Retail Products

New EPA-registered “Defense Activator” Targets Nematode Pressure

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 19:29:50 GMT

With EPA approval in hand, PI AgSciences introduces PHC68949, peptide-based novel approach to control plant-parasitic nematodes. Designed with short chains of amino acids, it’s technically a biological crop protection product, but its scientists say it provides next-level nematode suppression.

“It is a defense activator that helps the plant defend against plant-parasitic nematodes. Where a nematicide has activity on the nematode, this product gets the plant ready to defend itself and activates the pathways in the plant–thickening cell walls and roots,” says Wes Hays, North America commercial lead at PI AgSciences.

A biological that handles like a synthetic

Hays says this is an extra tool in the farmer’s toolbox with its new mode of action.

“It’s totally different than most products farmers use today. And its performance is extremely compelling. It’s very similar to most synthetic chemistries in the market for nematodes today–providing the consistency, shelf life and compatibility of a synthetic, but it’s a natural product.”

Approved for use on row crops and specialty crops, Hays says the use rate is low—1 to 2 ounces per acre, subject to state registrations and final product labels.

“There’s flexibility with application—in row crops, you can use it as a seed treatment or a foliar. For example, you can put this into your first post herbicide pass. And for specialties, it’s almost predominantly a foliar application, which opens up flexibility beyond drip irrigation or drench applications.”

Where and when to find this new product

With EPA approval, PI AgSciences is now working on state level label requirements. Limited quantities of the product will be available for 2026, with full commercial launch coming in 2027.

This is the company’s third active ingredient for the agricultural market. For commercialization of its products, PI AgScience partners with distributors in the industry including Wilbur Ellis, Helena and Brandt.

PI AgSciences is the agricultural division of India-based PI Industries, a global life sciences company that custom manufactures active ingredients and intermediates. And the recent product introductions are one result since the August 2024 acquisition of Plant Health Care, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

Momentum and Milestones: NewLeaf Aims to Double Sales Next Year

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 15:27:57 GMT

With more than 10 years of research and four years of commercial availability, NewLeaf Symbiotics is continuing to chart its own course in bringing row crop and specialty solutions via pink-pigmented facultative methylotrophs (PPFMs).

Its trajectory includes product placement on just under 1 million acres four years ago to having product on more than 8.5 million acres in 2025. Next year’s goal is to double that.

“We’re focused on the next thing, not just the right now,” says Brent Smith, CEO at NewLeaf Symbiotics. “But the right now feels pretty good”

The company recently opened a new formulation office with a larger footprint, advanced laboratories, and strategic location in St. Louis.

“Our success is because we got good at consistency with a tricky microbe class,” Smith says. “The focus is: formulation, optimization and performance. With that we will continue to be consistent.”

The company chose a novel go-to-market in licensing its technologies to partner companies for product placement and sales. Currently, it has a handful of technologies available via 100 commercially available products. The portfolio includes an EPA-registered bioinsecticide and biostimulants for row crops including corn, soybeans, cotton and peanuts, as well as a vegetative transfer biostimulant. Leaders says there’s more to come with launches for 2026, pending regulatory approval.

“We’ve found traction commercially,” says Aaron Kelley, chief commercial officer. “We have three launches in 2026, an EPA-registered biofungicide, nitrogen use efficiency technology, and a specialty biostimulant for transplant vegetables.”

Kelley credits trust built over time for the product growth. He points to the 70% win rate the company boosts as well as a two-year shelf life for its products.

“Every technology that becomes commercially available from NewLeaf has been field tested with multi-year, multi-location, plots of 10+ acres. We want our partners to have confidence in the products they are recommending to their customers.”

Kelley says biologicals can help farmers thread the needle with integrated pest management and layered crop protection.

“It’s been an interesting development to see how people are seeing biologicals as part of integrated pest management,” he says. “And there’s still more to learn and more yield to gain when our technologies are used along with others.”

Biodiversity Index in the Field: A Look at Diagnostic Microbiome Tests for Soil Health

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 21:13:30 GMT

In the past few years, about a handful of companies have emerged with tests to measure a soil microbiome of fields, give a biodiversity index and help farmers understand the effects of inputs on soil health.

All of these companies recognize the complexity of a soil’s biology, and they aim to bring new tools to advance regenerative agriculture. Different from chemical and physical soil tests, which are often used to gauge what the soil needs (for example, rates of nitrogen), microbiome tests can provide insights on what the soil can supply (for example, nitrogen fixation or decomposition processes).

And these companies see the microbiome soil tests as complements — not replacements — to traditional soil testing.

Biome Makers

With a goal of delivering agronomic insights, Biome Makers built its BeCrop technology pairing soil microbiome knowledge and machine learning. The company, which is based in northern California, currently services farmers across 2.2 million acres and six continents. The BeCrop Test provides a report on nutrient cycling, health and biodiversity to be used to improve yields, monitor nutrient cycling, and predict disease risks. ( biomemakers.com )

EarthOptics

Launched as Pattern Ag and now part of EarthOptics, this platform claims to provide farmers a predication of key field agronomic outcomes with more than 90% confidence. The company uses DNA sequencing to provide soil biological test results. It also offers a premium program combing the soil microbiome results, with sensor data, yield data and satellite imagery for soil fertility and crop planning. ( earthoptics.com )

RhizeBio

Based in North Carolina, RhizeBio says its test uses a proprietary bioinformatics pipeline to translate raw soil DNA sequencing data into soil health reports both informative and easy to use. The results can be bucketed into three groups: biodiversity, bioindicators and risk analysis. The RhizeBio report provides biodiversity data including the number of species within the soil’s microbiome, community evenness, primary members and functionality. This gives insights on a soil’s capacity in stress environments such as droughts, disease, disturbance rating and nutrient cycling potential. ( rhizebio.com )

Trace Genomics

Recently acquired by Canada-based Miraterra, Trace Genomics was founded in northern California and has a soil analytical lab in Ames, Iowa. The Trace Genomics testing uses DNA sequencing to provide insights on the soil microbiome. The technology combines soil science, genomics and machine learning to output a measurement of a soil’s bacteria and fungi. Combining those measurements with chemical properties, growers receive information on a soil’s health and productivity. The company also offers a year-round sampling program to help guide seed selection, input selections, fertility products and biologicals for 70 crops and more than 225 pathogens. ( miraterrasoil.com/trace )

3 Questions Every Farmer Should Ask About Biological Products

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 13:53:31 GMT

Pam Marrone, co-founder of Invasive Species Corporation, and previous founder of two additional biological businesses, shared her key takeaways with certified crop advisers during a recent webinar hosted by the Science Societies.

Marrone says there are three areas to evaluate before farmers make an application of a biological product:

Specific use instructions
Science
Data

Specific Use Instructions
“First, read the label,” she says. “When do I use it? What’s the timing? Is there any effect on soil? Can I tank mix it? Can I mix it with fertilizer? Can I mix with other pesticides? Some of the labels I’ve seen can be very specific, and others give you almost no information. So, that’s important. Read the label.”

In reviewing label information, identify if the product is registered with the EPA (which requires a higher level of requirements) or non-registered. Also, the specificity provided on the label is an indicator about the overall product quality and performance.

“There are products that are bugs in the jug, and they have a consortium of microbes in the jug or bag. If the product has 500 or 800, it should be proven why all those specifies are necessary, and if quality control is being done on all 500 species,” Marrone says.

Marrone has been working toward one national certification of products to eliminate any issues with heavy metals or human pathogens being included in formulations.

“Quality control measures need to be robust,” she says.

Science
Marrone says in order to draw a line between “snake oil” and reputable products, the manufacturer and the retailer should be able to explain the science behind the product.

“It’s no longer good enough to just say ‘we have the best microbes,’” she says.

For best placement and performance, Marrone emphasizes the importance of understanding how the biological works.

Data
Marrone encourages farmers to seek out significant proof of field data.

“Small plots don’t always work with biologicals,” she says. “And when you are looking at field data, know where the trials were conducted and what the consistency was.”

Marrone believes today’s biological industry has progressed to a new performance threshold.

“These days, you really want to see a win rate of at least 80%. So, 80% of the time you’re seeing a yield increase of at least 7% —anything below that is just noise,” she says. “I know companies today getting consistent 10% yield increases. That’s where the bar has been raised to.”

Nutrien Ag Solutions Partners with Elemental Enzymes to Combat Citrus Greening

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 18:25:53 GMT

Nutrien Ag Solutions announces a partnership with Elemental Enzymes, a leading agricultural biotechnology company, for a peptide-based biochemical pesticide to combat fungal and bacterial diseases including Huanglongbing, otherwise known as citrus greening. Currently, 100% of the acres in Florida are being impacted by citrus greening.

The biochemical peptide-based product, delivered as a foliar spray or trunk injection, is currently under review by the EPA. The specific peptide, containing Vismax technology, increases yield and accelerates the recovery of trees infected with the pathogen that causes citrus greening.

“Since 2005, citrus growers have been plagued by citrus greening — a yield- and quality-robbing disease complex that has devastated the industry — causing farm gate losses of more than $8 billion,” says Ryan Bond, Ph.D., senior director of innovation, research and development at Nutrien Ag Solutions. “Growers are calling for new alternative biological technologies, and today, we’re taking the first step toward mitigating future losses with a science-based solution.”

Elemental Enzymes and Nutrien Ag Solutions will launch this product on other specialty crops across North America. In addition to its effect on citrus greening, the biochemical peptide is active on a wide variety of diseases, such as blossom blight in almonds and powdery mildew in various fruiting vegetables and leafy greens. Elemental Enzymes and Nutrien Ag Solutions are working to bring this powerful alternative biochemical to the market with no negative environmental or crop safety impact.

“We’re excited to partner with industry leader Nutrien Ag Solutions to provide agronomic solutions to growers across the citrus and specialty markets,” says Brian Thompson, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Elemental Enzymes. “And given this year’s record for fruit drop in Florida, it is clear that growers need this additional tool against citrus greening now more than ever.”

Since 2016, Elemental Enzymes has actively engaged in the discovery and development of Vismax for use in citrus to mitigate the effects of citrus greening, with more than 65 field trials in Florida. In replicated field trials on multiple citrus varieties, foliar-applied Vismax improved fruit retention 95% of the time, increasing field boxes harvested by 17% on average. Additionally, CLas bacterial titers decreased by up to 96% when Vismax was applied as a foliar spray or trunk injection.

Together, Elemental Enzymes and Nutrien Ag Solutions have worked together to create an effective and economical alternative to conventional chemistries and are dedicated to bringing this novel solution to growers in 2022.

Lawsuits May Complicate the Future of Glyphosate

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 13:11:26 GMT

Glyphosate is keeping several California courtrooms busy. It’s premature to start digging through your farm’s records to see how things were done in the pre-Roundup Ready days, but litigation could impact the future of glyphosate in farming operations.

Although there is a strong body of scientific evidence indicating glyphosate used in accordance with labeling requirements does not result in negative impacts for human health or the environment, the threat of litigation losses has already resulted in business decisions to pull back access to the herbicide.

Bayer Pulls Residential Sales

Plaintiffs’ attorneys have brought numerous class action lawsuits alleging glyphosate caused cancer, specifically, non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The plaintiffs allege Monsanto (later acquired by Bayer in 2018) failed to notify users the World Health Organization’s cancer research arm stated glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

Most of the plaintiffs in these cases have been residential users and groundskeepers who used the product for landscaping purposes. The first jury trials resulted in decisions for the plaintiffs accompanied by astronomical damages. Despite the body of evidence and EPA’s continued approval of glyphosate as a safe pesticide, Bayer decided to settle the litigation to manage its costs.

In June 2020, Bayer and the plaintiffs counsel announced a $10 billion settlement to resolve the claims of 125,000 plaintiffs. Of those plaintiffs, 95,000 accepted the terms of the settlement whereas 30,000 have chosen to continue to litigate the case. Although this settlement resolved much of the existing litigation, Bayer still faces exposure from future claims that have not been filed. This means as long as glyphosate is on the market, there will be a potential for new claims to continue to rise.

Bayer attempted to resolve this matter by offering $2 billion to resolve a future class action to compensate future claimants, a common practice in class action litigation. However, the federal judge overseeing the case rejected this settlement on the basis that it would limit the recovery of punitive damages for plaintiffs that were not yet parties in the case. Without the option to limit future losses, Bayer made the decision to remove glyphosate from its Roundup products marketed for residential use.

Science Versus Economics

Although residential applications of glyphosate account for a small fraction of the glyphosate used in the U.S., most of the plaintiffs in the class action cases were residential users and groundskeepers. Taking these products off the residential market helps to control financial losses.

Bayer has committed to continuing to sell glyphosate for agricultural purposes. However, it’s important to understand that even with science on their side, businesses are subject to the constraints of math.

Learn more on why Bayer is removing glyphosate from the U.S. residential lawn and garden marketplace .

Carbon Robotics unveils new generation autonomous weeders

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 19:31:38 GMT

Carbon Robotics, an autonomous robotics company, has unveiled its third-generation autonomous weed elimination robots.

The Autonomous Weeder leverages robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and laser technology to safely and effectively drive through crop fields to identify, target and eliminate weeds.

Unlike other weeding technologies, the robots utilize high-power lasers to eradicate weeds through thermal energy, without disturbing the soil. The automated robots allow farmers to use less herbicides and reduce labor to remove unwanted plants while improving the reliability and predictability of costs, crop yield and more.

“AI and deep learning technology are creating efficiencies across a variety of industries and we’re excited to apply it to agriculture,” said Carbon Robotics CEO and Founder, Paul Mikesell. “Farmers, and others in the global food supply chain, are innovating now more than ever to keep the world fed. Our goal at Carbon Robotics is to create tools that address their most challenging problems, including weed management and elimination. “By deploying robots created by Carbon Robotics, farmers will experience the following benefits:

A significant increase in crop yield and quality: Lasers leave the soil microbiology undisturbed, unlike tillage. The lack of herbicides and soil disruption paves the way for a regenerative approach, which leads to healthy crops and higher yields.
A reduction in overall costs: Automated robots enable farmers to reduce the highly variable cost of manual labor as well as reduce the use of crop inputs such as herbicides and fertilizers. Labor is often farmers’ biggest cost and crop inputs account for 28.2% of their total expenses. Reducing costs in both these areas is a huge benefit.
Adoption of regenerative farming practices: Traditional chemicals used by farmers, such as herbicides, deteriorate soil health and are tied to health problems in humans and other mammals. A laser-powered, autonomous weed management solution reduces or eliminates farmers’ needs for herbicides.
An economical path to organic farming: One of the largest obstacles to organic farming is cost-effective weed control. A solution to weed management that doesn’t require herbicides or an increase in manual labor provides farmers with a more realistic path to classifying their crops as organic.

Carbon Robotics’ groundbreaking technology is designed for row crops with 200 acres to tens of thousands of acres. A single robot will weed 15-20 acres per day and replace several deployments of hand weeding crews. Since its founding in 2018, the company has worked closely with farmers to develop its technology, which supports effective and efficient weed elimination for both conventional and organic farmers. The robots have undergone beta testing on specialty crops farms, working on fields with a variety of crops, including broccoli and onions.

“This is one of the most innovative and valuable technologies that I’ve seen as a farmer,” said James Johnson of Carzalia Farm, who has utilized Carbon Robotics’ technology on his farm. “I expect the robots to go mainstream because of how effectively they address some of farming’s most critical issues, including the overuse of chemicals, process efficiency and labor. These robots work with a variety of crops, are autonomous and organic. The sky’s the limit.”

Carbon Robotics’ 2021 models have already sold out, but new models for the 2022 growing season are available for pre-order. Carbon Robotics offers a leasing option, which makes the robots more accessible to smaller farms with less acreage. The company will continue to explore new robot models and capabilities to help farmers improve efficiency and reliability across a variety of tasks.

UF ag engineer develops smart-spray technology to help reduce fertilizer, pesticides

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 18:01:12 GMT

Growers need to spray efficiently so they can apply pesticides and fertilizer only to crops – and minimize the chemicals that may contaminate natural resources.

As they battle the economically devastating citrus greening disease, farmers must look to control costs wherever possible.

With that in mind, Yiannis Ampatzidis is engaging artificial intelligence to develop a low-cost, smart tree-crop sprayer that can automatically detect citrus trees, calculate their height and leaf density and count fruit. That way, the farmers target their spray more efficiently, so it lands on trees and leaves – and reduces chemical use by about 30%, compared to traditional spray methods.

“These smart technologies can save the fruit tree industry millions of dollars per year by optimizing chemical applications,” said Ampatzidis, a UF/IFAS associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center.

Smart-spray technology lets the grower vary the amount applied based on tree size and leaf density, and it will not spray if there is no tree or if a tree appears dead. It also does not spray if it finds other objects, such as a water pump, a pole or a person, as examples.

“This new technology will further enhance the tree-profiling systems we have in place today, with the ability to detect and only spray the target foliage,” Ampatzidis said. “Our data, collected by smart sensors, can control the amount of spray applied to the tree, in real time, and is stored in the controller to be downloaded for further processing.”

The system utilizes machine vision, GPS and LiDAR -- a light detection and ranging remote sensing system. Ampatzidis also developed algorithms to process the data as well as software to control the sensors.

The technology, cited in new research published by Ampatzidis, can also help farmers predict their crop yields. To test the system, Ampatzidis conducted several experiments in citrus orchards at the center and in commercial farms and found they used less pesticide and fertilizer.

Protecting citrus trees and their fruit makes up a significant chunk of any grower’s budget. In Southwest Florida orange orchards alone, plant protection product applications cost about 34% of the total production costs .

An industry partner, Chemical Containers Inc, has evaluated the technology and entered an agreement with UF Innovate | Tech Licensing to license and commercialize the smart-spray technology.

As they continue to evaluate the system’s efficiency, Ampatzidis and his team will study how well it detects and sprays trees in fields with tall weeds in more commercial groves. He and his team are also going to evaluate the system on other fruits, including peaches, apples and pecans to see how well it works on those tree crop systems.

“We also plan to develop smart fertilizer spreader applicators to improve nutrient management,” he said. “Target-based management can help farmers apply nutrients as needed within the field, rather than applying fertilizers uniformly.”

AgroScout acquires the assets of TerrAvion to broaden its imagery capabilities in agro data management

Mon, 24 Jan 2022 14:33:43 GMT

AgroScout agro analytics platform, announced today that it acquired the assets of TerrAvion, a market leader in imagery data management for agriculture.

The acquisition fuels AgroScout’s high-resolution agriculture aerial imagery capabilities and agro data artificial intelligence for a wide range of crops. Effective immediately, current AgroScout and TerrAvion clients will have access to a powerful combination of aerial and satellite imagery products and precision agriculture services for their fields.

The AgroScout crop-monitoring and analytics platform collects user-generated data to create powerful AI tools providing actionable insights in crop management. The platform enables improved yield predictions prior to harvest and delivers top processors, agribusinesses, and farmers an affordable way to build more competitive, sustainable, and environment-friendly food and agriculture supply chains. AgroScout now manages more agricultural projects in the US, Brazil, and Mexico.

With the acquisition of TerrAvion, AgroScout strengthens its agro analytics capabilities in providing enhanced features such as high-resolution NDVI services and high-definition RGB and is honored to continue their vision of bringing technology to every farm on the planet.

AgroScout CEO & Founder Simcha Shore comments, “AgroScout is committed to serving processors, agro retailers, and grower clients with new complementary services. We are especially excited about the synergy we will be able to immediately provide for our users and stakeholders.”

BioConsortia showcases innovation pipeline

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 17:59:59 GMT

BioConsortia displayed its innovation pipeline on Aug. 30 at its Davis, Calif., headquarters in an investor-focused Technology Showcase event.

“Today, we highlight the breadth of innovations developed to replace crop inputs with superior, microbe-based solutions for agriculture,” Marcus Meadows-Smith, CEO of BioConsortia, Inc., said in a news release. “The recent progress of our pipeline, including some exciting technology breakthroughs, means we are ready to advance multiple major products into the commercialization phase with marketing partners.”

The release said the Technology Showcase event highlighted products moving into partner trials, the commercialization phase and new pipeline projects, including:

N-POWER seed treatment field trials. N-POWER will be the first nitrogen-fixation seed treatment product based on robust, spore-forming technology, enabling easy adoption through an application methodology already well-integrated in farming.
GARNET biofungicide in an optimized postharvest formulation: GARNET, already proven as a foliar and soil fungicide, will also be made available as a 50-times concentrated formulation to protect both conventional and organic fruits and vegetables from a wide variety of postharvest diseases that today limit shelf life.
Additions to the bionematicide pipeline and NO-NEM: BioConsortia added three new active ingredient leads to the nematicide pipeline and advanced NO-NEM, the company’s first nematicide, to full development phase. BioConsortia’s nematicide pipeline is among the most robust in agricultural product development.
Novel genetic components for nitrogen fixation: The company announced the discovery of novel genetic components driving nitrogen fixation, utilizing its GenePro platform to enable BioConsortia’s scientists to design proprietary microbial strains that will fix nitrogen when other nitrogen-fixing strains will not.
Bactericide and insecticides: Project leaders highlighted early technological success in projects aiming to deliver effective microbial metabolites for control of bacteria, and critically important coleopteran and lepidopteran insect pests.

Bayer and Ginkgo Bioworks close deal creating a partnership to develop biological products for agriculture

Tue, 18 Oct 2022 23:13:24 GMT

Bayer has announced the company has closed its previously announced transaction with Ginkgo Bioworks to begin a multiyear 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, according to a news release.

With the close of this transaction, the biologics business, which is part of Bayer’s Crop Science Division, will also be able to further engage the open innovation ecosystem and build upon its leading position as a partner of choice for innovators and scientists around the world, according to the release.

Joyn Bio, the joint venture created by Bayer and Ginkgo Bioworks in 2017, will be integrated into Ginkgo Bioworks to enable the continued advancement of Joyn Bio’s innovative nitrogen fixation platform, the release said. As part of the agreement, Bayer retains the right to commercialize the technology to complement synthetic fertilizer use in the coming years.

Bayer is now the first major partner of Ginkgo Bioworks’ expanded agricultural biologicals platform, entering into a new collaboration focused on important programs in the areas of crop protection, nitrogen fixation and carbon sequestration to identify next generation biologicals that provide clear benefits to growers, the release said.

“Biological solutions play a critical role in the agricultural innovation ecosystem, and we see tremendous opportunity for these products to add even more value for agriculture in the future,” Robert Reiter, head of R&D at Bayer’s Crop Science Division, said in the release. “The open innovation approach will accelerate the product pipeline and will make sure that we bring high-quality biological solutions and innovative technologies to the market faster.”

Ginkgo Bioworks aims to develop and advance agricultural microbial solutions across crops and geographies through broad, fully-enabled technical platforms that address diverse market needs. Ginkgo Bioworks will work independently with different partners in the discovery of microbial-derived products for agriculture, the release said.

“Ginkgo is committed to harnessing the power of programmable biology to enable sustainable food production and food security worldwide,” said Jason Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Ginkgo Bioworks. “We look forward to partnering with Bayer and other innovative companies, and to bringing more applications on to Ginkgo’s expanded agricultural biologicals platform so that growers worldwide can develop breakthrough products.”

Retailers Pivotal To Farmer Adoption Of Conservation Ag, Says Research

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 06:28:02 GMT

Building trust in food begins with empowering farmers through one of the largest and most diverse conservation- and sustainability-focused public-private partnerships in our nation’s history: America’s Conservation Ag Movement. To find the latest news and resources related to the Movement, visit AgWeb.com/ACAM .

Kinsie Rayburn is a Conservation Knowledge Officer with Farm Journal’s Trust In Food. Learn more at www.trustinfood.com

“I would say that precision ag has gotten more precise. So we’re selling products now by the ounce that we used to sell by the gallon, and we’re applying them in very small doses.” –Anne Cook, The Andersons Inc.

U.S. farm productivity increased by 178% between 1948 and 2015, according to a 2018 USDA report, while total land used for agricultural production fell 24%. Modern agricultural systems development such as mechanization, biotechnology, and crop nutrient management solutions played a large role in the productivity boon USDA identified. However, along with the growth in productivity has come other challenges—water quality issues, declines in pollinator habitat, and soil erosion, to name a few.

Key to mitigating risk and firmly ingraining agricultural resilience into farm operations across the nation is the increased adoption rates of conservation agricultural practices, which research has shown can improve environmental outcomes associated with agricultural production. To scale such practices on farms, growers need increased access to informed professionals, such as ag retailers, who can provide the education, training and technical support services required.

Research conducted in 2019 by Trust In Food, a Farm Journal initiative, in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), found that ag retailers are uniquely suited to play an influential role in the continuous improvement of conservation across the agricultural value chain.

According to the research, ag retailers:

• Have the tools and training to help farmers make data-informed production decisions. “We can say to a grower, ‘The green on this yield map is where it only cost you $1.90 to produce a bushel of corn, but the red is where it’s costing you $5.50.’ That’s how we turn data into actual results and possibilities for the grower.” –Ashley Schmeling, Central Farm Service

• Can help farmers meet the needs of future agricultural markets. “That’s the big point going forward: We’re going to have to have traceability of crops that goes back to sustainable practices, or food suppliers are not going to buy them.” –Tim Mundorf, Central Valley Ag

• Can help educate critical stakeholder groups, such as lenders and financial institutions. “We actually encourage our customers to bring their loan providers to some of our tours out on the research farm during the summer, and we have winter meetings where we really recap a lot of that data. We encourage the customers to bring their lenders to those events.” –Cat Salois, The McGregor Company

• Can help farmers get ahead of new or potential regulations. “If we in ag, the farmer and the ag retailer, don’t start taking the environment [issues] seriously, there will be new regulations sent our way quickly [Sustainability] is the difference between whether farmers are going to be allowed to manage and farm their farms the way they want to, versus a state or federal office placing a bunch of mandates on them.” –Ben Hushon, The Mill

The full report presents a clear business case for ag retailers, exploring how they can dramatically transform their businesses to meet the needs of their grower-customers, the broader agri-food value chain, their local communities and the natural resources the world depends upon.

The time for proactively seeking out ways to improve the reputation and impact of the agricultural sector is now, and the full report showcases how some leading ag retailers are getting the job done.

Advancing Soil Health Through the Power of Partnerships

America’s Conservation Ag Movement Names Board and Releases Special Annual Reports

Stewardship Champion: NRCS Chief Matt Lohr

Rabo Carbon Bank Takes Pilot Program to Three States, Partners with Continuum Ag

Thu, 02 Sep 2021 16:23:38 GMT

In January 2021 Rabobank launched the Rabo Carbon Bank and has since been launching pilots in three categories: carbon farming, supply chain decarbonization and carbon reduction in retail.

As part of the Rabo Carbon Bank initiative, Rabo AgriFinance, a Rabobank subsidiary, is operating the pilots with farmers in three states. The pilot farmers are being advised by Continuum Ag for its soil health/agronomic advisement and carbon sequestration baseline measurements.

The practices being implemented are rooted in regenerative agriculture practices and include:

Reduced tillage or no-till
A variery of cover crop plantings
Planting cash crops “green” into living cover crops
More robust crop rotations
Precision agriculture planting, applications of fertilizer and crop protection products, and/or irrigation
A transition to natural fertilizer

“We will know the impact of our practices on carbon in the soil. No one else in the marketplace I’ve talked to is doing it that way and measuring,” John C. Barnes of Barnes Farming Corporation, a pilot participant said. “Some of the practices we’re already doing, but our management team are going to have opportunities to be exposed to some new ideas, some cutting-edge practices, that maybe would not have been economical on their own but with carbon payments become feasible.”

Rabobank shares these are the farmers, locations and crops enrolled in the pilot:

Barnes Farming Corporation (North Carolina) – broccoli, peanuts, potatoes, soybeans, sweet potatoes, tobacco, watermelons and wheat
Bruihler Farms (Iowa) – corn and soybeans
D&D Horras Farms (Iowa) – corn and soybeans
Jeffrey McDoniel Farm (Arkansas) – corn, rice and soybeans
Miles Farm (Arkansas) – corn, cotton, rice and soybeans

“Feeding the world more sustainably is about continuous improvement. Every farm has a unique sustainability journey that has defined their success as a contributor to the food supply chain thus far,” Cristian Barcan, sustainability officer for Rabo AgriFinance and regional Rabo Carbon Bank officer said in a news release. “We’re helping our clients monetize a natural feature of their farms – the plants’ ability to capture carbon equivalents from the air – while improving their fields with healthy, nutrient-dense, biologically-enhanced, carbon-rich soils. The expected result is improved yield with lower costs and lower environmental impact.”

ContinuumAg will consult with each individual farmer in the pilot and provide tailored practices for soil health and carbon sequestration.

“As a farmer-led company, we are ecstatic to be a partner of the Rabo Carbon Bank. Rabo’s long-term vision and value proposition aligns with that of participating farmers and Continuum Ag,” said Mitchell Hora, founder and CEO of Continuum Ag. “We all seek more sustainably produced food, but these efforts will fail if the family farm isn’t also economically sustainable.”

30% of Farmers Still Having Trouble Finding Essential Crop Inputs for This Year

Thu, 05 May 2022 14:52:20 GMT

Diesel prices are at record levels. The prices of dry fertilizer for corn are double what farmers paid last year. Planting progress sits at the slowest pace since 2013, with farm machinery parts on backorder or in short supply. The latest Ag Economy Barometer shows farmers’ concerns seem to be overshadowing current optimism about commodity prices hitting decade-highs.

Purdue University-CME Group’s April Ag Economy Barometer showed an uptick in producer sentiments, but the monthly reading was still 32% below the same time last year. Farmers are showing higher expectations for their farm’s financial performance, but farmers continue to voice concern about input prices not just this year, but also into 2023.

(Farm Journal)

The latest Ag Economy Barometer posted a reading of 121, which is an 8-point improvement from March. The survey was conducted between April 18 and April 22, 2022.

“Producers are starting to feel somewhat better about their farms’ financial situation and 2022 compared to 2021,” says Jim Mintert, co-author of the barometer and also an agricultural economist with Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture. “The farm capital investment index, however, did not improve. It stayed at 36. That’s the lowest reading we’ve ever had on the farm capital investment index.”

Climbing commodity prices are helping offset some of the increase in input costs for farmers, but some producers say they haven’t been able to buy some of the inputs they need, no matter the prices.

“Over 40% of the producers in this month’s survey continued to say the purchase plans are being impacted by low farm machinery inventory levels,” says Mintert. “Farmers continue to experience difficulty obtaining inputs to plant the 2022 crop. This month, 11% of the producers in the survey said that they had received notice from an input supplier that the supplier would be unable to deliver inputs they had already purchased for use in the 2022 crop season.”

The Ag Economy Barometer found that 42% of producers surveyed said higher input costs are their biggest concern. That trumps the No. 2 concern on the list, which was government policies at 21%.

The monthly barometer showed 34% of producers said they experienced some difficulty in purchasing inputs for the 2022 crop season, which was up from 27% in March. When the Ag Economy Barometer broke down which inputs are posing the biggest challenges this year, the survey found:

30% reported issues sourcing herbicides
27% are having problems obtaining farm machinery parts
26% reported issues with fertilizer availability
17% are having problems finding insecticides

The concerns aren’t just for 2022, but also for 2023. Economists found over half of crop producers expect input prices to rise above 2022’s inflated level, and one out of five crop producers expect input prices to rise 20% or more compared to this year.

Herbicide GUSS Sprayer Now Available at Select John Deere Dealer Locations

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 14:56:27 GMT

More than three dozen U.S. John Deere dealerships will now sell the GUSS autonomous sprayer. The company says the Herbicide GUSS is the first and only autonomous orchard herbicide applicator.

In April 2022, John Deere announced a joint venture with GUSS.

“The announcement of Herbicide GUSS underscores why we are so excited to have GUSS as part of our High Value Crop solutions lineup,” said Greg Christensen, John Deere Marketing Manager for 5 Series Tractors and High Value Crops. “The GUSS team has years and depth of experience in the high-value crop spraying business. They were their own first customers, so they are able to solve true customer needs very quickly. Orchard and vineyard customers in the high-value crop space face many labor, safety and sustainability challenges. GUSS, Mini GUSS and now Herbicide GUSS can help producers overcome these challenges.”

The Herbicide GUSS is designed to provide an autonomous spray setup which reduces the volume of herbicide applied. On the machine, nine sensors detect, target and spot spray weeds on the orchard floor. The GUSS system is engineered to use LIDAR technology to stay in the row.

The GUSS system allows one operator to monitor up to eight GUSS sprayers from a laptop.

“Growers have been asking for an autonomous herbicide machine. We took that concept to the next level by implementing weed detection technology to give the grower a machine that provides immense value. Lower chemical usage helps the grower reduce costs and is a benefit to the environment,” said Gary Thompson, COO at GUSS Automation.

The machine is 23.5’ long and 6.5’ tall. Its boom is adjustable from 8.3’ to 19’ wide and it features a breakaway mechanism.

Manless Machines Make Moves

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 12:51:41 GMT

Autonomy continues its steady march forward as new machines are being showcased with no one in the cab—or no cab at all. This fall saw another round of companies iterating their ideas around the concept of helping ag retailers do more with less labor.
“There’s no one defined outcome with autonomy,” says Ben Voss, director of sales at Raven.

“It’s important to get reaction, feedback and time in the field to have autonomous products that serve the real needs in agriculture.”

He adds the cost-benefit to autonomy can be very attractive with labor savings and increased productivity seen as the most upfront benefits. But, when users experience the products in the field, it helps them realize gains that weren’t obvious or anticipated.

“We will continue to invest our time to get valuable user feedback on the technology out in the field. The early autonomy customers are helping us define the future and they are a key part of setting the direction for the product.”

Case IH Trident 5550 Applies Raven Autonomy for Driverless Spreading

The Case IH Trident 5550 with Raven Autonomy is built to be a combination applicator—both liquid and dry applications—but now equipped with Raven Autonomy, the machine can also be run in either autonomous mode or manual mode.

The technology and machine marriage mean one or more driverless machines can operate in the field without an operator present in the cab. The company highlights how this can provide for greater efficiency with available labor as well as consistency in spreading application accuracy for repeatable sub-inch accuracy.

Company leaders say the autonomous spreader is a milestone in the collaboration between Case IH and Raven since CNH Industrial acquired Raven in 2021.

Here’s how the autonomous spreader works:

Operators can plan and complete an entire field operation based on mapped field boundaries from a mobile device.
A series of cameras and radar system enable the Raven Autonomy perception to sense the 360-degree environment around the machine.
Artificial intelligence continuously processes a stream of images, which power Raven’s perception controller to detect obstacles.
If an obstacle is recognized, then the machine stops safely, and the operator receives a mobile alert.
Machine tasks and functions—fuel level, diesel exhaust fluid level, speed, revolutions per minute, bin-level status, Universal Terminal information and diagnostic trouble codes—can be reviewed on a mobile device.

Solinftec offers “Clean Field As a Service” Via Solar-Powered, Unmanned Sprayer

(Farm Journal)

For the past three years, the team at Solinftec has been working on advancing its solar-powered autonomy platform, Solix. It has tested a scouting machine and is in the first year of testing a selective spraying machine.

Leo Carvalho, director of operations for Solinftec, says the company has been testing different machines with specified applications in Brazil, Canada and the U.S.

“We understand there are differences between these regions—the crops grown and the pain points for farmers,” Carvalho says. In the U.S., he says the work done so far has encouraged the team to have Solix robotics first tackle the issue of weed control. First, the company announced the Solix Scouting machine. Now, it will offer Solix Spraying.

“We want to reduce the amount of herbicide used,” he says. “To do that, we need to identify 100% of the kinds of weeds and act in the field to make spot-spray applications. We have a concept that can run constantly as long as field conditions and weather conditions are fit.”

The robot is 2.5 meters and is powered by four solar panels. The spot-spray system has been developed by Solinftec’s engineering team to provide plant-level management. Carvalho explains the Solix sprayer can cover almost 100 acres per day. With one year of testing in conjunction with Purdue University, the Solix sprayer has shown up to 70% reduction in herbicide used. As previously announced, Solinftec has partnered with Growmark to test its scouting robot. And the company recently announced a partnership with FBN to test the sprayer.

Trimble and Its Venture Group Invest in Autonomy

(Farm Journal)

In late August, Trimble announced will it acquire Bilberry, a startup focused on using artificial intelligence for spot-spraying. Bilberry technology has been developed as a retrofit system for sprayers to provide green-on-green and green-on-brown spot-spray applications. Bilberry started in France in 2016 and was privately held.

Also this summer, Trimble Ventures, Trimble’s corporate venture capital fund, invested in Sabanto Inc.

Using a fleet of 60- and 90-hp tractors, Sabanto is launching its Farming as a Service concept. It has autonomously tilled, planted, seeded, weeded, applied and mowed across Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Texas. For example, one of its 60-hp tractors planted more than 750 acres of corn and soybeans in one season.

Gracie’s Kitchens recalls ready-to-eat fruit and vegetable products

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 17:30:31 GMT

The Food and Drug Administration said in an update that Gracie’s Kitchens Inc. of New Haven, Conn., has recalled all of its ready-to-eat fruit and vegetable products manufactured at its facility from Nov. 4-13. The agency said the recall is because the products have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The FDA said the recalled products were distributed to grocery stores in Connecticut and New York. The products have a sell-by date from Nov. 9 to Nov. 24. The products are no longer in commerce and are past the sell-by dates.

No illnesses have been reported to date, according to the announcement.

The FDA said Gracie’s Kitchen is working with the agency following the finding of Listeria monocytogenes in a sample.