The Van Trump Report

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Alphabet’s Weed-Spotting, Yield Predicting Robot Set to Debut at Smithsonian This Fall

Alphabet Inc.’s X lab, the company’s so-called “moonshot factory,” unveiled its Project Mineral about a year ago with a stated goal of finding effective ways to address global food security using what they call “computational agriculture.” The term describes new types of hardware, software, and sensors to collect and analyze information about the complexity of …

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University of Missouri’s FAPRI Sees Farm Income Stabilizing Above 2019 Levels

Higher commodity prices are contributing to a sharp increase in U.S. net farm income in 2021 that is expected to reach the highest levels since 2013, according to the latest updates from the University of Missouri’s Food & Agriculture Policy Research Institute (FAPRI). Unfortunately, FAPRI sees farm income declining in 2022 due largely to reduced …

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How Refrigeration Transformed Agricultural Trade in America

One of the most important inventions for agricultural trade was something that most consumers today can’t imagine living without – refrigeration. The original idea to use refrigeration for farm goods is credited to dairy farmer Thomas Moore of Maryland who was simply looking for a better way to get his butter to market. First, it’s …

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Something I Never Heard… How Midwest Grape Growers Helped Save the French Wine Industry

Montpelier, France is home to a statue depicting a young woman cradling an older woman in her arms, a representation of the New World (America) saving the Old World. Specifically, it recognizes how rootstock from Missouri grape growers rescued the French wine industry from total destruction. In the early 1860s, the vineyards of France began …

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Why More Ranchers are Turning to HerdDogg

It’s been years since location-based technologies and geofencing-enabled apps, like Foursquare, changed what users expected from their mobile devices. Now we all have access to geo-located tools like Uber, Lyft, and more right at our fingertips. A company called HerdDogg has leveraged this technology to help ranchers keep tabs on their herds and improve efficiency.  …

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Interesting… USDA Enlists Tiny Wasps to Save North America’s Ash Trees

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture decided to stop regulating the movement of living ash trees and wood products as a way to control the spread of one of North America’s most devastating invasive insects, the emerald ash borer. The strategy, which had been in place for over a decade, has proven no …

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For Your Enjoyment… Pick Your Winter Forecast

It’s that time of year, the Old Farmer’s Almanac and their younger sibling, the Farmer’s Almanac (FA) is forecasting the coming winter season. Lets see what both have to say…The Old Farmer’s Almanac (OFA) was founded in 1792 and has been releasing annual long-range weather forecasts for centuries. Remember, the OFA’s weather predictions are made …

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