ETH News

Bioengineer Randall Platt engineers bacteria that can assess the state of our guts. It is hoped this non-invasive technique could eventually be used to develop more effective interventions against malnutrition among children in the Global South.

Researchers have found genes in the reproductive organs of bulls that influence fertility. The findings can be transferred to humans, as these genes are also present in men.

A global study shows that the world’s groundwater resources are dwindling: levels are falling sharply worldwide, and the decline has accelerated in the 21st century. Nevertheless, there is still reason for hope.

ETH Zurich is present at the Olma trade fair in St Gallen. Using spin-offs and games, the ETH booth illustrates how research can contribute to making Swiss food and agriculture sustainable.

Using a new analytical method, ETH Zurich doctoral student Julie Lestang aims to determine the chemical profile of cacao beans reliably and quickly. This forms the basis for controlled fermentation – and high-quality chocolate.

ETH spin-off Gaia Tech transforms waste from olive oil production into high-quality antioxidants for use in cosmetics or food. This turns waste into valuable raw materials.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have demonstrated the use of a specially coated metal mesh to harvest water from fog and simultaneously remove pollutants. People living in dry but foggy areas should benefit from this technology.

Researchers at ETH Zurich and the Carnegie Institution for Science have shown how nitrogen fertiliser could be produced more sustainably. This is necessary not only to protect the climate, but also to reduce dependence on imported natural gas and to increase food security.

A nature-based economy that regenerates ecosystems and stops species extinction? Christoph Küffer believes this is possible if we strengthen ecology in research and education and make ecological expertise a basic skill for society.  

For the first time, farmers in the Philippines have cultivated Golden Rice on a larger scale and harvested almost 70 tonnes of grains this October.This nearly never-ending story began at ETH Zurich.

While the insufficient measures increasingly argue against reaching the 1.5-degree target, we could still achieve it with a rapid reduction in methane emissions, writes Cyril Brunner.

Together with partners in Ethiopia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa, ETH Zurich researchers are creating circular economies that use processed organic waste and human excreta as fertilizer or animal feed, resulting in higher crop yields and new jobs.

Agriculture practices that preserve resources? Enough food to make sure that everyone can enjoy a healthy and balanced diet? We still are a long way from that, finds Robert Finger – and outlines the most important fields of action to make the food system more sustainable.

Researchers from ETH Zurich, the United States and Uganda have identified the gene responsible for resistance in certain cassava cultivars against the devastating cassava mosaic disease. This is an important step for breeding virus-resistant cassava varieties.

The growth in demand for fish and seafood is harming stocks and valuable ecosystems. In response, food technologist Lukas Böcker and food chemist Severin Eder are developing microalgae-based seafood substitutes in their joint Pioneer Fellowship project.

For Achim Walter, it’s time we take responsibility for what we eat. As consumers, we have a right to demand a food system that serves the environment, promotes health and protects those in less affluent circumstances.

Before it reaches our plates, the food we eat usually has travelled a long way. In this episode of the ETH podcast, we talk about how far a breakfast travels and the resulting political and ecological significance.  

Climate change, pandemics and cyber attacks are risks that have long been in the public spotlight. But there are also risks that ETH researchers consider are still being given too little attention. Photographer Tina Sturzenegger has captured the scenarios on film.

ETH Pioneer Fellow Martin Hofmann has developed a method to produce high-quality plant-based meat alternatives. His research on the flow properties of soft materials enables him to imitate the marbling of real steaks.  

ETH researchers have shown that the Swiss population is willing to pay more to reduce food waste. It is in favour of government regulations that set strict reduction targets and ensure transparent monitoring of implementation.

ETH Zurich is at Olma. Until 17 October, the family-friendly ETH booth will showcase “Research for Sustainable Agriculture” and introduce key issues in crops, livestock and agricultural policy through interactive games.

Michael Kreuzer, Professor of Animal Nutrition and pioneer in the prevention of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock, is retiring after 27 years at ETH Zurich.

We often hear that Swiss consumers want their agriculture to be free from genetic engineering. But consumer acceptance of genetically modified crops is likely to be higher than the media leads us to believe, Angela Bearth says.

Today, molecular genetic methods can be used to breed sustainable crops - such as multinutrient rice. Researchers are calling for the risk of new plant varieties to be assessed not on the basis of the breeding method, but on the basis of their characteristics.

Nina Buchmann, Chair of the Department of Environmental Systems Science, looks back on 150 years of Agricultural Sciences. There have been many highlights, but what really stands out are the sweeping changes in research and teaching.

The level of self-sufficiency indicates the extent to which agricultural performance ensures food security. But it’s not geared to the challenges that confront agriculture today, says Roman Hüppi.

Extreme weather poses increasing challenges to the agricultural sector. New insurance models based on satellite data may reduce the risk of drought for farmers, writes Robert Finger.

ETH Zurich’s Division of Agriculture was founded in 1871. One glance at its 150-year history is enough to know why the subject is still so important today.  

Many cocoa farmers live in poverty – yet the fairly traded chocolate bunny often stays on the shelves. We should pay more attention to origin when buying chocolate, believes Isabel Günther.

Making agriculture climate-neutral has a high cost – which some rich countries might be willing to accept, ETH Zurich researchers find.

ETH researchers have found a gene mutation that causes the sperm of boars to immobilize. Their discovery will help pig breeders to exclude animals with this genetic defect from breeding in future.

Optimised on-farm grain storage boosts food security in sub-Saharan Africa, as an ETH study in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic shows.

There is little to suggest we’ll be eating less meat any time soon. In the last post of 2020, Lukas Fesenfeld explains why a sustainable food supply system is still possible.

Many countries could be using less nitrogen fertiliser in their agriculture without compromising their crop yields, as an international research team headed up by ETH scientists David Wüpper and Robert Finger are demonstrating.

Bans and simple measures alone won’t solve the problems in plant protection. Robert Finger presses for a comprehensive pesticide policy.

How can we reduce food waste? Although the Swiss population are aware of the problem, they misjudge where most food waste is generated, ETH political scientists conclude. The general public support cutting food waste, even if this means food will cost more.

In the video series «Ask the Expert», experts from ETH Zurich answer questions from the community. In this episode Grace Crain talks about space farming.

To Achim Walter it’s clear: the budding artificial intelligence will decisively advance agroecology. But before we can harvest the fruits of AI, computers still have a lot to learn.

Despite the coronavirus lockdown, the renovation and extension of Früebüel research station in Walchwil (Canton of Zug) was completed nearly on schedule. AgroVet–Strickhof, a research cooperative supported by ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and Strickhof, now has state-of-the-art research and higher education facilities at its four locations.

Soya and clover have their very own fertiliser factories in their roots, where bacteria manufacture ammonium, which is crucial for plant growth. Although this has long been common knowledge, scientists have only recently described the mechanism in detail. With biotechnology, this knowledge could now help make agriculture more sustainable.

Jan Dirk Wegner uses artificial intelligence to research different aspects of the Earth's surface. In doing so, he hopes to help raise people's quality of life and protect the environment. His work has now earned him a place in the World Economic Forum's Young Scientists community.

Farmers could increase their revenues by increasing biodiversity on their land. This is the conclusion reached by an interdisciplinary research team including the fields of agricultural sciences, ecology and economics at ETH Zurich and other universities.

Pioneer Fellows Cyrill Hess and Melanie Binggeli want to market duckweed as a healthy food that’s good for the environment.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and other universities found evidence that expanding irrigation has dampened anthropogenic warming during hot days, with particularly strong effects over South Asia.

Food wastage is no longer acceptable – for both ethical and ecological reasons, says Claudio Beretta. But we’ve only just started cracking down on it.

ETH Zurich researchers are reexamining the causes of soil erosion around the world – and have found that countries themselves have a surprisingly strong influence on their soil. This country effect was previously undetected.

The two popular initiatives on drinking water and a ban on pesticides are justified, but inflexible. Bernhard Wehrli calls for a counterproposal to tackle the issue.

Algae and insects are rich sources of protein for humans and livestock alike. Getting them on restaurant menus and into animal diet formulations still requires a lot of work – but it’s worth the effort.

An international team of researchers led by ETH has shown that antimicrobial-resistant infections are rapidly increasing in animals in low and middle income countries. They produced the first global of resistance rates, and identified regions where interventions are urgently needed.

Climate change, global population growth and biodiversity loss are a threat to our food system. Four ETH researchers know how to produce, process and consume food more sustainably.

ETH researchers are involved in the development and implementation of a method to efficiently breed for disease-resistant beans in different regions of the world. Their work will help to improve the livelihood and food security of smallholders in developing countries.

Antibiotic resistance does not spread only where and when antibiotics are used in large quantities, ETH researchers conclude from laboratory experiments. Reducing antibiotic use alone is therefore not sufficient to curtail resistance, and should be done in conjunction with measures to prevent infection with resistant germs.

In the current episode, we are talking about the benefits for humans and the environment if more insects instead of meat end up on our plates.

To meet the soaring demand for sustainable protein, Lukas Böni and his start-up company Planted are developing a plant-based meat substitute. Their first product is ‘chicken’ made from peas – with both the texture and taste of poultry.

It’s getting warmer, the gardens are in bloom – spring at last! A deceptively idyllic scene. Something is missing. Christoph Küffer calls for us to stop looking the other way and take action.

Agricultural technology doesn’t have a good reputation. And yet, developed intelligently, it’s the key to enhancing sustainability and biodiversity in agriculture, says Achim Walter.

The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, ushers in a new era of deforestation in the sad saga of Brazil’s land conflicts. As consumers we should not be complicit in his agenda, says Jaboury Ghazoul.

Organic production is not a silver bullet, argues Adrian Müller, but it can play an important role in sustainable food systems with the right set of policy interventions.

Without the climate change caused by human activity, simultaneous heatwaves would not have hit such a large area as they did last summer. This is the conclusion of researchers at ETH Zurich based on observational and model data.

Thomas Van Boeckel is a Branco Weiss Fellow. His postdoctoral research at the Institute of Integrative Biology at ETH Zurich focuses on the overuse of antibiotics in animal husbandry in different parts of the world and potential measures to reduce their consumption.

Palm oil is a highly controversial product. However, replacing it with other vegetable oils could endanger land and water resources, argues Gabriele Manoli.

The company Roland were unhappy with the quality of their gluten-free rusks. Fortunately Erich Windhab, a professor at ETH, was on hand to help.

Wilhelm Gruissem argues that modern, effective breeding methods are needed to make our agriculture more ecologically friendly and resilient.

In order to reduce the risks of pesticide use, they must be measured – which is often done by quantity-based indicators. Yet these often fail to identify risks, writes Robert Finger.

Johann Schneider-Ammann, Head of the Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, visited ETH Zurich on Friday. At an event on smart farming, he explained his perspective on digitalisation in Swiss agriculture.

We must reduce the environmental and health risks of pesticides. However, rather than banning them completely, Robert Finger advocates an intelligent approach to crop protection.

ETH researchers have genetically modified a key variety of rice, making it very efficient at enriching its grains with iron and zinc.

Where and how we cultivate our crops has always been a matter of dispute – and is today more relevant than ever. But there will be no easy answers in the foreseeable future, says Achim Walter.

As chocolate becomes ever more popular, demand for cocoa keeps rising. For production to keep up, agricultural practices have to become more sustainable. ETH researchers tested what shade trees can contribute to solving this problem.

ETH Zurich and Eawag researchers are developing a method to produce animal feed from biowaste products. This is one of 14 projects in the Engineering for Development programme funded by the Sawiris Foundation over the past decade and entering its next 5-year cycle.

Yams are tuber crops and an essential staple food in West Africa. But the traditional cropping systems are unproductive and degrade soil. The YAMSYS project seeks to change this in cooperation with local actors working along the yam value chain.

Soil degradation, over-fertilisation, pesticides – intensive farming poses a threat to our very existence. Organic farming is an oft-cited alternative. But can it actually feed the world – and would it be a fully sustainable food system?

Palm oil is not equal to palm oil: Since plantations differ massively in environmental and social criteria, a general ban of palm oil in biofuels, as recently discussed by the European Union, would punish the wrong producers while having little impact on reducing deforestation.

ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and the canton of Zurich today held an official opening ceremony at Agrovet-Strickhof, their joint collaboration in the livestock sector. The modern facilities will allow the participating ETH professorships to conduct interdisciplinary research with direct links to agricultural practice. Open days are to be held on the weekend of 2–3 September.

ETH researchers have developed a new rice variety that not only has increased levels of the micronutrients iron and zinc in the grains, but also produces beta-carotene as a precursor of vitamin A. This could help to reduce micronutrient malnutrition, or «hidden hunger», which is widespread in developing countries.

Digitalisation is drastically changing the agro-food sector. Though this is not the first time that we face technological disruption, the speed and scale of change is greater than ever before. How can we move forward responsibly?

Developing new things together and effecting change – that's what gets Moritz Mussgnug out of bed in the morning. The mechanical engineer manages to juggle his doctoral thesis with a startup and a project to optimise the production of walnut oil for people in Nepal.

What will it take to make our agroecosystems more diverse and secure? Take buckwheat, for example – an ancient grain-like plant with considerable potential. It's not related to cereals, yet produces storable seeds and can taste anything from deliciously tart to bitter.

Previously, scientists have suggested that agricultural irrigation affects mean climate in several regions of the world. New evidence now shows that this cooling influence is even more pronounced when it comes to climate extremes.

From the wealth of agricultural biodiversity in Switzerland, only a few old fruit and vegetable types find their way to the major distributors. However, these old crops could help overcome the genetic bottleneck in farming.

As a result of climate change, concentrations of the trace element selenium in soils are likely to decrease. Because the selenium content of crops may also be reduced, the risk of selenium deficiency could be increased in many regions of the world. This was shown by a recent study which used data-mining to model the global distribution of selenium.

Worldwide about a third of all food gets lost before it reaches our stomachs. For Swiss potatoes this is even more – half of the total harvest. Which measures can reduce the loss, and what effect do they have?

By planting pigeon peas alongside maize, African farmers can improve the soil and their own nutritional intake. This was the conclusion of a field trial in Malawi by Gina Garland, an ETH doctoral student.

The global catch of fish would largely benefit from achieving the 1.5°C global warming target. This is the conclusion of the study recently published by climate researchers from ETH Zurich and the University of British Columbia in the journal Science.

In the midst of today’s organic food boom and romantic glorification of nature, plant breeding is in a difficult position: one often forgets that we as humans owe our very survival to the supply of food. Almost nothing that we eat today was originally found in the natural world.

Cocoa from Latin America tends to show higher cadmium levels than cocoa from other growing areas. ETH researchers have been investigating the underlying cause in Honduras and Bolivia.

In terms of direct democracy, the US state of Massachusetts is similar to Switzerland. A recent statewide initiative dealing with animal welfare and sales regulation provides an interesting parallel to the past Swiss initiative for a green economy, and Swiss climate policy more generally.

People began to domesticate wild plants more than 10,000 years ago. Since then, we have been breeding crops in order to make them more resistant and to increase yields. New techniques now make it possible to modify genetic material precisely, which raises questions that our society must discuss and try to answer.

Westliche Kulturen verbinden Insekten eher mit Gefahr und Verdorbenem statt mit Essbarem – obwohl sie nachhaltige Proteinlieferanten wären. Wie können wir Insekten für Europa kulinarisch attraktiver machen, so dass die Menschen ihren Ekel überwinden?

We usually envision sustainable development in the halls of academia as research and teaching in environmental sciences, engineering and architecture. What we barely think of, however, is food – and food on campus even less. This is what our initiative aims to change.

Wer bewusst konsumiert, ist fast täglich mit der Frage konfrontiert, ob tierische Lebensmittel auf unseren Menüplan gehören oder nicht. Eine Orientierungshilfe könnte sein, wie nachhaltig produziert wird. Allein, was eine nachhaltige Tierproduktion bedeutet, ist in der Forschung umstritten.

The industrialisation of agriculture began some 100 years ago; today we are witnessing its digitalisation. But the wave of Big Data may sweep farmers off their land unless they prepare their fields and mark out a course in good time. Only then can digital agriculture address the right questions.

Proteins are an essential part of a healthy diet, but supplying sustainable and sufficient high-quality protein is increasingly challenging. This is due to population growth, changing dietary patterns in favour of meat on the demand side, and a problematic reliance on unsustainable production on the supply side.

Soja ist die weltweit am intensivsten angebaute Hülsenfrucht – dies im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes. Die Anbaufläche beträgt rund 100 Millionen Hektar; 25-mal die Fläche der Schweiz. Drei Viertel dieser Soja ist gentechnisch verändert. Dennoch ist die Hülsenfrucht nicht nur für Big Business, sondern auch für die Bio-Landwirtschaft interessant.

Die UNO hat 2016 zum internationalen Jahr der Hülsenfrüchte erkoren. Doch warum gebührt diesen Früchten derartige Ehre? Erbse, Bohne, Linse und Co bergen das Potenzial, die globale Landwirtschaft schonend zu intensivieren. Sie verdienen es darum klar, dass wir uns stärker für sie interessieren.

Wild bees pollinate our crops, and in doing so produce much of the food on which the world depends. But the destruction of their natural habitats, mostly due to agricultural spread and intensification, means we are losing these valuable insects. Promoting beekeeping to compensate for the loss of wild pollinators is not a straight forward solution, however.

The Zukunftsblog editors wish all our readers happy holidays and all the best for 2016. If you are looking for some inspiring reading material for the holidays, here you can find a selection from the Zukunftsblog archive. We’ll be back with fresh food for thought on 5 January. Enjoy!

Die Feiertage rücken näher und bescheren vielen eine reich gedeckte Tafel. Traditionell hoch im Kurs stehen Fondue Chinoise und Rollschinkli. Niemand käme hierzulande auf die Idee, Larven, Käfer oder Zikaden zu servieren. In anderen Kulturen gelten Insekten aber als Delikatessen. Warum auch wir sie als Nahrungsquelle in Betracht ziehen sollten.

Agricultural sciences? Can you still study that? And what is it good for? These are questions that teachers and students in this subject are always asked. Yet these degree programmes are now more relevant than ever – not only due to the new BSc and MSc regulations that will come into effect in autumn semester 2016.

“It’s complicated…”, or at least “it’s more complicated than you think“. Our opinion on issues, from the futile to the most pressing, tends to be based on an illusion of understanding [1]. We think we know, and this entitles us to take action. But it’s actually more complicated than you think.