“They’re not making any more of it” has long been a popular response among farmers justifying a land purchase (or in the case of retirees or heirs, for holding on to it). But now it seems, they’re making less of it. A lot less. Like 20 million acres less. That’s about the size of Maine.
What are farmers doing during these cold winter days? If they farm in the Midwest, they may be laying tile. I realize this may be a foreign concept to my friends in the west, but in many areas of the Corn Belt, you must often move water out of your fields. In heavier soils, excessive rainwater can remain
Back in the mid-1980s, this then-high school student attended a farmer meeting with dad. One of the speakers was a commodities advisor. He playfully asked the attendees what their target price was for their crops. He further inquired, “How many of you are still holding out for the return of $12 soybeans?” The sheepish looks
When explaining the carbon offset market, many of you have heard me give the example of companies and individuals purchasing carbon credits to “offset” their carbon footprints. By nature of what they do, some businesses such as airlines have no choice, as they’ll otherwise never come close to meeting self-imposed carbon footprint targets.
The image below is more than just a funny meme. It depicts how generations of farmers painted the canvas of their fields. The farm I grew up on consisted of a 160-acre field, complete with waterways, hills, wet holes, varying soil types, point rows, and in spots, contest-winning yield potential. We annually split the field
The popular TV series Yellowstone, along with the western lifestyle craze, has certainly romanticized ranching. It seems like everyone wants to be a rancher, until there’s real-world ranching stuff to do. This week’s bone-chilling Midwestern weather brings back memories. Notice I didn’t say fond memories. When you have livestock, they require care every day. Utility tractors
Nitrogen Use Efficiency has quickly become part of the vocabulary surrounding sustainability. But NUE is more than just a buzzword or another fancy acronym. NUE is the benchmark for nitrogen management. You’ll often see it used to measure the amount of nitrogen used to produce a bushel of grain. NUE is a pillar for calculating
A new year brings new hope and new predictions. Gazing into my crystal ball, here’s what’s taking shape in 2024: “Just in time” fertilizer application will continue. Granted, I still saw lots of knife-marked farm fields across Illinois while I was home for the holidays. But the practice of applying nutrients exactly when they are
“Life.” That was my response when asked “What does soil health mean?” during an interview on The Big Show with WHO Radio last week. Whether it’s accelerating populations of soil microbes and worms, creating diverse biological communities or building biomass and aggregates, healthy soils are full of life. The trick is to stimulate and maintain biology in
Now’s the time when holiday enthusiasts start dreaming of a White Christmas. But the marshmallow world created by falling snowflakes offers much more than a glistening backdrop for a Hallmark movie. And nobody choruses “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow” louder than farmers. In the northern states, snow can account for 2/3 of
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