Pouring Funds into Water Conservation

Pouring Funds into Water Conservation

Funds for farmers to keep farming—but with less water—are headed west.  Downpourload: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced an effort to save up to 50K acre-feet of H2O across 250K acres of traditionally irrigated farmland. Think drought-impacted places like...
U.S. Milk Output Up, Farms Down

U.S. Milk Output Up, Farms Down

A recent USDA study highlighted changes in the U.S. dairy industry.    Facing the moo-sic: The number of dairy farms are declining. Yet U.S. milk production continues to rise as industry consolidation and technological advancements increase output.  The USDA’s...
Payout Coming for Minority Farmers

Payout Coming for Minority Farmers

The Biden administration is making it rain with $2B in direct payments for Black and other minority farmers who have faced discrimination by the USDA in farm loan programs or didn’t receive equitable access to federal resources prior to the Biden administration. The...
Gene-ius at Work In Plant Study

Gene-ius at Work In Plant Study

Researchers in Texas A&M University’s AgriLife Research program are finding more ways to make plants more resilient to drought, disease, and salinity.  And they’re going microscopic—through microRNAs—to identify gene expressions in plants.  Tiny...
CRISPR to Help You Eat Your Greens

CRISPR to Help You Eat Your Greens

CRISPR technology is here to stay—and it’s making a splash in produce. Pairwise is a food and ag company specializing in gene editing and CRISPR technology to “transform plants and the production system.” It recently teamed up with Bayer to license a...