The U.S. Department of Agriculture says near normal temperatures returned to South Dakota during the week ending Sunday, while rain fell across the entire state, with some counties receiving an inch or more. There were 3.8 days suitable for fieldwork. Spring wheat planting was 75 percent, ahead of 70 percent a year ago and a five-year average of 56 percent. Emerged sp...
The FAO Food Price Index rose notably in January, led by sugar and cereals, even as global markets remain well supplied. The FAO Food Price Index averaged 173.8 percent in January, its highest value in almost two years, marking a 2.1 percent increase from its revised December value and 16.4 percent above its 2016 January level. The FAO Sugar Price Index surged 9....
Here’s my agricultural résumé: When I was a kid, I’d take the leftover roots of green onions, plant them in the backyard, and use the harvest in fried rice. I helped my mom pluck mangoes from our five trees, then tagged along to the Chinese grocery, where she bartered the fruit for bok choy and tofu. More recently, I’ve killed the following in terra-cotta pots: rosemary,...
In 2007 Dow AgroSciences’ chlorpyrifos were forced into an early review when two activist groups filed a petition with EPA to revoke tolerances and cancel EPA registrations for the product in 2007. “In response to the petition, EPA initiated the registration review of chlorpyrifos,” says Phil Jost, Dow AgroSciences U.S. insecticides marketing leader. “The agency was n...
The company’s primary product, Cool Terra, can improve agricultural crop yields and grower ROI while providing substantial environmental benefit in the form of sequestering carbon and improving soil health. The company is also developing additional offerings including Cool Fauna, a product that has significant potential in animal health and nutrition applications. Ba...
FAO and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have agreed to cooperate more closely to support sustainable rice production in developing countries to improve food security and livelihoods while safeguarding natural resources. An agreement signed today seeks to better pool the scientific knowledge and technical know-how of the two organizations so that they ...
Hodge put that philosophy into action 12 years ago when she joined the team at Just Food, a New York City nonprofit that advocates for healthy produce in underserved neighborhoods. On the job, she met a few kindred spirits: Karen Washington, 62, ran a community garden and launched a farmers market in the Bronx. Washington and Lorrie Clevenger, 42, founded the Black Urban...
The exports would be relatively small – there is market talk of 2 million tonnes in a world market of more than 140 million tonnes – and an outgrowth of Chinese farm-subsidy reforms and Beijing’s efforts to work down government-held reserves. Domestic prices are drifting closer to international shipping rates, Basse said during a luncheon at USDA’s Outlook Forum. Port di...
The last time they exceeded 60 million acres was 2008 at 63.6 million. At its Outlook Forum, USDA projected the smallest all-wheat acreage – 46 million – since 1919 due to low market prices and vast world stocks following four years of record crops. By coincidence, soybean plantings, projected for a record 88 million acres this year, would nearly match wheat’s 1981 t...
Statewide, farmland value averaged $2,805 per acre. Farmland values peaked in 2015 at $3,315 per acre. Declines ranged between 15% in the southeast part of the state to 8% in the northwest part of the state. Survey respondents listed lower commodity prices and concerns about water resources as chief reasons for the declines. “Survey participants expressed the availabi...
The Legislature has been wrestling for years with how to regulate high-capacity wells, defined as wells that can withdraw more than 100,000 gallons of water per day. Conservationists fear such wells deplete groundwater, lakes and streams, particularly in the central sands region in the state's midsection. The issue has gained importance because more large livestock farms...
During and after the fires, my social media news feed has been filled with images of the destruction and loss. Stories about the people who lost their lives. Stories from farmers who found surviving livestock, only to have to put them down because the animals were too badly injured to survive. Stories of cows looking for their calves who perished. Stories of calves that ...
The state’s $400 million blueberry crop appeared to be hardest hit by the hard freeze, said Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black. “I’m not so encouraged by some of the blueberry reports we’re hearing,” Black said while surveying a 140-acre peach orchard that lost an estimated half of its blossoms in 21-degree overnight cold March 16 at Jaemor Farms in Alto, Ga....
International climate and environment agreements have a flaw which may jeopardise attempts to curb global warming quickly: they do not highlight the role trees play in creating rainfall and cooling the earth's surface, 22 scientists said on Tuesday. Traditionally, international agreements have focused on how trees affect carbon levels in the atmosphere - living trees ...
The United States is a top supplier of corn, wheat and soybeans, and every month since last July, combined shipments of corn, wheat and soybeans have been record-large. Since the corn and soybean marketing year began on Sept. 1, shipments of the two crops plus wheat total 73.8 million tons (2.77 billion bushels) through January. This is by far the largest volume on re...
Dozens of global investors representing more than $617 billion in assets under management are demanding that companies adopt "zero deforestation" policies in Latin America to combat the effects of climate change, a firm advising the investors said. Thirty-nine investors have joined forces to urge companies to adopt a similar policy to the region's soy moratorium, whic...
In the heart of Honduras' notorious "Dry Corridor", the most important harvest for farmer Daniel Cruz Castro is rainwater. The construction of a reservoir and irrigation system means he no longer worries the soil will become parched and the crops his family depends on will shrivel. Rainwater harvesting allows the 12 families in his farming collective to grow crops thr...
Two key things affect the quality of your fuel supply: Keeping bulk fuel storage up to snuff and choosing the right fuel. Better bulk fuel storage If there’s one thing farmers should do during planting prep, it’s cleaning dirt and other debris that has accumulated in the tank, says Ron Jessen, director of Cenex® refined fuels marketing for CHS. That debris can be p...
“We want to be careful that we’re making decisions with the proper preparation,” he says. Don’t go trait-free in corn-on-corn acres, for example, Evans recommends. Invest in trait packages that offer multiple modes of action (e.g. SmartStax RIB Complete) for fields that could show the greatest risk, he says. And know a field’s history and take copious amounts of notes...
“Wind is the No. 1 concern the industry has for off-target movement,” he says. Portable wind speed indicators are the best tool for determining wind speed, Wolf notes. He recommends measuring it often, based on the size of the job, and checking wind direction. He says it’s best to use the wind speed indicator at boom height, so you’re measuring wind speed at the produ...
As reported in Politico, Tom Vilsack with the U.S. Dairy Export Council, Michael Dykes with the International Dairy Foods Association and Jim Mulhern with the National Milk Producers Federation will visit Mexico this week in hopes of patching relations with the number one importer of U.S. dairy products. Relations with Mexico have soured in recent months over two impo...
Local prices of maize, sorghum and other cereals are near or at record levels in swathes of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania, according to the latest FAO Food Price Monitoring and Analysis Bulletin (FPMA). Inadequate rainfall in most areas of the sub-region has put enormous strain on livestock and their keepers. Poor live...
With two-way trade at its lowest since 2009, Australian Trade Minister Steve Ciobo hailed a recent deal to reduce sugar tariffs from 8 percent to 5 percent, bringing the country into line with rate for Southeast Asian nations. Australia is now working on a conclusion of the broader pact “by the end of this year,” he said. “The gains in terms of sugar -- to have the As...
The industrial park, conceived to support the country's economic transformation, will include agro-processing factories to utilise the rich sesame and other agricultural produce cultivated in a 254,000-ha farmland. It is set to export value-added agricultural products to the international market and substituting imported ones. Speaking at the occasion, Prime Minister Ha...
AGCO says the transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2017, subject to regulatory approvals. The company also says it has started the process of employee consultation. “The integration of Lely’s industry-leading competence in hay and forage technology will further strengthen AGCO’s full line product offering,” says Martin Richenhagen, AGCO’s chairman...
In the battle against yield-robbing weeds, it’s critical each chemical application is effective. Check your herbicide passes this season to get a leg-up on resistance. “Pre-emergent herbicides are the foundation for your whole weed management strategy,” says Dawn Refsell, Valent manager of field development for the Midwest. “Your weed management plans for the year can...
Yield potential is set early in a corn plant’s life. Using efficient starter fertilizer is critical in end-of-year bushels. From germination to thigh-high stands, inches matter in starter fertilizer placement. Starter fertilizer can weatherproof early-season corn growth. As it is for many farmers, evaluating and fine-tuning starter and nitrogen fertilizer is an annual...
Myo Myint fondly remembers when his one-acre farm regularly produced 100 baskets of rice. But as rainfall became erratic in this arid region, he started growing betel leaves, a less thirsty cash crop. This summer, the 50-year-old is considering leaving fallow his land in Myanmar's central "Dry Zone" because when the stream behind his house dries up in March, the cost...
The Consejo Coordinador Empresarial, one of the nation’s top business chambers, is examining countries such as Brazil and Argentina to add new sources for soy, corn and wheat, according to Juan Pablo Castanon, the group’s president. Exports from those countries could help Mexico adjust to the difficulties that a Nafta renegotiation might present, he said. “The renegot...
Many of the “smart farming” techniques and technologies that help growers harvest more of what they sow faster and more efficiently have focused primarily on row crops like corn and soybeans, bypassing growers of high-value fresh produce. “The large machines used to harvest row crops such as wheat, corn and soybeans provide a natural platform for improving efficiency,...
According to Dustin Johnson of AgYield, if corn sees a 14 billion bushel production number, that would be enough to roughly satisfy demand. However, 2017 could be another record yield. Tyne Morgan, host of U.S. Farm Report, asked if producers can handle yet another record year for corn. “That’s a whole other debate,” said Johnson. “We shouldn’t plan on anything above ...
The researchers from Australia’s Central Queensland University, led by Associate Professor Mark Trotter with the help of Stuart Charters from Lincoln University, in New Zealand, have designed an animal sensing platform with GPS location that can detect any unusual livestock behavior patterns or movements and send the information to a smartphone to clue in ranchers and la...
The Illinois State Climatologist Office said February's statewide average temperature was 40.1 degrees as of Tuesday. Warmer-than-normal temperatures are forecast for the first half of March, too. State climatologist Jim Angel said the temperatures have raised concerns that a sudden freeze could damage Illinois orchards and other crops. "Seventy-degree weather belo...
FAO and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) have joined forces to increase job and business opportunities for young people in rural areas of Benin, Cameroon, Malawi and Niger through a $4 million grant made available by the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund. The agreement signed today by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and NEPAD Planning and Co...
Enter Alison Grantham, a PhD agroecologist and former director of research at the Rodale Institute (that most revered of organic farming institutions), who is now Blue Apron’s farm sourcing operations manager. Since joining the company last fall, Grantham has spearheaded a team of soil scientists and agronomists who work with the company’s farmer-suppliers to figure out ...
The alien pest, confirmed in South Africa this month, has already spread to all nine provinces including eastern KwaZulu-Natal, where the bulk of cane is grown in the nation. There aren’t yet any reports of infestations, Roger Price, a manager at the Pretoria-based ARC, said in an e-mailed reply to questions on Thursday. “We are very concerned that fall armyworms will...
