Opinion
Opinion & Analysis
Not the desk reporting a number, but the people doing the work explaining what it means. Agronomists, founders, scientists and growers write these; we edit them, check the arithmetic and publish them under their own names.
80 pieces, newest first.
Latest
Drones Over the Paddy: How UAVs Are Rewriting DSR
Drone seeding beat manual broadcasting by 13% and AI-guided spraying cut herbicide use by up to 45% — but missing protocols remain the risk.
Dr. S. Vijayakumar · Scientist (Agronomy), ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad · 17 Sept 2026
Everything else, in full
- Drip-Irrigated Rice: Growing Paddy Without Flooding the FieldDr. S. Vijayakumar · 16 Sept 2026
- The Real Risks Behind Herbicide-Tolerant Rice (and How to Manage Them)Dr. S. Vijayakumar · 11 Sept 2026
- Winning the Weed War in DSR: A Practical Herbicide PlaybookDr. S. Vijayakumar · 6 Sept 2026
- Vattar DSR: The Simple Soil-Mulch Trick Saving Farmers 2–3 IrrigationsDr. S. Vijayakumar · 1 Sept 2026
- Seed Priming: A Low-Cost Yield Boost Any Farmer Can TryDr. S. Vijayakumar · 27 Aug 2026
- The Cucumber Grew Fine. The Price Is What Decided the Profit.Siddhant Patel · 23 Aug 2026
- Machines That Are Transforming Direct-Seeded RiceDr. S. Vijayakumar · 22 Aug 2026
- What a Power Weeder Really Costs to Run Per AcreDevendra Kumar Jha · 21 Aug 2026
- Why Wheat Yields Fall After Paddy: The Hardpan Under India's Rice FieldsDevendra Kumar Jha · 20 Aug 2026
- 996 Kilograms of Mandarins: Why the North East Grows So Much and Exports So LittleDevendra Kumar Jha · 19 Aug 2026
- How AI Can Make Agriculture Smarter and More Farmer-FriendlyGAURAV SINGH RAJPUT · 17 Aug 2026
- Climate-Resilient Dairy: Why India's Indigenous Cattle Are the Future of Sustainable FarmingSwati Sharma Omanwar · 17 Aug 2026
- If Farming Keeps Getting Smarter, Why Does Food Keep Getting Dearer?Devendra Kumar Jha · 17 Aug 2026
- 870 Species, 2,439 Hectares: Why India Still Buys Its Orchids from ThailandDevendra Kumar Jha · 17 Aug 2026
- Why Biochar Often Fails in Its First Season on Indian SoilsSamir Sharma · 16 Aug 2026
- A Controlled Room in Bastar Cut Graft Mortality by More Than a QuarterVishal Bhosale · 16 Aug 2026
- A Failed Carbon Project Is a Footnote. A Failed Farm Transition Is a Family in Debt.Mukesh Chandra Madhukar · 16 Aug 2026
- Onion Farming in Jaipur: The Real Cost, Yield and Profit Per AcreSwati Sharma · 16 Aug 2026
- Herbicide-Tolerant Rice: India's Home-Grown Answer to the Weed ProblemDr. S. Vijayakumar · 12 Aug 2026
- India Measures Its Soil Better Than Anyone — Then Ignores What It FindsSathyanarayanan Sankaran · 3 Aug 2026
- The DSR Map of India: Which States Are Leading and Which Are LaggingDr. S. Vijayakumar · 2 Aug 2026
- Beyond the Lab: Why India's New Rice Varieties Struggle to Reach the FieldDr. Pradip Dey · 2 Aug 2026
- Go to Gemba: Why the Answers to Indian Agriculture's Toughest Problems Live in the FieldSooraj Naik · 31 Jul 2026
- Kharif 2026 Sowing at 787 Lakh Hectares: Pulse and Coarse Cereal Gaps Persist Despite Monsoon RecoveryMukund Kulkarni · 31 Jul 2026
- ICAR-CIFRI Takes Biodiversity Conservation Drive to Pulicat Lake Fishing CommunitiesDr. Pradip Dey · 30 Jul 2026
- From Pilot to 100+ kg a Day: How an Indoor Strawberry Farm Took Root in BengaluruVishal Bhosale · 29 Jul 2026
- Agriculture 5.0: How Kerala Can Lead India's Smart Farming RevolutionMathew Abraham · 28 Jul 2026
- Green Manure: The Biological Blueprint for Restoring India's Soil FertilityAniish Shah · 26 Jul 2026
- ICAR-CIFRI, IWMI and LRRM Train 134 Sundarban Fishers in SIS–Carp Polyculture to Strengthen Livelihoods and NutritionDr. Pradip Dey · 26 Jul 2026
- From Landfill to Livelihood: Why Organic Waste Composting Is a Smart Agribusiness StrategyEsther Ogbonna · 25 Jul 2026
- The Malawi Mango Model: Why African Agriculture Must Start With Markets, Not HarvestsHennie van der Merwe · 25 Jul 2026
- Biochar: How Pyrolysis Can Turn India's Crop Residues into Soil Health and Farmer IncomeVimal Kumar Upadhyay · 25 Jul 2026
- Green Banana Flour Isn't a Spec — the Harvest Window Is What Actually MattersSubha Shree · 25 Jul 2026
- Beyond the Lab: Why Farmer Acceptance Is the True Measure of Crop Research SuccessDr. Cyril Roberts · 25 Jul 2026
- Beyond the Farm Gate: Why Agriculture Is Becoming a Global Technology IndustryNico Reinoso · 25 Jul 2026
- India Burns 60% of Its Sugarcane Trash: A ₹-Billion Bioeconomy Opportunity Going Up in SmokeKailash Chaudhary · 25 Jul 2026
- Beyond the Soil Triangle: Why Texture Alone Cannot Explain Crop HealthMeghana bhardwaj Kaul · 25 Jul 2026
- India's Irrigation Gap: 30% of Pumps Still Run on Diesel, Only 7% of Land Under Micro-IrrigationSharad R. Kale · 25 Jul 2026
- From Software Engineer to Coconut Entrepreneur: The Story Behind Tengin and India's Rural Value-Addition PushMadhu Kargunda · 24 Jul 2026
- Why India Is Quietly Rethinking How It Grows RiceDr. S. Vijayakumar · 23 Jul 2026
- Tengin's 80/20 Model: Keeping Coconut Value Where It GrowsMadhu Kargunda · 23 Jul 2026
- India's Fertilizer Trap: Why Higher Inputs No Longer Guarantee Higher YieldsVenkatesh Devanur · 19 Jul 2026
- ICAR-CIFRI Launches Khet Bachao Abhiyan in Nadia to Link Soil Health with Wetland ConservationDr. Pradip Dey · 19 Jul 2026
- AI in Agriculture: From Precision Farming to Export Intelligence, the Transformation Is UnderwayGanesh Prajapat · 19 Jul 2026
- ICAR-CIFRI Leads Week-Long Survey and Conservation Drive to Protect Teesta River's Endemic Fish SpeciesDr. Pradip Dey · 19 Jul 2026
- Research Clocks vs. Harvest Clocks: Bridging the Gap Between Agricultural Science and Farm RealityDevendra Kumar Jha · 17 Jul 2026
- India's Agri Graduates Deserve Better: The Case for a Professional Agriculture CouncilDevendra Kumar Jha · 17 Jul 2026
- Dealer Network Strategy: The Channel Playbook Every Farm-Machinery Maker NeedsDevendra Kumar Jha · 16 Jul 2026
- Beyond Milk: How Indigenous Cattle Can Power a Circular Rural EconomySwati Sharma Omanwar · 11 Jul 2026
- 7 HP or 9 HP? Sizing a Power Weeder Without OverbuyingDevendra Kumar Jha · 11 Jul 2026
- 42 Species, One Acre: Why India's Agricultural Metrics Fail Its Most Biodiverse FarmersDr. Sarika Kulkarni · 8 Jul 2026
- Earned Knowledge Over Borrowed Data: The Operator-First Principle in Indian AgricultureSooraj Naik · 8 Jul 2026
- Cow Urine as a Bio-Input: The Science Behind a Traditional Farming PracticeDr Sabha Bahadur Singh · 8 Jul 2026
- Carbon Credits for Indian Farms: Why Data Discipline Matters More Than Good IntentionsDevendra Kumar Jha · 8 Jul 2026
- From Saurashtra's Fields to the Clinic: Cactose Bets on Cactus Fruit to Crack India's Anaemia CrisisSagar Gabu · 6 Jul 2026
- One Living System: Why the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Be Built on Systems ThinkingMadhu Sudhana Murthy · 6 Jul 2026
- Bihar's Abandoned River Channels Could Be the Key to Expanding Makhana CultivationPiyush Dokania · 6 Jul 2026
- Process More, Waste Less, Earn More: The Case for a Rural Food Processing RevolutionPankaj Gaikwaad · 5 Jul 2026
- Why Biopesticides Fail on Indian Farms — and It Has Nothing to Do With the ProductAvinash Katailiha · 5 Jul 2026
- APCNF Wins 2026 Food Planet Prize: Can India's Natural Farming Revolution Go National?Meenakshi Kishore · 5 Jul 2026
- Koraput Grows Coffee Inside a Forest — and Europe's EUDR Could Still Lock It OutNiladri Giri · 5 Jul 2026
- Include Centre Pivot Irrigation in PMKSY-PDMC: A Case for Expanding India's Precision Irrigation FrameworkPRB Sunder Rao · 5 Jul 2026
- AgriStack at ₹2,817 Crore: Is India's Digital Agriculture Bet Solving the Wrong Problem?Ramanjaneyulu G V · 5 Jul 2026
- How Coimbatore Became India's Pump City: The Ecosystem Behind the LegendAnchal Agarwal · 5 Jul 2026
- Health Halo or Health Hazard? Why 'Millet' and 'High-Fibre' Labels Don't Make a Product Real FoodDheeraj Garg · 5 Jul 2026
- India's Spice Exports Fall 29% in April 2026 as Chilli and Cumin Lead the DeclineBibin Mathews · 5 Jul 2026
- India's Produce 'Waste' Is a Planning Crisis, Not a Cold Chain CrisisMahesh Kedari · 4 Jul 2026
- ₹60,500 in a Single Day, Mud on Every Boot: The Real Cost of Guava Farming in OdishaSradharabinda Samantarray · 4 Jul 2026
- India Grows 26% of the World's Bananas — Yet Imports Crores Worth of Functional StarchSubha Shree · 4 Jul 2026
- Science, Soil and Sustainability: Bhoomi BioTechnology's Vision for Agriculture in Madhya PradeshDr. Ashok Kumar Khandel · 4 Jul 2026
- OneHorn India: Building Farm Mechanisation on Trust, Not Tech BuzzwordsAakash Shah · 4 Jul 2026
- India Grows Half the World's Mangoes — But Can't Clear Global Export StandardsChirag Chhajer · 4 Jul 2026
- India's Fertiliser Governance Crisis: Why Nano Urea Is the Country's Agrarian ChandrayaanBinod Anand · 4 Jul 2026
- Phosphoric Acid Prices Surge 25% as India's Sulfur Rally Drives Up Fertilizer Input CostsMansoureh Parashrooz · 4 Jul 2026
- Why India's Farmers Are Walking Away — And How Organic Profits Could Bring Their Children BackShankar Venkataraman · 3 Jul 2026
- System Failures First: Why Farm Machinery Reliability Is an Engineering Ecosystem ProblemIndresh Gangwar · 3 Jul 2026
- From Hostel Room to Hydroponics Venture: HydroTech Engineering Solutions Charts a New Course for Indian AgritechVedant Gupta · 3 Jul 2026
- Six Months, 13 Feet, and a Lesson No Budget Can Teach: Santosh Jadhav's Well-Deepening OrdealSantosh Jadhav · 3 Jul 2026
- ICAR Rolls Out District-Wise El Niño Contingency Plan for West Bengal's Diverse Agro-Climatic ZonesDr. Pradip Dey · 3 Jul 2026
Written something from your own field work, trial or survey? Send it to us — or read how we select and publish first.