India Today: Google turns farmer with project Mineral, its robots are growing soybeans and strawberries. “The current venture Mineral focuses on sustainable food production and farming at large scales, with a focus on ‘developing and testing a range of software and hardware prototypes based on breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, simulation, sensors, robotics and more,’ according to project lead Elliott Grant.”
farming
Philadelphia Inquirer: A virtual Pennsylvania Farm Show without manure or milkshakes — but maybe a butter sculpture
Philadelphia Inquirer: A virtual Pennsylvania Farm Show without manure or milkshakes — but maybe a butter sculpture. “Manure won’t pack the same punch when the annual Pennsylvania Farm Show goes online this January. The odor’s one of the first things that visitors, particularly city dwellers and suburbanites, notice when entering the labyrinthine exhibition complex in Harrisburg, along with bleating sheep and squealing pigs, the collective din of thousands of animals from every corner of the state.”
The Citizens: Old issues of Farmers and Consumers Market Bulletin offer glimpse of agriculture in bygone times
The Citizens: Old issues of Farmers and Consumers Market Bulletin offer glimpse of agriculture in bygone times. “Agriculture in Georgia has changed a lot over the years, but one thing that has remained constant is the Farmers and Consumers Market Bulletin as the go-to resource for buying and selling livestock, farm supplies and equipment, handcrafted and homegrown items, as well as the latest agriculture and consumer news. Now, thanks to a partnership with the Georgia Department of Agriculture, the University of Georgia Map and Government Information Library (MAGIL), and the Digital Library of Georgia, Georgians can take a look back at the history of the Market Bulletin. More than 1,712 issues of the Farmers and Consumers Market Bulletin dating from 1926-1963 are now available in the Georgia Government Publications online database.”
WWLP: Locally sourced foods find platform on state exchange
WWLP: Locally sourced foods find platform on state exchange. “Pints of cherry tomatoes grown in Beverly, hundreds of pounds of salmon and haddock from a Boston pier, jars of curries and chutneys prepared by a Newton retailer, and communications support for local farms and fisheries are among the kaleidoscope of options up for sale on a new state-run online marketplace. The new MassGrown Exchange platform publicly launched [August 10] and offers a wide range of options to farmers, fishers, restaurants and anyone else linked to the Massachusetts food production industry, aiming to bring together and support both in-state producers and shoppers.”
KGMI: Eat Local First Washington Directory launched
KGMI: Eat Local First Washington Directory launched. “Advocacy groups Sustainable Connections and Eat Local First have launched the ‘Eat Local First Washington Directory’. The online database allows you to find local farmers statewide through a variety of sources.”
HempGrower: Universities Partner to Create a Midwestern Hemp Database, Ask for Grower Participation
HempGrower: Universities Partner to Create a Midwestern Hemp Database, Ask for Grower Participation. “The university extensions of Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Purdue (Indiana) are searching for hemp farmers in their respective states who are willing to provide them with precisely taken crop samples and growing data in exchange for discounted cannabinoid testing. The universities will publish the wealth of data they receive from farmers on the Midwestern Hemp Database, an online tool already brimming with data from the project’s nearly 200 different varieties grown by about 70 registered participants so far.”
Roanoke Times: Farmers cultivate new business models as the pandemic forces them to adapt
Roanoke Times: Farmers cultivate new business models as the pandemic forces them to adapt. “Agriculture is one of countless industries that has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many farmers who can sell directly to consumers are weathering the pandemic well, though it often required a significant reworking of their business model. But others, like beef cattle and dairy farmers, have struggled because of issues on the processing side.”
Farms .com: Highlighting First Nation agriculture
Farms .com: Highlighting First Nation agriculture. “A First Nation community wants to connect with local farmers, food producers and consumers to build an online database. The Anishinabek Nation is looking to compile enough industry information to create an Agricultural Asset Inventory, a directory and an online food map of existing agriculture and food-related businesses.”
Phys .org: Free online tool will enable farmers to deliver environmental benefits
Phys .org: Free online tool will enable farmers to deliver environmental benefits. “The new Environmental Planner tool (E-Planner) has been produced by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) to help farmers make decisions on which agri-environment options to introduce and where these are likely to work best. It uses detailed environmental data at a resolution of just five meters on all two million-plus fields across Great Britain. The tool analyzes satellite and aerial imagery plus other national-scale datasets to assess the suitability of unproductive or hard-to-farm areas of land for four agri-environment interventions.” “Agri-environment” was a new one on me, but this site helped me out.
USDA: USDA Now Accepting Applications for Coronavirus Food Assistance Program
USDA: USDA Now Accepting Applications for Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. “You can now apply for USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, which provides direct payments to farmers and ranchers to offset impacts from the coronavirus pandemic. Applications will be accepted through August 28, 2020. We now have the application form and a payment calculator available on farmers.gov/cfap. And we have a call center (877-508-8364) set up to help you with your questions.”
New Mexico Department of Agriculture: Website Connects Consumers With New Mexico Agriculture Products
New Mexico Department of Agriculture: Website Connects Consumers With New Mexico Agriculture Products. “As part of the emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Agriculture has assisted with identifying sources and securing food in a timely manner, whether it has been for food banks or for New Mexico’s Nations, Tribes and Pueblos. To add to this effort, now consumers can link directly to local producers and agricultural businesses.”
WHEC: NY Farm Bureau launches job database to help farmers, workers
WHEC: NY Farm Bureau launches job database to help farmers, workers. “An online database is helping farms hit hard by the pandemic connect with people looking for temporary work. The New York Farm Bureau launched the Farmworker Relief Program on Tuesday. The bureau hopes it will serve as a resource to farms and farmers in order to keep staff on hand.”
‘Carbon Cowboys’: Farmers thriving during COVID-19, thanks to regenerative grazing (Arizona State University)
Arizona State University: ‘Carbon Cowboys’: Farmers thriving during COVID-19, thanks to regenerative grazing. “Regenerative grazing involves quickly rotating cattle from pasture to pasture, before they can damage the land — similar to how bison herds moved across the Great Plains. The practice, which does not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides, builds soils that are richer in carbon, which in turn boosts crop and livestock yields. It also makes the land better equipped to cope with drought and reduces flooding.”
Smashing eggs, dumping milk: Farmers waste more food than ever (Omaha World-Herald)
Omaha World-Herald: Smashing eggs, dumping milk: Farmers waste more food than ever. “Dumped milk in Wisconsin. Smashed eggs in Nigeria. Rotting grapes in India. Buried hogs in Minnesota. These disturbing images have stirred outrage around the world. But here’s the surprising part: the world may not actually be wasting more than normal, when a third of global food production ends up in landfills. What’s changing now is that rather than being thrown out by consumers as kitchen waste, an unprecedented amount of food is getting dumped even before making it into grocery stores.”
WROK: Skip The Store, Local Farms Will Deliver To Your Door
WROK: Skip The Store, Local Farms Will Deliver To Your Door. “I literally had no idea you could just go to farms and buy stuff or order online and have it shipped to your door. This is a great way to directly support local farmers and avoid going to crowded grocery stores during the pandemic. I poked around the website a little and found a handful of farms about 30 minutes away that would make a nice weekend trip.”