Author: staff

By Makenzie Huber Summit Carbon Solutions’ pipeline route as proposed in its permit application is “not viable,” South Dakota regulators determined Tuesday in Pierre. The Public Utilities Commission voted 2-1 to deny the company’s application, but Summit immediately pledged to reapply with a “reduced scope.” It was the second South Dakota denial for Summit, which has been seeking a permit to build a portion of its proposed $9 billion pipeline through South Dakota since 2022. The commission denied the company’s first application in 2023, after which the company modified its route and reapplied. The pipeline would carry carbon dioxide emissions captured from…

Cooperation in manufacturing between companies is fairly common in the farm machinery industry. So when B.F. Avery (an implement-only maker) approached Cleveland Tractor (a crawler-only manufacturer) to build a rubber-tired tractor, the arrangement was acceptable business. What was eventful about that arrangement was that the tractor the companies created, the General GG, ended up: Being sold under five different brands (B.F. Avery, Cletrac, Massey-Harris, Farmer Co-op, and Wards).Helping to launch B.F. Avery in the tractor industry.Eventually providing the foundation for a much-needed small tractor line for Minneapolis-Moline. Yet, The General wasn’t particularly technologically advanced or uniquely designed to have such…

Last year’s heat and drought took a toll on seed soybeans in many areas during harvest, impacting seed quality. In a year of tight margins, with dollars invested in a unit of soybean seed, it becomes ever more important to ensure as many seeds as possible will germinate and grow.The 2024 growing season was an example of how weather throughout soybean maturation negatively impacted seed quality across most Midwest soybean seed production areas, said Ryan Dunsbergen, Syngenta soybean product manager. “We were set up incredibly well in soybeans around the 1st of August. Things were looking really good,” he said. “Then…

Eight migrant farmworkers were arrested this week at Pleasant Valley Farms in Berkshire, Vermont, in what advocates and officials describe as the largest immigration enforcement action against farmworkers in the state on record. According to news sources like the Burlington Free Press, agents of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection responded to a report made by an unnamed person who said they had seen two individuals with backpacks enter private fields of farms that bordered a wooded area along the U.S.-Canada border. One of the two individuals was apprehended at the scene, while the other managed to flee. The larger-scale…

Ranchers and farmers across the country are calling for simpler water rules following decades of uncertainty regarding the definition of what is a federally regulated waterway. On April 22, the American Farm Bureau Federation submitted formal comments to the Environmental Protection Agency urging it to revise the definition of “Waters of the United States” pursuant to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Sackett v. EPA in 2023. In that decision, the court overturned the EPA’s previous “significant nexus” test, deeming it too broad and vague. Instead, the Court upheld a narrower “relatively permanent” standard, which focuses on waterways with unbroken surface…

The window is open for planting in the Ohio Valley region, while more consistent rains will continue to develop in the southern Plains and western Corn Belt. Trent Ford, Illinois state climatologist, said the break in precipitation will give “waterlogged” areas in the Ohio Valley a chance to continue drying out.  “The rain was generally good for the northern half of the Corn Belt, but the southern half of the Corn Belt could probably go the rest of the spring season without needing any more rain,” Ford said.  Ford said that at a station near Belleville, Illinois, the water table…

An in-depth comparison and analysis of the genomes of apple species is giving Penn State biologists better methods for identifying genes associated with desirable traits, like tastiness and resistance to disease and cold, that could help guide future apple breeding programs. The researchers set out to understand how apple genomes have evolved over the past nearly 60 million years, and their paper published in the journal Nature Genetics points to the structural variations they identified. “There are roughly 35 species in the genus Malus, but despite the importance of apple as a fruit crop, there hasn’t been extensive study of…

Kubota’s Hometown Proud community grant program will invest in communities across the country by awarding 10 grants in 2025. Each grant is valued at $50,000 (includes $25,000 cash and a $25,000 equipment voucher). Kubota will announce the 10 winning hometown projects on September 1, 2025. Nonprofit organizations with a community project are encouraged to enter; the application is easy: just fill out the form below and upload a short video! During the last four years, the Kubota Hometown Proud program has awarded $2 million in grants that have benefited communities across the country. Last year’s recipient projects included: infrastructure updates…

David Friedberg, the founder of The Climate Corporation and a lifelong vegetarian, is drawing ire from the agricultural advocates for his “charity” of choice going into tonight’s final round of Celebrity Jeopardy!: Humane World for Animals, the anti-livestock activist group formerly known as the Humane Society of the United States. The Center for the Environment and Welfare said it is pleading with the producers of the Jeopardy! series to more rigorously vet the nonprofits eligible to receive the $1 million grand prize money from the game show. While Charity Navigator shows that HWA currently has a high charitable rating, the…

What Happened Marketing decisions are often made with little certainty as to what lies ahead for price movement. In most years, if good crops are produced, it is likely prices will be lower by late summer or early fall, as bigger supplies are anticipated. Knowing when to sell (especially if making only a few sales) can be challenging and often requires acute attention to market signals. Even with that, the fewer sales one makes increases the potential for extreme results, good and bad. To avoid the potential imbalance of making a few large sales, make smaller and more frequent sales.…