Bolt cutters instead of scissors cutting through a chain instead of ribbon marked the grand opening of GROWMARK’s new Tank and Truck Center in Morton, Illinois last month. The bolt cutters were a last minute change when weather forced the celebration inside. Tank and Truck Center Sales and Operations Manager Mike Davis says they were supposed to use a blow …
SMART Farmer Lauren Arbogast
Lauren Arbogast is a city girl who married into the farm and found it so interesting that she started a blog about it. On her blog “Paint The Town Ag”, which has also become her Facebook and Twitter platform, Lauren shares photos of musings of life on the farm with her husband and two “mini farmer” sons. She became a …
Survey Spurs Farm Groups to Action on Opioid Crisis
Two of the nation’s largest farm groups plan to work together in response to staggering numbers released in a recent survey on opioid abuse in rural America. The Morning Consult survey shows farmers and ranchers are more affected than the rest of their rural neighbors, with 74 percent confirming they’ve been directly impacted by opioid abuse. The American Farm Bureau …
New Ag Retailers Chair Has Game Plan
The new chairman of the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) says 2017 was a championship year for the organization and he hopes to sustain that excellence moving forward. John Oster with Morral Companies in Ohio says one area where ARA will be very active in the coming year is in development of the new farm bill. “Although we are a small …
New White Paper Explores Opportunities for U.S. Ag in Cuba
Two leading advocates for normalizing trade with Cuba announced the release of a new white paper, Opportunities for U.S. Agriculture in Cuba: A White Paper, that examines how 16 farm states could benefit if the U.S. repeals longstanding restrictions on food sales to the island nation. The paper was produced by Cuba Trade Magazine and the U.S. Agriculture Coalition for …
Agriculture Secretary Addresses Ag Retailers
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue topped off the ARA Conference and Expo on Thursday in Phoenix, covering a broad range of topics in his comments including tax reform, de-regulation, trade, food security, infrastructure, school lunches and the farm bill. Perdue, who noted his past experience in the fertilizer business and with ARA’s predecessor organization, the National Fertilizer Solutions Association, talked …
American Veal Commits to Innovation, Collaboration & Quality
The American Veal Association (AVA) represents milk-fed veal producers and those members are small family farms. We were able to learn more about the organization and its vision of being a source of information and collaboration to customers about the high-quality, safe and nutritious veal their members provide and its mission of leading advocacy efforts that engage the industry in …
Biofuels Industry Reacts to Final RVO Numbers
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released today its final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for 2018. The agency finalized a total renewable fuel volume of 19.29 billion gallons, including 4.29 billion advanced biofuel – a slight increase from the proposal – and 288 million gallons of cellulosic biofuel. The agency maintained the requirement for conventional renewable fuels …
FBN Launches E-Commerce Platform
Farmers have another option when it comes to buying inputs with a new e-commerce platform offered by Farmers Business Network (FBN). FBN currently encompasses more than 16 million acres of farmland across the United States growing a variety of crops. FBN Vice President Charles Baron said customers can now buy inputs online with national pricing and financing programs to provide …
Deere ExactApply™ Nozzle Control System Wins AE50 Award
The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) has recognized the ExactApply™ Nozzle Control System from John Deere with the AE50 Award for 2018. The award highlights the year’s most innovative designs in product engineering in the food and agriculture industry, as chosen by a panel of international engineering experts. Introduced in 2016, the ExactApply Nozzle Control system provides …