Tootfinder

"Nature-friendly farming budget swells in UK – but cuts elsewhere make recovery fraught"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #Farming #Nature

Nature-friendly farming budget swells in UK – but cuts elsewhere make recovery fraught
Progress on nature-positive farming – but habitats still trail big-ticket technology

Bonus content on PEI's focus on disappearing farmland. The island isn't getting smaller, or bigger, but housing and industrial development are putting pressure on those potato fields.
#Farming
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-news-farming-land-agriculture-1.6974633

🍓 A Modular Soft Gripper with Embedded Force Sensing and an Iris-Type Cutting Mechanism for Harvesting Medium-Sized Crops
#robots #agriculture #farming

"‘A Trojan horse’: how toxic sewage sludge became a threat to the future of British farming"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #Sewage

It's all go on the harvest around here. Very very busy farmers. Loads of tractors hauling those big grain trailers. Dusty tails blowing across the roads. It's great to see.
#outdoors #Farming

Bonus content - Through this series, I learned what a Pulse Crop was. They even have their own website.
#PulseCrop #Farming
https://pulsecanada.com/

"Weetabix’s wheat growers cut on-farm emissions with lower-nitrogen approach"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #Farming

🧑‍🌾 Managing soil fertilization levels can make for more efficient and productive crops
https://phys.org/news/2025-08-soil-fertilization-efficient-productive-crops.html

Managing soil fertilization levels can make for more efficient and productive crops
Modern crops are often excessively fertilized, which boosts yields in the short term but also harms the environment due to nutrient runoffs and greenhouse gas emissions.

BTW - that CBC article used a lot of numbers from this report, which because it's all numbers is awesome. Some tidbits:
- The number of farms over 3,500 acres has nearly doubled in 20 years.
- 41.3% of Canadian farmland is rented.
- From 1971 to 2021, the farm population declined by 62.2%, from 1 in 14 Canadians to 1 in 61.
- Farm debt has more than doubled in the last 20 years, from $43B in 2002 to $138.8B in 2022. That is currently 10x the size of net farm income.
- In 2021, 96,043 tonnes of pesticides were sold for agricultural use – more than three times the amount sold in 1991.
#Statistics #Farming
https://www.nfu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Canadian-Ag-by-the-Numbers-2024.pdf

"Thousands of tonnes of toxic landfill liquid added to sewage and spread on English farms"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #Environment

"More than 80% of UK farmers worried about climate crisis harming livelihood, study finds"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #Farming

Good Morning #Canada
We've arrived at our final province on Day #12 of The Dirt on Canadian Farming. It may not be the middle of the country, but I think we can all agree that it's the centre of the universe.
Ontario leads the nation in agricultural exports and is #1 in the number of farms, poultry and egg production, sheep and goat, vegetable and melon, and greenhouse, nursery and floriculture (31.8%). The province is home to one-quarter (25.5%) of total farms in Canada while making up 7.7% of the total farm area. It also employs 870K, more than any other province. There are numerous agricultural centers in Ontario but the Holland Marsh is significant. Just 50 Km north of Toronto lies 21,500 acres of rich black soil that provides vegetables to nearby cities and exports into the USA.
#CanadaIsAwesome #Farming
https://www.canadaaction.ca/ontario-farming-facts

Good Morning #Canada
Day #8 of The Dirt on Canadian Farming takes us back east to New Brunswick, which is not that "new" BTW. If it seems like we're jumping around the country in this series, with no logic, well, congratulations, you're paying attention.
New Brunswick's agricultural and agri-food sector reached a record of $1.23 billion in farm cash receipts in 2023, with potatoes, blueberries, maple syrup, and dairy all key products. Within that number lies good and bad news. The province had one of the largest decreases in farm operators in the country, but profits per farm have increased. Blueberry farms increased, and the province is 2nd in Canada in production. In 2024, New Brunswick announced the Agricultural Sustainability Program to assist farmers with reducing tillage, maintaining ponds and wetlands, and protecting pollinator habitat, critical and marginal landscapes, trees, riparian areas and crop management.
#CanadaIsAwesome #Farming
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/95-640-x/2016001/article/14803-eng.htm

"English farms could be taken out of food production to boost nature, says minister"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #Farming #Nature

Good Morning #Canada
In yesterday's post about farming and fall fairs, I ruminated about a series on Canada’s agricultural areas. OK, ruminated may be the term as it was more of a random thought, like a retriever seeing a squirrel. But over the next 2-ish weeks, I'll try to highlight the significant crop regions in each province and teach myself more about our great country.
The first post should be easy because I'm sure most Canadians don't think a lot of farming happens in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, or Nunavut. But small areas within each can sustain crops in a short season, mostly potatoes, and commercial warehouse growing operations are being funded and encouraged. With a warming climate, more land is being used to farm, and additional types of crops are being tested.
#CanadaIsAwesome #Agriculture #Farming
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/feb-15-agriculture-moving-north-arrokoth-s-secrets-the-microbiome-for-flight-and-more-1.5463847/wheat-and-potatoes-in-nunavut-climate-change-could-bring-agriculture-to-the-north-1.5463850

Good Morning #Canada
Summer may be over, at least emotionally, but there's lots of nice weather as we enter Fall Fair season in Canada. Canada has incredible agricultural potential in every province - and maybe we need a series of posts on that - and fall is when rural communities celebrate the harvest with demonstrations and competitions. But city folk are invited and encouraged to visit your local event and get acquainted with plowing matches, the price of a new tractor, cattle judging, and who has the biggest watermelons. Here's a small list of some of the most prominent Fall Fairs out of the hundreds that take place annually.
BTW - In my only plant submission to one of these festivals (Erin Fall Fair), I got 3rd place for the tallest sunflower. Rookie mistake, I cut my plant at ground level, and it was 11.5 feet high. The winners ahead of me dug out the roots and submitted the entire plant. I was robbed!
#CanadaIsAwesome #FallFairs #Farming
https://www.mapquest.com/travel/the-12-best-fall-fairs-in-canada/