Environment
Three generations of conservation earn Ohio's Wolfe family a state farm award
The Wolfe family's 1,500-acre Fairfield County farm, run on no-till, strip-till and cover crops, has won an Ohio Conservation Farm Family Award.
Categories
United States
Vegetables
Minnesota's Paisley Purple potato finds its niche with small growers and chefs
A purple potato from the University of Minnesota's breeding programme that keeps its colour when cooked is being grown for farmers markets and local restaurants.
AgrotechEquipment makers map three levels of AI now built into farm machines
A new whitepaper from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers sorts the artificial intelligence in tractors, sprayers and other farm machines into assist, advise and act levels, and sets out what responsible deployment requires.
FruitsFlorida growers plant CRISPR-edited rootstock against citrus greening as the state's crop shrinks from 300 million boxes to 15 million
Tampa-based Soilcea's CarriCea T1 rootstock, approved by the EPA this year, keeps a tree's immune system working; in a test field the edited trees are taller and greener, but the fruit is years away.
LivestockVirginia declares a state of emergency over a 500,000-ton hay shortfall as drought forces early winter feeding
Governor Abigail Spanberger's Executive Order 21 grants over-width waivers for hay haulage from 1 October, opens emergency funding and activates price-gouging protection after Extension put statewide hay yields down 35 percent.
LivestockTexas lifts more screwworm infested zones as US case count stands at 49 and a billion sterile flies have been released
USDA and the Texas Animal Health Commission released another New World screwworm zone on 21 September; the Santa Teresa port reopens to Mexican cattle on 24 September.
FruitsNorthwest cherry crop falls to about 17 million boxes; higher prices bring thin profit but growers still carry debt
A spring frost cut the Pacific Northwest harvest from 23.6 million boxes, returns of 70-80 cents a pound barely cleared costs of 65-70 cents, and small organic growers say packers will no longer take their fruit.
CropsUS corn harvest at 13 percent and soybeans at 12 as combines run ahead of average; winter wheat sowing lags
USDA's 25th Crop Progress report of the season puts 57 percent of corn and 58 percent of soybeans in good-to-excellent condition, both below last year, with winter wheat 17 percent planted against a 21 percent average.
CropsWetter, more active autumn looms over Midwest and Prairie harvests as a strong El Niño builds
Nutrien Ag Solutions meteorologist Eric Snodgrass says the late-summer ridge is fading, a split jet stream could bring repeated rain to the Corn Belt and Prairies into early October, and El Niño may rank among the strongest on record.
AgrotechPrinted soil pH sensor runs for months in the field without recalibration, CU Boulder engineers report
A low-cost electrochemical sensor using the dye alizarin gave continuous, stable pH readings across sandy, muddy, compacted and organic soils in a multi-month outdoor test, a study in Scientific Reports says.
AgribusinessTrump says US is working on a 'massive' potash deal with Belarus; Canada supplies 85 percent today
A Truth Social post promised cheaper potash than Canada's, but Belarus says its output is contracted, mainly to China, and an analyst notes the post gives no price, tonnage or buyer.
EnvironmentIdaho's Upper Snake reservoirs may end the season at 8-9 percent, just above the 2003 record low, as irrigators conserve
The Bureau of Reclamation had feared 6 percent in August; the eight-reservoir system stood at 11 percent on 18 September against a median of 41.5 percent, and deliveries should end around mid-October as usual.
AgribusinessUSDA adds 30 million base acres, the first expansion in 20 years, and opens ARC/PLC enrollment for 2026 until 11 December
Eligible acres exceeded the national cap, so FSA is trimming every new allocation by 3.69 percent; producers may change their election, sign multi-year contracts to 2031, and now add SCO coverage whatever they choose.