Author: staff

by Ryan Bergman Safety should be a major concern for all farmers during harvest, but as the season goes on, it can be easy to miss details or neglect safe practices, putting you or others at risk. Here are six simple safety tips to maintain throughout the season to keep your crew and yourself out of harm’s way. 1. Keep Your Machine’s Safety Features, Mirrors, and Windows Clean Both In and Out of the Field Grain carts are one of the most used pieces of equipment during harvest, but they also have the most potential for blind spots. With few…

By Christy Santhosh Feb 14 (Reuters) – The Wyoming Department of Health said on Friday it has identified its first human case of H5N1 bird flu in the region, making it the third confirmed instance of hospitalization related to the infection in the United States. “The woman is hospitalized in another state, has health conditions that can make people more vulnerable to illness, and was likely exposed to the virus through direct contact with an infected poultry flock at her home,” Wyoming’s state health officer Alexia Harrist said. Bird flu has infected nearly 70 people in the United States, with one death, since last April. Most of…

Politics today is exhausting. I don’t enjoy talking about it, and I will never publicly share my personal political opinions. Frankly, I don’t care if someone leans left or right. We’re called the United States of America, yet we’re more divided than ever. And when it comes to food, farming, and global food security, this division — coupled with misinformation and fear-based rhetoric — is becoming dangerous. Take Donald Trump, for example. In 2016, I actually spoke at a couple of the same conferences he attended. Back then, I remember feeling like he was genuinely pro-agriculture. He showed up for…

Brooke Rollins’ confirmation as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture was a defining moment in her career and an opportunity to reflect on those who helped shape her journey. During her Senate confirmation hearing, Rollins acknowledged the impact of the Texas FFA Association and of her former advisor, saying, “My incredible ag teacher, who I would like to have stand up — Mr. Gary Rosenbusch — put up with a lot from this FFAer. I’ve often said that the Future Farmers of America changed my life and put me on a course that leads me to today, and Mr. Rosenbusch was a…

Tanner and Lakaya Tenley, who both grew up on dairy farms, were named winners of Iowa Farm Bureau Federation’s Grow Your Future award. They plan to use their $10,000 prize to expand their direct-to-consumer beef, pork, and milk business. Listen to the Podcast Subscribe to 15 Minutes With a Farmer on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Please rate and review us! Meet Tanner and Lakaya Tenley Both Tanner and Lakaya Tenley have deep roots in the dairy industry. Lakaya’s family milked around 1,000 Jersey cows and she started her own herd in high school. Tanner grew…

These ideas and inventions from farmers will help fix or improve issues with repair and maintenance on tractors, sprayers, implements, and combines. These ideas were originally featured in All Around the Farm. 1. Tractor-Splitting Stand I wanted an easier way to split a tractor for clutch installs. I replaced the bent material on a mobile home axle with 4x4x⅜-inch tubing. I welded a ⅜-inch plate onto the axle to support a 4-ton crank jack. The foot of the jack is bolted to the plate supports. Next, I cut 3x3x1/4-inch tubing to the length desired, bolting it to the top of…

By James Pomfret HONG KONG, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Hong Kong will file a complaint on recent U.S. tariffs imposed on the city to the World Trade Organization, claiming the U.S. has completely ignored the city’s status as a separate customs territory, chief secretary Eric Chan said on Tuesday. “This is absolutely inconsistent with the WTO rules. Of course, they have totally disregarded Hong Kong is a separate customs territory,” Chan, the China-ruled city’s number two official, told reporters. “We will file a complaint to the WTO regarding this unreasonable arrangement,” he said without giving specifics. Chan was responding to a U.S. decision to impose…

1. Soybean Futures Decline in Overnight Trading Soybean futures were lower in overnight trading after the U.S. Department of Agriculture unexpectedly left its forecast for domestic stockpiles unchanged in yesterday’s month supply and demand reports.  Inventories at the end of the 2024/2025 marketing year on Aug. 31 are now projected at 380 million bushels, USDA said.  That’s unchanged from the previous month’s outlook, but ahead of trade expectations for 376 million bushels.  Corn stocks at the end of the marketing year are pegged at 1.54 billion bushels, the agency said, also steady with the January forecast but well in front…

Titan International displayed new, larger sizes of the existing Goodyear R14T tire for use on sprayers and combines at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville.  The tread design is a crossover combination of the R1 and R4 patterns, and has been available in smaller compact utility tires for a few years.  Karen Jones “The unique thing about the R14 is a lug void ratio that’s good for the road, which self-propelled sprayers do all the time,” said Scott Sloan, Titan global ag and LSW product manager. “It is also good in hillier areas because instead of a solid bar,…

By Cami Koons Iowa lawmakers advanced a bill from a House subcommittee Tuesday to expand and update the Iowa fund that covers farmers’ losses when a buyer goes bankrupt.  A similar bill from the Senate last year stalled in the House due to time and conflicting opinions about extending the grain indemnity fund to cover the losses of farmers with credit-sale contracts.  Rep. Norlin Mommsen, R-DeWitt, said the bill this year represents a compromise.  “Last year at this time, I was a ‘hell no’ on credit sales,” Mommsen said. “But like I said, I was asked to compromise.” Under House Study Bill 131,…