Can Gene Editing Save Christmas Trees From Climate Change? 

One of the most antiquated industries is about to get a modern upgrade. 

Bringing Oyster Farming Into the 21st Century

The creator of Stardew Valley discusses whether video games can work as young farmer recruitment tools.

Playing Farmer

Based on aerospace innovations, “digital twins” of crops, fields, and livestock are an emergent new precision agriculture tool.

The Twin of Your Farm

A fluke lab discovery could upend our need to import endangered wood — a thriving underground market.

Meet Superblack Wood

AI-powered robots are very effective alternatives to herbicides. but the costs remain prohibitively expensive.

AI Could Help Small Organic Farmers, Someday

Outpaced by farmers with access to modern technologies, the Amish community has produced the first new horse-drawn combine in nearly 70 years.

Horsemen of the Future

As ChatGPT and other LLMs enter the mainstream, ag practitioners should consider the potential dangers and rewards.

For Farmers, Are AI Chatbots Worth the Risk?

As broadband access slips away from rural farming communities, new research shows particular harms to the young.

Pandemic-Era Broadband Access Is Receding — Rural Kids Are Paying the Price

New research finds that tuber-based sensors can effectively detect gamma radiation and be planted in fields surrounding nuclear power plants. 

Nuclear Fallout and Potatoes

The FAA recently approved the use of multiple unmanned aircraft on a single farm, promising to make it easier to manage large fields. But regulators say the technology is weighed down by a lot of unknowns.

Hive Mentality: Drone Swarms Are On The Horizon

In the wake of the 2021 ransomware hack of agribusiness giant JBS, what lessons have we learned?

Protecting Agriculture From the Next Cyberattack

In contrast to its old-fashioned reputation, today’s FFA members utilize cutting-edge technologies to address agriculture’s most pressing challenges. 

Future Farmers of America: More Than Cows, Sows, and Plows

Scientists have created a cow that produces human insulin in its milk. But the ethical debate surrounding genetic engineering remains as murky as ever. 

Drink Your Insulin, Dear

Investors went wild for the utopian promise of tech-driven vertical farming. Now the industry is on the brink of collapse — can it survive by following in traditional agriculture’s footsteps?

Indoor Agriculture Faces a Reckoning

Researchers have long aimed to decode the language of plants. New technology is making tracking and translating that language possible.

Learning to Speak Plant

There’s fungus among us — the mighty mushroom is turning up in fashion, construction, electronics, wellness, insulation, and more.

This Mushroom Moment

As ag producers adopt ChatGPT, concerns about accuracy, utility, and environmental damage abound. 

Farmers Are Tentatively Embracing AI

The low-rent app helped millions of city residents discover foraging — long before the pandemic opened the floodgates.

A Decade In, FallingFruit Has Kicked Open the Door for Urban Foragers

Built on years of research, the federal agency’s new tool aims to help farmers reduce heat stress in the world’s most widely consumed animal.

Pigs Can’t Sweat, and It’s Costing Us Billions — Can USDA’s ‘HotHog’ App Keep Them Cool?

Millions of male chicks are killed, needlessly, every year. The tech sector is ready to act, but is the egg sector ready to change?

Can Silicon Valley Save These Chicks?

Farming influencers are leading a new era of public perception on social media. The question is, can all ag producers follow their lead?

Is Every Farmer an Influencer Now?

Consumers have shown they are willing to pay more for meat from happy livestock. New technology bears the promise of accurately assessing animal emotions.

AI Could Hold the Key to Improving Animal Welfare

Indoor agriculture doesn’t get more local than small vertical farms right where people live and work. But the future of these farms is more closely tied to conventional urban farming than the wider vertical farming industry.

Planting Tiny Indoor Farms In Strip Malls and Office Parks

As U.S. farmers and ranchers get their hands on the technology, its labor-saving, climate-friendly benefits are becoming clear — and so are its shortcomings. 

Virtual Fencing Will Change How We Raise Livestock, Fight Fires, and Support Soil Health

Public seed breeders, often academics who work to help farmers and gardeners, are rapidly disappearing. All the while, commercial breeders with patented, expensive seeds are consolidating.

We’re Losing Our Seed Breeders

Washington State University used CRISPR technology to produce pigs that were sold in sausage form. Is this a one-off, or a sign of things to come?

Genetically Edited Pork Has Entered the Food Supply

The new law gives hope to farmers in other states that costly downtime and repairs could cease to be the norm.

Colorado Became the First Right-to-Repair State — Who’s Next?

Fake seeds can cost farmers up to two-thirds of their yields, putting global food security at risk. A team at MIT has devised an anti-counterfeiting system using microscopic silk labels.

Counterfeit Seeds Are Taking Root Worldwide

More than a dozen breeding programs across the country are competing to develop the next great chipping potato. The impact will be felt far beyond the snack aisle.

The Race to Breed a Better Potato Chip

Researchers finally completed a new line of tomatoes, bred with natural pest-resistant qualities that cause insects to “groom excessively, then leave.”

After 3 Decades in the Lab, Meet Cornell’s Pest-Resistant Tomato

Many farmers aren’t convinced that adding solar panels to their cropland is the right move. New research on light spectra efficiency could help.

For Agrivoltaics, the Right Light Matters

Many American farmers are locked into costly annual contracts for seeds that used to be free. Meanwhile, U.S. officials are focused on China.

Seed Thieves

Low inventory, long wait times, and raised prices are leaving manufacturers, dealerships, and farmers feeling the pinch.

Nationwide Steel Shortage Leaves Farm Equipment in Short Supply

Farm equipment manufacturer John Deere has failed to gain farmer confidence in its promise to make tractor and other repairs more accessible. 

Not Everyone Is Celebrating This Week’s Right-to-Repair News

Tech-driven, soilless farm systems can serve as a useful tool to save water and shore up the supply chain. But the process comes with not-insignificant challenges.

The Uncertain Future of Growing Without Soil

As wine regions grapple with labor shortages, rising temperatures, wildfires, and drought, some winemakers are betting on a future that’s dependent on smart technology. Others are less convinced.

Tech Companies Are Pushing Precision Agriculture Into American Vineyards

The New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health is one of 12 groups connecting  farmers with funds to help keep them farming — safely.

Adaptive Equipment for the Most Dangerous Profession

New research finds that the CO₂ pumping out of building exhaust vents could help give rooftop produce outputs a boost.

Recycled Carbon Dioxide May Be the Key to Bountiful Rooftop Farms

Nearly 20% of U.S. farms have no access to the internet, limiting their ability to embrace precision agriculture, boost crop yields, and implement more sustainable practices.

Missed Connections: How a Lack of Reliable Internet Access Hinders Rural Farmers

On a frigid, remote island that used to import 100% of its fresh vegetables, one American chef set out to keep it local.

 Polar Farming: Growing Produce in the World’s Northernmost Town

Central Oregon’s irrigation canals, a vital lifeline to the region’s farmers, lose 30 to 50% of their water due to seepage and evaporation. Modernization is coming.

Some of Oregon’s Irrigation Systems Are More Than 100 Years Old, and It Shows

During a historically dry year for crops, the space agency is aiming to work more closely with the agricultural community.

NASA Asks Drought-Stricken Farmers: “How Can We Help?”

For some farmers, combining solar power and agriculture can strengthen both.

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