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Agricultural and aviation communities quietly celebrate the 103rd anniversary of the first use of the airplane for crop dusting. This week in 1921, Army Air Corps pilot Lieutenant John A. Macready, piloting a specially modified Curtiss JN4 Jenny, spread lead arsenate over a six-acre grove of 6,000 catalpa trees at Postmaster Harry Carver’s farm in …

Looking Back at Our First Crop Dusters… Dedicated to One of Our Fallen Farming Families Read More »

Canola is becoming a more popular crop with US farmers as energy producers look to increase the oilseed’s role as a renewable fuels feedstock. The latest USDA data shows US farmers planted a record high of 2.66 million acres in 2024, up from 2.34 million in 2023 and 1.71 million in 2014. And canola acres …

Why Canola is Becoming the Answer for Some US Producers Read More »

Michelle and I loved the State Fairs when we were kids!!! We didn’t have much money, so the State Fair was a big treat as a kid. There was always good food, good music, good livestock, and good people. As we turn the calendar to August, we start to see a lot more State Fairs …

US “State Fair” Season Kicking Off… Read More »

The “Clean Fuels Alliance America,” a national trade association representing the biodiesel, renewable diesel, and sustainable aviation fuel industries, is asking the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider blending requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for 2024 and 2025. According to CFAA, the agency set biomass-based diesel and overall advanced volumes significantly below …

Renewable Fuels Industry Fights to Lift Blending Requirements Read More »

Folks around the country are already enjoying one of summer’s best perks – sweet corn season! The tasty treat comes out of the field a few months earlier than dent corn, lucky for us humans. As most probably know, sweet corn and dent corn are very different plants. Dent corn, also referred to as “field …

It’s Sweet Corn Season…What You Might Not Know About the Summertime Treat Read More »

Vermont dairy farmer and track star Elle Purrier St. Pierre will compete at the Olympic Games for an impressive second time this year. St. Pierre finished 10th in the women’s 1,500-meter race at the Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 and recently qualified for Team USA after setting a new meet-performance record at the U.S. Olympic …

Vermont Dairy Farmer Elle Purrier St. Pierre is Headed to the Olympics…Again! Read More »

Every year, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) analyzes US corn farming’s economic contributions to the US economy. In 2023, corn farming for grain generated an estimated $151 billion in total economic output, with an estimated contribution of $62 billion to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Those contributions extended across 524 different industry sectors in all …

US Corn Farmers Contributed Nearly $62 Billion to 2023 GDP Read More »

With all of the fresh watermelon hitting the market, I thought it would be good to review again a few tips about how to pick just the right one. A few of our readers happen to be some of the largest watermelon producers in the U.S. and have passed along a few inside tips through …

How To Pick The Perfect Watermelon Read More »

Brazil’s poultry industry was recently dealt a blow after Newcastle Disease (ND) was confirmed on a chicken farm in Rio Grande do Sul. Brazil has voluntarily suspended some exports of chickens and eggs as a result, though no other cases have been found. Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry has ruled out three other suspected cases and right …

What You Need to Know About “Newcastle Disease” in Brazil Read More »

Wheat is one of the most important crops in the world, accounting for some 20% of humanity’s calorie intake. Nearly 100 years ago, a little-known botanist named Arthur Watkins developed an obsession with wheat and set about collecting samples from across the globe. His collection, now held at the John Innes Centre in the UK, …

Wheat “Goldmine” Collected Nearly a Century Ago Could Help Future Crops Read More »