Adam Wolf

“#Biostimulants aren’t pesticides. They aren’t fertilizers either. They are a new category. It doesn’t make sense for them to be regulated under a pesticide statute, FIFRA...” The bipartisan Plant Biostimulant Act lays out key provisions that would amend FIFRA (the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act) to provide an actual federal definition of plant biostimulants and specifically exclude them from being regulated under FIFRA. Increased use of biostimulants like MarinElixirs' #seaweed biostimulants can help mitigate #climatechange. #Ecofriendly #Organic #Sustainable #BlueEconomy #Aquaculture

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Did you know? Until weeds are controlled in-crop and dried up, a #satelliteimage, or drone, will be including it in the cumulative biomass. If crop emergence / biomass is relatively consistent - your early season images are mostly measuring weed biomass! Confirmed by #swatcam

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Today is Science Friday! Here are some papers I enjoyed reading this week: Farmers compensated for the decline in bat population (bats eat and control agriculture pests) by increasing their insecticide use by 31%, consequently leading to an infant mortality increase by 7.9% in countries that had bat die-offs. https://lnkd.in/gDHqHBV4 Genuinely valuing and integrating the ecological knowledge of Indigenous Peoples will lead to a more just and effective approach to conserving the planet’s biodiversity. https://lnkd.in/gS2Z2Fu9 A reconstructed network of interactions spanning more than 20 million years, using high-resolution fossil record and trophic interactions models and network analysis, suggests that prey species richness may shape large scale pattern of extinction and persistence of predators.  https://lnkd.in/gxAVt_wq Climate change as an amplifiers of the environmental impacts of agriculture, by reducing productivity and the efficacy of agrochemicals, increasing soil erosion and expanding the range of crop diseases and pests. https://lnkd.in/gVwX7ZMP

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#agdata thought of the day… The #swatmaps service provider network is not a grocery store. It is a premium restaurant. We do not provide ingredients - or data. We provide a service and excellent quality meals - outcomes - prescriptions for crop inputs that work! As a customer can you ask for the prepared ingredients, or the recipes, at a restaurant? Okay we can share raw data but it has no value to a customer without our touch on it. We aren’t going to go into our kitchen and provide you with everything we have. Herein lies one of the fundamental issues of data sharing and data export / retrieval. Raw data is available to everyone - it is transportable and transferable. It is ingredients that anyone can use however they wish. Proprietary processed data within a platform is a restaurant meal. It’s a final outcome. You only get the outcome - you do not get the rest of the process. Data that is moved around is pretty basic and focused on way too much. Users actually want meals and those you have to get at the restaurant!

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Those healthy looking soybeans may be hiding a hunger for nitrogen that could deliver higher yields. The oilseed’s nitrogen needs have been much studied over the years with researchers generally agreeing higher rates of nitrogen don’t pay, but that may not be the case when growers push for higher yields. On this episode of the... Read more »#PrecisionAg #PrecisionAgriculture #SmartFarming #AgTech #AgricultureTechnology #FarmTech #SustainableFarming #AgInnovation #DataDrivenFarming #AgriTech #DronesInAg #SoilHealth #CropMonitoring #GPSFarming #YieldOptimization #FarmManagementSoftware #RemoteSensing #FarmAutomation #SustainableAgriculture #ClimateSmartAg #Agroecology #FoodSecurity #AgriBusiness #AgriCommunity #FarmersMarket #AgConference

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Climate Smart Agriculture - solid evidence, clear ROI, improved initiatives needed to continue funding with the new administration. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) represents one of the most significant U.S. investments in climate action, with $19 billion earmarked specifically for agriculture and conservation initiatives. This funding offers a unique opportunity to transition American farming to more sustainable practices, but it also demands proof that these practices will deliver measurable climate benefits. Agriculture plays a pivotal role in addressing climate change, contributing both to emissions and potential solutions. However, the sector faces challenges in demonstrating how specific climate-smart practices — such as reduced tillage, cover cropping, or carbon sequestration — can reliably cut emissions or enhance carbon capture. With such a large infusion of funding from the IRA, there is growing pressure on farmers, agribusinesses, and stakeholders to provide clear, verifiable evidence that these practices not only benefit the environment but also result in long-term economic viability. The need for proof comes from the desire to ensure that the allocated funds are used efficiently and effectively. Without a robust system of measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV), there’s a risk of “greenwashing” or inefficient allocation of resources. Clear proof of climate-smart agriculture's value will not only help secure continued funding but will also enable farmers to access new markets for carbon credits, sustainable produce, and eco-friendly technologies. In the long run, this proof can establish agriculture as a key player in global climate solutions, securing both environmental and economic benefits for the future. As the IRA's investments unfold, the onus will be on agriculture to show that climate-smart practices deliver verifiable, measurable impacts — transforming the sector into a true leader in climate resilience.

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As someone who spent summers in the fields as a pest scout, I’ve witnessed firsthand the labor-intensive process of monitoring pest populations. Walking rows, inspecting traps, and gathering data was essential work, but it was far from efficient. Fast forward to today, and the advancements in automation and AI have transformed how we approach pest management. In my latest article, I explore how autonomous pest monitoring technologies are revolutionizing agriculture, providing growers with real-time insights to make smarter, more sustainable decisions. These innovations aren't just about efficiency—they're about rethinking how we protect crops and optimize farm operations. If you’re curious about the future of agriculture and technology's role in shaping it, I invite you to read and share your thoughts! 🐛 Maxence Guillaumot Patrick Honcoop Rhishi P. Michael Macolino Alejo Valverde Lyons AgTech Advisory Collective AgTech-Pro AGceleration Advisory Service Metal Dog Labs LLC AVL Advisor & Coach Recode Ventures

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Abstract The decline of many wild bee species has major consequences for pollination in natural and agro-ecosystems. One hypothesized cause of the declines is pesticide use; neonicotinoids and pyrethroids in particular have been shown to have pernicious effects in laboratory and field experiments, and have been linked to population declines in a few focal species. We used aggregated museum records, ecological surveys and community science data from across the contiguous United States, including 178,589 unique observations from 1,081 bee species (33% of species with records in the United States) across six families, to model species occupancy from 1995 to 2015 with linked land use data. While there are numerous causes of bee declines, we discovered that the negative effects of pesticides are widespread; the increase in neonicotinoid and pyrethroid use is a major driver of changes in occupancy across hundreds of wild bee species. In some groups, high pesticide use contributes to a 43.3% decrease in the probability that a species occurs at a site. These results suggest that mechanisms that reduce pesticide use (such as integrative pest management) can potentially facilitate pollination conservation. https://lnkd.in/dS--kZpF

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Day 15/30 of Academic Journals Study Livestock guarding dogs (LGDs) are important for minimizing livestock depredation. For many small-medium scale livestock farmers whose primary farm location is near forests or within residential areas, it’s common to wake up in the morning to see the remains of your livestock littered all over the place. My experiences with livestock depredation were always fresh each time they happened. From wildcats preying and killing our birds to dogs killing goats. This paper describes livestock-carnivore conflict and how LGDs can support farmers in reducing this. Although there are few concerns about using dogs to wade off carnivores such as changes in carnivore behavior, the researchers found that using local dogs drastically reduced the number of carnivores attacks in the study area in Botswana. From my personal experience, I also used my dogs to wade off wild cats to protect my livestock and it helped. #HumanWildlifeConflict #LivestockProtectionDogs #HumanWildlifeInteraction

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🌿 Exploring the Future of Agriculture: Vertical Farming and Hydroponics 🌿 Vertical farming is one of my most fulfilling innovation that I successfully led it's executive from pilot phase to implementation. The technology is still adopted in the organisation that I worked for, 5 years down, hence has proven to be sustainable. As we face the challenges of climate change, urbanization, and a growing global population, innovative agricultural solutions are more crucial than ever. Vertical farming and hydroponics are at the forefront of this transformation, offering sustainable ways to produce fresh, nutritious food with a fraction of the resources required by traditional farming. By utilizing controlled environments and soil-free growing methods, we can maximize space, reduce water usage by up to 90%, and cut down on transportation emissions—all while providing year-round harvests. It's exciting to see how these technologies are reshaping our approach to food production and security. The future of farming is vertical, and it's happening now! 🌱🚀 #SustainableAgriculture #VerticalFarming #Hydroponics #Innovation #FutureOfFarming #FoodSecurity

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Breaking Through Blue Carbon’s Potential: Improving #FoodSecurity Through #SustainableAquaculture UMITRON breaks through blue carbon’s central role in mitigating climate risks and increasing global food security by mapping #bluecarbon to build sustainable aquacultures with the help of Planet satellite data. If Earth contains more water than land, are we maximizing its potential to reduce carbon emissions? Enter blue carbon, nature’s way of removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in coastal ecosystems; a natural technology that has been around since time immemorial. UMITRON, a next-generation deeptech company that develops and provides data platforms to aquafarmers, recognized blue carbon’s potential to advance a food-secure and safer blue planet. They install sustainable aquaculture using their combined expertise in #machinelearning, #IoT, and #satelliteremotesensing to achieve their vision. With the vast ocean areas and their restrictions on human activities, mapping blue carbon is not an easy feat. Collecting data is time-consuming, expensive, and labor-intensive. This gap in high-quality functional data affects the industry’s sustainable growth. Aquafarmers have accumulated data from daily operations but are constrained in applying them to actionable insights. UMITRON’s suite of services focuses on every aspect of the industry’s value chain. This approach led them to focus initially on production-focused solutions such as REMORA and CELL. These solutions tackle vital farming operations like feeding while factoring in the adverse environmental effects of these activities. On a broader level, they have tools such as PULSE, a high-resolution ocean data map with near real-time satellite imagery and historical information on water quality conditions. PULSE utilizes our satellite remote sensing capabilities and UMITRON’s powerful algorithms. This unique combination enhances the aquafarmers’ capacity to monitor surrounding waters and better understand the environmental variability around their coastal farms. UNLOCKING SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE FOR GLOBAL IMPACT While working on a blue carbon estimation project, the UMITRON team needed to identify and monitor seagrass growth in an area measuring 100 km2. They started surveying using drones but the coverage and data collected were insufficient. Therefore, they attempted to create a seagrass map from our satellite data. https://lnkd.in/dwEjggNG #aquaculture #fishfarming

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To maximize crop yields, uniform growth in production systems is a key consideration. In the example below (from our collaboration with Cal Poly Strawberry Center), all three strawberry beds have near identical overall leaf area; however, the uniformity measurement tells a different story. The variations captured by this metric can reveal underlying root cause issues that can be identified and optimized. Uniformity can capture differential responses to abiotic/biotic stressors, management practices, and product responses. In addition, it can be used as a QC co-variate to identify places where there are technical issues with data points (planter issues, weed infestation, plant damage). More vigorous plants can sometimes compensate, but in many cases there is an overall yield drag. Monitoring uniformity by eye during field visits is subjective and challenging to quantify. Many researchers rely on a "plot quality" visual rating, but in my experience that is difficult to capture systematically. Here is where digital metrics come in: we can leverage this approach to efficiently flag data points that show deviations, and deal with them accordingly. #remotesensing #digitalag #fieldresearch #agribusiness

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Advancing technology for aquaculture. Massachusetts Institute of Technology IT Sea Grant students apply #machinelearning to support local #aquaculture hatcheries. According to the NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration , aquaculture in the United States represents a $1.5 billion industry annually. Like land-based farming, shellfish aquaculture requires healthy seed production in order to maintain a #sustainable industry. Aquaculture hatchery production of shellfish larvae — seeds — requires close monitoring to track mortality rates and assess health from the earliest stages of life. Careful observation is necessary to inform production scheduling, determine effects of naturally occurring harmful bacteria, and ensure sustainable seed production. This is an essential step for #shellfish #hatcheries but is currently a time-consuming manual process prone to human error. With funding from MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS at MIT), Sea Grant is working with Associate Professor Otto Cordero of the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Professor Taskin Padir and Research Scientist Mark Zolotas at the Northeastern University Institute for Experiential Robotics, and others at the AQUACULTURE RESEARCH CORPORATION (ARC), and the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance Fishermen’s Alliance, to advance technology for the aquaculture industry. Located on Cape Cod, ARC is a leading shellfish hatchery, farm, and wholesaler that plays a vital role in providing high-quality shellfish seed to local and regional growers. Two MIT students have joined the effort this semester, working with Vincent Robert, MIT Sea Grant’s assistant director of advisory services, through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). First-year student Unyime Usua and sophomore Santiago Borrego are using #microscopy images of shellfish seed from ARC to train machine learning algorithms that will help automate the identification and counting process. The resulting user-friendly image recognition tool aims to aid aquaculturists in differentiating and counting healthy, unhealthy, and dead shellfish larvae, improving accuracy and reducing time and effort. https://lnkd.in/dkGYzmFQ #aquaculture #fishfarming #shellfish

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"Most corn and soybean fields in the U.S. are planted with herbicide-resistant crop varieties. However, the evolution of superweeds that have developed resistance to common herbicides is jeopardizing current weed management strategies. Agricultural robotics for mechanical weeding is an emerging technology that could potentially provide a solution. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looks at the types of farmers and fields more likely to adopt weeding robots and at what stage of resistance development. The research is published in the journal Agricultural Economics. #robots #agriculture

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How long will it take other states to wake up and test? Until the true prevalence is known we will not have a fact based understanding of how to prevent, manage and control this disease. Negligence on the part of state and industry decision makers. A good lesson in recognizing the difference between being in charge and being a leader. #leadershipmatters #bekind #H5N1

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"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it". Never more true than it is with soil information and improving crop performance and optimization. LandScan is leading the way. Mars #digitaltwins #digitalsoilcore #sustainability #sustainableagriculture #regenerativeagriculture #soilhealth #soil #soildata #soilscience #soilmap Unreasonable Learn more: https://landscan.ai/ https://lnkd.in/dBvMxb4w

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It is technically possible to graft an apple tree onto a loquat rootstock, but it is not recommended. Grafting is a horticultural technique that involves joining two different plants together so that they grow as one. The top part of the plant, known as the scion, is joined to the bottom part, known as the rootstock, which provides the plant with nutrients and water. https://lnkd.in/d4VbDf8q

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 🌺 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 have graced culinary traditions for centuries, yet their cultivation faces modern challenges. As a horticultural advisor, I've observed and assisted growers in low-tech, high-tech, and open-field farming to navigate these waters effectively. Here are some insights into the production dynamics and strategic shifts in this niche market: 📚 Market demand and economic viability The demand for edible flowers, while growing, remains niche. Growers need to evaluate market trends closely to predict profitability accurately. This requires not just horticultural expertise but also keen business acumen to ensure sustainable production. 📚 Production costs and challenges Edible flower cultivation can be resource-intensive, requiring controlled environments like greenhouses for optimal yield and quality, which increases the production costs significantly. These plants are often delicate, requiring more precise pest management and 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬, which I help implement in both high-tech setups and more traditional farming practices. 📚 Logistical hurdles The short shelf life and delicate nature of edible flowers demand efficient logistics solutions from farm to table, minimizing product wastage and ensuring quality upon delivery. My role often involves streamlining these processes to enhance the economic returns for growers. 📚 Regulatory compliance Adhering to stringent quality and safety standards is paramount, especially as these products are consumed raw. I provide guidance on compliance with 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, ensuring that all products not only meet but exceed safety standards. 📚 Adaptation to consumer trends As consumer preferences evolve, so must our cultivation strategies. I assist growers in pivoting their agricultural practices to align with consumer demands, focusing on 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜 and 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐬 that appeal to today's eco-conscious consumer. 📚 Technological integration In high-tech greenhouse settings, leveraging advanced hydroponic systems and #CEA techniques helps optimize resource use and 𝐦𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐲𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐬. I specialize in integrating these technologies with traditional horticultural practices to provide tailored solutions for each grower's needs. 📚 The choice of growing method Whether soil, hydroponics, or a hybrid approach, largely depends on the specific conditions and goals of each operation. I always help growers make informed decisions that enhance their operational efficiency and market responsiveness. What is your experience with #EdibleFlowers❓ #Horticulture #AgricultureTechnology #HighTech #loTech #SustainableFarming #CropProtection #FarmManagement #AgriScience #CultivaEcoSolutions #HorticulturalAdvice #ModernAgriculture 📸 By Emilia Mikulewicz

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