The University of George announced that four of faculty from its College of Agriculture have received an award for its second phase of a pecan study, which is one of the state’s commodities.

California regulators recently approved AgBiome Inc.’s Theia fungicide use in the state. This fungicide can be used throughout the U.S. to treat numerous plant diseases in fruit, vegetable and tree nut crops.

Farm groups have urged Congress to pass the Farm Operations Support Act, which would decrease the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) paid to H-2A temporary visa farm workers to 2022 levels. That would drop the current national average AEWR of $16.13 to $15.56.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an effort to expedite protections on some high-risk uses of four organophosphate pesticides. The Agency is releasing the updated occupational and non-occupational spray drift exposure risk assessments for these four pesticides – diazinon, ethoprop, tribufos and phosmet – several years ahead of the scheduled completion of EPA’s work on these chemicals in order to seek early mitigation prior to completing the standard registration review process.

For the seventh year, the White House has publicly recognized National Ag Day as a salute to the contributions of America’s farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses. This year, President Joe Biden has proclaimed March 21, 2023 National Ag Day.

U.S. patent number 11439151 B2, titled ‘Process for Treating an Agricultural Medium,’ has been awarded to BioSafe Systems. The patent establishes BioSafe Systems' innovative and original idea qualifying its development of the Restorative Soils Program (RSP) as a vital tool for the future of the agricultural industry.