It is a sunny opening day at the Farm Progress Show. Things have been heating up in the media tent! Fortunately, we’ve got a nice breeze outside on the exhibit grounds. Cindy and I have been doing interviews and taking photos and have quite a few in the process of uploading now. We’re going to have lots of stories to …
Farm Futures 2013 Planting Intentions Survey
Farm Futures released the results of a 2013 planting intentions survey. I visited with Arlan Suderman, Market Analyst, to learn what they found out. U.S. farmers are unsure about whether to increase corn acreage next spring, despite high prices and sharply lower production caused by this year’s historic drought. Instead, Farm Futures magazine’s first survey of 2013 planting intentions shows …
Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show
Woodstock, ON is known as the Dairy Capital of Canada but is also home of Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show – the nation’s largest agricultural trade show. As Cindy and I gear up for a big one here in the USA it’s time to look ahead to the big show in Canada! From September 11 to 13, thousands of farmers flock …
Weed Resistance Warning from Arkansas
Retired Arkansas weed scientist Ford Baldwin wants Midwest growers to learn from what happened in his state before it’s too late for them. “The story I try to tell in the Midwest is how we basically have lost the world’s greatest herbicide technology in the south in Roundup Ready,” Ford said at a Bayer CropScience Respect the Rotation field day …
Pray for Farmers and Ranchers Hit by Drought
The American Farm Bureau Federation is asking everyone today to remember the many individuals and families facing severe struggles due to this year’s devastating drought. According to AFBF President Bob Stallman, suggestions for a National Day of Prayer for Drought Victims have come from a number of people throughout farm country as a way to support people facing challenges related …
Bayer Crop Protection for Corn and Soybeans
At the recent Bayer CropScience Respect the Rotation event in Collinsville, Illinois, growers learned more about some of the company’s crop protection products for corn and soybeans to help them better avoid resistance issues in the future. “We want to continue to use the products that we have,” said Mark Waddington, Bayer tech services rep, who talked about insecticides and …
Organic Pig Farming
Here’s something you don’t see everyday. A group of agricultural journalists from many countries playing with some organic pigs. This is on the Asbergby Farm during the 2012 IFAJ Congress. We met Olle and Catharina Linder who are organic farmers raising pigs and cattle. You can see how they keep their pigs in the video. What do you think of …
The Drought
Wells are running dry, cattle are being sold and crops are withering away. There is no question that farmers and ranchers across the Midwest are experiencing one of the worst droughts in history. Maybe it hasn’t directly affected you yet, but don’t worry it will. Producers and consumers alike will see the impact from our lack of rain. But lets …
A Dire Future Without Major Societal Changes
Our opening speaker at the 2012 IFAJ Congress immediately dove into the deep end on the theme of “Solutions for a Green Future.” He is Johan Rockstrom, Executive Director of the Stockholm Resilience Center. As he opened his remarks he pointed to what he calls the most significant news of our age which was announced yesterday. He was referring to …
Ag Industry Not Ready for Cloud Data Storage
It doesn’t look like the ag world is ready to embrace the cloud to store precious data. Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Will you use the cloud to store your data?” According to the results 62% said No, too many risks. Only 20% said Yes, already do and 18% said Yes but looking for better options. So how do …