Ben Potter

Ben Potter writes about the many new on-farm technologies that make farmers better, faster, more efficient and more profitable. He has more than 9 years of experience writing for a cotton publication and an advertising agency serving agribusiness clients. This helped him build a strong foundation of agronomic and crop-protection knowledge for corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, rice, peanuts and a variety of specialty crops. Ben attended both the University of Missouri (journalism) and the University of Memphis (technical writing). Ben’s grandparents were corn and soybean farmers, and his father was a soil scientist with the USDA. Away from work, Ben keeps busy with a broad range of activities, whether it’s long-distance running, growing habanero peppers or spending quality time with his wife and two daughters.

Latest Stories
Look at how weather, crops and more affect your soil
Want to develop a smart tillage plan? Start by thinking about a five-gallon bucket, suggests Chris Lursen, tillage marketing manager with Case IH.
At the company’s recent dealers meeting, it highlighted six newly released or about-to-be released farm implements.
Hay
New Holland Agriculture has announced an expansion of its implement product lines by way of its acquisition of the Grass and Soil business of Kongskilde Industries, part of the Danish Group Dansk Landbrugs Grovvareselskab. This business develops, manufactures and sells tillage, hay and forage implements under various brand names.
An Australian family-owned ag machinery company is hoping to make a splash in the U.S. K-Line Ag recently announced it is launching a subsidiary company in North Dakota and will offer its Speedtiller line to U.S. and Canadian farmers.
Much buzz has been generated over John Deere’s 2014 announcement that its ExactEmerge technology could plant accurately at 10 mph. The company has since been looking into other product segments that could get that same “need for speed” treatment.
Case IH gave attendees of the 2016 National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Ky., a literal unveiling of its latest product launch when it removed a red drape from its new 2000 Series Early Riser planter. That’s because company officials wanted to reinforce that it wasn’t an upgrade – it was brand-new.
DuPont Pioneer announced it has updated its Planting Rate Estimator tool ahead of the 2016 planting season. Version 3.0 allows users to compare three yield targets or three separate hybrids in one chart.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, farmers on Twitter have been committing grand larceny. This year’s batch of planting photos – tagged #plant16 on the social media platform that limits users to 140 characters or less – have been remarkable.
AGCO Corporation announces it is bringing to market new White Planters 9800VE Series planters equipped with SpeedTube seed tubes from Precision Planting. This enables the planters to operate accurately at “nearly double traditional operating speeds,” according to Larry Kuster, AGCO senior product specialist.