Kentucky

Frozen Calf Gets Spa Treatment and Couch Cuddles During Arctic Blast

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 16:00:49 GMT

With the cattle herd still at multi-decade lows, every calf counts more than ever. That’s especially true during these last few days as arctic air and winter storms poured into the lower 48.

Macey Sorrell and her family live and farm in Mt. Sterling, Ky. As the area recently experienced storms of freezing rain and sheets of ice, the Sorrells welcomed a new calf into the world.

“Whenever my husband found her, she was maybe two hours old and she was already frozen with ice all in her hair,” Sorrell describes. “Her little umbilical cord looked like a popsicle. So I took the truck back there, put the calf in the bed of the truck and brought her in the house.”

Blankets, a hair dryer, a good rub down and bottle of colostrum helped warm the new baby up.

“After she got her belly full, she was ready for a nap,” Sorrell says. “My kids had also fallen asleep, so I just piled her up on the couch with them for some cuddles.”

The pictures she snapped while the little ones slept are cute enough to warm even the coldest heart. The moment, frozen in time, is now going viral.

“The reaction has been crazy,” Sorrell laughs. “You know, anywhere around here, this is nothing new. You’re going to see a calf inside, a sheep or even a goat. Folks are going to bring the babies inside. I think what made it so special was just the calf on the couch with the babies cuddling.”

The next morning, warm and newly named baby Sally had a happy reunion with her mama.

“When her mama heard her mooing, she came running,” Sorrell says. “Sally started nursing, and they have both been really good since.”

Sorrell and her husband, Tanner, are pleased with the results and the life lessons for their little crew.

“I think, if anything, it’s not an animal. It is a life, and we’ll do whatever we can to help not only an animal but anybody,” Sorrell says. “There’s always a space in my house for a critter.”

The cold is still visiting. More snow is in the forecast. The work at America’s farms and ranches never stops. Since Sally arrived, more babies have been born in the cold.

“We actually had a baby calf born just a few days before that one, and then another one born yesterday,” Sorrell says.

And life on the farm continues, both inside and out.

It’s not just Kentucky dealing with the severe winter storm aftermath and the devastation it left behind. As of Jan. 31, 2026, it was reported over 150,000 homes and businesses remain without power across the Mid-South, specifically in Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana, following a severe winter storm.

Farm Journal’s Chris Bennett says it could be weeks before his area of Mississippi will have power again, as he describes the horrific scene from last week’s winter storm.

Machinery Pete: John Deere Tractor Shows Farmers Value Pre-Def, Older Machines at Used Equipment Auctions

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 12:36:52 GMT

This week’s Pete’s Pick of the Week is a used green and yellow machine from a tractor class Pete says is “just red hot” now.

On Wednesday, July 16, a Big Iron Auctions online sale auctioned off a pre-def, mid-horsepower 2008 John Deere 7730 tractor (16,161 hours) for $150,250. The machine (pictured above) came from Henderson, Iowa, and it garnered the fourth-highest auction price ever on that make/year/model despite being nearly 20 years old.

“The real Machinery Pete stat I would leave you with is this model 7730 is pre-def, so it’s 15-plus years old now,” Pete says. “The nine highest auction prices ever (on pre-def machines) have all come in the last four years. It just shows the sharpening and increasing farmer demand for good condition, used pre-def tractors.”

Pete adds tractors in the sub-200 to 150 mid-horsepower segment are “the hottest thing going in the used market,” and he thinks that’s at least partly due to the versatile machines being driven up in value by livestock producers riding strong balance sheets with cash to spend.

Upcoming auction action to watch

For Pete, the end of July is an interesting time on the used farm equipment auction circuit. Dealers will typically begin moving more machines off the lot and onto the auction circuit to free up retail space and sell equipment farmers in their local service area have not shown interest in buying.

There are two sales to watch this week that fit that bill.

On Wednesday, Merit Auctions is holding an online auction that combines inventory from H&R Agri-Power, a Case-IH and New Holland dealer with stores in Kentucky and four other states, and Trueland Equipment, a John Deere dealer with stores in Indiana and Ohio. The sale kickoff is set for 10 a.m. CT online. You can check out the lineup of equipment here.

Here is a video preview for the Merit Auctions online sale Pete pulled together and shared on Facebook:

Also on Wednesday, McDougal Auctioneers is holding a no-reserve, preharvest sale in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan that kicks off at 11 a.m. CT. The docket for that sale features 39 used combines and a fleet of draper heads and other fall harvest goodies. Check out the full auction lineup for that sale here.

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Harvest Smarter: How Farmer Neil Denton Slashes Grain Loss With Aftermarket Technology

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 13:22:10 GMT

Neil Denton doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to his crops: His corn today looks to be “a marginal crop” and his soybean yields are “going to be way off” this fall.

His operation, Denton Farms, Barlow, Ky., raises corn, soybeans, wheat, rye and canola in an area known for bluegrass music, Kentucky pit-style barbecue and, of course, bourbon whiskey. But that American-made, caramel-brown legacy spirit can only blunt the sting of a meager crop year so much. Denton has a farm (not to mention a podcast and YouTube Channel) to run, so you can’t really blame him for doing everything in his power to get every single, shiny kernel in the bin.

With that goal top of mind, this spring he pulled the trigger on new crop-specific sets of Bushel Plus concaves to replace the OEM concaves in his John Deere X9 combine. The aftermarket concaves are easy to swap out, he says. Right away, Denton noted the unique grate design, which has helped whittle his harvest losses on soft winter wheat down to 0.7 bu. per acre; that is “phenomenal for small grains,” he says.

Looking to fine-tune his combine performance even more, Denton added the Bushel Plus SmartPan system to his harvest toolkit — a remote-controlled “smart” drop pan and mobile app to monitor and measure grain loss out the back end of the combine. After all, the hilly, western Kentucky landscape presents a formidable challenge when it comes to dialing in header height and other settings for each field.

Denton says he has also enjoyed getting to know Marcel Kringe, Bushel Plus founder and CEO. Kringe is originally from Germany, but today he makes his home on Canada’s canola-ringed western plains, perhaps the ideal location for an innovator focused on harvester optimization.

“He’s one of those guys that’s willing to come out, help you install concaves, and show you how they work,” says Denton. “You just don’t see that very often.”

Denton says he expects to see a full return on investment this year for both the concaves and the SmartPan system. He adds that the ruggedized concaves are built to last, extending their lifespan to far more acres in the combine.

CEO on summer tour

Bushel Plus CEO Marcel Kringe

(Photo courtesy of Bushel Plus)

Kringe is currently amid a multiweek tour of U.S. equipment dealer field days. He says the farmers he has met with are looking for relief from high operating costs and low commodity prices.

“Grain prices right now are a bit tricky, but overall farmers are happy they got planting finished up after a tough spring with lots of moisture down here,” Kringe says. “Right now, they are focused on getting the best out of their crop because margins are tight, right? And if they buy something, they’ll only buy it if it has a good ROI. Our products are all about getting more grain in the bin and having less (grain) loss, and less loss means more money for the farmer.”

Limiting grain lost out the backside of the combine is a passion for Kringe, who got Bushel Plus off the ground from his basement as a hobby. He likens the importance of combine and header adjustments to front-end alignments in the automotive world.

As with tires, if the alignment is off, everything pulls in the wrong direction and wears unevenly, Kringe notes.

“It’s the same idea with a combine. We’re essentially calibrating the machine so it runs smoothly and efficiently — just like aligning the front end of a vehicle,” he says. “Farmers already understand they need to calibrate tools like air seeders, planters and sprayers. Combines need the same attention. It has to be dialed in to perform at its best.”

(Photo courtesy of Bushel Plus)

Kringe has a tagline to remind farmers how often they need to calibrate the combine: New field. New crop. New variety. Any of the three means it’s time to do a fresh calibration.

For growers that have never made aftermarket changes to their combine, but they think now is the time to dive in, Kringe says they should start with a drop pan system.

“You already have a combine with concaves doing the job,” he says. “And while our concaves take that performance further, the SmartPan really gets you thinking seriously about harvest loss. You can only harvest once, and if you’re not measuring what’s coming out the back, you’re flying blind. That’s the one thing you want to have.”

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From Omaha to Georgia: Inside the Farm Machinery Reshoring Boom

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 19:04:17 GMT

After releasing our “Where Farm Equipment Is Made” 2025 update in February , we circled back with farm equipment manufacturers to get a read on how tariffs will affect where machines are made.

Many companies across a wide range of industries are considering or even moving forward with plans to reshore production from overseas back into the United States. We’ve learned this process involves long-term, strategic investments in new facilities and/or expanding factories already established here in the States.

Although each manufacturer shared differing visions for how, when and where it plans to build out additional manufacturing capabilities in the years ahead, a common theme did emerge: farm equipment builders are investing big dollars into reshoring, and many have been for quite some time now.

Let’s hear what the machinery companies are planning:

AGCO Corp.

(AGCO Corp.)

The Duluth, Ga.-based equipment manufacturer says its dedication to American farmers and its own strategic investment plans are “key drivers of our overall growth strategy,” according to an AGCO spokesperson.

The rest of the statement from AGCO, which builds the Fendt and Massey Ferguson equipment brands along with its own AGCO machines, regarding U.S. expansion plans can be found below:

Since 2020, we have invested just under $3 billion in the U.S. across new and expanded manufacturing facilities, product innovations and the largest ag tech deal in the history of the industry. Our commitment has extended across our various brands, locations and Research & Development (R&D) efforts, including the notable 2024 joint venture establishing Colorado-based PTx Trimble, the inauguration of Fendt Lodge – the North American headquarters of Fendt – in Minnesota, a new precision ag production facility in Illinois, modernization of systems and technologies in one of our Kansas plants, and U.S.-based R&D for new sprayer and planter technology.

These investments, AGCO says, will not only enhance production at its U.S. facilities for years to come, but also ensure AGCO remains at the forefront of ag innovation around the world.

Claas

(Matthew J. Grassi)

Claas is still a somewhat fresh face to the North American farm equipment market, but the company has deep roots in Europe. It was founded over 100 years ago in a small German farming town, and today the company has global headquarters in Harsewinkel, Germany.

But you may not be aware that Claas has also built a significant manufacturing operation in America’s heartland. The company opened its Lexion combine production campus, located just south of downtown Omaha, Neb., in 1997. This year marks 10,000 Lexion combines rolling off the main production line inside the 120,000 sq. ft. facility.

(Photos: John Deere, Matthew J. Grassi, AGCO, Kubota)

Claas has significant expansion plans in place for its Omaha campus, including doubling its overall production footprint for the main manufacturing building as well as adding a new training and apprenticeship building.

Here is the statement Matthias Ristow, president & managing director of business administration – Claas Omaha, shared regarding the company’s expansion plans:

Claas is investing significantly in its production hub in the United States, and not only recently. Over the last five years, we have added to our production facility to provide a better location for our rework and reconfiguration areas, as well as a dedicated work area for our quality control department for the pre-delivery inspections each machine must go through before being shipped. This is part of our comprehensive quality assurance program.

We also have built a new service academy where we train all the technicians from our U.S. dealer network (we have a similar location in Canada) so we can keep their skills up to date and make sure they have the proper certifications to work on our machines. Technology updates and changes are trained there as well.

Furthermore, our new service academy houses our apprenticeship program where we train the future assembly technicians in a three-year rigorous training program, managed by the German Chamber of Commerce. The program has several advantages. Technicians receive a regular paycheck (“earn while you learn”), receive an associate’s degree from a community college we partner with, receive a certificate from the German Chamber and have a job when they graduate from the program debt free.

Farm Journal recently had the opportunity to tour Claas’ Omaha operation, where we learned the manufacturer is also expanding its partnerships with domestic material and component manufacturers. For example, it recently began working with a finished parts supplier local to Nebraska to fabricate the grain spout for each Lexion combine.

CNH Industrial (Case IH and New Holland)

(CNH Industrial)

Although short on specifics, CNH Industrial (Racine, Wisc.) confirms it plans to “continue to expand our footprint through capital investments in our U.S. facilities, partnerships with local suppliers and programs that strengthen the communities where we live and work.”

CNH adds it currently employs more than 9,000 people across 17 U.S. states, with 14 manufacturing facilities and 22 R&D centers active throughout North America.

And approximately 70% of the components used in CNH Industrial’s U.S. plants are sourced from domestic suppliers while 95% its steel is purchased from U.S.-based mills. It says this approach to domestic material sourcing supports thousands of suppliers’ jobs and reinforces its investment in American-made quality.

John Deere

(John Deere)

The farm equipment manufacturer with global headquarters in Moline, Ill., was first to share its future investment plans with Farm Journal. Back in May, the company announced a 10-year, $20 billion outlay plan for its U.S. production base. This year alone, Deere says it will pour $100 million into its U.S. operations.

John Deere says this initiative includes:

A 120,000 sq. ft. expansion of the company’s remanufacturing facility in Missouri.
Construction of a new excavator factory in Kernersville, N.C.
Expansion of its Greeneville, Tenn., turf equipment factory.
New assembly lines for 9RX high-horsepower tractor production in Waterloo, Iowa.

John Deere plans to invest a total of $22.5 billion into its U.S. manufacturing network once the 10-year project is complete.

Kubota North America

(Kubota North America)

Kubota Tractor Corporation (KTC) established its North America headquarters in Grapevine, TX., in 2017. The Japanese equipment manufacturer shared the following statement regarding U.S. expansion plans.

North America is critical for Kubota, and the U.S. is our largest market. We firmly believe in local production for local consumption and have made more than $1 billion in U.S. infrastructure investments in the last couple years to meet the growing needs of our dealers and customers. For example, we recently announced the opening of a new loader facility in Gainesville, Ga., (invested $190 million), a new Western Distribution Center in California (invested $72 million), and an R&D facility (invested $100 million) that’s also in Georgia. We have other network investment announcements in the works, and we plan to continue to invest over the next five to 10 years as we respond to market demands. Today, we are more than 7,000 American workers strong who market and sell, and fabricate, weld and assemble equipment with domestic and global parts.

Want to learn more about where your favorite farm machines are made? Check out “From the Factory to Your Fields: Where Farm Equipment Is Made”.

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Farming Builds A Bridge Between Kentucky Family’s Past, Present And Future

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:21:55 GMT

The fertile silt loam soils of LaRue County, Ky., serve as a bridge uniting the nine generations of Caleb Ragland’s farming family. This is a connection he hopes will extend in the years to include his three sons.

“My wife, Leanne, and I grow soybeans, corn, winter wheat and boys; they’re our most important crop,” Ragland says of his family and their 4,000-plus-acre grain operation that is based out of central Kentucky, near Magnolia.

If you have a conversation with the 38-year-old Ragland, you’ll find he doesn’t often stray far from the topics of farming and family, and the lines between the two blur as he looks out a farm office window and talks.

“I can look out across the field here, about a half mile, and see generations of my family buried over here on the hill,” Ragland says. “Our family settled here in 1808. Abraham Lincoln’s dad deeded land in this county the same month that our family did.”

Lincoln’s family left Kentucky for southern Indiana in 1816. Ragland’s family stayed put. “We’ve got deep roots here,” he says.

(American Soybean Association)

Natural Communicator
Ragland is hopeful his boys, ages 15, 13 and 10, will have the opportunity to be the 10th generation to farm the family’s ground. But he is concerned the mounting fallout from trade disruptions, high input costs and low commodity prices could deliver a death blow to that dream.

Those concerns are weighing on Ragland on an April morning as he sits planted in his farm office, juggling a variety of media interviews in his official capacity as president of the American Soybean Association (ASA). Though he would prefer to be on a tractor in the field or working around the farm, Ragland has done dozens of interviews in recent years with the media, most of whom are rooted in agriculture. But the general press has also come calling — from CNN and Fox News to National Public Radio — as they recognize the practical farming knowledge and savvy agricultural policy insights he can provide.

These days, Ragland has been addressing various topics ranging from trade dynamics to how rainfall is affecting the farmers who are located across parts of the Southeast. He reflects with dismay on a recent vote by the U.S. International Trade Commission that went in favor of imposing duties on imports of 2,4-D from China and India.

“That didn’t go our way,” Ragland says. “It’s a disappointing decision. It’s one that will probably double the cost of 2,4-D for farmers, and I’m not just taking a guess at that. Prices here locally have been going up over the past 12 months.”

(Rhonda Brooks)

Signs Of The Times
USDA reports net cash farm income is projected to increase to $193.7 billion in 2025, which would be up 21.7% year-over-year, thanks to federal aid — not because of better prices or increased commodity sales.

“Right now, it’s painful out here, and things don’t look good. That’s just being honest,” Ragland says. “With high input prices, unpredictable weather events and mounting uncertainty in trade markets, our farm is likely dealing with a $150,000 net loss for the 2025 crop.”

Ragland describes his farm’s budgets for the 2025 crops as bloody.

“When I ran budgets, full-season soybeans on my farm are in the red,” he says. “We raise a lot of winter wheat and double-crop soybeans, and that acreage with APH (actual production history) yields to break even shows corn is only slightly profitable.

“Due to the high cost of inputs and land and everything else across the board, we’ve had more risk than we’ve ever had and probably the least amount of potential profit in my farming career,” Ragland continues, noting 2025 marked the 21st crop he has put out on his own.

(American Soybean Association)

Staying The Course
Ragland voted for President Donald Trump in the past three presidential elections. While he doesn’t regret the decision he made, he does hope the president will make some trade decisions soon that will help bring financial opportunity to U.S. farmers.

“We need to be as proactive as possible about getting some trade deals done. We need some wins. We’re still very hopeful and optimistic that we will be able to get a phase-two type deal done,” Ragland says, referring to the Trump administration’s trade negotiations with China that occurred during his first term.

He says the U.S. exports about 50% of its soybeans and that China purchased 52% of U.S. beans exported in 2024. “So if you see a soybean field, every fourth row of soybeans went to China last year,” he says.

Trump’s trade-negotiation efforts have broad support from U.S. farmers, according to results from the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer survey that was released in early May. The survey indicated farmers are willing to endure short-term pain for long-term gain, according to Jim Mintert, emeritus professor of economics at Purdue.

“Fifty-six percent of farmers surveyed said they believe the ongoing trade disputes will likely hurt them financially in 2025,” Mintert says. “At the same time, 70% said they believe the U.S. and agriculture specifically will benefit in the long term.”

A Farm Bill Would Help
Ragland shares the survey’s sentiment and adds that getting a farm bill approved by Congress in 2025 would be a win for farmers.

“We desperately need it for ag and our rural communities as a whole,” he explains. “We need a stable farm economy so there is an incentive for our brightest and best to want to come back to the farm and not seek to go elsewhere. I want my sons to have an opportunity to farm, and I want other people’s children to be able to have that choice as well, but there’s got to be an economic opportunity to make a living.”

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Why U.S. Agriculture Needs More AI Investment to Stay Ahead in Global Crop Innovation Race

Tue, 20 May 2025 18:15:48 GMT

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a key tool in accelerating the discovery, development and manufacturing of new crop protection molecules to fight yield-robbing weeds, pests, and diseases in U.S. farm fields.

The technology helps researchers shorten the discovery window and find new and novel active-ingredient molecules that are much more difficult and expensive to uncover using traditional research methods.

That was among the talking points that emerged from Tuesday’s congressional hearing on AI in farming, held in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space, and Technology Committee in Washington, D.C.

Related: The New Space Race: Why America Must Focus On AI

At the hearing, key agricultural stakeholders advocated for increasing government investment in AI technology and infrastructure. The group warned Congress that America’s status as a world leader in AI has been usurped by Japan and China, while other rival countries are also gunning for top positions.

Testifying on behalf of U.S. agriculture was Corteva Vice President of Agricultural Solutions Brian Lutz, University of Florida associate professor Chris Swale and University of Illinois assistant professor Boris Camiletti.

“AI is without a doubt one of the most profound technologies ever to be invented,” Lutz said. “We believe there is tremendous opportunity for our government to support and incentivize advanced innovation — including by leveraging the benefits of AI — to benefit American farmers. If we want to win, we need to move smarter and faster than our competition. Corteva believes with the support of our government, we will do exactly that.”

Lutz said researchers at Corteva recently used AI to model how 10,000 different molecules might be used in crop protection, all within a matter of weeks. The Corteva model was able to identify dozens of new potential crop protection molecules that its overworked chemists could not have found otherwise. He said the company is currently testing a handful of these molecules and AI will also play a role in moving the testing phase along more quickly than traditional lab-based methods.

Lutz also told Congress how Corteva scientists have deployed AI technology in its fermentation processes, which the company uses to create what he called “molecules of interest” for evaluation. Over the past few years, Corteva has used AI modeling to engineer various bacterial strains that drive fermentation reactions and optimize reaction conditions, allowing the company to run a manufacturing operation that is as efficient as possible. This application of AI helps Corteva maintain a strong U.S. manufacturing base in the Midwest, Lutz said.

“This is the new face of ag innovation,” he added. “We can accelerate discovery of new classes of crop protection products, like biologicals — nature-based solutions that help farmers grow more food by working alongside traditional crop protection products. With AI, we can begin to predict the incredible diversity of biomolecules and metabolites that are produced by microbes and other organisms, with the goal of unlocking the secrets within plant biology to develop the next generation of safe, highly targeted, nature-inspired products.”

Swale testified to AI’s role in helping researchers on his team find and develop biological-based treatments to combat Asian citrus psyllid, an invasive pest that has left the Florida citrus industry — valued at almost $10 billion just five years ago — teetering on the brink of collapse. Effective synthetic chemicals to manage the Asian citrus psyllid exist, but the regulatory hurdles to get those products onto the market are too high, he said

“We have turned to using AI to help discover chemicals of the natural world because the registration requirements are significantly lower when compared to synthetic insecticides,” Swale said.

Camiletti leads a team of researchers combining plant pathology, remote sensing and AI to help U.S. soybean farmers overcome red crown rot, a soil-borne disease first detected in Illinois soybean fields in 2018.

Illinois has been hit the hardest by the yield-robbing disease, Camiletti said, and the pathogen is spreading rapidly to Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri. The disease is difficult to detect visually, he added, and once symptoms appear it’s often too late for successful remediation.

“My team uses satellite imagery and machine learning to identify red crown rot hot spots, and we train the models with high resolution multi-spectral data to near-infrared bands and use ground observations to teach the algorithm what diseased plants look like,” Camiletti said. “This technology has real on-farm impact. We are building tools that generate prescription maps so instead of applying fungicides across entire fields farmers can target only the affected areas.”

After key witness testimony concluded, the committee opened the floor to questions from members of Congress. Watch the full hearing via the video embedded below:

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Machinery Pete: Used Challenger Hits Record High, Half Century Old John Deere Fetches Almost $20K

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 21:00:00 GMT

Machinery Pete highlighted a couple auctions from the past week on his Monday morning AgriTalk segment.

First up was a retirement auction in Bible Grove, Illinois, featuring a fleet of equipment previously owned by Donnie and Jennifer Der. The bidding was handled by Schmid Auction Company out of Teutopolis, Illinois.

According to Machinery Pete, the couple had a preference for both black and green farm equipment, and the auction featured a solid lineup of John Deere tractors and combines.

Among the highlights:

A 2014 jet black custom-painted Challenger (pictured above) with 1,450 operating hours sold for $341,000. Machinery Pete says the sale is a record for a used MT865C.
A 2023 John Deere 8R tractor still under warranty (153 hours) went for $371,000.
A 2023 S790 combine (pictured top left) with 36” tracks (280 engine hours) went for $477,000.

Then, at a used equipment auction in Crofton, Kentucky, farmer Dale Seay – who Machinery Pete says is known locally for meticulous care of his equipment – auctioned off a 1976 John Deere 2640 tractor (above top right) with 2,111 hours for $19,500. This was one of the highest prices on record for that model and especially notable considering the tractor itself is only a couple years shy of a half century in service.

Machinery Pete says both auctions featured high-quality equipment, drawing significant interest and competitive bidding.

This Week’s Featured Auctions

Machinery Pete will be truckin’ down to Jasper, Missouri, to attend the retirement sale for Steve and Shelley Tong on Thursday, December 19. Teter Auction Company will be handling the proceedings there.

Pete already has his eye on a John Deere 8R 280 tractor with 900 hours, and the docket features a nice collection of used John Deere equipment (Steve’s family owned a JD dealership for 20-plus years) including tractors, skid steers, and cat excavators.

You can view the sale catalog online here.

Or if red machines are more your speed, there is a “No Reserve” online dealer auction featuring nine late-model Case-IH tractors on Friday (Dec. 20) in Faribault, Minnesota.

Check out Matejcek.com to learn more.

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Have a used tractor you’re looking to sell? List it with MachineryPete.com , the most trusted name in farm equipment, reaching thousands of prospective buyers every day. Follow Machinery Pete on Facebook and on YouTube for the latest updates straight from the man himself.

Inside AgRevolution: AGCO’s Bold Mobile Service Play Pledges ‘Farmers First’

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 19:47:34 GMT

Intent on building out a new dealer service strategy for its family of equipment brands, AGCO quietly approached equipment industry pro Stacy Anthony to see if he’d be willing to take on the reimagined dealer network’s CEO role.

The affable-yet-intense farm kid from Kansas was undoubtedly interested, but he wasn’t going to be an easy sell. Anthony recalls three non-negotiables he shared with AGCO executives before agreeing to put pen to paper and go all-in:

The project had to be “something different” than the traditional equipment dealer business model.
He wanted to take the repair and maintenance aspects of the dealer business “straight to the farm, and even to a farmer’s field.”
The new business model needed to embrace an “all makes mindset.”

AGCO president and CEO Eric Hansotia huddled his team of executives and eventually they agreed Anthony was the man for the job.

(Related - Planting A Flag: AGCO All-In On Mixed-Fleet Aftermarket Ag Tech)

A New Era of On-Farm Service
AgRevolution was officially launched in 2021, a time when the world was slowly but surely crawling out from underneath the soul-crushing weight of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fast forward three years and AgRevolution today features 13 dealer locations dispatching service technicians in shiny, well-appointed half ton pickups around the Ohio Valley region to diagnose and wrench on machines.

Anthony says roughly 90% of the jobs his service technicians undertake are finished either on-farm or right there in the farmer’s field. That age-old logistical nightmare of how to get this giant but currently inoperable machine several miles up the road to the nearest dealer shop, has been taken off the broad shoulders of the farmers who call on AgRevolution for repairs and service.

AgRevolution field service tech Steve Bowers uploads a firmware update to a customer’s Fendt 940 tractor on a farm just outside of Urbana, Ohio, in October.

(Matthew J. Grassi)

The concept got off to a shaky start though, not unlike most rookie campaigns. AGCO’s finance team projected the business would lose $1 million. Anthony and his team did what most farmers do in times of peril: they tightened their belts and focused on what they could do to effect positive change. It all eventually worked out and the AgRev team ended up flipping that dismal profit projection on its head, creating a surprise profit that most in the company didn’t think possible at the time.

Today, AgRevolution has invested $7-million-plus into a fleet of over 50 mobile service trucks, and the initiative just expanded into Ohio with five locations around the Buckeye State. Overall AgRevolution revenues are up 400% since year one, Anthony says, and revenues are up 49% from last year.

While it was his ideation that birthed this innovative service model, the humble Kansas native is quick to deflect credit to the guys in the AgRev hats out in the field everyday.

AgRev field service techs (above left) complete 90% of their tasks on-farm with a fleet of well-appointed mobile service trucks.

(AGCO/AgRevolution)

“Our service technicians and the relationships they have with farmers, that’s what has really helped us grow and expand,” Anthony says as we walk around AgRevolution’s newest location in Urbana, Ohio.

Even before its Nov. 1 grand opening, service technicians and sales pros out of the Urbana, Ohio, office were servicing local farmers’ machines for a couple months as they worked on getting the main office ready.

Going on a Service Call
Steve Bowers, a field service technician and Ohio farm kid, let Farm Journal tag along on a quick service call to get a feel for how it all worked. He says farmers in his community love the responsiveness and ease of doing business with AgRevolution, not to mention the fact that AgRev techs are brand agnostic: They’ll come out and fix your Fendt combine, or your Massey Ferguson tractor, and if you’ve got a broken down John Deere sprayer you can’t get to the local dealer, they’ll fix that, too.

The service call we witnessed was routine: Bowers needed to update the operating system on the farmer’s Fendt 940 tractor because the machine was having trouble maintaining connectivity. The adjustment handle on the cab air seat had also been broken off and needed replaced.

AgRevolution field service tech Steve Bowers let Farm Journal tag along as he diagnosed and repaired a couple minor issues on this Fendt 940 tractor.

(Matthew J. Grassi )

Bowers said he would order the new seat handle at the end of day, and it would show up either later that night or first thing the next morning at his house. With the part in hand, he can go straight to the customer’s farm to fix the seat before heading off on his service calls for the day. AgRevolution can also send larger parts straight to the farm so they’re waiting for Bowers when he arrives.

Hear It Straight From a Service Tech
We asked Bowers if there are repair jobs he prefers over others, as one would guess doing software updates might not rank very highly. Bowers said his favorite machines to work on are combines. Since there are so many moving parts and systems, it’s more of a brain stimulating challenge than some other jobs.

As we climbed out of the tractor cab after Bowers completed his work, Anthony didn’t mince words when asked what he thinks puts the “Rev” (think vroom vroom) behind the AgRevolution brand.

“It’s guys like Steve here, the guy wants to service a customer no matter what it takes, because he lives in this community and doesn’t want to leave a neighbor hanging,” Anthony says. “Before his service truck even arrived, I got a picture from one of the guys and it’s Steve out in a field standing on the roof of his wife’s minivan working on a combine.

“That’s the heart of what trust, commitment and resilience is, to do whatever you have to do at any cost to take care of the farmer,” he adds. “Guys like Steve help us build companies like this; you can’t do it without people like that and they’re highly, highly sought after.”

Your Next Read: New Names Surface for Trump’s Possible Pick for Secretary of Agriculture

Tale Of Survival: Kentucky Farmer Shares About His Rescue From A Grain Bin

Mon, 22 Jul 2024 20:09:10 GMT

On a mild summer day in mid-June, Doug Omer enjoys a few minutes in the shade with his family just outside Morganfield, Ky. It’s a precious moment he nearly missed during a life-threatening, nearly seven-hour ordeal back in 2022.

“We thought we were being safe, and we let our guard down for a second, and it almost cost me my life,” Omer says.

Omer and his father, Mike, started that day hauling corn. While he waited for Mike to return, Omer went to the top of the bin to look at the farm below.

“The bin was a little over half full, and we were on red alert because we had a little bit of a scum starting to form on top of the grain,” Omer explains. “We were afraid a chunk might flow down over one of the floor holes and choke everything up and so I was using a length of 1.25" pipe, 20' long, to smack the clumps when they came down.”

It wasn’t his first time doing this, and he knows it’s common in farm country.

“When I pulled in on the second load, he was sitting up top and said I’m going in the bin,” Mike recalls. “I said, OK!”

Typically, loading a semi is just an eight-minute job. Omer eased into the bin to watch for clumps while Mike turned on the auger to load. A rope was there, but, for whatever reason, Omer didn’t tie off.

“We were running for probably 20 seconds, and I hear this shh behind me,” Omer says. “I was standing about the top of my boots deep in corn but when it hit me, I dropped to the bottom of my pockets and the collapse moved me roughly 20' over the hole.”

A Sound He Will Never Forget

Luckily, Omer was next to the bin wall.

“I’m not real smart, but I knew I didn’t have enough Doug hanging out to last eight minutes, so I was beating on the wall,” he says. “As I sunk to my chest, the pressure started squeeze the life out of me. Jesus and I had a good talk, and I thought, Doug, this is how you’re going to die. In this freaking bin of corn.”

The realization gave him the strength to gather his breath for one last frenzy of banging on the bin wall.

“I heard a big bang, and I thought a bucket had come off the leg,” Mike says. “Then I heard another bang, and I knew the bucket hadn’t come off the leg because I’d already shut the leg down.”

“I got down to about my chin, and I laid my head back to give me a few extra seconds,” Omer recalls. “I still hear it in my dreams almost every night, that breaker kicked off at the top of the bin.”

All Hands On Deck

Everything stopped. Omer was trapped, buried and fighting for breath as the pressure continued to squeeze the life out of him.

“It’s 66 steps to the top of the bin, and my dad was 72 years old, but it seemed like a split second and he was up there,” Omer says. “He said, ‘I’m coming in,’ and I said, ‘If you come in here, it’ll bury me. You have to stay outside.’”

Doug Omer Rescue

(Doug Omer Family)

Mike called 911 and raced up the hill to grab Omer’s nephew. When the much younger Logan jumped in the bin, the grain indeed slid down covering Omer. He carefully dug the corn away and helped Omer catch his breath.

Once he wasn’t buried, Omer wanted to call his wife.

“I answered it, and it was Doug,” recounts his wife, Samantha Omer. “He said, ‘I just called to let you know that I’m drowning in the grain bin,’ and I said, ‘what?’ He told me again, and he said, ‘I just wanted to call and tell you I love you.’”

That started the clock on a six-hour race to save Omer’s life. More than 200 emergency personnel, neighbors, family and friends worked to pry him from grain’s grip and death’s door.

Emergency crews brought the only two bin rescue tubes in the county. Two bucket trucks showed up to help ferry tools, people and medical supplies from the ground to the top of the bin.

Two hours of rescue efforts went by.

“The way I was sitting, I wouldn’t fit in the tube, and they hit my right kneecap with the auger,” Omer says.

The team had to add a second set of tubes and move even more grain. Meanwhile, medical experts decided Omer needed IV’s and oxygen. By hour five, he was ready to do anything to be free.

“I wanted to cut my legs off,” Omer says. “I told them I’ll end this. I’ll just stick a saw down there and cut until something pops off. I was hurting that bad.”

At the six-hour mark, a team finally grabbed Omer’s harness and pulled.

“I went to screaming, you moved me, you moved me,” Omer says. “Instantly they hit me again, and they moved me about 6". They hit me a third time, and on the third pull I was standing up inside the tube.”

His hips, knees and ankles were dislocated from the pull’s force. They lifted him to the top of the tube, and his joints were pushed back in socket. Omer climbed on all fours to the top of the bin and was helped out of what nearly became his tomb.

“Everybody started cheering, and it took him a while to get down the steps, but he walked down each step,” smiles Samantha remembering the moment.

“We were just glad he was alive,” says an emotional Mike as the wave of relief crashed over him once again.

Omer’s family met him at the bottom of the bin, and he was ferried to a life flight helicopter standing by in the field. While in the air, the quick change in elevation sent his body into shock. The hours of pressure mimicked deep sea diving.

“I ran my hand up my headset, and it was full of blood,” Omer says. “I told the medical crew, this can’t be good.”

He had the bends or decompression sickness. The helicopter dropped elevation, flying as low as possible to Evansville, Ind. Doctors rushed Omer into the hospital. There, he was stabilized, his joints were reset, his vitals monitored, and at 11:30 p.m. that night, he walked out of the hospital and headed for home.

Doug Omer Family

(Clinton Griffiths)

Take Time to Slow Down

Two years later, the gift of life, continues for Omer thanks to hundreds of unnamed hands.

“Everything just worked out so perfectly,” Samantha says. “Some folks don’t think your hometown people can be heroes, but they were our heroes on that day.”

If you ask them their advice for other farmers working around grain bins, they’ll say you can never be too careful.

“Don’t think it can’t happen to you because he was 54 years old, and he’s been around them all of his life,” Samantha says. “It was that one incident that almost got him.”

Omer admits he was just in too much of a hurry that morning on what was typically a quick and simple job. He should have stayed out of the bin or at least tied himself off with the rope.

“Just stand back and look at it before you bale in there,” Omer says. “I mean, most farmers just get wound up and are in a hurry.”

He says if his story does anything, maybe it will encourage others to take a moment to think about safety, even on small jobs. That extra few seconds could be the difference between a quick end and a long and happy life.

Next-Gen Spotlight: Matt Adams Created His Niche By Doing Things No One Else Wanted To Do

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 16:53:56 GMT

While Matt Adams grew up in an ag-friendly family, he considers himself a first-generation farmer. An elderly neighbor taught him the ropes of raising cattle and developed his love for the industry. Following his passing, Adams was able to buy that operation and transitioned to a full-time farmer a few years ago. Today he and his wife, Molly , have a cow-calf operation and farm 900 acres. They also sell direct to consumers through a retail freezer beef business.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
“Work hard but don’t think that you can work your way out of a situation with just manual labor. You need to spend as much time in the office as outside doing the actual farm work.”

What was the hardest part of getting started?
“Our biggest limiting factor is just access to the land. We’re in an area where development is rampant and there are still a lot of active farmers, so land is in high demand here. Another huge challenge was access to capital. As a first-generation farmer we’ve had to build 90% of our infrastructure. We finally were able to build a farm shop three years ago, and last year we built our first grain bin and started our grain storage facility. It’s a challenge overcoming the capital hurdle because you can’t do it all at once.”

What obstacles have you had to overcome?
“There’s always been a lot of negativity in agriculture, whether it’s real apparent or not. As a young guy starting out, you get a lot of people trying to give you advice and a lot of that advice is actually discouragement. I had people tell me that I didn’t need to worry about full-time farming. I should have a few cows, go get a job in town and be happy. I shouldn’t strive for anything more because it was too risky. I really let that hold me back for a long time. I worked as a county Extension agent for about 12 years. I listened to people say I wasn’t farming enough acres, there wasn’t enough opportunity or I couldn’t make enough money. I think hearing those kinds of comments probably kept me from being a full-time farmer sooner.”

What advice would you give to other young farmers?
“Create your own opportunities by finding the things that no one else wants to do. This is how I ended up in the small square hay bale business. In the beginning, it was a labor-intensive enterprise that many didn’t want to mess with. Although we’ve mechanized the bale handling process with the use of a bale accumulator and grapple system, growing high-quality hay is still an extremely time and management intensive enterprise. Because we live in horse country, we do, however, have the potential for a high return per acre on our hay, so we’re rewarded for this management.

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received in the cattle business is that it’s not the good ones that make you money, it’s how you manage the bad ones. This was one of the main reasons for starting our retail freezer beef business. We’re take calves that don’t fit in with the rest of a group, either because of color or some type of visual blemish, and add value to them before they leave the farm.

On the row crop side, as a beginning farmer in an area with a lot of competition for land, I’ve had to take whatever land I can get. A lot of what we farm is basically whatever everyone else doesn’t want: marginal, rolling, highly erodible land that’s hard to farm, especially with bigger equipment. While it’s less efficient to farm than large, flat tracts, we’ve developed a system that includes no-till, the use of cover crops and technologies like variable-rate seeding and hydraulic downforce on our planter that helps us be more productive on these acres. Even on marginal land, our yields will consistently be above the county average.”

Favorite way to relax?
My favorite way to relax is probably eating a bowl of ice cream. I’m a big cookies and cream fan if I had to pick a favorite.

Mountains or Beach?
“I am definitely a mountains person. That’s where my wife and I went on our honeymoon while everybody else our age seemed to go to the beach.”

What is your final message to readers?
“We couldn’t do any of this without faith. Too many things have happened that shouldn’t have worked out but did. It just reinforces that no matter how hard you work, you’re not 100% in control. Once I let go of that, things seemed to come easier, and the stress load was way lighter.”

Data From New Trials Boasts Yield Boosts With Biologicals

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 21:17:23 GMT

Farm Journal’s Smart Farming Week is an annual week-long emphasis on innovation in agriculture. The goal is to encourage you to explore and prioritize the technology, tools and practices that will help you farm smarter. Innovation today ensures an efficient, productive and sustainable tomorrow.

Two new studies from Locus Ag and Pivot Bio found the use of biological products consistently increased yields in a variety of crops.

When testing Locus Ag biological products, trials analyzed by contract research organizations and universities found yield increases between 4.2% to 26% in specialty crop varieties and between 5.2% to 37% in row crop varieties.

“In a time when the agricultural sector is navigating challenges such as climate variability, rising input prices and the need for sustainable practices, Locus Ag’s USA–made biological solutions are more vital than ever,” said Kade Haas, SVP of Locus Ag. “Farmers can’t leave anything to chance. This data confirms that no matter what crop they grow or where they grow it, these premium biologicals are going to take their farming to the next level and ensure they have a successful growing season.”

The products were tested across the U.S. in locations with varying growing conditions. But while 11 specialty crops and 12 row crops were tested, it’s important to note only alfalfa, canola, corn, cotton, potato rice, soybeans and wheat had a 95% or higher confidence rate in the reliability of the results.

To view the specific yield gain for each crop tested with Locus Ag biological products in the study, click here .

Data from another study conducted by The University of Kentucky’s Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment found replacing 40 lb. of synthetic nitrogen with Pivot Bio’s Proven 40 led to higher corn yields.

During these trials, corn was planted at a rate of 32,000 seeds per acre under no-till and cover crop conditions. Proven 40 was applied in furrow with additional nitrogen treatments of 140 lb. and 180 lb. per acre. Data showed the different amounts of nitrogen led to similar yield results, while the addition of Proven 40 increased yields.

“The study’s findings underscore the potential of microbial nitrogen fertilizer to maintain and even increase crop yields while reducing dependency on synthetic fertilizers,” said Clayton Nevins, senior agronomic scientist for Pivot Bio. “Not only are you replacing 40 lb. of synthetic nitrogen, but you are also delivering nitrogen straight to the roots, boosting plant health earlier in the season.”

Related Stories:

Farmers Share Biological Experiences Through New Mosaic Initiative

DPH Biologicals Expands Research to Quantify Potential of Biologicals

Tornado to Drought to Now Severe Flooding: Kentucky Farmers Face More Crop Losses from Weather Extremes

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 20:44:08 GMT

Mayfield, Kentucky has been in the bull’s-eye of Mother Nature’s wrath the past two years. Nineteen months after an EF4 tornado tore through the town, the deadliest in Kentucky’s history , the community was hit with massive flooding this week. Nearly 12" of rain fell in a 24-hour period, setting a new record.

The intense rain also came with hail and strong winds. The powerful storm caused life-threatening flooding that gaped open roads and suffocated crops, yet another natural disaster and blow to the western Kentucky community and surrounding land.

“This is my 50th crop that I’m putting out,” says Keith Lowry, a local farmer. “Never in my lifetime have I ever seen over 11" in a 24-hour period. And we just couldn’t handle it.”

Lowry says when he went to bed Tuesday night, they had just received over an inch of much needed rain. The sun had even popped out. The storm then hit in the middle of the night and parked over the area, generating massive amounts of rain.

“By the time I got into Mayfield on Tuesday morning, which is about 10 miles north of me, it had already rained up to six”, and Mayfield was flooded. “They wouldn’t let you through the streets, cars were drowned out.”

Lowry says the rain didn’t budge all day, and with trees covering roads, and flood waters rising, Lowry and other farmers brought their tractors to try to help clear roads the best they could.

“Up in our lower bottoms, we call it our creek bottoms, we had over 4' of water across the bridges,” says Lowry. “I could get across it on the tractor, but no cars were able to cross, and by dinner on Wednesday it finally quit raining. The water didn’t leave until later that night sometime.”

The rain is over, but where does all that 12"+ water go now across west KY?

Many farmers getting impacted. This from KY 1241... just one example over a Soybean farm. Water is *rising* here today. Soybeans can really only handle a day or two flooded then crop loss can set in. pic.twitter.com/Up4qKp0Cad
— Noah Bergren (@NbergWX) July 20, 2023

Severe Crop Damage

Lowry’s ground in the bottoms held the water for hours, and he’s now trying to assess the losses on his farms. Only about 10% of Lowry’s ground is located in the bottom area, but other farmers have more.

“The corn is going to be fine, the water was probably 6' up on some of my corn in the bottoms, but the water receded slowly on that, which is good. When it goes back in the creek fast, that pulls the corn with it, but it did not do that this time,” says Lowry. “Now the soybeans didn’t fair as good.

Another eerie reminder of the past. So much of the water was brown today. But brown from dirt left from vacant lots after the EF4 tornado in 2021. Just hard to stand in the same identical place and witness two different natural disasters. Definitely humbling and a reminder as to… pic.twitter.com/5TnJ66dIT5
— Noah Bergren (@NbergWX) July 19, 2023

He says his soybean fields were covered in 4' of water, which was too much for the crop to handle.

“More than 12 hours of water standing is not good on soybeans, and then when the water did recede, the soybeans are probably knee high or waist high, and it just laid them down,” says Lowry.

The biggest blow came to the area’s tobacco crop. While Lowry doesn’t personally grow any tobacco it’s a staple crop for other farmers in the area.

“The tobacco did not fare well at all,” he says. “Tobacco in this area is dark air cured tobacco, and it needs a little bit of water, but it doesn’t need that much. It’s laid down, the hail beat it down and beat the leaves, and when this hot sun comes out in the next few days, it will wilt down and it will eventually die.”

Between ankle and knee deep here, but down this street (Wilford and W College St) turns into a solid 4-5’

One man tip toed / swam to check on his dogs and cats. Can confirm they are safe.@NWSPaducah @trentokerson @BeauDodson @JacobWoodsWx pic.twitter.com/XtgoXEAP27
— Noah Bergren (@NbergWX) July 19, 2023

‘Training Thunderstorms’ Produced Massive Rainfall Amounts

With significant crop damage now a reality for farmers in western Kentucky, it’s another weather phenomenon that’s leaving the area puzzled on what could generate so much rain. Eric Snodgrass, principal atmospheric scientist for Nutrien Ag Solutions , says it was caused by a training thunderstorms that just kept following one another.

“The thing that’s kept much of the Midwest cooler has been this big trough of low pressure, and we’ve seen colder air over Canada, but it’s been super hot in Texas,” says Snodgrass. “What’s happened is in the middle, that’s where the boundary is, and so the storms do what we call training, where they find the front and they run along the front. They don’t go away from it. They just stay on it.”

Snodgrass says the first storms started Monday night, but then on Tuesday, the rains didn’t quit.

“That’s when we saw the blowout of just tremendous amounts of rain, because the storms keep rolling over the same boundary. So that’s the thing, though, you go around that area, and there’s people not too far away who said I didn’t get anything,” he says.

According to Snodgrass it doesn’t matter if the soils were parched or saturated, that much rain in a short amount of time is going to cause flooding.

The Tornado That Tore Through Mayfield in December 2021

Meteorologists have zeroed in on Mayfield starting in December 2021. That’s when the EF4 tornado caused catastrophic damage, traveling 165.6 miles across the mid-south. Mayfield was in the direct line of the violent tornado, killing 57 people. The damage can still be seen in the town, with stoplights still not working, and flattened buildings not yet replaced.

On the one-year anniversary of the tornado, Case IH teamed up with Farm Journal to revisit the community and share stories of how the community came together to rebuild. You can view the stories the team shared through a “Christmas Comeback.”

“The December 10 tornado just took a toll on the area, especially Mayfield,” says Lowry. “And then this flooding came. I spoke to the mayor, and she just says that we cannot get a break.”

Nineteen months ago, the area experienced that horrific tornado. Last year, Lowry says farmers were hit hard by drought. This year, they’re dealing with flooding, as the extremes of Mother Nature hit the area with a third punch.

“I don’t know what it is, but we’re the farmers, and even the people of Mayfield and Graves County, the people here in western Kentucky are very resilient,” says Lowry. “It’s just another hurdle we have got to cross, and we will be fine. It’s going to take a little while to recover, though.”

Kentucky Joins Band of States Blocking WOTUS

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 12:49:16 GMT

Kentucky joined the band of states blocking the Biden administration’s Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) definition on Thursday after an appeals court issued a freeze on the rule until May 10—when the court will decide whether it will issue a formal injunction.

Kentucky is the 27th state to put a wall up against the legislation. If the state moves to file an injunction, it will mirror the latest North Dakota ruling issued two weeks ago .

Why are so many state courts allowing a block of the rule?

The Problem with WOTUS

The latest WOTUS definition—put into motion by the Biden administration on March 20—has been met with a wave of backlash from the ag industry for its “overreaching” jurisdiction.

Under the current rule, the following bodies of water are considered WOTUS and therefore subject to federal regulation:

• Traditional navigable waters
• Tributaries that contribute perennial or intermittent flow to such waters
• Certain ditches that meet specific criteria related to flow and function
• Certain lakes and ponds
• Impoundments of otherwise jurisdictional waters
• Wetlands that are adjacent to jurisdictional waters

Related article: What’s Wrong with the Current Waters of the U.S. Rule?

According to stakeholders and legislative officials, like Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the policy will force farmers to navigate a “costly and time-consuming” permit process or bring government penalties. He shared his contempt for the “radical” WOTUS rule in a statement following Kentucky’s block.

“EPA’s expanded definition would classify nearly all wetlands as ‘navigable’ waters and thus subject to federal government interference,” McConnell said. “This would give federal bureaucrats in Washington sweeping control over just about every piece of land that touches a pothole, ditch, or puddle in Kentucky.”

What’s Next?

EPA countered Kentucky’s move, asking the court to make clear that the latest rule does not apply nationwide.

The ongoing WOTUS matter will ultimately be settled in the Supreme Court, with a ruling expected by June.

Tight on Bin Space this Harvest? USDA Wants to Help

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 21:46:08 GMT

Feeling tight on bin space this harvest? Natural disasters, including tornadoes and derechos, struck down rural communities in recent years, leaving producers with fewer tools than they need to carryout operations.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on Tuesday that the department will offer $20 million to producers in Kentucky, Minnesota, South Dakota and surrounding areas to rebuild grain storage facilities affected by 2021 and 2022 natural disasters.

“Over the past two years, weather events in several states caused catastrophic losses to grain storage facilities on family farms as well as a large, commercial grain elevator,” Vilsack says. “USDA heard from congressional leaders, including Minority Leader McConnell, who identified a gap in our disaster assistance toolkit, and we went to work designing a new program to deliver direct assistance to producers who are struggling to meet their on-farm storage capacity needs in the wake of disasters.”

USDA’s Grain Storage Contribution

With funds made available through the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), the program will be primarily focused on supporting producers or groups of producers in their efforts to build new storage capacity in areas experiencing a shortage of bin space.

According to the announcement, USDA estimates the $20 million will cover 75% of “eligible expenses associated with building grain storage capacity or purchasing equipment.”

Funding eligibility maps have been released to show who qualifies:

While extensive funding details are yet to be released, farmers have another storage avenue to pursue now.

Farm Storage Facility Loan Program (FSFL)

The FSFL was put into motion in May 2000 with the goal of providing low-interest financing options to producers. Regardless of inflation, USDA has maintained its low-cost financing goal with current rates ranging from 2.875% (12-year loan) to 3.125% (3-year loan).

Facilities and equipment covered under the program include:
• Grain bins
• Hay barns
• Bulk tanks
• Cold storage
• Drying and handling storage
• Storage and handlings trucks

More than 33,000 loans have been issued through the program, which has increased U.S. producers’ storage capacity 900 million bushels.

Producers interested in the loan can apply through USDA . Other USDA disaster assistance can be found here .

More on ag policy:
USDA Is Now Sending Out $500 Million to Fight High Fertilizer Prices in the U.S.
How Biden’s 5 Pillars of Hunger Strategy Will Show Up on Your Operation
EPA: Glyphosate Can Still be Used Through 2026

Kentucky Farms Seeing More Direct and Local Sales

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 05:14:59 GMT

A new survey from the U.S. Department of Agriculture says more than 3,200 Kentucky farms reported selling some of their products locally.

Ag professionals say interest in locally-grown foods has increased in recent years.

The study is the first-ever Local Food Marketing Practices Survey by the federal ag department.

The growth in local food sales in Warren County has largely been the result of increasing consumer demand, The Daily News reported . Joanna Coles, an extension agent with the University of Kentucky, said consumers want to be closer to the farmers that produce their food.

Coles said she remembers selling produce at farmer’s markets with far less consumer traffic when she was a child.

“It wasn’t trendy then,” she said.

The survey says in 2015, 3,227 farms reported direct sales of food amounting to $65 million in sales.

About four percent of Kentucky farms are directly marketing their products, David Knopf, director for the National Agricultural Statistics Service’s Eastern Mountain Regional Field Office in Kentucky, said in a news release.

Of all 50 states, Kentucky ranked 19th in terms of number of farms and 26th in direct farm sales, Lisa Ferguson, a spokeswoman for NASS, said.

According to USDA data, California, Michigan and New York were the top three states in terms of sales, with California’s sales amounting to $2.8 billion.

“Nationally, there’s a local food movement going on,” said Jason Phillips, an extension agent at the UK extension office in Simpson County. “People just like to know where their food comes from.”