The Van Trump Report

Agriculture

It’s Official… Legendary “6666 Ranch” has New Hollywood Owners

The long-rumored deal for one of America’s most historic ranches is “officially” official – the legendary 6666 Ranch in West Texas has been sold. The more than 266,000-acre property first established in 1870 is now owned by a group led by Hollywood writer Taylor Sheridan, who is probably best known for the hit television series …

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What We Need to Know About Silent “Bat-Killing” Fungus

Bats don’t get the same “buzz” as bees when it comes to nature’s pollinators, but they play a bigger role in agriculture than many might realize. And not only do they pollinate crops, they eat copious amounts of crop-killing insects. The population of this critical species is at risk though, with a deadly fungus known …

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Big Meat Companies Gobbling Up Alternative Meat Companies

Big meat and food conglomerates are gobbling up producers of meat alternatives according to the latest industry reports. Meat companies such as JBS and Cargill have invested heavily in plant-based proteins and laboratory-grown meats in recent years and bought out several smaller companies. Other companies investing heavily in the space also include Kellog’s, Conagra, Tyson …

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Interesting… A Double-Edge Sword as Almond Farmers Juggle Drought and Plunging Prices

A majority of the world’s almonds supplies come from California, a state that happens to be experiencing a historic drought. As shrinking water supplies threaten to push already razor-thin margins into negative territory, growers are increasingly questioning the economic sanity of sinking more money into the water-thirsty crop. Almond prices have plummeted to around $1.75 …

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USDA Report Examines Barriers to Higher Ethanol Blends in U.S.

Today, virtually all gasoline sold in the U.S. contains 10% ethanol (E10) thanks to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that came into effect in 2005. Between 2005 and 2010, ethanol sales more than tripled before leveling off as a result of increased vehicle fuel efficiency and the rise of hybrid and electric vehicles. With these …

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GREAT LESSON – How Sri Lanka’s Organic Farming Experiment Went Terribly Wrong

Sri Lanka’s government was recently toppled amid the worst economic crisis since the island nation gained independence in 1948. The country’s ruling Rajapaksa family is blamed for severely mismanaging the economy, resulting in a default on Sri Lanka’s sovereign debt, the collapse of its currency, and a humanitarian crisis due to a severe shortage of …

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World’s First Ammonia-Powered Zero-Emissions Tractor Starts Testing

The world’s first ammonia-powered zero-emissions tractor successfully completed its first demonstration run at the Advanced Energy Center at Stony Brook University in New York last week.  The midsized John Deere tractor had its diesel engine replaced with an “ammonia to power” system developed by a startup called Amogy. The system converts the energy-dense chemical into …

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