Little mixing of crops and solar panels in agrivoltaics, so far
The infant industry of agrivoltaics most often combines a large solar farm with pollinator-friendly vegetation rather than crop production, said USDA analysts. In the near term, the land might also be used for sheep pasturage or for high-value crops such as blueberries, but most farm equipment is too big to work around the panels.
Farmers say carbon contracts ought to pay more
The small portion — 2 percent — of corn and soybean farmers who have signed carbon contracts said they were ready, if required, to change their production practices to earn the money, said a Purdue University poll on Tuesday. Most growers said the payment rates were too low to entice them.
Soil, people, landforms are factors in tree diversity
For more than 200 years, scientists have known that tree diversity — the number of different types of trees found near each other — is highest near the equator and diminishes moving into the middle and higher latitudes. The conventional explanation for this decline in local species richness has been temperature and precipitation.
How many species of trees? 73,000 worldwide
Some 64,000 species of trees are known worldwide, but that's nowhere close to the real number, according to a research project involving 100 scientists worldwide. In a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists estimate 9,400 species are yet to be discovered.
With harvest at hand, farmers’ coronavirus thoughts turn to marketing
Farmers and ranchers are increasingly focusing on market access for their crops and livestock as the coronavirus grips the world, said the Ag Economy Barometer on Tuesday. In a poll by Purdue University for the monthly gauge of farmer sentiment, 45 percent of producers said market access was …
Signs of Covid-19 slump in Indiana farmland prices
Farm managers, land brokers, appraisers, and other professionals attribute a modest decline in Indiana farmland values in the first half of the year, a trend expected to continue into the winter, to disruptions accompanying the coronavirus, said Purdue University on Thursday. (No paywall)
Record USDA support flowing, but farmers say more federal assistance will be needed
With signup underway for $16 billion in coronavirus payments, farmers overwhelmingly say more federal aid to agriculture is needed this year, according to a Purdue University poll released on Tuesday. Farm spending is headed for a record this year and could exceed $30 billion from an amalgam of …
‘Quite large’ amounts of corn and soy land were not planted
One out of every 10 corn farmers was unable to plant 25 percent or more of intended corn acreage due to the wettest spring in a quarter-century, according to a survey by Purdue University. Soybean plantings also were smaller than planned, with 9 percent of growers saying they were unable to …
Declining investment in public ag research threatens innovation, report says
A new report from Purdue University, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and other groups says that public spending on agricultural research in the United States has plummeted, threatening innovation and public access to information. At the same time, it says, ag research is becoming increasingly privatized.