Amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, continue to get a lot of attention in agriculture. Proteins are one of the major components of the structure and the chemistry of living things. Amino acids may be linked together to form more than 50,000 different...
News
Listerine in Agriculture
Inspired by Louis Pasteur's ideas on microbial infection, the English doctor Joseph Lister demonstrated in 1865 that use of carbolic acid on surgical dressings would significantly reduce rates of post-surgical infection. Lister's work in turn inspired St. Louis-based...
Why Micronutrients Are So Important
Let’s talk about micronutrients – copper, magnesium, iron and zinc – that are among the essential elements for building phytochemicals, enzymes, and proteins in plants. They’re also important for our own bodies. Researchers have connected a wide range of human health...
Microbes Fuel Agricultural Moonshot
I read an interesting article from the Washington Post of few days ago talking about how agricultural practices will have to change given the challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050. With global population skyrocketing, plus climate change and shifting diets, ...
Heat Wave Impact and Options
This current heat wave and others to come put a considerable amount of heat stress on various crops. When crops are under stress, they become less efficient in processing nutrients as their metabolism (photosynthesis, respiration, and the synthesis and degradation of...
Accelerating Soil Recovery
Last week, our newsletter focused on building soil carbon and its incredible impact on soil and crop health. Interestingly enough, I saw an article dated May 31 in California Today titled “To Fight Climate Change, Heal the Ground.” The article goes on to say, “The...
Producing Carbon-Rich Soils
Imagine if someone invented machines that could pull carbon out of the atmosphere — machines that were incredibly inexpensive, autonomous, and solar powered, too. Wouldn’t that be great? Well, we already have these devices -- they’re called plants. Unfortunately,...
Improving Soil Health Reduces Material Costs
Can improved profitability and soil health be connected in an obvious way? Well, the answer is likely no, but it’s still worth real consideration. There are so many factors that go into farming that it’s challenging to place each grower in a single bucket. Each farm...
Foliar Fertilizers Promote Root Exudation
When I first starting advocating for the use of foliar fertilizers around 2005, many growers did not share my perspective that building better soils coupled with the use of foliar fertilizers was the most expeditious way to get crop production moving in the right...
Optimizing Fruit Set
A few weeks go we presented newsletters addressing ways to improve fruit set. Getting a good bloom and fruit set is critical. I’ve always made the analogy that prior to fruit set it’s all about the “mother,” or getting the plant as healthy as possible. After fruit...