-Hindustan Times As per district agriculture department, around 15 farmers of Sangrur have adopted organic farming over 50 acres land in the district with different crops such as wheat, paddy, sugarcane and vegetables. The sowing season of wheat has begun in the state Chandigarh: Amid serious threats to human health and environment due to the use of Pesticides and fertilisers, some progressive farmers of Sangrur have chosen to produce organic wheat on...

-The Hindu Business Line Mumbai: The cotton crop in Maharashtra is facing whiteflies attacks and if enough attention is not provided by the State Government then the problem could aggravate and cause significant economic damage, senior Maharashtra Government officials told BusinessLine. Changes in weather and higher moisture content in the air coupled with the use of synthetic Pyrethroids for killing pink bollworms has lead to the ingress of whiteflies, such Pesticides act...

-Newsclick.in Glyphosate use exposes India’s broken Pesticide-herbicide regulations. Glyphosate has been in the news in the past few months for all the wrong reasons. In three separate verdicts in California, courts have held the herbicide responsible for causing cancer. In the latest case, the jury has awarded more than $2 billion to a couple who claimed that exposure to glyphosate triggered their cancer. These cases mark the first time that citizens have successfully...

-The Indian Express Farmers are paying about Rs 15,000 crore GST annually, on which they cannot claim input tax credit. Agriculture is a unique business that not only has high production as well as price risk, but also one where everything is bought retail and sold wholesale. This reality, moreover, extends even to Goods and Services Tax (GST): Farmers are the only businessmen today who cannot claim input tax credit (ITC) on...

-Financial Express We have been hearing the expression ‘Industry 4.0’ ever since the idea of ‘smart factory’ was unveiled in Hannover in April 2013. Many opine ‘Agriculture 4.0’ akin to 4G of telecom. I believe Agriculture 4.0 is “going back to basics, but with technology as its underpinning” to usher in sustainability, in the wake of climate change and degradation of our agricultural ecosystems. We need to re-look at agriculture with...