Recycled phosphorus fertilizers derived from waste materials could help reduce agriculture’s dependence on finite phosphate rock reserves, according to a new international study that found some recycled phosphorus sources move more effectively through soil than conventional mineral fertilizers.

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and partner institutions in Denmark, Brazil, Germany, Lithuania, Switzerland, and Canada used advanced analytical techniques at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan to examine how phosphorus from recycled fertilizers behaves in different soil types. The study found that phosphorus recovered from sewage sludge and other recycled materials can become more available to plants over time, while conventional mineral phosphorus fertilizers typically become less available as they react with soil minerals.

Using synchrotron technology, the researchers identified the chemical forms of phosphorus present in fertilizers and soils with greater precision than conventional laboratory methods. The findings showed that phosphorus from sewage sludge-based fertilizers moved farther through the soil profile than mined phosphorus, potentially improving plant access to the nutrient. However, the researchers also found that fertilizer performance depended heavily on soil characteristics, with some soil-fertilizer combinations enhancing phosphorus availability while others restricted it.

The authors said the results highlight the need for site-specific fertilizer management rather than a one-size-fits-all approach when using recycled phosphorus products. They added that the findings represent an important step toward developing circular agricultural systems that reuse waste materials as nutrient sources, although additional field trials will be needed before practical recommendations can be made for farmers.

Source: Canadian Light Source

Electrolyzer maker Ohmium has signed a cooperation agreement with Polish developer Hynfra to support front-end engineering and design (FEED) work on large-scale green ammonia projects in Mauritania, Jordan and Oman.

Under the master cooperation agreement announced June 17, California-based Ohmium will provide proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) electrolyzer technology and technical support as the three developments advance through design. The projects are intended to produce renewable ammonia that meets the European Union’s standards for certified green hydrogen derivatives.

The largest of the three, a green ammonia plant in Oman’s Duqm zone, carries a $5.4B price tag and targets 400,000 tonnes per year of output powered by 2.6 GW of renewables. The Mauritania project near Nouakchott would produce about 100,000 tonnes per year, while the Jordan development has secured government approval and is targeting a final investment decision by September 2027.

Hynfra chief executive Tomoho Umeda said Ohmium is one of the company’s PEM electrolyzer partners, adding that it maintains at least two qualified suppliers for each technology category.

For fertilizer markets, the projects add to a growing pipeline of renewable ammonia aimed at both export to Europe and regional supply, though most remain years from production.

Source: gasworld

Atome’s flagship Villeta green fertilizer project in Paraguay faces financing uncertainty after the government abruptly revoked a presidential decree that underpinned the project’s fixed-tariff power agreement.

The UK-listed developer said a decree issued on January 16, 2026, which set electricity tariffs for a fixed-rate power purchase agreement with state utility ANDE, was canceled without notice and replaced. The new decree tasks ANDE with setting fresh investment conditions and withdraws the previously mandated tariffs, leaving the agreed power deal unsigned.

The power purchase agreement was a condition precedent for the first disbursement under the project’s financing. Atome said it is urgently engaging with ANDE, the Paraguayan government, and lenders, including the International Finance Corporation, IDB Invest, and the European Investment Bank, and warned there is no certainty it can secure revised terms acceptable to financiers.

The setback follows the project’s $665M final investment decision earlier this year. The 260,000 tonnes-per-year plant would produce low-carbon calcium ammonium nitrate using Paraguayan hydropower, with all output committed to Yara under a decade-long offtake deal.

Chair Peter Levine said the company had received assurances at the highest level that the agreed power deal would be executed before the end of June. Atome said it would update shareholders in due course.

Source: TipRanks

The European Commission has proposed a €540M relief package to help farmers cope with surging fertilizer costs, the first concrete funding step under its Fertilizer Action Plan.

The Commission will channel €300M of fresh money from the 2026 EU budget into the agricultural reserve, on top of remaining funds, bringing the total to €540M. Member states may top up the support with national funds by up to 200%, raising the potential package to €1.5B.

Alongside the direct aid, the Commission proposed targeted changes to the Common Agricultural Policy. These include a new crisis liquidity scheme under the rural development program, the option for member states to bring forward direct payments, and higher advance payment rates before October 16 to ease farm cash flow.

Fertilizer prices have climbed sharply since the Middle East conflict disrupted nitrogen supply. Nitrogen fertilizer prices in April 2026 ran 71% above the 2024 average, according to Commission data, while the bloc imports 40% to 45% of the fertilizers its farmers use.

“Now is the time to choose our food security, our strategic autonomy and our competitiveness,” said Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen.

The agricultural reserve proposal goes to member states for a vote, with final adoption scheduled by the end of July.

Source: European Commission

What to know about the EU’s €540 million fertilizer relief package

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has forecast a summer dead zone of about 7,027 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico, an area of oxygen-starved water larger than the 39-year average and the biggest projected since 2017.

The annual hypoxic zone forms when excess nitrogen and phosphorus, much of it from fertilizer and other agricultural runoff across the Mississippi-Atchafalaya watershed, fuel algal blooms that decompose and strip oxygen from bottom waters. The watershed drains about 40% of the continental United States across 22 states.

NOAA’s 2026 estimate sits below the record 8,776 square miles measured in 2017 but above the long-term average of 5,223 square miles. The forecast draws on May nutrient and river-discharge data from the U.S. Geological Survey, fed into an ensemble of models developed with Louisiana State University, the University of Michigan and other partners.

The Interagency Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force is targeting a five-year average dead zone of 1,900 square miles by 2035, a goal the latest forecast far exceeds. The figure underscores the persistent link between nitrogen-use efficiency on farms and downstream water quality.

A NOAA-supported survey will confirm the actual size of the zone in early August.

Source: NOAA

Wheat roots release natural compounds that suppress the soil microbes responsible for nitrogen loss, according to research highlighted on June 10, pointing to a route toward more efficient fertilizer use and lower emissions.

The finding reframes benzoxazinoids, plant chemicals long studied for their role in pest and disease defense, as active players in soil nitrogen management. If breeders can harness the trait, wheat could retain more applied nitrogen in the root zone, reducing both fertilizer waste and nitrous oxide emissions, a potent greenhouse gas.

How benzoxazinoids act as natural nitrification inhibitors

Nitrification is the microbial process that converts ammonium, a stable form of nitrogen, into nitrate. While plants can use nitrate, it leaches readily into groundwater and is vulnerable to denitrification, in which microbes convert it into nitrogen gases, including nitrous oxide. Both pathways represent lost fertilizer and environmental cost.

The research indicates that benzoxazinoids exuded from wheat roots suppress the microbes that drive nitrification, slowing the conversion of ammonium to nitrate. The effect keeps nitrogen in a form less prone to loss, leaving more available to the crop throughout the season.

Why a plant-made inhibitor matters for fertilizer efficiency

Synthetic nitrification inhibitors already exist and are sold as coatings or additives for nitrogen fertilizers, designed to extend the time nitrogen stays available to crops. They add cost and an extra step at application.

A crop that produces its own inhibitor through its roots could deliver a similar benefit without a purchased product, an approach researchers describe as biological nitrification inhibition. For wheat, one of the most widely grown cereals and a heavy consumer of nitrogen fertilizer, even modest gains in nitrogen-use efficiency would carry large aggregate effects across global acreage.

From discovery toward commercial wheat varieties

The practical payoff depends on whether the trait varies enough between wheat lines to be selected and bred into commercial varieties. Researcher Khatri, who worked on the study, framed the compounds as a previously overlooked lever in how wheat manages soil nitrogen rather than a finished tool for farmers.

Translating a root-exudate trait into a reliable field outcome is a multi-year effort. Exudation rates can shift with soil type, temperature and microbial community, and a benefit measured in controlled conditions does not always hold across diverse growing environments.

What to watch next

For fertilizer markets, the work adds to a growing body of research on biological nitrification inhibition that could, over time, reshape how nitrogen products are formulated and how plant breeders value below-ground traits. The nearer-term significance is scientific: it positions a familiar class of plant defense chemicals as a tool for keeping nitrogen where crops can use it.

Source: Phys.org

Canadian National Railway (CN) has signed a transportation agreement with BHP to haul potash from the Jansen mine in Saskatchewan to West Coast export terminals, the railway said on June 10.

The deal links Jansen to Pacific gateways including Westshore Terminals near Vancouver, drawing on CN’s network of almost 20,000 route miles across Canada and the United States. It supports the mine’s initial production phase.

Janet Drysdale, CN’s executive vice-president and chief commercial officer, said the agreement supports BHP’s entry into the potash market and builds on collaboration between the two companies. Sandra Ellis, CN’s vice-president of bulk, said the railway has added capacity to handle the new volumes.

BHP’s Jansen project is among the largest potash developments under construction. First output from Stage 1 is set to lift global supply, and reliable rail access to tidewater is central to reaching buyers in Asia and Latin America.

The agreement underscores the role of logistics in potash competitiveness, where the cost of moving ore to port can shape margins for new entrants.

Source: World Fertilizer

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a new $125 million annual investment in agricultural research infrastructure, opening the fiscal year 2026 funding opportunity under the Research Facilities Act program. The initiative, backed by President Donald Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts legislation, is designed to address decades of deferred maintenance and modernize research facilities at land-grant universities across the United States.

Speaking at a roundtable in Washington, D.C., USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said aging research infrastructure has increasingly threatened the ability of universities to conduct world-class agricultural research. The new funding is intended to support innovation that benefits U.S. farmers and ranchers while strengthening the nation’s food security. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said land-grant universities have played a central role in advancing agricultural science and technology for more than a century, adding that the investment would help maintain U.S. competitiveness in the sector.

The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will administer the competitive grant program, which will support the renovation, expansion, and construction of research facilities. Applicants must provide a dollar-for-dollar non-federal cash match and may receive funding for only one project at a time. Grants will be available across four categories, ranging from planning grants of $100,000 to $200,000 to large-scale research complexes receiving between $10 million and $30 million.

According to USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics and Chief Scientist Dr. Scott Hutchins, the program is intended to ensure future agricultural research is conducted in modern facilities equipped with advanced technologies. NIFA Director Dr. Jaye Hamby said the investment would help accelerate the transfer of research from laboratories to farms and markets while supporting the next generation of agricultural scientists and producers.

Applications for the FY2026 funding opportunity are due by July 17, 2026.

Source: National Institute of Food and Agriculture

U.S. urea exports to Canada reached 144,619 tonnes in April, the highest for any month since records began in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau data reported by Argus.

The volume was up 99,086 tonnes from a year earlier and ran 94,946 tonnes above the five-year average for April. The surge reflects reduced Canadian domestic production rather than any shift in trade policy.

Several Canadian nitrogen plants cut output over the spring. Nutrien carried out a turnaround at its Carseland plant in Alberta in April, while Yara scheduled maintenance at its Belle Plaine facility in Saskatchewan in late May.

The maintenance left Canadian buyers leaning on US-produced urea during the spring application window, when demand for nitrogen peaks across the Prairies and the northern United States.

The shift puts the United States on track to remain a net exporter of urea to Canada through the 2025-26 fertilizer year, reversing the more typical flow seen in some earlier periods.

Source: World Fertilizer

What to know about the US-Canada urea trade shift

ThyssenKrupp Uhde has won pre-front-end engineering design (pre-FEED) contracts for two green ammonia plants in Brazil from developer Fuella, the company said on June 10.

The projects, PeGA at the Port of Pecém and AçuGA at the Port of Açu, will each produce 400,000 tonnes per year of green ammonia using renewable power. ThyssenKrupp Uhde will supply its ammonia synthesis technology and integration engineering, including electrolysis.

Nadja Håkansson, chief operating officer of thyssenkrupp Decarbon Technologies and chief executive of thyssenkrupp Uhde, said the contracts advance the company’s low-carbon ammonia portfolio. Dr Thorsten Helms, managing director of Fuella, said Brazil’s renewable resources make it competitive for green ammonia production.

Green ammonia, made with hydrogen from renewable-powered electrolysis rather than natural gas, is being pursued as a low-carbon fertilizer feedstock and a potential marine fuel.

Brazil’s combination of wind, solar and port infrastructure has drawn a wave of green hydrogen and ammonia proposals. Pre-FEED marks an early engineering stage, with final investment decisions still ahead.

Source: World Fertilizer

Aphea.Bio has entered a strategic research partnership with Bayer to develop a new generation of bioinsecticides targeting sap-sucking pests, the companies announced on June 10 following a signing ceremony in Monheim, Germany.

Aphea.Bio, a Ghent-based spinout of VIB, Ghent University and KU Leuven, will apply its microbial natural product (MNP) discovery platform to identify candidate molecules. Bayer will lead development, regulatory work and global commercialization.

The collaboration targets aphids and thrips, which transmit plant viruses and cause heavy crop losses. Initial focus is on pome and stone fruit, citrus and grapes, with later expansion into vegetables and row crops such as cotton and soybean.

The products are based on non-living microbial derivatives rather than live organisms, which the partners say offers longer shelf life and more consistent field performance than many conventional biologicals.

Chief executive Isabel Vercauteren said the partnership pairs Aphea.Bio’s discovery engine with Bayer’s scale. Chief technology officer Steven Vandenabeele leads the company’s research effort.

Demand for biological crop protection is rising as regulators tighten rules on synthetic insecticides and resistance spreads across major pests.

Aphea.Bio and Bayer: five things to know

Source: AgroSpectrum Asia

Burpee, one of the oldest seed companies in the United States, is marking the country’s 250th anniversary by introducing seed collections inspired by the gardens of figures such as Thomas Jefferson and Martha Washington, offering modern gardeners access to historic varieties dating back to the Revolutionary era.

The Pennsylvania-based company, founded in 1876, continues to rely heavily on its mail-order roots, with roughly 35% of its estimated annual revenue of more than USD 110 million generated through catalog and online sales. Burpee distributes vegetable, herb and flower seeds through more than 24,000 retail locations across the U.S. and Canada, including Walmart, Home Depot and Tractor Supply. Chairman George Ball, who acquired the company in 1991, said gardening remains both a patriotic act and an enduring hobby for American households.

Over its 150-year history, Burpee has introduced several influential crop varieties, including iceberg lettuce in 1894, hybrid cucumbers and tomatoes, and the widely adopted Big Boy tomato introduced in 1949. The company continues to develop products aimed at home gardeners, with its 2026 catalog featuring personal-sized watermelons and snack peppers. According to Forbes estimates, Burpee generates EBITDA margins exceeding 10%, while Ball has indicated he intends to keep the company privately held despite its strong market position.

Burpee benefited significantly from the surge in gardening during the COVID-19 pandemic, when more than 18 million Americans took up the hobby, according to the National Gardening Association. Although demand has moderated since then, consumer spending on Burpee products remains approximately 120% above pre-pandemic levels. The company said it has continued to gain market share in the garden seed sector by focusing on varieties bred specifically for home gardens rather than for commercial production.

Source: Forbes

The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has approved $4.07M in project-development funding for Argentina Potash’s El Ceibo project in the Neuquén Basin, the company said on June 16.

It is the DFC’s first project-development award in Argentina and the first to align with the US-Argentina Critical Minerals Framework signed in February 2026. Washington designated potash a critical mineral in November 2025.

The funding will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the company, taking Phase 1 development to $8.15M. The work targets a 50,000-tonnes-per-year demonstration plant, scaling to 1 million tonnes per year of muriate of potash (MOP) at the commercial stage.

El Ceibo holds a resource of 1,606 million tonnes of sylvinite, equivalent to 391 million tonnes of contained potassium chloride. Chief executive Dr Chris Cornelius said the award validates the project’s role in diversifying potash supply.

Argentina Potash is targeting a listing on NYSE American in early 2027 under the ticker KCL. Argentina imports almost all of its potash, and a domestic source would cut reliance on Canadian, Russian and Belarusian material.

Source: World Fertilizer

Indian authorities have intensified inspections around a Tata Electronics facility in southern India after state regulators alleged that wastewater discharged from the plant contaminated nearby agricultural land and groundwater, Reuters reported.

Officials from the district administration surveyed farmland surrounding the Tata factory in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, on June 15 alongside local farmers who had raised concerns about water quality and crop yields. The facility, located about 25 miles south of Bengaluru, manufactures back panels and other components for Apple’s iPhone and plays a key role in the company’s strategy to diversify production beyond China.

Tamil Nadu’s pollution control board previously warned Tata Electronics that it could face a forced shutdown unless it explains findings from inspections conducted between December 2025 and May 2026. Regulators alleged that wastewater discharged into a rainwater harvesting pond overflowed and affected groundwater in open wells used by neighboring farms.

District official N. Velu confirmed to Reuters that authorities were assessing conditions in the area but declined to provide further details. Local farmer P. Pushparaj said he had filed complaints after observing foul-smelling discharge from the factory, adding that crop yields had declined in recent years.

Tata Electronics has disputed the allegations, stating that its independent analysis found the company to be compliant with environmental regulations. The company said it remains committed to responsible business practices and protecting local communities. Apple and Tata did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on the latest inspections.

The environmental scrutiny presents another challenge for Apple’s manufacturing operations in India. A fire at the same Tata facility in September 2024 temporarily disrupted iPhone component production, while a 2023 fire at a former Pegatron plant halted manufacturing for several days. In 2024, Reuters also reported allegations of discriminatory hiring practices at a Foxconn plant in India, claims the company said were inconsistent with its policies and legal obligations.

Source: Reuters

Bifox has acquired a 16.7% stake in Fosfatos del Pacífico (Fospac), the owner of the 550-million-tonne Bayovar 9 phosphate rock project in northern Peru, for $10M in cash, with an option to acquire the remaining stake.

The stake was purchased from Fossal, part of the Hochschild group, Bifox said. The company holds a call option over the remaining 83.3% of Fospac, exercisable for $50M following a planned pre-IPO fundraising.

Bayovar 9 holds a total resource of 550 million tonnes, comprising 209.3 million tonnes in the measured category, 183.6 million tonnes indicated and 153.3 million tonnes inferred. The deposit sits about 15 km from a port on Peru’s northern coast, giving it direct access to seaborne export routes.

The company plans initial output of 2.5 million tonnes per year, with capacity expandable to 5 million tonnes. Chief executive Tim Koster said the deal positions Bifox as a supplier of phosphate rock, a material classed as critical by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and South Korea.

Production timelines will follow the pre-IPO raise that triggers the buyout option.

Source: World Fertilizer

Large-scale cropland expansion in northern China has delivered declining agricultural benefits while imposing growing ecological costs, according to a new study published in Communications Sustainability. Researchers found that farmland reclamation in four northern provinces—Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, and Jilin—significantly increased grain production in the early 2000s, but its contribution to yields weakened after 2010 as cultivation expanded into less productive marginal lands.

The study found that between 2000 and 2020, about 85,000 square kilometers (32,800 square miles) of new cropland were created in the four provinces, accounting for 35% of China’s total reclaimed farmland during the period. Much of the new farmland came from grasslands, forests, and wetlands, contributing to a nearly 1% decline in the regional Biodiversity Intactness Index. Around 15% of newly reclaimed cropland overlapped with Key Biodiversity Areas, highlighting growing conflicts between agricultural expansion and conservation goals. Stable cropland consistently produced higher yields than newly reclaimed land, suggesting that expansion into marginal areas has become increasingly inefficient.

Researchers concluded that improving productivity on existing low-yield farmland could provide a more sustainable path to food security. Scenario modeling showed that upgrading low-yield fields could raise grain production by up to 30.8 million tonnes while avoiding as much as 70,300 square kilometers (27,100 square miles) of additional cropland reclamation. The findings support China’s strategy of developing high-standard farmland and suggest that agricultural intensification, combined with land conservation measures, may better balance food production and biodiversity protection.

Source: Nature

Kazakhstan has approved the construction of a major ammonia and urea complex in the western city of Aktau, a project valued at 804.2 billion tenge (approximately USD 1.6 billion). The country’s Ministry of Industry and Construction and KazAzot Prime signed an investment agreement, while Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov formalized the project through a government decree, according to Interfax citing the ministry’s press service.

The facility is expected to begin operations in 2030 and will create around 1,500 jobs during construction and 700 permanent positions once operational. The complex is designed to produce up to 660,000 metric tons of ammonia annually, approximately 580,000 tons of urea, and 500,000 tons of ammonium nitrate, significantly expanding Kazakhstan’s domestic nitrogen fertilizer production.

Kazakhstan currently does not produce urea domestically and relies on imports from neighboring countries to meet agricultural demand. Authorities said the new plant will help supply farmers with locally produced fertilizer, reduce import dependence, and strengthen the country’s export potential. KazAzot remains Kazakhstan’s only nitrogen fertilizer producer today, but additional urea projects are also being developed by KazESTA and KMG PetroChem in partnership with CNPC-Aktobemunaigas. With all planned investments completed, Kazakhstan projects ammonia production capacity to reach 2.3 million tons annually by 2030.

The United States and Iran agreed June 15 to end nearly four months of war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a corridor for roughly one-fifth of global seaborne fertilizer trade.

Pakistan brokered the agreement, with a formal signing scheduled for June 19 in Geneva. The deal lifts the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and opens 60 days of talks on Iran’s nuclear program and the possible removal of sanctions.

Brent crude fell 4.7% to $83.17 a barrel Monday, its lowest close since early March, as the announcement eased fears of prolonged supply disruption. Normalization will be gradual: roughly 500 vessels remain queued in the strait, and shipping intelligence firm Kpler estimates two to three months are needed to restore prewar transit volumes.

The Pentagon has said mine clearance in the waterway could take up to six months. Gulf nations supply about one-fifth of global seaborne fertilizer exports, and shipowners are awaiting further detail on transit safety before resuming normal fertilizer cargo movements, Bloomberg reported.

The next milestone is Friday’s signing in Geneva, which will test whether shipping volumes begin to recover before the Northern Hemisphere’s fall fertilizer-buying season.

Source: Bloomberg

India’s state-run National Fertilizers Limited received bids as low as $444.9-449.3 per tonne for its 1.7-million-tonne urea import tender, more than 50% below the $935-959 per tonne winning levels in an April tender, according to Indian trade sources.

Suppliers offered a combined 6.24 million tonnes against the tendered volume, Business Standard reported, with the strong response reflecting easier global urea supply since China resumed export quotas in May. Indian officials said the government may reassess its 2026-27 fertilizer subsidy budget, which had been built around the earlier price spike triggered by the Strait of Hormuz closure.

NFL floated the tender May 27 on behalf of the Department of Fertilizers, seeking shipments to load by July 20 ahead of the kharif sowing season. The tender was the first major test of urea pricing in India since the Iran war disrupted Gulf supply chains in late February.

Final award volumes and supplier allocations have not yet been disclosed. Traders are watching whether China’s export quotas hold steady through the kharif buying window.

Source: Business Standard

A large share of applied phosphate fertilizer becomes unavailable to crops shortly after application due to interactions with soil minerals, reducing nutrient use efficiency and potentially limiting yields, according to agronomy specialists at De Sangosse. Speaking at the recent Farmers Weekly Arable Insights Live event hosted by Dyson Farming, the company said as much as 80% of applied phosphate can become locked in soils within days, while less than 10% may be crop-available during the first year.

Phosphate fixation occurs when phosphorus binds to positively charged ions such as calcium in alkaline soils or iron and aluminum in acidic soils. According to De Sangosse technical manager Rob Suckling, technologies that target these cations can help maintain phosphate in a soluble, plant-available form. The company said field research has shown phosphate availability increasing by 15-25% over four to six weeks, with associated improvements in root growth, early vigor, and yields across crops including wheat, barley, oilseed rape, potatoes, maize, and sugar beet. Trials have also indicated enhanced uptake of micronutrients such as zinc, manganese, and copper.

The company also highlighted water quality as a critical factor affecting herbicide performance, particularly for glyphosate applications. More than 70% of UK farms use moderate to very hard water, according to the company, and dissolved calcium and magnesium in spray water can reduce herbicide effectiveness by binding with active ingredients. De Sangosse said water conditioners designed to neutralize these cations before herbicide mixing can improve weed control consistency. Citing guidance from the Weed Resistance Action Group, the company noted that hard water can reduce glyphosate efficacy by up to 30%, increasing the risk of under-dosing and potentially contributing to herbicide resistance, including confirmed cases of glyphosate-resistant Italian ryegrass in the UK.

Source: Farmers Weekly

San Diego County’s long-term investment in seawater desalination is increasingly seen as a potential model for addressing chronic water shortages across the U.S. West, as cities and agricultural regions face mounting pressure from drought and declining river flows.

The Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, which began operations in 2015, currently supplies roughly 50 million gallons of drinking water per day—about 10% of San Diego County’s demand. The additional supply has helped diversify the region’s water portfolio and reduce dependence on imported water from the Colorado River and Northern California.

The county’s improved water security has enabled the San Diego County Water Authority to enter into agreements to transfer portions of its Colorado River allocations to neighboring states, including Arizona and Nevada. The authority has also signed water supply agreements with agencies in Riverside County, highlighting the growing value of reliable water sources as shortages worsen across the Southwest.

Desalination remains controversial because of its high capital costs, energy requirements, and potential environmental impacts. The Carlsbad facility cost about USD 1 billion to construct and contributed to higher local water rates. Environmental groups have also raised concerns about marine ecosystems, particularly the discharge of concentrated brine back into the ocean. However, operators have implemented mitigation measures, including blending brine with seawater before discharge, and studies conducted between 2019 and 2023 reportedly found no significant effects on marine life.

Supporters argue that desalination provides one of the few dependable alternatives as climate change intensifies drought conditions and places additional strain on the Colorado River system. The issue extends beyond urban water supplies: California produces roughly half of the nation’s vegetables and nearly three-quarters of its fruits and nuts, making water reliability critical for U.S. agriculture and food security.

Interest in desalination has drawn support across political lines, including from federal officials and California policymakers. While conservation, recycling, and efficiency improvements remain central to water management strategies, many experts increasingly view desalination as an important component of a broader approach to addressing the West’s long-term water challenges.

Source: The Washington Post

Scientists at the University of Nottingham have developed a solar-powered catalytic system capable of converting carbon dioxide (CO₂) and biowaste into valuable chemicals simultaneously using the energy from a single photon of light. The technology, described in the journal Communications Materials, could help address two major environmental challenges simultaneously: greenhouse gas emissions and the utilization of biomass waste.

The system uses a bias-free photoelectrochemical (PEC) reactor comprising two interconnected chambers equipped with newly designed catalysts. When sunlight strikes one compartment, a biomass-derived molecule undergoes oxidation, releasing an electron that travels to the second chamber, where it reduces CO₂ into formate—a chemical used in textiles, paints, and pharmaceuticals. At the same time, the biomass reaction produces compounds that can serve as precursors for sustainable plastics. Researchers reported conversion efficiencies of approximately 93% for CO₂-to-formate production and about 95% for biomass oxidation, with the process requiring no external electricity or heat.

The catalysts are composed of earth-abundant materials, including carbon nitride, tungsten oxide, and cobalt oxide, avoiding the use of costly precious metals commonly employed in catalytic systems. According to the research team, life cycle analysis confirmed the technology’s environmental benefits, while the modular reactor design could eventually be integrated with industrial CO₂ sources and agricultural biorefineries to enable decentralized chemical manufacturing. The researchers said the approach builds on earlier work on atomically engineered catalysts for hydrogen production and CO₂ conversion and could help advance net-zero emissions targets.

Source: Communications Materials

Artificial intelligence has rapidly entered agriculture, but many developers face a fundamental challenge: AI systems require large volumes of real-world field data that are expensive and time-consuming to collect. Warsaw-based Cropler is seeking to address that gap by building what it describes as “ground-truth infrastructure” for agricultural AI — an integrated ecosystem of sensors, cameras, datasets, and machine-learning models designed to support software developers, researchers, and input companies.

The company argues that agriculture is undergoing the same infrastructure split seen in cloud computing, where software developers increasingly rely on specialized providers rather than building their own physical systems. In agriculture, however, gathering synchronized field data remains difficult. Deploying sensor networks, collecting multi-season datasets, and maintaining hardware can take years before AI applications become commercially viable.

Building the physical layer for agricultural AI

Cropler’s approach centers on creating a standardized data pipeline that connects physical fields directly to AI systems. Its infrastructure combines multispectral imagery, soil telemetry, and hyperlocal weather observations into datasets that are already structured for machine-learning workflows.

The company’s hardware ecosystem currently includes three devices. Its commercial Agri Camera captures RGB and NDVI imagery three times daily and records local weather conditions. A soil moisture sensor measures water content and temperature at depths of up to 60 centimeters. Meanwhile, a research-grade camera under development incorporates 3D biomass measurement, edge AI capabilities, and advanced imaging systems.

By synchronizing above-ground imagery with root-zone conditions and environmental data, Cropler aims to provide what it calls a “top-to-bottom snapshot” of crop performance. Such integrated datasets are increasingly valuable as agronomic AI models move beyond image recognition toward predictive analytics and decision support.

Moving beyond snapshots to continuous field intelligence

Most agricultural datasets remain fragmented, relying on occasional drone flights, satellite imagery, or weather stations located many kilometers from farms. Cropler argues that these approaches often fail to capture the dynamics of crop development.

Its system records NDVI measurements multiple times per day throughout an entire growing season, enabling AI models to learn not only crop conditions but also rates of change. This temporal dimension may allow systems to detect drought stress, disease pressure, or nutrient deficiencies earlier than traditional monitoring methods.

The inclusion of hyperlocal weather and soil moisture data could also improve predictive capabilities. Soil measurements taken every 10 centimeters down to 60 centimeters allow researchers and agronomists to monitor root-zone conditions, potentially helping estimate yields earlier or assess fertilizer and irrigation efficiency in real time.

For fertilizer producers and seed companies, continuous monitoring may offer a new way to validate product performance under real-world conditions rather than relying solely on periodic field trials.

A global dataset designed for AI training

Cropler says its machine-learning backbone has been developed using field data collected across 28 countries spanning multiple climate zones and cropping systems. The company contends that agricultural AI remains constrained less by model architecture than by the availability of high-quality, representative data.

The platform offers pre-trained models for crop segmentation, stress detection, and multimodal feature extraction combining RGB imagery with NDVI information. An application programming interface (API) further converts imagery, weather, and soil measurements into structured inputs that can be consumed by large language models and autonomous agronomic agents.

This reflects a broader industry trend toward AI systems capable of generating agronomic recommendations based on multiple streams of field information rather than single-source datasets.

Infrastructure as a service for agriculture

Cropler targets four primary customer groups: research institutions, agricultural input manufacturers, AI developers, and agronomy professionals. Instead of requiring each organization to deploy its own sensor networks, the company offers infrastructure as a service, ranging from dataset licensing to custom field deployments.

The strategy mirrors developments in other technology sectors where infrastructure providers have enabled rapid software innovation. In agriculture, however, the physical environment introduces unique challenges, including weather variability, biological complexity, and long seasonal cycles.

As investment in agricultural AI accelerates globally, companies that can generate reliable ground-truth datasets may become increasingly important to the sector’s digital transformation. For developers seeking to build agronomic agents or predictive models, the value may lie less in collecting data and more in accessing standardized, validated field intelligence at scale.

Spain’s grain production is expected to decline in marketing year 2026/27 after the country recorded its second-largest harvest on record a year earlier, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service in Madrid. Lower winter grain acreage, excessive rainfall during the first months of 2026, and unusually high temperatures during grain filling have reduced yield prospects across key growing regions.

Spanish farmers planted about 5.1 million hectares of winter grains, slightly below the previous season’s 5.2 million hectares, reflecting a long-term shift toward higher-value crops and changes in planting decisions driven by water availability. At the same time, rising fertilizer and fuel prices since February have squeezed farm margins, encouraging some growers to reduce input use or switch to less input-intensive crops such as sunflower. Analysts warn that lower fertilizer applications could also affect grain protein content.

Weather conditions further weakened the crop. Heavy rainfall and flooding early in the year delayed field operations and limited fertilization, while abundant surface moisture reduced root development. When dry conditions arrived in April, crops struggled to withstand stress, and a late-May heat wave struck during flowering and grain filling, sharply reducing yield expectations in several regions. Total grain production is now projected at about 19.5 million metric tons, below last year’s bumper crop but close to the five-year average. Despite the smaller harvest, grain imports are expected to remain near 15 million metric tons due to large carryover stocks and relatively steady demand.

Researchers from Embrapa Digital Agriculture and Bayer Crop Science have introduced ProCarbon-Soil, a simplified model for tracking soil carbon dynamics on tropical farms, in a paper published in the Soil Science Society of America Journal.

Led by Embrapa researcher Luís G. Barioni, the model was calibrated using data from more than 1,900 farms across Brazil, drawing on over 300,000 soil samples collected through Bayer’s Climate FieldView digital platform. The team designed ProCarbon-Soil to reproduce carbon stock trajectories comparable to those of established multicompartmental models such as Century, but with far fewer parameters, thereby reducing the risk of overfitting when applied to real-world farm data.

Tropical soils pose particular challenges for carbon accounting because organic matter turnover rates differ sharply from those in temperate conditions, which most existing models were built around. By validating the model against Brazil’s extensive farm-level dataset, the researchers aim to give carbon-credit verifiers and farm advisers a more reliable baseline for estimating how cropping and grazing practices affect soil carbon stocks over time.

The model is intended to support carbon farming trading systems, giving programs a practical tool for planning and monitoring soil carbon inventories without the heavy data requirements of more complex simulation models. It was presented at the G20 Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists in Brasília.