U.S. agriculture has a tremendous amount of skin at stake in an off-the-radar fight that may impact the future of groundwater regulations at federal, state and private levels.

When Jack Shoup refused to pay late fees to the Iowa Soybean Association on tardy checkoff payments as the first purchaser of grain at Dinsdale Elevator, he drew a straight line in his Reinbeck dirt and prepared for a legal battle.

Rob Sharkey’s Shark Farmer podcast is finding a hungry audience in agriculture and beyond, attracted by the take-no-prisoners attitude of his weekly show.

Dee River Ranch features a whole-farm irrigation system fed by a 110-acre reservoir. Five 150-hp pumps supply water to 18 pivots and one corner unit across 2,800 acres of corn and soybeans. The results since 2011? Corn profits ranging from $144-$1,093 per acre over non-irrigated ground, and soybean profits hovering between $115-215 per acre over non-irrigated ground.

Macronutrients and tissue testing are gospel in many parts of agriculture, but receiving a consistent, positive yield return on foliar-applied nutrients isn’t backed by replicated research, according to University of Arkansas Extension personnel.

Z-Trap 1 is an electronic insect trap allowing for remote monitoring of pest problems. The automated process of capturing and counting insects carries the potential for labor savings and greater accuracy of pesticide applications.

Randy Dowdy shattered soybean records in 2016 after a 171.7 bu. per acre yield with a UniSouth Genetics 74A74 variety. Dowdy’s corn was also exceptional, with four separate AgriGold varieties each significantly surpassing the 450 bu. per acre mark. Here’s how he did it.

A field of weeds can pay better than a field of corn, and costs almost nothing to produce. No inputs, no sweat equity, no management, no harvest, but plenty of profit in a scheme plucking millions from the pockets of U.S. taxpayers. Percy Carroll and a growing number of Texas farmers say a crop insurance racket is hiding in plain sight.

Ducks are a hunter’s sweetest dream, but can be a farmer’s nightmare akin to flying time bombs expelling rapid-fire payloads of resistant weed seed. Wonder where the next pigweed outbreak will come from? Listen for quacks and honks, and look up. Waterfowl may be a significant source of resistant weed spread.

Pirates are stealing billions during the exchange of U.S. agriculture goods, and pumping the wares right back onto American department store shelves. But CSI is ready to take on agriculture crime.