U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced that all Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices nationwide will soon reopen to provide additional administrative services to farmers and ranchers during the lapse in federal funding. The Soil Health Academy recently announced its line-up of school locations, dates and topics, as well as the availability of scholarships for its 2019 schools. Dates, locations …
Soil Health Rooted in Data
The theme for the 2019 Soil Health Summit was “Rooted in Data, Growing Success” and gathering data about soil health practices has been the focus of the Soil Health Partnership (SHP) since the beginning. SHP lead scientist Maria Bowman presented some of the latest data they have gathered. “A lot of our farmers are improving their soil organic matter and …
FMC Launches Lucento™ Fungicide for 2019 Season
FMC Corporation has officially launched Lucento™ fungicide for the 2019 growing season. The launch was announced after Environmental Protection Agency granted FMC registration for Lucento in corn, soybeans, peanuts, sugarbeets and wheat. Lucento fungicide encompasses two separate modes of action (flutriafol, FRAC Group 3, and bixafen, FRAC Group 7) to deliver broad-spectrum disease efficacy, fungicide resistance management, plant mobility and …
New Cotton Varieties on the Horizon
Cotton growers are looking forward to some new varieties coming in the near future, including the transition to a brand new chemistry not currently used in cotton. “It’s huge, because it brings forward a new tool for them to use in their program right now that they don’t currently have,” said Dr. Fred Moore, BASF Principal Trait Development Manager for …
New Platform for Food and Agriculture Innovation
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) have announced the launch of Innovature, a new platform for dialogue around innovation in food and agriculture, with an initial focus on gene editing. ASTA CEO Andy LaVigne says they are aiming to engage key influencers in a dialogue around shared values. “Our goal is to cultivate broad-based …
Soil Health Summit Awards Honor Best in Soil Health
Five dedicated leaders in soil health received “Seeds of Change” awards at the 2019 Soil Health Partnership Summit this week in St. Louis. The awards highlight those participants in the program who have gone above and beyond to promote soil health throughout the year. The five award recipients are (pictured left to right) Exceptional Educators: John (and Joan) Maxwell, Donahue, …
5th Soil Health Summit Biggest Yet
The 2019 Soil Health Summit kicked off Tuesday in St. Louis with a record number of attendees. This is the 5th Summit and the program has grown tremendously in a very short time. Soil Health Partnership Executive Director Shefali Mehta says this year’s program is the most diverse in terms of presentations and breakout sessions and the attendees, partners and …
Eco Agro Resources Files Suit Over Contract Violations
Eco Agro Resources LLC has filed a lawsuit against Hocking International Laboratories LLC alleging contract violations and asking for damages in an amount of at least $2.5 million dollars. In the complaint filed to commence the lawsuit, Eco Agro Resources, LLC claimed it granted a sublicense to Hocking International LLC allowing Hocking to sell certain products in the United States …
Precision Ag Bytes 1/16
Ceres Imaging has announced the release of results of a new rice imagery study showing successful prediction of rice nitrogen uptake at panicle initiation. The study validates the possibility of generating nitrogen topdressing recommendations directly from remotely-sensed data with reduced or no physical sampling. John Deere was presented with six AE50 Awards for outstanding innovations that improve production agriculture. Each …
GROWMARK Announces 2019 Essay Contest Winners
GROWMARK has named state winners of the 2019 essay contest for FFA members. The theme of the contest was “What does the future of agriculture look like to you, and what skills will you need to play a part in it?” The winners are John Schubbe of Peotone, Illinois; Tyler Tessman of Audubon, Iowa; Taylor Case of Russellville, Missouri; Cori …