Imagine finding a 1,600-year-old farm that’s still telling stories about how people grew their food, shared resources, and lived with the land. That’s exactly what happened in Kafr Qasim, central Israel, where archaeologists uncovered a huge agricultural estate belonging to the Samaritans—an ancient community related to the Jewish people, who followed the Torah but had their own traditions and worship sites.

Today, the Samaritans are a small group of a few hundred people living in Israel and the West Bank. But 1,500 years ago, they were a thriving community spread across the region. This discovery is exciting not just for history buffs—it also offers clues about how ancient farmers worked with nature, ideas we can still use for sustainable farming today.

The excavation, carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and funded by the Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing, revealed buildings decorated with colorful mosaics, an olive oil press, and even a public ritual bath known as a miqveh. The site is within Khirbet Kafr Ḥatta, a settlement that existed from the 4th to 7th centuries CE—spanning the end of the Roman Empire into the Byzantine period.

One of the most stunning finds was a large mosaic floor filled with patterns and pictures of plants and foods grown in the area—grapes, dates, watermelons, artichokes, and asparagus. At the entrance, a Greek inscription wished the homeowner “Good Luck!” It’s a personal touch that makes the past feel very close, like the people who lived there could walk back in at any moment.

Food, Faith, and Clean Production

North of the main house, archaeologists found a big olive press, a warehouse, and the miqveh. This layout suggests the Samaritans pressed their olives into oil while keeping the process religiously pure. The olive press had two wings—one for crushing and pressing, and another for storage and support rooms. This type of press was more common in Jerusalem and the Judean lowlands, meaning the Samaritans may have been borrowing ideas and technology from other regions.

Olive oil wasn’t just for cooking—it was used for lighting lamps, in medicine, and in religious rituals. Producing it locally, and with care for purity, meant the community could meet its needs without over-relying on outside trade. It’s a reminder that local, sustainable food systems are not a new idea—they’ve been around for thousands of years.

Over the years, the estate changed. Some of the fancy mosaic floors were damaged when new walls were built. Columns and capitals from older buildings were reused in new structures. The archaeologists think these changes may be linked to political unrest—specifically, Samaritan revolts against Byzantine rulers in the 5th and 6th centuries CE, when restrictive laws targeted religious minorities.

What’s remarkable is that, unlike other Samaritan sites destroyed in these uprisings, the Kafr Qasim estate survived and kept its Samaritan identity. Excavators even found ceramic oil lamps with Samaritan symbols, showing that the people stayed connected to their heritage despite outside pressures. That kind of resilience is something we still need in the face of modern challenges like climate change and food security.

Why It Matters for Sustainability

This site isn’t just about pretty mosaics or ancient artifacts—it’s about how people lived in balance with their environment. The Samaritans grew their own food, processed it locally, reused building materials, and built infrastructure to last generations. These are all practices that fit into modern ideas like the circular economy and permaculture.

By studying ancient estates like this, we can see what worked for communities over centuries—and what led to their decline. It’s a chance to learn from both the successes and mistakes of the past, whether it’s about farming techniques, water management, or adapting to political change.

According to Israel’s Minister of Heritage, Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu, the find tells “another chapter in the shared story of the Jews and the Samaritans… communities that lived by the Torah, shared common roots, and experienced similar hardships.” For archaeologists, it’s a chance to piece together centuries of history; for the rest of us, it’s a reminder that sustainability isn’t just a modern buzzword—it’s a way of life humans have practiced, and sometimes forgotten, for millennia.

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Can AI be sustainable?

Over 100 partners, including 37 tech companies, 11 countries and 5 international organizations, have joined forces with the UN under the Coalition for Environmentally Sustainable Artificial Intelligence, aiming to ramp up global momentum to place AI on a more environmentally sustainable path.

Spearheaded by France, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the new AI Coalition brings together “stakeholders across the AI value chain for dialogue and ambitious collaborative initiatives,” according their press material.

193 countries have adopted a series of non-binding recommendations on the ethical use of AI, but a few of these are troubling because among the 193, some of them are considered the “most dangerous countries in the world” by the International Security Journal; they include countries that face severe human rights violations including Afghanistan (run by the Taliban), Syria (run by an ex-Al Qaeda leader), Yemen (controlled by the Houthis). Will they have an equal say in how AI is built or unbuilt with human biases and ambitions that may not be shared as a value across the board?

“We know that AI can be a force for climate action and energy efficiency,” says the UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “But we also know AI power-intensive systems are already placing an unsustainable strain on our planet,” “So it is crucial to design AI algorithms and infrastructures that consume less energy and integrate AI into smart grids to optimize power use.”

The Coalition was announced at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit in Paris, where Heads of State and Government, leaders of international organizations, CEOs, academics, artists, and members of civil society gathered to discuss support for AI innovation, adequate regulation, and respect for rights to ensure development of these technologies in the interests of all, including developing countries.

According to their marketing material, the Coalition will encourage AI initiatives for the planet, including its role in decarbonizing economies, reducing pollution, preserving biodiversity, protecting the oceans, and ensuring humanity operates within planetary boundaries.

“It will use a collaborative approach – bringing together governments, academia, civil society, and the private sector – to focus on standardized methods and metrics for measuring AI’s environmental impacts, comprehensive life cycle analysis frameworks for reporting and disclosure, and prioritization of research on sustainable AI.”

What is sustainable AI? What is an environmental impact? Who chooses who enters the pact?

The new EU coalition argues that the the EU itself has tried and the United States of America have introduced legislation to temper the environmental impact of AI. “However, the policy landscape remains sparse.” The EU group believes that they can “inform investors, development banks and local authorities on the objective elements defining an energy-efficient data centre.”

“The power of AI to solve complex global challenges is becoming ever clearer, but so too are its environmental impacts and the need for environmental guardrails to ensure the field grows sustainably,” said Golestan (Sally) Radwan, Chief Digital Officer for UNEP, from Egypt. “The new Coalition brings together critical stakeholders who have the power to work together and build systems that ensure the net effect of AI on the planet is positive as the technology continues to deploy rapidly.”

Updated, February 20, 2025

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In today’s farming, using agrochemicals and fertilizers wisely is essential for cost savings and protecting the environment. Space technology is changing how farmers handle their resources by providing data that helps them use inputs more effectively and save money. With satellite images and remote sensing, agronomists can check soil health, evaluate crop condition, and identify nutrient shortages with great precision.

This up-to-date information allows for precise application of agrochemicals and fertilizers, making sure plants get the right care at the right time and location. Consequently, waste is reduced, crop yields increase, and farming becomes more eco-friendly. Satellite technology is more than just a tool for better efficiency and tracking crop growth; it leads to smarter and more sustainable agri practices. Let’s take a look at a case where a cutting-edge satellite crop monitoring technology company assisted in enhancing fertilizer application efficiency.

Case Study: Optimizing NPK Fertilizer Application with EOSDA’s Satellite Monitoring Technology

In Central and Eastern Europe, traditional crop cultivation practices have long relied on NPK fertilizers to enhance soil productivity and maximize yields. However, conventional application methods often achieve only 40-60% nutrient efficiency, with severe drought conditions further reducing this figure. Overuse of these fertilizers not only strains farmers’ budgets but also imposes heavy environmental costs, including nutrient runoff and water contamination. To address these challenges, innovative practices are emerging that enable growers to achieve higher yields with reduced chemical inputs.

A prime example is the collaboration between Agrinova Group and EOSDA Crop Monitoring. Since 2021, Agrinova Group, a consulting firm established in 2014 with a strong presence across Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine, has integrated EOSDA’s satellite-based platform into its advisory services. Leveraging high-resolution space imagery, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, EOSDA Crop Monitoring provides near real-time insights into vegetation health and vegetation dynamics. This technology enables the creation of precise VRA maps for variable rate application of fertilizers and seeds, tailored to the specific needs of each field.

A productivity map is useful for applying potassium and phosphorus.

By replacing traditional, labor-intensive soil testing with remote sensing, Agrinova Group has significantly reduced fertilizer inputs — optimizing nitrogen use by 50–130 kg/ha. This shift not only cuts chemical costs but also minimizes ecological impact. Moreover, remote management capabilities have slashed operational travel expenses by 80%, enhancing overall service efficiency. The successful implementation of EOSDA’s platform has reinforced Agrinova Group’s reputation as a leader in sustainable, tech-driven agricultural consultancy, driving both business growth and improved environmental stewardship. Let’s explore how agronomists can make the most of satellite data to improve their crop management strategies.

Using Satellite Data for Better Crop Management with Precision Fertilization

Satellite crop monitoring is revolutionizing fertilizer application by offering farmers a detailed, data-driven understanding of their fields. Utilizing vegetation indices like NDVI and MSAVI, space imagery provides critical insights into plant vigor and health. These indices reveal variations in plant biomass and chlorophyll content, allowing agronomists to identify areas that require more intensive fertilization versus those that need less.

In addition to vegetation indices, satellite data captures soil moisture levels, which play a vital role in nutrient uptake. By understanding moisture distribution, growers can fine-tune fertilizer applications to coincide with optimal soil conditions, thereby increasing the efficiency of nutrient absorption. Furthermore, nutrient distribution maps derived from space imagery highlight spatial variability within fields, enabling the creation of precise prescription maps for fertilizer application.

One of the most impactful innovations arising from this technology is Variable Rate Application (VRA). VRA empowers farm owners to adjust fertilizer doses on a granular level rather than applying even rates across entire fields. This targeted approach not only reduces the overall quantity of fertilizers used but also ensures that each section of a field receives the appropriate amount to maximize crop yield. The resulting efficiency not only cuts costs but also minimizes the environmental impact by reducing chemical runoff and preserving soil health.

In essence, the integration of satellite data into fertilizer management transforms conventional practices. It offers a robust toolset that enhances decision-making, drives cost savings, and sustains high yields. By embracing this technology, modern agriculture moves towards a more precise, sustainable, and economically viable future, demonstrating the powerful synergy between cutting-edge remote sensing and traditional farming techniques. Let’s take a closer look at how satellite-guided fertilization can benefit both the economy and the environment.

The Economic and Environmental Benefits of Satellite-Guided Fertilization

Space-guided fertilization and crop monitoring systems are reshaping modern agriculture by offering a dual advantage: boosting farm productivity while reducing ecological harm. By precisely targeting fertilizer applications, farmers can significantly cut input costs. Detailed satellite data — encompassing vegetation indices, soil moisture levels, and nutrient maps — allows for pinpoint accuracy in fertilizer delivery, ensuring that each portion of the field receives just what it needs. This precision minimizes the excessive use of agrochemicals, curtailing unnecessary expenses and reducing the risk of nutrient runoff that can pollute water bodies and harm local ecosystems.

The economic benefits are multifaceted. Reduced fertilizer usage reduces production costs, while optimized nutrient management enhances vegetation vigor and yield. This leads to a healthier bottom line for farm owners and contributes to a more competitive agricultural sector. Moreover, the ecological benefits are equally compelling. Over-fertilization is a primary cause of soil degradation and water contamination. By adopting satellite crop monitoring software, farmers mitigate these issues, preserving soil fertility and promoting biodiversity. 

The integration of AI-driven satellite analytics, predictive modeling, and modern farm management tools is revolutionizing agrochemical use by boosting yields, cutting waste, and reducing ecological impact. This innovative approach supports sustainable farming practices, aligning economic growth with environmental stewardship and paving the way for a resilient, eco-friendly future in agriculture.

The post How Satellite Technologies Reduce Costs for Agrochemicals and Fertilizers appeared first on Green Prophet.

Reviving Gaza’s fishing sector hinges on restoring peace and safe access to the sea

When Hamas Palestinians attacked Israel they wouldn’t image this would lead to such a collapse of Gaza’s once thriving fishing sector. The situation could still be reversed quickly when peace is restored and fishers are granted safe access to fishing waters, along with the resumption of imports of essential fish production inputs and tools, says the UN’s FAO.

The impact of the ongoing escalation on the fishing sector is devastating, according to the UN. Gaza’s average daily catch between October 2023 to April 2024 dropped to just 7.3 percent of 2022 levels, causing a $17.5 million production loss.

The destruction of Gaza’s two main aquaculture farms, along with the hatchery facility, has also left the sector unable to produce alternative aquatic foods through aquaculture. According to one assessment, before the conflict over 6 000 individuals in Gaza, including 4,200 registered fishers and boat owners, relied on fishing as their main income. The sector supported around 110,000 people.

North of Wadi Gaza, which separates the northern and southern parts of the Strip, the Port of Gaza City has been severely damaged, with most fishing boats destroyed.

The damage to  Gaza’s fishing sector has exacerbated an already dire food security crisis. Fish, once a vital source of protein and other essential nutrients for Gazans, is now nearly unavailable. And with Hamas holding food stocks hostage, the people are at wit’s end.

“In Gaza’s fishing areas now lie broken boats, torn nets, and ruined infrastructure, standing in stark contrast to the once-vibrant industry that supported thousands of fishers for generations,” said the FAO Deputy Director-General, Beth Bechdol. It is not clear if she was there personally.

“For Gazans, the sea was not just a source of food, but a source of livelihood and identity. FAO can assist to help rebuild Gaza’s fishing industry, but for this to happen peace must first be established and fishers must be allowed to operate their boats and cast their nets without fear of harm,” she added.   

Ciro Fiorillo, Head of the FAO Office for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, stated, “FAO is ready to restart projects, replenish damaged boats and equipment, and inject emergency funds as soon as these key fishing inputs for production are allowed to enter the Strip, a sustained ceasefire is in place, and access to the sea is restored.

“This will help Gazan fishers resume their activities, revitalize livelihoods, contribute to economic recovery, and restore dignity to the people of Gaza.”

Before the escalation of hostilities, FAO supported over 4,000 Gazan fishers, improving food security, safety, and sustainability. Key initiatives like the marine cage project and enhanced fish stock monitoring, helped to establish inland fish farms, enhanced fishers’ skills, shared best practices, and supplied essential cold chain resources, including solar panels, ensuring a more resilient food source for Gaza.

Despite all the billions in aid given to Gaza, most of it was used to build tunnels and bombs and the fishing industry on its own could not survive without outside help, which raises an eye. How we can help Gazans?

All images supplied by the UN. December 2024. Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip.

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What happens when you need something, but you cannot get it anywhere – like tires for your car. You can’t buy them at any price. What do you do then? Stop driving your car? Stop plowing farmer’s fields because you can’t find new tires for the tractor?  Imagine a world without tires? Remember Eisenreifen?

The world’s community of nations may wind up facing that situation as the global supply of natural rubber is now at risk from different factors, climate change, fungal disease that is killing Para rubber trees in the five Asian countries that 90% of the world’s natural rubber comes from.

Major Industries to Face Natural Rubber Shortage Globally  

Last year CNBC covered a story on the rubber shortage and what it means for Americans. I included the video below and you can assume if it’s a problem for America it will be your problem too.

Ohio State University Professor Katrina Cornish, told CNBC: “We could be on the cusp of a rubber apocalypse.”

The  global rubber market was valued at nearly $40 Billion in 2020, but one analysis predicts the  natural rubber market could be worth nearly $68.5 Billion by 2026.

Grow for sustainable rubber

Cornish is CEO of Energyene where she works to improve the natural rubber content of two alternative plant species that yield a high quality latex. At Ohio State University she works with their Program of Excellence in Natural Rubber (PENRA) to develop higher yields from plant species. One of them is an annual called guayule. 

Guayule or Parthenium argentatum in Latin is a perennial woody shrub in the family Asteraceae that is native to the rangeland area of the Chihuahuan Desert, including the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

Like hemp production was heralded as the future 30 years ago, guayule could be the next new cash crop for struggling farmers.

PENRA has developed a water based extraction process to separate natural rubber from plant materials like guayule without the use of chemicals. 

Still don’t care? In 2020 the European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers Association included natural rubber in the list of critical raw materials, reconfirming its economic importance and the need for supply diversification. 

The tire industry alone absorbs about 76% of all the natural rubber produced globally, their 2020 report detailed: “Today there is no substitute for natural rubber from Hevea (Hevea brasiliensis) trees that could be used in all its current applications.”

If you’ve ever visited Thailand you will see smallhold farmers growing and harvesting milky latex from Hevea trees planted at side of the road for easy access.

Natural rubber is an incredibly important raw material for the European tire and rubber industry and is a key enabler for several industries – especially automotive.

In 2020, 2 million tons of natural rubber was imported into America and used in 60,000 products that depend on it. According to Cornish that same year a million Hevea rubber trees died from fungal leaf blight, causing a 10% drop in the global natural rubber supply.

America has no capacity at this time to produce natural rubber, and depends on five Asian countries that export it, China and Vietnam among them. 

Turning American into exporter of natural rubber

White Tiger Farms, an agriculture enterprise that I am building in Oregon, will tackle that task of building both production of the two alternative plant species that yield a high quality natural rubber, and the industrial process to sustainably harvest it. We will help grow 95% pure raw natural rubber product for America’s current and future needs for this critical commodity of vital national importance.

Our goal is to scale up capacity to turn America from being an importer of natural rubber to become the first nation to export natural rubber made from these two alternative plant species.  

At this time there are over 100,000 deeded acres of former ranch properties up for sale in Oregon, ideal for repurposing into farm sites to use high density vertical growing systems, and geodesic greenhouse domes from in Ashland, Oregon, as well as larger domes to 150 meters in diameter from Geometrica to grow plants year round, with sustainable harvests of plant materials every 90 to 120 days to turn into raw natural rubber, working with PENRA and Professor Cornish.  

Cornish and her team have developed cultivars of dandelion that yield up to 10% content of natural rubber per dry weight of harvested material. She says that these cultivars that work in America will also work in the Middle East.

Rubber dreams for America- what do we need? 

Let’s say it takes ten plants to yield a pound of natural rubber, and America uses two million tons per year, which equal four billion pounds, how many plants will be needed to meet that amount consumed per year? 

Taraxacum kok-saghyz, often abbreviated as TKS and commonly referred to as the Kazakh dandelion, rubber root, or Russian dandelion, is a species of dandelion native to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, that is notable for its production of high quality rubber. It grows well in America.

Our operating plan is to begin by growing thousands of TKS dandelion and Guayule, the other plant that yields a high quality, non-allergenic natural rubber, in our onsite greenhouse domes to be set up on farm sites.

From those thousands of plants we will ramp up to grow millions of plants, and go on to raise billions of plants on farm sites locally and year round, with harvested material going to regional processing plants to produce raw natural rubber for American manufacturers.  

Within five years we will establish production of the TKS dandelion for its content of natural rubber latex in its long, thick roots, and the desert rubber plant, guayule used in WWII to produce tires for the American military when Japan cut off Asian natural rubber sources.

Luckily Mexico was able to produce those tires from their cultivation of the Guayule rubber plants, known for their content of natural rubber granules in the cambium layer of their mature stems.  

Within ten years we will no longer depend on natural rubber imports and will export to the  growing global markets for natural rubber, made in America.

In 2020 the global demand for natural rubber rose to 17 million tons per year, the same year that saw a loss of a million rubber trees, and a 10% loss to the global supply.

What happens when demand is greater than the supply, the price per kilogram of raw natural rubber is bound to increase as more countries  develop their local transportation sectors and put more cars, and trucks on the road, as well as jets into use, all depend on tires to run on.

Literally, the world’s economies run on natural rubber.

Doing your homework on sustainable rubber? Want to start growing?

For further research, these are websites I’d turn to:

Rubber News

Sustainable Rubber

Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber

World Business Council for Sustainable Development 

The post Sustainable rubber and latex production appeared first on Green Prophet.

Agriculture is transforming with the implementation of modern technologies. Technologies such as GPS and satellite image dissemination allow researchers and farmers to gain more information, monitor and manage agricultural resources. Besides, images provide an opportunity to optimize processes on the farm and increase the efficiency of various farm operations. EOSDA (EOS Data Analytics) and other companies offer solutions based on satellite technologies that allow monitoring the state of crops throughout the growing season. 

Satellite imagery can also be integrated with other innovative solutions, including the Internet of Things. This kind of integration further empowers farmers to practice precision farming. Thus, growers can get more data on the state of their crops. Furthermore, farmers can save resources by applying them only where they are needed and not evenly distributing them.

What is satellite imagery data? 

Satellites and the images they produce differ from each other, as different companies use them for various purposes. Satellite data is a collection of millions of pixels that are related to distance on Earth. The result is images with different resolutions and time scales. A pixel can display an area from 30 m2 to 1 km2 or even more. The technology is constantly being improved, and soon it will be possible to obtain images close to the resolution of a square centimeter.

The temporal measure of the data is also essential since modern satellites such as Landsat orbit the Earth every 16 days. It means that changes can be assessed every two weeks. Other information products based on satellite data are only available on an annual basis.

Ways how agriculture satellite imagery changes agriculture and farming

Achieving sustainability 

Sustainable resource management is a necessity today. Remote sensing satellites are contributing to more sustainable water use on farms. Satellite data helps to avoid over or under irrigation, improves the quality of agricultural products, and helps to increase yields. It is because farmers can monitor large areas, assess the condition of the soil, and more accurately determine the need for water. Satellite imagery analysis enables farmers to develop an irrigation plan and make it more efficient.

Encouragement of enhanced climate-resilience 

Extreme weather events can have a strong negative impact on crops. With satellite imagery, farmers can be aware of potential threats to plants, including drought, floods, and other weather events, and take timely action to protect crops. Satellite imagery will be beneficial in planning preventive measures and reducing the impact of weather on crop health. In this way, farmers can build resilience in farming practices to climate change.

Satellite-based crop monitoring 

Monitoring crops using satellite imagery significantly expands the ability of farmers and other participants in the agribusiness, such as auditors. Using the images, auditors can estimate the real value of the land. As for farmers, satellite-based crop monitoring allows them to make better decisions throughout the growing season. In addition, growers have access to historical satellite imagery, which opens the door to identifying climate patterns and allows them to plan field activities to increase productivity. Taking into account the data obtained earlier also makes it possible to create historical maps of the fields, and as a result, farmers can determine which methods are most effective.

Powering precision agriculture practices

Precision farming contributes to the efficient and rational use of resources. In addition, this practice implies significant savings in seeds, fertilizers, water, and pesticides, thereby increasing the productivity of farms. The integration of satellite imagery with other innovative technologies, including IoT and drones, allows you to monitor soil conditions, manage water resources, and obtain accurate information for fertilization. And when combined with agricultural robots, satellite imagery can also help improve planting function.

Fortifying farm planning  

Satellite images allow you to monitor, control and manage the state of crops, soil, protect crops from extreme weather conditions, as well as diseases, pests, and other threats. Integrating satellite imagery with other technologies can also detect stress, soil moisture, and nutrient saturation. In this way, businesses can make accurate estimates of yields and improve purchasing and storage plans. The data obtained can also be used by insurance agents and companies to assess future crop conditions better.

Final thoughts 

Satellite imagery significantly expands the capabilities of farmers and other participants in agribusiness. Technology continues to evolve and improve, allowing you to capture images of the best quality. Using data from imagery and integrating it with other innovative technologies can save resources, respond to changes and threats on time, increase farm yields, and increase profits. At the same time, more accurate and rational use of resources also contributes to improving the sustainability of the agricultural sector.

The post The Power of Satellite Imagery In Agriculture & Farming appeared first on Green Prophet.

Children run after each other with kites flying along Egypt’s Nile Delta. Families and friends enjoy the scenery as they enjoy an afternoon picnic. Just a few miles away, farmers work in their fields of green. These diverse crops will feed millions of Egyptians. Throughout the region, cities buzz with people coming and going from factories and offices, playing football with their families, and building the economic engine that will support the nations’ goals for low-carbon climate-resilient development. 

It’s a beautiful picture. A picture of progress, a picture of hope, a picture of peace. Now imagine if this got impacted negatively. The Nile Delta hosts 18 million citizens – almost a quarter of Egypt’s population — as well as countless businesses, economic sectors, farms and more.

This terrifying scenario will come true if climate change isn’t taken seriously. 

Millions at risk

Extraordinary measures

Integrated approaches

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Researchers have shown that pea plants are not only capable helping up with solar energy and making a good alternative meat burger like Beyond Meat but they able to help us with sustainable agriculture too. Scientists at Oxford have found that peas are selective with choosing symbiotic bacteria as partners. These are smart investment decisions say the researchers in a new report. 

(And if you got here just because you love peas, read our pea pod soup recipe. It’s a killer). 

The new research, published today in PNAS, shows that a plant weighs up the different bacterial partners, and then only provides sugar to the best available strains; cutting off those that are less good. This means that the plant must be able to compare different strains and invest accordingly: a strain that looks like a good investment in one context, might be a poor choice in another. 

Annet Westhoek at the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, who jointly led the work said: ‘The bacteria only start to supply nitrogen once they have been in the nodules for a few days, so the plant has to wait before it can decide how beneficial each bacterial strain will be.’

Globally, the biggest factor limiting plant growth is a lack of nitrogen, which makes up almost 80% of the Earth’s atmosphere. But plants simply can’t make use of nitrogen gas in the air. For this reason, legumes – the plant family that includes peas – have evolved a symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria called rhizobia, which convert nitrogen gas into a form that plants can use.

Pea plants host the bacteria in specialised root growths called nodules, but the bacteria demand sugar from the plant in return for the nitrogen that they supply.

The plant is usually infected by many different bacterial strains and some bacteria provide more nitrogen than others, giving rise to an investment dilemma. While it was already known that some plants stop investing in bacteria which provide no nitrogen at all, by cutting off their sugar supply, it hasn’t been clear until now how plants make more subtle investment decisions.

This study used a novel approach by engineering a bacterial strain that was intermediate in its ability to provide nitrogen. The plants treated this strain differently depending on which other strains were available. When the only choice was a strain that provided no nitrogen at all, then the plant invested in the intermediate strain. But, when a really good strain was available, the plant cut off investment to the intermediate strain.

One of the study’s lead authors, Laura Clark, a DPhil student at Oxford’s Department of Plant Sciences and Merton College, said: ‘This research shows that plants must have some mechanism to compare different bacteria and make smart investment decisions. We were really surprised that plants could do that, rather than simply supplying sugars in proportion to the nitrogen supplied.’

Dr Lindsay Turnbull, who co-supervised the research, said: ‘This is a key development as previous research in this area used naturally-occurring bacteria which may have differed in many characteristics. In this study, the bacterial strains were genetically altered to provide different levels of nitrogen, so we can be sure that changes in the plant’s response are due to differences in their ability to supply nitrogen.’

Currently, most crop plants are supplemented with inorganic nitrogen fertilisers. These are produced on an industrial scale by the Haber-Bosch process, an energy-intensive reaction which consumes around 1% of the world’s energy supply. Their use also leads to run-off into waterways, causing excessive growth of algae and leading to coastal dead-zones.

Professor Phil Poole, who co-supervised the research, said: ‘Understanding how plants manage their interactions with bacteria could help us select plants which are better at choosing effective bacterial partners. This could reduce the demand for nitrogen fertilisers and the associated problems that they cause.’

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A new Tel Aviv University study reveals a possible defense mechanism developed by fireflies for protection against bats that might prey on them.

According to the study, fireflies produce strong ultrasonic sounds — soundwaves that the human ear, and more importantly the fireflies themselves, cannot detect. The researchers hypothesize that these sounds are meant for the ears of bats, keeping them away from the poisonous fireflies, and thereby serving as a kind of “musical armor.”

The study was led by Professor Yossi Yovel, Head of TAU’s Sagol School of Neuroscience and a member of the School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Zoology at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences. It was conducted in collaboration with the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and was published in iScience on March 19, 2021.

Fireflies are known for their unique glow, used as a mating signal. Since their bodies contain poison, the light flashes probably also serve as a warning to potential predators. This signal is also the firefly’s weakness, simply because it makes it an easy target for predators. Bats are among the fireflies’ most prevalent potential predators, and some bats have poor vision, rendering the flashing signal ineffective. This led the researchers to check whether fireflies had some additional layer of protection against bats.

Professor Yovel explains that the idea for this study came up accidentally, during a study that tracked bats’ echolocation. “We were wandering around a tropical forest with microphones capable of recording bats’ high frequencies, when suddenly, we detected unfamiliar sounds at similar frequencies, coming from fireflies,” he recalls.

“In-depth research using high-speed video revealed that the fireflies produce the sound by moving their wings, and that the fireflies themselves can’t hear this frequency. Consequently we hypothesized that the sound is not intended for any internal communication within the species,” adds Ksenia Krivoruchku, the PhD student who led the study.

Following the discovery, Professor Yovel’s team examined three different species of fireflies that are common in Vietnam and one Israeli species, and found that they all produce these unique ultrasonic sounds, but cannot hear them.

Have fireflies developed a defense mechanism specifically for bats? Professor Yovel emphasizes that this claim was not proved in the study, but several features do point to this conclusion. Fireflies themselves can’t hear the sound, while bats can both hear it and use it to find the fireflies, so it’s more likely that it serves as a warning signal. Krivoruochku adds that the discovery of ultrasonic sounds in fireflies is in itself an important contribution to the study of predator-prey relations.

“The idea of warning signals that the sender itself cannot detect is known from the world of plants but is quite rare among animals,” Krivoruochku concludes. “Our discovery of the ‘musical battle’ between fireflies and bats may pave the way for further research, and possibly the discovery of a new defense mechanism developed by animals against potential predators.”

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From desert to a thriving, green land. It’s nothing short of a miracle, you might say. But this miracle was born of hard work, and a vision. 

Al Baydha is an area in western Saudi Arabia, about 20 miles south of Mecca.  It comprises nine villages inside of roughly 600 miles, and its inhabitants are Beduin tribes, who in centennial nomadic tradition, used to move across the land with the rainfall.  This, and other traditional land management methods used in the Arabian Peninsula, allowed the land to stay green for pasture; essential for the animals which are the basis for Beduin economy. But in the 1950s, those traditional systems were abolished.

The Beduin were obliged by law to settle in one area, a change that caused overgrazing and the gradual disappearance of native pasture.  The community was obliged to buy barley and hay for feed. To meet expenses, they chopped trees down for sale as charcoal.  Soon, the once-fertile land was nothing but rocky desert.

Wells had to be dug further down to reach water, as the scant seasonal rains, with nothing to contain the water on the land, made flash floods that rolled away to the Red Sea instead of seeping into the soil to replenish reserves. 

In 2019, Saudi Princesses Haifa al Faisal and Nouf bint Fahd visited Al Baydah and witnessed the inhabitant’s poverty-stricken lives. They initiated a development project with the aim of restoring sustainable agriculture to  the area.

A prototype 100-acre area became the Al Baydha project, headed by  Standford University permaculturist Neil Spackman (below) and Harvard University bioethicist and futurist Mona Hamdy. Spackman said in an interview on the Planetary Regeneration Podcast:

“Across the whole of Middle East, there’s an indigenous management system called EMA, which essentially means ‘protected land.’ This system pre-dates Islam so it’s functioning for at least 2,000 years. It was a tribal management system that may change the fertility of the landscape.

These were largely abolished in the 1950s across the Fertile Crescent and in the Arabian Peninsula. Because of that change in management, the tribal boundaries especially were eradicated. You’ve had a free for all on grazing such that, wherever it rains in the Mecca region for instance, when it rains in Al Bayda we get people from 250, 300 miles away, bringing all of their animals to graze on that land. As soon as the grass is gone, they are out of there. “

Spackman lived among the inhabitants of Al Baydha from 2010 to 2018, gaining their trust and willingness to cooperate in the regeneration project.  Building rock terraces and check dams, and opening swales (wide, shallow ditches) in the land, the project’s first stages succeeded in harvesting rainwater.

Packman and Hamdy used the ancient water-conservation methods of ancient Incans and Nabateans to contain seasonal floods and train the water to flow as useful streams.

In 2012, the project moved to planting drought-resistant trees.  By 2015, Packman and the Beduin planted ten species of trees, 4000 in all. Most ultimately didn’t survive, but enough did to give reasonable hope for a green landscape providing foraging for bees and animals, windbreak, seeds from which to extract oil, charcoal, and soil improvement through fixing of nitrogen. 

Construction of project headquarters, a bat cave (for valuable guano) and a pigeon house taught the residents skills for building a housing complex later. The Beduin are skilled in making cheese, and there are hopes for establishing a commercial dairy in Al Baydha.

The project had its risks. Packman was working on ideas and theories, getting experience on the ground.  And in 2016, funds stopped. To save costs, Packman stopped the drip irrigation that was nurturing the trees. They began to die off. Although the locals begged him to bring water in, he refused, considering that if the project didn’t survive the climate, it had been wrong from the start. Almost two years of drought followed, and it seemed that the project was going to dry up.

But in late 2018 and in 2019, rain fell again, and the landscape sprouted new life. Photographs and YouTube videos show the startling contrast between the arid, desolate land before the project started, and the rich savannah that now covers the flood plain. Mountainside terraces are lush and green.  Drip irrigation was never re-established, for the water shepherded and reserved is sufficient.

Plants now thriving in Al Baydha include fruit and nut trees, vines, culinary and medicinal herbs, ground cover, grasses, clumping plants such as ginger and turmeric, and tree and shrub cash crops such as frankincense and moringa. The Al Baydha project is a proven success. Now it remains to use this project as a template for regeneration in other desert areas.

The implications of the Al Baydah project are enormous. The low-tech methods used there can regenerate Saudi Arabia’s coastal plane, which shares Al Baydah’s characteristic mountains, wadis under the mountains, and flood areas sloping down to the coast. Instead of losing 90% of winter rainwater to the Red Sea in floods, that water can be used to regenerate life in the desert. Agricultural production can return, creating jobs and improving the economy of any region.  

“In sharing the story of the Al Baydha project,” says Spackman, “I hope that millions of people are inspired and thousands of projects launched to develop regenerative systems.

The Al Baydha project, to date, only encompasses a very small watershed in a forgotten corner of Saudi Arabia. But it is also living proof of what people can do when they work with each and with nature and look to the past practices of terrace farming. It’s a testament to the potential of regenerative agriculture, and a template of reforestation of millions of hectares of desert landscape, in the Arabian Peninsula, and beyond.”

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