Author: staff

After another productive week, U.S. farmers pushed corn harvest progress further ahead of the five-year average than it’s been all season. That’s according to the USDA Crop Progress report released Monday. Across the top 18 corn growing states, 81% of the crop had been harvested by Oct. 27, up 16 percentage points for the week. That puts corn harvest 17 percentage points ahead of the five-year average.  Corn harvest progress is significantly ahead of not only the five-year average but also last year’s progress. Just 68% of the corn crop had been harvested last year at this time across top…

Educating the next generation about agriculture goes beyond teaching kids where food comes from — it’s about sparking curiosity, building respect, and showing just how much farming shapes our world. Across the United States, programs like 4-H, FFA, Ag in the Classroom, and farm field trips are making agriculture real for students. But Missouri is taking things a step further with a program called Agriculture Education on the Move (AEOTM), and recently, I had the chance to see it in action. What makes AEOTM unique is that it specifically targets third-grade students across Missouri, bringing agriculture directly into their classrooms…

INDIANAPOLIS — This year at the National FFA Convention, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to tour the new equine facilities for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Mounted Patrol and meet all of the amazing officers and horses involved. This was done as a Career Success Tour organized by the National FFA Organization (other tours took place with Stoops Automotive and Driving Wind Farm/Green Gang). After years of not having a permanent residence for the Mounted Patrol, the generous community of Indianapolis decided it was time to change that and came together to raise over $1.4 million to…

December corn is up 2½¢ this morning. January soybeans are up 1¾¢. December wheat contracts are also higher. CBOT wheat is up 6¢. KC wheat is up 5¾¢. Minneapolis wheat is up 4¼¢. “On Monday the grain markets closed lower, as the collapse in crude oil and wet weather in South America pressured the grain markets,” said Al Kluis, managing director of Kluis Commodity Advisors.   “Lower global energy prices will be beneficial for global consumers, who will have more money to spend on food. “The initial reaction to crude oil, gasoline and diesel prices tanking lower usually takes the grain…

With solar energy becoming more common, local officials should consider agrivoltaics, which combine solar panels and agricultural production on the same land, when drafting or amending ordinances on solar siting, said the Center for Rural Affairs on Monday. The center, based in Nebraska, released a “best practices” fact sheet that cited economic benefits from dual use sites and warned that overly prescriptive regulations could backfire. “Adopting dual-use practices offers an alternative to the either/or mentality regarding agricultural and clean energy development,” said the fact sheet. Dual use, also called agrisolar and agrivoltaics, can preserve agricultural land for crops, livestock, and…

For a variety of farm jobs, there’s nothing like a utility task vehicle (UTV), and the used market shows it. These handy machines are relatively affordable options that can increase your efficiency regardless of your operation.  “When the farm economy is great, farmers look at big equipment and new pickup trucks,” says Redo Celli, owner of Celli’s Cycle Center in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. “When the farm economy is not as great, they look at buying UTVs.” Celli says he’s seeing more used UTVs than usual come through his shop this year.  “A lot of people bought UTVs during COVID for something…

Listen to the Podcast Meet Margie Weiss In this episode, my guest is Margie Weiss, a dairy and crop farmer on a centennial farm near Frankenmuth, Michigan. The Weisses were early adopters of milking robot technology, going directly to this system from their old stanchion barn, skipping over the usual transition of parlor milking. One way their farm diversified to help cover the cost of the robot was to incorporate agritourism, including tours, baking classes, and a fun harvest experience that includes a corn maze. The company that plants their maze uses technology that automatically plants the shape of the…

The XtremeAg farmers are taking time to analyze this season’s drought effects and gather insights for future improvements. Chad Henderson – Madison, Alabama Chad Henderson is a fifth-generation farmer in Madison, Alabama. Henderson Farms includes over 8,000 acres of dryland and irrigated corn, dryland soybeans, wheat, and dryland and irrigated double-crop soybeans. When not farming, Chad can be found carrying on another proud family tradition as a drag racer for Henderson Racing. Corn harvest is wrapped up for the south. Now, we’re diving into the data to evaluate what worked and what didn’t. The biggest factor here was the drought,…

Last week, John Deere announced a major expansion of its Agriculture & Turf training center and field site near Orlando, Florida. The tractor and construction machinery giant says that the expansions aim to strengthen dealer training and enhance customer support. The expanded facilities will focus on service and sales training, providing virtual and in-person sessions to increase dealer accessibility to new skills and product information across North America. “We know just how important our dealers are to enabling customer success,” said Stephanie Johnson, John Deere’s Training Manager for the U.S. and Canada. “This project is the latest example of John…

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship announced on Friday that it had “depopulated” the birds from Pure Prairie Poultry Inc. The poultry processor had informed the department of its inability to purchase feed for its 1.3 million broiler chickens, leading to the closure of its processing plant in Charles City. Fearing for the welfare of the animals, the department intervened on October 2, taking control of the care and custody of the chickens located across 13 Iowa farms. On the same day, Pure Prairie Poultry shut down its Charles City facility and laid off its employees. Pure Prairie…