Biogenic amines in foods represent a health risk. Researchers from Agroscope and INRAE investigated the formation of these undesirable substances in raclette cheeses by the bacterium Morganella morganii.
The aim of the ‘Proof by Underpants’ project was to obtain exten-sive information on the soil quality of gardens and farms, for the first time with the help of the general population. Initial results show that humus plays a key role in the soil, helping it cope better with climate-induced drought.
Agroscope has developed a scoring system for plant protection in vegetable crops. The system enables the creation of incentives for reducing the use and environmental risks of plant-protection products and promoting preventive and non-chemical measures.
Agroscope has set up a ‘Home Garden’ pilot plant on its Conthey site to transfer its expertise in indoor-farming research to the ‘Home Garden’ system developed by the Zurich-based company Pleasant Plants.
At the new Centre of Excellence for Raw-Milk Products, Agroscope and Grangeneuve interviewed test subjects about the popularity of Vacherin Fribourgeois PDO cheeses made from raw and thermised milk. The study showed that the market potential of raw-milk cheeses has not yet been exhausted.
Despite the current challenges of e.g. the war in Ukraine and climate change, the Swiss food sector is relatively resilient. This is the conclusion reached by Agroscope’s report on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office for National Economic Supply.
A wide variety of creatures live in the soil: invertebrates as well as bacteria and fungi. Besides improving soil structure and composition, they can be of direct benefit to crops by making nutrients available to them or by attacking pathogens.
A video gives a brief explanation of the problem of compacted subsoils and introduces the ROCSUB Project which studies different ways of regenerating a severely compacted subsoil.
Swiss farmers were less hard-hit by the consequences of the pandemic than their colleagues in the neighbouring European countries. This is because farms in Switzerland are more diversified.
Researchers from WSL, Agroscope and Vrije University Amsterdam have applied methods from futurology to identify four megatrends in European agriculture. This study should help to master the challenges of the future.
An Agroscope study shows: heat and other stress situations influence the DNA of woodland strawberry. The resulting changes can help forearm strawberries against subsequent stress situations – they ‘remember’.
Many consumer goods contain activated carbon, which can be contaminated with pollutants like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Agroscope showed that current analytical methods and legal bases used to address PAH content are incomplete.
Dry summers can see a loss of up to 25% of total Swiss roughage production. This is because grassland yields are strongly correlated with summer drought, as shown by a new analysis conducted by Agroscope and the Swiss Farmers’ Union.
Herbicide-resistant weeds are a growing problem throughout the world. Monitoring herbicide resistance in Switzerland allows us to understand the mechanisms behind it and to better manage the use of herbicides.
Agroscope researchers have succeeded in cracking the genome of a quarantine grapevine disease, flavescence dorée, which had proven virtually impossible to combat to date. The decoding will enable us to identify the weak points of the pathogen so that it can be fought more effectively.
Agroscope a comparé plusieurs stratégies de protection phytosanitaire dans la culture des pommes. La réduction des produits phytosanitaires a permis de diminuer les risques écotoxicologiques locaux, mais d'autres conflits d'objectifs sont apparus en matière d'environnement et de l’économie.
Info Flora and Agroscope’s ‘Invasive Neophytes’ Expert Group has conducted a risk assessment of the fleabanes Conyza canadensis, C. sumatrensis und C. bonariensis for the attention of the FOEN. The conclusion: these three newly occurring plants in Switzerland do not currently pose a threat for biodiversity.
