NSW DPIRD Scientists Lead Work Tackling Soil-Borne Diseases
Scientists from NSW's Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) are spearheading a $34.6 million (≈$22.8 million USD) five‑year GRDC Soilborne Disease Initiative aimed at curbing soil‑borne pathogens that cost Australian grain producers about $1.71 billion (≈$1.13 billion USD) each year. The program, part of a $1 billion (≈$660 million USD) state biosecurity investment, targets Fusarium crown rot in cereals and Sclerotinia stem rot in broadleaf crops, delivering integrated management tools such as crop rotation, tolerant varieties and biological controls. By focusing on regional solutions, the research seeks to protect a $25 billion (≈$16.5 billion USD) primary‑industry sector and sustain conservation‑tillage practices. The initiative also emphasizes skills transfer to bolster future biosecurity capacity.
NSW Broadacre Farm Becomes First to Generate ACCUs
A family-owned broadacre farm in New South Wales has become the first in the state to generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) using Loam Bio’s fungal seed treatment. The Nicholson Carbon Project earned 4,867 ACCUs across 881 hectares, each representing...
Thailand Research Partnership Explores CO2 Separation From Biogas for Closed-Farm Agriculture
Thailand’s Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR) and Bio Bloom Co Ltd have launched a 12‑month pilot to separate CO₂ from biogas and reuse it in closed‑farm systems. The project, running May 2026‑May 2027, will install a pressure‑swing adsorption unit,...
Manufacturing Breakthrough Uses Sound Waves to Create ‘Plant Sunscreen’
RMIT University researchers have created an ultrasonic manufacturing technique that forms UV‑blocking coatings on delicate surfaces, including living plant leaves, using high‑frequency sound waves to atomise a covalent organic framework (COF) liquid into a fine mist. The mist self‑assembles into...
Senate Ag Schedules Fertilizer Hearing
The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on May 12 to examine the persistent rise in fertilizer prices and the challenges of securing a stable supply for U.S. growers. Witnesses include Corey Rosenbusch of the Fertilizer Institute and representatives from...
Boomitra Hits Major Milestone as Ranchers Reap Real Financial Gains From Regenerative Grazing in Mexico
Boomitra’s Northern Mexico Grasslands Restoration Project has begun paying ranchers after Verra issued 3.03 million carbon credits in February 2026. The payments, funded by buyers such as Deloitte NSE and the Ethereum Climate Platform, flow directly to 158 participating ranching families,...
Opinion: A Fertilizer Crisis Is Driving up Costs — Don’t Waste a Homegrown Solution
Global supply shocks have driven U.S. fertilizer prices up as much as 40%, adding six‑figure costs to farmers. The article proposes using digestate—nutrient‑rich fertilizer from biogas digestion of manure and food waste—as a domestic alternative that can lower input costs...
APEDA to Conduct Basmati Survey in 4 Mln Ha, Double the Area of Actual Crop Grown
Union Minister Jitin Prasada announced APEDA's AI‑driven Basmati Paddy Survey (2026‑2028), targeting roughly 4 million hectares—about double the 2.14 million‑hectare area reported in APEDA's 2023 data. The project will gather over 150,000 ground‑truth points and engage half a million farmers to improve varietal...
Munters Launches Speria Brand as Early Deployments Deliver Measurable Gains in Livestock Performance
Munters FoodTech has launched Speria, a unified climate‑control, sensor, and analytics brand for livestock operations. Early deployments using the Sonar IoT platform have delivered measurable improvements, including double‑digit gains in feed conversion efficiency, lower mortality, and reduced emissions. The system...
Phytokana Locks In $450M in Customer Contracts Ahead of Faba Protein Facility Launch
Phytokana Ingredients, a Calgary‑based faba protein startup, has locked in definitive off‑take agreements worth roughly $450 million, with total potential sales exceeding $500 million when combined with existing MOUs. The contracts span three to ten years and are tied to the upcoming...
Making the Greenhouse Run Smoother with Optimized Technology
Bosch Growers, operating in the Netherlands and the United States, has integrated Quantified’s sensor platform with its existing Priva climate computer to boost greenhouse data visibility. The system tracks dripper, substrate and slab moisture as well as electrical conductivity, feeding...
Spanish Lettuce versus Vertical Farming: CO₂ Comparison Reveals Unexpected Results
Recent life‑cycle assessments compare lettuce grown in Dutch vertical farms with that cultivated outdoors in Spain’s Murcia region. While vertical farms offer water savings and proximity to consumers, their reliance on grid electricity drives CO₂‑equivalent emissions to about 8 kg per...
Autonomous Tractors: Technology Is Ready, but Farmers Remain Cautious
Autonomous tractors are technically ready, with GP Solutions’ iQuus retrofit kit already powering about 40 tractors across Europe and Australia. Yet Dutch farmers remain skeptical after previous over‑hyped promises and costly failures, such as a €0.5 million ($540,000) spot sprayer that proved...
How Smallholder Farmers in Zambia Are Adapting to Droughts
A panel of 6,600 Zambian smallholder farms shows droughts cut maize yields by 6%, beans by 9.5% and groundnuts by 7.2%. In response, households diversify crops by roughly 18%, adopt climate‑resilient seed varieties up to 20 percentage points more often,...
Strains in the Food Supply Chain Are Pushing California Prices Higher
California's food supply chain is under strain as rising fuel, fertilizer and water costs force farmers to cut acreage and consolidate, while grocers absorb higher operating expenses. Diesel prices have topped $7 per gallon and fertilizer affordability has plummeted, squeezing...
Campaigners Call for Ban on Use of Weedkiller Glyphosate at Harvest Time
Campaigners, led by the Soil Association, are urging the UK government to ban the use of glyphosate as a pre‑harvest drying agent after the current licence expires in December 2026. The Health and Safety Executive will launch a two‑month public...
Salad Days: How a Canadian Is Taking a Bite Out of America's Monopoly of Our Dinner Tables
Canadian entrepreneur Jay Willmot launched Haven Greens, a $50 million high‑tech greenhouse that began producing 5,352 kg of pesticide‑free lettuce daily in March 2025. The facility, built on his family’s former horse farm, aims to cut Canada’s reliance on the $652 million worth...
Ducks Unlimited Teams up with Regenified on Regen Verification
Ducks Unlimited has partnered with Regenified to verify regenerative agriculture practices on farms and ranches across North America. The collaboration creates an Accredited Verifier Network that will enable DU professionals to conduct on‑site and virtual audits using Regenified’s standards. The...
Environmental and Geopolitical Pressures Are Driving Deeptech’s Steady Growth in Agrifood
Environmental and geopolitical stresses are reshaping the global food system, prompting agrifood firms to seek deeptech solutions for drought‑resistant crops, faster R&D, and novel ingredients. Deeptech’s share of agrifood investment has risen from 34% in 2021 to 59% in 2025,...
CACP Recommends Revising Ethanol Price in View of Increase in Sugarcane FRP
The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has urged the Indian government to raise the ethanol price derived from sugarcane‑based feedstock, citing a recent ₹10 (≈$0.12) per quintal increase in the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane, now...
Mowi and TidalX AI Expand Collaboration Into Salmon Genetics Program
Mowi and TidalX AI have broadened their partnership to embed AI‑driven tracking into Mowi Genetics, the company’s salmon breeding arm. The technology will monitor individual fish without physical tags, feeding continuous data on growth, disease resistance and welfare back into...
Ecuador’s Shrimp Sector Exploring Ways to Implement New Technologies Across Its Value Chain
Over 60 shrimp‑industry professionals gathered in Guayaquil for the SustainED conference, a joint initiative of the Sustainable Shrimp Partnership and the National Chamber of Aquaculture. The event highlighted how artificial intelligence, data integration, traceability and renewable‑energy tools can give producers...
Betting on Whole-Grain Baking
U.S. bakers are increasingly abandoning industrial white flour in favor of whole‑grain flours milled on‑site from local farms. By building direct relationships with regional growers, bakeries like Washington, D.C.’s Seylou and Baltimore’s Motzi Bread secure sustainable grain supplies while sharing...
Kerala Agri Varsity Signs MoU with VST Tillers Tractors Ltd for Collaborative Research
Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) has signed an MoU with VST Tillers Tractors Ltd to jointly research and validate farm mechanisation technologies. The agreement covers product testing, training, student projects and farmer extension, with VST supplying 13‑50 hp tractors and implements...
Assessing Agricultural Yield Loss From Compound Extreme Events Using Three-Dimensional Vine Copulas: Evidence From Jiangsu Province
Researchers introduced a three‑dimensional vine copula framework that jointly models the Standardized Precipitation‑Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) and Standardized Temperature Index (STI) to assess compound climate risks to rice yields in Jiangsu Province. Analyzing 27 years of county‑level data, they identified four...
Pollinators Support the Nutrition and Income of Vulnerable Communities
A new Nature study quantifies how pollinator species directly support nutrition and income for smallholder farmers in Nepal’s Jumla District. Researchers linked plant‑pollinator networks to individual diets of 776 residents, finding that pollinator‑dependent crops provide the majority of key micronutrients...
NIA Launches AgTech Push to Tackle Fruit Oversupply
The National Innovation Agency (NIA) has launched the “AgTech Connext” project in partnership with the Green Innovative Farm Thailand (GIFT) network to combat fruit oversupply and post‑harvest loss. The initiative brings together agri‑tech startups, private sector players and farmer groups...
New ASSET Initiative Incentivizes Sugarbeet Growers to Cut Erosion with Strip-Till Program
The Nature Conservancy, Michigan Sugar, Blue Water Conservation District, and Environmental Tillage Systems have launched the ASSET (Accessing Subsidized Strip‑till Equipment Trial) program in Michigan's Saginaw Bay Watershed. The three‑year initiative offers participating sugar‑beet growers up to $52 per acre...
Heavy Rain in Southwest Michigan Highlights Benefits of Cover Crops, MSU Says
Michigan State University researchers observed record rainfall in Southwest Michigan, with over 15 inches falling since early March. The heavy downpours highlighted stark differences between fields planted with cover crops and managed under no‑till versus conventional tillage. Cover‑cropped, no‑till plots...
Nepal to Procure 80,000 Tonnes of Fertiliser From India as Iran Disrupts Global Supply Chains
Nepal will buy 80,000 tonnes of fertilizer from India under a government‑to‑government agreement to offset global supply shocks caused by the West Asia war. The shipment comprises 60,000 tonnes of urea and 20,000 tonnes of di‑ammonium phosphate, funded by a...
IFPA Names Second Cohort For Packaging Innovation Program
The International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) and the Foundation for Fresh Produce announced the second cohort of its Packaging Innovation Program, a $5 million USDA‑funded effort to accelerate sustainable packaging for U.S. specialty crop exports. Seven companies will receive non‑dilutive grants...
GAPP Survey Shows Massive Improvements in Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Alaska Pollock Production
The Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) released a second life‑cycle assessment of 2024 harvests, finding dramatically lower environmental impacts than its 2021 study. Greenhouse‑gas emissions dropped 16.7%, and pollock fillets generate only 27% of the carbon footprint of...
Class I Briefs: CPKC, CN, CSX
Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) set multiple April records, moving 2.9 million metric tons (MMT) of grain and 30,381 carloads, while its first‑quarter haul reached 7.2 MMT, eclipsing the 2021 benchmark. Canadian National (CN) reported a new April high of 3.2 MMT, marking...
The Best Kinds Of Tomatoes To Grow If You Live In A Hot Climate
Garden coach The Young Nonno warns that extreme heat disrupts tomato pollination, causing flower drop. He recommends heat‑tolerant varieties, especially determinate types that fruit before peak summer or small‑fruited indeterminate cherries and grapes that mature quickly. Hybrid cultivars such as...
Maple: From Soil to Syrup
Maple syrup production contributes roughly $740 million USD to Canada’s GDP and employs thousands, yet scientific guidance on sustainable harvesting remains scarce. In October 2025, Université Laval established a Research Chair in Maple Syrup Production and Sugar Bush Management, partnered with...
Texas A&M Breaks Ground on Meat Science Center
Texas A&M University broke ground on a $133.36 million, 85,600‑square‑foot Meat Science and Technology Center on its West Campus. The facility, slated for completion in 2028, will house modern labs, classrooms and processing spaces for beef, swine, poultry, sheep and goats,...
Grains Report 05/05/2026
U.S. Department of Commerce data show March 2026 grain exports slipping, with corn down 9% YoY to 8.03 billion kg and soybeans down 15% YoY to 3.95 billion kg, while wheat exports fell modestly. Imports tell a different story: wheat imports surged to 6.68 million kg...
Genome Mining Unlocks the Chemistry of Biocontrol Fungi
Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark applied genome‑mining tools to 82 Hypocreales fungi, uncovering dozens of secondary metabolites, many of which are non‑ribosomal peptides. The study revealed both common small peptides and rare large 18‑member structures, and successfully linked...
Beef Downturn Hits Tyson and Local Economies as Prices Rise and Supply Shrinks
Tyson Foods reported a 13.1% drop in beef volumes for Q2, even after raising prices 11.5% to counter a shrinking cattle herd. The company said it will reverse the beef loss in the back half of 2024 by tightening plant...
Dutch Lion Completes Lighting Section of Validation Project
Dutch Lion and Vertify have completed the lighting phase of their validation project at the World Horti Center, testing the Moving Tower System (MTSys) that blends natural sunlight with targeted LED illumination. The hybrid approach achieved winter lighting energy use...
AeroFarms Avoids Shutdown
Indoor agriculture firm AeroFarms, which warned of a shutdown at its Pittsylvania County facility, has rescinded its WARN notice and announced it will stay open while seeking a buyer. The company secured short‑term financing, averting layoffs for roughly 120 workers....
"In the Past, the Human Eye Was the Maintenance System"
Infinite Acres, a vertical‑farming arm of 80 Acres Farms, has partnered with sensor specialist SICK to embed the Multi‑Physics Box MPB10 in its climate‑control fans. The MPB10 continuously measures vibration, shock and temperature, feeding early‑warning data into the farm’s IoT...
"Currently, Plants Absorb Less than 10 Percent of the Energy"
Italian deep‑tech startup Minima Energia unveiled its Thermodynamic Farming System (TFS) at Macfrut 2026, promising to halve operating expenses for vertical farms. The system recovers waste heat from LEDs and dehumidification, converting it into 90 °C technical water that powers low‑temperature drying...
Op-Ed | Consumers Think Regenerative Means No Pesticides. They’re Often Wrong.
Regenerative food labels are proliferating on grocery shelves, but many allow synthetic pesticides that pose health and environmental risks. Friends of the Earth’s new guide shows that standards vary widely, with some programs permitting chemicals linked to cancer and hormone...
Japan’s Organoid Farm Scales Up Cultivated Meat Production & Teases New Facility
Japan’s Organoid Farm, a JGC Holdings subsidiary, completed a 200‑litre bioreactor demonstration that produced scaffold‑free cultivated beef using a patented bovine cell line capable of continuous division. The scaffold‑free suspension culture simplifies processing and cuts raw‑material and cleaning costs, providing...
Sun World’s Extra-Long Mango Program Continues with Ultra Late-Season Variety, Blyde Late
Sun World International is expanding its global mango program with the ultra‑late‑season cultivar Blyde Late, grown in South Africa and staying on shelves into May. The initiative links early‑season varieties such as Kankun and Lady Jane with Blyde Late to...
Seaweed Integration Boosts Efficiency and Cuts Waste in Aquaculture, Study Finds
A University of Miami study demonstrated that integrating native seaweed species into marine finfish farms can virtually eliminate total ammonia nitrogen waste. Researchers ran a pilot‑scale IMTA system on Florida’s Virginia Key, testing four macroalgae varieties with yellowtail snapper effluent....
Black Sea Wheat Pushes Australian Wheat Out of SE Asia
Buyers in Southeast Asia are shifting from Australian Standard White wheat (ASW9) to lower‑cost Black Sea wheat with 11.5% protein for June shipments. Black Sea offers of $283‑285 per tonne are about $10 lower than ASW9, widening the premium buyers...
Niqo Robotics Expands Reach, Targets Profitability in 2026/7: ‘Farmers Don’t Want AI Hype—They Want ROI’
Indian ag‑robotics firm Niqo Robotics is broadening its U.S. footprint beyond lettuce, adding onion, tomato, broccoli, kale, melons and turf‑grass to its RoboWeeder 2.0 platform. The upgraded robot, priced at $350,000, promises a 12‑18‑month payback by replacing manual labor on...
Bestseller Pledges $3m to Support Regen Agriculture in South Africa
Bestseller has committed $3 million to the Regenerative Fund for Nature, a partnership originally launched by Conservation International and Kering and later joined by Inditex. The money will support projects in South Africa’s Eastern Cape that restore grasslands, improve soil health,...