In today’s Evening Edition, catch up on the latest ag business developments, weather forecasts for Plant ’22, and agricultural losses in Ukraine.
Ag Business
A recent notice from the FBI warns agricultural cooperatives that ransomware attacks could be more likely during the planting and harvest seasons.
While attacks against the farm-to-table sector occur regularly, the Private Industry Notification says the number of incidents against cooperatives during key seasons is significant.
“Cyber actors may perceive cooperatives as lucrative targets with a willingness to pay due to the time-sensitive role they play in agricultural production,” FBI states.
Editor Gil Gullickson covers the new strategic partnership between Bayer and Microsoft.
The partnership build will lead to a new cloud-based set of digital tools and data science solutions for use in agriculture and adjacent industries, say Bayer officials.
Bayer officials say the partnership is part of a strategic step toward the firm’s target of 100% digitally enabled sales in its crop science division by 2030.
Editor Alex Gray reports on the joint venture between Deere & Company GUSS and Automation, a manufacturer in semi-autonomous orchard and vineyard sprayers.
A single operator can remotely monitor up to eight GUSS sprayers (Global Unmanned Spray System) from a laptop computer, allowing growers to spray orchards and vineyards quickly and constantly. This can use fewer resources and reduce costs by eliminating operator error and downtime.
Plant ’22
So far, cool temps and frequent rains have kept planters in the shed, but Dale Mohler, senior commodity forecaster for AccuWeather, says better planting days are coming – eventually.
“There are places with stretches of planting taking place, especially in the southern states in the Midwest region,” says Mohler. “While the east has seen frequent rains, the southwest is a little dryer. In western Kansas, where it’s too dry, they’re just hoping the wheat survives.”
Ukraine Agricultural Updates
Iurii Mykhailov, an ag journalist and Successful Farming contributor from Ukraine, provides an update on the losses Ukraine is suffering in dairy, beef, hogs, and poultry.
In addition, he writes, “Due to the blockade of Ukrainian ports, exporting meat and meat products by sea is impossible. The export via EU countries is also difficult because of the EU veterinary restrictions. Even the transit of meat and meat products to the non-EU countries is not allowed. Therefore, the export of beef and pork has stopped.”
