You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but you can judge seed products by their bag covers. There’s lots of telling information on them. Just look at this bag of seeds going on my farm. The bag itself prominently features the brand name and logo (AgriGold), type of product (corn), the actual product name (A647-79VT2PRO) and
Football may be a game of inches, but farming is a business of fractional inches. Take planting. Seed placement is paramount to the success of a crop. Farmers spend lots of time calculating the optimum rate and depth to plant their seeds based on genetics, soil type, soil conditions, weather, management practices and the desired output
Regenerative agriculture is not some passing fad. It’s now a movement. And it’s here to stay. How can we be sure? Just look at who’s driving it. Unlike well-intentioned predecessors, such as LISA (Low Input Sustainable Agriculture), regen ag has a financial benefactor: food companies. From lofty goals articulated by their CEOs to multi-million-dollar investments, consumer
Farmers love to grow corn. Only twice in modern history has corn not held the title of the most-grown crop in the USA. That was in 2018 and (if you count it) 1983, when the government’s PIK program artificially swayed planting practices. Spurred by record fertilizer prices, many projected soybeans would overtake corn last year
For most farmers, April means the start of planting season. It’s a lot like opening day for a baseball team: heavy planning, great excitement and anticipation, lots of optimism and more than a few watch outs. So when exactly do farmers start planting? While they all have a plan, Mother Nature usually has the final say. There is
Tomorrow is National Ag Day! Just like Huma, Inc., National Ag Day is enjoying its golden anniversary. The day is dedicated to celebrating and raising awareness for how our food, fiber (and energy) is produced. This year’s theme is “Growing a Climate for Tomorrow.” Agriculture is the USA’s largest employer, responsible for 23 million jobs –
It’s Commodity Classic week. This is one of the ag industry’s most important shows, and among my favorite times of the year. I’ll be in Orlando for the show, as will Lyndon Smith, Barrett Smith and Michael Gardner. #Classic23 is expected to draw around 5,000 farmers. But what makes this show exceptional is not the number
During field visits, I often come across people who ask – what exactly are nematodes? More often than not, many of them associate nematodes with everything bad that happens to their crops. Is this true? We’ll get into that too, but first, what exactly are nematodes? Nematodes are invertebrate worms that have been around
Wednesday was Tax Day. For farmers, it was. Unlike the rest of us, farmers (and fishermen) file taxes on March 1. Due to the complexities of farming, including depreciation schedules for machinery, most farmers hire a professional tax preparer to help file their Schedule F. These are often independent accountants. And most are long-standing, often
There are lots of definitions floating around for regenerative agriculture. But the best and simplest I’ve heard was from Soilcraft. They define regen ag as adding “life.” When you think about it, the practices of no-till/low-till, crop rotation, cover crops, manure and biological products all help create, stimulate, prolong and accelerate more diverse life in the
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