Bluetongue disease is a virus that mainly affects sheep, cattle, ruminants, camelids, and rarely carnivores, such as dogs.

The main spread of infection is caused by midges, with seasonal warm weather supporting the spread.

Cattle may not show any symptoms, while sheep are often most affected.

80% of all species on the planet are insects, and they are vital for creating healthy and genetically diverse plants through pollination - including food crops. They are also an important food source for other animals in the ecosystem.

But their population declines by 2% every year due to deforestation, climate change, use of pesticides, and much more.

Without insects, the world is in danger of experiencing food insecurity. So, what can we do to help boost insect numbers?

Clarkson’s Farm is back for a third season on May 3.

Here we revisit the last two seasons of Diddly Squat Farm-based dramas and antics, while reflecting on the national treasure characters the show has introduced us to.

We also take a look at what we can expect from the new season. Let’s just say a few sad tears will be shed alongside the usual ones of mirth.

A recent outbreak of avian influenza or bird flu has hit dairy cattle herds in several US states and has even spread to humans.

This latest outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain can be traced back to to Europe and spread to the US via wild birds, where it has had a devastating effect on poultry flocks and native birds.

What does this mean for milk production and prices, how are the government dealing with it, and how can you spot it in animals and yourselves?

Ag-tech development is still in the early stages. The trust of farmers needs to be earned. Farmers do not need to be in a rush to monetize their data. Technologists and agtech investors are feeling pressure to generate returns. Aggregated data is much more powerful than individual data, and farmers are right to be skeptical.

Agricultural fraud has as long a history as agriculture itself with many notable crimes being committed including the adulteration of bread, the shocking case of the Salad Oil King, and fake rare wine vintages being sold among many others.

Today fraudsters cost the food industry $40 billion annually by misleading consumers and investors by lying about the quality, provenance, and quantities of their produce to command higher prices.

These acts can adversely affect farmers’ livelihoods and even affect countries’ economic stability in the case of large-scale fraud.

Read on to find out more about agri-fraud and how to avoid becoming a victim yourself…

There has been a lot of progress on LLMs and Chatbots. FBN’s Norm was one of the earliest AI Chatbots trained with ChatGPT. While a promising start for the technology, there were concerns. Here is the story. We will revisit it a year later.

At the outbreak of WWII in 1939, Britain imported 60% of their food and the number of people farming the land was at an all-time low due to cuts in the interwar period.

The war was beginning to interrupt those imports and around 50,000 skilled farm labourers were lost from the farms to go to war.

How did the British government and the country come together to make sure the nation didn’t starve?

In my personal experience with microbial products, I have found that Fertum and Acadian Plant Health products share some similarities and differences with Pivot Bio PROVEN. Fertum and Acadian products primarily focus on enhancing overall plant health and nutrient availability by providing beneficial microorganisms, while Pivot Bio PROVEN specifically targets nitrogen-fixing bacteria to supply plants with nitrogen.

Humans have left their traces on the earth for around 300,000 years. Signs of their lives can be found by digging down into the layers of soil beneath our feet.

Archaeological artifacts to be found include bones from meals, building footings, dropped coins, pots, and pins. These build a picture of past civilizations and enrich our understanding of their society.

Our ancestors also buried treasure hoards and some metal detectorists have been lucky enough to find them in recent years, often on farmland.

Read on to find out about the good side of metal detecting, when it goes wrong, and the three best hoards ever found by metal detectorists on farmland.

What turned us from simple settlement farmers into the ultra-modern agriculturalists of today?

The Agricultural Revolution did!

The period between the 17th and late 19th centuries saw an unprecedented leap in new knowledge, techniques, and machinery, boosting crop yields, meat production, and reducing waste.

Here are the four key revolution innovations that changed the face of farming for the better…

The internet and social media have changed how we consume news.

It’s a crowded market where only the loudest headlines get heard. This has given rise to the journalistic phenomenon of clickbait headlines.

Shocking or negative headlines created to shamelessly grab clicks may hook readers, but not for the right reasons.

Read on to find out why people aren’t reading the whole story and how it is negatively affecting the industry.

An Ag X Special: Wild speculation around ADM can lead to real financial losses. Ignore the hysterics, don’t make rash decisions. Here is an imaginary story of what could have happened.

Here are the Easy Newz agriculture themes for 2024. We will reflect back on these throughout the year. What did we miss? Was it too obvious? All feedback is appreciated.

South American grain production update. Corn is moving lower, and wheat has stabilized. Rice and cotton are gaining acres. Argentina’s elections and Brazil’s dry, hot northern pattern increase risks and volatility early in the 2023 campaign.

Easy Newz updates its soybean production forecast. This approach combines one of the world’s largest weather and production datasets with its local network of MOGs.

Argentina expert and former Undersecretary of Agriculture discusses the election and outlook with Easy Newz. Ignore the comparisons to socialism and Donald Trump from the MSM. Here is everything you need to know from the real MOG.

Brazil is facing dry, hot weather in regions that typically receive a lot of rain and plant multiple crops. It is crucial to understand which crops are planted where and the critical dates. Easy Newz brings you the power of the Man on the Ground (MOG).

Easy Newz and wt360 provide the starting point for South American crop production for 2023/24. Understand the data, modeling, and the need for the MOG. Updates for major crops, including soybeans, corn, wheat, and sunflower will be available.

Things rarely happen in financial and commodity markets when everyone expects it. A look back one year after Bloomberg Economics sees a 100% chance of a recession.