Forage bean keeps food plot kitchen open

On many farming operations, mowing has given way to high-powered pre-emerges to kill vegetation, but bald ditches may spawn a regulatory leviathan. Silt gathering in the bottom of ditches and canals; eroded turn rows; washed out roads; and hammered PTO ditches are caught in a vicious spray cycle of unintended consequences with no simple fix.

Thumb-sized plastic beans, packed with a world of sensor circuitry, may soon be ready to monitor grain bins and storage facilities. Toss in a magic BeanIoT pod to check grain vitals. One bean to mind them all.

Kentucky grower spends big to reap more bushels

Rotation is only defense against this new soybean disease

Hell or high water, producers are often forced to chase markets. However, solid data stacked over multiple years shows the peaks and troughs of a consistent crop rotation system.

Jason Norsworthy is attacking the soil seed bank with a no-prisoner policy: capture, burn and kill. Norsworthy is testing a new weapon in the resistant weed wars aimed directly at the seed bank reserve – narrow-windrow burning.

The Natural Soybean and Grain Alliance (NSGA) has high hopes for UA 5814HP, a new variety commercially available beginning in fall 2015. UA5814HP, branded as Ashlock HP5A, is a vigorous variety aimed at high seed yield and protein to meet the demand from the high-end poultry industry.

Peter Blezard believes the most significant technological leap in agriculture for 100 years is waiting on the cusp of farmland -- nitrogen fixation. If he’s correct, agriculture may have an opportunity to reduce nitrogen fertilizer use by 50% in all major global food crops within a decade.

Pod-heavy fields a marriage of research and farmer innovation