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
Farm Journal had a chance to talk with Von Bergen about his farming background as well as his aspirations for NAWG this coming year.
Among other benefits, the project multiplies the number of available genetic markers that plant breeders can use to improve drought tolerance.
A total of 35 wheat industry visitors are in Washington, D.C., for an annual fly-in focusing on wheat research.
New options abound, but the fundamentals haven’t changed
Food blogger Vani Hari is known as an eager critic of how food is produced and consumed who tends to draw strong followers – and detractors. Her latest, a hit piece on cottonseed oil, drew a lengthy response from Cotton Incorporated.
This effective but dangerous chemical went off the market in 2010 after legal and regulatory battles took their toll. But six years later, could aldicarb be mounting a comeback?
Cotton production in The Golden State is on a decline for the fourth straight year, as farmers find it increasingly hard to justify growing it amid a multiyear drought.
The three companies that produce a majority of U.S. cottonseed recently announced their new varieties for the 2015 crop season.
Check out this online resource from the National Cotton Council.
Bob Utterback, president and CEO of Utterback Marketing Services, doesn’t often get called a bull when it comes to grain marketing. But even for him, sometimes the occasion absolutely calls for it, he jokes.