Biologist Mohamed Hijri brings to light a farming crisis no one is talking about: We are running out of phosphorus, an essential element that's a key component of DNA and the basis of cellular communication. All roads of this crisis lead back to how we farm — with chemical fertilizers chock-full of the element, which plants are not efficient at absorbing. One solution? Perhaps … a microscopic mushroom...
By:Gene Johnston Agclimate4U.org is a new one-stop website for weather and crop data to help you make agronomic and marketing decisions.Here’s a website that all farm weather junkies will want to bookmark: agclimate4U.org.The site is a project of state and agricultural university climatologists, agronomists, and marketing experts. Built with USDA funding, they say it’s a one-stop shop for useful and interactive weather tools that can help with decisions involving crop insurance, fertilizer timing, and even marketing. “It’s all been out there [...]
By: Jodie Wehrspann Top executives from leading farm machinery manufacturers met onstage earlier this month to discuss their thoughts on what’s next in agriculture and the issues that will affect the farming industry. The AEM Ag Executive Outlook was hosted by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers during the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Ky. Max Armstrong broadcast director, Penton Agriculture and host of ‘This Week In AgriBusiness’ moderated the two-hour event. Panelists included the following: • Todd Stucke, vice president, sales, marketing & product [...]
Some jobs are so mind-numbing and backbreaking that no one with other options wants to do them. Cue the robots. Harvest Automation, a 31-employee startup in Billerica, Massachusetts, designs robots that arrange pots in nurseries and greenhouses. It's a monotonous task, and the associated labor represents 40 percent of growers' costs in a $17 billion market. So far, Harvest Automation has about $25 million in funding and 29 customers, most of which start out with four of the $30,000 [...]
By: Laurie Bedord WinField is teaming up with Google Cloud Platform and Cloud Technology Partners to build it’s Data Silo. This cloud-based data-management system helps farmers work with their retail partners to optimize the value of their agronomic tools and make data-driven decisions. “In order to see revolutionary progress in agriculture technology, we must make it easy for the industry to widely adopt and use it,” says Teddy Bekele, vice president of IT, WinField. “We’re finding the right people to help us [...]
By: Laurie Bedord U.S. retail sales of farm tractors under 40 hp. were up 33.2% for March 2016 and up 26.1% year-to-date, compared with the same time periods last year. The 2WD category of 40- to 100-hp. tractors saw retail sales increase 10.1% in March compared with last year. This brings year-to-date growth to 3.2%. Higher horsepower tractors didn’t fair as well. Two-wheel-drive tractors over 100 hp. declined 32.9%, and January to March 2016 sales of 4WD tractors dropped 38.2% compared with the first quarter [...]
Trust: How do you earn it? Banks use credit scores to determine if you're trustworthy, but there are about 2.5 billion people around the world who don't have one to begin with — and who can't get a loan to start a business, buy a home or otherwise improve their lives. Hear how TED Fellow Shivani Siroya is unlocking untapped purchasing power in the developing world with InVenture, a start-up that uses mobile data to create a financial identity. [...]
Case IH had conducted a commercial training camp for over 100 salespeople from Africa and the Middle East at Parys in South Africa The practical training session gave the participants an opportunity to get behind the wheel and test drive Case IH tractors and combines. (Image Source: Case IH) The two-week training session was held from 5–14 April and provided extensive first-hand information about the Case IH product range. The training focused on products and sales features specific to the respective [...]
Animal feed manufacturer MolaPlus Limited have introduced an organic supplement that claims to improve the nutrition of poultry without the use of chemicals The supplement claims to help farmers cut down the cost of poultry feed. (Image Source: MolaPlus Limited) The product, MolaPlus Poultry Microbes, has been developed in the wake of increasing chicken feed costs and diseases that are taking a toll on poultry farming in the country even as the sector struggles to stoke growing competition from Uganda. “With the [...]
AGRIKEXPO 2016, one of Africa’s largest events for agribusiness development, will be held in Abuja from 26–28 September The 5th edition of AGRIKEXPO will provide a platform for agribusinesses to network. The event will be held at the Abuja International Conference Centre, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Federal Ministry of Trade and Investments, Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG), All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) and several other agencies. Nigeria is a choice destination for agribusiness development [...]
