CropsUSDA opens comment on Bayer's GE cotton built to resist bollworm and budworm
APHIS is taking comments until 20 November on Bayer Crop Science's petition to deregulate a cotton variety that resists six moth-family pests.
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Agrotech
CropsLivestock
Camera and AI in the sorting chute flag pig tail biting before it spreads
WEDA's PigTail, a silver DLG Innovation Award winner at EuroTier 2026, photographs each pig's tail as it passes and alerts farmers to new injuries.
AgrotechFIRA USA creates an award for growers who test and shape farm technology
The new Grower-Led Innovation of the Year Award honours farmers who trial, co-develop or adopt agricultural technology; nominations close on 5 October and the winner is named in Yakima.
Crops
EPA clears Bifender Duo, a soil insecticide pairing bifenthrin with a biological
Bifender Duo combines the synthetic insecticide bifenthrin with a new biological active ingredient from ProFarm to control soil insects and nematodes in one application.
AgrotechFarm Robotics Challenge opens to school teams and adds a startup track
The UC ANR and AIFS competition, which drew nearly 100 teams from 13 countries in 2026, now has three divisions and more than $200,000 in prizes and startup support.
Agrotech
Saskatoon's Duck Foot adds a paddle tine for Agco and Massey Ferguson draper headers
The Canadian-made DF5, first tested on an Agco header during Brazil's soybean harvest, is meant to cut header losses and feed combines more evenly.
AgrotechHalf of US farmers see no benefit in AI tools; Argentine growers are far keener
Comparing two 2026 producer surveys, researchers found 52% of US farmers say AI and data tools bring no meaningful benefit, against 21% in Argentina.
AgrotechUS tariffs on Chinese drones raise costs for farmers who spray by drone
Heavy spray drones such as DJI's Agras line face a 100% Section 232 tariff, hitting larger farms and custom applicators that already use them.
FruitsEmbrapa pinpoints a banana gene that could be edited to resist Panama disease
Researchers in Bahia found the susceptibility gene MusaDMR6 surges after Fusarium infection, making it a candidate target for breeding or CRISPR editing.
AgrotechSolinftec's solar field robots cut chemical use 83–89%, company says
More than 100 Solix robots now scout and spot-spray crops plant by plant in 13 US states and Puerto Rico, backed by an autonomous refill station.
Vegetables
Plastic mulch puts 40-45 maunds of cucumber on a bigha in Sirajganj
Sixty per cent of Sirajganj's 130 hectares of cucumber has been grown on plastic mulch as demonstration plots this season, and extension officers put the yield at 40 to 45 maunds a bigha.
LivestockA 200,000-head Nebraska feedyard runs its feedmill with one worker
Blackshirt Feeders' greenfield yard, presented at BeefEx 2026, uses roller-compacted concrete pens and cost about US$1,250 per head of capacity to build.
Crops
Will a crop that succeeds in the lab survive in the field? Plant scientist Shirin Akter explains
The Bangladeshi researcher at Lanzhou University says tolerant genes matter, but new varieties need multi-site field trials, drainage and irrigation, weather data and farmers' knowledge to be useful.