Technology

Farmers have been looking to the heavens for decent weather since roughly the invention of farming. Now NASA wants to help with something a little more technical than crossing fingers. Ground control: On October 24, USDA and NASA signed an agreement to combine Earth observation, geospatial analytics and advanced data tools. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman formalized the partnership in Alabama. The goal is better agricultural informat

Drones may look impressive swooping over soybean fields, but some diseases start in places a flying camera cannot easily see. If the problem is hiding beneath leaves, perhaps the solution needs wheels. Ground control: Engineers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale built a four-wheeled, battery-powered robot equipped with cameras aimed at the upper and lower portions of soybean plants. The target is frogeye leaf spot, a disease that can hide below the canopy before the f

Imagine a crop getting nitrogen delivered to its doorstep instead of waiting for another fertilizer pass. Bayer and a biotechnology startup are trying to make that less science fiction and more soil science. Root awakening: Bayer Crop Science and Switch Bioworks announced a collaboration focused initially on microbes engineered to produce nitrogen on plant roots. Switch’s approach uses a genetic switch intended to let microbes establish themselves before turning on nitrogen p

Virtual fencing is moving from ranch-tech novelty to public-lands tool, which is great news for anyone who has ever priced a fence and then quietly stared into the distance. No posts required: Halter and the Foundation for America's Public Lands are expanding virtual fencing on BLM-managed grazing land, with nearly $3 million committed across 15 projects, more than 4,500 cattle collared and over 1,300 miles of virtual fence drawn. The solar-powered collars use GPS and sound c

Rural electric co-ops just got invited to the nuclear conversation, which is one way to make the monthly board meeting feel slightly more cinematic. Power move: USDA opened $175 million for the Affordable Rural Cooperative Program, or ARC, to help eligible rural electric cooperatives pursue nuclear power supply and transmission efficiency projects. The program runs through USDA Rural Development’s Rural Utilities Service and offers loans and grants for systems that could impr

USDA is trying to modernize agricultural data collection, which means the agency has entered the “maybe the spreadsheet should not be held together with duct tape and hope” phase of government technology. Data detox: The new plan aims to reduce repeated producer questions, improve accuracy and make agricultural statistics more useful. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins unveiled it at Farm Progress Show after farmer frustration over report reliability got loud enough to ratt

Cows have officially entered their wearable-tech era, and somehow the Apple Watch still does not track cud. Strap in: ZELP commercially released ZELP Sense, a device designed to measure methane and carbon dioxide from individual cattle in real farm settings. The system sits near the nostrils, ships data through automated transfer and reports emissions through an app, because apparently even burps need a dashboard now. The point: The company says the wearable has gone through

Texas cattle country has a new neighbor at the fence line: the cloud, which apparently also wants water, electricity and a whole lot of land. Server pasture: At the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course, ranchland experts warned that data centers are becoming a bigger topic as rural land gets eyed for digital infrastructure. Texas already loses about 1,000 acres of farm, ranch and forest land each day, and servers do not exactly graze gently. Resource roundup: The concern is not

Venture capital meets work boots: The Farmers Innovation Fund has been certified as a Rural Business Investment Company, which gives ag tech another lane for private capital. The twist is that farmer testing is not treated like a polite afterthought. Companies receiving investment are expected to work directly with producers across real operations before broader adoption. Field trip, but make it finance: The fund is designed to move tools from the drawing board to the field f

USDA just handed biofuels a carbon calculator, because apparently the road to regenerative agriculture runs through a spreadsheet wearing a safety vest. The department finalized its rule for regenerative agricultural biofuel feedstocks, laying out how carbon intensity should be quantified, reported and verified for domestic crops. Carbon math: The Federal Register version gives the program its official policy backbone. The practical goal is to create a more consistent way to

USDA is sending a fresh coat of funding to agricultural research, and not the kind where a university building gets one new chair and a “please enjoy innovation” memo. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins and U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced a $125 million annual investment for the Research Facilities Act program. Lab report: The program is aimed at the unglamorous stuff that makes discovery possible: better controlled environments, safer labs, u

Texas wine grapes are leaving Earth, which is either a bold research project or proof that even grapes need a vacation from 2026. Blast off: Researchers with Texas A&M AgriLife are sending hundreds of wine grape seeds to the International Space Station for about six months of cosmic radiation exposure. When the seeds come home, they will be planted alongside Earth-bound control seeds so scientists can study growth, genetics and vine performance. Student-powered: The experimen

Farm solar has become a side hustle with actual kilowatts. But H.R. 7567, the House-passed Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 could make some projects tougher to finance, especially ground-mounted solar on prime farmland. Because apparently even sunshine has to pass committee. Power struggle: Some farmers have used USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program grants to cut electric bills and add income, including dairy operations that turned barn roofs into power plants

Traceability is the name of the game when it comes to animal health. But Canada has delayed its changes to beef traceability regulations after big pushback from cattle producers. Rewind: Before the 2003 Mad Cow Crisis, Canadian cattle traceability efforts started to note where infected animals were from and where they went. At the national Cattle Traceability Summit in 2011, the Cattle Implementation Plan was created, then adopted and endorsed by 19 organizations in 2016. Thr

The sweet solution: A miracle for beekeepers facing historic hive losses has emerged from the fields at Washington State University and Belgium’s APIX Biosciences NV after almost a decade of research. Researchers developed a new food source to sustain bees without pollen: basically a Power Bar for bees.

The Bezos Earth Fund and the Global Methane Hub are on a $27.4M mission to reduce global methane emissions from livestock through selective breeding. Grant $ for genetics: Using the power of genetics, 50 partners from 25 countries will receive funding for a new Global Methane Genetics Initiative, which aims to breed climate-friendly cattle across four continents. Initiative leaders call low-emitting cattle “one of the most elegant solutions” to climate change.

Farming is an around-the-clock job, but technology is taking that to the extreme. Carbon Robotics announced the new Carbon AutoTractor autonomous system, designed to keep the tractor running without stopping. Here’s the plowdown: The autonomy system aims to help farmers with productivity while reducing labor dependency. Tasks the tractor can perform include tilling, plowing, cultivating, ripping, discing, listing, mulching, and mowing.

Grain exports are back in (the) Black… Sea—maybe. Renewed talks between the U.S. and Russia could revive the old Black Sea Grain Initiative. Reviving the deal is a part of recent negotiations for a potential ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Rollback: The original deal was signed in the summer of 2022 after a five-month blockade inhibited Ukraine’s ability to export grain, following Russia’s invasion of the country’s eastern border.

Farmers are laser-focused on protecting their flocks from the main carriers of bird flu: wild birds. Betcha didn’t know:Minnesota farmers are implementing technology that protects farms from avian influenza with bird-repellent laser beams. Soundbite: “Green is the brightest spectrum of light for birds. While humans see a green dot, birds perceive a moving laser beam as a predator. It scares them off, keeping them away from critical areas.” — Craig Duhr, Bird Control Group S

The Purge isn’t just a horror movie. It’s also happening IRL. But…in terms of website content, to be clear. If you erase it, it’s like it...