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
What’s the most troublesome weed in the U.S., according to hundreds of weed scientists and Extension agents?
It could hit 100˚F in Des Moines next Wednesday. That in and of itself is not entirely abnormal, but it does help drive home a larger point – extreme heat is descending on large areas of the Corn Belt.
The food and farming industry is worth nearly a trillion dollars to the U.S. economy in 2015, according to data collected from USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS). That’s 5.5% of the U.S. gross domestic product.
The Trump administration released a summary of its sweeping tax reform plan Wednesday that has some considerable changes – including repealing the so-called death tax, which is sometimes criticized as a hardship for small businesses and farms.
John Deere says it has responded to small-grain producers who want to drill more acres per day by debuting its largest air cart to-date, the C850. The cart has an 850 bu. carrying capacity, which is 55% larger than previous models.
What do South African grapevines and a San Francisco bike rental shop have in common?
You may love tractors, but Machinery Pete lives and breathes them.
The Farmall tractor brand has been a household name since the 1920s. But Case IH doesn’t want farmers to only remember the classic tractors their grandfathers used to drive.
Most of the country is expected to settle into typical fall weather, but a few regions could see a departure from “normal.”
Some states kept their cool, while others got scorched. Read how the NCDC’s latest monthly climate update for the U.S. paints a “tale of two extremes.”