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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.
After an early planting kick-start to the crop season, torrential rains blanketed northeast Arkansas and Missouri Bootheel farmland in late April and early May. The flood disaster raises a tangle of questions about crop insurance, risk and water management.
What does it take to make a robot tractor? A batch of free software, some drone parts, a tablet computer, and one curious farmer to cobble the bits together. Matt Reimer’s remote control 7930 is proof in the dirt.
Will and Laura run Willow & Co., a well-oiled farming machine squeezing every drop of profit from a shrinking commodity barrel. Pennies and nickels are precious in an anemic market, and the duo adheres to a strict regimen of efficiency, diversification and adjustment. The overall machine is geared for present gain, but the parts are deeply rooted to the past.
With alarm bells ringing in multiple states over confirmed PPO-resistant pigweed, is the weed control cavalry expected in soybean fields anytime soon? Bolstered by new technologies, help might be on the way within the next five years.
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.
Two Bootheel farmers with a match of tousled hair, blue eyes and easy manner may be the most unique brother and sister farming operation in the United States.
Artificial intelligence recognizes crop, targets weeds
Waterhemp has piled on genetic muscle and built documented resistance to herbicides from six separate site of action groups in Illinois. Yet, even more alarming are the consequences of stacked resistance in waterhemp. Once resistance begins stacking, what’s the snowball effect of a weed juggernaut?
Premium chicken litter quality is key for Mike McGregor, agriculture’s version of the consummate field general, and he commands his chicken litter operation with military precision. The results are evident in the flatlands of the southeast Arkansas Delta.
From an automatic gate entry to an airplane, this South Dakota farmer makes it all
A dicamba cloud rolled across U.S. agriculture in 2016 and turned the crop season into a high-stakes waiting game as producers wondered whose soybean crop would cup and when more symptoms would appear.
Mikey Taylor cracks 100-bu. soybeans, while waiting for label approval
Greenhouse and field trials have Arkansas weed scientists looking for answers
In a farming age where the grip of Palmer amaranth intensifies and expands each season, dicamba controversy is exploding beyond fields of Monsanto’s Xtend soybeans.
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.
Alec Horton begins every wheat crop aiming for 100 bu. per acre dryland yield through seed treatments, proper seeding rates, tiller promotion, vegetative growth reduction and moisture conservation. However, he didn’t see a 121.48-bushel bin buster in the cards when he planted “Joe” in the fall of 2015.
A driver weed with no equals, Palmer amaranth has changed the chemical game and forced producers into the rows to chase down escapes.
Natural rubber crops are a possible market for U.S. agriculture
Questions about crop response and yield increase.
The Australian-based Harrington Seed Destructor is a weed seed’s nightmare
Nature or nurture, Brutlag, 29, is a prime example of agriculture’s new breed: A mix of dirt, metal, digital technology, marketing and analytics bound in one package. Simply, there are not many farmers with a diversification footprint to match Brutlag.
Farmers over the age of 60 also see fatalities rise, says new report.
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.
Variety selection, precise management and optimal environment are grower’s premium.