Despite the fact that the House Agriculture Committee has a new farm bill ready to go to the floor for a vote, leadership decided late on Friday to instead vote this week on a one-year extension of the current legislation, coupled with an extension of disaster aid for livestock producers. The reason is the drought, according to House Agriculture Committee …
Timely Poll Shows Most People Eat Meat
The environmental and health effects of livestock production and meat can be debated, but one fact is for sure – most people like to eat it. A brand new Gallup Poll finds that only 5% of people in the United States consider themselves vegetarians – and only 2% say they are vegans who eat no animal products. According to Gallup: …
Getting to Know Raven Industries
The Raven Innovation Summit this week was a great chance to get to learn more about this dynamic and diverse company that manufacturers precision agriculture solutions. This year was the 10th Innovation Summit and the first time that the company invited media to attend the event that brings Raven partners from around the world to company headquarters in Sioux Falls, …
Raven Offers Solutions for Farmers Worldwide
Raven Industries is helping farmers all over the world be more productive and efficient with precision agriculture solutions. At this week’s Raven Innovation Summit, I talked with Karl Erichsen of Effective Farming Solutions in Middleburg, South Africa who has been a distributor for 12 years. Karl says precision farming is very important in South Africa because of the wide variety …
USDA Apologizes for Meatless Mondays Gaffe
After an internal USDA newsletter promoting “Meatless Mondays” was made public Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack personally apologized to the president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and said the document was not only pulled from the website, it was edited and re-sent to USDA employees without suggestions that meat production was bad for the environment and human health. “We …
USDA “Meatless Mondays” Uproar
An internal USDA Greening Update newsletter that promotes “Meatless Mondays” caused a bit of an uproar on Wednesday. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) sent out a news release linking to the newsletter and questioning USDA’s commitment to the livestock industry. The newsletter talked about various “greening” initiatives by the agency and suggested that “one simple way to reduce our …
Raven Makes Connections with Slingshot
Slingshot® was officially introduced by Raven at AG CONNECT Expo in January 2010. Just two and a half years later, this innovative use of wireless connectivity over cell phone networks is helping farmers all over the world get cost effective secure access to critical operating data. “It allows data to move from the tractor to the farm or to the …
Raven Hosts 2012 Innovation Summit
The purpose of Raven Industries is “to solve great challenges” and the company has been doing that now since 1956 in several different areas, including precision agriculture. Matt Burkhart, Raven’s Applied Technology Division Vice President, welcomed over 200 of the company’s industry partners from all over the world Tuesday to the Raven Innovation Summit in Sioux Falls, SD. “We believe …
USDA Announces More Drought Aid for Farmers
Following President Obama’s directive last week to take additional steps to support struggling producers, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack today announced new measures that will help livestock and crop farmers in drought-stricken areas of the country. Vilsack announced new flexibility and assistance in USDA conservation programs to get help to livestock producers as the most wide-spread drought in seven decades …
RIP Beloved Farm Broadcaster Dix Harper
Our beloved friend and veteran farm broadcaster Dix Harper went to his eternal reward today, surrounded by his devoted wife and members of their church family. Many of us have been following the journey of Dix and his wife Harriet after he was diagnosed with cancer in the spring of this year. She has been keeping friends and family up …