Rural America is dotted with countless barns of all shapes and sizes, most of which take their form from the specific function they serve. In some parts of the country, you may have noticed a number of barns adorned with giant quilt-like decorations. The so-called “barn quilts” are a new take on an old tradition …
Cargill recently chartered a Mitsubishi Corporation vessel that has been retrofitted with a technology called “WindWings,” an advanced wind-assisted propulsion system that could cut fuel usage by as much as 30%. The solid wing sails were developed by UK firm “BAR Technologies” and manufactured by “Yara Marine Technologies.” If the trial succeeds, Cargill intends to …
Farmers in 20 US states that plant cover crops can now receive financial and technical assistance through a new “Farmers for Soil Health” program. The program, in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, will pay transition incentives totaling $50 per new acre of cover crops over the …
New Incentive Payments to Help US Farmers Adopt More Cover Crops Read More »
Last weekend America celebrated National Potato day and many historians will agree that today is the anniversary of the invention of the “potato chip”, which took place in 1853 at the Moon’s Lake House on Saratoga Lake in New York thanks to chef George Crum and a disgruntled customer. Interestingly the story really begins in …
Potato Chips Anniversary and the Great Potato Story Read More »
The perennial grain crop “Kernza” has been generating a lot of buzz as a climate-friendly wheat substitute. Developed by Kansas-based research organization, The Land Institute, Kernza is a hybrid created from durum wheat and intermediate wheatgrass. The perennial trait it gains from wheatgrass means it comes back year after year from the same root system, …
I hear so many in agriculture say, “This is how my daddy did it and how his daddy did it and this is how we are going to keep doing it…” I heard that a lot growing up at several farms in my area. As I’ve gotten older, however, I’ve come to learn that it …
One of the biggest hurdles to wider adoption of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is price competitiveness compared to traditional jet fuel. There simply isn’t enough SAF being produced to supply the more than 100 billion gallons of jet fuel demand generated by the global aviation industry every year. Ethanol producers believe SAF from corn-based ethanol …
Corn-Based Ethanol Could Help Solve the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Supply Problem Read More »
Fort Worth, Texas, is known for Longhorns and the cowboys that drove the vast herds north to market. It is also home to the only museum in the world that is dedicated to the often overlooked cowgirls that played an equal role in taming the American West – the “National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of …
What You Might Not Know About the “Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame” Read More »
Soybean production and demand are currently being heavily debated in today’s trade. With this in mind, I thought it was good timing to reflect back on how this crop came about here in the U.S. and how quickly South American production has expanded. U.S. farmers are expected to produce over +4.2 billion bushels of …
How Soybeans Finally Became a Major Crop in America Read More »
Samuel Leeds Allen was the founder of S.L. Allen & Company in Philadelphia. He was the inventor of, and his company manufactured, both the Flexible Flyer sled and Planet Jr farm and garden equipment. For over one hundred years these products were the best-selling and most famous American sleds and market gardening tools available. During …
