News

Farm and food workers impacted by COVID-19 to get $700M in grants

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Sept. 7 that $700 million in competitive grant funding will be available through the new Farm and Food Workers Relief grant program to help farmworkers and meatpacking workers with pandemic-related hea... more

Lipman Family Farms launches expanded compostable packaging for organics

Immokalee, Florida-based Lipman Family Farms will showcase the expansion of their compostable packaging line at the upcoming Southern Innovations conference and the Organic Produce Summit. Designed for organic grape tomatoes, mini cucumbers, green... more

Satellite image project measuring double cropping in fields funded by NASA

With a $100,000 grant from NASA Jet Propulsion Lab’s Western Water Applications Office, Washington State University researchers will scour more than 20 years of satellite imagery to learn whether the farming technique of double cropping is increasi... more

Multifunctional robot for tomato harvesting introduced

The Certhon Harvest Robot is a multifunctional robot that detects, cuts and transports tomatoes to boxes all by itself. The deep-learning technology will make the robot smarter with each harvest. According to a news release, the Certhon Harvest Ro... more

Benefits of pollinator-attracting companion plants studied

A recent interdisciplinary research project about how pollinator-attracting companion plants help increase yield in some horticulture crops showcases the intersection of excellence when researchers from diverse fields combine research, teaching and E... more

Directory of local food producers created by University of Wyoming Extension

The University of Wyoming Extension recently published the 2021 Specialty Crop Directory. "Our goal with the directory was to link buyers to sellers, and also to connect farmers to other farmers so that they could be mentors," Cole Ehmke, ... more

USDA urged to address supply chain issues by Farm Bureau

The American Farm Bureau Federation on Sept. 3 sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack detailing a list of solutions to address critical supply chain issues facing America’s farmers and ranchers. American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF)... more