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Crops

California curtails some senior water rights due to drought

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Los Angeles | Reuters — California’s water board curtailed senior water rights on Friday in the state’s Delta, San Joaquin and Sacramento regions due to drought, in the first move of its kind during the current drought, officials said. The curtailment affects more than 100 senior water rights holders, with most of those located near […] Read more
Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies for the week centred on June 3. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)
Crops

U.S. agency sees El Nino likely to last into 2016

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New York | Reuters — A U.S. weather forecaster warned on Thursday the El Nino weather pattern that can cause droughts in Asia and heavy rain in the Americas will likely last into next year, longer than previously expected and potentially roiling crops and commodity prices. The Climate Prediction Center (CPC), an agency of the […] Read more
Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies for the week centred on June 3. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)
Crops

Warming Pacific waters seen fuelling lengthy El Nino

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Sydney | Reuters –– Pacific Ocean temperatures continue to warm, supporting El Nino weather conditions for the rest of 2015, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said Tuesday. An El Nino can have devastating consequences for agriculture globally, causing heavy rains and floods in South America and scorching weather in Asia and as far away as east […] Read more
NORAC’s boom height control systems are already compatible with several Topcon products. (TopconPositioning.com)
Crops, Machinery

GPS firm buys sprayer boom control maker NORAC

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Saskatoon tech firm NORAC Systems, best known today for its automated boom height control systems for field sprayers, is set to become part of a major U.S. GPS systems firm. California-based Topcon Positioning Group announced Wednesday it will buy NORAC for an undisclosed sum, as the latest of Topcon’s recent plays in the precision ag […] Read more
(Giuseppe Carotenuto photo courtesy FAO)
Crops, Markets

Threat of food crisis seen fading as grain stocks climb

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London | Reuters — A sudden change in the weather no longer raises the spectre of a food price crisis, with grain stocks rebuilt and governments now paying much closer attention to agriculture, a senior United Nations economist said in an interview Monday. “The buffer is big and unexpected shortfalls can be met by (grain) […] Read more
Dr. Roy Golsteyn’s lab is studying buffalo bean for compounds that may help fight certain cancers. (Photo courtesy University of Lethbridge)
Crops

Guenther: Buffalo bean more than floral for cancer researchers

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Buffalo beans adorn the pastures, field edges and even kitchen tables of many Prairie farms and ranches — but the pretty plant is now also being picked for its potential properties as a cancer fighter. Experiments show compounds extracted from buffalo bean leaves have potential to fight a class of cancers that includes multiple myeloma, […] Read more
(Richard Bain photo courtesy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (U.S.) and ARS/USDA)
Crops, Markets

Cuba produces best sugar harvest in 11 years

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Havana | Reuters — Cuba’s sugar harvest grew 18 per cent this year to 1.9 million tonnes, the most for the beleaguered industry in 11 years and the best performance since the state sugar company Azcuba was founded in 2011, official media said on Friday. The Communist Party daily Granma said the harvest, which began […] Read more

Farm and Country editor John Phillips, 88

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A memorial is scheduled Saturday in Toronto for journalist John Phillips, who served 25 years as editor of the Ontario farming journal Farm and Country. Phillips died “peacefully” Wednesday at Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga at age 88, according to his obituary. According to Farm and Country’s successor magazine Better Farming, Phillips was the now-defunct […] Read more

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