The Van Trump Report

Month: December 2022

“Row 7” Changing the System by Changing the Seed… Breeding for Flavor

Just 50 years ago, some 1,000 small and family-owned seed companies were producing and distributing seeds in the United States but by 2009, there were fewer than 100. From the Big Bang of agriculture around 10,000 B.C. until a hundred or so years ago, farmers saved their seeds to plant for the next season, meaning …

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Illinois Startup “Sabanto” Wants Autonomous Technology to be More Accessible and Affordable

Autonomy continues to be a key focus for farm equipment manufacturers as increasingly tech-savvy farmers seek solutions to any number of issues that plague the agriculture industry. Among the still small but growing list of options is Illinois-based farm autonomy startup “Sabanto.” The company’s technology automates small farming equipment such as tractors with between 60 …

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700 Years Later… The Process Hasn’t Changed for the King of Cheese

Roquefort cheese could be bundled with any other blue cheese as its moldy appearance and strong smell is certainly a giveaway, but Roquefort isn’t just any French blue cheese. According to legend, a young shepherd, perched on the Combalou plateau, spied a beautiful shepherdess in the distance and determined to woo her, he hastily left …

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America’s Rural Workforce Continues to Shrink as Small Towns Get More Grey

This year’s “Rural America at a Glance” places a heavy emphasis on the shrinking rural workforce as small-town America’s population continues to age at a faster clip than its urban counterparts. That’s despite the fact that nonmetropolitan areas grew at a faster rate than metropolitan areas during 2020–21 due to a sharp turnaround in migration flows …

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How Charles Pillsbury Transformed the Wheat Industry

Most Americans are very familiar with the Pillsbury Company which has given us a host of iconic products, including the company’s Classic Yellow Cake Mix, every flavor of pre-made frosting, and those addictive Crescent Rolls. Pillsbury’s marketing efforts for its various brands also generated iconic characters like the Doughboy and Jolly Green Giant. The company …

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Could Year-Round Bird Flu Dramatically Change the Chicken and Egg Business?

Poultry farmers across the globe remain under threat from an unusually long and lethal bird flu outbreak that has led to the loss of nearly 53 million birds in the US and at least 50 million in Europe. The outbreaks involve a Eurasian H5N1 strain that experts say is behaving differently than anything they’ve seen …

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