Business World

The values and vision of New Holland’s founders are the beating heart of the brand to this day, as it celebrates 125 years at the farmers’ side, providing the support they needed at all times, constantly investing and innovating so they would have the products, technologies, and services to farm efficiently, sustainably and profitably. Carlo Lambro, Brand President of New Holland Agriculture stated, “New Holland has a rich heritage started in a small town of Pennsylvania and has grown to be a global brand with presence across 170 countries. It is a history marked by important innovations that have changed agriculture. It brings together the unique legacy of brands such as Ford, Fiat, Braud and Claeys. Most ...

Indian Express

After surplus rain in the pre-monsoon period, Punjab has witnessed deficit rain ever since monsoon hit the state at the fag end of June, though a good monsoon has been predicted this year.

While June 29 was the date for the onset of monsoon in Punjab, it hit a few days earlier this year.

In the past 10 days after the arrival of monsoon, the state has recorded 29.4 mm rainfall against the required 40 mm — 26.5 per cent less than the required rain during this period.

Counter-Currents

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the risks of an unhealthy diet and the extreme fragility of food systems. The economic reconstruction that will follow the pandemic is the perfect opportunity to provide better nutrition and health to all. The pandemic should spur us to redefine how we feed ourselves, and agricultural research can play a vital role in making our food systems more sustainable and resilient.

Family-owned farms still produce some 80% of the world’s food. There is an inextricable link between farmers with small landholdings and our survival and the health of our planet. They play a highly critical role in protecting the environment. But they are among the most underserved population.

Bloomberg Quint

The area sown to kharif crops like rice has shot up 88% to 432.97 lakh hectare so far despite the Covid-19 crisis, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Wednesday. Sowing of kharif (summer) crops begins with the onset of the southwest monsoon from June. Rice is the main kharif crop. “Kharif sowing is underway. This time, 432.97 lakh hectare has been covered, up by 202 lakh hectare when compared with the year-ago period,” Tomar said in a media briefing.

Financial Express

The Centre has written to state governments urging them to invoke the penalty clause on insurance companies that have defaulted on settling the claims made by farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The move follows reports that insurers are yet clear as much as a third of the over Rs 15,000 crore claimed by farmers as crop insurance for the Kharif 2019 season, even as the new summer season began on July 1.

Orissa Post

Over the centuries, people have learnt to live with rivers. Once upon a time, Huang-he was China’s sorrow. The river killed millions of people since 2nd Century BC from catastrophic floods. In 1955, China successfully controlled the Huang-he by building overflow channels and increasingly taller dikes from its ambitious 50-year construction and flood-control programme. This included extensive dike construction, repair and reinforcement, reforestation and the construction of a series of dams to control the river’s flow, produce electricity and supply water for irrigation. The river has not burst its banks since 1945. River Brahmaputra also has terrifying stories of annual flooding that eat away the entire economy of Assam

The Print

How did the Food Corporation of India come about holding such massive stocks of rice and wheat? As of June 2020, the FCI had 832.69 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat in stock. This is considerably more than what the FCI needs to maintain, as both operational as well as strategic stock — 210.40 lakh tonnes as of 1 April every year, which goes up to 411.20 lakh tonnes as of 1 July.