Crops

It may be the “end of the road” for Roundup in the U.S. The rundown: After years of litigation, Bayer’s CEO warned the company may stop making the weedkiller. And it may come sooner than you think. For years, glyphosate has been at the root of legal battles linked to users developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of blood cancer found in the lymphatic system.

Ready, set, grow: It’s no secret that farmers and plant fanatics must keep a close eye on their jolly green friends to keep them healthy. But oftentimes, plant SOS signals appear when it’s too late to help them. Now, researchers have developed patch-style sensors to detect plants’ stress levels before they wilt or wither.

“It smells like money!” If you grew up in agriculture, we don’t have to explain this timeless phrase to you.   But “it smells like PFAS” is probably a new one for you.    ICYMI: Sewage sludge (yes, we’re talking about human sewage sludge) has been used as a fertilizer in various parts of the nation for more than 20 years.

Researchers just ID’d potential protection against the most common virus in agriculture and horticulture. More than just cukes: Despite the name, cucumber mosaic virus is a bad deal for more than 1,200 plant species. It arrives via aphid, creates a mosaic pattern on the plant’s leaves, and leaves the rest of the plant to suffer.

If we asked a Magic 8 Ball about glyphosate and other farm chemicals, the response would probably be something like “Future is hazy, try again.” Between litigation trying to ban glyphosate, one of the most popular herbicides in the nation, and RFK Jr. (a staunch opponent of glyphosate and other chemicals) sitting on Trump’s team, it’s no wonder the future is a bit murky for these crop protection methods. But a new bill in Tennessee is trying to change all that.

Happy (belated) National Ag Day: here’s $10B. On Tuesday, USDA announced the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) for farmers with a $10B price tag. MUSTAAAAAAARD: The economic assistance is for growers of row crops like corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, rice, and more. The payment rates per acre depend on the crop but range from $84.74 for upland cotton to $11.36 for mustard.

China is on a mission… that is years in the making.  The country is working on reducing its reliance on grain and feed imports. And it...

Scientists have uncovered the  genes  that decide how big tomatoes and eggplants will grow. Armed with this new research out of Johns...

Pest-resistant corn varieties may have reached their expiration date.  The rundown:  Bt corn, notable for fighting rootworm infestations...

Watch out traditional fertilizers…there’s a new fertilizer on the scene, and it’s made of  . Shattered glass:  Researchers reported in ...

Insecticides have been a linchpin of crop production for hundreds of years. But  nothing lasts forever,  and insects have mutated over...

Growing more with less is the name of the game for crop production. And the game is heating up as companies race to introduce more hybrid...

Hurricane Helene’s wrath  is impacting everyone in the Southeast, especially farmers. September is harvest time for crops like cotton,...

Labor Day came and went, which means fall is here—or what some may call the second summer, with heat still sticking around. And that’s...

Biological fertilizer usage among row-crop farmers is  growing . A new study showed that the number of farmers  adopting biological...

"Ope… let me scoot past ya here to buy up some of your farmland." – Developers in the Midwest Picking up losses:  Farmland loss in the...

Researchers in Texas A&M University’s AgriLife Research program are finding more ways to make plants more resilient to drought, disease,...

New research from the University of California, Davis found that an explosion of invasive plants is possible even decades or centuries...

The future of soybean farming is now. In what’s being called an " agricultural breakthrough ," the EPA has given Meristem Crop...

DNA analysis is all the rage these days—from uncovering long lost cousins to decoding your dog’s real breed. Trace Genomics, now armed...