Disease Control

Peptyde Bio closes $1.2 million pre-seed funding round

Peptyde Bio Inc. has closed an oversubscribed $1.2M pre-seed funding round. Peptyde Bio is the first company spun out of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center by Danforth Technology Company (DTC), the wholly-owned subsidiary formed... more »

Botanical Solution wins crop science award

Botanical Solution Inc. (BSI) has won a Crop Science Award for “Best New Biological Product (Biopesticide).” BSI, which develops sustainable and cost-effective botanical materials for agricultural and pharmaceutical applications, was recognized in the best of... more »

Certis promotes salesman

Certis Biologicals has promoted Tim Riley to lead the company’s U.S.-based sales team. Riley, a veteran sales leader, is national sales director for U.S. ag business. Riley joined Certis in 2020 as key account manager,... more »

Field of Machines: Automation eases some tasks, but focus is on harvest

FRESNO, Calif. – As Congress prepares yet again to consider agriculture labor reform through the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, dozens of autonomous sprayers, weeders and cultivators are entering fields, orchards and vineyards every day in... more »

Grant to help strawberry growers battle soilborne diseases

Research to fight soilborne diseases that harm strawberry plants is being fortified thanks to a $1 million grant to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s California Strawberry Center. The California strawberry industry is challenged by numerous... more »

Bayer acquires German biotech start-up Targenomix

Bayer’s acquisition of Targenomix, a German biotech start-up, should contribute to Bayer’s Crop Science R&D pipeline by delivering new systems biology approaches for crop protection discovery. On Nov. 10, Bayer announced its purchase of Targenomix,... more »

Vive Crop Protection wins innovation award

Canada’s National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) has honored Vive Crop Protection by awarding it as a co-recipient of the Synergy Award for Innovation Cynthia Goh, a professor of physical chemistry at the University... more »

Salinas Valley farmers hit by lettuce virus

A virus spread by insects is causing widespread damage to lettuce crops in the Salinas Valley, the renowned Salad Bowl that provides more than one-half of America’s lettuce. According to growers and researchers, impatiens necrotic... more »