Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day in the United States. I still remember the very first Earth Day when I was in middle school and it was a very “hippy-ish” sort of deal. Today, everyone is in on the environmental act. That includes farmers and ranchers – the original environmentalists. As National Corn Growers Association president Darrin Ihnen, …
EPA Blog Advocates Vegetarianism
Who knew that there was an “Official Blog of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency”? And who would have imagined that a federal agency would allow contributions to it by government employees who want to promote their particular lifestyle or agenda? An intern at the Office of Children’s Health Protection (whatever that is) who is a “sophomore studying non-profit management at …
Plow Boys Make Planting Progress
The planters were tearing it up around the country last week in the glorious weather. What a difference a year makes! Last year at this time, just five percent of the corn was planted. As of Sunday, a whopping 19 percent was in the ground – more than twice the five year average! Illinois has 34 percent planted, compared to …
Catching up with Laura
Long-time Agwired readers may remember the lovely and talented Laura McNamara who did quite a bit of work for us back a couple of years ago. Among her many assignments was covering the 2007 Indy 500 and Agritechnica. She was also at the 2008 Farm Progress Show with Chuck and helped us with a number of other clients. Her amazing …
Four Years of Forage Forum
I can’t believe it has been almost four years since we started producing the Forage Forum podcast for Pioneer on World Dairy Diary. When we started it in July of 2006, it was the very first dairy nutrition podcast for livestock producers. We’ve done over 70 podcasts since that time. Each one features news and information important to dairy professionals …
Ag Groups Unite for Estate Tax Reform
In a letter to Senate leaders, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) has joined with 27 other agricultural groups in a unified call for permanent and meaningful estate tax relief for America’s farm and ranch families. “We support permanently raising the exemption to no less than $5 million …
Ethanol “FlameDisk” Demo
“Drink the best and burn the rest” has been the unofficial motto of the ethanol industry – but you can literally do that when you grill with the FlameDisk® charcoal alternative. According to their promotional material, “the FlameDisk® is much more eco-friendly than charcoal and lighter fluid because it features renewable ethanol. Ethanol is extremely clean burning and generates 90% …
AutoCopter Has Ag Applications
This flying machine has got to appeal to the kid in any farmer or rancher who loves to play with remote-controlled toys. It’s called the AutoCopter, it costs about $30,000 up front and less than $2.00 an hour to operate, and it can let you see your crops, land, fences, barn roof, wind turbine or whatever from a bird’s eye …
BASF LEGOs Donated to FFA
Remember the LEGO sculpture at BASF’s Commodity Classic booth in Anaheim? Ever wonder what they did with that? Turns out that BASF donated the thousands of LEGO bricks used in the custom barn and crop sculpture to the National FFA Organization in Indianapolis. The organization plans to utilize the LEGO bricks beginning this fall as part of leadership conferences and …
HSUS Claims Ag is “Paranoid”
The head of the Humane Society of the United States says agriculture interests are just “paranoid” about the organization’s motives. In an 18 minute interview with Brownfield Network’s Julie Harker about the proposed “puppy mill” ballot initiative in Missouri that would impose new regulations on dog breeders, HSUS president Wayne Pacelle refuted the idea that they were ultimately targeting the …