OrganicThe phosphate-rich organic manure carries 14 microbial consortia meant to make soil phosphate available to crops; the company says its use in place of DAP should follow soil tests and crop needs.
FAO launched updated Guidelines for Integrated Land Use Planning at the UN Biodiversity Conference, a voluntary framework that uses soil data, mapping and digital tools to help countries share out land, soil and water between farming, cities and nature.
CropsA Nuffield Australia scholar says modern pyrolysis reactors let growers sell biochar, energy and carbon credits, not just improve their soil.
OpinionIn a column in Ittefaq, Samiran Biswas argues that AI, IoT and drones will help farmers decide in time, but unless the technology reaches smallholders it will widen inequality.
EnvironmentFlinders University researchers found the jobs soil fungi do kept recovering for six years after native replanting, while the mix of species barely moved; old fertiliser may be one barrier.
CropsAs harvest winds down, DTN's View From the Cab farmers in Maryland and Minnesota say nature supplied much of their nitrogen this year, extra fertiliser paid little, and a drone-seeded cover crop failed in the dry.
AgrotechResearchers on the Earth Rover Program are adapting seismology to farmland: sensors time how fast a sound from a footstamp or hammer blow travels through the ground and turn it into a 3D map of soil layers and bulk density.
OpinionDown To Earth's Sunita Narain says 13 million soil health cards show soils still short of nitrogen despite 20% more fertiliser use, and calls for measuring the biological health of soil.
OrganicNemlab consultant Sheila Storey says a balanced soil food web of fungi, bacteria and nematodes recycles nutrients, holds water and helps crops resist pests, and that six soil-health principles, not quick fixes, are what build it.
CropsAt the Conservation Agriculture Research Forum in Potchefstroom, researchers using the DRiS method and farmer trial leaders argued that soil nutrient ratios and on-farm testing matter more than high fertiliser rates.
AgrotechHasibur Rahman Khan, a student at Khwaja Yunus Ali University, built a robot that moves through a field on its own, measures soil moisture and nutrients, applies fertiliser and uses an AI camera to find crop disease and weeds; it cost about Tk 65,000.
AgrotechBiochar made by heating straw, wood and crop residue without oxygen raised maize yields by up to 29 per cent and aus rice by 23 per cent alongside balanced fertiliser, and could cut urea use by a quarter, scientists told a BARC workshop.
CropsManitoba Agriculture soil health specialist Megan Westphal says growers can judge aggregate stability with a simple slake test, and should wait two to four weeks after heavy rain, seeding or tillage before testing.
