It was on this day back in 1962 that Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was published, starting what many call the modern environmental movement and the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The book became highly controversial as it pointed fingers at poor agricultural practices being used, specifically the widespread spraying of DDT and …

How the Modern Environmental Movement Got Started… “Silent Spring” Read More »

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 …

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

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 …

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

By 2050, the world will need to feed more than 10 billion people and require a 70% increase in global food production. Animal protein accounts for 20% of the global diet, so the world needs a lot more livestock. However, there is no space to grow, farmers are being forced to produce more food, for …

Streamlining Ranch Operations with “Smart Livestock Management” Read More »

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 …

How Refrigeration Transformed Agricultural Trade in America Read More »

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 …

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

It won’t be long before our noses may be obsolete in the grocery store as well as the kitchen if France-based “Aryballe,” a digital olfaction company with commercial operations in the U.S., has its way. Aryballe recently released the new “NeOse Advance, which is the size of a couple of smartphones stacked and works in …

Interesting NEW Way to Smell if Food is Bad Read More »

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.  …

Why More Ranchers are Turning to HerdDogg Read More »

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 …

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

I was sent this interesting article the other day and I wanted to pass it on and share. I did some research and the text was simplified from the article and deep research report titled, “The Homestead Act of 1862” by Lee Ann Potter and Wynell Schamel. I think we should all spend some time …

Many of Our Farms Trace Back to “The Homestead Act of 1862” Read More »