The new chairman of the American Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF&R) committee is a 4th generation cattle producer from Southwest Missouri who is enthusiastic and optimistic about the future of agriculture for his generation and those to come. “I want nothing more than for my children to be the fifth generation on the same property that my …
Get The AgFax
During the Beltwide Cotton Conferences I got to visit with and get to know AgFax with husband/wife partners Debra Ferguson and Owen Taylor. Owen conducted a conference session titled, “New vs. Old Information Sources to Clientele,” as part of the segment on social media in production agriculture. As a new media company, we can relate to that! AgFax is “Where …
Athena For Cotton
During the Beltwide Cotton Conferences my sponsor, FMC, featured two products for cotton growers, Athena and Mustang Max. I visited with Rusty Mitchell, to learn more about Athena. Rusty says Athena was originally developed for tree fruits and vegetable crops but realized it would have a great fit in cotton. It’s a pre-mix insecticide which was initially targeting spider mite …
Cotton’s First Forty Days
One of the resources available to cotton growers from the National Cotton Council is a pair of booklets on best management practices. They’re titled “The First 40 Days” and “Fruiting to Finish,” (pdf) To learn more about this project I spoke with Bill Robertson, Manager, Cotton Agronomy, Soils and Physiology, pictured toward the right in this photo. Bill says these …
AFBF President Addresses Membership
The president of the American Farm Bureau Federation told members gathered for the organization’s 93rd annual meeting Sunday that America’s farmers and ranchers are more productive than ever and are providing a solid economic foundation for our nation. “We are the 1 percent that is producing food and fiber for the other 99 percent,” said Bob Stallman of Texas in …
Hawaii Governor Welcomes Farm Bureau
Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie welcomed members of the American Farm Bureau Federation on Sunday with open arms and shared his vision of agriculture for the Aloha State. “You have to have an integrated approach to water, to land and to agriculture,” Abercrombie said, as he talked about the rich Polynesian history of the state and the concept of Ahupuaa – …
FMC On Display
During the Beltwide Cotton Conferences there’s a program track called “New Developments From Industry.” Our sponsor, FMC, conducted two of those sessions, including one by Craig Heim on a product they expect registration on later this year. Now that’s new! Craig says they anticipate the new product will have the trade name Display which is a combination of two PPO …
A Look At This Year’s Beltwide Cotton Conferences
This year’s Beltwide Cotton Conferences attracted about the same size crowd as last year according to National Cotton Council Vice President of Producer Affairs, Craig Brown. I sat down with Craig to find out how he thought things were going and to talk about upcoming format changes for the annual event. Craig says this is the second year they have …
2012 Cotton Market Outlook
We’ve had a look back at the cotton industry in 2011 but how about 2012? At the Beltwide Cotton Conferences we got that outlook from J. Michael Quinn, Carolinas Cotton Growers Cooperative. He started with a look at supply and demand. The December acreage projection was down from the November report. December had a significant slow down in mill use …
2011 Cotton Year In Review
How did things go in the cotton industry in 2011? The answers were included in a Beltwide Cotton Conferences general session presentation by Dr. David Wright, University of Florida. Florida wound up the 13th largest cotton growing state last year as an fyi. David says there was just too much that happened in 2011 to cover it all but he …