Colombo | Reuters — The Rajapaksa dynasty dominated Sri Lankan politics until April when street protests against fuel and food shortages began to slip out of control. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country early on Wednesday, leaving no one from the once-illustrious family in a position of power. The president vowed last month to stay […] Read more

Rajapaksa dynasty draws to humiliating close in Sri Lanka
Food shortages, fertilizer ban among flashpoints

Bayer, BASF win new trial on damage award in U.S. dicamba suit
Reuters — Bayer and BASF have won a new trial on US$60 million in punitive damages they were ordered to pay a Missouri peach farmer who said dicamba, a herbicide they produced, drifted onto his orchard and harmed his crops. The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that a federal jury was wrongly told […] Read more

Marcos vows to boost Philippines’ grains output
New president/ag min aims to avert food crisis
Manila | Reuters — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed Monday to do what it takes to boost his country’s rice and corn production, seeking to reduce reliance on imports and avoid being hit hard by a food crisis now looming across the world. Marcos, who was sworn in as president last week and has […] Read more

CUSMA leaders to discuss agreement during Mexico visit
Mexico City | Reuters — U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will discuss terms of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico (CUSMA) agreement, which was ratified in 2018, during a visit to Mexico, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday. “We’ll have a summit to discuss terms of the trade agreement treaty… in Mexico,” […] Read more

Indigo Ag to roll out first tranche of farm soil carbon credits
Chicago | Reuters – U.S. farm technology firm Indigo Agriculture on Wednesday said its carbon farming program has produced 20,000 tonnes in soil carbon credits that it will sell as emissions offsets to buyers including JPMorgan Chase JPM.N, Barclays BARC.L and The North Face. They are the first agricultural soil carbon credits to be verified […] Read more

Soil sensing goes radioactive with gamma ray spectrometry
A geiger counter for your fields is one of the latest innovations for mapping soil
Reading Time: 4 minutes Scanning your field with what is essentially a geiger counter may seem like a strange way to find out which areas might yield the most, but it works pretty well, says a digital ag expert. “In combination with soil sampling, gamma ray measurement can be used for soil modelling, creation of site-specific nutrient maps and […] Read more

AAFC ups wheat production, usage numbers; stocks steady
MarketsFarm — Projected ending stocks of Canada’s major crops were left relatively unchanged in the latest supply/demand estimates from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, released Monday, although there were some revisions to the wheat production and usage numbers. The government agency raised its forecast for total Canadian wheat production in 2022-23 to 33.092 million tonnes, up […] Read more

Get the lowdown on kochia control
Reading Time: < 1 minute Manage Resistance Now has put out a new fact sheet on dealing with herbicide-resistant kochia. “Herbicide-resistant kochia is one of the largest weed threats to crop production in Western Canada,” the organization, created by CropLife Canada, notes in the online resource (available in the Weeds section of manageresistancenow.ca. A combination of control methods is needed, […] Read more

With fewer young farmers, what will the future hold?
The shift to very large operations run by a smaller number of (mostly older) producers is intensifying, latest census finds
Reading Time: 4 minutes The average age of farmers keeps going up, but it’s not because younger people don’t want to farm — it’s high land prices and tight margins that’s keeping them out, the latest ag census suggests. Bob Ohlhauser agrees. “It’s about money,” said the 82-year-old who still helps operate a medium-size grain farm near Carbon, an […] Read more

Incentives and research tempting more to try cover crops
Many farmers are interested in cover crops but don’t know if they will work ton the Prairies
Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Regenerative ag advocates have an evocative term for ground cover: soil armour. It means crop residue or living plants that hold the soil together and protect it from erosion. The soil in many parts of Manitoba could’ve used some armour this spring, as heavy spring rains, strong winds and flooding have all […] Read more