Paying $100 an acre: A pilot project promoting climate-smart agriculture will pay producers $100 an acre – far above the usual rate- if they voluntarily adopt practices that deliver more than that in public environmental benefits. (Virginia Tech)
California bans food ingredients: Gov Gavin Newsom signed into law a ban on making or selling food containing Red No. 3, brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate and propylparaben beginning in 2027 and urged the FDA to update its standards for them. (Food Business News)
Satellites track planting dates: NASA scientists analyzed 20 years of satellite images of corn and soybean plantings to identify planting dates for the crops and learned that farmers plant their best-yielding fields first and that planting could begin sooner than it does now. (NASA)
‘Golden number’ for corn: A review of weather and planting data since 1980 shows the single most important variable – the “golden number” – in determining U.S. corn yield per acre is rainfall in July, worth around 13 bushels an acre, said a University of Illinois agricultural economist. (farmdoc daily)