It’s early-September and the weather is still screaming “summer”. However, the first significant freeze might not be all that far away, which is kind of ironic considering the hot temps many of us have been battling. Labor Day will be behind us when we return next week and summer will be officially over. The …
Sir John Bennet Lawes, an English agronomist and founder of the artificial fertilizer industry died this day in 1900, but not before he would forever change how we grow our crops. Lawes found himself fatherless at the age of 8 and the responsibility of the 250-acre family farm left in the hands of just himself …
How a College Dropout Turned Farm Debt into a Fertilizer Dynasty Read More »
I recently received an article written by Susan Reidy titled, “Global population paradigm shift“. I encourage you to read it in full detail. In a nutshell it goes into recent data regarding global population shifts and changes and the fact there are already more than 60 countries experiencing population drops, according to the United Nations, …
Interesting to Think About… What Happens to Agriculture When Global Population Peaks? Read More »
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is raising alarms among the agriculture industry, including the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), as it proposes new guidance for agricultural chemicals. A new pilot program regulating pesticides is designed to bring the agency into better alignment with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and would restrict ag chemical usage …
What You Need to Know About EPA’s Sweeping New Ag Chemical Rule Proposals Read More »
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 …
