Showing results for: agriculture soil News
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Restore Life to Your Soil With Vermaplex/Black Worm Castings
Farmers and gardeners alike are looking for ways to improve the health of their soil and ability to store water for drought relief. The United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service released its “Unlock the Secrets in the Soil” campaign, “leading the effort to get more farmers and ranchers to adopt soil health management systems for a ...
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Farmers and Nonprofits Sue Trump`s USDA Over Organic Soil-Less Loophole
Today, Center for Food Safety (CFS), along with a coalition of organic farms and stakeholders, filed a lawsuit challenging the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) decision to allow hydroponic operations to be certified organic. The lawsuit claims that hydroponic operations violate organic standards for failing to build heathy soils, and asks the Court to stop USDA from allowing ...
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Small Robot Company £4m Crowdfunding Success: Public Back Sustainable Farming Future
Small Robot Company (SRC), a British agritech start-up for sustainable farming, raised £4 million in a successful equity crowdfunding campaign with Crowdcube. The company has now secured £11 million in funding to date. Over 2500 retail investors backed the campaign, with the initial target of £2m raised on the day of launch. The campaign then doubled the target, reaching the ...
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Small Robot Company Launches New Crowdcube Fully Funded At £2 Million
Small Robot Company (SRC), a British agritech start-up for sustainable farming, today announced the launch of its latest Crowdcube equity crowdfunding campaign, which already successfully hit its target of £2 million at launch. SRC has now secured £9 million in funding to date. Agriculture is a $2.4 trillion industry, with the precision farming market a huge global opportunity for ...
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Obama Budget Proposal to Slash Conservation Would Be Costly
President Obama's congressional budget request to slash funding for Farm Bill conservation programs in Fiscal Year 2013 by about $600 million could cost more than it saves in the long term, according to a leading conservation group. Farm Bill conservation programs assist farmers, ranchers and private forest landowners in adopting land management practices that improve water quality and wildlife ...
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Soil Health Films Document Conservation Work of Southwestern Farmers and Conservationists
The Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) has released two short films that showcase the efforts of farmers and conservationists in the San Luis Valley of Colorado to address agricultural challenges through improved soil health. “There are a lot of resources regarding soil health in the midwestern and eastern regions, but we identified an opportunity to share the unique challenges ...
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No-till improves near-surface soil properties
Near-surface soil aggregate structural properties such as aggregate size distribution, stability, strength, and wettability determine the extent to which a soil will erode under water or wind erosive forces. Knowledge of aggregate structural properties is especially important in semiarid regions, such as the Great Plains, where low precipitation, high evaporation, and variable biomass production ...
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Regenerative Agriculture Expands Regions
Heliae® Agriculture continues to expand as it builds its efforts on promoting regenerative agriculture and soil health to the Delmarva, Kentucky, and Carolina regions. Chris Templeton will work with distributors to implement the PhycoTerra® product line into their recommended grower applications. “We have learned how to stimulate the microbiome and improve the soil structure while ...
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Keeping a pulse on the soil
Leaving behind stubble is not ideal when shaving, but it’s a good practice to leave behind crop “stubble” after harvest. According to soil scientist Frank Larney, crop residue anchors the soil against wind and water erosion. Avoiding bare soils is one part of a soil conservation package he and his research team demonstrate in a 12-year experiment growing pulses in southern ...
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Soil microorganisms help prevent non-target effects of pesticides
A new study has investigated the properties of different types of soils which can cause pesticides to cling on to soil and prevent them from affecting non-target species. It demonstrates that microorganisms can play an important role in binding pesticides to soil. Microbial levels can therefore help indicate how much pesticide is freely available in soil. Pesticides applied during agricultural ...
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GWT Series Natural Zeolite Media Agricultural Applications
Zeolite based fertilizers are known to be "smart fertilizers" due to the high cation exchange capacity (CEC) and porous crystalline structure. Zeolite is the only negatively-charged mineral in existence in the world, for these purposes it has therefore has significant uses across a wide range of applications and in particular in Agriculture applications. Zeolite has a known ability to act as a ...
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2013/2014 Report from the Field Highlights Recent Successes
Every year, SARE's four regional programs provide grant funding to scores of cutting-edge farmers, ranchers, researchers and educators for projects that aim to improve the sustainability of American agriculture. To get a glimpse of some of these innovators at work, check out the latest edition of SARE's biennial report, 2013/2014 Report from the Field. Download or order free print copies of ...
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Meet Marckindy, SOIL’s Composting Supervisor
A couple of months ago we sat down with Marckindy Etienne, SOIL’s Composting Supervisor, to talk about his work, his connection to SOIL, and his thoughts on the role sanitation and compost can play in Haiti’s future. Marckindy has been a part of the SOIL family since his first internship in 2012, and he’s known of SOIL for even longer through his brother, Job (SOIL’s ...
By SOIL Haiti
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`We need a new approach for better soil`
‘Dutch agricultural soils are not future-proof’ was a widely accepted statement at the final meeting of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Sustainable Soil. Breeders, chain partners, suppliers, the government and the science sector see a gradual deterioration in soil quality and are joining forces within the PPP to find a solution. “It isn’t a simple matter,” says ...
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Healthy soils for a healthy planet
Healthy soils are vital in a world challenged by climate change. We need to decide how best to use land to provide food for a growing population and how it can be used to mitigate the effects of manmade emissions. The quality of soil must be maintained or restored if it is to provide its essential services: cycling nutrients, water and air, supporting biodiversity and acting as a substantial ...
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Effects of chemical fertiliser and animal manure on soil health compared
Fertilising crops with cattle manure can lead to better soil quality than when synthetic fertiliser is used, recent research indicates. The use of cattle manure in the study led to greater soil fertility by encouraging higher microbial activity, and the researchers suggest that it could potentially improve soil’s ability to cope with periods of difficult growing conditions. The complex ...
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New PED Talks Video Series Digs into Soil Health
A series of 10-to-15-minute, science-centered “PED Talks” on soil health has been posted on YouTube. Soil peds are aggregated particles of sand, silt, clay, and organic matter. Like their namesake, PED Talks combine soil-related topics including explanations of soil health, how we can improve it, and the progress that’s being made to ensure we have the healthy soils necessary to ...
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Cover Crop Workshops Featured at the Iowa Power Farming Show
All you ever wanted to know about cover crops will be in one place next week. Whether you use cover crops or are still evaluating them, save time and money by attending the Cover Crop Workshops at this year’s Iowa Power Farming Show, January 28-30, in Des Moines, Iowa. The Workshops will feature grain and livestock farmers with on-farm cover crop experience, as well as other experts. ...
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Record-breaking $17.3 billion in crop losses last year; significant portion potentially avoidable
Report shows county-by-county analysis of impacts in the ten states with highest crop insurance losses due to extreme weather: Extreme weather forced the Federal Crop Insurance Program (FCIP) to pay out a record-breaking $17.3 billion in crop losses last year, much of which could have been prevented using water-smart strategies, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Payments made ...
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Fertiliser – From Airborne Dust To Liquid Fertiliser Tanks
Much of the early fertiliser spraying across the country is now complete and spring barley is in the ground, with most coming through and growing fast. For now, farming attention focuses on fencing in preparation for turning out stock and other important activities, but it won’t be long until more fertiliser applications and it’s this on-going and high cost expendable that makes all ...
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