Seeds

Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rural Development, Panchayat Raj and Food Processing Industries Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday launched a seed traceability mobile app on the occasion of dividend distribution by the National Seed Corporation. Through this app, information about real seeds will be available and farmers will be able to avoid fraud.

The pandemic has cultivated 19 million new vegetable gardeners.

Seeds need to be brought back into public ownership, rather than belonging to a small group of agrochemical companies, say campaigners, after a year in which seed-swapping and saving has reached new heights of popularity. From March onwards, when the pandemic hit the UK, seed producers and seed banks…

China will complete the new national crop germplasm bank, with which it seeks to boost the country's capacity to develop new crop varieties and improve food security, this year. According to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Tang Renjian, the bank has a designed capacity of 1.5 million…

Yuksel Seeds presents new innovations to its extensive catalog of varieties, with a strong focus on pear tomatoes, a segment in which its Marcus F1 variety is well-known thanks to its excellent flavor and productivity. Yuksel Seeds has practically all types of tomato as well as important varieties of…

A loss in germination of just a few percent translates into a similar reduction in profit. Each species has a specific temperature at which the seeds germinate the quickest; these temperatures can easily be found on the Internet.

The ideal environment for germination is a temperature-controlled germination room. If you wish to grow a number of different species at the same time, look at the germination tables and choose a compromise temperature; this may not be ideal for each species, but will enable all the plants to germinate well. It’s usually in the mid-20°C range.

Preparation Stack the planted seed trays, which should be filled with growing medium and moist, in the germination room.

If the growing medium is at the correct temperature at stacking, the trays can be placed on top of one another without spacing. If not, put thin strips of wood or something similar between the trays to enable air to circulate between them to stabilise the temperature.

If there is no gap, the growing medium may decompose and heat up, like a mini compost heap, thereby compromising germination. Always check the temperature between the trays.

The Genebank Project is a national project of Japan operated by the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) since 1985. The NARO Genebank is responsible for the conservation of plant genetic resources to provide materials for both scientific research and plant breeding to improve food…

A tomato made with CRISPR/Cas9 has been approved for growing and consumption in Japan. The tomato "Sicilian Rouge High GABA” was developed by the University of Tsukuba and startup Sanatech Seed. Thanks to a tweaking of the genes, the variety features five times the normal amount of GABA…

News has come out that Russia will not allow imports of tomatoes from Uzbekistan, Turkey, Armenia, Morocco and some other countries anymore due to detection of the pepino mosaic. Speaking with a Russian fruit specialist, it seems this is all true except for the Moroccon imports. They are not able to ship…

A cargo capsule carrying seeds from four plant species provided by Taiwan is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) after launching from the U.S. state of Florida on Sunday (Dec. 6). The seeds were among supplies transported by SpaceX using its newly upgraded Dragon spacecraft. They were…

The more pellets that are placed in the mould, the denser and stronger the seedling tray. In cheaper trays, there tend to be slightly bigger gaps between the expanded pellets, and fine plant roots can enter these, making it difficult to pull out the plants.

Damping off organisms can also lurk in these small spaces, and the growing plants can become infected and die. One of the Pythium species (fungus-type pathogens) is usually the main culprit, but it’s not the only one.

I have used horse manure compost as a medium for 23 years and have never had damping off problems. This may be because the medium is a rich source of beneficial organisms, which suppress development of pathogens. I also never get powdery mildew on Brassica seedlings.

Once the pathogen has appeared, the trays must be sterilised, or the problem will keep cropping up and possibly cause major losses.

The most effective way of sterilising trays is in a heat chamber. To save cost and effort, some growers wait until damping off starts before using heat sterilising.

Another solution is to use a commercial dip containing copper; this will also reduce the penetration of roots into the fine gaps in the polystyrene.

If you are a small grower, you can use a simple, home-made steriliser such as bleach mixed with water at a 10% solution, or hydrogen peroxide at 3% concentration. Leave the trays suspended in the solution for 20 minutes, then rinse and dry them.

There are many different ways to carry out plant cloning: tissue culture, plugs, rockwool, and so on. At the same time, more innovative technologies have been coming up over time, which made cloning much easier. One of the most interesting is aeroponic cloning, which has many benefits for large-scale growers, as it allows them…

With hydroponics and vertical farming gaining popularity around the world, growers are increasingly interested in finding crop varieties with a proven track record in controlled environment system. To meet this, Vilmorin-Mikado has positioned itself as a leader in plant breeding and the provision of…

💚 Healthy Indoor Growing: Sprouts and Microgreens Add a nutritional boost to your favourite recipes with delicious and fast-growing alfalfa, broccoli, wheatgrass, fenugreek, and much, much more! View this newsletter in your browser Microgreens and sprouts are a light and refreshing snack that you can add to salads, wraps, sandwiches, and smoothies. Fast-growing and full of nutritional value, use them to bring exciting new flavours to your favourite recipes, or as garnish on baked goods. Microgreen Arugula Seeds A delicious and peppery addition to salads, sandwiches, and soups. You can even throw them on a pizza after it's out of the oven. Order Seeds Microgreen Mustard Seeds Mildly spicy, tender, succulent microgreens that add mild horseradish flavour to salads and blends. Fast to germinate & grow indoors.

Within twenty seconds, you can see how a grower's crop is doing just by looking at their face, as is the experience of René Zwinkels. He is an ex-tomato grower himself and currently works for Axia Vegetable Seeds in, among others, the Polish market. There he saw a 3.5 hectares greenhouse this summer…

Vertical farming, or urban agriculture, as it is often called, has grown in recent years,. Forbes Magazine estimated vertical farming sales at $2.13 billion ...

A recent Food Navigator article highlighted the progress of a global research initiative to help prevent the extinction of the banana. This fruit, which is very popular in the world, is an important food and commercial crop in tropical and subtropical regions. The most common banana variety is the…

Last year, Hoogendoorn Growth Management partnered with BASF Vegetable Seeds, so BASF could gain experieces with various automated growing software and hardware for hydroponic lettuce and tomato.

“Next to the extremely huge learnings we made in modern climate management we’ve seen massive opportunities to improve our own processes and to add value to our genetics. Using the principles of Growing by Plant Empowerment to control the plant balances and optimize photosynthetic activity, we were able to significantly increase the growth spead of hydroponic lettuce while improving crop quality at the same time,” explaines Martin Voorberg, R&D Capital Investment Venture Manager at BASF. “We had the same experience with high-tech tomatoes when production was higher during the winter months compared to references from professional growers. As a consequence, we will increase our investments in the facilities at ‘s-Gravenzande to make all greenhouse compartments ready for automated growing.”

Bayer announced the final large-scale pre-launch trials of Roma-type tomatoes to help growers address Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV). The trials, which begin later this month in Mexico, will include two varieties of Roma-type tomato that claim Intermediate Resistance (IR) to ToBRFV. The type of…

Sakata Seed America, Morgan Hill, Calif., has a new department that focuses on controlled environment agriculture, including traditional greenhouse operations and the newer wave of indoor production through vertical farms.

The move will boost Sakata’s role in developing produce to be grown in the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) facilities, according to a news release. “We have been focused on this segment for a number of years, especially in the leafy greens category,” Justin Davis, Sakata Seed America’s director of sales and marketing, said in the release. “The timing is ideal for Sakata to create this group to hone our efforts on CEA in order to bring more products to the market for Indoor ag.”

Tracy Lee, who joined Sakata Seed America 11 years ago, will lead the new division. She has also been involved in product management at Geo. W. Park Seed Co. Inc. and W Atlee Burpee.

At Sakata Seed America, she has been involved in product development for multiple categories, and handling home garden and farm market vegetable seed sales.

“I think there is tremendous growth opportunity in serving the controlled environment agriculture segment, and I’m very pleased that Sakata is continuing its leadership in the market,” Lee said in the release. “This is something that I’m passionate about and have been active in for the past several years.”

Syngenta has launched the campaign Un País de Tomates 2.0 (Tomato country 2.0) to present the company's new tomato varieties. Rafael Salinas, Syngenta's Product Manager for Tomatoes, said that they are developing rustic varieties with a high level of resistance to pests and diseases; varieties that are…

Seed germination is a critical developmental phase for seedling establishment and crop production. Increasing salinity stress associated with climatic change can pose a challenge for seed germination and stand establishment of many crops including lettuce. In a recent study, researchers show that water…

Vertical farming, the bastion of tech start-ups, has attracted the attention of global company Bayer AG, with plans to develop vegetable varieties suited to that indoor farming model.

Leaps by Bayer, the Bayer AG “impact investment arm,” and Temasek, an investment company headquartered in Singapore, have formed Unfold to target innovation of vegetable varieties designed for vertical farms. according to a news release.

Led by CEO John Purcell, Unfold will be a U.S. company in the Davis, Calif., area. The company will have commercial research and development operations in California and Singapore. 

Unfold raised $30 million in the initial funding round and entered into an agreement for certain rights to germplasm from Bayer’s vegetable portfolio, according to the release.

Purcell said Unfold will focus on investment in germplasm and research on crop growth models best suited for vertical farming.

“As a company fully focused on the vertical farming industry, Unfold will combine leading seed genetics with the best ag tech experts in order to dramatically advance productivity, flavor and other consumer preferences,” Purcell said in the release. 

Innovation that offers sustainable solutions for agriculture is one of the 10 areas of engagement and investment that Leaps by Bayer is focused on, Jürgen Eckhardt, head of Leaps by Bayer, said in the release.

Fast-growing crops to make the most of the season View this newsletter in your browser We're past the peak of summer, but there are many weeks of warm weather ahead, so there's lots of time to plant fast-maturing crops. Check out our list of... Music Organic garlic is a Canadian classic, bred for cold winters, and producing extra-large cloves. It is a hardneck porcelain garlic with white outer skins, and rich purple stripes around the cloves. Order now for September shipping! As the main growing season winds to a close, it's time to consider planting a cover crop. Cover crops can be used to improve soil structure and fertility, reduce erosion, and build organic matter. All this can happen from fall through spring, while vegetable beds are not producing. Find out more about Cover Crops. Lots of the plants we grow produce seeds that are easy to collect and save for planting next season. It only takes a couple of steps to harvest seeds and save them for planting or sharing with others. Find out more about Seed Saving. Copyright © 2020 West Coast Seeds Ltd., All rights reserved.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning gardeners not to plant "unauthorized seeds" from packages they weren't expecting to arrive in the mail.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller warned Texans to "exercise extreme caution" if they receive unsolicited seed packets from China. The "mystery seed packets" showed up recently in mailboxes in at least 31 states in recent days.