- The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) announced grant funding for two USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities projects that received a total of $135 million to reach underserved farmer populations and support climate-smart agriculture. TSC will receive a total of $480k to support corporate engagement and participation in these efforts over 3 years.
- Combine harvester sales grew in September for both the U.S. and Canadian markets, while total tractors fell in both countries according to the latest data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. Total U.S. ag equipment unit sales stayed above the 5-year average for the second month since April 2022. U.S. total farm tractor sales fell 12.8 percent for the month of September compared to 2021, while U.S. self-propelled combine sales for the month grew 6.6 percent, slowing the previous month’s gains.
- AgMission, an initiative founded by the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research and the World Farmers’ Organisation to unlock agriculture’s potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is issuing its first Request for Information (RFI) that seeks input into the development of a new digital integration hub to enhance collaboration between agricultural producers and researchers.
- SGS announced the expansion of its testing capabilities to include plant genotyping at its crop science laboratory in Brookings, South Dakota. Drawing on the expertise of renowned SGS Institut Fresenius GmbH TraitGenetics Section (SGS IF TG) in Germany, this development will significantly expand SGS’s seed testing and molecular analysis portfolio in North America.
- Aqua-Yield announced several additions to its senior executive team. Marco Guirado has been appointed Vice President of International Sales where he will oversee the company’s international revenue growth and client experience teams. In addition, Trent Whiting has joined Aqua-Yield as its new Vice President of Sales for the U.S. and Canada, with responsibility for growth strategies and business development for the North American market.
- More than 16,000 farmers and agricultural organizations representing corn, citrus, grain sorghum, sugar cane, and other crops recently united against EPA’s proposed revision to its 2020 atrazine registration review decision, submitting comments calling for the agency to base decisions on credible scientific evidence. Efforts to help farmers speak out against the proposal were coordinated by the Triazine Network, a diverse coalition of state and national agricultural groups across the nation that rely on atrazine and other triazine herbicides to control weeds. The atrazine comment period ended October 7.
- A new interactive online tool for visualizing and exploring freeze-date trends and other climate patterns is now available, thanks to a partnership between Purdue University’s Midwestern Regional Climate Center and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Midwest Climate Hub. The tool covers 25 states in the upper Midwest, the Northeast and Appalachia.
- Bayer announced that the company has closed the previously announced transaction with Ginkgo Bioworks to begin a multi-year strategic partnership to accelerate research and development of biological products for agriculture. The transaction includes the divestment of Bayer’s West Sacramento Biologics Research & Development site, and its internal discovery and lead optimization platform.
- To celebrate the start of the first American edition of FIRA, the international agricultural robotics conference, Western Growers debuts an inside look at cutting-edge technologies on the farm that will help ease the industry’s ongoing labor shortage.
- Esendo fungicide is the latest in AgBiome’s lineup of microbial-based solutions and the first of its proprietary Connate portfolio to receive approval from the Environmental Protection Agency. AgBiome, Inc., a leader in developing innovative products from the Earth’s microbial communities, is the developer of both Howler fungicide and recently EPA-approved Theia fungicide.
