The farm labor shortage is a persistent pain point for producers across America. Researchers at Mississippi State University have developed a two-fingered robotic arm that works with camera-based perception system to identify and pluck one cotton boll at a time. The new “end-effector” is seen as potential game changer for cotton producers. In robotics, an …
With harvest mostly behind us, I thought it would be interesting to look back at how our grandparents and great-grandparents got the crops out of the fields. We truly are blessed with the advancements we have seen! There is no debating the fact that the arrival of the combine during the middle of the 20th century had a …
Believe it or not, we’ve once again arrived at that time of year when everyone starts offering up their outlooks for the coming New Year. That includes Amazon-owned specialty grocer Whole Foods, which just released its ninth annual trends predictions for 2024. The company calls the annual list a “way for us to pull back …
Whole Foods Market’s Top 10 Food Trends for 2024 Read More »
According to the 2023 ABA and Farmer Mac Agricultural Lender Survey, ag lenders estimate that more than three-quarters of their borrowers will remain profitable in 2023 and two-thirds will remain profitable through 2024. However, as concerns about inflation ease, ag bankers are growing nervous about farm liquidity and income heading into next year. Following a …
US cotton producers are warily eying Brazil where the country’s production is expected to top the US for the first time, according to the USDA’s most recent projections. Meanwhile, strained US supplies due to a drought-stricken crop in Texas could allow Brazil to surpass US exports and become the world’s top cotton supplier, dealing yet …
Brazil Close to Unseating US as Top Global Cotton Exporter Read More »
Citrus greening disease has ravaged Florida’s citrus industry since it was first discovered there 25 years ago, with citrus production having since dropped nearly -80%. The devastating disease has also spread to citrus groves in California, Louisiana, and Texas, as well as over 30 other countries around the world. After over two decades of desperately …
USDA Researchers Believe They’ve Found a Treatment for Citrus Greening Disease Read More »
A huge white 4-and-a-half-year-old Nelore breed cow named Viatina-19 FIV Mara Imóveis, has sold for the highest price ever, making it the most expensive cow in the world. One-third of the ownership of the cow, was sold for over +$1.4 million at an auction held in Arandú, Brazil, placing its total value at a staggering …
The Dow Jones futures index, the first modern American stock index, was created by a not-well-educated farm boy with little money named Charles Henry Dow. When the young Charles Dow left the family farm for the big city, there was exactly no one predicting he would go on to become one of the most famous …
How a Farmer From Connecticut Became the Most Well-Known Name in Finance Read More »
Livestock producers all across the US are dealing with a serious shortage of large and food animal veterinarians. According to the USDA, in 2023, the shortage or rural veterinarians has reached an all-time high, with 500 counties in 46 states deemed as having a critical shortage of large animal vets. The shortfall poses risks to …
America’s Large Animal Veterinarian Shortage is Barreling Toward Crisis Levels Read More »
It was this week back in 1785 that a Baptist teacher and preacher named Elijah Craig founded a distillery in Kentucky using corn to make whiskey. Craig has sometimes been claimed to have been the first to age the whiskey in charred oak casks, “a process that gives the bourbon its brownish color and unique …
