Agricultural Sciences

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.

In the middle of the 20th century, many countries around the world were suffering from a poor supply of food. However, in response to the devastation of two world wars, science had prepared the ground for major advances in agriculture. A key question was how to combat hunger. The answer came in the decades-​long process of constantly increasing yields and the mechanisation of farming.

A team of scientists from EPFL and Switzerland’s WSL research institute has studied the conversion of savannas into oil palm plantations as a deforestation-free way of growing these plantations. What’s more, if improved management practices are adopted at the plantation scale, then the net carbon balance could be enhanced and a great leap could be made towards reducing the environmental impact of palm oil.

Roe deer are among the few mammals whose embryos go into a particularly long period of dormancy. Using modern molecular methods, ETH Zurich researchers have shown for the first time exactly what happens to the embryo during this phase. They have identified signals that control the embryo`s awakening.