crisis, but how do proceed and which technologies can help to achieve large reduction in greenhouse gases? An international conference on “Zero Greenhouse Gas Emission in High Productive Agriculture” will shed the light on new innovative possibilities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the most effective and sustainable manner. You have the opportunity to join and contribute with your knowledge.

Results from a long-term experiment in Askov show that under-sown ryegrass cover crop with clover contributes positively to the nitrogen supply in spring barley, while under-sown ryegrass cover crop without clover reduces the kernel yield.

The agricultural sector is facing a paradigm shift. Danish high-tech agriculture can show the world how a pervasive transformation of the industry can reform food production and, at the same time, tackle the crises facing the world. The transformation is all down to something as basic as what we grow on fields, and we may have to get used to the sight of green fields instead of yellow in late summer.

Again this year, the Faculty of Technical Sciences at Aarhus University has qualified for ISO 9001 certification, and can therefore document that its consultancy activities are of consistent quality and are managed according to international standards.

Legumes can make agriculture greener, both by carbon fixing, but more specifically because they do not need artificial fertilizers supplying nitrogen, and because their seeds have an advantageous composition of amino acids. A large, European research project focuses on faba beans, which have the potential to become an important part of Danish agriculture.

Researchers and practitioners were gathered at the Creative Tastebuds conference to discuss how our sense of taste can help ensure new and more sustainable food choices. One of the main points made at the conference was that a sustainable food future begin with taste experiences in social contexts.

A new, unique research centre has been launched. The Novo Nordisk Foundation CO2 Research Center is to be established with a grant of DKK 630 million from the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF) and based at Aarhus University. The new centre will ensure cross-disciplinary collaboration to reduce the amount of the greenhouse gas, CO2, in the atmosphere through researching and implementing new technology. The centre will be collaborating with a number of Danish and international partners.

An increased level of zinc (Zn level) in spinach seeds through Zn priming can, in addition to the normal benefits of priming such as increased germination ability and speed, also improve the establishment of seedlings under stress at low temperatures and nutrient-poor conditions.

Plants spend a lot of energy releasing hormone substances from roots to soil. It affects the microbial environment of the soil surrounding the plant, and has a far greater effect on certain species of plant parasitic nematodes than previously thought.