AgrotechHand, knapsack or power sprayer, the right nozzle, morning or evening, the right dose, even coverage, personal safety and cleaning after use. How choosing and handling spraying equipment well keeps fruit trees healthy and lifts both the quality and the size of the harvest.
LivestockA Canterbury study in the Journal of Animal Science comparing eight plantain–chicory–ryegrass diets in 120 young sheep found no meaningful evidence that plantain's secondary compounds raise urine output; low forage dry matter drove the effect, which DairyNZ accepts while pointing to farmlet trials s
AgribusinessVineyard land on the Heretaunga Plains is selling at pastoral prices — one 30.7 ha block with a $2.8 million rateable value fetched $800,000 — as the wine downturn, Wattie's and McCain pulling back and years of paused water consenting under the regional council's contested TANK plan leave growers un
OthersJanuary is the busiest month of the rabi season. Amid fog and cold waves, farmers tend boro seedbeds and transplant, irrigate wheat, fight late blight in potatoes, harvest mustard and pulses, and look after winter vegetables, ponds and livestock. The month’s work, crop by crop, following the government’s monthly extension advice.
Daily lifeOmega-3 in hilsa, vitamin D in rui, vitamin A in catla, calcium in puti, iron in magur, strength in shing. Each of eleven familiar fish on the Bangladeshi plate brings the body something of its own. What each offers, and how to choose among them for everyday meals.
LivestockNewton Farm near Brecon doubled its lucerne to 12 hectares and grazed twin lambs to 320g a day through a rainless summer in which the rest of the 344-hectare sheep and beef farm stopped growing, and now plans to put 15–20 per cent of the farm into the crop.
CropsAn overwinter cover crop of endophytic meadow fescue, rolled and sprayed off before strip-tilled sugar beet, left just 0.3 aphids per plant against five after a standard cover crop in a British Beet Research Organisation trial at Morley Farms, offering growers a non-chemical lever against virus yell
FlowersAfter the rose, the chrysanthemum is the most popular flower in Bangladeshi gardens. How to recognise powdery mildew, leaf spot, grey mould and aphids, and what to do at each stage, from spacing, mulching and careful watering to baking-soda and soap sprays and, when needed, fungicides.
Czech tractor maker Zetor says energy, labour and material costs make manufacturing in Brno uncompetitive; once current orders are finished, its sub-130hp tractors will be built in India and later China, with the new 5-series sourced from Turkey's Hattat, while headquarters and engineering stay in B
OrganicFish can be raised in a pond without chemical fertiliser, pesticide or synthetic feed. A sunny, flood-free pond, natural food grown with manure and compost, carp stocked in layers and home remedies of neem, garlic and turmeric make it work, and buyers pay more for the result.
OrganicDung, poultry litter, straw, vegetable peel and fallen leaves need not be burned or dumped: they can become compost and vermicompost. How to choose the site, build the layers, keep moisture and heat right, turn the heap and apply it, and what it does for the soil and the farmer's costs.
Daily lifeThe national fish carries omega-3, vitamins D, A and E and selenium, good for the heart, brain, skin and bones. Here are the benefits, and the ingredients and methods of 33 hilsa dishes, from ilish bhaturi, paturi and doi ilish to korma, biryani and Bikrampur's pani khola ilish.
FisheriesAlways in demand, content in a small pond and modest in its feed needs. With a flood-free pond and strong banks, 500 to 1,000 fry per decimal, feed of 32 per cent protein and steady care, each shing reaches 60 to 70 grams in six to seven months. The full method, from choosing the pond to the harvest.
Market ManagementFonterra has raised and narrowed its 2026/27 farmgate forecast to $8–10.50 per kilogram of milk solids on firmer GDT prices for whole and skim milk powder, and expects full-year earnings at the top of its 60–70 cents-a-share range when it reports on 24 September; Synlait, reporting on 28 September,
AgribusinessMuch of a crop's fate is settled before sowing, by the seed itself. Choosing good seed, treating it, storing it dry and cool, testing germination and soaking it before sowing, along with dressing, coating and pelleting: the low-cost routine that lifts yields.
FlowersSecond only to the rose in popularity and a first-rank flower in world trade, the chrysanthemum rewards careful growers. Climate and soil, raising plants from suckers and cuttings, planting time, the potting mix, disbudding for large blooms, and control of aphids and fungal disease.
FisheriesMarket size in six to eight months, demand all year and low costs have made pangas one of Bangladesh's most widely farmed fish. A full guide to native and Thai pangas, intensive culture, pond selection and preparation, stocking, feeding, water care and selling.
A four-year National Science Foundation project led by the University of Idaho will trace corn stalk strength from DNA to the field, with Clemson University using its $2 million share to find the genetic drivers of lodging, a problem that costs maize growers more than $6 billion a year.
FruitsVitamin C, vitamin A, fibre and potassium at just 47 calories per 100 grams. Oranges protect health from immunity to the heart, and with demand all year and trees that bear for decades, an orchard pays. How to feed, water, weed and pick for a good harvest.
CropsOnce dismissed as the poor man's grain, kaun is rich in protein, fibre and minerals, low in calories and low on the glycaemic index, and it grows on land little else likes. A guide to its soil, sowing seasons, seed rate, fertiliser, care and BARI's Titas variety.
