“Global agriculture needs to become more productive in order to increase the food supply”
by BayerCropScience

Innovations secure an adequate supply of food / Climate change is a major challenge for agricultural research.

2004 Gold Medal Plant Awards Announced
by Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society is pleased to announce the winners of the 2004 Gold Medal Plant Awards. The Gold Medal Plant Award Program promotes woody plants of outstanding merit for use in the mid-Atlantic growing area (Zone 5 through 7).

A Foothold to the Future
by American Farmland Trust

From the Pacific Northwest to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, producers and producer-owned cooperatives are creating ways to use the Internet to make direct connections with consumers. In late March 2005, the National Farmers Union (NFU) unveiled its new e-cooperatives.com Web site to provide an online, retail marketplace through which farmers, ranchers and their co-ops can market and sell niche goods and services directly to consumers. The new Web site reflects growing farmer interest in learning how to effectively use the Internet as a marketing and sales tool.

A New Level of Protection in Small Grains and Grass Seed
by Syngenta Corporation

Some of the most devastating diseases for small grains and grass seed growers now have new competition - Quilt(R) fungicide. Quilt, registered for use on wheat, barley, triticale and grasses grown for seed, provides systemic, long-lasting control of rusts, Septoria, powdery mildew and tan spot. State registrations are pending. For grasses grown for seed, registrations are being sought only in Idaho, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon and Washington.

A One-Time Plowing May Not Hurt Carbon Credits
by Don Comis

A one-time tillage will not cause great soil carbon loss, even though major damage is caused to soil structure. That's the finding of Lloyd Owens, a soil scientist with the Agricultural Research Service in Coshocton, Ohio, after a study comparing soil carbon in the top foot of soil under a meadow with the carbon level in soil under cornfields with various levels of tillage.

A River Runs Through It - ADR Supports the Success of River Sediment Cleanups
by David Batson

Stretching for miles through once, and sometimes still, heavily industrialized areas, our nation's rivers are the final resting places for all varieties of hazardous substances and debris. This stark reality of modern life has created an increasing front in the effort to address areas of contamination – the cleanup of river sediment sites. Covering huge areas, affected by the continuous addition and movement of new contamination from sources potentially spread over an entire river's watershed, and requiring the efforts of multiple federal and state agencies, the cleanup of these sites creates a level of complexity for Agency staff and PRPs unprecedented in the history of Superfund.

A Snapshot of Today’s Fertilizer Trends and Usages
by Cristina Ruiz

It’s always difficult to identify trends in an ever-changing industry. It’s especially difficult when variable factors, such as the economy and Mother Nature, play critical roles in trend development. For the fertilizer industry, climate hasn’t been nearly as important as when the economy affects natural gas prices. With such a high dependence upon natural gas, price is one of the driving forces in how fertilizer is used today.

Activists Must Prove Harm to Species, Not Just Allege It, to Invoke Endangered Species Act
by Pacific Legal Foundation

In an important victory for western property owners, the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled for Pacific Legal Foundation, and Idaho rancher Verl Jones’ family, in a closely watched case that addresses the standard by which injunctions can be issued under the Endangered Species Act. The Ninth Circuit’s ruling clarifies—for the first time—that environmental plaintiffs must present actual evidence that a species is likely to be harmed before an injunction can be issued against a property owner, and that a lack of evidence of past harm is indicative of the likelihood of future harm.

ADIOS™ Cotton Defoliant Receives Registration in California
by PR Web

Arysta LifeScience North America Corporation has announced the registration of ADIOS™ cotton defoliant for use in California. This is excellent news for cotton growers in California because it provides consistent defoliation with better results across a wide range of environments.

Adjusting Fertilizer to Create Low-Phytate Crops
by Don Comis

Giving too much phosphorus to wheat and barley plants has been shown to raise the amount stored as phytate, rather than as more digestible forms of phosphorus.