Plant and Soil Blog

“Plants sure know the difference between rainwater and hose water.” That was my wife’s observation Saturday morning, after seeing the rapid overnight growth, beautiful green color, and new blooms from our garden plants, following a thunderstorm that brought a half-inch...

December 8th is #NationalChristmasTreeDay. This of course sets up the great debate, real or fake? While every family weighs the pros and cons of choosing the Tannenbaum they rock around, a popular nation is that fake trees are more eco-friendly....

One of the greatest inventions in history is the combine. The concept of threshing and separating grain in one operation revolutionized our food system, as well as redefined our labor force. Consider that in the mid-1800s, 90% of the US workforce was...

Last week I was a guest on the TopSoil Webinar series hosted by Mitchell Hora of Continuum Ag (you can check it out here). I mentioned how western growers seem further along in their regenerative agriculture journey. That’s largely driven by regional attitudes...

#Harvest23 is in full swing. You probably have a sense of what farmers are currently doing. But what are farmers currently thinking about? Well, at this time of the year… A LOT!

Earl Butz, one of the most famous and popular US Secretaries of Agriculture, once told me that a key competitive advantage for US farmers in the global marketplace is our built-in natural infrastructure. Our Great Lakes and river system is perfectly...

  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...

Curly fries, waffle fries, spicy fries or… regen fries? Soon, these may all be choices in the frozen foods aisle, at least if McCain Foods has a say in it. And as the world leader in prepared potato products, purchasing 6.8 million tons...

By Lyndon SmithPresident and CEO,Bio Huma Netics, Inc. The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) celebrated its 30th anniversary at the 2022 ARA Conference and Expo last week. It made me reflect on our long-standing ties with ARA, and the opportunities it...

As I begin to write, I’m reminded of an excerpt from Ode to the West Wind — “If winter comes, can spring be far behind?” Well, spring is certainly not far behind, especially for those of us working in the...

By Lyndon SmithPresident and CEO,Bio Huma Netics, Inc. We attended the Humic Products Trade Association (HPTA) annual meeting this past month in Park City, Utah. It’s always a pleasure to get together with industry peers and talk about issues pertaining...

Every year, October 13 is marked as Global Fertilizer Day to highlight the significance and acknowledge the contribution of the fertilizer industry in feeding the world’s growing populations. This annual international awareness campaign is supported by fertilizer associations and companies...