Competition grows amongst crop protection companies as Nichino America sets up shop in Mexico. Its parent, Nihon Nohyaku, is based in Japan.

Agro-K, which offers foliar nutrition and soil conditioning products, is sponsoring the inaugural contest hosted by The Grower. Provincial winners of the largest Honeycrisp apple will be announced as soon as harvest is complete.

British Columbia’s premier announced his new NDP cabinet on November 26, keeping Lana Popham in her role as minister of agriculture, food and fisheries.

Travis Cranmer, Ontario vegetable crop specialist, OMAFRA, describes Slido.com, a question-and-answer polling platform that allows participants to see photos and slides on technical subjects.

Ecoation is partnering with Kinova, a Canadian-based global leader in professional robotics. It’s a step forward in identifying pests and diseases in greenhouses.

A controlled environment at Plenty Unlimited’s Wyoming facility has lured Driscoll’s to expand beyond field-grown strawberries. There’s a lot to learn about day length, light intensity and spectrum, air temperature and how they influence expression of genes.

BASF Ag Solutions is launching Cimegra, containing the active ingredient broflanilide. The insecticide will be of interest to potato growers because it contains a novel mode of action for control of wireworms.

Gowan Crop Protection has acquired the global rights for the active ingredient spirodiclofen from Bayer AG. It is active against all life stages of a wide spectrum of mites, including eggs, nymphs and female adults.

Karen Belaire takes over as chair of the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre for a two-year term.

The American-based United Fresh Produce Association and allied partners are lobbying already to make essential workers in agriculture and food a priority when a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available.