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Rooted in Hope: The Unshakable Optimism of Farmers Farmers are eternal optimists. They have to be. Their entire existence is based on the hope that the seeds they sow in the spring will bear fruit come fall. Last month, farmer sentiment rose another 11 points, based on the Purdue Ag Economy Barometer. It’s now about as high as it’s been in a decade (save for 2020-21, when commodity prices hit record highs).
This Week in Ag #105 - You can’t live without insurance these days. You can’t get a home mortgage without it. Nor can you legally drive without it. And if you’re a corn or soybean grower, you really can’t farm without it. That’s why over 90% of commodity crop acres are insured with Federal Crop Insurance. But FCI is anything but a normal insurance policy.
The Spring Rush: What Farmers Are Up Against “Farmers are always thinking about our products.” I’ll never forget those words, uttered by an old client of mine. She worked for a large life sciences company. We were launching a pre-emergence corn herbicide, to a market saturated with them. I thought she was joking. She wasn’t. I told her that in the hierarchy of thoughts occupying a farmer’s mind, pre-emergent herbicides barely registered. Adding that we had already spent more time thinking about them during our meeting than most farmers do all year. To be fair, she isn’t the only one to share this flawed view. Few occupations require more versatility, or have more irons in the fire, than farming. That’s why I’ve long advocated that anyone marketing to farmers considers not just the product they are selling, and what challenge or opportunity it may address, but what impact it will have on their entire operation – from soil to software, labor to logistics. Because that’s how farmers think. As the calendar turns to April, we’re entering the busiest – and most critical time – of the year.
Last June, I had the privilege of visiting parts of Asia to attend a conference hosted by one of our distributors. The event brought together ag experts, farmers, and researchers from different parts of the world to discuss the future of farming. I was excited to collaborate with them all
This Week In Ag #104 Here’s an inconvenient truth about farming: many farmers live off their equity. When land is your biggest asset and land prices remain strong, so does your balance sheet. This offers lending power. Depending on your situation, it’s very possible to break even, or even lose
“There’s got to be a better way.” Those words were expressed to me last week at the World Ag Expo. I had just completed my presentation, “Breathe New Life into Your Soil”, when a nice lady and her husband approached me. She introduced herself as a multi-generational rancher who grows alfalfa
All four faces on Mount Rushmore are farmers. Along with being the father of our country, George Washington was a father of regenerative agriculture, implementing intense crop rotation (he grew 60 different crops), cover crop practices, manure management, and grazing from multiple livestock species on his 8,000-acre Mt. Vernon farm. Thomas
Fred Nichols, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Huma®, shared his perspective in a recent article on biostimulants and biofertilizers, published in CropLife and American Fruit Grower Magazine. In the article, Fred discusses the growing role of these products in sustainable agriculture, their benefits, and their impact on crop production.
Ask yourself this. Would you really want to be on the other side of a trade dispute with the USA? With all the hysteria over tariffs, that’s a question few seem to be asking. In the global economy, the good ole USA remains the 700-pound gorilla. Boasting a GDP over $25 trillion,
Centuries before Saint Valentine was marrying couples in ancient Rome, legend says the red rose sprouted from the ground, watered by Aphrodite’s tears and her lover Adonis’ blood. Throughout the ages, the quintessential red rose has been a symbol of love, but have you wondered where it comes from? Most
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