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
Easier access for crop insurance agents means more timely service for farmer customers.
It’s true falling farm incomes are pressuring cash rents. But rates typically move slowly.
Certainly, nobody wants a repeat of the 1980s farm crisis. But what can be done to prevent it from happening again?
When the 2014 farm bill bumped the 2008 version, several changes occurred – most notably, eliminating Direct and Counter Cycle Payment (DCP) and Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) programs and replacing it with the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs. How did farmers in different regions fare with these changes?
Did you know U.S. agricultural exports have been traded at a surplus every year since 1959? According to USDA-ERS economists Alex Melton and Bryce Cooke, U.S. ag exports have accounted for around 10% to 11% of total exports in recent years.
President Donald Trump has signed more than 30 executive orders during his first 100 days, and he hasn’t forgotten to get the agriculture industry and rural America involved. Earlier Tuesday, Trump signed the executive order, titled Promoting Agriculture and Rural Prosperity in America, in front of newly installed Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, a 14-member farmer roundtable and others.
John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, reports that a shipment of rice will travel from the port of Houston/Galveston to the Republic of Cuba - the first shipment of its kind in a decade.
The proclamation applauds our nation’s farmers as “endlessly innovative,” as well as being determined, self-reliant and a critical component to the nation’s future.
The share farmers receive for farm commodity sales for domestically produced food fell in 2015, the last year such data is available. On average, farmers receive 15.6 cents on each dollar consumers spend on food, according to recent reporting from USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS).
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is no stranger to politics – in fact, after six terms, he’s the longest-serving governor in U.S. history. But his next role as ambassador to China could prove to be the challenge of a lifetime.