Leroy Perkins is an Iowa farmer who will be featured in an Associated Press “investigative report” being released this week about ethanol and the environment. He claims that his comments were taken out of context and reporters who interviewed him never told him it was for a “story to put down ethanol.” “I think the AP folks wrote a little …
14 Billion Bushels of Corn!
Despite all the challenges that faced farmers this season, the nation’s corn crop is on track to be a record high 14.0 billion bushels, according to the new crop production report released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). NASS revised the planted corn acreage downward in the new report, but increased the yield estimate …
iCropTrak Updates Improve Soil Sampling
Cogent3D, makers of iCropTrak, have taken soil sampling to a whole new level for farmers this fall. Aaron Hutchinson, Cogent3D president and co-founder, says they took the best practices from their dedicated soil sampling apps and feedback from soil sampling customers to upgrade iCropTrak Soil Sampling capabilities. “iCropTrak is the third generation of our farming technologies that we’ve built,” he …
Catfish on the Farm Bill Conference Plate
Catfish was a word only heard once in the first farm bill conference committee meeting, giving some hope that it might be one of the less contentious issues in completing the legislation. “We’re certainly hopeful of that,” says Gavin Gibbons of the National Fisheries Institute, which has been actively engaged in the push to repeal the USDA catfish inspection program …
Farmland – The Movie
Award-winning filmmaker James Moll has announced the release of his first trailer for the new film called “Farmland.”. The documentary chronicles the next generation of American farmers and ranchers from across the United States. You can view the trailer and additional information about the film at farmlandfilm.com. Mark your calendars for Spring 2014 when the film is released for the …
#FarmBill Trends on Twitter
People actually seemed to be paying attention to the first House Senate Conference Committee meeting on the farm bill Wednesday. #FarmBill was a trending topic on Twitter for awhile during the meeting. There were lots of tweets on the King amendment regarding interstate commerce of agricultural products since HSUS is opposed to it, and also plenty of #SNAP comments. There …
DialogueNEXT Panels at World Food Prize
Novus International president and CEO Thad Simons moderated a two-part panel discussion on the next generation and what technologies will be “enabling smallholder farmers in the future to be part of the agricultural revolution.” The panels focused on “Capacity and Capitol” in the morning and “Beyond the Big Idea” in the afternoon. “We were happy to be able to show …
Taking Responsibility for Growing Food
Soybean and pork farmer from Columbus, Nebraska, Bill Luckey, served as a panelist for the Boston Food Dialogues. His family farm includes 600 crop acres, cattle, sows and finishing hogs. Bill also serves on the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) Board of Directors and several committees. Bill is lucky that his kids are home running the combine so he was …
What Does the Consumer Want?
Is big or small farming the future? Tough question, but the conversation was had and Lori Renzi, Vice President of Brand Strategy & Development at Charlie Baggs Culinary Innovations (CBCI) was one of the lucky panelists who got the chance to express her opinion and expertise during USFRA’s Boston Food Dialogues. CBCI is a consulting practice for the global food …
Is Small Farms or Diversity the Answer?
USFRA’s Boston Food Dialogues panelists came from the east and the west, represented the big and the small, work in agribusinesses and in small farming communities. Michael Swanson, Agricultural Economist for Wells Fargo Bank NA, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Bruce Rominger, Rominger Brothers Farm, Winters, California were two panelists Chuck had the chance to speak with after the recent Boston Food …