Crops
Lemurs, Unique Animals Pushed Towards Extinction by Trafficking
A column warns that lemurs, 94 per cent of whose species face extinction, are also victims of trafficking, as shown by the theft of ring-tailed lemurs from Gazipur Safari Park.
Categories
Crops
CropsNorthern Plains sunflowers good to excellent; USDA sees 2.31bn pounds, tight oil stocks
National Sunflower Association executive director John Sandbakken expects above-trend yields outside the drought-hit High Plains, on USDA's first 2026-27 outlook of 1,775 pounds an acre, 2.31 billion pounds of seed and 359 million pounds of ending stocks, while a Russian-driven global crop leaves su
Environment
The 'chicken thief' Bengal fox is a crop guardian, Panchagarh camera-trap study finds
More than 4,500 video clips over three months show insects at 19 per cent of the fox's diet, birds 18 and rodents 8; listed as vulnerable on Bangladesh's IUCN Red List, the species has no Forest Department programme to protect it.
Crops
South Dakota confirms its first tar spot of 2026 in six south-eastern counties
Tar spot has been confirmed in Union, Clay, Yankton, Lincoln, Turner and Minnehaha counties after August humidity and rain followed months of drought, but with most corn already dried down a state plant pathologist recommends no treatment this year.
Market Management
Fertiliser monitoring cells in all 64 districts as government tells parliament stocks exceed demand by 1.58 million tonnes
Answering an urgent debate on fertiliser shortages, ministers told parliament that stocks stand at 5.171 million tonnes against demand of 3.587 million, that monitoring cells now run in every district, and that 4,918 new union-level dealers will fill 3,759 dealerships left vacant.
Crops
Corn matures ahead of schedule in ten US states, led by Tennessee and Kentucky
USDA's 8 September Crop Progress report shows corn maturity ahead of the five-year average in ten states and by double digits in five, with 81% of Tennessee's crop mature, 72% of Kentucky's and 53% of Kansas's, as heat and dry weather hurry the crop along.
Agribusiness
India to consult farmer unions before tabling a new seed bill aimed at 'seed mafias'
Agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan meets farmer representatives at Krishi Bhawan in a final round of engagement before the Parliament session; the bill would bring heavy penalties and imprisonment for selling fake, adulterated or substandard seed, tighter quality control and traceability acr
Crops
Michigan's sugar beet harvest starts three weeks late, chasing tonnage through disease
Early dig began on 9–10 September with Michigan Sugar's four factories slicing from 11 September; the cooperative planted about 143,000 acres, 4,000 more than last year, and forecasts 29–31 tons an acre, but Sanilac County grower Matt Frostic says Cercospora leaf spot is exhausting fungicide options
Agrotech
Syngenta takes European rights to an amoeba biofungicide for wheat septoria and rust
A binding supply and distribution agreement converts the November 2025 MoU: Syngenta will sell Amoéba's AXP20, a lysate of Willaertia magna C2c Maky, for all cereals except maize across the EU-27, UK, Ukraine and Switzerland, with first registrations expected in Q3 2028 and spring 2029 use; septoria
Crops
Know your grain-drying cost before deciding to harvest tough, Manitoba specialists say
Late rains have left Prairie farmers weighing drying against waiting; Manitoba Agriculture's Darren Bond puts drying wheat from 20% to 15% moisture at about 80 cents a bushel on a $100,000 propane batch system and 57 cents on a $500,000 natural-gas continuous-flow dryer, and says to set that against
Crops
Three proteins under a calcium signal help seeds germinate in salty soil, researchers find
In Arabidopsis, CAMTA6, PP2C49 and HKT1;1 keep potassium in and sodium out of the germinating embryo; blocking PP2C49 with the bloodroot compound sanguinarine lifted germination from 76% to 92% under moderate salt and from 3% to 37% under severe salt, though the benefit ended at emergence.
Crops
Government to Buy 110,000 Tonnes of Fertiliser From Three Countries
The government has decided to import 110,000 tonnes of MOP, DAP and urea fertiliser from Belarus, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.
Crops
Five years of trials move CDC Churchill malting barley from 250 acres to a possible 1,400
Saskatchewan grower Chad Ferguson says the variety out-yields AAC Synergy with a stronger disease package and now has enough maltster acceptance to be worth switching to; Churchill took 9.6% of western Canada's malting-barley area in 2025, up from 3.1% in 2023.