Top 105 Essential Resources for Plant Science Professionals: Updated for 2023

As plant science continues to play a critical role in creating a healthier, more sustainable planet, the demand for the latest resources and technologies in the field has never been greater. CID Bio-Science is dedicated to providing precise, portable, and non-destructive measurement tools that allow plant researchers to advance our understanding of the natural world. With this updated list of the top 100 essential resources for plant science professionals in 2023, CID Bio-Science aims to provide a comprehensive guide that will help professionals stay up-to-date with the latest trends, policies, and resources in their field, ultimately contributing to a more productive planet for all.

Resources for Agricultural Professionals

The resources for agricultural professionals such as farmers, packers, suppliers, distributors, and retailers include newspapers, magazines, newsletters, radio broadcasts, videos, podcasts, and events. The resources vary in the combination of themes and the geography they cover.

1. Ag Alert is a publication from the California Farm Bureau for its California-based members that covers news trends, market conditions, policy, and research for agricultural communities, farmers, and ranchers.
2. Ag Update is one of 14 publications on crops, livestock, weather, technology, markets, opinion, marketplace, and jobs. The group also has an AgUpdate app with news from all the publications
3. AGDAILY produces news and videos on agriculture trends. It has three broad categories -crops, livestock, technology, weather, and lifestyle.
4. AgFax Media LLC produces three types of e-newsletters to relay real-time information about farm work directly to farmers and consultants- nightly summaries through AgFax After Hours, AgFax Weekend year-round, and Regional Crop newsletters each week during the season on specific annual and tree crops.
5. AgFunder News (AFN) daily publishes news about new food tech, agtech, startups, and the venture capital industry. Venture capital firm AgFunder started AFN.
6. Agriculture.com is a website run since 1995 by Successful Farming and carries news of markets, weather, machinery, crops, and more.
7. AgriExpo by VirtualExpo group invites people to compare, connect, and buy on its online B2B marketplace for tractors, machinery and small equipment, irrigation systems for farms and orchards, livestock farming, horticulture, forestry, buildings, equipment, seed and inputs, farm infrastructure, and management.
8. AgriNews is Illinois-based and produces a digital and print newspaper with features and opinions for the agricultural community and information on auctions and farm sales.
9. Agri-Pulse and Agri-Pulse West give the latest and holistic information and policy on agriculture, food, and energy via podcasts, TV, newsletter, etc. They cover food, fuel, fiber, feed industries, organic agriculture, international trade, farm credit, and climate change legislation.
10. AgWeb, published by Farm Journal, is a leader in agriculture content and offers business and data insights for every audience in agriculture, from farmers to retailers. AgWeb provides information through blogs, podcasts, radio, and TV shows on markets, cash grain bids, weather, and more.
11. Agweek produces news, newsletters, special reports, auction calendar, podcasts, and TV shows on crops, policy, business, weather, lifestyle, and community for the American farming community.
12. AHDB (Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board) is a UK-based industry-funded board, producing food and farming podcasts aiming to transform farming by challenging misinformation, news and insights about trade and policy, weather analysis, education, research and knowledge exchange, market intelligence, exports, and the environment.
13. Brownfield Ag News has the USA’s largest and oldest agricultural radio network, covering news about agriculture, markets, weather, and feature radio programs for ten states.
14. California Bountiful is the second magazine the California Farm Bureau publishes for associate members on lifestyle, gardening, recipes, etc.
15. Capital Press is a weekly agricultural newspaper about agriculture in and around Idaho, California, and Washington.
16. CropLife considers itself a “leader in retail agriculture communication, ” covering precision agriculture and ag inputs.
17. Earth.com provides content and presentations through blogs, news articles, videos, and images about species, the planet, and the environment.
18. Farm & Ranch Guide is also a publication by Ag Update and focuses on livestock, rural life, news, markets, crops, and new products.
19. Farm and Dairy Newspaper covers news on farms, agriculture, local market prices, and crop reports and has weekly auction guides.
20. Farm Journal publishes content for every segment in the food production sector- farmers, livestock producers, retailers, veterinarians, packers, equipment, input dealers, and nutritionists. It has been the premium magazine for American agriculture for 145 years.
21. Farmers Guide is a UK monthly magazine carrying the latest information on arable land, livestock, machinery, business, and rural news.
22. Farmers Weekly, produced in South Africa, carries content concerning crops, farm basics, technology, lifestyle, and auctions for Africa.
23. Farming Life is published by UK’s Ulster Farmers’ Union and covers news, market reports, equestrian, and farmers’ clubs.
24. FarmProgress Network has over 20 local and national US publications providing award-winning content, print, digital, broadcasts, and events on various crops, livestock, market, and farm business.
25. Grain Central “is a free daily online news and market information service dedicated to the Australian grains and cropping industry.”
26. Gulf Agriculture is Middle East’s popular magazine produced in print and digital formats on agribusiness in the region.
27. Iowa Farmer Today is an AgUpdate publication about news and opinion on crops, livestock, markets, business, and rural life in the state.
28. Irish Farmers Journal is a digital publication with written content, podcasts, videos, and photography on livestock, agribusiness, machinery, forestry, climate, renewables, farm safety, and Irish country living.
29. Morning AgClips offers daily local and national agricultural news through state eblast, their app, and the web for ag industry leaders, farmers, and ranchers.
30. PCTonlinecom provides information on and for the pest control technology industry.
31. RealAgriculture provides news, opinion, and insights about issues impacting Canadian agriculture through newsletters and radio broadcasts.
32. Seed World is a magazine for the US seed industry. It brings out six issues annually and distributes them to over 9000 seed and agriculture professionals, farmers, regulators, and educators.
33. Successful Farming was started in 1902 and produces radio programs, several social media platforms, podcasts, and a weekly TV show mainly on soybean, corn, wheat, and livestock for farmers and ranchers.
34. The Daily Scoop calls itself the US “Farmer’s Advisor” and offers market reports and daily news on agronomy, carbon, technology, machinery, retail industry, and business.
35. Metropolia provides IT services, including a collaborative media tool “to produce interactive WWW-pages in, e.g., group work (wiki).” Groups use this to produce blogs or articles on various themes, including agtech.

Cooperatives

36. California Farm Bureau is an organization that represents the interests of its 30,000-plus member farmers’ interests in state and central governments and works to protect the quality of life and future of farmers and ranchers. The California Bountiful Foundation, which is part of it, promotes the engagement of the agricultural communities with technical and scientific institutions.
37. CHS is a global agribusiness cooperative owned by US farmers and smaller cooperatives. It aims to have an efficient and robust supply chain that provides its members access to international markets, goods, and services. They publish C Magazine highlighting the people and resources of the cooperative.
38. Western Growers offers services and products for its members, who are local and regional family farmers growing fresh produce in California, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, about policy, logistics, employee training, etc.

Horticulture

This section includes information outlets to boost production, market analysis, necessary tools, etc., for horticulturists, including stakeholders of the fresh produce supply chain.

39. Croptracker is a farm management software system for vegetable and fruit growers.
40. Greenhouse Grower provides news for the controlled environment greenhouse cultivation, including produce, cannabis, hemp, and floriculture.
41. Greenhouse Product News has print and digital editions of news on the controlled environment industry and research.
42. Horti Daily describes itself as “an online meeting place for the international horticulture industry.” The website is available in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch, and Portuguese and offers free publication of press releases and company introductions.
43. HortWeek provides UK horticultural audience podcasts, trade shows, events, market reports, buyers’ guides, machinery tests, and information on plants and plant health.
44. Postharvest is a business platform produced by SPE3, Sl. It covers information, documentation, and promotion for the postharvest operations of vegetables, fruits, and ornamentals.

Produce

45. EastFruit provides horticulture business news, analytics, market reviews, success stories, study tours, and seminars for East Europe and Central Asia.
46. Fresh Fruit Portal publishes news, opinion, agro-reports, and agronometrics and organizes events for a global audience.
47. FreshPlaza is “a global trade media platform for the fresh produce industry,” with editions dedicated to North America, Latin America, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and Africa.
48. Fructidor is a global B2B website for fruits and vegetables on various themes concerning the produce industry.
49. Fruit Growers News is a monthly print publication with award-winning features on the latest news, insights, and products. Digital editions, YouTube video channels, and weekly and monthly newsletters complement the prints.
50. Fruitnet is a daily global news provider sent through email and “brings together several of the fresh produce industry’s leading publications to provide a single, reliable source of news, insight, and analysis.”
51. Good Fruit Grower is a magazine used by orchardists and vineyardists globally since 1946.
52. Growing Produce covers American produce production, profits, and education and organizes events like webinars, conferences, and connects.
53. Jardin HQ provides information on vegetables, flowers, fruits, herbs, and garden tools for people interested in backyard gardening.
54. Produce News covers news on fresh produce from around the world.
55. Tasting Table offers digital content on food retail, issues impacting food, recipes, culture, and entertainment to a global audience of 18 million monthly visitors.
56. The Packer is a Farm Journal production covering the fresh produce industry in the US.

Agtech

57. Biz Vibe is an online B2B networking tool that helps buyers select the right supplier of products from global companies “across 300+ industries and 40,000+ products.”
58. eHow provides information through articles and videos on “how to do just about everything,” from cooking to gardening.
59. Packaging Strategies offers eMagazine and eNewsletters on the news about new materials, machinery, markets, equipment, and packaging brands. It also covers events, directories, etc.
60. The Earth Observatory “is part of the EOS project science at NASA” that shares remotely sensed maps and conducts research using its maps, models, and field data to report on the environment, a changing climate, and the earth. Its publications are aimed at adults and children.

Science Communication and General Knowledge

Besides technical information, there are a host of associated topics, which a person needs information about, for example, climate change or new concepts like circular economy. An increasing number of magazines -print and online- are giving fact-based information or bringing science to people by simplifying scientific findings and putting them into the context of the everyday life of farmers’ or gardeners’ needs. You can choose a relevant source from the list below.

61. AgriLifeToday is an online publication by Texas A&M University covering environment, farm and ranch, lawn and garden, life and health, and science and tech.
62. Britannica is a “fact-checked online encyclopedia from Encyclopaedia Britannica with hundreds of thousands of objective articles, biographies, videos, etc.”
63. Cordis (Community Research and Development Information Service) is the source the European Commission publishes from the research and innovation projects funded by the EU’s programs like FP1, Horizon Europe, etc.
64. DownTo Earth is a print and digital publication that covers news on the environment, economic security, and people’s health and livelihoods.
65. Environment and Energy Leader provides news, research, and best practices influencing energy, environment, and sustainability.
66. Greenbiz has analyses, webcasts, events, and videos on climate change, circularity, and ESG financing.
67. IFLScience, a UK-based science website part of the Canadian LabX Media Group, offers weekly news on science.
68. Live Science explains interesting discoveries daily, from archaeology, dinosaurs, environment, and health to astronomy and human behavior.
69. Lukemiller, a scientist in marine ecology, has a personal website discussing “miscellaneous topics vaguely related to science.”
70. Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, under NOAA (US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), is a federal laboratory researching the earth, climate, atmosphere, and ecosystems. It is a global leader in ocean observations and shares its findings through feature and scientific publications.
71. Phys.org daily communicates scientific findings of science, medicine, engineering, and technology news catering to the general public and scientific community.
72. Science Media Centre is a press office that seeks to bring science to the public by acting as a bridge between scientists and the press. Many subjects are covered, like agriculture, environment, medical sciences, epidemiology, engineering, food, disasters, etc.
73. Science News has covered advances for more than a century in science, medicine, technology, and genetics.
74. Science News Explores provides age-appropriate science news learning tools to students, educators, and parents.
75. ScienceAlert publishes science news once a month and covers essential scientific findings from around the globe.
76. ScienceDaily features the latest discoveries in science, the environment, health, technology, etc., from leading scientific journals, research organizations, and universities.
77. SciTechDaily is a science news site available online and in print that informs about science and technological findings.
78. Society for Science aims at scientific literacy, providing access to STEM scientific research and education for over 100 years.
79. Study Finds provides news on science and technology advances in all spheres of life.
80. The Technologist Mag covers topics about technological innovations in all spheres of life, notably mobiles, the internet, gadgets, virtual reality, AI, and computing.
81. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Resources for Scientists

There are two types of resources we cover in this section for scientists. One is publications, where scientists can publish research results after peer review and look for scientific literature. The other is a miscellaneous category covering different sources of information, from journal databases to websites providing scientists with products for experiments or data analysis.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

82. Ag Data Commons from the US Department of Agriculture is a repository to share research data on food and agriculture, which were collected through USDA-funded research.
83. ASPB Plant Science covers “insights and perspectives on plants.”
84. Botanical Society of America (BSA) is a Wiley journal with many publications on botany and “form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants.” These are the American Journal of Botany (AJB), Applications in Plant Sciences (APPS), and The Plant Science Bulletin.
85. British Ecological Society is the oldest ecological society in the world, with members across the globe. They bring out eight scientific publications- Ecological Solutions and Evidence, Functional Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology, Journal of Applied Ecology, Journal of Ecology, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, People and Nature, and Ecology and Evolution.
86. Communication on Plant Science covers various topics related to plant behavior or interaction with biotic and abiotic factors.
87. Ecological Society of America (ESA) publishes six journals through John Wiley & Sons: Ecology, Ecological Applications, Ecological Monographs, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Ecosphere, and Bulletin.
88. Frontiers is “the 3rd most-cited and 6t
    h largest research publisher and open science platform” and publishes articles on new technology, AI, quality standards, etc.
89. Journal of Plant Science and Phytopathology is an open-access journal covering multi-disciplinary science, including plant diseases, science, and physiology.
90. Malaria Journal has open access and publishes articles exclusively on malaria.
91. MDPI is an open-access publisher based in Switzerland with 421 journals on all disciplines, available for free.
92. Plant Methods publishes open-access online articles on plant sciences and technological innovations.
93. PLOS or Plant Science publishes articles on “plant genetics, biochemistry, physiology, development, morphology, ecology, evolution, systematics, phenomics, etc.”
94. Science publishes the best research across sciences and boosts of articles that are “among the most cited in the world.” It also has several online journals like Science Translational Medicine, Science Immunology, Science Signaling, Science Robotics, and Science Advances.
95. SCIRP (Scientific Research Publishing), with 200 peer-reviewed journals, is one of the largest open-access online journal publishers, covering many disciplines.
96. SpringerLink has the world’s most extensive online collection of 1200 scientific, medical, and technological journals, 25 book series, and reference work.

Miscellaneous Resources

97. BioSpace is a digital publication for life science news that provides insights, tools, and opportunities to professionals advancing health and quality of life worldwide.
98. Eurekalert, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), presents research findings, feature stories, information on research programs, profiles, expert Q&As, etc.
99. Labcompare is the leading marketplace providing scientists and researchers with information on the latest scientific technology, equipment, and laboratory materials.
100. Purdue University Newsroom brings news about the university, innovation, research, students, etc.
101. Plantae is a Plant Biology Journal Database providing information on 160 top journals for scientists, including their “discipline, impact factor, associated society, access level, publisher, and editorial board contact information.”
102. Select science connects scientific communities with solutions, such as technology, product, and service suppliers, through peer recommendations.
103. Semantic Scholar provides free, AI-driven search tools for the research community from a collection of over 200 million papers sourced from publisher partnerships, web crawls, and data providers.
104. Springer Professional is a large digital specialist library with access to over 130000 books, 500 journals, and 35500 online articles.
105. The BenchSci Blog claims to help scientists in their work to bring new treatments to patients quickly. It is a platform that provides AI-based data analysis solutions.

Data Analysis Equipment Suppliers

Besides external information, professionals in both fields need on-site data with rapid and accurate analysis to make decisions or help in experiments. For precision data analysis tools to monitor the quality of fresh produce and cultivation in controlled environments, check out Felix Instruments Applied Food Science tools. Scientists can find small handheld devices to measure complex gas exchanges, canopy parameters, or root growth at CID Bio-Science Inc. All plant professionals, whether in research or practice, at the end of the day, are striving towards a sustainable world, which these tools can help to achieve.